After a five-month hiatus for repairs, the 30-foot Virgin Mary statue was returned Tuesday to its home atop Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden. In a process that lasted six hours, the statue was hoisted in three parts to the hospital's highest point. The George Young company of Swedesboro took it down and restorers from Kreilick Conservation of Oreland repaired the cracks. http://bit.ly/HSPl1J
Norcross Group Takes Over Inquirer
In a move that sent shock waves through the journalism world, South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross II yesterday added the region’s largest newspaper to his growing political, business and civic empire. Norcross, arguably the most powerful Democrat
Keeping a flat tax rate hurt Medford
Despite the recent economic turmoil and the township's apparently insatiable demand for amenities, its tax rate stayed flat from 2006 to 2010 and went up only slightly last year. And that is precisely why the community now faces a financial emergency, say leaders of the five-member, all-Republican Town Council and a chorus of budget experts. Tax increases when times got rough coupled with spending restraint could have saved Medford from the hard choices it now faces. "That's a problem all over the country - the desire to make everyone happy so that you can get their vote," Mayor Pace said. The debt was ignored. http://bit.ly/ygrqCe
ShopRite employees star on cereal boxes
When local families sit down to breakfast, there may be familiar faces staring out from the back of their Cheerios boxes. Six ShopRite employees in three Burlington County stores will be on the special-edition cereal boxes. On Wednesday, at ShopRite of Marlton in Evesham, store associates Taryn Gunn of Evesham and Brenda Holland of Merchantville were honored. The photo celebrates the $1 million recently collected by 240 stores to benefit people in need of food. http://bit.ly/GY3mHx
Rowan SAT flap blamed on error
Rowan University’s top administrator blamed “human error” Friday after the school was found to have released a misleading comparison between its students and those at Rutgers-Camden.The fact sheet comparison reflected the negative impact of lower SAT scores for disadvantaged students at Rutgers-Camden, but not at Rowan. That gave a 92-point boost to Rowan. http://on.app.com/ymm8Nn
Consolidation meetings stalled
The self-appointed Consolidation Commission opened and closed their meeting in short order on Tuesday, March 6th when vice-chairman, Rich James, announced that the pending RFP seeking a consultant to study a possible municipal merger of Merchantville and Cherry Hill had run into a roadblock. Cherry Hill Township wants several legal questions answered about possible sponsorship of the RFP before they will move forward. The meeting schedule has been suspended until those questions are answered by the DCA.