Notre-Dame cathedral, the iconic symbol of the beauty and history of Paris, was scarred by an extensive fire on Monday evening that caused its delicate spire to collapse, bruised the Parisian skies with smoke and further disheartened a city already back on its heels after weeks of violent protests. By late in the evening, firefighters had stopped the blaze’s progression toward the northern belfry, said Gen. Jean-Claude Gallet, the commander of the Paris firefighters. “We can consider that the two towers of Notre-Dame are saved,” he said, adding that two-thirds of the roof had been “destroyed” by the flames. Notre Dame de Paris held a priceless collection of art and relics including the Crown of Thorns (pictured), obtained from the Byzantine Empire in 1238 and brought to Paris by King Louis IX. The cathedral's Great Organ, which dates back to the 13th century and was restored in the early 1990s, is considered the most famous in the world, with 8,000 pipes.

Merchantville School is committed to creating a work environment that mirrors the community's diversity. We seek applicants from various backgrounds to represent the many and various cultures of our student population. The Merchantville School District is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where individuals from all backgrounds feel welcomed, respected, and empowered to thrive. We believe diversity enriches the learning experience, broadens perspectives, and prepares students

Facebook Inc’s social networking site has been inaccessible to some users across the world on Sunday since 6:28 AM EDT. Are you also affected? According to Downdetector.com, a website which monitors outages. The outage tracking website showed that there are more than 9000 incidents of people reporting issues with Facebook. Check Downdetector.com’s live outage map showed that the issues mainly cropped up in Europe. Downdetector.com also showed that there were issues with WhatsApp and Instagram, but with relatively lower count of outage reports.

At the same time Apple was promoting its new streaming TV offerings Monday, it pushed a massive amount of security fixes along with its newest operating system -- 51 to be exact. The company also fixed a problem with the FaceTime app that prevented video chats from pausing when you left the app. Perhaps the most notable fix: Apple patched a flaw that could allow malicious applications to access the microphone on your iPhone and record you and those around you. Other security flaws dealt with phone memory and SMS hacking. Some of the patches impact devices other than iPhones, such as laptops and iPads. Read more here.

At the January 8th Merchantville Board of Education Reorganization Meeting the BOE accepted the resignation of Antisha Meisner as a board member effective December 16, 2024. As a consequence, the BOE has advertised for that vacancy. A letter or email of interest to fill this position must be received by the BOE Secretary by Thursday, January 23, 2025 by 3:00 p.m. Requirements: Applicant must be able to read and write, hold U.S. citizenship, prove/document one year’s residency in the Merchantville School District,