Essex County News

On Wednesday, May 4, a new state law called the “Bag Ban” goes into effect. When it does, supermarkets will not hand out any free, single-use paper or plastic shopping bags. Customers will have to bring their own shopping bags, or purchase them at the supermarket.

Other retail stores and restaurants can continue to provide free paper shopping bags, but they will not be allowed to ...

EDISON, NJ -- Annie Gu of Edison, a junior at The Wardlaw+Hartridge School in Edison, will lead the student body as senior class president in the 2022-2023 school year after winning the Student Council election. Annie, who took over the leadership from outgoing president Shiv Tickoo of Scotch Plains earlier this month, will be joined by Gbemi Olarewaju of Piscataway and Adam Eisdorfer of ...

EDISON, NJ -- Middle School students at The Wardlaw+Hartridge School in Edison provided more than 90 minutes of musical entertainment at last week’s Spring Concert in the Berry Performing Arts Center. Nine ensembles performed under the direction of Choir Director Sharon Byrne, Performing Arts Department Chair, and Band Director Rick Fontaine.

Highlights of the show included the ...

EDISON, NJ -- Consistency, depth and determination propelled the girls’ golf team at The Wardalw+Hartridge School in Edison to its second straight state team championship at Raritan Valley Country Club on May 16. After falling behind by a few strokes early, the Rams remained steady and did not panic as weather conditions began to deteriorate with a storm coming. Fueled by a balanced ...

METUCHEN, NJ - The second that Matthew DaSilva stepped foot on the campus of Saint Joseph High School five years ago he immediately felt something special. From his first campus tour to his time as “Freshman for a Day,” DaSilva knew the choice was easy. He was going to spend the most formative years of his life at Saint Joe’s.

Sure there were other private schools in ...

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ — This month's "Two Minutes with TAPinto" features TAPinto South Plainfield publisher Darlene Tedesco-Cullen.

When she started TAPinto South Plainfield, she worked full time as Regional Manager/Business Development for a bank. It became so successful that she was able to leave her banking career to focus on TAPinto full-time.

"I say this to all ...

NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ — Publishers invest significant time and financial resources in building their audience. No one has the right to have their content placed in front of the audience you’ve built. Public relations firms and others say their content is newsworthy and they get paid a lot of money to try to make that case to publishers every day.

Drawing the line between news and ...

NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ — TAPinto Founder and CEO Michael Shapiro was a recent guest on Sergeant Marketing's Milestone Mindset Live speaking about Local Marketing in a Digital World. The series helps viewers attract and retain clients and donors.

Shapiro and host Nancy Sergeant talked about a number of topics, including the value of local marketing in the post-pandemic economy, how ...

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ — Bobbie Peer is a business owner, a networker, a marketer and a survivor.

"I am a single mother and I made it," Peer said. "I work hard, I'm passionate about what I do and I form relationships. I am a success."

Peer, the publisher of five TAPinto sites, recently received a Boy Scouts of America Patriots' Path Council Tribute to ...

CHATHAM, NJ — This delightful play, set in Yorkshire, England, lends a risque air to the Women’s Institutes at a local church parish.

The play and film were based on a true story of middle-aged women who were seeking a fundraising idea for Leukemia Research.

They’re desperate to find a way to support their charities and somehow come up with the idea of ...

Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases  by Paul Holes with Robin Gaby Fisher. (Celadon, 2022)

Let’s start with this fact. I didn’t sleep for two nights while reading Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases by retired detective Paul Holes and Robin Gaby Fisher. Although the book is an autobiography about Holes’ life as an investigator ...

Longbourne by Jo Baker. (Vintage, 2013)

Fancy that. Longbourne’s publishing date is exactly 200 years after that of its “predecessor,” Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen, author of six novels including Pride and Prejudice, was born in Hampshire, England in 1775; yet the themes and characters of her works remain as contemporary as if they were written today. In fact, ...

Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals by Laurie Zaleski. 

St. Martin’s Press, 2021.

Pandemic. Russia invades the Ukraine. Gas going up to $6.00 a gallon. Everywhere we turn, we are bombarded with bad news. However, if you are seeking a little recreational reading to provide a respite from the stress of daily life, pick up a copy of the remarkable book, ...

Two Truths and a Lie: A Murder, A Private Investigator, and Her Search for Justice.  Ellen McGarrahan. Random House, 2021.

“The electric chair faced the witnesses, and as we watched Jesse, Jesse was watching us. Beneath his shaved scalp his dark eyes burned. He was starting to look at the witness in the front row, one by one, I realized. He was going to stare right into ...