The Federal government has been shut down for several weeks and, as we enter into tax season, there could be serious repercussions for taxpayers.  Currently, the IRS is operating with a skeleton staff although they are expected to add personnel for the impending tax filing season. Typically during a shutdown, the IRS will process returns and accept amounts due from taxpayers. However, they will neither conduct audits nor pay refunds! This further muddles an already complex filing season due to the new tax ...

WESTFIELD, NJ — The 16-year-old Westfield High School junior has stepped up her game this year, leading the team in scoring and three-pointers, her coach said. Ali Lisanti, who plays small forward on the varsity girls basketball team, is this week’s Ron Bansky and Associates Allstate Westfield Athlete of the Week. “There is no doubt that she works on her game in the off-season and wants to get better, and it shows,” said Liz McKeon, Westfield's head girls varsity basketball coach. “She works hard every ...

It is that time of year when students are receiving either their acceptance or rejection letters from colleges.  Every senior student that I have seen thus far is extremely stressed awaiting the news. Some have already received their responses, while others are on a wait list. It is important to recognize that rejection letters are out of your control. Many schools are overwhelmed by the number of excellent students they must turn down. Colleges are flooded with applications making the college admission process quite ...

On this week’s AtlantiCast, meet the newest chairman of the American Hospital Association, learn about a breakthrough in heart surgery at Morristown Medical Center, celebrate a year of innovation at Atlantic Health System and see some tips to stay flu free.  

Atlantic Health System’s Morristown Medical Center has become the first hospital to implement the BEACON Advanced Energy Laser System, a unique tissue-sparing, CO2 laser-driven system which enables physicians to conduct complex surgeries in space-restricted areas of the body with greater accuracy and precision than ever before. While flexible fiber-based CO2 surgery has long been a method of safe and precise laser treatment for complex head and neck surgeries at Morristown Medical Center, the new BEACON Laser System from ...

This law, which went into effect late last year, provides that full time employees working in NJ have a right to earned sick leave. Specifically, your employer must provide you with a total of 40 hours of earned sick leave every benefit year. Your sick leave accrues at the rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours of leave.  Alternatively, your employer can provide you with the 40 hours earned sick leave up front at the beginning of the year.  You can use earned sick leave for a variety of ...

WESTFIELD, NJ – Five students from Holy Trinity School were among those recognized for poetry, essays and artworks at the 32nd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day service in Westfield Monday. Seventh-grader Matthew Akins earned a first place award, and eighth-grader Bridget Sheehan earned a third place award in the intermediate school level essay contest. Sixth-grader Keegan Murphy earned a second place award in the intermediate school level poetry contest. Sixth-grader Annelyse Zaccaria earned a second place award in the ...

WESTFIELD, NJ – On any given day throughout the school year, in any of the 10 schools in the Westfield Public School District, there are coat drives and food drives and collections of everyday items for communities in need. There are Two Lunch Thursdays and Extra Lunch Wednesdays, where students bring an extra lunch and meet to make sandwiches, donating the lunches and sandwiches to food pantries and homeless shelters. There are dance-a-thons and math-a-thons and many other initiatives to raise money for pediatric cancer research and ...

New heating and cooling systems are hefty investments. Knowing howto shop for a new system will save you money in the long run. Beyond the initial price Getting the right system for your home size and projected energy use is every bit as important as getting the best “deal” on the initial price. A system that is less energy efficient can end up costing a lot more than the sticker implies. Better technology means higher efficiency Newer heating and cooling units are designed to utilize less energy to keep your home ...

SUMMIT, NJ – A haunting,  memorable play, “The Glass Menagerie,” is given a warm, caring production at The Summit Playhouse. Under the direction of Arnold Buchiane, this Tennessee Williams play (his first notable success) weaves the story of a son, a mother and a daughter in their small shabby apartment in a corner of St. Louis in the 1930s. Gus Ibranyi as the son who wants to escape the dreariness of working in a warehouse with dreams of adventure. So he goes to the movies every night, where he can transport himself ...

SCOTCH PLAINS/FANWOOD, NJ -- The search continues for Jax, who has been missing for a week now. "Our dog went missing Sunday morning and is still missing," Ben Reposa told TAPintoSPF. "We are heartbroken. Our 1-yr-old daughter is starting to realize her dog is missing. She keeps looking in his cage and by his toys for him." Last seen Feb. 24 on Willoughby and Paterson roads in Fanwood, the 10-pound male dog's name is Jackson and answers to “Jax” or “Jaxie." He has a grey/black coat ...

I like Gov. Phil Murphy, but he's making a liar out of me. Me and millions of parents. For a couple of generations now, mothers and fathers have been warning children about the dangers of pot smoking. Now the governor comes along and tells them there is no Santa Claus. I’ve been warning my children about pot for 20 years. That’s not exaggeration. It started when my 35-year-old was a middle schooler and continues right up today. Armed only with anecdotal evidence, what I call the "science of ...

“Laws of nature do not make exceptions for nice people. A bullet has no conscience; neither does a malignant tumor or an automobile gone out of control. That is why good people get sick and get hurt as much as anyone.”  ― Harold S. Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People For a few years now, I’ve been assisting an elderly client (a retired public school teacher who dedicated her life to helping little children) fight her way out of a prickly financial situation involving timeshare. Yes, ...

With the rise in stock market volatility this year, value investing is back in the spotlight.   In value-style investing, fundamentals take the lead. A stock is considered a good value when its price seems to be too low relative to the strength of the company’s financial performance.  Often the stock is trading at a price lower than that of its peers in the same industry. Value stocks tend to outperform in more volatile markets as investors seek safety and search for companies that are well established with proven track ...

Fifteen homes were sold March 3  through March 10 in Westfield, Mountainside Cranford, Fanwood and Scotch Plains. Here are the listings. TOWN                  ADDRESS                            STYLE                   ...

Let’s face it, business owners of all varieties of industries can count on one thing we have in common – the dread of filing taxes. And when we dread something, we tend to put it off – if April 15 is our deadline, we can sit down to do our taxes on the 14th, right?   If you’ve ever been there, I don’t need to tell you that this is not the best approach!   Tax time is coming fast upon us – so here’s a quick review of the most common mistakes small business owners ...

In less than 3 months, new owner/publisher of TAPinto Denville, Ferlanda Nixon, has nearly tripled the site's traffic and has made TAPinto Denville the go-to place to get original local news about the community. "Ferlanda is really rocking it in Denville. TAPinto Denville is experiencing incredible growth in such a short period of time since Ferlanda franchised TAPinto Denville." As a result of her outstanding work to date, Ferlanda Nixon is TAPinto's Featured Franchisee for the month of ...

A private school education gives students the knowledge and skills they need to excel in college, but your child could be gaining even more from their secondary school career. By joining clubs and after-school activities, your son will enrich his learning with a variety of new experiences.  Here are some of the many benefits of getting involved in extracurricular activities: 1. Explore Interests Students need breaks from academic work to relax and participate in pursuits they enjoy. When they attend a club ...

Once upon a time, a pious Jew was traveling through the countryside in Eastern Europe. He came to a shtetl where the local schochet (ritual slaughterer) had just taken ill. The town butcher had no one to do the slaughtering and was desperate when he bumped into the visitor. The traveler looked pious and G‑d fearing (perhaps he wore a black hat and a beard) so the butcher asked him if he was, by any chance, a qualified schochet. The visitor replied that he was indeed. Overjoyed, the butcher started arranging for ...

Even though we as Americans enjoy many freedoms and liberties that aren’t shared by people in our world community, one place we are certainly lagging in is maternal health. According to the Save the Children’s State of the Mothers report, the United States ranks last in ranking for maternal health for moms in developed countries. Here, a woman expecting a baby faces a 1 in 1,800 risk of maternal death. When we look at other countries, there are certain things we can learn for both a safe pregnancy and birth for both mother and ...

The Westfield Area YMCA is proud to announce that Cranford’s Orange Avenue School and Hillside Avenue School are offering the Healthy U program as part of the curriculum this school year. The Healthy U program is a collaboration between The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey and the New Jersey YMCA State Alliance. Healthy U’s goal is to promote healthy behaviors and to prevent childhood obesity through more physical activity, family involvement and nutrition education. The Westfield Area YMCA recently joined Cranford faculty ...

One of our favorite things about Business Energy’s co-working and networking space is that we are able to bring together Westfield’s local entrepreneurs and experts from a wide range of fields, each with unique ideas and experiences to share. We learn something new from everyone who walks through the door at Business Energy, and we’re excited to feature some individual stories in our new Your Business Energy column. We’ll be focusing on how the talented professionals in our community manage to stay inspired, ...

Spring is on the way. For many of us, the increasingly longer days and warmer weather signify a chance to tidy up and start fresh. If you enjoy the ritual of spring cleaning, why not take time to spruce up your finances as well? The following list is a great place to start:   Your goals. If you set New Year’s financial resolutions, now is a good time to evaluate your progress. If you’re on track – excellent! If you’re not where you hoped you’d be, recommit to your goals. Identify what obstacles are in ...