John O'Rourke

Essex County

New York City Metropolitan Area

South Orange

New Jersey

Maplewood

Eric Kiefer

West Orange

Millburn-Short Hills

Newark

Livingston

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Springfield

Bloomfield

Montclair

Summit

Cranford

South Mountain Annex

Lace up your running shoes for the Newstead 5K, a community-focused athletic event hosted by the Achieve Foundation and our unofficial kick off of the 26/27 school year. Run or walk with us...we'll even have a Kids Fun Run, making it a perfect outing for families and fitness enthusiasts alike.&nbsp;

Local Event: Newstead 5K

Newstead 5K

Lace up your running shoes for the Newstead 5K, a community-focused athletic event hosted by the Achieve Foundation and our...

Nia Yard Sale Open to all the public

Local Event: Yard Sale

Yard Sale

Madison Community Arts Center

In February 2023, Flaco, a Eurasian eagle-owl, escaped from the Central Park Zoo and embarked on an extraordinary year-long adventure through Manhattan. Having spent his entire life in captivity, he had to learn to fly, hunt and survive on his own—and, remarkably, he did.
Soon Flaco became a beloved New York icon, captivating birders, tourists, photographers and ordinary New Yorkers who followed his adventures from Central Park to rooftops and fire escapes across the city.&nbsp;WILD INSIDE tells Flaco's remarkable story through breathtaking footage, interviews with the people who followed him, and a fascinating exploration of what his journey means for our ideas about freedom, captivity and our relationship with the wild.
Funny, moving and ultimately bittersweet, WILD INSIDE is both the story of one extraordinary owl and a portrait of a city that fell in love with him.

Local Event: WILD INSIDE Docunentary

Morris County

Madison

WILD INSIDE Docunentary

In February 2023, Flaco, a Eurasian eagle-owl, escaped from the Central Park Zoo and embarked on an extraordinary year-long...

Union Congregational Church

Join the 18+ community choir that ONLY sings rock music! No auditions! Fall season starts Monday, September 28, 7pm, at Union Congregational Church. Director Larissa Jaye will have you making music in no time, whether you can read music or not. This fall our theme is “Horn Bands from the 60’s, 70’s &amp; 80’s”, including Earth Wind &amp; Fire, Chicago, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Tower of Power, Gloria Estefan, Paul Simon, Gladys Knight, Toto, Steely Dan, and even a tribute to the late Dolly Parton.&nbsp;Come try it out risk-free! Find your voice. Feed your spirit. Make new friends. For more information, visit our website RockVoices.com

Local Event: Join Rock Voices, the community choir that ONLY sings rock music!

Join Rock Voices, the community choir that ONLY...

Join the 18+ community choir that ONLY sings rock music! No auditions! Fall season starts Monday, September 28, 7pm, at Union...

Join Rock Voices, the community choir that ONLY sings rock music!

Essex County (Veterans) Courthouse

Stand With the Formosa 2!Oppose Plastic Pollution &amp; Support 2 Activists Arrested at Formosa Plastics Headquarters in NJ!
September 29, 2026Veterans Courthouse50 West Market Street, Newark, NJ(Parking lot entrance off South Orange Ave., Route 510) RSVP here: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/1Cr6G1Tkbh/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">https://www.facebook.com/share/1Cr6G1Tkbh/</a>9:30 am:&nbsp;Press Conference/rally&nbsp;at the Rosa Parks Statue, next to the Market Street entrance of the Veterans Courthouse, then head up to the courtroom. Hear Speakers. Sing along with the Solidarity Singers. 10:30 am:&nbsp;Courtroom 1114on the 11th Floor. Appellate Division argument for the case.State v Edwards &amp; Wilson Appellate ArgumentDiane Wilson and Camryn Edwards were arrested on December 5, 2024, after a march and rally, when they attempted to enter Formosa Plastics Corp’s USA headquarters in Livingston, NJ, to hand-deliver a letter to top executives who work there. Those of you who were present saw that on the day of the rally, police cones had been placed on the lawn between the rally and the Formosa Plastics building. The Livingston police threatened to arrest anyone who went past the cones. Argument of their appeal from their convictions for Defiant Trespass in the lower courts will be heard by a three-judge panel of the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court on September 29th at 10:30 a.m. The Court will not render its decision on the 29th but will do so in writing sometime thereafter. Their appeal argues the convictions must be reversed because the prosecution failed to prove the required criminal intent beyond a reasonable doubt. They argue they lacked intent due to their correct belief that everybody has a Constitutional Right to peacefully approach a corporation’s public visitor’s entrance to ask executives whose offices are there to read and consider a letter. The appeal also argues the Police acted improperly by unilaterally setting limits on the property’s use beyond any that had previously been established by Formosa Plastics. Some background about Formosa Plastics and the earlier arrests: Formosa Plastics Group has a long history of violating environmental laws and destroying communities. In Point Comfort, Texas, the Formosa Plastics plant was subject to the largest citizen-brought Clean Water Act settlement in U.S. history and continues to disregard a court-ordered zero discharge of plastic mandate, racking up over 600 violations and counting. In St. James Parish, Louisiana, activists are opposing Formosa’s $12 billion petrochemical complex slated to be built in Cancer Alley. In Ha Tinh, Vietnam, a steel plant owned by Formosa Plastics Group was responsible for a chemical spill that’s considered the country’s worst environmental disaster. After fishing grounds were destroyed, the victims whose livelihoods were ruined have yet to see compensation. Additionally, over twenty activists remain in prison for speaking out on the disaster. The Formosa Four were arrested while blocking entrances to protest against Formosa Plastics, a serial corporate polluter, for more planned plastic expansion and more than 700 new violations of a Clean Water Act settlement that requires zero plastic discharge from its Texas plant into Lavaca Bay. Those new violations added $30 million in penalty payments to the original penalties of $50 million. In August 2024, more than 70 protestors – including clergy, parents, and environmental justice leaders – gathered at Formosa’s U.S. headquarters in Livingston, NJ. Six were arrested and charged with criminal trespass. Four of those six, including Goldman Environmental Prize Winner Diane Wilson (<a href="https://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/diane-wilson/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">https://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/diane-wilson/</a>), chose to head to trial. They were convicted in Livingston Municipal Court but appealed their conviction. New Jersey Superior Court Judge Arthur Batista issued an important ruling reversing the Livingston Municipal Court’s refusal to allow the necessity and justification defenses. Judge Batista ruled: “It is clear to this court, that these appellants have presented compelling grounds to allow the affirmative defense of necessity - justification to be raised at trial.” Trespassing charges against the Formosa Four were dismissed by a prosecutor after the group had prepared to use the necessity/justification defense to argue that environmental and public health concerns justified their actions. “This dismissal is just another win in the long fight against Formosa Plastics and the damage they continue to do to Texas’s environment and fishing communities,” said Diane Wilson, Environmental Activist and Member of the Formosa Four. “While this decision is a victory, I will not stop taking on this serial polluter that thinks it is above the law, and I will continue to do all that I have to do to protect my community.”

Local Event: Stand With the Formosa 2! Oppose Plastic Pollution & Support 2 Activists Arrested at Formosa Plastic

Stand With the Formosa 2! Oppose Plastic...

Stand With the Formosa 2!Oppose Plastic Pollution & Support 2 Activists Arrested at Formosa Plastics Headquarters in...

Stand With the Formosa 2! Oppose Plastic Pollution & Support 2 Activists Arrested at Formosa Plastic

St Patrick School

CHATHAM, N.J. — St. Patrick School will celebrate the Feast of St. Michael, patron saint of protectors and first responders, with a special Mass and reception on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, at 11:00 a.m.
All active and retired members of local police, fire, and emergency service departments — along with other first responders, protectors, and everyday heroes in the community — are warmly invited to attend.

Feast of St. Michael Mass &amp; Reception 
Tuesday, September 29, 2026 
11:00 a.m. 
St. Patrick Church and Parish Center 
45 Chatham Street, Chatham, NJ
The Mass and reception will offer a chance to pray together for the continued protection, health, and well-being of all who serve, as well as to remember those who have gone before.
Departments and individuals are encouraged to RSVP for the reception at: <a href="https://forms.gle/J6YkgzPLDNaXK7Sj9" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://forms.gle/J6YkgzPLDNaXK7Sj9</a>
St. Patrick School extends its gratitude to all first responders and protectors for their service to the community and looks forward to welcoming them on September 29.

Local Event: Feast Of St. Michael Mass and Reception

Chatham

Feast Of St. Michael Mass and Reception

CHATHAM, N.J. — St. Patrick School will celebrate the Feast of St. Michael, patron saint of protectors and first responders,...

An Essex County home inspector has built a free website that lets anyone look up the public records behind a New Jersey property &mdash; building permits, flood zones, fire history, property taxes, and more &mdash; by typing in an address.
The site, Permit &amp; Parcel (oprasearch.app), covers all 564 New Jersey municipalities and pulls only from official sources: state and county databases, FEMA flood maps, and the towns' own municipal codes. There's no account, no email capture, and no cost.
"I kept watching buyers fall in love with a house before anyone checked the paper trail &mdash; the open permits, the flood zone, what the town actually requires when a home changes hands," said Leo Betancor, a Certified Master Inspector based in Cedar Grove and the founder of the site. "All of that is public record. It just wasn't in one place anyone could actually use."
Alongside the main lookup, the site includes free single-purpose tools: a lead-safe inspection lookup showing which of the two state-required inspection methods each town uses under New Jersey's lead paint law, a searchable directory of every DCA-certified lead evaluation and abatement contractor sorted by distance, a fire-incident map built from more than 40 years of state fire records, and a radon map covering every municipality.
A companion site, njflood.zone, gives instant FEMA flood-zone answers for any New Jersey address &mdash; built after the federal government shutdown left FEMA's own map site unreliable &mdash; running on the site's own servers with the complete flood map data for the state loaded locally.
The project was recently featured in <a href="https://www.tapinto.net/towns/east-hanover-slash-florham-park/columns/at-home-with-holly/articles/deep-dive-conversations-what-the-house-won-t-tell-you" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">TAPinto</a>'s "At Home with Holly" column. Both sites are free at <a href="https://oprasearch.app" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">oprasearch.app</a> and <a href="https://njflood.zone" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">njflood.zone</a>.

Cedar Grove Home Inspector Builds Free Property...

An Essex County home inspector has built a free website that lets anyone look up the public records behind a New Jersey property — building permits...

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