MORRIS COUNTY — The Morris County Republican Committee has launched a website to recruit and support candidates for local Board of Election campaigns, according to MCRC Chair Laura Ali.
The site, titled: MorrisCountyFirst.com, was launched to counter the influence of extreme liberal “woke” activists who are attempting to radically alter school curriculums without the consent of parents.
“Too many times, we have seen activist Board of Education members with liberal-leaning political agendas use public education as a tool for political gain,” says the site.
Ali, the mother of three boys, and former President of the Chatham School District PTO said it is time for parents to take control of the school boards from the liberal elites whose national agenda is to provoke discord in classrooms and brainwash children.
Ali said the MCRC is looking for anyone who has an interest in providing a quality, meaningful education for children to run for school board seats. “The MCRC will provide the infrastructure people need to launch a run for their local school board,” she said.
The deadline to file to run in the November Board of Education Elections is July 26. Some districts still conduct their elections in April, giving candidates until February to file for election.
Ali says many parents and teachers are upset with activists on school boards and in the classroom who are pushing a far-left, divisive agenda on children as young as 6 and 7 years old.
She noted that national teacher organizations such as the National Education Association have adopted controversial Critical Race Theory curriculums. The chairwoman noted that the state teachers’ union, the NJEA, proudly proclaims on its website that they want to transform the public school system.
“It’s not their school system to transform. It belongs to us, the taxpayers,” said Ali.
“Parents send their children to school to be educated, not to be indoctrinated into ways of thinking that are divisive to our communities and our nation,” said Ali.
Ali said Republicans would be well advised to start paying attention to the school board races that are often ignored by voters but can be the springboard to political careers.
“The executive leaders of teachers’ unions have millions of dollars at their disposal, raised on the backs of taxpayers, to elect liberal Democrats who will push the anti-American “woke” agenda. We think it’s time to use our resources to fight back,” said Ali.
“The goal of education is to give our children the skills they will need in the job market. We want our children to be able to solve problems and think critically – not to be ashamed of America and ignore its many accomplishments,” said Ali.
“I think America is a great country and I want children to know that. America is not perfect, but nowhere else in the world do people have as much freedom and as many opportunities to achieve great things as in America. Just look at the American flags that the Cuban people are holding up as a symbol of freedom. Our flag is the greatest symbol of democracy and liberty in the world.” said Ali.
MORRIS PLAINS — There were two third-tier prizewinning tickets sold for the Tuesday, July 13, drawing that matched four of the five white balls and the Gold Mega Ball drawn winning the $10,000 prize. Those tickets were purchased at the following locations:
Morris County: Quick Chek #24, 93 West Hanover, Morris Plains and
In addition to the third-tier prizes won, 25 players matched four of the five white balls drawn making each ticket worth $500. One of those tickets was purchased with the Megaplier option, multiplying the prize to $1,000. Moreover, 23,363 other New Jersey players took home $98,612 in prizes ranging from $2 to $400. The winning numbers for the Tuesday, July 13, drawing were: 03, 10, 17, 26, and 55. The Gold Mega Ball was 24, and the Megaplier Multiplier was 02.
The next drawing will be held Friday, July 16, at 11:00 p.m. All New Jersey Lottery Mega Millions tickets must be purchased before 10:45 p.m. to participate in the drawing. Mega Millions tickets cost just two dollars; by adding the Megaplier option for an extra dollar per play, players can increase their non-jackpot winnings up to five times. Mega Millions tickets are sold in 46 participating jurisdictions. Drawings are held on Tuesdays and Fridays.
HANOVER — Dosch King, a commercial road construction company, of Whippany, celebrates 95 years serving the state of New Jersey as well as other states and local municipalities.
Dosch King began in 1926 with James King, an asphalt salesman along with Joseph Dosch, selling liquid tar and asphalt. Their venture grew rapidly to the peak of selling over six million gallons of liquid tar per year. By the 1940s the company branched out into road construction and Chip Seal and since then Chip Seal had become Dosh King’s most successful field of service.
By 1970, Dosch King Emulsions was formed and the company became one of the most successful providers of emulsions, polymer additives, and various grades of product. In 2001 the company became involved in the preventative maintenance process of Microsurfacing, saving municipalities thousands of dollars in resurfacing costs. Presently Dosch King serves many municipalities and residential customers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.
Dosch King is a perfect example of a hometown company that makes up the backbone of our economic growth. They have been a part of Hanover since their beginnings.
“We’ve built on years of experience that guides us and we are proud of our quality products and workmanship,” said Dosch King. The company has remained in the King family and is now in the fourth King generation. One of the principles, David King is also the president of the Hanover
HANOVER — JLL Capital Markets has brokered the $46 million sale of a 133,276-square-foot shopping center and two nearby restaurants located in Hanover and Parsippany.
Jose Cruz, Kevin O’Hearn, Michael Oliver, Steve Simonelli, J.B. Bruno, and Nicholas Stefans of JLL represented the seller, Mack-Cali Realty Corp., and the undisclosed buyer in the transaction.
Panera Bread cafe with a drive-through is located in the Wegmans Shopping Center
Wegmans Retail Center was completed in phases in 2017 and 2020. The center is home to tenants including Wegmans Food Markets and Panera Bread. 24 Hour Fitness was also a tenant in the center, but closed at the beginning of the pandemic, within a year of its opening at the center. The retail center is located on Sylvan Way.
The recent grand opening of Capital Grille
The two recently developed restaurants included in the sale are leased to Capital Grille and Seasons 52. Capital Grille, located on Dryden Way in Parsippany, and Seasons 52 is located on Route 10 Hanover.
Seasons 52
Capital Grille opened in April of 2021 while Seasons 52 opened in May 2021. Both restaurants are part of Darden Restaurants.
In September 2020, a joint venture led by Onyx Equities has closed on its $158 million purchase of a 10-building, 1.5 million-square-foot office portfolio in Parsippany and Madison from Mack-Cali Realty Corp. The new addition to their portfolio includes:
1, 3, 5, and 7 Sylvan Way in Parsippany
4, 6, and 8 Campus Drive in Parsippany
2 Dryden Way in Parsippany
2 Hilton Court in Parsippany
1 Giralda Farms in Madison
Two Campus Drive will be demolished to make room for multi-unit housing
Mack-Cali has received approval from the Parsippany Planning Board to construct 172 Units and 35 Affordable Housing Units at 2 and 4 Campus Drive and 238 Units and 48 Affordable Housing Units at 1 and 3 Campus Drive. (Click here to read related story)
MOUNTAIN LAKES — The Mountain Lakes Recreation Commission’s mission is to offer quality, affordable, and diverse recreational and cultural programs to the residents of Mountain Lakes of all ages and abilities.
The Commission consists of nine members that are appointed by the Borough Council.
If you are interested in being considered for membership on the Recreation Commission, please submit your name and qualifications to the Borough Clerk. The Committee meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m.
More information about the Recreation Commission is available on the borough website by clicking here.
BOONTON — While you are shopping for your new school supplies, please consider buying some extra items for those who are less fortunate. The GFWC Woman’s Club of Boonton has set up some collection sites around town to help make your donation easy! All donations will be distributed to local students through the town social service agency.
Items that have been requested should be new and include; black Sharpies, colored pencils, 1 & 3 subject spiral notebooks, 3 ring binders, 2 pocket folders, 5” scissors, hard pencil cases, 3” x 3” post-it notes, blue & red pens, highlighters, 24 ct. Crayola crayons, glue sticks, marble composition books.
The school supplies can be dropped off through August 6 at the following Boonton locations:
Boonton Coffee Co., 516 Main Street
Boonton Holmes Public Library, 621 Main Street
46 West Hair Studio, 929 Main Street
Lakeland Bank 321 West Main Street
Scoop House 813 Main Street
The GFWC Woman’s Club of Boonton is a nonprofit, community service organization that is supporting the people of Boonton through volunteer service and charitable endeavors. The club is a member of the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s clubs (NJSFWC), a statewide community service organization dedicated to making a difference in the lives of others, one project at a time. Visit their website at njsfwc.org.
The club meets monthly, and any woman interested in making a difference and having fun is welcome to join! Email the club at [email protected].
PARSIPPANY — Representative Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) will hold a telephone town hall meeting on Wednesday, July 7 at 5:00 p.m, to discuss pandemic recovery efforts, including the American Rescue Plan, the upcoming infrastructure package, repealing the SALT cap, and other recovery-related topics. Rep. Sherrill will be joined by local economic, municipal, and medical experts who will help answer questions from residents.
Residents are invited to register to call in the telephone town hall at sherrill.house.gov/live. The town hall will also stream live at 5:00 p.m. directly on Representative Sherrill’s website. To submit a question ahead of the event, please click here.
DETAILS:
WHAT: Representative Sherrill Telephone Town Hall WHEN: Wednesday, July 7, 2021 TIME: 5:00 p.m. LOCATION: sherrill.house.gov/live
HANOVER — Three lucky tickets matched all five numbers drawn splitting the $841,017 Jersey Cash 5 jackpot from the Friday, July 2, drawing. Each ticket is worth $280,339. The winning numbers were: 02, 09, 11, 23, and 27, and the XTRA number was: 02. The retailers will receive a bonus check for $2,000 for each winning ticket sold. Those tickets were sold at the following locations:
Up Thai Restaurant is located at 981 Tabor Road, Morris Plains, NJ 07950. (973) 998-8536; www.upthainj.com.
PARSIPPANY — Imagine, if you will, a meal that will stimulate all your taste sensations, consisting of substantial food that is distinct with its fresh, strong, diverse flavors, and is healthy, hearty, tasty, and robust? Sounds surprisingly good, doesn’t it? If that piques your interest, you might just want to plan a visit to Up Thai, located in a relatively small strip mall right on Tabor Road in (Parsippany) Morris Plains.
Interior
Thai food with its authentic balance of sweet, bitter, sour, creamy, spicy, and salty flavors, along with generous use of fresh vegetables, herbs, and spices makes this cuisine something special, that will surely wake up your palate and provide a wonderful dining experience. In general, this cuisine which is associated with being hot and spicy can be easily modified to accommodate your personal heat level so you can still enjoy a wide variety of dishes. As for me, I love spicy, hot food. Each dish, as is customary in Thai tradition, is carefully plated to be as visually attractive and enticing as possible. That along with all those aromatic herbs, spices, sauces, as well as many other exotic ingredients common to this cuisine is what I am talking about when I referred earlier to food to stimulate your senses.
Thai cuisine is essentially a marriage of centuries-old Eastern and Western influences harmoniously combined into something uniquely Thai. Going back to the 13th Century, Thailand’s complex cuisine was heavily influenced by many surrounding countries, including China (noodles and wok), India (spices and flavors), Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Burma, and Malaysia. Today Thai cooking is considered one of the fastest-growing and most popular cuisines in the world.
Up Thai, which opened in June of 2019, is another one of those small storefront places, located on the side of a small strip mall off Tabor Road. It may have only 9 or 10 tables, but it certainly packs a punch. Cozy, comfortable, inviting, impeccably clean, and welcoming, it is a great place for a relaxing lunch or dinner. It is also great for takeout, which was obvious by the ongoing stream of customers coming in to pick up their orders throughout the entire time I was there. The interior, nicely lit by the large storefront window, is nicely decorated with warm, rustic-looking wood paneling covering the walls, tile floors, attractive Thai-related paintings adorning the walls, along with Asian-style lanterns overhanging the wooden tables which are placed along the walls. A good part of the interior is comprised of a customer counter outside the kitchen area to accommodate those outgoing orders.
Hostess Tanya Padilla and Patrick Minutillo
The service is attentive, friendly, and prompt. Our affable hostess, Tanya Padilla, could not have been more accommodating, cordial, and helpful. Our waitress was equally pleasant and made sure to check on our table throughout the meal, in addition to keeping our water glasses topped off, which can come in handy as you dig into those no joke Thai chili dishes. Important note: they will prepare your dish to suit your heat level, even to the point there is no spicy heat at all, so do not worry about those stories you have heard about “make your head explode” spicy food. Personally, I always prefer to kick my food up a bit with a little extra heat, but that is just me.
Steamed Chicken Dumplings
I brought my sister-in-law along since she eats Thai cuisine two or three times a week and absolutely loves it. I wanted to get her insight as a Thai enthusiast. For appetizers We started with Steamed Chicken Dumplings, which were served with a garlic soy sauce; Satay, savory chicken marinated in yellow curry powder and coconut milk, which came with a memorable homemade peanut sauce, as well as a cucumber vinaigrette dipping sauce; and Curry Puffs, fried puff pastry stuffed with minced chicken, potato, caramelized onion, carrot, and yellow curry, which was served with cucumber relish. Everything was savory, fresh, and delicious, plus as we were about to find out, Up Thai is very generous with its portion sizes. Quite frankly, these three appetizers were a fantastic meal in themselves.
Curry Puffs
The menu is enticing and extensive with one delicious choice after another. I was tempted by many of those choices, with plenty of meat, chicken, fish, and vegetable selections to choose from, but I decided to go with Thai’s most popular dish, their Authentic Old School Pad Thai. I understand there are numerous ways to make Pad Thai in Thailand, but it would be hard to beat Up Thai’s version of this delectable noodle dish. Featuring stir-fried thin rice noodles, mixed with a tangy tamarind sauce, combined with egg, tofu, scallion, bean sprouts, and ground peanut, with my choice of beef (you can choose chicken, beef, shrimp, or tofu).
Drunken Noodles
This was one rich and flavorful entree, not spicy, and a great introduction if you are new to Thai cuisine. Of course, you know I had to try a variety of dishes, so I also ordered Drunken Noodles; stir-fried flat noodles, with chicken, shrimp, egg, fresh chili, garlic, onion, carrot, pepper, tomato, and Thai basil. This is listed as a spicy dish, and I requested it medium hot as I was not familiar with the heat level at Up Thai. The dish did possess a nice palatable kick and had a reasonable heat level to it (as I said I do like spicy food) and would in all probability suit most diners who prefer that bit of heat. Again, the dish was delicious, satisfying, and filling.
Spicy Chilli Shrimp
We also split the Spicy Chili Shrimp; crispy large-sized fried shrimp topped with chili sauce, garlic, lemongrass, onion, pepper, tamarind juice, and Thai basil. The shrimp were crisp, juicy, and blended harmoniously with the tangy spicy chili sauce to create a taste sensation. It came with a side of Jasmine rice, which served as a great compliment to the spiciness of the dish. This was one of those “eyes bigger than your stomach” situations, but everything was so tasty you did not want to stop. By the way, did I mention that Up Thai is a BYOB restaurant? I brought along some cold Yanjing beer, which turned out to be a good call.
Patrick Minutillo checking out the desserts
By now, a reasonable person would have been done, but I had to try Up Thai’s desserts. We split the Black Sticky Rice with Fresh Mangos and their Banana Nutella Cake. Fresh, new, decadent tastes I have not had before, but I would not hesitate to order either one of them again. Not too sweet and just the right ending to a very flavorful meal.
If you are new to Thai food, Up Thai I would highly recommend this restaurant if you were looking for something different, a bit exotic, and something very affordable. If you are already a fan of Thai food, I feel confident you will be adding Up Thai is one of your go-to places. So, hop on board for an exciting gastronomical adventure, and if you have not done so yet, give Thai a try. I really think you will become a fan.
I almost forgot, my Thai loving sister-in-law thought it was fantastic. Two thumbs up!!
MORRIS COUNTY — Governor Phil Murphy has signed A5820 enabling the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency that had been in place since March 9, 2020.
Immediately following the signing of the legislation, Murphy signed Executive Order No. 244 (2021), ending the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Under the legislation, the majority of executive orders issued that relied on the existence of the Public Health Emergency expire as of July 4, 2021, with exceptions specified in the legislation.
The legislation keeps the following 14 executive orders in place until January 1, 2022, though they can be modified or rescinded prior to that date by the Governor:
Because Executive Order No. 192 (2020) is not specified in the legislation as continuing beyond July 4, 2021, masking, social distancing, and other health and safety protocols originally set forth in the EO will no longer be mandatory across businesses and facilities, regardless if they are open to the public or not. Though these protocols are no longer required by the State, employers, and entities overseeing worksites and other facilities are permitted to craft more restrictive policies that require masking and social distancing, and which continue the implementation of health and safety protocols.
Per the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Order, masks are required on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the U.S. and in transportation hubs such as airports and stations. Travelers are not required to wear a mask in outdoor areas of a conveyance. Masking requirements also remain in effect in certain state-regulated settings, including child care facilities, camps, long-term care facilities, other healthcare settings, homeless shelters, and prisons. These masking requirements, which are consistent with CDC guidance, are included in Executive Order No. 242 (2021), which remains in effect under Section 1(14) of P.L.2021, c.103.
The majority of State offices open to the public, including NJ Motor Vehicle Commission locations, continue to require masking of staff and visitors. Individuals should review setting-specific requirements in advance of arrival. Agency directives and guidance documents can be found at the links below:
