MORRIS COUNTY — Frank Cahill, Publisher of Morris Focus, and current President of Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany was elected to serve Lt. Governor for Division 9, New Jersey District of Kiwanis International.

Cahill was elected on Monday, April 14, by unanimous votes of the majority clubs that serve Division 9. Due to the current COVID-19 crisis, the election was held using a Zoom Conference.

“Your fellow Kiwanians have elected you to one of the key leadership positions in your district. Your responsibilities include helping clubs maintain or increase their membership, opening new clubs, ensuring participation in club leadership education, and increasing club members’ engagement and morale,” said Carol Tiesi, current Lt. Governor Division 9.

Division 9 serves Boonton Kiwanis, The Chathams, Denville, Dover, Greater Parsippany, Montville, Morristown, Randolph, Tri-Town (Morris County) and Mount Olive.

Cahill will be sworn in during the New Jersey District Convention to be held in August at the Hilton Hotel, Hasbrouck heights.  He will officially start serving on October 1.  His first major assignment will be installing the new officers and directors in each of the clubs in the division.

Cahill currently is Lt. Gov. Elect serving under the current Lt. Governor Carol Tiesi.

Cahill is a Charter Member of Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany joining in 1991, and has served as Vice President, President-Elect and two terms as President. He is also a Charter Member of Tri-Town Kiwanis Club which was formed in December 2019.

Kiwanis International is a global community of clubs, members and partners dedicated to improving the lives of children one community at a time. Today, they stand with more than 550,000 members from K-Kids to Key Club to Kiwanis and many ages in between in 80 countries and geographic areas. Each community has different needs, and Kiwanis empowers members to pursue creative ways to serve the needs of children, such as fighting hunger, improving literacy and offering guidance.

Kiwanis clubs host nearly 150,000 service projects each year.

MORRIS COUNTY — Morris County has risen to 3356 and increase of 187 cases since last report from Monday, April 13.

The figures reflect open COVID-19 positive cases as of the date and time indicated, not cases which have been closed, some cases which may be pending, or have yet to be entered into the system.

The County of Morris, in partnership with Atlantic Health, is offering drive-thru COVID-19 testing at the County College of Morris, Dover Chester Road, Randolph, NJ 07869, in parking lot 1. Testing is scheduled beginning 9:00 a.m. and is for Morris County residents only. There is no fee for the test.

To sign up for an appointment online click here for details.

Note: Case numbers are updated in the afternoons on Monday-Friday. For statewide numbers, visit the State of NJ COVID-19 Dashboard.

MORRIS COUNTY — Efforts by Assemblyman Jay Webber to reopen state parks and forests is gaining support across party lines and geographic areas.

An online petition that Webber posted on April 7 to rescind Governor Phil Murphy’s executive order to close all state parks had gathered more than 10,000 signatures as of Tuesday.

During an Assembly telephonic session Monday, Webber suggested at that state parks could reopen with reasonable limits that include abiding by social distancing protocols, keeping facilities like bathrooms and picnic shelters closed, banning non-New Jerseyans until the crisis is over or asking people to wear masks.

He noted that some Hudson County and Jersey City officials were also hoping to get Murphy to reverse his decision while neighboring states continue to keep their parks open.

“We are find ourselves as a real outlier in the county,” continued Webber. “The parks and forests remain open in all of our neighboring states.”

He noted that N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo waived all fees for state, local and county parks in March. Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut’s parks also remain open.

“We’re not asking for the parks and the forests in the state to be open without restrictions. What we’re asking for is to help craft a common-sense policy on our parks and forests,” said Webber (R-Morris). “We have 9 million residents in the most densely populated state in the Union and it simply can’t be that the safest number of residents who can use those parks, over a half million acres, is zero. There has to be a number between zero and 9 million that makes sense for the people of New Jersey.”

At the Assembly session, Webber moved to force a vote on his resolution (AR151), which he sponsors with 14 members of the Assembly, asking the governor to reopen all state parks and forests and county parks, but it was tabled by Democrats with a 52-27 vote.

MORRIS COUNTY — MPAC’s next Facebook Live concert will take place on April 17 at 12:30 pm, featuring vocalist Lauren Davidson. Davidson will perform for 20-30 minutes.

The concert can be viewed on MPAC’s facebook page by clicking here.

MPAC launched its Friday Facebook Live series on April 10 with a performance by the jazz duo Acute Inflections. MPAC plans to air a new live concert every Friday for the near future.  Concerts are recorded and can be viewed at later dates.

CMA artist Lauren Davidson is an NYC/NJ based urban country singer-songwriter with one powerful voice.  Since the age of ten, she has been performing professionally by putting her unique voice on display. Lauren comes from a musical family, singing and performing with her father since childhood and later writing songs together. She continues to co-write with him today in addition to other writers on the music scene.

Lauren is inspired daily by artists of many different genres of music including Contemporary Country, Rock, and Pop. She burst on to the country music scene and has become a popular and loved name where she has carved out a niche as an established singer-songwriter. Lauren frequently travels to Nashville and immerses herself in the music city scene as well as both an artist and a songwriter. She writes and collaborates with many writers in town and continues to play shows and share her music.

The country singer has opened for significant Country Music Acts such as Old Dominion, LOCASH, Carly Pearce and Justin Moore among many others. Lauren’s recent release “Ballads EP” has been exclusively featured on The Boot and she was named Nash FM 94.7’s Nash Next Top 10 finalist. Her single, “I’ll Drink To That,” was named the Digital Journal’s Top 5 Female Country Radio Singles in 2017. Lauren most recently sang the National Anthem at Madison Square Garden for the Sold Out 2019 PBR tour.