December 2009 marked the end of another year and carried along with it the end of HIV/AIDS awareness month as well.  It has been 28 years since the virus was officially discovered and, while the ardent fervor of celebrity endorsement has slipped away, advancements still continue to be made even if they fail to garner the mass media response they used to. After combing science news sites and medical journals of the past, one particular advancement in treatment continues to present itself as the …

A Better World Café, located in the Reformed Church at 19 South 2nd Avenue in Highland Park, is a community kitchen whose purpose is to create a sustainable world where all may eat healthy and great tasting food at a fair price. A Better World is open Mondays through Fridays from 11am to 3pm. The café has been bringing the neighboring communities together through food and is paving the way to a healthier lifestyle for young and old alike. Eating there is a laidback experience where all worries of regular …

Local Group Urges Senate to Vote Down S-3157
Today, the State Senators of New Jersey are being asked to vote on S-3157. If signed into law, it would extend the time citizens must wait between submitting petitions for charter changes from 4 years to 10 years.  This is unreasonable, undemocratic, and harmful overall to civic engagement, and we are asking our State Senators to vote against this measure.

Edward Wheeler, a longtime New Brunswick resident, has been homeless for the past five months. He attended last Tuesday’s Peanut Butter and Jelly Drive at Scott Hall, hosted by Operation Robin Hood. Mr. Wheeler, a father of seven, came out to help with brown bag distribution, and to get a meal of his own. He had this to say….

Last Tuesday, Charlie Kratovil and other Operation Robin Hood activists gathered to make brown bag lunches (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a piece of fruit) for the homeless. Attendees marked the event as a success. We spoke to Charlie K., to follow up on the current activities of ORH and the response garnered from the University…

The photos herein were taken by Dan Bracaglia and Brendan McInerney, New Brunswick’s premier photojournalists. Both individuals have a knack for being in the right place at the right time, a quality most desirable in photographers. All Rights Reserved by the artists.
You can access more of Dan’s work at www.thelondonbroil.com
You can access more of Brendan’s work at www.newblogswick .org

By now, Charlie Kratovil is a well-known figure in the New Brunswick community. His most recent attempts to bring grassroots change and “good” to New Brunswick have been gathering a lot of support, but some criticism as well. Johnsonville Press Editor in Chief Alex Giannattasio and Editor Grace Hong sat down for a conversation with Mr. Kratovil to get the inside scoop on what he’s been up to since the end of the Wards Campaign.
What follows is the full transcription of that hour and a half conversation. Do not ask …

OVER THE PAST WEEK A CONTROVERSY HAS ERUPTED AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY…

Volunteers collected takeout meals donated by students and drove them to a soup kitchen

The soup kitchen happily accepted over 100 hot meals in 2 days, delivered by our volunteers

Dining Services Director asked us to leave, saying he will “confiscate and destroy” the meals we had already collected.

Dining Services employees stole about a …

This year’s Black Friday has come and gone, heralding in the last month of the year. According to ShopperTrak, a corporation that follows consumer habits at more than 50,ooo US retailers, Black Friday shoppers this year rose to 195 million consumers, up from 172 million last year. On the other hand…

The underground music scene in New Brunswick, I’m sorry to say, is a feature of the city I’m not all that familiar with. Excepting a few momentary and inebriated sidetracks down to basement parties sporting live bands, my experience with that particular underground has been limited at best. Enter the Screaming Females. Over the weekend, I was afforded the opportunity to be educated on the matter by two members of this three-person punk ensemble: Marissa Paternoster and Jarrett Dougherty. Third member King Mike wasn’t able to make it. What follows …