Newark, NJ
Police & Fire
16-Year-Old Swimmer Drowns At Notorious Teen Hangout Known As 'Devil's Hole' 16-Year-Old Swimmer Drowns At Notorious Teen Hangout Known As 'Devil's Hole'
16-Year-Old Swimmer Drowns At Notorious Teen Hangout Known As 'Devil's Hole' A teenager drowned Saturday at a notorious off-limits summer hangout in North Jersey known as "Devil's Hole." Rescuers searched the wooded area and steep cliffs along the treacherous watering hole off Little Falls Road in Cedar Grove's Community Park for nearly an hour the night of July 8 before pulling the 16-year-old victim's body from the water. CPR was begun and continued as the Newark teen was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Cedar Grove police said. They were originally told that the victim was 18, township police said, but he was actually 16. They also said…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Paramus, NJ
Events
July 4th Fireworks In North Jersey July 4th Fireworks In North Jersey
July 4th Fireworks In North Jersey Happy 247th birthday America! If you're looking to celebrate by watching fireworks displays, you've got plenty of options across North Jersey. Here are fireworks events to catch in the area this weekend (many are day-long events but this list is just for fireworks): Allendale, Crestwood Lake, Tuesday, July 4 from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Clifton, Clifton Stadium, $3 per person, fireworks at dusk Denville, Gardner Field, Tuesday, July 4, 9:15 p.m. Dover, Hamilton Field Complex, Monday, July 3, fireworks at dusk, adults $4, students $3, seniors $1. East Hanover, Lurker Park, Tuesday, Ju…

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by Cecilia Levine
Hackensack, NJ
Police & Fire
92-Year-Old Oradell Driver Killed In Wrong-Way Route 80 Crash 92-Year-Old Oradell Driver Killed In Wrong-Way Route 80 Crash
92-Year-Old Oradell Driver Killed In Wrong-Way Route 80 Crash A 92-year-old Oradell man was killed in a wrong-way overnight crash on Route 80, New Jersey State Police confirmed. Henry F. Sohl for some reason was headed west in the eastbound lanes when his Ford Focus veered onto the left shoulder and hit a metal electrical box and concrete median at milepost 53 in Wayne shortly after 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 27, NJSP Trooper II Charles Machan. Sohl, whose vehicle had a donut for the sedan's front driver’s side wheel, was pronounced dead at the scene. It wasn't immediately clear what he was doing in that area at that time of night. Traffic was clogged …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Pascack Valley, NJ
Schools
New Oradell Biz Administrator With Regretful Past 'Deserves This Chance,' Board Prez Says New Oradell Biz Administrator With Regretful Past 'Deserves This Chance,' Board Prez Says
New Oradell Biz Administrator With Regretful Past 'Deserves This Chance,' Board Prez Says The president of the Oradell Board of Education said Monday that district officials are confident their new business administrator will succeed despite a regretful past. Peter Iapelli, who was appointed to the post earlier this month, "deserves this chance," Oradell School Board President Dorothy Watson-Nichols said, adding that the panel "conducted its due diligence" in hiring him. Iapelli made headlines when he was accused of cursing out and putting his hands on a 16-year-old coach in front of 75 or so people at a peewee flag football game in Westwood in September 2017. Iapelli, who’d b…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Paramus, NJ
Police & Fire
Paramus House Fire Doused Paramus House Fire Doused
Paramus House Fire Doused Firefighters doused a nighttime attic blaze in Paramus. No injuries were reported in the two-alarmer, which ignited in a two-story, wood-frame home on Terhune Avenue, just off Midland Avenue, around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, June 24. Firefighters had it knocked down in under a half hour and under control minutes later. Mutual aid responders included firefighters from Maywood, Rochelle Park, River Edge, Washington Township, Oradell and Fair Lawn.

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by Jerry DeMarco
Hackensack, NJ
Police & Fire
Raging Overnight Fire Destroys River Edge Home Raging Overnight Fire Destroys River Edge Home
Raging Overnight Fire Destroys River Edge Home Sections of a River Edge home collapsed during a vicious overnight fire. A dog was killed in the blaze on Eastbrook Drive, near Forest Avenue and Route 4, at 1:40 a.m. Saturday, May 27, according to neighbors. No injuries were otherwise reported. Borough firefighters headed back to the scene when the blaze briefly rekindled around 11:30 a.m. It apparently began in the attached garage and quickly spread to some vehicles and through one end of the two-story, 3,500-square-foot wood-frame house. Some water issues initially were reported. A preliminary cause wasn't given. The overnight f…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Paramus, NJ
Police & Fire
Specialized Paramus Police Unit Cranks Up Chainsaws After Pickup Crash Specialized Paramus Police Unit Cranks Up Chainsaws After Pickup Crash
Specialized Paramus Police Unit Cranks Up Chainsaws After Pickup Crash Members of the Paramus Police Emergency Services Unit got to work after a pickup truck toppled a pole at the Oradell border on Thursday. The 22-year-old Mosquito Squad driver from Basking Ridge apparently looked down at his GPS and looked up too late to avoid hitting the curb, uprooting a fire hydrant and toppling the guy-wire pole on Oradell Avenue at Terrace Drive at 10:20 a.m. May 25, Paramus Police Sgt. Todd Colaianni said. The driver refused medical treatment, Colaianni said, but Bergen Brookside Auto Body & Towing had to remove his pickup on a flatbed. The cross-trained membe…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Fair Lawn-Glen Rock, NJ
Police & Fire
Driver Hospitalized After Rig Rear-Ends Sedan On Route 208 Driver Hospitalized After Rig Rear-Ends Sedan On Route 208
Driver Hospitalized After Rig Rear-Ends Sedan On Route 208 A driver from Oradell was hospitalized after her sedan was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer on Route 208, authorities said. The 32-year-old victim was headed south on the highway when her Honda Accord was struck by a Kenworth 310 cab just south of Morlot Avenue in Fair Lawn shortly after 2 a.m. Monday, May 1. The 44-year-old Passaic trucker apparently was checking his speedometer when the crash occurred, Fair Lawn Police Sgt. Eric Eleshewich said. Members of the Fair Lawn Volunteer Ambulance Corps took the female driver to Hackensack University Medical Center, Eleshewich said. Her condition…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Mahwah-Ramsey, NJ
News
Attorney From Bergen Charged With Assault Attorney From Bergen Charged With Assault
Attorney From Bergen Charged With Assault An attorney from Bergen County was charged with grabbing a woman by the throat, slamming her into a refrigerator and threatening to kill her, according to a law enforcement report. Brian T. Giblin Jr., 35, of Paramus was arrested by Mahwah police following the alleged domestic incident in the township on Feb 17, an affidavit on file in Superior Court in Hackensack says. A responding officer cited "visible signs of injuries" on the alleged victim's neck, the complaint says. "Their verbal argument turned physical when the suspect grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the refrigerato…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Northern Highlands, NJ
News
Bergen County Chef Gets Sweet Surprise While Filming Gordon Ramsay Cooking Show Bergen County Chef Gets Sweet Surprise While Filming Gordon Ramsay Cooking Show
Bergen County Chef Gets Sweet Surprise While Filming Gordon Ramsay Cooking Show Bergen County's Michelle Calcagni and her husband Anthony had been trying to get pregnant for about a year without luck. After months of high hopes and letdowns for the Washington Township couple, they decided to stop trying, and just relax.  But when 31-year-old Calcagni was abroad last September and one week into filming Gordon Ramsay cooking show "Next Level Chef," she noticed she was especially emotional, and her menstrual cycle was late. Calcagni, an Oradell native, took two pregnancy tests. They were both positive. "I was stunned," said Calcagni, who is competing in the Home Chef c…

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by Cecilia Levine
Pascack Valley, NJ
News
'Was That An Earthquake?' North Jersey Asks 'Was That An Earthquake?' North Jersey Asks
'Was That An Earthquake?' North Jersey Asks "What was that?" was the question that rumbled through a large swath of North Jersey and into New York State early Wednesday afternoon. Mine blasting? A sonic boom? Seneca guns? Unconfirmed reports of an earthquake or "seismic-like event" stretched from Newton and Sparta in Sussex County to as far east as the Palisades in Alpine beginning at 12:52 p.m. Jan. 11.  There were similar calls in several southern New York State counties, as well as in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. All are basically in the area of the Ramapo Fault Line. The longest and oldest in the Northeast -- at 185 m…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Paramus, NJ
News
UPDATE: Speeding Out-Of-Control Sedan Slams Into Home On Quiet Oradell Block: Police UPDATE: Speeding Out-Of-Control Sedan Slams Into Home On Quiet Oradell Block: Police
Update: Speeding Out-Of-Control Sedan Slams Into Home On Quiet Oradell Block: Police A motorist can expect summonses after an out-of-control sedan crashed into a home on a quiet Oradell street, police said Thursday. The driver was "operating at a high rate of speed" as the Nissan Sentra raced up Merritt Drive and then failed to take the corner onto Schlomann Drive near the Haworth border around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 28, Lt. David Gangemi said. The sedan barreled up a front lawn and slammed into the corner of a neighbors's two-car attached garage, responders at the scene said. Oradell firefighters made sure the house on Schlomann Drive was safe before the sedan was…

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by Jerry DeMarco