This Week at NJ21st – Familiar Fights, Familiar Firms and India Tops the Charts
Berkeley Heights Keeps Getting Darker This week, we take a closer look at how both branches of local government continue to dodge transparency. Laura reports on the Township’s sudden reversal on it’s approach to soliciting public feedback on the turf field—right after pushing the project through using a manipulated process. Meanwhile, I lay out how Dr. Feltre is doubling down...
Warren Election Heats Up, BHPSNJ Still Spinning, Environmental Concerns on Turf Field, Loretta! and NJ21st Turns Four
Radio Nowhere Two weeks after the township locked down public comments on social media — following backlash over its affordable housing decision — Warren’s election season is spiraling. Now we’ve got distractions about email hacks and farmland sell-offs flying in all directions. Meanwhile, one incumbent still hasn’t agreed to a debate, and the GOP challenger? He’s got a lot to...
This Week at NJ21st: District Games, Scrambled Schedules, Veteran Voices and Sweeney
Melissa Vibes- Feltre’s approach is starting to feel a lot like more of the same. After a disappointing budget process that revealed a clear desire to maintain the status quo, a familiar dynamic emerged between her, Juskiewicz, and Stanley, involving the provision of false crisis information and questionable claims to compel the BOE to reduce accountability. More Melissa Vibes– We...
This Week at NJ21st: More Debt in Berkeley Heights, Stanley’s Road Show Rolls On, Scotch Plains-Fanwood Schools Under the Microscope — and NJ21st Joins LION
The Money Bomb Keeps Dropping: In a week where the Township’s latest PR stunt involving waterfowl spectacularly backfired, Berkeley Heights residents were hit with another wave of debt approvals — pushed through with minimal discussion and the usual technical failures. We also published a revealing follow-up on the Fire Prevention Bureau that shows the Township still has loose ends to...
This Week at NJ21st: Berkeley Heights Goes Dark, Warren Goes Quiet, and Michele Goes On Record
We Don’t Need No Stinking Meeting Despite the video blackout of the May 6, 2025 Town Council meeting — where the Council voted to begin the sale of our sewage plant, passed the municipal budget, and approved millions in new spending — we’re unpacking everything they passed. This week, our coverage focused squarely on the sewage plant. Our first article...
This Week at NJ21st: Council Ducks Public Scrutiny, Police Transparency Case Heats Up, Business Office Reset at BHPSNJ, and Elections Loom
Quack Quack. In one of the most significant meetings since the school reconfiguration battle the Berkeley Heights Town Council voted on whether to let voters decide the fate of the town’s sewage plant, adopted the municipal budget, and approved millions in new spending. Or did they? There’s no recording of the meeting. Once again, residents are left to rely on...
This Week at NJ21st: Fact-Checking the Sewage Plant Push, ACT Scores, BOE Drama & More
Berkeley Heights residents, brace yourselves for another PR-style referendum campaign—this time, it’s the possible sale of our municipal sewage plant. Shauna unpacks what this means for the community and why residents must fact-check everything coming from the Mayor and Council. Following last week’s SAT piece, our local educator returns with a 7-District ACT comparison. While the results remain underwhelming across...
NJ21st 04/27/2025 Newsletter
This week’s newsletter opens with a deep dive into the budget. After a month of the District illegally withholding the full document, the line-item version was finally released to NJ21st — but only the day after the BOE meeting, effectively stripping the public of any opportunity to review it beforehand. Even so, we expose the District’s familiar shell game: budgeting...
NJ21st 04/19/2025 Newsletter
This week’s newsletter begins with the Berkeley Heights Public Schools (BHPSNJ) presentation on SAT and ACT scores, highlighting significant contradictions with state-reported data. While the new Superintendent has promised transparency and improvements, familiar issues persist: delayed and obstructed access to budget details, refusal to fund critical services such as tutoring, continued prioritization of the Mayor’s favored projects and security expenditures,...
NJ21st 04/13/2025 Newsletter
This week’s newsletter opens with an in-depth look at New Jersey’s special education data, comparing suburban and city districts to expose deep-rooted disparities and systemic inequities in educational outcomes. We then turn to the April 8th Berkeley Heights Town Council meeting, where the Township budget quietly passed with little scrutiny. Inside, you’ll find a detailed breakdown—plus explosive remarks from former...
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