Barrington has introduced three ordinances that would expand, regulate, and tax sales for cannabis businesses.
Kyle Hanson, Barrington’s mayor, said the legislative moves are an effort to make the borough’s International Paper facility, which was set to close Monday, attractive to cannabis companies that could move in.
The Memphis-based company with nearly 200 facilities across the country announced this summer that its Barrington plant would close in the third quarter of 2026 as part of its restructuring plan and lay off 126 workers.
Amy Simpson, an International Paper spokesperson, said Monday was the last production date for the Barrington facility.
While no cannabis business (or others) have approached Barrington about taking over the facility, Hanson said he brought the idea to the borough’s council in the hope that broadening permitted uses could bring more economic development to the closing facility and vacant properties in the district.
“The decision was more about being proactive with our zoning and giving ourselves additional options as we prepare for the loss of a long-time town business,” Hanson said by email.
The package, which had its first reading by Barrington’s council on Aug. 11, would allow cannabis cultivators, manufacturers, distributors, and delivery establishments, along with cannabis wholesalers and retailers already permitted in the borough, to operate in the manufacturing district. The proposal would allow cannabis delivery companies to work in the business commercial district, too.
The borough would apply a 2% municipal transfer tax to sales by those businesses, except cannabis wholesalers, which would get a 1% tax. One ordinance also sets conditions, including that the facilities would be more than 200 feet away from educational buildings and other cannabis plants and more than 50 feet from residential neighborhoods.
International Paper has other facilities in South Jersey, including in Bellmawr, West Deptford, and Vineland.
Simpson said the site at 100 E. Gloucester Pike isn’t currently on the market, but a sale should come in mid-2027. She did not answer whether an agreement is currently in place for the property.
The ordinances are scheduled for a public hearing and vote on Sept. 8. at a borough council meeting. Hanson said council unanimously agreed to move forward with the ordinances for a vote, so he expects all members to approve.
Mansfield Oil Co. of Gainesville Inc. filed a civil suit in federal court alleging it provided $4 million worth of gasoline to multiple Freedom Fuel gas stations for which it was never compensated.
The suit goes on to claim that the fuel in question is at least one of the reasons why the network has been able to sell gas cheaply. Freedom Fuel has been promoted by President Donald Trump.
According to the suit, KRSM president Syed Kazmi, requested and took 1.12 million gallons of gasoline and then sold it to several stations that are part of the Freedom Fuel Network without ever paying for it.
Kazmi and his brother, Cherry Hill developer Shamikh Kazmi, are connected to at least eight of the Freedom Fuel’s 29 locations.
A Philly-based federal appeals court on Friday ruled that ICE’s controversial policy mandating detention for nearly all undocumented immigrants is unlawful. The ruling took immediate effect in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
According to the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, a Paulsboro man was sentenced Friday to more than three decades in state prison for sexually assaulting an underage girl in 2023.
Cherry Hill native and actor Dominic Sessa who plays the title role in the A24 Anthony Bourdain biopic, Tony, spent four summers working at a bakery in Ocean City. He pulled from that experience to help him get into character.
The typical homeowner in New Jersey has one of the highest levels of housing wealth compared to other states. It made the top five states where homeowners report having the most home equity.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed legislation Friday that permanently allows the sale and delivery of to-go alcoholic beverages.
Asianfresh Food Market in Cherry Hill announced its soft opening on Thursday and its grand opening on Sept. 12, 42 Freeway reports.
🧠Trivia time
Which former Disney star performed in Atlantic City last Friday?
The fountains run on the lake at Laurel Acres Park in Mount Laurel during an August afternoon.Taylor Allen
The popular Laurel Acres Park in Mount Laurel always brings a crowd typically on the weekends with its baseball fields, natural trails, playgrounds, and more.
What does your community look like? What South Jersey memory would you like to share? Submit a photo and/or a brief description for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter.
Woodbury residents John Wagner and Colleen Gibson never planned to own a brewery.
But when the husband-and-wife duo heard that their local drinking spot, Eight & Sand Beer Co. at 1003 N. Evergreen Ave., was up for sale last September, Wagner said they didn’t want to see a place so close to home shut down for good. They spoke with their neighbor, Woodbury’s former mayor Peg Hertrich, who connected them with the 10-year-old brewery’s owners.
The exterior of the new Freckled Jawn Brewing on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026 in Woodbury, NJ.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
“We never got an answer or a reason why not… so here we are,” Wagner, 53, said. “Fast forward almost a year later, and we’re getting ready to open.”
The couple, together for 12 years, officially closed on the 4,300-square-foot brewery (that includes the brewhouse) in Gloucester County in early August, months after Eight & Sand closed. The $730,000 sale, Wagner said, included brewery equipment and a vacant lot behind the building, which will help the couple expand the property’s beer garden come spring.
The in-progress interior of Freckled Jawn Brewing.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Wagner and Gibson hope to open Freckled Jawn Brewing in the first week of October. An official date will come in the next couple of weeks, as they continue $40,000 of renovations and add new furniture to make the space feel less industrial and more inviting. Details will include leather and wood accents, an electric fireplace, dim lighting, and hopefully a touch of Philly sports.
“I just want the community to have somewhere they can go that they’re excited and proud to have in the neighborhood,” Wagner said.
The new brewery acquired Eight & Sand’s liquor license within 17 days of closing on the property, Wagner said, so Freckled Jawn has been clear to brew beer since Aug. 21.
The in-progress interior of Freckled Jawn Brewing on Aug. 27, 2026, in Woodbury, N.J.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Three years ago, before their recent venture, the couple installed a basement bar in their South Jersey home for friends and family. They like to host St. Patrick’s Day parties.
They affectionately called the bar “Freckled Jawn Tavern,” Wagner’s 2 a.m. brainchild. The name was inspired by Gibson’s own freckles and the way she pronounces her husband’s name, John, as the multipurpose Philly term “Jawn,” a symptom of her Jersey accent. The new brewery kept it.
A Freckled Jawn Brewing tap in the in-progress brewery.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
“He calls me his ‘freckled jawn’ because I’m his anything and everything,” Gibson, 44, said.
Plus, the couple has two freckled dogs, Neo and Trinity, adoptees named after The Matrix characters, who will be welcome in the brewery’s pet-friendly beer garden when it opens next year.
Neo (top) and Trinity (bottom) are the unofficial mascots of Freckled Jawn Brewing in Woodbury, Gloucester County, set to open in October 2026.Colleen Gibson
The brewery’s indoor tasting room has capacity for 77 people, while the expanded patio area will fit between 150 to 200 people, Wagner said.
Wagner and Gibson plan to run the brewery while continuing their jobs as managers in supply chain distribution and in transportation, respectively, in the Philly region, Gibson said. They’ll manage a staff under 10 to start, which will include some of their children, and head brewer Matt Karg.
The in-progress interior of Freckled Jawn Brewing.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Karg, 37, moved to Philadelphia with his partner in July to be closer to family, and the head brewer position happened to open at the perfect time. He started brewing when he got out of the U.S. Coast Guard and went to North Carolina’s Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College to learn brewing, distillation, and fermentation.
He previously brewed for Hickory Nut Gorge Brewery in Chimney Rock, North Carolina, before the spot was destroyed by Hurricane Helene in 2024, and then for Hi-Wire Brewing in Asheville. He said he’s eager to introduce people to Freckled Jawn’s Oktoberfest beer, made just in time for the fall opening.
“The New Jersey brewing scene is a close-knit community, which we’ve learned and loved. But everyone knows everyone,” Wagner said. “They almost know every brewer, so it’s exciting that nobody knows this guy.”
Ready for something new, Karg said his hope for the brewery is simple.
“Good beers and a good environment to sit and hang out for awhile,” he said.
The brewery started on an Oktoberfest lager, Wagner said, since it takes the longest to brew. Freckled Jawn will also serve a light lager, an IPA, a blonde ale, and a stout.
“We’ll continue to expand,” Wagner said. “But we don’t want to wait too long to open.”
Freckled Jawn Brewing’s hours will be 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday; noon to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday; and noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday.
The Jersey Shore is like the old joke: Nobody goes there anymore, and also, it’s more crowded than ever.
It is true that many Shore stalwarts have been priced, or annoyed, off the beach. And that towns feel busier and sometimes tenser than ever: more cars, not enough parking, canopy-to-canopy beaches, prohibitive housing costs, that occasional rudeness.
Not to mention rising sea levels, nuisance flooding, and seemingly regular tornado watches.
To move from complaining to solutions, we racked our brains, asked experts, and solicited ideas from our readers for ways to improve the Shore experience for everyone.
A car with a parking ticket on 96th Street, the main shopping and dining street in downtown Stone Harbor on July 12, 2023.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Leave the cars off the island
So many of the suggestions had to do with reducing traffic and the sheer number of cars in beach towns during the summer.
Wrote one reader: “We need fewer cars on the island so bikers can safely travel — need to open lots on parkway and run shuttles.”
This reader proposed giving every homeowner two parking passes. “I live in Sea Isle,” the reader said. “Too many cars.”
Kara Cumiskey said that tenants brought seven cars to her four-bedroom rental in Ocean City.
“I think that there should be a ‘beach tag’ for cars,“ Cumiskey wrote to us. “Or some type of ‘congestion pricing’ for bringing your car onto the island. Something that gives people some pause for bringing a car for every person.”
While a mandatory ban or limit on cars seems unlikely, giving people the option of leaving their cars off the island and shuttling or Jitney Guy-ing into paradise seems like an interesting idea. The golf cart and e-bike rental business would definitely pick up. Fewer turtles would be squashed.
A NJ Transit train en route to Atlantic City is shown at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia on May 12, 2019.JOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photograp
We need more trains
Relatedly, there were calls to increase and improve public transportation to the Shore. The current NJ Transit train is fantastic to take (and from the Shore end, NJ Transit riders can park their car for free at the A.C. Convention Center), but man, is it slow.
An hour and 34 minutes at best between 30th Street Station and Atlantic City? Two hours between trains? Connections to the PATCO high-speed line only help a little. Still, I’ve noticed a lightness in the steps of the people who get off in Atlantic City with their suitcases and sunglasses. They’re onto something.
Others noted that train service once ran down to various towns in Cape May County. Wouldn’t that be lovely.
The Ocean Sands Motel at 3710 Ocean Ave. in Wildwood, N.J., on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Convert old motels to affordable housing
Ariela Rutbeck-Goldman, senior staff attorney at Fair Share Housing Center, says the Shore’s housing crisis is “increasingly a threat not just to affordability, but to the Shore economy itself.”
“The Jersey Shore can’t remain a place where the people who work in restaurants, hotels, shops, and other local businesses can’t afford to live,” she said.
Belmar, for instance, is “repurposing dilapidated motels and other underutilized properties to increase their housing supply,” she said.
“The goal shouldn’t simply be to create “employee housing,” so that workers can make it through the summer,” she said. “The Shore needs enough homes that teachers, nurses, service workers, young families, seniors, and other people who make these communities work can afford to live there year-round.”
A shore home is under construction along the boardwalk by the Ventnor City Fishing Pier in the Jersey Shore town of Ventnor City, N.J., on Friday, Jan. 22, 2021.HEATHER KHALIFA / Staff Photographer
‘Stop the monster houses’
As one reader wrote, “Stop the monster houses being built. The charm of the shore is getting bulldozed one lot at a time. These new builds are ugly!”
Another noted the homogeneity of the new construction, in particular the white boxes with the black roofs and trim. In a lot of Shore towns, this ship has sailed. Sea Isle City, for example, is almost totally built out. But there is some hope for others, where the old Shore houses, whether they are the big turn-of-the-century Dutch colonials or the small ranchers of the Wildwoods, are hanging in there.
Fair Share Housing is advocating for programs that help nonprofits acquire and preserve older homes to protect housing for year-round residents, as well as expanding tenant protections to prevent evictions.
“Monmouth Beach, one of the Shore’s wealthiest communities, recently authorized the purchase of a two-bedroom condominium that will be deed-restricted and sold to an income-qualified household,” said Rutbeck-Goldman. “That’s a relatively small investment, but it demonstrates that municipalities don’t have to wait for a large development project to create affordable homes.”
Shanna Killion, of Northeast Philly, works as a beach tag inspector in Avalon, N.J., on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022. Killion said among the interesting items she has seen people carrying to the beach was an inflatable bed.DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
Eliminate beach tags (or at least make them reciprocal)
Lots of people urged New Jersey beach towns to do away with beach tags. Dream on. Strathmere, one of the last three free beaches in the Philly area of the Jersey Shore, just voted to start charging $10 a day, $45 a season, or $30 if you buy a tag before Presidents’ Day. That leaves just Atlantic City and the Wildwoods beach-tag free.
One interesting idea was to make the beach tags reciprocal to other towns. Some towns, like Ventnor and Margate, do have reciprocity, but readers imagined a Cape May County beach tag, for instance, that would encourage exploring.
Related, a bill that would require towns to be transparent about where their beach tag revenue is actually going has stalled in the New Jersey legislature.
Bike riders on the promenade boardwalk in Sea Isle City at the Jersey Shore on May 24, 2023.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Make the Shore better for bikers and pedestrians
Many towns have expanded bike lanes and redesigned roads to calm traffic. More of this, please! No matter the pedestrian laws, the reality is, it’s still a miracle if the cars stop for you as you start to cross, or if the bike lane isn’t clogged with runners going in the opposite direction.
Roads one block from the beach should be one lane in each direction, with traffic calming measures like flashing pedestrian lights and bright flags for the pedestrians to carry across. It will require a lot more patience than Jersey is known for. It’s OK! There should be a safe way to commute to jobs by bicycle and return home at night.
A flight at Behr Brewing in Cape May in 2023.Jenn Ladd / Staff
Let Ocean City BYOB already
I know this is not going to happen. But what a wonderful restaurant renaissance might follow! A mini Cape May! As one reader wrote, “I have had a place in OC for 25 years and other than [Ocean City Yacht Club], have never eaten dinner in OC because can’t even have a glass of wine!”
A backyard with access to the bay, at a Beach Haven, Long Beach Island home on June 13, 2024.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Embrace ‘coastal naturalization’
Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, worries that the entire Jersey Shore is becoming more high-end resort, less natural coastline.
Zipf advocates a concept known as “coastal naturalization” and says residents and visitors must rally against the “overdevelopment and citification” of Shore towns. That includes expanding parks with native plants and trees, which Zipf says will increase both quality of life and resilience to storms.
Zipf advocates an end to “the unchecked paving and urbanization that erodes community character while contributing to increased flooding, polluted runoff, and litter.”
A snowy egret flies over the salt marsh at the Wetlands Institute on May 19, 2025, in Stone Harbor, N.J. Dredged material was used to raise the height of the marsh in the Scotch Bonnet Island project.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Increased marsh restoration and flooding mitigation measures
Speaking of increased flooding: The Wetlands Institute announced that it’s temporarily retreating from its half-century headquarters on the Stone Harbor Causeway to rebuild its trails and building because of increased flooding.
The institute focuses on coastal resilience and marsh restoration, with nature-based solutions. It is elevating and widening its Salt Marsh Trail and creating a new high marsh designed for diamondback terrapin nesting and coastal birds.
Lenore Tedesco, the institute’s executive director, says marsh rescue is critical for storm-risk reduction.
“By elevating the Salt Marsh Trail, we are also creating a barrier to storm waves but unlike many coastal protection features that wall off people and wildlife, we are doing it in a way that benefits marshes and wildlife,” she said.
The Wetlands Institute is hoping other coastal communities learn from the approach.
Dogs and their owners enjoy the sand and water at the Malibu Beach Wildlife Management area in Egg Harbor Township at the Shore during the Memorial Day weekend, on May 28, 2023.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
More dog beaches and dog hours
Are dogs so bad? What if every town, or every island, had a beach dedicated to dogs and their owners? What if there were dog hours … on the boardwalks? What if all the towns allowed dogs to run free on the beach before, say, 8 a.m. in the summer? As Bob Dylan wrote, “In harmony with the cosmic sea / True love needs no company / It can cure the soul, it can make it whole / If dogs run free.”
Fans pack the beach for blocks as Phish performs a beach concert in Atlantic City, Friday, Aug. 13, 2021.VERNON OGRODNEK / For The Inquirer
Fully fund A.C. concerts
There’s been a welcome uptick in big-name acts booked to A.C.’s estimable Boardwalk Hall, including Shakira, Phish, and Goose (also, Disney on Ice). Rüfüs du Sol performed on the beach this year. But the sophisticated and intimate Thursday night jazz concerts on the Atlantic City Boardwalk only started in August this year. In previous years, this popular tradition ran all summer long. There were a few A.C. beach concerts this summer and a couple jazz nights at Gardener’s Basin, but nothing like in past years.
On the upside, there is a robust food truck scene at the A.C. Seawall and at O’Donnell Park, and new housing construction projects in places that have long been vacant. And no beach tags. But the city is under increased pressure from expected job losses due to New York casinos. Will Atlantic City put the pieces together?
Have more ideas? Email us at downtheshore@inquirer.com!
A petroleum distributor has filed suit in federal court alleging it supplied $4 million worth of gasoline sold to multiple Freedom Fuel Network gas stations but has never been paid for it.
That is at least one reason, the civil suit claims, Freedom Fuel Network gas stations have been able to sell gas so cheaply after President Donald Trump touted the brand.
Georgia-based plaintiff Mansfield Oil Co. of Gainesville Inc. filed the civil suit against KRSM Inc. in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia earlier this month.
The suit says that Syed Kazmi, as president of KRSM, requested in May to buy gasoline from Mansfield at Energy Transfer’s Twin Oaks terminal in Aston, Delaware County.
KRSM then took 1.12 million gallons of gasoline and sold it to stations that are part of the Freedom Fuel Network. The price of the purchase was just shy of $4 million, according to the suit.
“KRSM was able to sell such fuel for such low prices and garner such publicity because it never paid [Mansfield] for such fuel,” the suit said.
The suit does not specify which Freedom Fuel locations it says sold gas originally purchased from Mansfield.
The White House promoted Freedom Fuel when it launched its first location in July on Dreshertown Road in Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County. The station initially sold gas for $3.47 a gallon, a nod to Trump being the 47th president.
“They are doing this because they love the U.S.A.,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on July 1.
“The administration has had zero contact or dealings with the defendant: KRSM Inc or Sayed Kazmi,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement Saturday.
Kazmi and his brother, Cherry Hill developer Shamikh Kazmi, are linked to at least eight of Freedom Fuel’s 29 locations. Neither could be reached for comment Saturday. However, attorney Mauro Tucci said in a statement on Saturday: “KRSM disputes the allegations in this case, which is an accounting dispute over fuel invoices mispriced by Mansfield Oil. We will not be commenting further on this pending litigation.”
The Inquirer reported last week that six of the network’s New Jersey stations had racked up environmental violations with the state dating back to 2023.
For its part, Mansfield says in the suit that it initially had difficulty sending invoices to KRSM, but managed to begin doing so by July.
The contract specified that KRSM was to pay the invoices in full within 10 days of receiving them or face 1.5% per month interest on the balance.
Mansfield said that, as of Aug. 17, it had not received any payment for the 150 loads of fuel KRSM purchased at the Twin Oaks terminal.
The suit cites breach of contract and five other counts in seeking $4 million for the fuel, interest, and attorney costs from KRSM.
The Kazmi brothers have been embroiled in at least two lawsuits related to previous gas station ventures, including a 2021 trademark dispute with BP American Inc. and BP Products North America Inc. Additionally, Petroleum Marketing Group Inc., a fuel distribution company, accused the brothers of stealing thousands of gallons of gas from the company.
The network expanded to 29 locations earlier this month, but one Philly station was nearly shut down by the city after it failed a license renewal inspection.
The White House has maintained it is not involved in Freedom Fuel’s operation or provided the company with any subsidies.
“Freedom Fuel Networks is a private company,” a White House spokesperson told The Inquirer in July. “They are not purchasing gasoline at a discount. The administration has not provided any funding. They are simply lowering their costs to make gas more affordable for drivers in PA and NJ.”
Baltimore Ravens assistant coach Randy Brown and former commodities trader Yoni Gontownik signed the company’s certificate of formation in Delaware and have not spoken publicly about the highly touted enterprise.
Freedom Fuel’s owners have been silent about their discount gas operation more than two months after the network was loudly promoted by the White House.
Among the most common types of newspaper photo assignments, I have a least favorite: a portrait of someone being interviewed by a reporter. Or being interviewed by a bunch of reporters. (Don’t worry, this is not a half-empty glass gripe. Keep reading, it’s actually a positive post.)
On TV they’re called “talking heads” and in still photos they’re “headshots.” But they’re not really heads. Their sole purpose is to show viewers/readers what a person looks like. A face.
Attorneys arrive for a press conference after filing a civil lawsuit Mar. 19, 2024.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
A while back, possibly while focused on a person standing behind a bank of microphones, my mind wandered and I started to think about different ways of photographing the press conference. Call it an anti-headshot.
That evolved into something I continued, collecting unconventional views of non-faces.
A vandalized Civil War memorial in Bridgeton, N.J., Jan. 31, 2012.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerMajor League Lacrosse team practice at PPL Park in Chester Aug. 23, 2013.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerA fan of all Philly teams shopping for Sixers merchandise and jerseys Aug. 25, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
At some point, maybe with more press conference daydreaming, I wondered what if… Say the images ended up on an art gallery wall? A highfalutin critics might say something like “the work is a meditation on our identity and desire to be seen. Gralish turns the idea on its head (no pun intended), showing us images that conspire against the countenance, and therefore, counter the very premise of a portrait.”
If I weren’t having fun with photography I would have stopped doing it decades ago.
My “funnest” assignment this week? My colleague Peter Dobrin’s sweet story of a musical prodigy, and what it takes to get into a top music conservatory while still in elementary school.
Seven year-old pianist Olivia Li with her stuffed panda in the lobby of the Curtis Institute. She began studying the piano at age four and will receive a full-tuition scholarship to the prestigious institution. On the wall is a Norman Rockwell painting of Curtis founder Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist (1877–1970).Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
As is often the case with businesses and institutions, the public relations department always has ideas of how to pose the picture — usually with their sign, name or logo prominent. After photographing the young pianist playing — with an extender to reach the piano’s pedals — I just watched her as we toured the conservatory.
I prefer letting things unfold in front of me, anticipating what a person might do. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. I wondered how Olivia would pass though the security entrance. I guessed correctly — but used too slow a shutter speed. But, my glass was still half full. I had plenty of good photos (even one that likely made Curtis happy — with their name displayed).
Having just one person to focus on is a joy, but I also love photographing when there are lots of people and lots of action at events or gathering. The difficulty for me is just dealing with the visual overstimulation. Sometimes there is just too much going on.
Over the years, I have learned how to cope. I try to find one or two people in the crowd, meet them, and let them get used to me and to being photographed. Then I watch for them throughout the rest of the time I’m there. Sometimes even arriving early.
Tanisha Ortega and her daughter Ahlaura Conley, 7, are the first to arrive, before the gates even open getting an early start on second grade at McClure Elementary Aug. 24, 2026 on the first day of school in the Philadelphia.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
That way, no matter how distracted I get as my head is spinning around while I keep turning to see things happening all around me and missing other photos while I write down names, I always have those first folks I can return to.
That brings me back to the photo at the very top. I had noticed officials looking out of a window of the district’s bus on its annual Back-to-School Celebration visit to schools all around Philadelphia.
But I knew I had my photo when Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. (at far left in the photo) started to gather everyone together for a group photo outside the bus and the president of the principals union showed up in the window. (She then left the bus to join in the photo.)
Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:
A 48-year-old Paulsboro man was sentenced Friday to more than three decades in state prison for sexually assaulting an underage teen girl in 2023, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office said.
After an eight-day trial, a state jury in April found Jason L. Bailey guilty of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact, and fourth-degree refusal to provide a DNA sample.
Prosecutors said Bailey in December 2023 sexually assaulted a girl between the ages of 13 and 16. When Bailey was arrested, he refused to provide a mandatory DNA sample, prosecutors said.
The jury also decided that Bailey was a persistent offender, based on his criminal history.
Bailey must serve 85% of his 30-year sentence for aggravated sexual assault, prosecutors said.
In April, prosecutors said Bailey faced a maximum life sentence. If he were eligible for release, he would be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and be subject to parole supervision for life.
Getting all prekindergarten students to consistently attend school has proven to be a challenge as the Cherry Hill district rapidly expands its program for early learners.
Absenteeism rates among the district’s pre-K students is second only to Cherry Hill high school seniors, the grade with the highest chronic absenteeism rate, according to state data. The district’s experience is similar to other districts rolling out pre-K programs with state funding, which reaches $1.4 billion in the latest budget.
“Unfortunately, I have to say that preschool had one of the highest rates of chronic absenteeism,” Farrah Mahan, assistant superintendent for pre-K to grade 12 and curriculum, told school board members at this week’s meeting. She explained some tactics being used to combat high absenteeism.
The chronic absenteeism rate, a widely used measure in education, shows the percentage of students absent 10% or more days in the school year.
In Cherry Hill public schools in 2024-25, the latest year available, the rate for Cherry Hill pre-K students was 23.5% compared with a statewide average of 29.9%, according to the New Jersey Education Department School Performance Reports.
Overall, the district’s rate was 14%, slightly less than the state average of 14.4%. However, 25.8% of all high school seniors were chronically absent — more than the statewide average of 21%.
The district’s preschool social workers and other staff members have been working with parents to get the youngest children to attend school, Mahan said.
“They’ve really been acting almost as like a social service agency, which is really sometimes what our families need, making sure that they are connected to the appropriate resources that are available in the community to ensure that their child is able to get to school on a daily basis,” she told board members.
Sometimes it is as simple as greeting students at the bus or as they’re exiting the family car in the morning or providing extra attention during the school day, she said.
“But we’ve also had some tough conversations like, this really matters,” Mahan said. “When you were in a private preschool location, maybe it was OK to take a vacation that second week, because it was more convenient and a little bit cheaper for families. But really expect your preschooler, if they’re enrolled in the program, to be in school.”
She said the focus has resulted in reducing the chronic absenteeism rates among the preschoolers.
Mahan joked that when schools open on Wednesday she looks forward to welcoming the Class of 2041.
Pre-K enrollment has increased sharply in Cherry Hill and some other districts as former Gov. Phil Murphy and Gov. Mikie Sherrill have supported free and expanded access to early childhood education.
Cherry Hill and other districts have had to rely heavily on private providers to help take on the growing enrollment as parents shift from privately paid to publicly funded preschool. The district has two district preschool locations and uses nine private providers.
With its expansion to 11 sites last year, the district was able to clear the initial wait list, Mahan said. All 559 students who applied for a pre-K seat were accepted, so the district opened up the list to additional families. A total of 93 applied and the district could offer spots for 34.
In the new school year, nearly 900 preschoolers have been offered spots. The total will include 740 general education seats, 55 preschool inclusion seats, and 96 disabled student seats, Mahan said.
The district’s program has grown from 17 classrooms after preschool expansion was announced in 2023 to 53 classrooms in the 2026-27 school year.
Mahan said the goal is to eventually expand to a projected 1,700 seats — more than a 90% increase over this coming year’s group. She said 110 classrooms will be needed to accommodate the enrollment.
The district’s private providers for the new school year are Adventure Kids, Cadence Academy, Discovery Corner, Goddard School, KinderCare, Lightbridge Academy. Primrose School, Chesterbrook Academy of Voorhees, Mosaic Early Learning of Oakland. The two in-district locations are at Kilmer Elementary School and the Malberg Early Childhood Center.
“Children who participate in early childhood education programs generally enter kindergarten with stronger foundational skills,” Mahan told the board. “The research in early childhood education states that early learning environments foster essential language skills, early literacy, and basic math concepts,” she said.
Supervision of curriculum and teaching at all 11 locations is important to the preschool program, she explained.
“It is imperative that we have consistency across all of our locations. So when we speak about our preschool private provider locations and our in-district locations, we talk about consistency across all of our guidelines, our curriculum,” Mahan said.
70and73.com is a hyperlocal news site focused on South Jersey, including the communities of Cherry Hill, Evesham, Mount Laurel, Voorhees, Medford, Medford Lakes, and Moorestown.
The Camden school district has dropped its longtime mandatory school uniform policy at its five high schools.
Instead of wearing uniforms that included khaki pants and a shirt based on their school colors, students returning to school on Sept. 3 will have a dress code that allows more flexibility but bans durags, bonnets, hair rollers and curlers, pajamas, and revealing clothing.
Superintendent Alfonso Q. Llano Jr. said the decision was made after feedback from students and staff in the South Jersey school system. Elementary and middle school students will continue to wear uniforms. In a social media post earlier this month, the district explained the decision as a response to students who expressed “desire for greater opportunities to express themselves through their clothing while maintaining a safe learning environment.”
High school will also start an hour earlier at 8:05 a.m. and run until 2:25 p.m. The district said the earlier time aligns with national start times and better meets the needs of students who work after school or have extracurricular activities.
The new dress code has drawn mixed reaction from students and staff. It will impact students at the district’s two traditional high schools, Camden High and Eastside High, and three magnet schools, Dr. Charles E. Brimm Medical Arts High, Creative Arts High, and the Big Picture Learning Academy.
“I think it’s a good idea. It allows students to break the mode, creates more creativity,” said Odalys Dejesus, 17, a rising senior at Eastside. “It’s a good step forward.”
Former school board member Jose E. Delgado said the uniform policy was established more than two decades ago to improve security by making it easier to identify students entering buildings, curb bullying, and stop students from wearing gang colors.
Delgado and others who served on the board that adopted the uniform policy have asked state Department of Education Commissioner Lily Laux to review whether Llano followed procedures for switching to a dress code.
“It makes no sense,” Delgado said. “The uniform policy was working.”
A state education department spokesman said the dress code policy was a local matter. Camden has been a state-operated district since 2013.
State superintendent Alfonso Q. Llano Jr. speaks during the Camden City board of education regular meeting in Camden on Tuesday, April 21, 2026.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Delgado believes the dress code policy is too subjective and can be interpreted differently by school leaders. He also worries about enforcement.
“The teachers are not going to enforce this,” Delgado said. “They have enough problems.”
Camden Education Association President Pam Clark said she supported the new policy for high school students only.
“I’m for the district giving the students a chance to wear their regular clothes,” Clark said. “However, the students need to know there will be consequences if they do not come to school presentable.”
The policy also bans open-toe shoes, most face coverings like ski masks, baseball hats, short shorts and mini-skirts, and baggy pants with underwear showing. Hoodies are allowed but the hood must be removed when the student enters the building.
The policy calls for progressive disciplinary action for violators, beginning with a warning, and possibly escalating to in-school suspension and a meeting with a parent or guardian for repeat offenders.
Last year, then-acting Superintendent Davida Coe-Brockington said the district would enforce a long-standing policy banning students from wearing all-black outfits at the Camden High campus.
Interim state-appointed Camden school Superintendent Davida Coe-Brockington.Camden school district
The complex houses four separate wings, and students were assigned shirt colors based on their school. Coe-Brockington said the all-black outfits made it difficult for staff to easily identify which school a student attends.
Karen Borrelli, a veteran health and physical education teacher at Brimm, does not support the move to a dress code. She said the uniforms gave the schools identity, especially at the Camden High campuses. Some parents depended on district-issued vouchers to purchase uniforms, she said.
“They don’t have the money to get outfits and keeping up with the Jones,” Borelli said referring to possible peer pressure students may face to wear the latest fashions. “Our parents can’t afford that.”
Llano said students may still opt to wear uniforms. Borrelli expressed doubt that they would because they would stand out.
“The focus shouldn’t be on what they are wearing to school, but on academics,” Borrelli said. “It’s going to be a mess.”
Tuskegee University sparked a national debate earlier this year when president Mark Brown tackled the thorny issue of proper attire for students at the historically Black college.
Like Camden, Tuskegee banned students from wearing hair bonnets and durags, which customarily are worn to protect Black hairstyles while people sleep.
The Philadelphia school district leaves it to schools to set a dress code policy for students “so that their appearance does not constitute a health or safety hazard.”
Last school year, an uproar flared at Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts when female students complained they were unfairly flagged for dress code violations.
Students said they were told by administrators that the crackdown was imposed because men outside of school were following female students. The district said it would review the dress code policy.
Staff writer Kristen A. Graham contributed to this report.
Freedom Fuel stations quietly popped up in South Jersey earlier this summer — and then were less quietly touted by the White House for prices that were lower than other gas stations.
In early July, gas at some Freedom Fuel stations was $3.47 a gallon. The 47 was a nod to President Donald Trump.
But it turns out before the White House shouted them out, the owners of six South Jersey Freedom Fuel locations had been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for a variety of environmental violations.
Along with the six Freedom Fuel stations, those fined include 11 others, all owned by asset manager Blue Owl Capital and operated by a Cherry Hill developer and his brother.
The United States needs a “food revolution,” Sen. Cory Booker said during a swing through South Jersey Thursday.
“What’s stupid is that we’re sitting here talking about the cost of healthcare and how to pay for it, but not why we need so much healthcare in the first place,” the New Jersey Democrat said during a speech for a Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey luncheon at the Westin Mount Laurel.
The country should better support small farmers, Booker said, while he decried that the majority of agricultural subsidies go toward crops that are turned into ultra-processed foods, rather than fruits and vegetables.
He also visited Cathedral Kitchen in Camden, where he packed sandwiches alongside the nonprofit community kitchen’s volunteers.
A Camden man suffering a serious and ultimately fatal asthma attack was turned away at Cooper University Hospital during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospital secretly paid his family $15 million, NJ.com reports.
Some Jersey towns squandered millions of dollars of opioid settlement funds that were meant for drug prevention and education, as NJ.com uncovered.
Clover Meat Market in Burlington Township closed recently but has already reopened under new ownership, according to the Courier-Post.
A Monmouth County farm planned a Dolly Parton corn maze months ago. With her death, it has taken on new meaning. The owners posted a photo of it on Instagram.
Not many advocated bringing bars or liquor stores to Ocean City, but there was some sentiment for BYOB.
The best case for remaining dry:For years I wanted BYOs but lately the old charm of this town seems to be drifting away. I have little doubt that the OC would lose its unique identity. It should remain a dry town.
The best case for BYOB: I think it would be nice if Ocean City was at least a BYOB. So many wonderful restaurants, but we just don’t go for that exact reason.
What do you think? Do you prefer it to stay as is or do you wish you could at least bring a bottle of wine to a restaurant? Let us know what you think by replying to Down the Shore.
📸 Photo of the week
Chef Liz Grothe of Scampi returns to the dock in Sea Isle City after an afternoon of crabbing at the Jersey Shore on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
