On the heels of the tragic school shooting in Ohio that left three students dead and two others injured in its wake, the fruitless “dance” will once again begin. Well-intentioned people, misguided as always, will clamber over one another to get to the underlying reasons for the tragedy. They’ll search for concrete “answers” in order [...]

Yes – but not the way you might think Growing up in Kearny, I can honestly say I’ve felt safe and protected, regardless of what part of town I was in or what I was doing. That’s why after reading an article via Kearny on the Web, I was stunned that an Associated Press (AP) [...]

The Observer would like to apoligize to Larry Maleszewski. In last week’s story, “St. Patrick’s Day parade expects record turnout” from Page 2, we credited the Miss New Jersey Education Foundation for his photo of Parade Grand Marshal Laurence Bennet and Dep. Grand Marshal Michael O’ Donnell. The photo credit should read, “Photos of last [...]

I just read an interesting report. It seems the newest wave of electric cars are moving off of showroom floors at a rate that makes a glacier seem quick by comparison. To put it bluntly, sales are tanking. The buying public is showing these oddly silent vehicles about as much respect as they did comedian [...]

To the editor: Once again, the residents of Belleville have received requests from the police and fire unions for donations to their unions. This reader wonders why? The request from the police union indicated the money will be used for the little league PBA team, high school programs, food baskets and to help with the [...]

Around this time every year, I always end up asking myself the same question, why can’t the day after Super Bowl be a national holiday? I know I’m not the only one who thinks this, as nearly seven million Americans annually conjure up the best excuse they can just so they can lay in bed [...]

Most of us know Valentine’s Day as the annual February 14 celebration of romantic love. That it certainly is. But what many don’t know is how it began or why we still celebrate it. I could bore you with obscure historical details and endless factual minutiae, but that would be about as much fun as [...]

While writing “Out and About” pieces during the summer, I stopped in to see the 3-D version of “Green Lantern,” the summer blockbuster featuring Ryan Reynolds. While the film itself was good, I’ve never quite understood the hoopla about 3-D movies. Don’t get me wrong; seeing planets, stars, and space debris flying all around you [...]

It spread across the news outlets like free beers at a “kegger.” Four American Marines had done the unthinkable to the corpses of Taliban fighters who had once opposed them. If you missed it, suffice to say that, in a final show of supremacy, our boys indignantly trained their “weapons” on the combatants’ dead carcasses, [...]

No, I’m not talking about me. I’ve become accustomed to the rigors of the journalism world. I had a teacher once tell me that, “journalism has no hours,” but I digress. Escaping the hassle of work has become nearly impossible with the onslaught of advances in technology. I hear it every day when I go [...]