ON THE GREEN: BUC BRIGADE CHEERS SENIORS
Clad in their graduation caps and gowns and surrounded by family and neighbors, Red Bank Regional High School seniors got a loud and literally moving sendoff Wednesday evening.
LITTLE SILVER: RBR SENIORS GET THEIR DAY
Superintendent Louis Moore, seen with Sophie Wright, wore his gown for eight hours as he individually walked each senior down a red carpet “Walk in Greatness.” Below, newly graduated Tyquann Crawford.
The sun was certainly shining down on the Red Bank Regional High School Senior Class on Friday, June 12. The staff, administration, senior advisors and parent volunteers planned a “Senior Day” event that was filled with moments of celebration for this resilient class.
VIRUS UPDATE: SANDY HOOK FEES RETURN
Lifeguards, along with entry fees, are returning to Sandy Hook, the National Park Service announced Friday.
FAIR HAVEN: KNOLLWOOD’S ROLLING SEND-OFF
Rory Buckley, a member of the eighth-grade class at Fair Haven’s Knollwood School, received her diploma at home Wednesday as part of a multi-day, rolling graduating ceremony.
LITTLE SILVER: RBR ROOF FIRE EXTINGUISHED
Little Silver volunteer firefighters quickly extinguished a fire on the roof of Red Bank Regional High School late Saturday afternoon.
ON THE GREEN: SENIORS BLANKETED IN LOVE
Teams of teachers and volunteers fanned out across the three sending towns of the Red Bank Regional High School district and beyond to shower surprise love and best wishes on the housebound members of the senior class Friday morning.
RED BANK: SAFE REOPENING TIPS FOR STORES
Non-essential retail business can resume, but customers won’t be allowed into shops under Murphy’s latest order. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
With non-essential retail operations permitted to partially re-open Monday, Red Bank officials plan to host a Zoom session for merchants “to clarify the evolving guidelines and restrictions” in the COVID-19 pandemic, the borough announced Wednesday night.
LITTLE SILVER: DALPRA RETIRING FROM RBR
Louis ‘Del’ DalPra on the sidelines in 2010. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Regional’s man of many caps, Louis ‘Del’ Dal Pra, is retiring.
This time, unlike his last attempt to leave a decade ago, it’s for real, he said.
VIRUS UPDATE: SANDY HOOK REOPENING MAY 9
A pedestrian and biking trail at Sandy Hook. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Gateway National Recreation Area at Sandy Hook will be partially reopened May 9, the National Park Service announced late Friday.
While group gatherings and swimming will be prohibited, visitors can use the park to fish, kayak, run, hike and bike – if they arrive before a 50-percent capacity limit is reached, that is.
RED BANK: VNA SALIVA TESTING SLATED
Saliva testing for COVID-19 is expected to be available in Red Bank next week, the Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey said Thursday.
The test, developed at Rutgers, is expected to help rapidly expand detection of the coronavirus-based illness.
VIRUS UPDATE: MURPHY REOPENING PARKS
A deer at Hartshorne Woods in Middletown last October. The park is to reopen Saturday following Murphy’s action. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Governor Phil Murphy rescinded his three-week shutdown of parks Wednesday while threatening to reverse course again if social-distancing guidelines are not maintained.
At his daily briefing on the COVID-19 crisis, Murphy also weighed in on an aborted plan by the Red Bank Regional board of ed to meet in person, saying his orders on public gatherings are the only ones that matter.
LITTLE SILVER: RBR REWORKS HEARING PLAN
Contractors installing a new roof at RBR last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Regional High has rescheduled a planned live, in-person budget hearing previously slated for Wednesday night.
In a note posted on the district website late Wednesday morning, Superintendent Lou Moore said the meeting would be rescheduled for May 6, and will be held electronically “to respect everyone’s right to participate.”
LITTLE SILVER: RBR SETS IN-PERSON HEARING
Members of the public arriving for an RBR budget hearing in March, 2019. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Regional High, the first school in New Jersey to shut down over concerns about COVID-19, plans to hold a live, in-person board of ed meeting Wednesday night.
The session at the Little Silver school appears to conflict with Governor Phil Murphy’s “stay-home” order issued last month.
VIRUS UPDATE: MURPHY PICKS ‘RESTART’ TEAM
Governor Phil Murphy unveiling his Restart and Recovery Commission Tuesday. (YouTube screengrab. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Governor Phil Murphy spent much of his daily briefing on the COVID-19 crisis Tuesday talking about ways to emerge from it and restart the New Jersey economy.
Still, he steered clear of setting dates, and appointed a 21-member commission to advise him on the matter.
VIRUS UPDATE: MURPHY MAPS ‘ROAD BACK’
Governor Phil Murphy at Monday’s crisis briefing. Below, a summary of his “Restart and Recovery” plan. (YouTube screengrab. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Governor Phil Murphy outlined a strategy for releasing New Jersey from the five-week-old COVID-19 near lockdown Monday.
Rather than specific dates, he set loose benchmarks for testing, contact tracing and more to prevent a resurgence of disease before he lifts a “stay home” executive order he issued March 21.
RBR SENIOR PHOTO SHOW GOES VIRTUAL
‘Unless,’by Gus Rojas of Red Bank. Below, the poster for the event, by Chloe Rosen of Little Silver, lists the participating students. (Click to enlarge)
(Press release from Red Bank Regional High)
The Red Bank Regional commercial photo majors are holding their annual senior show as an online exhibit through Instagram and Facebook.
VIRUS UPDATE: LOWEST DEATH TOLL IN WEEKS
By JOHN T. WARD
For the first time in nearly a month, Governor Phil Murphy’s administration reported fewer than 100 new deaths related to COVID-19 Sunday.
VIRUS UPDATE: MORE PROGRESS REPORTED
A crushing need for ventilators envisioned earlier this month under a possible worst-case scenario has not occurred, and demand has begun to ease, officials said. (Source: COVID19.nj.gov. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
New Jersey officials disclosed another day of encouraging data in the war on COVID-19 Saturday.
“It wasn’t that long ago that we were talking about a worst-case scenario” of some 36,000 residents needing hospitalization in a short time frame, swamping the healthcare system, Governor Phil Murphy said said at his daily briefing on the pandemic.
VIRUS UPDATE: CRISIS SHOWS MORE TAPERING
Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli warned New Jersey residents that household cleaning products should not be “ingested or injected.” (April 20 pool photo by Kevin Sanders. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
While the deaths of 252 more New Jerseyans were added to the COVID-19 toll Friday, state officials pointed to what they saw as 10 days of encouraging data in the fight to tame the crisis.
“There’s no question things are getting better,” said Governor Phil Murphy, but “we’re not out of the woods yet.”
VIRUS UPDATE: MORE FLATTENING SEEN
Delicate tree blossoms added spritzes of color to the greenery along Lake Avenue on the Red Bank-Fair Haven border Thursday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
New Jersey’s ongoing battle to quell the COVID-19 pandemic “has worked incredibly well,” a top health official at Rutgers University said Thursday.
At the same time, Governor Phil Murphy emphasized the need to ramp up testing for the coronavirus so the infection can be further managed.
VIRUS UPDATE: DATA POINTS TO IMPROVEMENT
A lovely sunset on Harding Road in Red Bank Tuesday evening served up a reminder that springtime continues without regard to the pandemic. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
With many measures showing improvement in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Phil Murphy began laying the groundwork Wednesday for New Jersey’s defense against a second wave in coming months.
VIRUS UPDATE: RECORD DEATHS REPORTED
Though Fair Haven’s parks remain open, the basketball hoops at Sportsman’s Field are wrapped in plastic fencing to prevent usage. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Governor Phil Murphy reported the single greatest loss of life in New Jersey’s battle against COVID-19 Tuesday.
At the same time, officials “continue to see a trend emerging” of stabilizing strains on the healthcare system, he said at his daily briefing on the pandemic.
RED BANK: CHEERING TRINITY HALL SENIORS
A procession of vehicles made its way through Red Bank Tuesday morning, stopping outside the homes of all seniors from Trinity Hall high school in Tinton Falls to cheer them on with horn toots and lawn signs.
On board a school bus in the parade was the school mascot, practicing social distancing like the students themselves, kept home by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
VIRUS UPDATE: CARE FACILITY DATA RELEASED
The Atrium at Navesink Harbor, at center and right, has seen four COVID-19-related resident deaths, the state health department reported. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Several key measures showed continued improvement in the battle against COVID-19, Governor Phil Murphy said Monday.
Meantime, his administration began releasing data showing the pandemic’s impact on individual longterm care facilities, including 8 deaths in Red Bank.
RED BANK: GOOD STUDY-AT-HOME WEATHER
In this video posted on YouTube Sunday, Red Bank public school teachers and staffers offer upbeat reminders to students to wash their hands and check their emails for class assignments and other updates.
The weather outlook for the Greater Red Bank Green isn’t as upbeat, with gray skies and cool temperatures expected Monday. Then again, conditions for focussing on school work should be ideal. Check out the extended National Weather Service forecast below.