This is the kind of exhibit you'll want to spend hours enjoying: The Newark Public Library will showcase original photos, iconic photo-books and select photo journals from the late 19th century to the present day. The exhibit is called Photographic Books and Prints from the Special Collections of the Newark Public Library, and is on view from January 20 through March 20.

It's quite an archive on display here: rare issues of Camera Work; a portfolio of 20 photogravures by Paul Strand and original photographs and photo-books by Diane Arbus, Margaret Bourke-White, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Roy DeCarava, Elliott Erwitt, Robert Frank, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Edwin Hale Lincoln, Gordon Parks, Sebastiao Salgado, Weegee and others.

With 1,174 residents per square mile, it is the most densely populated state in the country. Its "Meadowlands" is not known for wildlife diversity, but rather football diversity (the only stadium home to two NFL teams). The longest hike many visitors may take is along Atlantic City's neon-lit boardwalk. In short, New Jersey is probably better known for providing habitat to "The Sopranos" than to species.

Yet even this most urban of states provides the latest reminder of how important conservation is to Americans, evident with the approval of the state-wide Green Acres conservation bond this past November 3.

In an election where the incumbent governor who supported the Green Acres bond lost, and the "economy" and "taxes" were the runaway top-two issues cited by voters in exit polls, this $400 million conservation bond received 53 percent of New Jersey voters' support.

A massive project to restore a wildlife habitat in the Meadowlands has raised fears of increased bird strikes at nearby Teterboro Airport, which already has the highest rate of hits in the region.

The Federal Aviation Administration said more migratory birds would be drawn to the 250-acre plot of wetlands in the Richard P. Kane Natural Area, creating a "threat to public safety."

Teterboro averaged five bird strikes per 10,000 landings and departures last year, more than double the rate at Newark Liberty International and La Guardia airports, according to an analysis by The Record. Teterboro's 651 recorded bird strikes since 2000 is more than any airport in the region except John F. Kennedy — despite having hundreds of thousands fewer departures and arrivals.

New Jersey has more governmental entities than just about any place of the planet. And we must like it because in the 30 years I have been on this we have only zeroed out ONE TOWN. What follows below is a primer on how we got here and a deeper look at some of the unintended consequences of homerule.

After hearing passionate testimony from differing views on the annual county-run deer hunt in South Mountain Reservation, Maplewood's Township Committee voted to go forward with the deer hunt. Reflecting concerns about the hunt, Maplewood Mayor Vic De Luca voted cast the sole dissenting vote.

Officials painted the hunt as regrettable but necessary. The deer, they emphasized, are overpopulated and consequently tearing apart the forest's flora and fauna. Officials and supporters presented evidence demonstrating how plant life has dramatically improved as a result of controlling the deer population and other efforts by government workers and volunteers.

State Police aviation units rescued an 82-year-old hiker who apparently suffered a heart attack today in a wooded section of Passaic County, authorities said.

Members of the State Police's Aviation Unit air lifted the victim, who has not been identified, from a wooded area behind Snake Den Road in Ringwood earlier today, according to Capt. Gerald Lewis Jr.

Essex County sheriff's officers have stepped up patrols in the South Mountain Reservation after the discovery of animal carcasses possibly used in a religious rite, the second such find in a week.

The latest discovery came Monday shortly after 11 a.m. when sheriff's officers on routine patrol discovered badly decomposed animal remains -- possibly those of a dog -- dumped at the end of a trail at Crest Drive, said Kevin Lynch, a spokesman for Sheriff Armando Fontoura.

Generations of children who made the pilgrimage to Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange used to be confined to the first floor of the main laboratory where Edison punched in at a time clock for 80-hour weeks and took naps on a small bed in his library.

Now, for the first time, the Steinway & Sons piano, tickled perhaps by Edison himself, is in full view. So, too, are the famed inventor's "talking machine" and recording devices. Portraits of the premier voices of the day — tenor Walter Van Brunt among them — line the walls. Many of the artifacts locked away for decades in the museum's vaults have been restored and moved back into the rooms they once occupied.

Along the shores of Branchport Creek in Oceanport, residents swim, fish and boat in what looks to be an idyllic setting. But a closer inspection of the water there after a hard rain as recently as a year ago would have turned up some nasty findings -- fecal matter from the nearby Monmouth Park racetrack.

Although some interim measures have temporarily stopped the messy runoff, officials from Oceanport and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority say they have hammered out a $21.5 million deal designed to be a more permanent solution.

You no doubt have seen views of Manhattan from Eagle Rock Reservation. And you've seen hawks, even if you couldn't tell a kite from a sharpie. But if you haven't climbed the incredibly steep, narrow stairs to the Montclair Hawk Watch on Edgecliff Road and stepped onto a ledge that feels worthy of receiving the Ten Commandments, you haven't really seen the views and the hawks that Montclair has to offer.

Annette went back in 2006. Fran and I went yesterday. Although the sky was a piercing blue it seemed to the sky experts we encountered a little hazy. The clouds, though, were good, as Hawk Watch coordinator Else Greenstone pointed out. It makes it easier to spot the birds.

Tired of living in the shadow of Manhattan and Philadelphia advertising firms, marketing and public relations agencies and media businesses in New Jersey agree they need to brand the state as a worthy market for advertising dollars.

But first the industry must put competition and geographical separation aside to define why advertisers would want to skip the Madison Avenue firms.

If you have any faith in the prediction powers of cockroaches, Jon Corzine will win November's gubernatorial election.

A giant hissing Madagascar cockroach representing the Democrat easily beat the one representing his Republican rival today as more than six hundred of the state's pest management professionals gathered for an annual meeting on the Cook College campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

- Two environmental groups announced at the former National Lead site in Sayreville today they have filed a federal lawsuit against 11 parties representing seven public and private entities, over pollution in and around Raritan Bay.

The non-profits, Edison Wetlands Association and NY/NJ Baykeeper are suing National Lead Industries, Sayreville's Economic and Redevelopment Agency, O'Neill Properties Group, Sayreville Seaport Associates, Middlesex County, the Turnpike Authority and New Jersey Department of Transportation.

The aerial bombardment will be first, with herbicides sprayed by helicopter. Next, long-necked excavators will tear apart whatever is left. Channels will be dug. Berms will be heaped high. That's the battle plan to eradicate what some call the kudzu of the Meadowlands — invasive, life-choking reeds — from 250 acres of wetlands.

Once the reeds, known as phragmites or common reeds, are removed, wetlands specialists will plant more than a million plugs of spartina grass, along with bulrush, spike rush, swamp aster and water hemp. They hope it will attract more migrating birds and provide better habitat for spawning fish.

The ambitious project along the Hackensack River in Carlstadt aims to rebuild these wetlands. The goal is to turn an ecologically moribund corner of the Meadowlands into a vibrant habitat offering a place for hiking, birding and kayaking.

NOTE: Story contains video

Girdling the waist of New Jersey like a shimmering sash is a historical and natural wonder whose fame is long overdue.

It is the Delaware & Raritan Canal. It was the busiest and most important canal that most people never heard of and is now the busiest state park and longest bike trail that many people don't know.

Sometimes called the "mystery canal" because few documents survive of its building and century of service, the D&R Canal is finally getting some respect. This summer, a series of anniversary programs will promote the canal credited with bringing the Industrial Revolution to New Jersey and the unique park it has become.

A New Jersey brewery is using the state's congested and often-derided turnpike to promote its beer, an idea that concerns the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and a group that opposes drinking and driving.

Flying Fish Brewing Co.has undertaken an ambitious project of releasing a special beer in honor of turnpike exits, one at a time.

For years, day trippers have flocked to the Jersey Shore to lay on the beach and soak up the sun and surf.

But there's now a new visitor heading to the shore: ecotourists who, experts say want to experience nature rather just observe it. And their desire to hike trails, climb rocks, spot birds or watch whales and dolphins is starting to translate into big dollars for local economies.

The peregrine falcon, which had been completely wiped out east of the Mississippi River by the early 1960s because of the pesticide DDT, is making a strong recovery in urban areas, and has been spotted this spring perched on three bridges that span the Hackensack River in Bergen County.

About three dozen students from four schools in the city took wooden canoes they crafted from blank pieces of wood, and caste them on the murky waters of the Passaic River this weekend as the culmination of a program that taught them math, history, environmental science and carpentry skills.

Their excitement quickly turned into nervousness as they worried whether their hand-crafted vessels would hold their weight.

"I've never been in a boat. If we fall, I can't swim," said a clearly worried Jazmine Serrano, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from William H. Brown Academy.

But she said she also couldn't pass up the chance to try a boat she helped make from scratch.

A resident shot a man last night when the would-be intruder tried to enter a home in the Deserted Village of Feltville, authorities said.

The shooting in the secluded section of Watchung Reservation occurred around 9 p.m. on Cataract Hollow Road, Union County Police Chief Dan Vaniska said. He said the victim, whose name and address were not available, was taken to Morristown Memorial Hospital and was listed in stable condition.

It was a typical Saturday morning in South Orange's Cameron Field Park. There was sunshine, friends, bagels — and rubber gloves and heavy-duty rain boots.

About 50 residents including Seton Hall University students, members of the Pure Progress campaign, and local business owners met for the Main Street South Orange annual Rahway River Clean-up. The volunteers grabbed a quick bite, threw on rubber gloves and went to work to help beautify South Orange's section of the Rahway River.

The two Morris County men who staged a series of UFO hoaxes earlier this year were brought down to earth in Morris Plains municipal court today.

Municipal Judge Michael Carlucci fined Chris Russo, 29, of Morris Plains, and Joe Rudy, 28, of Chester, $250 each and sentenced the two to 50 hours of community service for creating a disturbance.

The relicensing last week of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, the nation's oldest nuclear power plant, guarantees that nuclear energy is here to stay in New Jersey, for at least a few more decades, even as state officials continue to push alternative sources of energy.

The Garden State draws about 53 percent of its electricity from four nuclear plants -- a reliance on nuclear energy far above the national average of about 20 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Along with Oyster Creek in Lacey Township, which was cleared by federal regulators for a new license on Thursday to operate another 20 years, the state's electricity flows from the Hope Creek and the twin Salem Creek reactors in Salem County.

Plant regeneration is not a hot water-cooler topic. Not likely to spark a heated dinner table discussion. But don't tell Philip Notestine it's not exciting.

The chairman of the Mountain Lakes' Woodlands Management Committee is ecstatic there are signs that plant life is improving in the forest of his suburban Morris County town. He credits the start of restoration of natural areas to his town's decision to hunt the local white-tail deer herd.

"We saw woodlands not re-generating, song birds and forest understory disappearing," said Notestine. "The deer were destroying the forest. Something had to be done."

Once touted as a key economic engine for North Jersey, the Meadowlands Xanadu project is on the rocks with retail tenants balking, a delayed opening, and a key lender defaulting. As a result, Meadowlands Xanadu officials had to announce that much of the construction had to be suspended.

Now, Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) has jokingly made a proposal: scrap the whole thing - indoor ski slope and all - and turn it into a piece of modern art.

President Obama signed legislation today designating the Great Falls in Paterson as a national park, which provides additional federal protections for the 77-foot waterfall.

The lush area in Passaic just 15 miles from Manhattan is home to the second highest waterfall on the East Coast. The National Park Service had initially declined to add Great Falls to the national park list two years ago, but local advocates including Paterson-native U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-8th Dist.), pressed the case.

Today is the one-year anniversary of the death of Dith Pran, the survivor of Cambodia's Killing Fields and battler of genocide who was also a photographer for The Times, based in New Jersey. He took dozens of pictures for The Times of Maplewood, Millburn and South Orange.

Rewards are being offered for information about a spate of brush fires that have broken out recently in Harding Township, Morris County.

No one has been injured in any of the blazes, which have all occurred within the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge off Pleasant Plains Road in Harding Township. Four fires have been reported since last month, including three within the past week.

The 161-year-old Willow Hall in Morristown, once the home of industrialist George Vail, had been on Morris County's top 10 list of endangered historic sites. But it is no longer endangered.

The house and 6-acre tract was bought by Filippone's Passaic River Coalition last year to be the new headquarters of the environmental organization.

Now, they are moving ahead with a series of lofty goals: to renovate the house and restore the property, get the site national and international historic recognition, make it a local and county public asset, while making the house the centerpiece of an environmental educational program.

[NJ] State police plan to haul submerged cars out of the Hackensack River next month in an effort to rid the waterway of an environmental hazard and prosecute those who abandoned the vehicles.

Troopers from the State Police Marine Services spent this week locating cars and trucks using sonar and guidance from environmental advocates.

They are cunning and ferocious, but the mysterious feral pigs of New Jersey were no match for the state's top predators: hunters.

State wildlife officials report that 56 of the bristly-coated swine -- more than half the estimated population -- were killed in December and January in the first New Jersey feral pig hunt in the wilds of Gloucester County.

There are more farms in New Jersey than 40 years ago, but a U.S. Agriculture Department census found Garden State farmers have less land to work.

The department's 2007 census shows state farm acreage has dropped 9 percent to 733,450 acres in 2007 from 805,682 acres in 2002.

As 2008 drew to a close, so did an era of newspaper reporting in New Jersey, as Editor and Publisher chronicled so poignantly in its cover story in the December issue and online. The impact of The Star-Ledger's decline is being felt throughout the state. Here at the ACLU of New Jersey, we've already suffered the consequences of the paper's "shrinking" pains.

The reality of the paper's situation hit me in October when the Star-Ledger failed to cover a story concerning three young men who were roughed up by the Newark Police. In the past, the paper consistently covered stories about our police-practices lawsuits and assigned reporters to both thesState and Newark police beats. Those days are gone.

The loss of more than 150 news staff that left The Star-Ledger under the buyout leaves a chasm in state and local democracy that won't easily be filled.

For more than 20 years, a 292-acre property in Clinton Township was a key battleground in New Jersey's sprawl wars.

Environmentalists saw it as a vital buffer to a major reservoir.

Residents saw one last open tract needed to protect the rural aesthetic they cherished.

Builders saw a wonderful opportunity to provide housing in great demand, a place to build up to 1,000 houses for commuters near Route 78. They would call it Windy Acres.

Years of marathon meetings and lawsuits failed to resolve the issue. Then, the housing market crashed.

For a second year in a row, sharpshooters will help thin the deer population in a 2,000-acre northern New Jersey land preserve.

Last spring, volunteer marksmen in Essex County killed 213 of an estimated 300 to 400 white-tail deer in the South Mountain Reservation.

The nature preserve borders hundreds of high-priced homes in the thick of the country's most crowded state.

What would New Jersey look like if every human being suddenly vanished?

Over time, miles of unused roads would be uprooted by trees, as unrestrained forests grew. Patchy grasslands would swallow contaminated industrial sites and local wildlife would gradually find new dwellings in once thriving urban areas.

It's a post-human scenario not too different from an area of Jersey City's Liberty State Park, according to researchers at Rutgers-Newark.

The NJ Star Ledger highlights the best in NJ photojournalism for the year 2008

In 1779, George Washington's Continental Army spent a cold winter at Jockey Hollow, a spot that seemed to offer safety from British attack. Today, it remains an impregnable redoubt -- not for soldiers but for white-tail deer.

The hollow, part of the Morristown National Historical Park, is the federal hole in the doughnut of a regional effort to deal with an overpopulation of deer, standing alone among its southern Morris County and northern Somerset County neighbors in prohibiting hunting.

But the New Jersey Audubon Society and the Morris County Park Commission, concerned about the ravaging of the forests by the exploding deer population, are teaming up to pressure the federal government to change its policy at Jockey Hollow. They will formally ask federal officials to deal with the deer situation and hope to enlist neighboring towns to join the effort.

The Devils hockey team does not plan to pay the first year's rent on the $375 million Prudential Center, and in fact they maintain the Newark Housing Authority owes them nearly $800,000 due to delays in completing the arena.

The authority, which owns the year-old arena, had expected to receive a multimillion-dollar rent payment by Sept. 30, but extended the deadline until two days ago, at the team's request.

The team owners delivered 12 pages of letters and calculations to the authority stating their lease allowed them to deduct nearly $2.2 million, due in part to delays in building the arena and completing construction on the land around it.

Taking that deduction into account, the authority owes the team $791,530, according to a letter from Gordon Lavalette, an executive vice president with the team.

In these tough economic times it's not unusual for businesses to close.

The Atlantic League is no exception.

After Friday's stunning announcement that the Newark Bears will cease operations, the Atlantic League and the city of Newark will have to make some tough decisions.

Right now, there are no Newark Bears. Owner Marc Berson it was time to shut the doors rather than lose money next season. Newark is one of the weaker teams in the Atlantic League in terms of attendance, averaging 2,764 a game in 2008, the second lowest on the circuit. It may not get better next year in the current economic climate.

Yet that doesn't mean Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium will be dark next season.

A Union County man who went missing Sunday evening in cold of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was found early this morning, police said.

With overnight temperatures dipping into the lower 30s with patchy frost, firefighter found the man about 2 a.m. His condition was not immediately known.

A Union County man remains missing tonight after he wandered off a trail in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge earlier in the evening, officials said.

With overnight temperatures dipping into the lower 30s with patchy frost, Chatham Township Mayor Kevin Tubbs said rescuers are concerned for the man's health and safety, noting the hiker was unlikely to have brought much equipment.

Black bears in New Jersey are getting bolder as they search for food before hibernating for the winter.

As of Sept. 20, the state had recorded 2,155 bear complaints. That's up 84 percent from the same period a year go.

Greasy, garlicky, messy, runny, oily, chewy, cheesy, crunchy, filling and fattening.
Why do we love pizza so much, when on paper, or a plate, it sounds so unappetizing?

If you have any faith in the prediction powers of cockroaches, John McCain will win November's presidential election.

A giant Madagascar hissing cockroach representing the Arizona senator easily beat the one representing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama today. The race was held during the New Jersey Pest Management Association's annual clinic and trade show in New Brunswick.

State officials hope to persuade a judge in Morristown this week to approve a proposal to distribute photographs and videos to nearly 1,700 brides and grooms left without wedding mementoes when Celebration Studios abruptly closed in January.

The state Division of Consumer Affairs in January filed a consumer fraud action against now-defunct Chester-based Celebration Studios, and got court orders to freeze its assets and impound wedding film, videos and DVDs for which couples contracted but never received. Most of the materials are in the form of unedited film footage, officials said.

When it comes to scientific research, Bell Laboratories' Holmdel campus remains one of the most famous addresses in the world.

This is where one of the most prolific technology innovators gave us cell phones, microwave ovens and the global wireless movement, arguably the most crucial communications development of the 20th century.

But these are different times.

Today, where Nobel laureates once advanced the debate over the formation of the universe, long vines stretch across the carpet in the building's atrium and a sole security guard walks around puddles of water when doing his rounds.

Bell Labs' big bang has been reduced to a stifled whimper.

Last year, a plan to demolish most of the mammoth structure and replace it with smaller office buildings and single-family homes on the 472-acre site in Monmouth County was introduced and soon abandoned under a wave of protest.

But now, Bell Labs, the once-magnificent campus considered too inflexible, too immured and too grand to save, has received a stay of execution and, if a new developer has his way, a second life.

The rivalry between two ice cream truck operators in Fair Lawn took a twist tonight when the vendor, who earlier accused his rival of attacking him, admitted he slashed himself before calling 911, police said.

As a result, Nabil Abdallah, 59, of Clifton, was charged with filing a false police report, Sgt. Brian Metzler said.

Garret Mountain in West Paterson, designated "an important bird area" by the National Audubon Society, is being threatened, environmental advocates say, according to a report in the Herald News.

The population of at least a dozen species at the preserve has dropped because of human encroachment, pollution, deer overpopulation and the growth of invasive plants, according to the local environmental group Friends of Garret Mountain, the paper reported.

A fenced-off, long-contaminated chunk of Liberty State Park is about to get a face-lift to become what federal and state officials are calling an urban wildlife refuge.

The $32 million project is not a cleanup. It's a green makeover, with 234 acres of wasteland in the middle of the 1,100-acre park getting remodeled into a mixture of freshwater wetlands, grasslands, hardwood forests and a salt-water marsh.

"The project could start as early as the next three to four months," said Col. Aniello Tortora of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers yesterday, as he joined a host of state and federal officials atop the Liberty Science Center's glass tower in Jersey City. The venue offered an unobstructed view of the property, which has been reclaimed by a mix of native and invasive trees and grasses since it was fenced off to the public decades ago.

The state Supreme Court ruled today that under the New Jersey Constitution an Internet user has the right to privacy in the subscriber information maintained by the individual's Internet service provider.

Ruling in the case of Shirley Reid, a Cape May County woman who was charged with hacking into her employer's computer system after police obtained her identity from Comcast by using a municipal court subpoena, the high court unanimously held law enforcement had the right to investigate her but should have, instead, used a grand jury subpoena.

The New Jersey state Supreme Court today dismissed a lawsuit filed by a woman injured by a ricocheting puck during the warm-up before a Trenton Titans' hockey game.

The court ruled 4-3 vote that the woman, Denise Sciarrotta, can't sue the franchise or the East Coast Hockey League for damages for the Jan. 3, 2003, incident.

Two men were released from police custody this morning after they took photos of Picatinny Arsenal Sunday afternoon, an incident that led to Route 15 in Morris County being shut for three hours last night.

Route 15 was closed in case there was "something hazardous in the vehicle," Phillips said.

The men told authorities a friend who grew up in the area asked them to take pictures to see how the area had changed, Phillips said.

"They looked at the laptop to see if there is anything suspicious," Phillips said. "Everything they told police checked out."

Despite a letter with the Dover mayor's signature on it accepting an offer to translate parts of the town's website into Spanish, Mayor James Dodd now says he is still opposed to the idea.

In a statement, Dodd said Tuesday night that he is "refusing to create a bilingual town website," and that the letter sent to the Rev. Daniel Martinez, who had offered translation service for free, does not express his true sentiments.

Marksmen killed more than half of the estimated deer population at a northern New Jersey nature preserve during a culling last month that was sharply criticized by some residents and animal rights activists.

Volunteer marksmen shot 213 of an estimated 300 to 400 white-tail deer in South Mountain Reservation, a 2,000-acre preserve that borders hundreds of high-priced homes in a crowded section of the nation's most densely populated state.

"This was a huge success," said Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr., adding that the county plans to continue the hunt for years to come. "There are hundreds and hundreds of deer still up there ... You just can't do it in one year."

DiVincenzo said the goal is to reduce the deer population — previously estimated by county officials to be between 300 to 400 — down to about 60 deer through annual hunts.

The hunt started Jan. 29 and was held on most Tuesdays and Thursdays through Feb. 28. It was designed to cull white-tailed deer, which reproduce quickly and have become a problem for many New Jersey communities because they ravage vegetation, cause traffic accidents and carry ticks that spread Lyme disease.

Many animal rights activists and some residents criticized the hunt, saying it was dangerous to be shooting near populated areas and that the county should try other options to control the deer population, such as birth control.

"It seems a little barbaric to be shooting guns relatively close to a populated area. The fact that no one got hurt doesn't change my opinion," said South Orange resident Ann Leenay.

DiVincenzo said he would meet soon with the animal rights activists to discuss the hunt results with them.

Hunters fired 250 shots to kill the 213 deer, said Dan Bernier, a consultant who has managed a similar hunt in Union County's Watchung Reservation and was hired by Essex County to help manage this one.

Of the deer killed, 88 were pregnant females — some with twins or triplets — that would have eventually given birth to 147 young deer, Bernier said. "That's a lot of deer that would have been running around here," Bernier said.

Most of the meat was donated to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, where it would provide over 30,000 meals to the needy and homeless people, officials said.

Hunters who logged a certain number of hours were allowed to take 40 pounds of meat.

One hundred years ago today, the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad opened for business with one mission – to get the passengers to and from the various railroad terminals on the Hudson County New Jersey side of the river to or from Manhattan who would otherwise have to take ferries. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the PATH, the Port Authority is giving free PATH rides today between 6AM and 11PM.

However, the real story of what became the PATH train starts back in the 1870s, so here's a look at the history behind the PATH.

The hunters gathered on Thursday at the glow of dawn on the icy slopes of South Mountain Reservation in Essex County. By sunrise, the thermometer had risen to 27 degrees and they were 30 feet up in tree stands, camouflaged and waiting.

Ranging in age from mid-30s to late 60s, the eight volunteer marksmen included a firefighter, two police officers, construction contractors and retirees. They would be rewarded, after eight half-day tours culling the overpopulated herd, with 40 pounds of venison apiece.

Thursday's hunt was the fifth of nine organized hunts over five weeks in a 2,047-acre park that was laid out by the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted, where county officials say that proliferating deer have endangered drivers and, as elsewhere in state parks, wounded the ecosystem. The unusual ring of gunfire in such a densely populated pocket of high-end suburbia is the first organized herd-culling in an Essex County park, and has spurred controversy among animal lovers and homeowners.

Sharpshooters killed 20 deer during the fourth day of the Essex County-sponsored deer hunt in South Mountain Reservation today, bringing the deer-culling total to 139, officials said.

The problem with being a "surprise team" in the National Hockey League is that the surprise eventually wears off and the club still is expected to win.

That's precisely the Devils dilemma as The Rock's own team confronts the second half of the season, starting with a home match against Buffalo on Tuesday night.

Only a very precious few prognosticators would have forecast last October that New Jersey would be leading the Atlantic Division at this point in time.

WWOR/channel 9 got a wake-up call that it's supposed to be a New Jersey TV station when the FCC held a hearing about the station's license renewal. Critics say the station's license shouldn't be renewed because it has failed to discuss NJ news and issues.

The station, owned by News Corporation whose local media holdings include WNYW/Channel 5 and the NY Post, was moved to NJ in 1986 due to FCC law that each state have a VHF channel. But, as the Star-Ledger reports, non-profit "Voice of New Jersey cites WWOR's own FCC "Service to New Jersey" reports indicating the station ran 1,354 New Jersey news stories between 1999 and 2006, an average of fewer than 170 stories a year, or one every two days." Not only that, most of the NJ stories that aired were "lurid, tabloid" stories about killings and crimes.

A former Mrs. New Jersey was arrested in Essex Fells for writing bogus checks to purchase more than $70,000 of antique furniture, authorities said today.

Heather "Hedy" L. Di Carlo, 36, was arrested Wednesday at her home on Fells Road by local police and investigators from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. The 2005 pageant winner posted her $25,000 bail several hours after detectives raided her house

Atlantic City Mayor Robert Levy resigned yesterday, two weeks after dropping out of sight amid reports that he was under investigation for embellishing his military service record and possibly receiving disability benefits he did not deserve.

Levy, 60, a Democrat and Vietnam vet who took office in January 2006, concluded that "public confidence is so eroded" that he decided to resign, his lawyer said yesterday. The lawyer, Edwin Jacobs, also confirmed that he was in discussions with the U.S. attorney over Levy's claims that he had received two awards, "neither of which appear to be supported," Jacobs said.

A mother tried to strangle her young daughter then ended her own life in the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge today, said Bill Koch, manager of the refuge based on police information.

The unidentified mother apparently thought she had successfully strangled her 10-year-old daughter in the Long Hill Township section of the refuge. She then killed herself. The method of death is unknown, Koch said.

Frustrated and confused Atlantic City residents have lately been asking "Where is the Mayor?"

Bob Levy, the Mayor of the New Jersey gambling mecca, went missing last week without notice, leaving a power vacuum in his absence.

A local business administrator, Domenic Cappella, recently proclaimed he was personally appointed acting Mayor by Levy himself before his strange disappearance, but has no proof of any agreement.

Residents demanded answers to the Mayoral mystery during a city council meeting Wednesday night.

Unfortunately, City Council members could shed little light on Levy's whereabouts.

The Sands Casino Hotel will come crashing down Oct. 18 in a spectacular implosion that will light up the nighttime sky and give the Boardwalk some Las Vegas-style pyrotechnical pizazz.

A six-minute fireworks display will build excitement before a series of controlled explosions rips through the 21-story hotel tower at 9:30 p.m. and brings it down in a giant cloud of dust and debris.

The Sands was in business for 26 years, but its dramatic demolition will reduce it to rubble in mere seconds. The old gaming hall, which closed for good on Nov. 11, is being razed to make way for a new $1.5 billion megaresort by Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment Inc.

Some council members will boycott opening over lack of city luxury box

The thousands of invitations for the grand opening of the Devils arena in downtown Newark have yet to be addressed and mailed.

The final touches of a city celebration meant to toast the largest public-private arena partnership in Newark's history are still being perfected and finalized.

But with four weeks to go, some city council members are planning to boycott the opening festivities at Prudential Center arena. It has nothing to do with their aversion to Bon Jovi, the Jersey band that will be rocking "The Rock" on Oct. 25.

They are upset about their luxury suite: They don't have one.

6 years later, fewer remembrances for horror we can't forget

In Westfield, weeds have taken over the brick walkways around the 9/11 memorial and heavy traffic exhaust has left its mark on the obelisk.

In Morris County -- where fundraising to expand the 9/11 county memorial is stalled for lack of interest -- visitors can no longer throw coins into the pool around the existing monument, custodians said, because the homeless went wading for change and "we were afraid somebody would drown."

Continental Airlines Inc. has decided to opt out of its deal for its name to appear on the home of the NBA's New Jersey Nets and the NHL's New Jersey Devils, the arena's owner said Tuesday.

The Meadowlands building has been called Continental Airlines Arena for 12 years, but the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority said it is hunting for a new company to put its name on what is now Continental Airlines Arena.

Divorce Lawyers Find Toll Records, Prove Spouses Lied About Whereabouts

There's some potentially troubling and telling news for all you motorists out there who may be taking the Turnpike for the worst crime in marriage: cheating on your significant other.

E-ZPass and other electronic toll collection systems are emerging as a powerful means of proving infidelity. That's because when your spouse doesn't know where you've been, E-ZPass does.

There are those in the environmental movement who measure progress in greenhouse gas emissions or pesticide use.

Meryl Frank measures it in empty seats.

She's the mayor of Highland Park, a small borough in Middlesex County, and for the past four years she has given a workshop at the annual New Jersey League of Municipalities Conference about the things towns can do to go green.

The first year, it attracted about 12 people -- mostly environmental advocates looking for someone to lobby. Then next year it was 30 people, including a few council members showed up. Then it was 40, and she started seeing fellow mayors.

This past year?

"The seats were full,"

How serious is Belmar about cracking down on noise after dark? Just ask Joseph Palermo, who was fined $572 for letting a woman ring the bell on his bicycle.

Of course, it was 1:45 a.m. and he had already been warned by police twice to stop.

A Jersey City woman made a shocking discovery on her lawn this morning when she noticed a military rocket launcher lying in the grass.

Niranjana Besai was leaving her house, located at 88 Nelson Street, to go to work just after 8 this morning when she spotted the launcher on her front lawn. She immediately called police.

Sources tell CBS 2 HD that the missile launcher appears similar to the kind that is capable of taking down an aircraft and that Besai's house is located along flight path for Newark Liberty International Airport.

Construction is moving along on the new Prudential Center in downtown Newark. Check out the progress as New Jersey Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek takes us on a tour. (Video by John Munson)

It was just six inches.

That was what made the difference at 4:40 a.m. yesterday as Gilberto Cantu, a truck driver from Texas, approached the New Jersey entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel in his big rig, loaded with bathtubs, toilets and plumbing fixtures. The truck was 13 feet 6 inches high. The tunnel has a height limit of 13 feet. Six inches can make a big difference.

Mr. Cantu drove the entire 1.5 miles of the tunnel from Weehawken, N.J., to Manhattan, tearing his way under the Hudson River in the tunnel's center tube and peeling back the roof of his tractor-trailer as if it were a tin can. No one was injured, but an undetermined number of decorative tunnel ceiling tiles were ripped off.

Check the photo!

New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi will be the first act to rock "The Rock," the state's newest arena, officials announced Wednesday.

The band will play several shows at the Prudential Center starting Oct. 26, said Pat Smith, a spokesman for AEG New York/New Jersey, part of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which is booking concerts and special events for the arena. The number of shows has not been determined, he said.

The $365-million arena, which will be home to the New Jersey Devils of the NHL, is under construction in downtown Newark. It can seat 19,500 for concerts.

The band, whose hits include "You Give Love a Bad Name," includes lead singer Jon Bon Jovi, a native of Sayreville.

The arena gets its name from Prudential Financial Inc., the Newark-based financial services and insurance giant whose symbol is the Rock of Gibraltar.

Tickets for Bon Jovi go on sale in mid-June.

___

On the Net:

http://www.bonjovi.com

http://www.prucenter.com

MAPLEWOOD, N.J. A bear wandered into a backyard in this North Jersey suburb Sunday morning and eluded state and local authorities for several hours by shimmying up a high tree.

Three Maplewood firefighters suffered smoke inhalation yesterday when a firetruck parked in a bay in their stationhouse caught fire and they put out the blaze, officials said.

Tissot and officer Michael Molnar found a broken window to the left of the door. The burglar had knocked over an ATM machine inside. Police searched the area, and minutes later, Lt. Steven Sarinelli found Holguinrojas near the eastbound side of the train station eating from a bag of pork rinds with bloodied hands.

More than 100 men have been charged with lewdness or sexual activity in South Mountain Reservation as part of a 15-month crackdown on gay trysts in the park, authorities said yesterday.

Certain areas in the Essex County park's 2,047 acres have long been known as gay meeting places, advertised on Web sites that even indicate which areas are less likely to be patrolled by police.

In Victorian Ocean Grove, cops' futuristic two-wheel transports are the talk of a button-down town. The newest police vehicle to patrol Ocean Grove is a two-wheeled, electric-powered, space-age marvel that seems incapable of more than a block of uninterrupted travel.

An Edison police officer facing charges of running naked from an off-duty car accident testified in his own defense yesterday, admitting that taking off his wet shorts to keep the car seat from getting wet was a foolish mistake

"One of the most foolish things I've done. I've regretted it the past 11 months. I've embarrassed myself, my family and the police department," Ioannis Mpletsakis said during the trial on charges that stemmed from the July 20, 2005, accident.

Seven Parsippany High School students will serve 5-day suspensions starting next Monday for setting up two MySpace.com accounts filled with photos and "vulgarities" about classmates and teachers, Interim Superintendent James Dwyer said today.

Feeling the heat, Assemblyman Peter Biondi (R-Somerset) said yesterday he is thinking hard about withdrawing a bill he introduced to limit anonymous speech on the Internet.

If you flew out of Newark Liberty International Airport last year, there was a one-in-four chance your plane left late. The on-time percentage for arrivals was even worse, with one in three flights landing late. For the second time in three years, Newark ranked dead last among the nation's busiest airports in terms of on-time arrivals, according to statistics released by the U.S. Department of Transportation yesterday. The airport ranked third from the bottom in terms of on-time departures.

The New Jersey Devils will play hockey in a new Newark arena starting in 2007 after posting a $100 million letter of credit with the city.

Move over, Bambi. Step aside, Thumper. The bulldozers are coming through. The state Department of Environmental Protection recently adopted regulations that codify the practice of permitting towns to build affordable housing on land that had been set aside as open space.

New Jersey is on the brink of becoming the first state in the nation to enact a law mandating a moratorium on its death penalty.

The Assembly yesterday gave final legislative approval to a bill that bans executions for a year to allow a commission to study the issue. Illinois is now the only state with a moratorium on executing death row inmates, but that ban was instituted by executive order in 2000 by then-Gov. George Ryan.

Maplewood crime scene yields no clues about victim's identity

Three additional bags filled with body parts were found dumped in South Mountain Reservation yesterday after a sheriff's officer discovered part of a human leg stuffed in a black garbage bag along South Orange Avenue in Maplewood.