Local restaurant chef to compete on cable show
La Isla Restaurant in Hoboken will be featured on the Food Network’s Throwndown with Bobby Flay on Wednesday, March 17 at 9 p.m.
The episode will feature Iron chef Bobby Flay against La Isla’s Chef Omar Giner as he tries to outdo Omar’s popular Stuffed French Toast with his own interpretation of this unique version of the classic breakfast dish.
La Isla has been in Hoboken for over 40 years and under the ownership of the Giner and Luis families since 1996. The 39-seat restaurant on lower Washington Street provides a unique combination of authentic Cuban cuisine and Omar’s Nuevo Latino interpretations.
For more, see this coming weekend’s Hoboken Reporter.
Kids to fight for their charter school
A rally to keep CREATE Charter School open was to be held on Wednesday, March 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the school’s auditorium, located at 164 Lembeck Ave. in Jersey City. The school was founded by former City Councilman Steve Lipski, and consists of the high school on Lembeck Avenue with 279 students and 94 students in the middle school on Canal Street in downtown Jersey City.
School officials will respond to Acting Education Commissioner Bret Schundler’s March 1, 2010 letter calling for the school to close on June 30 due to allegedly poor test scores and other deficiencies.
However, Lipski said he would like to have a meeting with Schundler in the near future to discuss puttting the school under “a probationary period to address mutual concerns in the best interests of its students,” he said.
Scholarships available
College-bound sons and daughters of police and other public safety officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians have one more week to apply for scholarship aid, according to Jerome Cala, Deputy Director of Jersey City Fire & Emergency Services and President of the 200 Club.
Daniel Becht, Scholarship Chair, said the original application deadline was March 1st but since so many schools were closed for snow days, the Club decided to allow extra time for students to submit the paperwork.
The new deadline is March 12.
To be eligible the student must have at least one parent actively serving in a branch of public safety in Hudson County, be a bona fide student of a private, public or parochial school, and expect to graduate in 2010. The student must plan to pursue post high-school education on a full-time basis.
Applications and more detailed information in the offices of school guidance counselors and principals, and the offices of police and fire chiefs.
Completed entries should be sent to Post Office Box 1444, Bayonne, New Jersey, 07002. Mr. Becht and four other members of the 200 Club will screen all entries and interview semi-finalists before they select four winners. They also assist the Scholarship Committee of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #4 and the Hudson County Chiefs of Police to choose the recipients of their annual awards.
All the scholarships will be presented at the 200 Club’s annual Valor Luncheon at the Liberty House in Jersey City at noon on Wednesday, April 28th. The Club’s 26th annual luncheon will honor the memory of Jersey City Police Officer Mark DiNardo who was killed in the line of duty last July. Awards will also be presented to firefighters, police officers and EMTs who performed their duties with special valor in 2009.
UC robotics team places high
The Union City High School Academy for Enrichment and Advancement’s robotics team finished 15th out of 59 teams at the end of qualifying matches at the USFIRST competition in Washington D.C. this weekend.
“Our overall record was four wins, three losses, and two ties,” said Peter Drozd, team mentor and teacher at the high school. “This was a very good record for a rookie team.”
The students designed, built, programmed, and tested their robots from a kit that contained motors, batteries, a control system, a PC, and a mix of automation components, but no instructions.
The story of the team was featured in The Union City Reporter this past weekend.
“We have been working very hard and have had endless hours of fun,” the team posted on their blog during the tournament. This was the first time a Hudson County team took part in the nationwide competition since it began 1989.
To follow the progress of the team visit their blog at http://aeaeagles.blogspot.com.
Free workshop offered for neutering feral cats
Companion Animal Trust announced the 2010 Neighborhood Feral Cat Initiative’s free monthly feral cat Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) training workshop schedule. In partnership with the Hudson County Animal League, the program has been awarded a $16,500 grant from PetSmart Charities to pay for the veterinarian spay neuter costs associated with TNR.
Workshops will be held from noon until 3 p.m. in Jersey City on the following dates: March 13, April 17, May 15, June 12, July 17, August 14, Sep. 18, Oct. 16 and Nov. 13.
All workshop attendees will learn the steps in setting up a managed cat colony including establishing good community relations, feeding, building and placing shelters, arranging vet care, safely handling feral cats, and trapping.
All attendees will become TNR certified and Hudson County residents will gain access to low cost spay/neuter and trap rentals.
Reservations are required. To reserve a seat or for more information call (201) 884-9649.
Scam artists targeting NJ elderly
In the age of elaborate Ponzi schemers like Bernie Madoff, the public shouldn’t forget about the small time grifters who still prey on the unsuspecting.
Recently there have been reports of thieves trying to scam the elderly out of thousands of dollars. According to police in Hunterdon County, here’s how the scam works. A man calls the victim and says he’s the victim’s grandson. He claims that he has been arrested in Canada on a minor charge and needs bail money wired to him. If the victim seems skeptical, sometimes a second man gets on the phone and pretends to be a jailhouse cop.
Last month a man in Clinton Township fell for the scam and wired $3,979 to the thief before realizing he had been had.
Help fight MS
There are about 13,000 people in New Jersey living with multiple sclerosis, according to Bonnie Bardinas of the New Jersey Metro Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Members and staffers of the Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce will come together next month to raise money for a cure. On Sunday, April 18 Team Meadowlands, cosponsored by the chamber and Concerta, will be among hundreds of others participating in the four-mile Walk MS, which will begin in Jersey City’s Liberty State Park at 200 Morris Pesin Drive.
To sponsor or walk with Team Meadowlands, please contact the chamber at (201) 939-0707 or visit www.meadowlands.org. Proceeds raised will benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.