NORTH BERGEN BRIEFS

Palisades Medical Center to hold health screenings

Palisades Medical Center’s staff has partnered with North Hudson Community Action Corporation, Christ Hospital School of Nursing, and Hudson Perinatal Consortium to provide free health screenings and education programs. The New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA) recognized Palisades Medical Center’s Community Outreach Program with its 2011 Community Outreach Award for its unique and effective methods of reaching out to better serve the healthcare needs of area residents. Palisades Medical Center’s community outreach and education programs are funded in part by Abbott Nutrition, the Aetna Foundation, the Provident Bank Foundation, Schering-Plough Corporation, and Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc.
Palisades Medical Center will hold a series of free health screenings over the coming months.
On June 10 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. free screenings and information on blood pressure, heart rate, percentage of oxygen in the blood, sugar and total cholesterol will be held at St. Joseph Church located at 120 Hoboken Rd. in East Rutherford.
On June 16, a fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Trinity Reformed Church located on the corner of Palisade Avenue and 60th Street in West New York.
On July 28, a fair will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Nazareth Baptist Church located at 5800 Palisade Ave. in West New York.
For more information, please call Joanne Riggs at (201) 854-5793.

Register for the annual library summer programs

Registration for summer programs at the North Bergen Public Library will begin on Monday, June 11 at 9 a.m. The programs include kids’ programs, senior programs, and adult programs.
Programs include kids’ trivia, Chess Club, summer reading, senior movies, and computer training.
Anyone interested should bring proof of address and their children’s birth certificate. For a complete listing of programs and more information, visit www.nbpl.org or call (201) 869-4715 at Extension 5.

Library will have auditions for their summer musical, ‘Fame Jr.’

Auditions for the library’s summer musical, Fame Jr., will be open to students ages 10 through 18 on June 12 and 13 from 4 to 8 p.m. Auditions will be held in the North Bergen Public Library’s lower-level concert hall. The summer musical will be open to North Bergen and Guttenberg residents only. Anyone who may interested should be prepared to sing 32 bars of a song which showcases their vocal range. Each person who auditions should either bring sheet music or a CD. Actors will also be asked to read from the script. For the audition all should wear dance shoes or sneakers for the dance portion. A schedule of rehearsal dates will be distributed after the auditions.
The musical will be directed by Melissa Welz and Paula Ribeiro. Music Direction from Melissa Welz and Choreography by Arlene Ng. Performances will be held on Aug. 24 and 25 at 7 p.m. For further information go to nbfpltheatre@gmail.com or visit the library at 8411 Bergenline Ave.

Divided Democrats pick Congressional candidates for November

HUDSON COUNTY AND BEYOND – In a Democratic primary election that divided Hudson County and some of northern New Jersey, voters gave victories to Rep. Albio Sires in the 8th District, Bill Pascrell in the 9th and Donald Payne, Jr. in the 10th.
Unopposed, Democratic incumbent U.S. Senator Robert Menendez was nominated for his third term and will face off in November against Republican state Seantor Joseph Kyrillos, who defeated three challengers. Sires received 28,784 over his challenger Michael J. Shurin who received 3,563 votes, clearing the way for Sires to run against Republican Maria Karczewski, a former Bayonne City Council member, in November. Sires, a former mayor of West New York and former speaker of the state Assembly, will run for his fourth term. Other independent challengers include Herb Shaw of North Bergen, Stephen DeLuca of Jersey City, and Pablo Olivera of Newark. DeLuca previously ran unsuccessfully for Hudson County Executive.
Payne overwhelmingly defeated four challengers in the 10th district, with about 37,000 district wide votes, to run for the seat that was vacated by the death of his father, Rep. Donald Payne, Sr. Newark Councilman Ronald Rice finished second with just over 11,000 votes, and Nia Gil, who won in the Hudson County portion of the 10th District, finished third with just under 10,000.
Payne, who had the support of the Essex County Democratic organization, where most of the voting took place, will face off against Republican Brian C. Kelemen of Bayonne in the November election. Joanne Miller of Newark and Mick Erickson of West Orange have filed to run as independesnts in the 10th district in November. In one of the most watched elections in the state, Pacrell overwhelming defeated Rothman after the two eight-term congressmen confronted each other in the newly reconfigured 9th District. With just under 28,000 votes, Pascrell beat Rothman, who collected 15,283 votes.
Rothman, who had been sharply criticized for choosing a primary fight rather than take on a strong Republican challenge in a neighboring district, said it was unlikely that he would seek elected office in the future Pascrell will face Republican Schmuley Boteach and independents E David Smith and Jeanette Woolsey in November.
In the sole election for Hudson County, incumbent Hudson County Clerk Barabra Netchert beat Paul Lichstein to win the Democratic nomination.
Of 320,341 registered voters in Hudson County, about 41,000 cast votes in the June 5 primary or about 12.69 percent. Of this, about 36,000 Democrats voted, compared to just under 5,000 Republicans.

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