The ‘P.E.R.C.’s of volunteering
UC Alternative Design Academy students give back

Around 20 Union City High School Alternative Design Academy (ADA) students, trays of food in hand, weaved between the near 100 guests who had come to the Palisades Emergency Residency Corp (P.E.R.C.) shelter on 36th Street for a hot meal last Monday. The volunteers placed the trays in front of some diners even before they …

UC Alternative Design Academy students give back

‘The Gentle Giant’
Friends and family remember Omar Monroig, as the search for the hit and run driver goes on

As Omar Monroig stepped into the intersection of 51st and Tonnelle Avenue on March 23, he didn’t know he was moments away from the end of a rich life, lived to the fullest. He had made plans with his friend Arnaldo Arroyo to get a couple of drinks. It was two days after Monroig’s birthday. …

Friends and family remember Omar Monroig, as the search for the hit and run driver goes on

Top chef, top teacher
WNY native receives national recognition from prestigious culinary association

“I hear so many people say they dread going to work in the morning or that they live for the weekends, and I think, ‘That’s too bad,’” Chef Candy Argondizza, West New York native and Director of Culinary Arts at the world-famous International Culinary Center said. “I can’t wait to get to work in the …

WNY native receives national recognition from prestigious culinary association

Being ‘Backpack’
UC child star acts alongside celebs, goes to Kids’ Choice Awards

Eleven-year-old Union City kid Alex Suarez recently dissected a worm and a frog at school. While she thought that was pretty cool, her class’s next victim is a pig. “I have mixed feelings about it,” she said. “It’s wacky, for sure, but then again, normal is boring.” Alex is certainly not boring, and her extra …

UC child star acts alongside celebs, goes to Kids’ Choice Awards

Moral issue or political vendetta?
Munoz clashes with Rivera over pulling ad from newspaper

In a rare exchange of heated words with West New York Freeholder Jose Munoz, Freeholder Chairman Eliu Rivera said he would not allow a personal vendetta to influence which newspapers the Board of Freeholders advertised with. Munoz had urged the chairman to yank freeholder advertisements from a popular tri-county Spanish language newspaper, saying that the …

Munoz clashes with Rivera over pulling ad from newspaper

BRIEFS

West New York schools allegedly visited by FBI April 17; Mayor Roque responds Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation allegedly visited three schools in West New York on Tuesday, according to NJ.com. In March, several media sources alleged that the town hall and Mayor Felix Roque’s medical practice and home were raided by the …

Mental illness is a disease
NAMI NJ en Español calls on community to walk for the cause; starts local support groups

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) New Jersey volunteer Rita Rivas’ niece was diagnosed with clinical schizophrenia in 1998 at the age of 13. At first, the family thought she was a normal teenager going through normal changes, but her condition worsened. The teen’s family refused to accept it as anything other than growing pains …

NAMI NJ en Español calls on community to walk for the cause; starts local support groups

‘I just want to work’
WNY holds second annual job fair in conjunction with local nonprofit

Xiomara Yllanes, who is “50 plus,” has two children in college and a disabled husband. She worked for 20 years in the administrative medical field until one day in 2007, she said, the company picked up and moved overseas to Costa Rica. Yllanes turned what was an otherwise unfortunate circumstance into an opportunity to go …

WNY holds second annual job fair in conjunction with local nonprofit

BRIEFS

WNY Police Department signs first contract since 2009 The West New York Police Department signed a contract April 13 negotiated between the town and its Police Supervisors Association after operating without contract since July 1, 2009, Lieutenant Mark Flores reported. Though the contract is retroactive from July 1, 2009 and valid through 2014, the association …

D.A.R.E. to give back
WNY donates five commissioner vehicles to police; local graffiti artist tricks out kids’ new ride

Officer Elena Chemas had just run from her sixth grade Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) class to the West New York Police Department to see her long-awaited new ride. “I feel like a little kid,” she said, hardly able to contain her excitement. “The old Jeep wouldn’t even start up most of the time, and …

WNY donates five commissioner vehicles to police; local graffiti artist tricks out kids’ new ride