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- Agreement Reached on Split Rock Reservoir: Rockaway Township, state environmental officials and Jersey City have tentatively reached a compromise over enforcement of regulations at the Split Rock Reservoir, which will lead to the removal of a concrete barricade at the popular Morris County swimming hole’s parking lot. Jersey City, which owns the reservoir, will give Rockaway Township and the state Department of Environmental Protection the authority to issue court summonses for rules violations, and the state will increase patrols there.

- Backpacks for Schoolkids: Several Jersey City elected officials and community leaders are partnering with the United Way of Hudson County in hopes of providing 3,000 Jersey City school children with book bags filled with supplies.

- HCCC Expansion: To accommodate increasing enrollment, Hudson County Community College is expanding its Journal Square headquarters, as well as constructing a new North Hudson Campus in Union City.

- Drug Arrests at Montgomery Gardens: Cops say a tip led to two arrests Wednesday evening and a seizure of guns and more than 1,300 bags of suspected heroin at the Montgomery Gardens housing complex.

In Statewide News:

- ARC Tunnel and Property Values: Home values within two miles of train stations on NJ Transit’s Pascack Valley, Main and Bergen lines would climb once service on those lines becomes direct to Manhattan, according to a new report from the Regional Plan Association.

- AIDS Patients Will Continue to Receive Meds: More than 950 people with AIDS will remain eligible for a program that pays for their complex and costly battery of medications, Gov. Christie announced yesterday.

- Honeywell Lured into Staying Put: A Christie administration proposal to beef up tax credits has led Honeywell to promise to stay headquartered in New Jersey, rather than moving out of state. But the plan still needs approval from the legislature, and Gov. Christie hasn’t said how much the program would cost.

- Ferriero Conviction Vacated: Bergen County’s Joseph A. Ferriero, one of the state’s top Democratic powerbrokers before his indictment on federal corruption charges, walked out of court a free man Thursday after a judge vacated his federal fraud conviction.

- Mixed News on Seat Belts: Seat belt use by drivers and front-seat passengers in New Jersey climbed for the 14th straight year, to a record 93.73 percent, an increase that could be credited at least partially to innovative enforcement. But fewer back-seat passengers are buckling up, sometimes with deadly results.

- Smuggling Scheme at Essex County Jail: For at least the past five months, authorities say, inmates at the Essex County Correctional Facility were hand-delivered drugs and cell phones by one of the men hired to guard them.