The Jersey City Independent"

Organizers of the back-to-school book bag and school supply drive say they served “over 5,000″ Jersey City students last weekend, with crowds flocking to the giveaways at three Jersey City sites. And as a thank you to the many people who volunteered with and sponsored the effort, the United Way of Hudson County is hosting a Thank You BBQ on Sunday, September 12.

While organizers of a back-to-school book bag and school supply charity drive for Jersey City students have been pleasantly surprised by the community reaction so far, they are still looking for volunteers as they gear up to distribute bags to more than 4,000 children this Saturday.
The drive, which was spearheaded by community activists Rolando Lavarro [...]

On a Saturday later this month, at least 3,000 Jersey City students will receive free book bags and supplies, if a project spearheaded by two of the city’s young community leaders and political hopefuls get their wish. And with support continuing to come in from other community leaders and corporate sponsors, that goal is looking [...]

- The former owner of David’s Sporting Goods, a now-closed gun shop in Downtown Jersey City, has been sentenced to two years probation and 100 hours of community service for a 2007 incident in which he fired shots into the air outside his store.
- The Insider calls Tuesday’s Ward A runoff “the best of the [...]

At-Large candidate Emilio DeLia and mayoral candidate Dan Levin check a cell phone for the latest election results
The One Jersey City team gathered at the Golden Cicada last night to celebrate both the end of a campaign and what they say is the beginning of a citywide movement. After the polls closed the candidates and [...]

Shouts, hugs and handshakes filled Casino in the Park Tuesday night as supporters of Mayor Jerramiah Healy relished their candidate’s victory. With 30,657 votes cast, Healy won — and avoided a runoff — with 52.9 percent of the vote. Absentee and provisional ballots have yet to be tallied.

- The Journal rolled out its endorsements in Jersey City’s municipal elections today. While the candidate the daily endorsed for mayor is no surprise, some of its council picks did catch us off guard. The Journal is endorsing: Lou Manzo for mayor, Andre Richardson in Ward A, Phil Kenny in Ward B, Jimmy King in [...]

- The New Jersey Uniform Crime Report for the first six months of 2008 shows a 5 percent decrease in violent crimes but a 3 percent rise in overall crime in Hudson County over the first six months of 2007.
- Mayoral candidate Lou Manzo is profiled in today’s Journal. He says he’s running for mayor [...]

- The woman who gave birth to a stillborn boy whose body was discarded with the trash at Christ Hospital last December has filed a lawsuit against the hospital and several of its employees. The suit alleges the delivery room doctor “deviated from the standard practices of medicine” and that the hospital fraudulently concealed evidence [...]

We’d been combing through state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) reports all week when we noticed this morning that Politicker’s Matt Friedman beat us to the punch on the fundraising race. Friedman focused on the mayoral campaigns, though, so we thought we’d cite his story and add some other interesting nuggets from the latest [...]