News Updates as of 25 June 2009

• A Matawan man who helped air Hezbollah TV in New York was recently sentenced to 17 months for providing material support to terrorism, per the Associated Press. He worked with a man from Staten Island, who had a yard full of satellite dishes to facilitate the broadcasts, according to the Staten Island Advance. (Think the equipment in that yard was conspicuous??) An article from the Star Ledger repeated on NJ.com says he was a Brooklyn dentist who lived in NJ.
  
• NJ Open Government Notes has a recent article that cites a 1986 case between the school board and the teachers union over the prompt availability of meeting minutes.
• Aberdeen Townsquare Shopping Center has declared 11 July 2009 as Summer Safety Day. Come and visit Aberdeen emergency services units from 10 am to 2 pm. They'll have their vehicles on display. And you can learn how to be safe in hot or stormy weather, or when handling fire at campfires and cookouts, or when you're around pools or at the beach. You can even bring your bike and have it safety-checked. (Check out the flyer)
• I'm seeing good reviews (see Chowhound and Jersey Menus) of a sushi restaurant on Route 34 named Wasabi House. Based on comments at Chowhound, Wasabi House had a restaurant in East Brunswick that was very popular and has now opened in the site of the former Bistro Amerigo here in Matawan. The location is way down Route 34 towards Old Bridge, just past the Marketplace and before the Sunoco and Big Ed's at Morristown Road.
• Private Officer Breaking News picked up a May 2009 wire service story about a Keansburg shoplifter who was challenged by the loss prevention officer at Shoprite on Lloyd Road. Aberdeen Police captured the man, who had attempted to steal $129 in goods but fled to the woods behind the store when his activities were questioned by store security.
• The second annual Matawan-Aberdeen Idol Singing Contest is scheduled for 4 August 2009 as part of the National Night Out Against Crime. Auditions will be 13 July. The festivites will be at the corner of Ravine Drive and Main Street in downtown Matawan. See the article in the Independent for further details.
  
• A Matawan man is learning to use Korean swords at an academy in East Brunswick, according to MyCentralJersey.
• Check out the article on horseshoe crabs at Cliffwood Beach in the Independent.
• Matawan sends only its best to Middletown to discuss the rules of baseball.