News Updates as of 7 March 2010

• The Independent's  Notes Around Town section announces a half dozen or so Aberdeen-Matawan events coming up over the next week or so, as well as a number of events in nearby Middletown, Holmdel and Lincroft. Many of your favorite local organizations are hosting some fun stuff you won't want to miss. I won't steal their thunder, so check out the link.
• Huskies Wrestling's Johnny Short is wrestling Alexander Richardson of St Peter's Prep this weekend in Atlantic City's state championships. Check out a video preview of his 125 lb weight class competition and the pairings. APP provides a bit of background on the tourney.
• Local Cub Scouts ran a Pinewood Derby, per APP. I have fond recollections of the days when my Dad was Cubmaster in our community in Maryland. We made a couple of pretty special cars that did rather well.
• Interesting photo of a scene in Cliffwood Beach by Steve Stanger at Flickr.
• The Matawan Police Department and its chief are under administrative review by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, per APP. Little was publicly known as of Friday.
• NJ Transit's planned fare hikes and schedule changes are meant to deal with a huge budget deficit but are only making commuters angry, according to APP. Phillie and South Jersey commuters are hopping mad, too, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The situation has been caused by cuts in state aid ordered last month by Governor Christie. Pardon the editorial, but wasn't Christie supposed to be some sort of taxpayer crusader? His cuts in state aid to education and transportation are only redistributing costs back to the local level, where we can either raise taxes or suffer the consequences. While he is throwing out the worst cards in his bad hand and reshuffling the deck, we get to deal with the fallout. Are you beginning to see what a taxpayer focused economy does to your quality of life? How's it working out for you?