Pam Hersh

New Brunswick, New Jersey – American Repertory Ballet (ARB) will open its spring season with a festive evening of whimsy, world premieres, and gorgeous dancing at its Mask-erade Gala on Saturday, March 12, 2022, at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC). This major fundraising event supports the organization’s artistic, educational, and community engagement programs.

The performance program will feature an exclusive sneak peek of Ethan Stiefel’s new A Midsummer Night’s Dream, an exhilarating excerpt from the classical ballet Don Quixote; a bewitching duet created by American Ballet Theatre’s Claire Davison; and a showstopping pièce d’occasion by Michael Mindlin, a Princeton Ballet School alum and dance supervisor of Hamilton, among others. Students from Princeton Ballet School, the official school of American Repertory Ballet, will also take the stage. The evening’s honorees include the Rutgers Global Health Institute; Jeffrey Grosser, Princeton’s Deputy Administrator of Health and Community Services; and the Princeton Spine & Joint Center, for enabling ARB and Princeton Ballet School dancers to safely return to the studio and the stage. “These health partners have been instrumental in helping us safely navigate the ongoing pandemic,” says Julie Diana Hench, Executive Director. READ MORE

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Fee Reimbursement

Rutgers University students are taking in-person classes after starting the spring semester online. But some students sued the university for closures during the first wave of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, alleging they were entitled to refunds of on-campus tuition, fees and other charges after the school went to remote instruction. Rutgers has agreed to pay $5 million, which will be evenly divided among roughly 64,500 students, minus about $950,000 in legal fees. A superior court judge ruled Friday that the deal is fair, adequate and reasonable. In the end, each student will get about $63. READ MORE

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At 6:17 a.m. on Jan. 19 a person or persons fired six shots at two unoccupied cars that were parked on the 200 block of South Second Ave. There were no reported injuries. Highland Park Police believe there is no continuing danger to the community as a result of this shootingl. Residents, however, in the South Second neighborhood who were outside shoveling snow this past weekend did express some anxiety over the incident that “never should happen here on our streets,” one resident said. READ MORE

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From a third to half of students fell short of grade-level expectations for the fall — and the numbers were even starker in some racial and income groups. READ MORE

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Since so many members of the Highland Park community are connected to Rutgers University as faculty, staff students, alumni, or participants in Rutgers events, it is important to print a letter from Rutgers University’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Antonio M. Calcado, who provided information on significant changes on campus related to COVID-19. “I am writing to you today (January 4, 2022) to inform you of important changes to how we will start the new semester, including the temporary use of remote instruction where possible, critical new vaccine requirements, and other important updates to our operating status. These important changes will affect you and every member of the university community. It is essential that every member of the Rutgers community be familiar with this information. The data and the science surrounding the surge in COVID-19 cases, and the dramatic spread of the Omicron variant, require that we adapt to the evolving situation without sacrificing our goal of returning to a campus experience that is robust, rewarding, and safe. READ MORE

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FOR ALL INFORMATION GO TO WWW.NJEDA.COM

Express Interest in the First Autonomous Vehicle-Based Urban Transit System

Firms can submit to the Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) to inform the design, build-out, and operation of a safe and equitable automated vehicle transportation system for Trenton. The Trenton Mobility & Opportunity: Vehicles Equity System (MOVES) Project will provide safe, equitable, affordable, and sustainable high-quality mobility through the deployment of autonomous vehicles. Following the solicitation of the RFEI, there may be formal Requests for Qualifications or Proposals. The deadline for the RFEI response is February 11th, 2022. Submit a Proposal for a State-Owned 26-Acre Property

Businesses and individuals can submit a proposal to purchase or ground lease a New Jersey Economic Development Authority-owned 26-acre property located on Route 1 in North Brunswick. READ MORE

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Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) is projected to receive approximately $30 million, establishing a critical partnership with the larger National Institutes of Health-funded RECOVER initiative to study long-term and delayed impacts of COVID-19 in children and lead a national collaboration with the potential to recruit from any state to investigate these outcomes. Impacts of infection with the virus SARS-CoV-2 that present or persist more than 30 days are collectively referred to as post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). Among the first PASC recognized is Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a severe acute inflammatory illness, which typically begins unexpectedly about a month after the initial infection. Children with MIS-C have fever and other symptoms that may include inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, circulatory system and skin that sometimes mimic another rare illness, Kawasaki’s Disease. Beyond MIS-C, children are also susceptible to what is commonly referred to as “long COVID.” A team of researchers at Rutgers have studied COVID-19 and MIS-C from shortly after it was first described in the United States. “Children and adolescents are susceptible to long-term symptoms. Some have brain fog. READ MORE

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Highland Park is seeking feedback from people who live, work, shop, and eat in the borough for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP). An online survey will help determine the projects and priorities designed to revitalize and rejuvenate the borough’s Woodbridge Avenue corridor and its adjacent residential neighborhoods. The goal is to create to a more welcoming gateway into the Highland Park community and to nurture economic development. In October, Highland Park was awarded a five-year NPP designation which includes an initial $125,000 grant to generate visible, tangible change in the Woodbridge Avenue District driven by local residents and business owners. It is anticipated that the Woodbridge Avenue District will receive up to $125,000 a year for five years to assist with economic and community development. READ MORE

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Prior to a recent performance of the American Repertory Ballet’s (ARB) The Nutcracker, I heard no one mutter ‘break a leg, the theatrical, ironic, ‘good luck’ wish to performers.  I did overhear, however, one presumptive father tell his daughter: “Go out there and wow the audience. Prove to Mr. Covid that there’s no stopping you.” The young woman smiled, put on her mask, and bounded into the theater. I did a lot of smiling as I watched my granddaughter Lily perform in two routines – dances performed by my daughter on the same stage for the same ballet company decades ago. Although as a grandmother I was focused on Lily’s flawless (of course) performance, I also was stuck by the profound difference between the show of 1987 and that of 2021

‘Mr. Covid’ was this year’s invisible participant, lurking in the minds of the performers,’ instructors,’ and producers’ minds, but thankfully not within the dancers’ bodies. Covid was the Grinch that stole the show last year, but not this year. READ MORE

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Highland Park’s downtown tree lighting will be Nov. 27, with a visit from Santa on a fire truck. An additional treat is that Highland Park’s gingerbread house competition returns this year. From 7-8 p.m. all are welcome at the Welkovitz Pavilion next to 212 Raritan Avenue for the annual tree lighting, complete with music, caroling, hot chocolate, candy canes, and Santa on a fire truck. The Gingerbread Houses will be on display at the Saturday Nov. READ MORE

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