latest news from Livingston

That chill in the air is finally subsiding, signaling that spring has arrived. Nowhere is that more evident than at Livingston’s baseball and softball fields, which are finally being put to good use after those dormant winter months.

Last week, the Livingston Lancers varsity baseball and softball teams opened their seasons. The varsity baseball team’s next game is scheduled for today, April 11, at 4 p.m., at home against Columbia High School. Varsity softball will play today, April 11, at 4 p.m, away against Columbia at Cameron Field, 5 Mead Street in South Orange.

Of course, the rest of spring sports are also in full swing, as well, including track, tennis, volleyball, lacrosse, and golf seasons. The Tribune plans to follow them all this spring, and we hope you’ll join us (and please send us your photos so we can share them in the paper!).

Livingston will hold its first free Electronics Recycling and Paper Shredding Event of the year on Saturday April 13, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Livingston Senior/Community Center. Under New Jersey state law and the township’s recycling ordinance, it is mandatory to recycle electronic items. Electronic items cannot be placed at the curb for pickup - the garbage and recycling collection trucks will not take them.

Electronics Recycling

The following items will be accepted for electronics recycling: cellular telephones (erase hard drive and clear memory); computers and components (erase hard drive and clear memory); copiers; DVD players; electronic games; fax machines; keyboards; laptops; monitors, flat screens, and televisions (as long as they are unbroken and have no sharp edges); pagers; PDAs; portable electronic music devices; printers; radios; scanners; stereos; telecom equipment; typewriters; USP and other cables; and VCRs.

VIEWING THE ECLIPSE: On Monday, April 8, residents of Livingston gathered at the Oval, in driveways, and even in the parking lot at ShopRite to view the much anticipated eclipse. Above, at Newark Academy, seniors Olivia Croshaw, Katherine Guo, Julia Polen, and Ambika Sharma, watched the solar eclipse from the bleachers at Newark Academy’s football field, wearing glasses provided by the school. Below, even dogs need to be safe, as demonstrated by Clyde. Other pictures here show varying phases of the eclipse. 

WATER MAIN WORK ON MOUNTHAVEN DRIVE: On Tuesday, April 9, the Township was working on a water main on Mounthaven Drive, near the intersection at Spring Road. Residents were warned of possible traffic delays and potential interruptions to their water access. Shown here, the excavators dug up a portion of the sidewalk and yards adjacent to Mounthaven Drive in order to access the water main. With a ladder, workers were able to physically get into the ground in order to fix the broken water main.

New Jersey was the epicenter of a 4.8 magnitude earthquake that affected a large portion of the northeast on Friday, April 5.

The initial earthquake occurred at about 10:23 a.m. near Califon, New Jersey.

No injuries were reported in Livingston related to the quake and several subsequent aftershocks, one of which reached 4.0 on the Richter scale.

Livingston Public School officials noted that a thorough inspection was done of all district buildings and that there was no damage seen to any of them.

In all, about 42 million people experienced the earthquake last Friday; it reached as far south as Washington, D.C. and as far north as the New York-Canada border.

This past week, the Livingston Fire Department responded to a number of calls relating to fallen trees and power outages. They also assisted with a resident stuck in their home’s elevator and responded to a call about an odor. Additionally, LFD was called to the scene of a vehicle fire.

Vehicle Fire

On Tuesday morning, April 9, a vehicle fire occurred at the intersection of Walnut Street and Route 10. A contractor truck with an attached trailer caught on fire, seemingly due to a hydraulic oil leak.

When the LFD arrived, the vehicle’s engine and passenger compartments were engulfed in flames.

No injuries were reported. The fire was extinguished and the burned vehicle was removed by a towing company.

Power Outages and Downed Trees

On Wednesday, April 3, the fire department responded to a series of calls following a storm.

VARSITY LACROSSE TEAM WINS TWO, LOSES ONE: The Lancers defeated Cranford, 16-2, on Tuesday, April 2, and Madison, 9-8, on Thursday, April 4, both on the road. Livingston returned home on Saturday, April 6, only to be defeated by Kinnelon, 12-4.Shown here, Lancer junior mid-fielder Sam Goldstein, #16, carries the ball to a Lancer goal.

The Livingston High School softball team opened the season on April 1, and its record currently stands at 3-2.

The team scored victories against Super Essex Conference American Division teams West Essex (6-2), Montclair (8-0), and Cedar Grove (6-1). The Lancers lost against two teams from Somerset County, North Hunterdon (3-2) and Watchung Hills (5-0).

On Monday, after the solar eclipse passed, Cedar Grove, ranked third in the state, traveled to the Oval for a 5 p.m. game. Senior pitcher Sophia Mount, who will pitch at Villanova next year, got the leadoff hitter to ground out, and then struck out the next two hitters. Mount was dominant all day, as she finished with 13 strikeouts, while giving up only three hits and walking four batters.

My husband Ray and I recently purchased a condo in Florida, fulfilling a long-time dream of mine: becoming a “snowbird” and escaping these cold northern winters. As of March 12, we are the proud owners of a villa in Venice, on the west coast of Florida.

Our big new purchase – our first in real estate in over 30 years – evoked a much wider variety of feelings than just the simple “jumping up and down with joy” that I had anticipated.

First there was surprised disbelief: “Is this really true? Did we finally do it? I can’t believe we finally did it…” I had been dreaming about this for so long that, now that it has finally come to pass, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.

Then there was mild terror: “Holy cow, what did we just do?Are we out of our minds?” For the first several days, we looked at the numbers on paper, and our elation was tempered with a certain degree of queasiness.

Last week, Livingston Public Schools superintendent Matthew Block announced that he will resign from his position at the end of the school year to take another superintendent job in an upstate New York school district.

Superintendent Block began his tenure in Livingston during a tumultuous period. After just a few months on the job, the school district was the victim of a ransomware attack, where hackers broke into the network and took data hostage from Livingston’s schools. Just as that mess was cleaned up, the COVID pandemic hit. The next few years in school involved a lot of difficult planning and conversations around remote schooling, masking, budgetary issues, staffing, absences and more. It was, to put it lightly, an unenviable time to be in that role and he handled it well, given the once-in-a-lifetime circumstances.