winter wellness Special Edition
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COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG
JANUARY 2025 FREE
Towns wrestle with Jan. affordable housing deadlines
GirLs’ BAsKEtBALL
Bulldogs lean on 2 juniors for leadership By riCH FiSHer The date was Oct. 8 and the Hopewell Valley Central High girls’ soccer team was playing Allentown in a key Colonial Valley Conference regular-season match. In the first half, Katie Reinhart lifted a free kick on goal that Delainey Ross headed into the back of the net to break a scoreA student at Inclusion Sports Performance Training, which expects to consolidate its less tie and spark what would become Ewing and Hopewell operations into a single facility in early 2025. an important 2-0 victory. It was a fitting connection, since it highlighted an affiliation that started 10 years ago. And that partnership will be on full display for the Bulldogs girls basketball team this season. Hopewell is in rebuild mode and the two juniors are being counted on Like its students, Inclusion benefit from performance training, regardless of ability. Whether they are training in heavily by Delainey’s mom — head Sports is on the go gymnastics, swimming, bike riding, team coach Coleen Ross. sports or social skills, she believes, all stu“Delainey is gonna be our top By Joe eManSKi dents ages 6 months through grade school defender, we’ll look to her for steals, can benefit from the programs that Incluto be at the top of the press, be Since starting Inclusion Sports Perfor- sion Sports offers. our rebounder,” said Ross prior to mance Training four years ago, Coach Since its foundation, Inclusion Sports Hopewell’s season-opener. “I am callShannon Schafer has been focused pri- Performance Training has been sharing ing on her to try and score a little marily on providing educational and rec- a facility on Graphics Drive in Ewing with more. She was very deferential to reation programs for the neurodivergent another business, Schafer Sports Center. Kennedy Havens in the post last year. community. There, Schafer and her staff of coaches We obviously need someone to step to Capital Health. One of her philosophies since that train their special needs students. into Welcome that role. See INCLUSION, Page 4 See B-BALL, Page 16 beginning has been that everyone can When someone you care about is sick, you’ll do whatever it takes to make sure they get the best care. And so do we. L
how far would you go if they were sick?
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New Jersey municipalities are once again under the gun to build thousands of units of affordable housing thanks to a new state law passed earlier this year. Every town in the state is currently up against a Jan. 31 deadline to pass a binding resolution to formally adopt their affordable housing requirement over the next decade. The goal is to address a statewide demand for almost 150,000 low- and moderate-income units. Under numbers released by the state earlier this year, Mercer County towns would be required to rehabilitate a total of 1,800 existing affordable units (mostly in the City of Trenton) as well as provide for the construction of 3,500 new units. Because the construction of these affordable units is often subsidized through the construction of market rate housing, it could result in tens of thousands of new houses in Mercer County alone. In March, Gov. Phil Murphy and See HOUSING, Page 14
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With a collaborative structure so our doctors can craft a treatment that’s uniquely right for you. With primary care physicians who never schedule an appointment that’s less than 20 minutes. With world-renowned surgeons that are changing cancer treatment. Because you’d go to the ends of the earth for the people you care about. And we do too.
By Bill SanServino
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