The HOWELL Times
Vol. 23 - No. 30
In This Week’s Edition
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
State Might End Graduation Tests
Veteran Moves In To Donated House
2026 BREAKING NEWS @
jerseyshoreonline.com
Community News Pages 5-7
Dear Pharmacist Page 9
Inside The Law Page 9
Classifieds Page 13
Photo courtesy Homes For Our Troops Dolly Harris signals that her new house is now ready to be lived in by cutting a ceremonial ribbon. By Andrew Rice HOWELL – Army Maj. Darlene “Dolly” Harris cut the ribbon on her new home during a house unveiling event held by Homes For Our Troops. Harris suffered intense injuries during her time
serving our country in Iraq and was having trouble navigating life in her previous home because of it. Harris needs a wheelchair to get around due to her injuries, and her previous house in Point Pleasant was not set up to accom-
modate her situation. The house was donated to her by Homes For Our Troops, a publicly funded national nonprofit dedicated to building and donating specially adapted custom homes for severely injured post9/11 veterans.
This will give her a greater amount of independence in her own life. The house itself comes specially equipped with more than 40 different accessibility modifications. These modifications (Veteran - See Page 3)
Visit By Yankees’ Warren A Real Hit By Chris Christopher TOMS RIVER – It’s easy to envy Will Warren. He’s young and a Yankee. The New York Yankees’ starting pitcher signed autographs and mingled with an estimated 300 fans at Santos Sports Collectibles at the Ocean County Mall. “It’s quite an honor - greatest thing ever,” said Warren, 27. “You go all
over the world and there are Yankees logos everywhere. Just wearing the pinstripes is truly an honor. The Yankees experience has been crazy. The fans, the stadium and New York itself are a monster from the outside. “This is a dream come true. To be on the mound in front of 40,000 fans is special. If I did my job, the people who grew up as diehard Yankees fans (Warren - See Page 2)
GOLD Exceeds $4,500 an Ounce! OVER 20 YEARS IN BUSINESS
HIGHEST RATED CASH FOR GOLD STORE IN OCEAN COUNTY
Photo by Tom Naclerio Will Warren beams New York Yankees Pride while a fan enjoys an autographed baseball and Warren’s baseball card.
SILVER Nears $70 an Ounce!
90% SILVER • MEDALLIONS FLATWARE • SCRAP • JEWELRY TEA SETS • TRAYS • PITCHERS CANDELABRAS
January 3, 2026
By Chris Lundy TRENTON – A bill that would eliminate the tests students need to graduate, leaving boards of education to determine graduation requirements has advanced to the State Senate. Assembly bill A-4121 would eliminate the high school graduation proficiency test, which is taken in 11th grade. Graduation requirements would be determined by local boards of education, but the State Commissioner of Education would monitor these requirements. The bill passed the Assembly (55-17-0). It now goes to the Senate Education Committee. There was considerable discussion on it during an Assembly Education Committee recently. Two people who were against the bill were given the opportunity to speak first. “There needs to be a mechanism that clearly communicates proficiency for our graduates,” said Athea Ford, vice president of government affairs for the New Jersey Business and Industry Association. Future employers need to know what graduates are capable of. Whether this mechanism is the graduation proficiency test or something else, the NJBIA doesn’t have a strong opinion, she explained. There just has to be something. Wells Wingar, executive director of the New Jersey Policy Institute, also said that there needs to be something showing that schools are preparing students for the future. There are many problems with the proficiency test, he said, but at least it’s a general metric that can be used across all schools, so that teachers, parents and others can learn where students are excelling or need more help, and to find achievement gaps between groups. A new administration should be part of the conversation, he said. They need to have some kind of test, even if it’s not this test. “The bill is a hatchet, not a scalpel,” he said. This was followed by others speaking in favor of getting rid of the test. Nicole Ciullo, Associate Director of Policy and Development, Education Law Center said that standardized tests historically hurt students of color and those of lower economic class. “The state spends millions of dollars on tests (Tests - See Page 4)
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