Legislature adopts civil union law Aberdeen couple one of seven who sued to force change BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer       Same-sex couples in New Jersey will now have access to all the legal rights and responsibilities heterosexual couples possess, except for the right to call their relationship “marriage. More ...       Third-graders Jessica Knierim and Mason Sheehan pack stockings to send over to the troops in Iraq as part of Operation Caring Friends, a project taken on by Joan Collins’ class at Cove Road School, Hazlet. See page 33 for story. More ... Police report two assault incidents at restaurant BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer       MIDDLETOWN — Two separate incidents at the same McDonald’s have led to the arrest of five township residents. On Friday, Middletown police arrested Michael Stevens, 44, on robbery, aggravated assault and theft charges, stemming from a Dec. 6 incident in which he allegedly stole the w... More ... Powder found in Vonage letter deemed nontoxic BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer       HOLMDEL — While police say progress has been made regarding a case involving a threatening letter sent to Vonage, the search is still on as to its source. Township police were called around 1:40 p.m. on Dec. 13 by the company, headquartered at 23 Main St., after it received a letter w... More ... Legislature tweaking clean elections process Changes being made based on lessons of 2005 pilot in District 13 BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer       Fair and clean elections in New Jersey? Perhaps it’s not so far-fetched after all. In the Garden State, where wheeling and pay-to-play are still part of the day-to-day political landscape, an updated version of FACE, or the Fair and Clean Election Project, aims to make the campaign ... More ... Whitman sampler Walt Whitman impersonator visits BCC English students BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer       MIDDLETOWN — Everywhere he goes, Walt Whitman gets the same old question. Are you gay or what? Luckily, the 181-year-old icon takes the question with a shaker full of salt. “I do not know if he was a homosexual,” Walt Whitman impersonator Darrel Blaine Ford said Thursday even... More ... From the Vault       “The Fountain Casino, the Bayshore’s newest disco, held its grand opening this week,” read the caption to this photo, originally published in the Daily Register in June 1979. More ...