Holmdel reluctant to override vote Committee members skeptical of some school budget numbers BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer       It's the $1.9 million question: Will the Holmdel Township Committee override the results of a referendum question in order to provide additional funding to the Board of Education? Not unless you convince us to, Mayor Serena DiMaso said at Thursday's committee meeting. More ...       Elvis Presley fan Debbie Johnson gets a visit from the King (impersonator Michael Marchitto) at the Victoria House, an assisted living facility in Matawan, Thursday. Johnson's longtime friend and neighbor, Sonya Wuelfing, arranged for Elvis to visit her friend, who is battling lymphoma. More ... Hazlet's new town hall gets ready for business Township employees expected to start moving in next week BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer       HAZLET - Dennis Pino never had an opportunity to get to know many fellow township employees, as the construction official was housed away from the majority of the others. "I've been down on Route 35 near Sports Authority, along with planning and zoning officials and people from th... More ... Resident arrested after armed standoff with police       MIDDLETOWN - After a three-hour standoff, which included one round of ammunition being fired, a township resident was charged with aggravated assault and possessing a weapon for an unlawful purpose. James Pepa, 60, Danemar Drive, was spotted getting into his pickup truck with a shotgu... More ... Councilman wants more options for factory site BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer       KEYPORT - Plans to build multi-family housing at an old factory site are causing a rift on the Borough Council. On May 1, Councilman Joseph Sheridan said he was not pleased with the developer's "love it or leave it" approach to the Manchaster Avenue project, as the proposal to build ... More ... Bills would let school districts reject bus cos. BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer       MIDDLETOWN - In response to more than one recent incident involving school bus companies, two area legislators have joined forces to unveil a bipartisan, seven-bill package aimed at making transportation safer for students. More ... First-class mail stamp price to rise to 41 cents       New postage rates go into effect on Monday, May 14, including a 2-cent increase in the price of a first-class mail stamp. Post offices nationwide are now selling the new 41-cent stamps and also 1- and 2-cent stamps for customers who still have a supply of 39-cent stamps, according to a ... More ... On Campus       Yelizaveta Yermakova, Middletown, a student at High Technology High School, Lincroft section of Middletown, has been awarded a National Merit Schering-Plough Foundation Scholarship from the nonprofit National Merit Scholarship Corp., Evanston, Ill. More ... 'Smile!'       Ian and Kaitlyn Whalen, both 8, pose for a picture with their grandparents Isabel Hill, Hazlet, and Bob Nann, Florham Park, during Grandparents/Special Friend Day at Raritan Valley School in Hazlet on May 1. More ... In the Service       Army National Guard Pvt. Jorge H. Morejon Jr. has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. More ... Exhibit to show Europe from Hazlet man's lens       Alan Leckner, Hazlet, will have his first exhibition of photojournalism at The Mitchell Sanborn Gallery in Keyport from May 19 to June 9. The show, consisting of 70 images culled from 4,000 photographs taken on a recent trip to Eastern Europe, tells a story of life, death and regenerati... More ... McGuire Air Force Base to host annual open house BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer       They'll be flying high, those magnificent men and women in their flying machines, as the McGuire Air Force Base 2007 Air Expo and Open House gets set to roll off the runway. McGuire Air Force Base is on Wrightstown-Cookstown Road (Route 616), in Wrightstown, Burlington County. The ope... More ... From the Vault       Jim McLaughlin stands by his customized 1953 Ford Victoria, "The Jersey Torch," on Cruise Night in Matawan. The date of the photo could not be determined. More ... Vault update       Details are often scarce when we're selecting a photo for our weekly "From the Vault" feature. Our archive photos are arranged in an old filing cabinet alphabetically by person/subject, but they usually come with little more context than a name, and if we're lucky, a date and short blurb abou... More ...