Week in Review: Fallout From Money Laundering Charges, Cerf Visits Fort Lee

Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich said this week he was "surprised, stunned and beside myself" at and law partner before severing professional ties with Marc Macri.

Sokolich, who was not implicated in any wrongdoing, sits on the Board of the Bank of New Jersey with other prominent locals.

New Jersey’s Acting Commissioner of Education, Chris Cerf, discussed the state’s new school funding formula on a brief visit to Monday morning.

The Fort Lee Borough Council adopted its 2012 municipal budget Thursday, with spending up 1.9 percent, and a tax levy increase of 1.86 percent over last year’s budget, or about $110 for the average homeowner.

Residents of a two-story house near Palisade Avenue self-evacuated Friday after fire broke out in their home, officials said. Nobody was injured, but the house was badly damaged.

The Fort Lee school district has removed all boxes of beef from its inventory it could not certify as being free of the cheap filler commonly known as “pink slime,” school officials said Monday. The district's food service management provider has been with the local school system for more than 15 years.

The Fort Lee school board awarded a roughly $780,000 bid to Stone Creek Inc. to convert the former central offices at 255 Whiteman St. into classrooms in spite of a projected cost of $1.5 million.

The 2012-2013 school calendar approved Monday includes a shortened February break, but school officials want to know if stakeholders prefer that the April break be shortened instead.

State officials Monday released a list of more than 100 physicians, including one in Fort Lee, authorized to recommend medical marijuana to patients.

The Fort Lee Film Commission commemorated the 50th anniversary of Universal's Oscar-winning film To Kill A Mockingbird with a , followed by live performances the following two nights.

Greek food and an owner's dream live on at in Fort Lee.

The Week in Review appears every Sunday on Fort Lee Patch.