Community Corner

Week in Review: Menendez Talks Medicare, Israel in Fort Lee; Students Plant Garden; and More

A weekly roundup of some of the top local stories on Fort Lee Patch.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) highlighted the changes to Medicare in the proposed Republican budget cuts in an appearance at the Richard A. Nest Senior Citizens Center in Fort Lee Monday.

Among Menendez’s discussion points were increases in out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs, how Medicare as we know it he says will be eliminated for new beneficiaries in 2022 and the windfall “of trillions to the health insurance industry, paid for on the backs of seniors.”

Moments after Menendez spoke about the Republican Medicare proposal, he was asked to address U.S.-Israel relations. (full article)

Find out what's happening in Fort Leewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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A select group of Fort Lee Middle School students put the finishing touches on the new center-island garden at the school Monday after two school days filled with hard work and learning.

Find out what's happening in Fort Leewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Middle School Principal Rosemary Giacomeli said that what started out as “a little project” to dig up some weeds and re-plant the garden, which fronts the main entrance of the building, took on a life of its own, becoming something bigger and much more important to the students involved. (full article)

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The Circle of the Arts Festival at took place last Friday at Fort Lee High School. Student artwork; musical ensembles, dancers and actors; choral exhibitions and industrial arts and home economics projects on display for one night only highlighted the festival.

The event showcased the work of over 1,400 students from all six Fort Lee schools with events taking place simultaneously in the high school's auditorium, east gymnasium and cafeteria. (full article) (photo gallery)

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When Brandon and Ryan Kolvek discovered that over 80% of underserved schools in New Orleans were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, resulting in one book for every 300 students in the most impoverished school districts, they decided to do something to help. They wanted to do something big to help re-stock the libraries in these impoverished areas.

They learned that Dosomething.org and Better World Books joined forces to share resources and collect books for the Recovery School District in New Orleans and are working with these organizations. (full article)

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On Wednesday morning, parents and faculty gathered to watch the Kindergarteners of Fort Lee School No. 1 put on a performance that they wouldn’t soon forget.

All the preparation and hard work for the past two months surely showed as the kids took to the stage to put on their show called “Dancing with the Kindergarten Stars,” which was based on the hit TV show, “Dancing with the Stars.” (full article)

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If you thought you saw great sales on books when Borders was going out of business, think again. The Fort Lee Library truly put the word "sale" in "Book Sale" when it held its annual one last weekend.

Although the library held book sales long ago, the event ended up going on hiatus until the library board of trustees decided to renovate the process. Paige Soltano, who was appointed by the former Fort Lee Mayor Jack Alter as the president of the of library’s board of trustees, had a large hand in helping reintroduce the sale. Three years ago it was successfully brought back to the community, and has been going strong ever since. (full article)

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Growing up a second-generation chef, Fort Lee Patch’s “Chef of the Month” Alexey Naumov of Khloe Bistrot in Fort Lee had to go through his mother’s kitchen in order to see her. He’s always been there since the first cut he got on his finger at six-years-old.

Naumov is a 1992 graduate of the French Culinary Institute and calls their head chef and Thierry Laurent early influences, as well as several others at two and three star kitchens in Manhattan. (full article)

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Two weeks ago, Fort Lee Patch reviewed our "Whiz Kids" from February and March.

This past week, our review was of those kids selected for the honor in April and May. (full article)

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In local sports, the first round of the New Jersey State Tournament took place Tuesday afternoon in Fort Lee, where the Lady Bridgemen took on the Lady Tigers of Hackettstown, defeating them 6-5.

The pitching of Amanda Maldonaldo, along with the clutch play of the number eight and nine hitters, proved to be the turning point of this closely contested and important game. (full article)

Editor’s Note: Sadly for local sports fans, the Lady Bridgemen’s run came to an end later in the week when they were eliminated from the tournament. Full details to follow in Fort Lee Patch sports reporter Chris Murray’s weekly roundup later Sunday.

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Our blog post of the week came from Rev. Allison Moore of Fort Lee’s Church of the Good Shepherd, in which Moore mused on the true meaning of Memorial Day. (full blog post)

The week in review appears every Sunday on Fort Lee Patch.


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