EDISON, N.J., July 1 (ZFJ) — Edison’s first splash park is now open to the public at Papaianni Park, announced Mayor Sam Joshi. The opening was kicked off with a first ever youth league pep rally on June 29, and the park was made available to the general public the following day. In keeping with inventor Thomas Edison’s history with the township, the splash pad is shaped like a lightbulb. The park also features a 20 foot replica of the Edison light tower, globes, and water guns shaped like classic film cameras.

EDISON, N.J., June 30 (ZFJ) — Edison police opened a substation in Menlo Park Mall on May 24. It is located in the former Jos A. Bank store between Barnes & Noble and a parking garage. Police officials celebrated the opening, which Deputy Chief Robert Dudash said had been “a brainchild of the police department and the mall for a lot of years now.” “This substation will actually enhance our services to the public and to the mall,” said Chief Thomas Bryan at the ribbon cutting.

June 19 (ZFJ) — Starting from 2024-2025, College Board will revise the course content and exams for its four AP Physics courses for better alignment with corresponding introductory college courses and better communication of the knowledge required for the exams. One of the most notable course updates for AP Physics 1 is the addition of a new unit: Fluids, which was previously part of AP Physics 2. As such, Fluids will no longer be part of the AP Physics 2 curriculum.

EDISON, N.J., June 8 (ZFJ) — James “Diamond Jim” Muldowney, 68, an Edison High School baseball coach and athletic director, died on Tuesday, May 21, after briefly battling cancer. “Jim dedicated his life to the betterment of students and athletes, leaving an indelible mark on the community,” reads his obituary. He was a mentor to countless students and coaches alike. Muldowney was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Edison. He graduated from Edison High in 1973 and lived in North Brunswick for 33 years.

May 21 (ZFJ) — Nintendo will announce the successor to its Switch console by the end of the current fiscal year—so, by March 31, 2025. The confirmation came from Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa in an X post on the same day the company released its fiscal year 2024 (year ending March 31, 2024) earnings report. This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., April 22 (ZFJ) — Jacob Beacher, 24, of North Plainfield, has been charged with a federal hate crime for breaking into the Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University (CILRU) on 122 College Avenue in New Brunswick, announced federal authorities on Monday, April 22. Beacher, not affiliated with Rutgers, was arrested this morning and federally charged with one count of intentional or attempted obstruction of religious practice and one count of making false statements to federal authorities.

April 14 (ZFJ) — YouTube is requiring creators to disclose when realistic-appearing content—anything that can easily be mistaken for a real person, place, scene, or event—has been generated or altered using artificial intelligence, announced the video platform on March 18. Examples provided by YouTube of content requiring disclosure include digitally replacing a person’s face, synthetically generating a person’s face, making it appear as if a real building caught fire, altering a real cityscape to appear differently, and realistically showing a fictional tornado moving toward a real town.

April 14 (ZFJ) — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the toughest emissions standards yet for light and medium-duty vehicles of model years (MY) 2027-2032, announced the agency on March 20. The agency projects that the updated standards in Multi Pollutant Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles will avoid 7.2 billion tons of carbon emissions between 2027-2055 and provide almost $100 billion of net benefits to society, including improved air quality and reduced annual fuel and maintenance costs for drivers.

April 14 (ZFJ) — The Food and Drug Administration cleared the Dexcom Stelo Glucose Biosensor System, the first continuous glucose monitor (CGM) approved for use without a prescription in America, for marketing on March 5. Stelo is an integrated CGM (iCGM) intended for anyone 18 years and older who doesn’t use insulin, such as diabetic individuals treating their condition with oral medications or people without diabetes who want to see how diet and exercise impact their blood sugar levels.

WOODBRIDGE, N.J., April 4 (ZFJ) — Woodbridge Center has been sold to new management, announced Woodbridge Mayor John E. McCormac in his State of the Township address on Feb. 23. “Woodbridge Center, like major malls across America, has struggled because of the internet and the ease of buying directly online,” he said. “It has done an admirable job of diversifying outside of basic retail by attracting new tenants, but it has just not been enough.