By Carly Baldwin, Patch Staff — Middletown is currently making plans to open a new park/parking area, to be located at the corner of Navesink River Road and Hubbard Avenue, and next door to River Plaza Elementary School. That is currently a vacant lot. It is owned by Middletown Township. The park will tentatively be called Koleda Park, but the Township is still working on the name, said Middletown Business Administrator Anthony Mercantante. "The primary benefit of this park is to provide safe p... Read more

The winners of the 2021 Congressional Art Competition have been announced by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), who sponsors the annual competition and art show for high school students in the Fourth Congressional District as part of the nationwide competition organized by the Congressional Institute to help recognize and foster artistic talent in each congressional district. View slide show of Red Bank winners, above left. Several students from Red Bank Regional High School, Little Silver, have be... Read more

Two projects for Mercer County advocated by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)—including new buses for the county’s Transportation Resources To Aid The Disadvantaged And Elderly (TRADE) services—cleared their first hurdle Thursday, after the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) adopted Smith’s proposals and added it to a major transportation bill. Smith worked tirelessly with county and state officials to propose and insert their prioritized local transportation projects into the INVE... Read more

Two heavily-traveled bridges on Route 33 and Route 35—both nearly a century old—and improvement projects for Freehold Borough and Middletown Township, cleared their first hurdle Thursday as they were approved by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) on the way to a likely floor vote, announced Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who sponsored each of the projects. Smith worked extensively with state and local officials to propose and insert prioritized local transportation projects... Read more

Two key projects for Ocean County—including the much-needed overpass for County Road 539 which goes through the center of Joint Base McGuire-Dix Lakehurst—championed by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), cleared their first hurdle Thursday, after the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) adopted Smith’s proposals and added them to a major transportation bill. Smith worked tirelessly with Ocean county and JB-MDL officials to propose and insert the prioritized local transportation proje... Read more

Timeline regarding Bitkovs legal case in Guatemala A Russian woman who fled Vladimir Putin with her family and who was unjustly jailed in Guatemala along with her husband and daughter, testified June 9th at a U.S. congressional human rights commission hearing and said that she and her family suffered “unthinkable abuses committed openly by the Guatemalan Judicial System.” Testifying virtually while still under house arrest in Guatemala City, Irina Bitkova appealed to the U.S. government to work ... Read more

The following are excerpts of opening remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, at today's congressional hearing entitled "Judicial Independence in Central America": The topic of today’s hearing is one which should garner support on both sides of the aisle – the importance of judicial independence. Indeed, as a matter of general principle, embedded among larger principles – namely, respect for constitutionalism and the separation of power – support i... Read more

The following are excerpts of remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) for the virtual commemoration of the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre entitled "2021 Tiananmen Remembrance: A Virtual Commemoration Featuring Wang Xilin's Symphony No. 3": Special thanks to Dr. Yang, Dr. Swett, Ambassador Bremberg for your extraordinary work and for providing this opportunity to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests and their violent suppression by the Chinese Co... Read more

The winners of the 2021 Congressional Art Competition were announced today by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), who sponsors the annual competition and art show for high school students in the Fourth Congressional District as part of the nationwide competition organized by the Congressional Institute to help recognize and foster artistic talent in each congressional district. “We had one of the highest number of entries ever in our second virtual art competition of high school artists in the Four... Read more

By Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman, Staff Writer A bipartisan duo is still aiming for Trenton Water Works and similar public water systems across the United States to be lead free in 10 years. Republican Congressman Chris Smith of Hamilton Township and Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas have reintroduced their “Get the Lead Out Act” legislation in the new session of Congress this month. PHOTO: Trenton Water Works water filtration plant. Rich Hundley III — For The Trentonian The measure, formally ... Read more