Wawa Competition
Wawa is getting some new competition from Maryland-based Royal Farms, who are building new convenience stores in South Jersey this year. The first one is in Magnolia, Camden County, but another will be opening in Marlton and two more locations will be built by the end of the year, NJ.com reports.
AC Magnate in HBO Doc
Atlantic City’s Sara Spencer Washington, a beauty-product manufacturer and hair-salon owner who was one of the first black millionaires in New Jersey, will be the focus of a HBO short documentary premiering this month. “Not only was she an entrepreneur, she was a social activist,” says Royston Scott, the film’s director and Washington’s great-grandnephew. “She refused to be held back by white society.” You can read more here, via NJ.com.
Cardinal Bistro
We took a look behind the scenes at Ventnor’s Cardinal Bistro, home of local chef Michael Brennan. You can watch the video here – expertly filmed by Sherry McCracken from Little Rock Films + Studios, with an interview by Waiter Nation’s Michael Fagan.
ACA Repeal
Last week a vigil was held outside Rep. Frank LoBiondo’s office in Mays Landing, to protest against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act with no replacement. We were interested journalistically and personally in the vigil: We set up Route 40 as a small business that supplements our freelance income. Since we are self-employed, we bought our insurance through the Healthcare Exchange that was established by the Act (aka Obamacare). We don’t know whether we would be able to buy health insurance next year if the ACA is repealed. We interviewed another small-business owner at the event who is also worried about not being able to pay for her insurance anymore. You can watch the video and read about the vigil here.
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The rest of the headlines from the weekend and this morning include news that property prices in the greater Philadelphia area are rising (and Longport has the highest median sales price in the area), local road repairs (West End Ave) to begin in Spring, and the weather (warming up early in the week, possible snow at the end of the week). All that and more below:
The List: Top Theaters in NJ Are Impressive Supplement to Great White Way–Here in New Jersey, many professional theater companies give us access to talent and entertainment that would be the envy of most of the rest of the country. It’s easy to overlook that fact when we’re within a stone’s throw of Broadway, the zenith of commercial theater. www.njspotlight.com
Ocean City Proposes to Clean up the Mess at Dog Beach–Baron, a 12-year-old Dalmatian and Labrador retriever mix who has been dubbed the “mayor of Dog Beach” by his owner, met a new constituent the other day when he touched noses with a rambunctious puppy named Minion. Over the years, countless other canines have gotten acquainted in the same way on a nearly mile-long stretch of sand that is part of the state-owned Malibu Beach Wildlife Management Area, but is better known by its “Dog Beach” nickname. OCNJ Daily
Atlantic County to Resume West End/Wellington Avenue Reconstruction in Spring–After a temporary shutdown by Gov. Chris Christie, reconstruction of West End/Wellington Avenue (County Route 629) in Atlantic City and Ventnor will resume in the spring, according to Atlantic County officials. “Had it not been for the four-month state shutdown, these three projects would likely have been completed before the end of last year,” Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson. Shore News Today
Home Sales in Region Continue Steady Rebound, Report Finds–Residential real estate sales continued their slow, steady post-recession recovery in 2016. Longport Borough, in Atlantic County, posted the highest median sale price in the Greater Philadelphia region at $ 1.3 million (up 30 percent). www.dailylocal.com
Tiny Bird Gets a Hand From NJ in Global Fight to Survive–Semipalmated sandpipers – brown and white and weighing no more than about five quarters – have an even more remarkable migration south in the fall, traveling nonstop at up to 60 mph for nearly a week to cover 3,300 miles over the Atlantic Ocean before landing on the shores of South America in French Guiana and Suriname. But researchers in New Jersey and Canada have seen a steady, striking 30-year decline in the sandpiper’s population, and are trying to find the cause. North Jersey
Watch Out Wawa! Competitor Building First N.J. Stores This Year–A Maryland-based convenience store chain known for its fried chicken will build its first New Jersey stores this year. Wawa competitor Royal Farms has started construction on one store, on Evesham Avenue in Magnolia, and plans to break ground on four more South Jersey locations in the spring. NJ.com