A couple of weeks ago, I drove into New York to pick up a childhood friend who had taken a bus into the city for a visit. By the time I'd driven us down to Barnegat, then back into Manhattan for her trip home, then left the city myself, I'd spent enough on tolls and crossings to take us out to dinner.  Sure, we have to pay for transportation. But the drive always leaves me with the same feeling of being squeezed simply for the privilege of sitting in traffic – and it could get worse. Last week, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey proposed raising tolls by $4 next month on the George…

With a convenience store, a diner, a pharmacy, pizza place, post office and now a hardware store, is Colfax Plaza -- Belmar Boulevard at New Bedford Road -- North Wall's equivalent to most towns' main street? Chime in with your responses below!

Ramshorn Drive residents will have a smoother ride from home later this year, as the Township Committee is committed to a resurfacing project that likely will start in July.  The project will not stress the municipal budget; although a bond ordinance is necessary to get the work started, state grant monies will pay off the bond. When complete, a 1/2-mile stretch of Ramshorn Drive will be resurfaced, from Lakewood Road to Allen Way. The impending project has us thinking: What other roads need attention? Which streets would you like to see repaved? Potholes filled? Bumpy pavement smoothed over…

The price of a gallon of gasoline is on the rise, fueled, experts say, by Wall Street speculation, not high demand or supply shortage. And with prices nearing $4.00 a gallon, the cost of filling your tank can easily top $75. So we're wondering, how is the affecting the way you drive, where you drive or how often you drive? Are you using the SUV less in favor of a sedan? Making fewer trips to the store? Or does it not affect you at all?

In February, the Township Committee adopted an ordinance banning check cashing businesses from Route 35. Be-Av-Mar, a financial services company that cashes checks and the business that prompted the action, has sued the township, saying the ordinance is  unconstitutional. Our question, then is: Should check cashing businesses be allowed on Route 35? Why or why not?

The nine candidates vying for seats on the Board of Education are scheduled for a candidate's night tomorrow at the high school.  As part of the night's agenda, candidates will field questions from the audience, screened and presented by a  moderator from the League of Women Voters.  Obviously, not everyone will be able to attend, so not everyone will get a chance to ask a question.  But if you had just one question that you believe absolutely, positively must be answered by each candidate running for the four seats on the panel, what would that be?