WEEK IN REVIEW: Startling Health Insurance Statistics to Election Reform, This Week Offered a Wake-Up Call

Startling statistics were revealed in a recent census report that shows 1 in 10 people under the age of 65 living in Morris County are not covered by medical insurance. That represents 36,171 people. It’s about 2,000, or half of a percentage point, higher than just a year earlier.

We began this past week with a feature story by regional writer Colleen O’Dea who reported on this critical issue facing our county, one of the most affluent in the nation.

As with so many of these measures, Morris County’s rate of 8.7 percent is among the lowest in New Jersey. Still, that’s a lot of men, women and children who worry every day about getting strep, sprained ankles, or something far more serious. To read the full story . 

Seven of  members were honored by the township committee Monday night, Oct. 17, 2011 for their heroic acts involving two traumatic incidents earlier this year, one involving a toddler who had fallen from a second story window on to the asphalt driveway below, the second involved a toddler who became unresponsive after falling into a swimming pool. To learn more about our local heroes, .

And other members of the community were honored for their service this week. Washington Township, which boasts one of, if not the biggest group of accomplished Eagle Scouts in New Jersey, will continue to add members to its ever-growing pack of high-achievers.

On Monday, Oct. 17, the township committee recognized the municipality’s newest Eagle Scout, Nathaniel Irwin, and approved the upcoming service projects of two other Scouts seeking to attain the group’s highest ranking.

Irwin’s service project involved building a total of seven picnic tables at Teetertown State Park Preserve in Califon and prep tables. To learn more about the many ways that the Eagle Scouts are serving Washington Township and surrounding areas, .

Morris County residents were remembered as the news circled the globe on Oct. 20, 2011 that the deposed Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi had been killed. Four people from Morris County were among those killed in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie. Scotland. After several years, Libya formally accepted responsibility for the bombing, though Gaddafi himself denied culpability. Among those who lost their lives in the 1988 terrorist attack were: Alexander Silas Lowenstein of Morristown; John Patrick Flynn of Montville; Saul Mark Rosen of Morris Plains; and twin brothers Eric Michael Coker and Jason Michael Coker of Mendham. All of the county residents who lost their lives were age 25 and younger. To learn more about who they were,

Battles are still being waged in historic Morris County involving Freeholder Elections. A close call race, court battle and signs of fraud, have lawmakers looking to clean up election laws.

In September, Superior Court Assignment Judge Thomas Weisenbeck ruled that William "Hank" Lyon of Montville was not the Republican nominee for Morris County freeholder—even though ballot counts appeared to show him a handful of votes ahead of incumbent Margaret Nordstrom in the GOP primary.

If Assemblyman Michael Carroll of Morris Township has his way, the Legislature will take up bills he is preparing to boost the effectiveness of the state's election laws, and to end the vote-by-mail practice at the heart of one of the issues on the Lyon-Nordstrom election.

To learn more about this battle that could transform elections in New Jersey,