Baristanet reported that 91-year-old Robert Nevius was found in his ransacked home on Thursday and police immediately treated the case as a homicide. On Friday, a 28-year-old East Orange man who had worked for Nevius and his wife as a chauffeur was arrested on charges of murder.

Planned cuts to library budgets brought out protesters in neighboring towns. Dozens of Cedar Grove residents showed up at a town council meeting there on Monday to protest plans to close Cedar Grove library for the rest of the year. According to the Star Ledger, the council is mulling the closure so that it can channel funds earmarked to run the library into closing a $600,000 gap in the town’s budget. Cedar Grove’s alternate plans are to lay off seven municipal employees, or get town workers to pony up 25% of their health insurance costs. Baristanet, meanwhile, reported that libraries in Bloomfield and Glen Ridge have joined a statewide protest against library budget cuts.

With school budgets coming up for a vote, there was more tension over planned cuts. Glen Ridge parents were circulating a petition that asks its school board to freeze teacher salaries there. The board’s current plan gives Glen Ridge teachers a 2% raise while cutting 18 jobs and leaving residents in the already highly taxed town with an $800,000 property tax increase.

Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. is flanked by Bloomfield Councilman Nick Joanow, Bloomfield Mayor Ray McCarthy, James Cunningham of the New Jersey Tree Foundation and Bloomfield businessman Dan Maroney. (Photo By Glen Frieson)

But 18 jobs cuts would be a relief in East Orange, where the city’s board of education may have to slash 280 jobs to make up for a $10 million cut in state aid.

New Jersey Transit also seems headed in the wrong direction. Though protesting commuters turned out in force, the agency’s board approved a 25% increase on interstate bus and train fares. While local bus fares were to have face the same hike, NJ Transit held that increase to 10% but also cut 32 trains. The new fares take effect May 1.

And finally, on a brighter note, Essex County officials planted 110 trees in Bloomfield on Thursday. The plantings, which included native species like ginko and redbud, came free of charge thanks to the New Jersey Tree Foundation.

The changes will affect a lot of Verona’s commuting options: the Montclair trains, and the Park & Ride lots at Willowbrook, Clifton, Secaucus Junction and North Bergen. The latter is my personal favorite, costing $8.25 now including parking and bus into Port Authority. Secaucus Junction is $10 plus $3.25 fare to Penn Station. Trips from North Bergen and Secaucus are frequent, which may give them the edge if you need flexibility.

If you want some other options, there aren’t many, and they aren’t much less costly. And don’t even think of driving to Manhattan, where the New York Times is saying traffic is only getting more jammed.

What to do? There’s the DeCamp Bus Line, which has several stops along Bloomfield avenue. The fare is now $6.75 each way from Verona (with discounts if you buy a multi-ride book), and there’s a bus about every 20 minutes during the morning and evening rush hours. DeCamp isn’t saying whether it will mirror the NJ Transit fare hikes, but it hasn’t had an increase in a while. If you want to try DeCamp, there are covered shelters on the west side of town at the corner of Bloomfield Avenue and Linn Drive, opposite Verona Fire House #1, and just east of the Lakeside/Bloomfield intersection by the brook that comes out of Verona Park. Decamp buses will also stop at the corner of Bloomfield and Grove (in front of Frank Anthony‘s), Bloomfield and Brookdale avenues (in front of the Paradiso salon) and Bloomfield and Mount Prospect (across from the DCH Acura dealership). But you have to wave your hand energetically at the bus driver at those stops.

If you’re willing to drive to Harrison or Jersey City, you can pick up the PATH trains, which are run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The PATH fare is $1.75 one way, but drops to $1.30 each with a 40-trip ticket. That however, is without the cost of parking, and you will need to pray to the parking gods to find much under $10 for the day.

Telecommuting just looks better all the time.

Montclair’s town council approved the use of eminent domain to acquire a lot across from the Montclair Police headquarters for redevelopment as a parking lot. The land is owned by the Cerino family, which also owns the Decozen Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership in Verona. The family has hired a lawyer to block Montclair’s action.

Caldwell business owners and residents are protesting a proposed parking ban on a stretch of Central Avenue. The Caldwells Patch is reporting that there have been several accidents on Central Avenue involving north-bound cars. But opponents say the ban would only encourage more motorists to speed through the area.

If you’ve been wondering why NJ Transit needed a 25% fare hike, this may be the answer:  The Asbury Park Press is reporting that the bus and rail service provider’s payroll jumped 24% from 2006 to 2009. Average pay now stands at $62,794, up from $57,474.

Last week, we told you about a bear caught and killed in Wayne. On Tuesday, the New Jersey Fish and Game Council unveiled a plan to hold a bear hunt this December, New Jersey’s first in five years. Former Gov. Jon Corzine had banned bear hunts.

And finally, the New Jersey state Senate approved a measure to allow wine to be shipped directly to customers. If approved by the state Assembly, the bill would let New Jersey wineries ship to customers out of state and would let consumers have wine shipped in.

Eight different police departments converged on West Essex High School on Tuesday after the North Caldwell police were tipped that a female student had possibly brought a gun inside the school. Police removed the student from the school, and, after searching her belongings, locker and the classroom in which she had been found, said they had not found a gun. The student was taken to St. Clare’s Hospital in Denville for evaluation, the police said.

Google has put out the word that it wants trial locations for its planned ultra-high speed broadband service and Montclair is applying.

New Jersey Transit is planning on raising fares for the first time in three years, and it’s making up for lost time. NewJerseyNewsrom.com says the hike will be a whopping 25%.

Glen Ridge is laying off two police officers to help it close part of its $500,000 budget gap. Baristanet says the town had asked the police department to come up with $200,000 in cuts. The department says it offered a plan, which included cutting overtime and postponing the purchase of new vehicles, but the town rejected the offer.

A large bear turned up in a backyard in Wayne, and apparently killed a dog. Sadly, the bear, who reportedly had caused problems in Wayne twice before, was later put down by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

And finally, although Verona has used up all its snow days, at least we built some into the school calendar. Many districts didn’t–or didn’t build enough, and now they are scrambling to cut the spring breaks or add days at the end of the year. The Star Ledger says that Tom’s River schools, which have been closed six days for snow, have put Easter Monday back on the calendar as a school day and extended the school year through June 24.