POINT PLEASANT BORO -- A home invasion in Ocean County in broad daylight, and a California couple has been charged.
The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office says the home invasion burglary happened on Thursday afternoon, just before 2 pm at a house in Point Pleasant Boro. The owner was home at the time of the break-in.
Officials say a shot was fired inside the house on Barton Avenue, and the back door was found to be forced open. They say 23-year-old Jaheim Wilson and 21-year-old Oleyah Brown stole a number of items before running out of the house. It's not clear if anyone in the house was shot, if the home was targeted, or if it was a random break-in.
The duo was located in Toms River and taken to the Ocean County Jail.
WILDWOOD -- A bomb threat on Friday forced the evacuation of a section of the Wildwood boardwalk in the same block as Franconi's Pizzeria, where Nazi symbol stickers were allegedly displayed on its refrigerator doors, sparking outrage and a call for a boycott on Redditt and other social media sites.
Police brought in bomb-sniffing dogs but found no threat to the public and the boardwalk was reopened. Franconi's came under fire last week after Reddit users shared photos of stickers in its kitchen that appeared to show Nazi imagery. The pizzeria was open on Saturday afternoon, according to an employee who picked up the phone. It's not clear if the boardwalk eatery was the target of the bomb threat.
Is New Jersey the new Hollywood? The Garden State is trying to attract more producers to the state for film productions.
The New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission recently named 19 municipalities and two counties designated as film-ready communities. That includes Atlantic City, Keyport, Mount Holly, East Brunswick, Maplewood, Bridgewater, and Hunterdon and Salem counties.
A new program called Film Ready New Jersey aims to prepare communities to accommodate movie and television productions and effectively market themselves. New Jersey now has 43 film-ready communities.
HACKETTSTOWN -- How would you like a degree in Happiness Studies?
Centenary University in Hackettstown is launching the world's first doctorate-level degree in Happiness Studies at the end of August, with 25 students from New Jersey and all over the world enrolled.
It's a virtual four-year, 66-credit program that aims to help people become happier and help them help others do the same, said Tal Ben-Shahar, professor and director of Happiness Studies at the university.
The 66-degree course curriculum focuses on readings and content that is similar to other Ph.D. programs, Ben-Shahar said. Happiness studies students will receive a rigorous foundation in research methods and statistics, as well as reading relevant texts in the field of happiness, starting from Aristotle and up to today's leading scholars.
Levels of anxiety and depression have skyrocketed, and an antidote is needed. "I believe happiness studies is just that. The antidote," Ben-Shahar said.