CHRIS KELLY staff The VooDudes performed at the Metuchen Senior Center during Labor Day festivities on Sept. 2. More ... School registration is on rise the past few years District will have 25 per class in many elementary schools BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer       On the wall outside the office of the Edison School District's director of enrollment is a sign calling laughter a surefire way to stay young. If that's true, the amount that John Russell laughs would put him at about 5 years of age. He has to laugh, he says, he's too busy not to. More ... Amber from 94M years ago is focus of discussion Nat. History Museum staffer to speak about findings in Sayreville BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer       Some Sayreville residents and officials are on a different sort of amber alert than the ones Americans have grown used to hearing about. Efforts to preserve a privately owned, 159-acre tract, where amber dating as far back as 94 million years ago was found, are gaining support. More ... New policy would put kibosh on unwritten rule Creates guidelines over children in workplace to limit liability BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer       EDISON - The township is preparing a policy concerning children in the workplace after council member Antonia Ricigliano raised the issue over fears that it could affect the liability of the township in several ways. Ricigliano said that while at town hall on Aug. More ... State ABC director to decide nightclub's fate Studio 9 was the location of two riots, violations, late last month BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer       WOODBRIDGE - The state director of the Alcoholic Beverage Control board, Jerry Fisher, will decide whether or not to allow the owners of the Studio 9 restaurant and cocktail lounge on King Georges Road to continue to operate. More ... Educators see benefits of Chinese lang. classes Three from O.B. share experiences from trip to China BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer       OLD BRIDGE - Like many things in America, the inspiration of three school faculty members was "made in China. More ... 9-year-old boy charged in death of infant Day-care worker charged with endangering the welfare of a child BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer       was charged with the death of an 11- month-old Carteret boy at a home-based day care center in Iselin, last week. Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan announced in a statement on Aug. More ... Towns by district       About these statistics Staff members at Greater Media Newspapers recently studied the legislative records of each lawmaker in our coverage area for the 2006-07 legislative session. All figures were current as of Aug. 5, while the Legislature was on summer recess. More ... Lawmakers face roadblocks on the hard road to success Some say system in Trenton must be changed BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer       The idea that there is too much politics in Trenton has been around for so long, it has become a cliché. The familiar bugaboos of partisanship and petty rivalries disrupting the legislative process are well known and well despised. More ... Most new laws      John Wisniewski More ... Least new laws      Jennifer Beck More ... Prof. teaches African nursing educators HIV prevention Finds cultural barriers impeding actual progress in the fight of the disease BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer       EDISON - Dula Pacquiao had one week to change the world. The associate professor and director of the Stanley Bergen Jr. More ... Worker freed from trench in Fords, considered stable OSHA is investigating concern over substandard hole BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer       WOODBRIDGE - A 34-year-old Plainfield man is in stable condition after he became stuck from his chest down in a construction trench for approximately four hours last week when he was doing work on a sewer line at a Snyder Road residence. More ... Summer winds down      PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Above, an International Fireworks employee sets up the mortar rounds for the Labor Day fireworks display, which took place in the parking lot of the Metuchen Senior Center on Sept. 2. Below, attendees of the VooDudes concert line dance during one of the group's songs. More ...