RIO GRANDE — Lowe’s Home Improvement Center here donated 35 freshly cut Christmas trees to Our Lady Star of the Sea School Nov. 28.

The school will sell the trees as a fundraiser, according to PTA President Frank Zelenik. He said it is the first time the school has sold Christmas trees.

Zelenik said parent Keith Lafferty came up with the idea to sell trees.

“About two weeks ago, we weren’t able to get any wholesalers from down south or even out towards Pennsylvania that had any trees left that could get them to us,” Zelenik said.

WHITESBORO — Whitesboro Post Office, 207 W. Main St., kicks off the holiday mailing season by saying thanks to customers “for their smiling faces and their business,” according to a release.

Join them Dec. 9, for hot beverages and treats.

They will be available to answer all shipping questions and will have on hand flat rate Priority boxes as well as a specially priced Priority box for loved ones serving overseas with APO/FPO addresses.

Door prizes and a drawing to win a Phillies World Series Commemorative Cachet will top off the occasion.

CREST HAVEN — Four sergeants and 33 sheriff's officers in the county Sheriff's Department, who are members of Police Benevolent Association Local 59, ratified a four-year contract, which was approved by freeholders Nov. 25.

Those officers provide Law Division with a variety of services, including court protection, K-9 unit, and warrant services, among others.

According to county Administrator Stephen O'Connor, the contract is similar in wages and benefits to one approved Aug. 26 for the department's corrections officers.

FOLSOM — After getting the go-ahead for a 9-percent rate hike, a local gas supplier rewarded its shareholders with a similar bump in dividends.

South Jersey Industries (SJI) – the parent company of South Jersey Gas, which provides natural gas to over 336,000 customers in Cape May and six other southern counties – announced a 10 percent increase in annualized dividends to in a Nov. 24 release.

The jump represents an 11-cent increase to $1.19 per share. Stockholders will see increases in their quarterly dividend payments from 27 cents to 29.75 cents per share.

TRENTON — The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development has begun notifying unemployed workers about an expansion of extended unemployment benefits that are now available to support workers who run out of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits without finding a new job.

Gov. Jon Corzine

TRENTON – In a move aimed at helping the New Jersey business community through one of the worst national economic downturns in decades, Governor Jon S. Corzine today signed legislation to ease the tax burden on businesses by allowing them to carry operating losses forward for up to 20 years.

OCEAN CITY -- Ocean Shore Holding Co. (Nasdaq:OSHC), holding company for Ocean City Home Bank, announced Nov. 13 that it has received conditional approval to reorganize from the two-tier mutual holding company structure to the stock holding company structure and commence a "second-step" stock offering of new shares of common stock.

Anne Salvatore, Freeholder Ralph E. Bakley Sr. Front photo by Cape May County Public Information Office. Salvatore lauded by peers from throughout the county. Photo by Leslie Truluck.

BURLEIGH — Patricia Anne Salvatore, champion preservationist as executive director of Historic Cold Spring Village, a living recreation of an 18th Century farm, was lauded by her peers Nov.19 at the 2008 Alice Stokes Paul Award Dinner sponsored by the Cape May County Advisory Commission on the Status of Women.

Prominent women from throughout the county met at Wildwood Golf and Country Club to applaud Salvatore’s contributions to preserving history and heritage and promoting a better quality of life for county women.

TRENTON — Employment losses rose in October as New Jersey employers cut 6,000 jobs from payrolls — the third consecutive monthly loss. The state’s unemployment rate also edged higher by 0.2 percent to 6 percent. The October rate is the highest monthly statewide rate since July of 2003.

In comparison, the national unemployment rate for October rose to 6.5 percent, a 14-year high, according to a release.

Joseph C. Visalli

CHERRY HILL — Judge Joseph C. Visalli (ret.), of Wildwood Crest, who served for 22 years on the New Jersey Superior Court, has joined The Ferrara Law Firm of Cherry Hill. Visalli will join the firm as “of counsel,” and will be available to serve as an arbitrator, mediator, and will handle civil litigation, according to a release.