Countywide

A fire at a commercial roofing company on Rte. 22 in Union closed the roadway for hours on Friday, backing up traffic. Exploding gas tanks on the scene caused the Union Township Fire Department to call in the County Hazmat team. A column of smoke could be seen from neighboring town. No injuries were reported.

Union County Court officials plan to suspend all civil trials for July and August due to a shortage of judges. Read more on cbslocal.com.

Berkeley Heights

Jillian Altenburger, a 22-year-old member of the Berkeley Aquatic Club swim team, qualified to participate in the 2012 Olympic Swimming Trials at the Berkeley Aquatic Club Memorial Day Invitational Swim Meet, held on May 26 at Rutgers University’s Sonny Werblin Recreation Center. The Olympic Trials will be held in Omaha, Nebraska from June 25 to July 2. The top two swimmers in each event will represent the United States at the 2012 Olympic Games in London later in July.

Clark

The suspect we dubbed "the Bread Bandit" has brazenly returned to Clark's Bistro 1051 and made off with some more dough: Security cameras show what appears to be the same man in a maroon Ford F-150 pickup tossing Bistro's morning bread delivery into the bed of his truck. Read more and watch the video here.

Starting at 6 p.m. Friday night, volunteers from the American Cancer Society joined forces with residents of Clark and surrounding communities for Relay For Life, a 12-hour event at the Arthur L. Johnson High School that continued throughout the night and ended at 6 a.m. See our photo gallery here.

Cranford

Despite his initial plans to retire from the Police Department on May 31, Eric Mason continues to work as the Cranford police chief, while simultaneously serving as the interim township administrator.  Mason's transition from police chief to fulltime township administrator has been put on hold due to confusion involving pension guidelines that could prevent the chief from collecting his full police benefits if he jumps directly from the Cranford Police Department into the role of full-time township administrator.

Scotch Plains

The weather outside may have been cloudy and just under 75 degrees on Wednesday afternoon, but that didn’t stop community members of all ages from flocking to the newly opened Ponderosa Park on Cooper Road in Scotch Plains. Before you venture out to the new park, view Patch's extensive gallery and read more here.

On the evening of Wednesday, June 6, the New Jersey Division of Taxation assisted by Fanwood Police executed a warrant to seize and shutter the Sun Tavern in Fanwood. A spokesman for the State Treasurer's office stated that the local restaurant had failed to pay sales tax and after two judgements totalling more than $300,000, the state had no choice but to seize the property. However, by Thursday evening, the Sun Tavern was back open for business having worked out a payment plan with the state.

Following a unamious vote by the Scotch Plains Town Council, Deputy Mayor Mary DePaola was sworn in as the acting mayor on Monday, June 4. DePaola will serve out the remainder of former Mayor Nancy Malool’s term, which ends on December 31. Councilman Mickey Marcus delivered a controversial speech supporting DePaola. What do you think? Voice your vote here.

Westfield

The Board of Education Tuesday accepted the recommendation of its Facilities Committee to include the roof repair and lighted turf field installation projects as one proposal as part of a bond referendum ballot to be voted on this fall.

Westfield High School took home eight awards, more than any other school in the state, for its spring production of 'Pippin'  at the 2012 Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards ceremony took place on Tuesday, June 5 at the Millburn theater.

Springfield

The Ice Hut partnered with the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to raise money to fight childhood cancer after reading a story on Alexandra “Alex” Scott.  Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) emerged from the front yard lemonade stand of cancer patient Alexandra “Alex” Scott (1996-2004).

David Barnett and Margaret Bandrowski won the Democratic nomination for Township Committee, besting indepedent challenger Bart Fraenkel. Barnett and Bandrowski both garnered over 500 votes in the Tuesday, June 5 Primary, more than doubling the 211 votes that independent Democrat and former Springfield Mayor Fraenkel drew according to election data provided by Springfield's Township Clerk office.