There were no reported issues with the woman's pregnancy following the crash, police said.

SPARTA -- A 20-year-old man is facing charges because police say he was driving recklessly before he crashed his Chevy Trailblazer head-on into a pregnant woman's Jeep Liberty last month.

Joshua M. Buttacavole, of Lodi, was charged with fourth-degree assault by auto for injuries to the woman, Melissa D. Scevola, 36, of Hamburg, and disorderly persons offense of assault by auto for injuries to his 20-year-old passenger, Nicholas M. Baya, also of Lodi, Sparta Police Sgt. Dennis Proctor said in a news release.

Buttacavole, he said, was driving substantially over the speed limit and drove into the shoulder from the right lane in order to pass another vehicle. It was when he reentered the right lane Buttacavole lost control of his Chevy.

He's also been charged with making false statements to authorities and obstruction of justice. 

Based on the investigation, Buttacavole was driving his Chevy north on Route 15 near the 12 mile-marker shortly before 10 a.m. on July 19 when he lost control and overturned onto the grass median before hitting Scevola's Jeep head-on in the southbound lane.

Scevola, who was entrapped in the vehicle after the crash, was extricated and taken to Morristown Medical Center for treatment. Despite suffering broken bones and lacerations, the crash did not interfere with her pregnancy, police said.

Baya, who suffered minor injuries in the crash, has been charged with fourth-degree hindering for allegedly providing a false statement to officers, Proctor said.

Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The Cliffside park man was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for a 2011 fatal stabbing.

A Cliffside Park man's appeal to overturn his conviction for murdering and dismembering a man was denied Friday, according to court documents.

Wilfredo Sanchez, 38, appealed his 2013 conviction in April on the grounds that a jury did not consider convicting him on a lesser charge, according to the decision. 

 Wilfredo Sanchez 

Sanchez and fellow Cliffside Park resident Pedro Garcia were convicted of murder in the 2011 slaying of Francisco Gonzalez Fuentes. 

Prosecutors said Garcia became enraged and stabbed Fuentes to death after Fuentes told people he was Garcia's boyfriend.

After the stabbing, Garcia and Sanchez cut up Fuentes' body and stuffed it in garbage bags, which they scattered at various sites. 

The appeal argued that Sanchez should have been charged with passion/provocation manslaughter because Fuentes allegedly made an unfound advance on him when he was sleeping, which the court struck down because Sanchez wasn't even aware of the advance.

Also raised in the appeal was that Sanchez did not deliver the fatal stab wound, and that he should of been tried on aggravated assault and not murder. 

The court argued that although true, Sanchez had every intent to kill after a fight that wounded Fuentes. 

"Well, if we call the ambulance the police are going to come as well. ... We have to finish him off," the court cited as Sanchez saying.

Sanchez appeal was represent by Office of the Public Defender, which said they are deciding what next steps to take.

"The opinion is still under review and we will make a decision to seek review by the supreme court," said Evan Walker an assistant Public Defender and the spokesman for the office.

Fausto Giovanny Pinto may be reached at fpinto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @FGPreporting. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

A medical school that would occupy a former industrial site on the Clifton-Nutley border is one step closer to reality

A medical school that would occupy a former industrial site on the Clifton-Nutley border is one step closer to reality as Nutley officials are preparing to offer it a tax exemption and approve a redevelopment plan, NorthJersey.com reported.

The Hoffmann-La Roche campus was sold in July to an affiliate of Prism Capital Partners. Ahead of the sale, Hackensack University Hospital and Seton Hall University announced their intentions to open the medical school at the former pharmaceutical campus.

Dean named for new medical school

In July, the medical school entered a longterm agreement to rent 16 acres, NorthJersey reported. Financial details were not disclosed.

The medical school, the state's fifth, is expected to open in the fall of 2017. Bonita Stanton, a former pediatrician who served as a vice dean for research at Detroit's Wayne State University, has been named dean.

Sara Jerde may be reached at sjerde@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SaraJerde.

Englewood Hospital and Medical Center is now obtaining donated breast milk to give to their premature babies.

Gina Giordano, 35, wasn't expecting her baby to be born two months premature. But when her pregnancy was determined to be a risk to the health of both mother and baby, doctors delivered her son via emergency C-section.

William Cunningham was born on August 3.

Because her son was born so early, Giordano had trouble producing enough of her own breast milk to sustain him, she said.

Fortunately, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center was able to give William milk from other mothers with its new pasteurized human donor milk program, which provided the newborn some of the nutrients on which he otherwise would have missed out.

The hospital received its first shipment of breast milk late last month and William is one of first three babies to drink the donated milk.

"The donor program was a life-saver because it's so much easier for him to digest," Giordano said.

Nurse: Hospital stopped me from pumping milk

Experts say that studies show babies have a decreased risk of infection and higher IQs if they drink human milk soon after they're born.

Englewood is the most recent hospital in New Jersey to offer donated breast milk to its babies. It receives shipments from Mothers' Milk Bank Northeast.

"It's really becoming the standard of care," said Dr. Loren Deluca, a neonatologist at Englewood and its human milk program coordinator.

Englewood's program is exclusively for premature babies, but human milk can also be beneficial for babies whose mothers can't produce enough milk or who might be on medications that prevent them from breastfeeding, Deluca said.

In New Jersey, Hackensack University Medical Center and Saint Peter's Healthcare System also receive milk from Mothers' Milk Bank Northeast, said Naomi Bar-Yam, executive director of the non-profit.

Bar-Yam said that the milk and its donors go through a detailed screening process. The process is modeled after blood screening, she said.

Once the bank receives the milk, it's pasteurized, frozen and distributed along the East Coast, Bar-Yam said.

Saint Barnabas Medical Center considers itself the first hospital in the state to offer this type of program to premature infants, which it began doing about eight years ago, said Jennifer Spiegel, neonatal intensive care nurse manager at St. Barnabas Medical Center. She said it is "fabulous" that more hospitals are starting to offer the service.

Spiegel said her hospital receives its donations from a milk bank in Ohio, partly because there aren't milk banks in New Jersey. Once they do start popping up, though, the state has paved the way to regulating them.

Sara Jerde may be reached at sjerde@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SaraJerde. 

Gym owners and coaches call it the "Olympic effect," the surge in enrollment after the summer Olympic games.

It happens every four years, when gymnastics is on primetime television for a week straight during the summer Olympics.

Parents suddenly enroll their children - mainly little girls - at their local gymnastics center with visons of a gold medal slung around the child's neck a decade later.

Gym owners and coaches call it the "Olympic effect."

This year, it's more like an Olympic gold rush at Monmouth Gymnastics, where New Jersey's breakout star and 16-year-old double-medalist Laurie Hernandez trains with the MG Elite team.

"The phone's ringing so much, it's actually getting comical," Monmouth's manager Christine Mallas said.

Fall classes are full, they're getting 100 emails a day requesting information and they're begging coaches and instructors to work extra days this fall session. And they're chipping away at a rolling batch of 50 voicemail messages.

 "I've been here for eight years and I expected it, but nothing like this," she said. "I don't know if we were truly prepared."

Mallas said they have enrolled about 200 extra children since Hernandez - dubbed the human emoji - rocketed to fame as a member of the gold medal-winning Final Five women's gymnastics team.

They expect more too when families get back from vacations and summer ends. "Right now, I cannot even squeeze one more kid in," she said.

Mallas said one little girl's uncle arrived at the Morganville gym in person and paid for the entire year in full because his niece promised him: "I am going to go to the Olympics."

Most of the surge in enrollment is for classes for toddlers, who take class with their parents and they start as young as 15-months.

And the gym's even had to deal with some upset parents, standardly late in enrolling their returning kids for the fall, who did not get the class time they expected.

In addition to the spike in enrollment, Mallas said they've had some interesting moments recently.

One mother drove 90 minutes from North Jersey just to show her daughter where Hernandez trains, she said. The mom started off the encounter with, "I hope you don't think I am crazy, but..."

Through it all, Mallas said the gym staff, coaches and parents have been proud of Hernandez for years, and many have known for some time that she was on her way to world-class competition. "It's been very exciting and we're very proud."

As for the last week and half, "It's a wild ride here, and it's been pretty fun too," Mallas said.

Laurie Hernandez will celebrate her Olympic gold medal at Wawa

At other New Jersey gyms, the Olympic effect has started, just not at Monmouth's pace.

Tony Gehman, owner of North Stars Gymnastics in Boonton, started coaching at the gym in 1979 before buying it in 1985.

The Olympic effect, he said, started in 1984, when Mary Lou Retton captured the country's first all-around gold medal at the Los Angeles games.

He said that success elevated competitive gymnastic teams from rented spaces in church basements to profitable businesses with their own facilities.

And with the Rio squad putting up the best medal performance by an American team ever, many gyms will profit.

And it can be gradual, picking up once the games end this weekend.

Gehman has an open house scheduled this Saturday, where the competitive team will show off their talents.

"We're having the normal effect now, but were going to get (an increase)," Gehman said. "It's gonna happen."

At schools like the Gymnastics and Cheerleading Academy (GCA) in Cherry Hill, and ENA Gymnastics in Paramus, Rio successes are already translating into more kids signing up.

"And everybody's happy about it," GCA director Steve Tobin.

"Every Olympic year we get a huge benefit, and this year there's been an uptick," said ENA co-owner Craig Zappa.

Tobin said the gym his parents started in 1974, sees anywhere from a 15 to 25 percent increase the fall after a summer games, "Even if the team doesn't do so well," he said.

"This team did amazing though," Tobin said.

Tobin said more than the competitive side, the spotlight that gymnastics gets from the networks broadcasts really lets parents with kids who "roll around the floor and jump around the house" that there's a program for them.

"The general public does not really understand gymnastics training, and lot of the times we help them with the 'How do we get them involved?' questions," Tobin said.

"There's a real positive effect on schools," Tobin said.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The all-day concert featured acts like Miranda Lambert, Sam Hunt, and Old Dominion.

EAST RUTHERFORD -- Country music giant, Kenny Chesney, made his annual stop at MetLife stadium Saturday night as part of his Spread the Love tour. The all-day concert featured acts like Miranda Lambert, Sam Hunt, and Old Dominion. And while 2015 saw Chesney carried in on a moving chair above the audience, there were fancy entrances this year. Instead, Chesney simply emerged from behind a curtain and began his set. With a full house of raucous fans, there was no need for theatrics.

SET LIST

1. Beer in Mexico
2. Reality
3. Til It's Gone
4. Summertime
5. Pirate Flag
6. No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems
7. Somewhere With You
8. I Go Back
9. Anything but Mine
10. Save It for a Rainy Day (with Old Dominion)
11. Living in Fast Forward
12. Young
13. Noise
14. American Kids
15. You and Tequila (with Miranda Lambert)
16. How Forever Feels
17. Big Star
18. The Joker (by Steve Miller Band) / Three Little Birds (by Bob Marley)
19. Out Last Night
20. She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy
21. ENCORE - Don't Happen Twice

Homeless pets in need of adoption from northern and central New Jersey.

There's summer heat, and then there's oppressive summer heat.

Courtesy of biscuitacres.com 

We've experienced some of the latter recently, and while we do everything we can to keep ourselves cool, it's important to remember our pets as well.

"If it's hot to you it's just as hot for your dog or cat, and probably even worse," said John Gickling, a board certified veterinarian in emergency and critical care. "We're better equipped to handle the heat because we perspire."

Some tips on making sure your pets can deal with excessive heat:

* If you walk your dog, pick the coolest time of the day you can, use a shady route and bring water along with you for your pet.

* Certain pets suffer more in high heat. Overweight dogs and cats, dogs with short sboutts such as bulldogs and older pets.

* If your pet is outdoors, make sure it has a cool place to lay and that water is always available. Avoid taking your pets anywhere that has concrete or blacktop until temperatures normalize.

* Dogs may be overheating if they can't get up, aren't alert or can't stop panting. If you suspect overheating, hose your dog off but never use ice water, which worsens the situation. If this doesn't work, a visit to a veterinarian is important.

How hot is too hot for pets? Consider that if humans think it's too hot ... and aren't covered head to toe in fur ... it's almost certainly too hot for pets.

More pets in need of adoption can be viewed by clicking here and here.

Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find The Star-Ledger on Facebook.

New Jersey is one of the wealthiest states in the country. But it may surprise you how many $1M homes there are in the Garden State. We mapped every single one.

The games don't count yet, but the stage is being set for the 2016 football season in scrimmages.

Sunday's scattered storms put a damper on one of the last weekends of August, but brought much-needed rain to dry areas.

The heavy rain that drenched parts of New Jersey on Sunday may have spoiled some barbecues and other outdoor activities, but it happened to fall in a few areas that needed it the most because of the moderate drought conditions that have persisted this summer.

More than an inch and a half of rain fell Sunday in parts of Bergen County, where a drought watch has been in effect since late July. Parts of Cape May County, where conditions have been classified as "abnormally dry" by the U.S. Drought Monitor, received more than an inch of rain on Sunday, according to rainfall data from the New Jersey Weather & Climate Network at Rutgers University.

Big change coming to N.J. weather

The biggest rainfall total reported across the state was 1.92 inches in the Fortescue section of Downe Township, along the Delaware Bay in Cumberland County, followed by 1.66 inches in Ramsey in Bergen County.

The rain preceded a cold front that ushered in a wave of dry and comfortably warm air that's expected to stick around New Jersey through Wednesday, with temperatures remaining in the low 80s during the day and dipping into the upper 50s to low 60s at night.

Areas of New Jersey shaded in tan have moderate drought conditions, and areas shaded in yellow are "abnormally dry." (U.S. Drought Monitor) 

After that, the humidity will creep up a bit and temperatures will rise back into the upper 80s to around 90 on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. The good news: It shouldn't feel as oppressive as it did during the week-long heat wave that pestered the Garden State from Aug. 10 to Aug. 17. 

For many New Jersey counties, the August heat was was the fourth heat wave of the summer, and in some areas it was the fifth heat wave.

Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality or like him on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

You need to act fast — the seats go on sale on Monday at noon.

For fans who don't yet have a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band rock the Meadowlands during a three-date run that starts this week, the chances of landing a seat at one of the shows just got better.

MetLife Stadium announced this weekend that additional tickets for all three concerts at the East Rutherford venue are being released. The tickets, which start as low as $45, go on sale on Monday at noon and can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com, by phone at (800) 745-3000 or in person at the MetLife Stadium Box Office.

The worst song on each of Bruce Springsteen's 18 albums

Springsteen initially announced two dates at MetLife Stadium as part of an extension of "The River" tour, a celebration of the 35th anniversary of the release of the double-album. A third concert was added in the Meadowlands due to "fans' overwhelming demand." 

The Boss and his crew are taking over the stadium on August 23, 25 and 30.

The last time Springsteen played the Meadowlands was a three-date stint in 2012. Springsteen has played more than 80 times at MetLife Stadium, Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Arena, including 66 performances with the E Street Band. 

According to Pollstar, which tracks concert grosses, the tour was the second-highest grossing North American tour for the first half of 2016, with $76.9 million worth of tickets sold. Only Beyonce's tour has grossed more this year, with $126 million worth of tickets sold. 

After the New Jersey shows, Springsteen and his band head to Philadelphia for a performance at Citizens Bank Park. That show is scheduled for September 7. 

 Erin O'Neill may be reached at eoneill@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LedgerErin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The teachers won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

Four New Jersey teachers are being honored by the White House for keeping the country "on the cutting-edge" of science, mathematics and technology. 

The Obama administration on Monday announced the winners of the annual Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Two teachers from grades K-6 and two teachers from grades 7-12 were honored in each state. 

Julia Ogden, a science teacher at Woodcliff Middle School, and Coshetty Vargas, a math teacher at Washington Park School in Totowa, won the grades K-6 honor for New Jersey. 

Victoria Gorman, a science teacher at Medford Memorial Middle School, and Amy Mosser, a math teacher at Seneca High School in Tabernacle, won award for grades 7-12. 

The teachers will receive $10,000 to be used at their discretion from the National Science Foundation and be honored at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. 

"The recipients of this award are integral to ensuring our students are equipped with critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are vital to our Nation's success," President Barack Obama said

The Presidential Award is given annually to more than 200 outstanding K-12 science and mathematics teachers from across the country. Winners are selected by a panel of distinguished scientists, mathematicians, and educators after an initial selection process at the state level.

Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Bergen Catholic High School settled with 21 alleged victims for $1.9 million in November, a lawyer who represented alleged child sexual abuse victims who said they were assaulted by brothers of the parochial school.

Bergen Catholic High School has reached a $1.9 million settlement with 21 alleged sex abuse victims, a lawyer representing group told NorthJersey.com.

The men said they were assaulted by brothers at the parochial school between 1963 and 1978.

The lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, said the victims he was representing were between 13 and 17 years old at the time of the alleged assaults. Each  will receive sums that range from $65,000 to $115,000, Garabedian told NorthJersey.com.

A lawyer for the school, Thomas Herten, said in a statement last year that Bergen Catholic had done a "good faith mediation" of the accusations, but wasn't admitting guilt by doing so, according to the report.

Bergen Catholic is an all-boys school in Oradell.

Sara Jerde may be reached at sjerde@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SaraJerde.

The country star told fans at MetLife Stadium there was one caveat: The boy will have to wait 25 years.

Miranda Lambert made a surprise announcement in front of a New Jersey crowd this weekend: she's engaged.

But the country star said the marriage proposal that she accepted before a concert at MetLife Stadium on Saturday wasn't from her boyfriend -- it was from a 6-year-old boy.

"I forgot to tell you something very important," Lambert told the the audience before launching into her final song of the night. "I got engaged today. There's a little 6-year-old boy somewhere in here named Sebastian who asked me to marry him and I said, 'Yes, in 25 years.'"

"Isn't this beautiful?" she said, flashing her new ring.

The moment when Miranda tells the entire stadium about Sebastian's proposal. He is such a sweet boy pic.twitter.com/5UTJyLmPO3

-- Sarah Goddard (@leggy0308) August 21, 2016

Lambert also posted a photo Sebastian's proposal on Instagram. The 6-year-old, donning an oversized tour t-shirt and a backwards baseball cap, is pictured on one knee in front of Lambert, holding up a box with a pink ring in it.

"I said YES!" Lambert wrote. "But he has to wait 25 years. this sweet boy Sebastian is a little gentleman."

I said YES! But he has to wait 25 years. this sweet boy Sebastian is a little gentleman. #pinkring #proposal #mademyday #jersey #spreadthelovetour[?]

A photo posted by Miranda Lambert (@mirandalambert) on Aug 21, 2016 at 10:33am PDT

Lambert fan Sarah Goddard said she helped make the proposal happen, posting on Twitter that she took the boy back to a meet-and-greet session. Goddard said Sebastian also gave Lambert a necklace.

Initially Sebastian gave me the ring and necklace to propose to Miranda for him. I brought him in so he could propose to her @rekhashetty

-- Sarah Goddard (@leggy0308) August 21, 2016

Goddard told People that Sebastian bought the ring himself and had been waiting for months for the chance to pop the question to Lambert.

Lambert, who was in the Meadowlands this weekend as part of Kenny Chesney's "Spread the Love" tour, told the crowd that the marriage offer from Sebastian "may be my favorite proposal ever."

The singer and songwriter was previously married to fellow country star Blake Shelton. The couple split in 2015. 

Lambert is now dating singer Anderson East.

Erin O'Neill may be reached at eoneill@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LedgerErin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Those who settled will receive sums ranging from $65,000 to $115,000.

ORADELL--Peter Alrutz, 67, cannot recall exactly how old he was when he was first sexually abused, but he can still remember when a teacher asked to see him outside of class at Bergen Catholic High School and took him to a closet where the school stored books.

Alrutz said Brother Charles Borromeo Irwin asked him to move some books and when the student bent over, Irwin put his hand down his pants.

He said there was a physical struggle, but beyond that, "my recollection after that point is not real clear."

Victims of alleged sexual abuse at the all-boys high school in Oradell stepped forward Monday to announce a $1.9 million settlement that will be shared among 21 men who accused staff of the school of abusing them years earlier.

The settlement was reached in November, according to Mitchell Garabedian, who represented seven of those who settled, and said some of the alleged victims were just now wanting to speak to the public. Road to Recovery, an advocacy group, set up a press event outside of the school.

The school, which did not admit liability by settling with the alleged victims, is staffed by the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers and overseen by the Archdiocese of Newark. Neither entity immediately returned requests for comment.

Alrutz, who now lives in Austin, Texas, said that he felt the settlement gave him "hope" that there was remorse from the school, but felt the settlement figures were "low ball."

"I feel like they're very interested in still protecting their image and income. And I don't even know if they really comprehend the damage that they've done," Alrutz said. "I just feel like they're protecting their way of life."

Those who settled will receive sums that range from $65,000 to $115,000. The victims were assaulted between 1963 and 1978 when they were between the ages of 13 and 17 years old, Garabedian said.

No school officials were named in the legal documents, but the school was made aware of the names of the brothers accused, Garabedian said.

The firm that represented other alleged victims in the case, Jeff Anderson & Associates, didn't immediately return a request for comment.

Robert M. Hoatson, a founder of Road to Recovery, said that his advocacy group had protested outside of the high school a year ago after they felt the school was taking too long to respond to settlement talks. He felt the group's protests put pressure on the school and led to the settlement.

The settlement prevents the parties from suing the high school.

Rev. Kobutsu Malone, now 67, has written extensively about his experience on his website, bergencatholicabuse.com. Malone, who was Kevin Malone when he attended Bergen Catholic, has not settled with the school.

Garabedian, who also represents Malone, said Bergen Catholic decided not to settle with Malone because of his "activism and transparency" on his website. Malone claimed he was also sexually abused by Irwin.

Iriwn died in the late 1990s at age 69.

Malone, who now lives in Maine, dropped out of Bergen Catholic after finishing his second year to attend Paramus High School. "I couldn't stand the torture and the mistreatment of that school. It was appalling," he said.

Both Malone and Alrutz said there wasn't a safe way to describe the abuse back then.

"There wasn't a language for even speaking about this. You never heard anybody talk about sexual abuse and brothers who taught at the school were really seen as living representative of Jesus on Earth," Alrutz said.

Alrutz said his family moved to Tennessee, so he didn't spend his senior year at the school. He described the experience as traumatic and has affected his ability to feel safe.

Sara Jerde may be reached at sjerde@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SaraJerde. 

If you didn't feel the big East Coast earthquake of August 2011, you may have felt some of the smaller tremors that have occurred in New Jersey during the past five years. Watch video

Buildings swayed, windows shook, and nerves were rattled.

Five years ago today, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded in the eastern United States rocked a rural area of Virginia, sending shock waves through the ground across much of the East Coast, into New Jersey and as far away as Canada.

The Aug. 23, 2011, earthquake, which had a magnitude of 5.8 on the Richter scale -- a strength that's rarely seen in the eastern U.S. -- caused millions of dollars in structural damage to homes, schools and businesses in Virginia. It also damaged structures in Maryland and in Washington, D.C., including the Washington Monument.

In New Jersey, no major structural damage was reported, but residents across the state felt the ground shaking, and some buildings were evacuated.

"I was sitting here in my office, and my desk started to move," Richard Dalton, a geologist at the New Jersey Geological and Water Survey in Trenton, recalled. "My wife was driving to the bank and she thought something happened to her car because her car was shaking."

Since that quake, New Jersey has had 29 earthquakes, including 12 this year, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, the federal agency that monitors seismic activity across the world. All of New Jersey's quakes, however, have been far smaller than the Virginia earthquake -- and many have been so small that no resident reported feeling any shaking or hearing any rumbling.

Those small tremors are the most typical types of earthquakes to occur in the Garden State, said Robert Williams, a geophysisist at the U.S. Geological Survey. The vast majority of earthquakes detected in New Jersey have a magnitude of below 1.0 on the Richter scale.

"People are not going to feel 1.0's and maybe even 1.5's," Williams said. "Generally when they are above two or two and a half in the East, people will feel it."

That's exactly what happened in August 2011, and it's also what occurred last summer, when a small earthquake centered near Bernardsville rattled homes in Somerset and Morris counties. It turned out to measure 2.6 on the Richter scale, the largest tremor detected in New Jersey in recent years.

Another recent tremor that got noticed was a 2.1 magnitude quake centered in Ringwood in Passaic County on Jan. 2, 2016, shaking houses while people were sleeping.

No reason for alarm

Although there have been 12 small quakes detected in New Jersey so far this year, far more than the four that were detected last year, experts say there's no reason to be alarmed. Dalton said it's likely the uptick is the result of the recent expansion of earthquake detection sensors throughout the region and modern digitalized equipment that can pick up even the slightest movement in the earth's bedrock.

Much of New Jersey's seismic activity during recent decades has been concentrated near the Ramapo fault system, which extends diagonally from southern New York state down through northern New Jersey -- in parts of Bergen, Passaic, Morris, Somerset and Hunterdon counties -- and into eastern Pennsylvania. Another active area for minor tremors, Dalton said, is the New Jersey Highlands in the northern and western region of the state.

All of those green dots on this map are places where people felt the ground or buildings shake during the big earthquake that was centered in Virginia on Aug. 23, 2011. (U.S. Geological Survey) 

Faults are cracks in the earth's crust, and earthquakes occur when there is a sudden slip, or displacement, of rocks on a fault. The U.S. Geological Survey says earthquakes release energy in waves that travel through the earth's crust, causing the shaking that is felt by people near the epicenter and sometimes by those who are many miles away.  

In fact, earthquakes that occur in the eastern United States tend to be felt by more people than those that strike out West, even if the quakes are the same magnitude, Dalton said. The shock waves travel further in this region of the country, because "our faults are very tight" and faults in the western United States are more fractured.

The tighter the faults are, the longer the shock waves will travel, Dalton said, which is why the Virginia earthquake in August 2011 was felt hundreds of miles away in New Jersey, even further north in New England and northeastern Canada, and as far west as the Mississippi River.

Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality or like him on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Former dean and athletic coach Kate Drumgoole was fired after Facebook photos appeared of her wedding to Jaclyn Vanore.

PARAMUS - A judge has denied a motion by Paramus Catholic High School to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a dean who was fired because she married a woman, NorthJersey.com reported on Monday.

Superior Court Judge Lisa Perez Friscia said a further examination of the evidence is warranted in the case, which was brought against the school by Kate Drumgoole, former dean of guidance and girls' basketball coach.

Drumgoole, 33, of Bogota, was fired in January after Facebook photos appeared of her 2014 wedding to Jaclyn Vanore. The school claims Drumgoole was not fired because she is gay, but because she is in a same-sex marriage.

Dean fired over marriage to woman

In a motion for summary judgement, an attorney for Paramus Catholic said the school did not violate New Jersey Laws Against Discrimination because it is not unlawful for churches to require that employees subscribe to their beliefs, according to the report.

Drumgoole's attorneys, however, argued that the former employee's job duties did not include religious instruction. They also argued that Paramus Catholic set in place other policies against discrimination, according to the report.

The judge ruled the case should move forward, with attorneys examining whether Drumgoole worked in a ministerial capacity and whether the dispute is secular or ecclesiastical, the report said.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Jordaniel Ortega of The Bronx faces multiple charges following a traffic crash in Fort Lee.

FORT LEE - A 19-year-old student faces multiple criminal charges after investigators say he fled the scene of a crash that seriously injured his passenger, authorities said Monday.

Jordaniel Ortega (BCPO) 

Jordaniel Ortega, of The Bronx, was driving north on Bergen Boulevard shortly after 2 p.m Sunday when he entered the opposite lanes of traffic to pass a car stopped at a red light.

As Ortega drove through the red light, he struck another vehicle, according to Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal.

"Following the collision, Ortega exited his vehicle and fled the scene on foot, leaving his passenger injured in his vehicle," Grewal said in a statement.

Police arrested Ortega near the accident scene, the prosecutor said.

The unidentified passenger remains hospitalized at Hackensack University Medical Center with serious injuries, according to Grewal.

Ortega is charged with aggravated assault by auto, leaving the scene of a serious bodily injury accident, being a suspended driver involved in a serious bodily injury accident and endangering an injured victim, according to Grewal.

Ortega was released on his own recognizance pending a Sept. 9 arraignment, Grewal said.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

From 315-pound people movers to 165-pound, make-people-miss scatbacks, the returning All-State football players from are a talented group.

An investigation found that the principal at Eastside High School was the sole person responsible for the filming of Fetty Wap's lewd music video.

A principal at Eastside High School was the sole person responsible for the filming of a Fetty Wap music video and should be disciplined, an investigation into the video has concluded.

Zatiti Moody, the principal of operations at Eastside High School, was put on paid administrative leave last month until the district could determine his role in the filming of the video.

The investigation was conducted by John E. Wallace Jr., of the firm Brown & Connery, and released through a public records request.

Moody's lawyer declined comment.

Zatiti Moody's Google+ profile 

"I conclude that Mr. Moody was solely responsible for permitting the video shoot to occur at Eastside High," Wallace stated in his report. "In authorizing the video shoot, Mr. Moody did not follow all of the requirements of Board policy and regulations."

The report stated that Fetty Wap's production company should have paid for using the facilities. The company gave $500 to the Eastside Booster Club, but not the school itself.

"Based upon the evidence I collected, I recommend that the State District Superintendent impose appropriate discipline upon Mr. Moody," Wallace stated.

He further called for the school to consider amending its policies related to which organizations pay for use of the facilities. Members of the Paterson school board received copies of the report earlier this month. A request for comment on how the board will proceed was not immediately returned.

The video for "Wake Up" advocates smoking marijuana and includes a scantily clad stripper dancing on a pole in a classroom. 

The report states that Moody had talked with Maxwell's manager following a concert in 2015, about the performer doing "positive things" at the school. Moody was later contacted by the production company and the manager in Spring 2016 about filming a video in Eastside, the report states.

Moody determined that filming the video would have educational value because the school had a video production class. He said he was unaware of the video's contents ahead of time, according to the report.

Moody said that the school's Youth Consultation Services agreed to sponsor the video shoot and the event was listed on a school calendar, according to the report.

Moody later admitted in a meeting with the school's other principals and Assistant Superintendent David Cozart that he authorized the video shoot, according to the report.

Fetty Wap, an alumni of the school whose real name is Willie Maxwell, has apologized to Moody and the city.

"If I disrespected anybody, I came today to apologize, but I also wanted to let people know that I'm a product of my environment," Maxwell said.

Eastside is also Moody's alma mater, according to a biography of school alumni. He graduated in 1993 as a scholar athlete.

He attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he played a defensive end on the school's football team. 

Sara Jerde may be reached at sjerde@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SaraJerde. Staff Writer Myles Ma contributed to this report.