Bayonne

State investigators announced yesterday that, for the second time in a month, AIDS antibodies have been found in vials of blood that washed ashore in New Jersey. More than 100 vials, discovered on a small beach in Bayonne on Sunday, were tested and health officials said five of the small containers were contaminated. Similarly, several vials that had washed up in Ocean County last month were found to contain AIDS antibodies as well as a hepatitis virus. Although he urged beachgoers not to touch such containers and to report them to police or health authorities, Thomas A. Burke, a deputy commissioner of the New Jersey Health Department, said there was little or no risk of exposure to AIDS because the antibodies cannot usually survive outside the body.

If New Jersey voters could make the choice, the Battleship New Jersey's last home would be in Bayonne, not Camden. That's the finding of a Quinnipiac College poll released yesterday that highlighted once again the state's North-South divide. "In the battle between North and South, the North has won again," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Polling Institute at the college in Hamden, Conn. "The Battleship New Jersey was built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, right across the river from Camden.

Vincent Falso's attachment to the USS New Jersey is second to none. A commissary petty officer on the legendary dreadnought when it saw action during the Korean War, he is now president of the 1,700-member Battleship New Jersey Historical Museum Society and the unordained "chaplain" of the vessel's veterans group. And, Falso will tell you, he has become the repository of the disappointment and anger that remain in North Jersey nearly nine months after the Navy gave the battleship to Camden instead of Bayonne.

When the idea of bringing the USS New Jersey to New Jersey was first proposed, it appeared that its destination would be Bayonne. In the fall of 1998, the state's Battleship Commission rebuffed a Camden proposal and gave the nod to the gritty, Hudson County city. But in a dramatic reversal yesterday, the Navy announced its decision that the great battleship's last port of call will be in Camden. That move - almost certain to be approved by Congress - ended a long battle worthy of the historic, World War II vessel, which saw action at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

State, county and local officials were among about 200 people who gathered yesterday to send off a three-volume, 1,700-page application they hope will bring the USS New Jersey to a final resting place on the Camden waterfront, near where it was launched into the Delaware River 56 years ago. The event, which resembled a pep rally, took place in Dr. Ulysses S. Wiggins Park and Marina, the proposed site for the battleship, south of the New Jersey...

The wooing is over. After months of fierce lobbying by the three cities, a state commission today will decide whether Camden, Bayonne or Jersey City will be the new home of the Navy's most decorated battleship - the USS New Jersey. "We have all the facts, and we'll make a practical decision, not a political or emotional one," said Assemblyman Joseph Azzolina (R., Monmouth), chairman of the USS New Jersey Battleship Commission. "There are pluses and minuses for each site. We'll go with whatever city has the most pluses.

George Weingartner, a former Bayonne, N.J., police sergeant identified as a soldier in the Genovese crime family, was arrested yesterday at his home in Brick Township, Ocean County, and charged with murder in the 1988 killing of mobster John DiGilio. Weingartner had long been a suspect in the slaying of DiGilio, a high- ranking member of the Genovese crime family who controlled much of the loan-sharking and gambling operations along the waterfront in and around Bayonne. DiGilio was found dead in May 1988, floating in the Hackensack River in a mortician's bag with gunshots to the head and a credit card bearing his name between his legs.

The Camden County freeholders filed a lawsuit yesterday calling for the annulment of the USS New Jersey Battleship Commission's decision to berth the coveted battle wagon in Bayonne. The suit, filed in the Appellate Division of Superior Court, contends that the commission violated state law by submitting an application for the Bayonne site to the Navy without receiving approval from the state legislature and governor. "Their role is advisory, and they did not do that," said Freeholder Patricia Jones, who along with numerous South Jersey lawmakers lobbied for months to berth the ship off Camden.

And the winner is Camden. In a long-awaited announcement, Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig said the USS New Jersey would make its final home on the very river into which it was launched on Dec. 7, 1942. The decision handed a hard-won victory to an alliance of politicians and veterans from South Jersey who, with strong grassroots support and the backing of regional officials, launched a fight against the state's official Battleship Commission and its chosen site in Bayonne.

Sister Dorothea Newell, 85, the 10th superior general of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chestnut Hill, died Saturday, April 27, after a long illness at St. Joseph Villa in Flourtown. A city native, Sister Dorothea entered the religious community from St. Rose of Lima Parish in 1952. She had been known as Sister Ignatius Loyola but chose to revert to her baptismal name after the Second Vatican Council. The daughter of Michael and Ellen Newell, she was one of eight children. Four of her siblings also chose a religious life.

Sister Dorothea Newell, 85, the 10th superior general of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chestnut Hill, died Saturday, April 27, after a long illness at St. Joseph Villa in Flourtown. A city native, Sister Dorothea entered the religious community from St. Rose of Lima Parish in 1952. She had been known as Sister Ignatius Loyola but chose to revert to her baptismal name after the Second Vatican Council. The daughter of Michael and Ellen Newell, she was one of eight children. Four of her siblings also chose a religious life.

BAYONNE, France - Several hundred angry protesters booed President Nicolas Sarkozy, forcing him to take refuge in a cafe protected by riot police as he campaigned Thursday in France's southwest Basque country. Riot police surrounded the Bar du Palais in central Bayonne, where Sarkozy holed up to get away from the protesters - some of them Basque nationalists, others carrying posters of rival Socialist candidate Francois Hollande. Inside the cafe, Sarkozy denounced "the violence of a minority and their unacceptable behavior.

In the three weeks since preseason practice began at St. Joseph's, Phil Martelli has seen sparks from the youngest team he will send on the floor in his 16 seasons as head coach on Hawk Hill. The question is whether those sparks will ultimately ignite a flame that represents St. Joe's return to its previous status as a perennial contender in the Atlantic Ten Conference. "There have been times at practice when I don't feel like I'm out there just trying to put a Band-Aid on a wound and hoping," said Martelli, whose Hawks will open their season Friday against Western Kentucky at Hagan Arena.

ERNEST SIMPSON knew all the best players in Pittsburgh. He played with them, had success against them. He knew Kenny Durrett, hung out with Connie Hawkins when the "Hawk" played for Pittsburgh's ABA team, remembers the hardest hit of his life from Maurice Lucas. He was sure he had a chance to be a serious player. Then, he blew out his knee and never sought treatment at a time before orthopedic surgery was very advanced. So, he chose a different path, studied emergency medicine, moved to New Jersey in 1970 where he eventually became chief paramedic at the old New Jersey Medical Center.

Celebrity Cruises is planning to sail from Cape Liberty in Bayonne, N.J., starting April 2010. The 2,038-passenger Celebrity Summit will set sail on April 25, 2010, the cruise line announced recently. Trips to Bermuda, New England, and Canada will be offered. Celebrity joins Royal Caribbean and Azamara Cruises at Cape Liberty. Located off Exit 14A of the New Jersey Turnpike, Cape Liberty is about a 90-minute drive from Philadelphia. Long-term parking is available. Seven-night voyages will be offered to Bermuda and Bermuda/New England from April 2010 to mid-June.

Chuck Wepner endured nearly 15 rounds in the ring with Muhammad Ali, and now the retired North Jersey boxer has survived three years in a court battle with Sylvester Stallone. Wepner, whose 1975 bout with Ali helped inspire the movie Rocky, last week settled a lawsuit against Stallone. Wepner, 67, accused Stallone of profiting from his life story and reneging on years of promises that "there will be something in this for you," according to court papers. Stallone said that Rocky was not based on Wepner's life, and that he had never cashed in on Wepner's name.

The Absegami girls' basketball team might have some unfinished business to take care of, but the Braves had plenty to celebrate yesterday at the Ritacco Center. Coach Greg Goodwin's team won its second consecutive NJSIAA Group 4 state championship by grinding out a 58-48 victory over Bayonne; Tara Booker garnered most-valuable-player honors with a strong second half, and Krissy Rosario reached the 1,000-point plateau. "This [title] is different," Goodwin said following a somewhat muted celebration.

She ran the point with a broken finger on her left hand, and collected valuable points down the stretch with a looping push from the line with her right hand. Yet the most valuable contribution Absegami guard Connie James made last night was the way she used body and soul to put on a defensive show. The centerpiece of a box-and-one that her team rarely practices and had not previously employed during a game this season, James suddenly shut down freestyling scorer Cintella Spotwood of Trenton Central, and enabled Absegami to capture a 59-44 victory and a third consecutive appearance in the NJSIAA Group 4 state championship game.

When the season started, Tim Purwin was more concerned with preventing goals than scoring them. But in the course of several months, the Bishop Eustace senior has been transformed from standout defenseman to puck-carrying forward with a knack for finding the net in the clutch. Yesterday at the Flyers Skate Zone in Pennsauken, Purwin showed off his newly refined skills by putting in the go-ahead goal late in the first period, and Eustace went on to defeat Middletown North, 2-0, to capture its second consecutive Southern Division Red championship.

Flanked by families who lost relatives in the 9/11 attacks, Sen. John Edwards yesterday accused the Bush administration of failing to adequately protect the United States against another terrorist strike. With the campaign rhetoric on both sides growing more hostile, the Democratic vice presidential candidate asserted that President Bush had left Americans exposed at home while fighting an ill-advised war in Iraq that he said continues to unnecessarily kill American soldiers and drain resources from protecting the nation's ports and borders.