Camden

Pam Chandler decided to accompany her husband, Bob, to the extraordinary auction of an Ocean City, N.J., mansion Saturday to keep him from "going overboard. " But an hour after she toured the 7,000-square-foot Victorian-style house on the Great Bay, she was the one prodding him to stay in the frenzied bidding on the breezy bayside veranda. The Chandlers, who live in Rumson, Monmouth County, with their three children, won the auction, ultimately paying $3.9 million for a property that was listed at about $6.5 million two years ago. It is assessed at $5 million.

ATLANTIC CITY — The stabbing deaths of two Canadian tourists outside a casino hotel left tourism officials stunned and dismayed Monday, casting a shadow over the formal opening on Memorial Day weekend of the newest gambling palace and tripping up a $30 million-a-year campaign to rebrand and revive the sagging resort town. The two victims, women ages 80 and 47, were stabbed and killed during a robbery Monday morning outside Bally's Atlantic City casino hotel, just steps from where a police officer was sitting in a patrol car. Police declined to provide the names of the victims, or precisely where they were from, pending notification of family.

Just downstream from an industrial recycling operation and a stone's throw from a sewage treatment plant, a fisherman casts his line toward the passing barge traffic and watches it drop into the Delaware River. A couple eating lunch watch curiously. "No way would I ever eat anything from there," the woman says. The fishers who frequent the pier in Camden's Waterfront South neighborhood have heard it all before. That they're crazy, that they're going to grow an extra head or get sick from eating what they catch.

For the last decade, Mount Laurel resident Joseph S. Zippilli shared his World War II stories at local schools. Mr. Zippilli wanted today's youth to understand what happened during the war and why the sacrifices he and his comrades made are important today. "People like me are trying to keep the events of World War II alive," he told an Inquirer reporter in 1998. Mr. Zippilli, 88, an engineer gunner who was captured by Germans after he parachuted into enemy territory and was held as prisoner of war for a year, died Sunday, June 13, at his home.

It's embarrassing to say, but my 9-year-old daughter hasn't been to school in more than a month. It's not that she doesn't like learning. She does. Before a bullying incident made her afraid to go to school, she had earned A's, B's, and two C's, and she looked forward to attending class at her elementary school, Thomas H. Dudley in Camden. The bullying changed all that. One day in March, a 14-year-old student dragged her down a school hallway and into a bathroom where other students were waiting.

Constantine "Gus" Chigounis, 98, whose career in the restaurant business included ownership of such South Jersey landmarks as the Lintonia in Camden during the 1930s, '40s and '50s and the Nassau Drive-In Restaurant in Pennsauken during the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, died Monday at his Merchantville home. Born in Elika, Greece, Mr. Chigounis came to the United States with his father in 1909. They passed through Ellis Island and settled in New Hampshire, but his father became ill and returned to Greece, leaving his son with relatives.

Three people from South Jersey were to be arraigned this afternoon in federal court in Camden in connection with a $2.6 million time share mortgage fraud scheme, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey said. Ashley Lacerda, 32, of Egg Harbor Township, Francis Santore, 52, of Northfield and Brian Corley, 27, of Egg Harbor, were among 16 defendants charged on April 17 with a variety of offenses, including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Authorities said Lacerda, Santore and Corley worked for The Vacation Ownership Group and that the investigation revealed that from at least March 2009 to September 1, 2011, the defendants, often using false identities, telephoned owners of time-share vacation properties purchased through Flagship Resort Development, Wyndham Vacation Resorts Inc. and other time-share developers.

A former Camden principal who last year received an $860,000 settlement from the school district must be reinstated in the district by July 2013, an arbitrator has ruled. In a whistle-blower lawsuit filed in Superior Court in 2007, Joseph Carruth said he was fired for publicly alleging that Camden school officials had pressured him to change test scores at Dr. Charles E. Brimm Medical Arts High School in 2005. The school district settled Carruth's civil lawsuit in November. Carruth, who earned $107,000 a year at the magnet school where he had been principal for two years, was terminated in 2006 on a recommendation by then-Superintendent Annette D. Knox.

Vindication has finally come to a former Camden principal who was dismissed in retribution after blowing the whistle on rigged test scores. But six years later, the school district that fired him is still mired in mediocrity. Joseph D. Carruth has not only reached an $860,000 settlement, but an arbitration judge has ordered the district to rehire him by July 1, 2013, even if the Camden school board has to dismiss someone else to create a vacancy. Carruth said he was fired in 2006 for refusing to alter test scores despite pressure from an assistant superintendent.

A 29-year-old Camden man was fatally shot early Sunday morning in the 700 block of Vine Street, according to Camden County Prosecutor Warren W. Faulk and Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson. Police responding to reports of a shooting around 4 a.m. found Shaun Carter dead from a gunshot wound. No other information was immediately available. Police are urging anyone with information on the shooting to contact Camden Police Detective Shawn Donlon at 856-757-7420. — Diane Mastrull

Whether you're an awards fan or not, even the most casual viewer of the last several Grammy shows would have had to imagine that Lady Antebellum had taken over as hosts. Those broadcasts found Nashville's finest in front of the cameras, winning song of the year and record of the year for "Need You Now," as well as the prize for best country album. The American Country Music Awards? Lady Antebellum won top vocal group, song of the year, and single of the year. It's almost annoying how ubiquitous the band is during awards season.

Milagros Torres joined a chorus of parents advocating for alternatives to public schools in Camden after her 9-year-old daughter was attacked in March by bullies in a Thomas H. Dudley Elementary School bathroom. Moneke Ragsdale, however, says it was the Lanning Square School, a traditional, public elementary school, that made sure her son Eric Lee wouldn't fall behind. Lee, now 19, went on to graduate with honors from Camden High School, just finished his first year at Camden County College, and hopes to go on to medical school.

Alleged killer and getaway driver held on $1 million bail A pregnant Camden County woman and her partner remained in jail Friday after a judge ordered each of them held on $1 million bail following their arraignments on murder charges. David Bullard, 27, and Shakara Colbert, 23, appeared separately before Superior Court Judge Samuel Natal. Authorities believe Colbert is due to deliver twins, fathered by Bullard, next month, according to a Camden County Prosecutor's Office spokesman.

Camden residents David Bullard, 27, and Shakara Colbert, 23, were arrested Thursday in connection with a fatal shooting in the city this month, authorities said. Bullard is accused of shooting Gary Boggs around 4 p.m. on May 3 on the 1600 block of Pulaski Street, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and Camden Police. Colbert allegedly drove Bullard from the scene in a minivan. About two hours after the incident, the van was stopped at Eighth and Jefferson Streets with Bullard in the driver's seat, according to authorities.

Vindication has finally come to a former Camden principal who was dismissed in retribution after blowing the whistle on rigged test scores. But six years later, the school district that fired him is still mired in mediocrity. Joseph D. Carruth has not only reached an $860,000 settlement, but an arbitration judge has ordered the district to rehire him by July 1, 2013, even if the Camden school board has to dismiss someone else to create a vacancy. Carruth said he was fired in 2006 for refusing to alter test scores despite pressure from an assistant superintendent.

Stephanie Thompson wanted justice for the death of her 4-year-old son Brandon. The energetic, happy, and loving child was playing near his uncle in August 2008 in Camden when he was killed instantly, caught in cross fire between his uncle and another man fighting a petty feud. On Wednesday, the gunmen — Martin Pierce, 23, and Donnald Lindsey, 24 — left the Camden County Hall of Justice with lengthy sentences issued by Superior Court Judge Michele Fox. The justice meted out, however, was not exactly what Thompson wanted.

A former Camden principal who last year received an $860,000 settlement from the school district must be reinstated in the district by July 2013, an arbitrator has ruled. In a whistle-blower lawsuit filed in Superior Court in 2007, Joseph Carruth said he was fired for publicly alleging that Camden school officials had pressured him to change test scores at Dr. Charles E. Brimm Medical Arts High School in 2005. The school district settled Carruth's civil lawsuit in November. Carruth, who earned $107,000 a year at the magnet school where he had been principal for two years, was terminated in 2006 on a recommendation by then-Superintendent Annette D. Knox.

Janet Knowles and Kimberly Fisher are breast cancer survivors. The importance of effective treatment is a subject they know intimately, and it's what brought them out Tuesday with Gov. Christie and other political and community leaders to mark the formal groundbreaking for the Cooper Cancer Institute in downtown Camden. The two attribute their survival to Cooper and hope that more patients with all types of cancer will get care with the expansion of the institute to Martin Luther King Boulevard and Haddon Avenue, where work is under way. "It's a special day ... long overdue," said Knowles, a Moorestown resident who contributed $5 million in 2006 to fund the Janet Knowles Breast Cancer Center, headquartered at Cooper University Hospital's Voorhees facility.

A Camden man who authorities say fatally shot a bystander at a fast-food eatery last month was arraigned Wednesday on a charge of aggravated manslaughter. David Porrata, 33, was found by the U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday night hiding in a Camden apartment, where a relative had been bringing him food. He had ignored calls from family members to turn himself in, Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah told Superior Court Judge Irvin J. Snyder. Porrata allegedly shot Franklin Parker, 36, also of Camden, at a Crown Fried Chicken on the 200 block of South Broadway around 5 a.m. on April 27. The shooting began as an altercation between Porrata, a friend and a group of other men. Parker and a woman, who had been sitting together in a booth, tried to escape the restaurant when violence broke out, but Parker was hit by a stray bullet.

One man was killed, and a second was injured, when a truck they were riding in flipped on I-295 in Burlington County overnight, forcing officials to close part of the road for hours. The crash occurred just after 2 a.m. today at mile marker 43 southbound, approaching the Rancocas Woods / Delran exit. The two left lanes were reopened about 6:15 a.m. today and traffic was moving by rush hour. New Jersey State Police say two men were flown by helicopter to the trauma unit at Cooper University Hospital in Camden.