Camden County

The girls on the crowded stage at the Boys & Girls Club of Camden County looked tense and frustrated as they tried to replicate the complicated dance moves members of the Camden Sophisticated Sisters drill team were demonstrating. About 100 girls ages 3 to 18 had come Saturday to audition for the team, which has been featured on CNN and NBC as a bright spot in a troubled city. Tawanda "Wa-Wa" Jones, who founded the team 26 years ago, had not let the prospective members in on a little secret: Almost all would get in. "This is not about the trophies," Jones said as she supervised from below the stage.

The girls on the crowded stage at the Boys & Girls Club of Camden County looked tense and frustrated as they tried to replicate the complicated dance moves members of the Camden Sophisticated Sisters drill team were demonstrating. About a hundred girls aged 3 to 18 had come Saturday to audition for the team, which has been featured on CNN and NBC as a bright spot in a troubled city. Tawanda "Wa-Wa" Jones, who founded the team 26 years ago, hadn't let the prospective members in on a little secret: Almost all of them would get in. "This is not about the trophies...," Jones said as she supervised from below the stage.

For Camden County public defender Ruth Ann Mandell of Cherry Hill, her death came much like her life: complicated, a bit unpredictable, yet decisive. In her legal career, she was not afraid to stand up to her boss or defy a judge. Outside court, she aspired to be the "first white Jewish female rapper," and wrote lyrics that celebrated the work of Jack Kevorkian, champion of physician-assisted suicide. Ms. Mandell practiced law and performed rap until March 20, when doctors discovered ovarian cancer that her brother Herbert said hit her like a "sledgehammer.

Cherry Hill has agreed to put on hold its motion to force a tax sale of Woodcrest Country Club pending an auction arranged by a bankruptcy trustee. Township solicitor Robert Wright said at a hearing Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden that it was in the township's best interests for the May 20 auction to move forward, with proceeds used to pay Cherry Hill $160,000 it says it is owed in taxes. Cherry Hill Land Associates, a subsidiary of First Montgomery Group of Marlton, has agreed to buy the 155-acre property for $6.25 million.

Let's hear it for the volunteers who collected enough branches, brush, and trash from Laurel Lake's waters and shoreline Saturday to fill two Dumpsters. "I'm ecstatic," says Laurel Springs Councilman Jim Redstreake, who organized the cleanup. "We hauled away 40 cubic yards of stuff. " By any measure, the efforts of nearly 50 firefighters, public works crews, and residents from Laurel Springs, Stratford, and Lindenwold were a success. But the future of a lovely stretch of land on the Laurel Springs side of the lake remains murky.

In 2012, Investors Bancorp Inc. barely had a market share in terms of deposits in the three South Jersey counties that are part of the Philadelphia region. Now, Investors Bank is poised to be the ninth-biggest holder of deposits in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties after announcing two acquisitions in the last four months. It would squeeze between Susquehanna Bank (No. 8) and Citizens Bank (No. 10). In December, the Short Hills, N.J.-based bank holding company said it would acquire Roma Financial Corp.

A Pennsylvania man has been cleared of drunken-driving charges in New Jersey because a municipal court in Camden County did not give him a speedy trial. The state Supreme Court ruled Monday that a lower court was right to drop the charge against Michael Cahill. In 2007, Cahill swerved to avoid a blocked traffic lane and hit a Pennsauken police car, injuring an officer. He later pleaded guilty to assault by auto and served a year of probation. But a drunken-driving charge was referred to the municipal court, which took 16 months to set a trial date.

  Most high schools don't train students to become police officers, crime-scene investigators, or emergency medical technicians. Starting this fall, Camden County students will be able to take classes in those fields at the county's two technical high schools - and earn credit toward a college degree. Officials at the Camden County Technical Schools have already filled most of the 60 slots in the new Law and Public Safety Academy, a four-year program that will start in September at the Pennsauken and Gloucester Township campuses.

TRENTON - A Pennsylvania man has been cleared of drunk-driving charges in New Jersey because a municipal court in Camden County did not give him a speedy trial. The state Supreme Court ruled Monday that a lower court was right to drop the charge against Michael Cahill. In 2007, Cahill swerved to avoid a blocked traffic lane and hit a Pennsauken police car, injuring an officer. He later pleaded guilty to assault by auto and served a year of probation. But a drunk-driving charge was referred to the municipal court, which took 16 months to set a trial date.

A Richard Stockton College student from Westville has received a Fulbright award, a coveted honor that funds scholarship, research, and teaching, the school announced Monday. Barbara Fisher, a 22-year-old physics major, is set to graduate in May and will teach English in the Czech Republic during the 2013-14 academic year, according to the college. Harvey Kesselman, provost and executive vice president of the college in Galloway, said he was not aware of any other Stockton student who had received the award.