East Camden

As a Fortune 500 executive with a mahogany-paneled office in Red Bank, Mark Hodges could watch sailboats gliding on the waters of the Navesink. His new full-time workplace at St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral parish offers a view of a half-vacant duplex on a tired East Camden street. But the scene inspires in its own way, reminding him of the many houses to rebuild, families to bolster, and children to teach in the city. And a new parish project called the Joseph Fund - Hodges is executive director - aims to raise the money to get the job done.

When Randy Primas was elected Camden's mayor in 1981, the history he most wanted to make had little to do with his age (31) or his race (African American). A historical first on both counts, the gentlemanly political leader, business executive, and family man who was laid to rest Friday at Harleigh Cemetery most dearly hoped to rescue his hometown from ruin, and even restore some of its glory. If the task proved too big for Primas - as it did for every other mayor, before or since - his decades of devotion nevertheless loom large.

A Camden man detained Thursday as a suspect in a robbery is expected to also be charged in a series of daytime sexual assaults in the city in the area of Farnham Park, near Baird and Park Boulevards, authorities said. Kevin D. Cleveland, 19, of the 400 block of Rand Street, was taken into custody earlier in the day in the robbery of a "juvenile female" in Farnham Park about 12:30 p.m. Jan. 2 - more than two weeks before the first of three confirmed sexual assaults, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and Camden police said.

Agnes Klein Lieberman, 83, a Holocaust survivor who operated the Cherry Hill Kosher Market for 30 years, died of heart failure Tuesday, March 1, at her daughter's home in Vineland, N.J. Mrs. Lieberman, her parents, and three siblings were taken from their home in Hungary by German soldiers during World War II. In 1990, she shared with an Inquirer reporter the terror and anguish she felt when her mother and father were taken to their death. She recalled spending time at concentration camps, including Auschwitz, where she witnessed unthinkable events as a teenager.

Authorities released surveillance video Friday showing two "persons of interest" in the fatal shooting of a Camden man last month in the city. Anibal Perez, 23, was shot several times Feb. 26 as he sat in the driver's seat of his Honda Accord at 27th Street and Arthur Avenue in East Camden. He died at Cooper University Hospital. His family has said Perez was returning home from a nearby liquor store after purchasing a bottle of Remy Martin VSOP, his favorite. The video, recorded just before his death, shows Perez walking into Vizcaya Liquor Store at 25th and Sherman Streets, about three blocks from where he was shot, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and city police said.

Jeremy Lopez is a little guy with big dreams: He can imagine himself playing shortstop for the New York Mets or pitching for the Boston Red Sox. Lopez also is a young man with an older's man wisdom: He knows that he'll never play in the major leagues and that education is his path to a better future. The Pennsauken Tech senior might not be a great baseball player, but he's a great example to his schoolmates, his teammates, and everybody else in South Jersey sports. He's a 5-foot-1, 110-pounder who breaks up fights.

There was a song in 1994 called "A View of Camden" about a Philadelphia woman whose apartment overlooked the Delaware River and a New Jersey city she could hardly see. People living in Camden in 2012 say they, too, can barely recognize the city - particularly in recent headlines about horrifying crimes, floundering schools, and pervasive poverty. There's also that counter-intuitive plan to replace the city police department with a new county force. Posts on Facebook, YouTube and elsewhere bemoan the media's focusing on the city's potentially record-breaking homicide toll (48 so far this year)

A man beaten on Nov. 2 succumbed to his injuries on Friday making him the 58th homicide victim in Camden. The death matches the record number of homicides in the city set in 1995. Gregory Holder, 45 of Cherry Hill died Friday at about 12:30 p.m. The death was announced Saturday morning by Camden County Prosecutor Warren Faulk and Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson. Holder was assaulted on Broadway and Berkley Streets on Nov. 2 following an argument with two men over a drug transaction, officials said.

The Fresh Grocer chain of Drexel Hill signed a letter of intent Monday to open a store in a planned Camden transit village, pending a state decision on Thursday whether to approve $50 million in tax credits for the entire village project. The Fresh Grocer would be part of the long-delayed Haddon Avenue Transit Village project, which has been in the works since 2008 but has yet to put a shovel in the ground. One of the main issues was finding a supermarket to anchor the planned mixed-use development in a city that has only one supermarket for its 77,000 residents.

The two lifelong friends who were shot to death during an argument with an unidentified man earlier this week may have touched off the confrontation by accidentally brushing against the man while "playing around with each other. " That's one of the possibilities authorities said they were investigating yesterday in the deaths of Keir D. Thomas and Henry S. "Sunshine" Wynn, both 23, near Norris and Chase Streets in South Camden about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. The two men had gone to the area to buy Chinese food.