New Jersey

After their youngest child finished high school in June, destined for college, Janice and John Potts lost no time bolting from New Jersey. By the end of July, the longtime Haddonfield residents were cheerfully ensconced in a three-bedroom rowhouse near Philadelphia's Washington Square. Their new abode is much smaller than the 4,500-square-foot home (with swimming pool) that they sold, but it comes with a huge plus. "We downsized in terms of space, but cut our property-tax bill in half," said Janice Potts, 52, an outsource-services manager for a Center City firm.

Ever see a predator commit suicide? In a video captured at Duke Farms, a Central Jersey estate turned environmental center, a red-tailed hawk dares to fly at a bald eagles' nest where eggs were about to hatch. In a major miscalculation, the hawk fails to see an eagle sitting on the nest and looking directly at it , or, cocky from triumphing over mice and little bunnies, thinks it's super-sneaky-fast or king of any beak-and-claw fight. Four seconds into the video, the hawk appears.

The Army has followed the Navy in testing a new generation of blimps at the New Jersey military base where the Hindenberg infamously burst into flames in 1937. The Army's $517 million spy blimp - a high-altitude observation platform, according to the manufacturer - had its maiden flight Tuesday at Ocean County's Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. (See video: http://ow.ly/cRi5E .) The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle, a 302-foot dirigible, can be manned or remote-controlled, according to Northrop Grumman.

With all due respect to Joseph "Red" Mascara and his New Jersey song ("Oh, say, can we get an official state song?" Aug. 19), the song needs to be more specific as to why New Jersey is great. Attached is another attempt, sung to the easy-to-sing tune, "Away in a Manger. " The final stanza is just for comic relief. New Jersey, New Jersey: Our state's got it all, From cities to farmlands We proudly stand tall. We've Pine Barrens and seashores, Lakes, mountains, and streams, Quaint towns and lush gardens It's the state of our dreams.

TRENTON - In a move that supporters called a civil-rights milestone, New Jersey's state Senate yesterday passed a bill to recognize same-sex marriages, marking the first time that state lawmakers officially endorsed the idea - despite the promise of a veto by Gov. Chris Christie. Yesterday's vote was 24-16 in favor of the bill, a major swing from January 2010, when the Senate rejected it, 20-14. "It means the world isn't changing; it means the world has already changed," Steven Goldstein, chairman of the gay-rights group Garden State Equality, said after the vote.

When I testified before a state Senate committee in Trenton this week, I wore my Batman tie. I did so in honor of the sponsors of a higher-education restructuring bill, who had at last emerged from their cave. After decades of development, endless rounds of engagement with stakeholders, and a couple of all-nighters last weekend, Sens. Donald Norcross (D., Camden) and Joseph Vitale (D., Middlesex) stepped into the daylight to announce the price of the most complex reorganization of Rutgers, Rowan, and other New Jersey universities in 50 years.

LISBON - Portugal won't extradite American fugitive George Wright to the United States for crimes he committed four decades ago, after the U.S. ran out of possibilities to appeal the decision to let him stay, a Portuguese court official said yesterday. Portuguese police captured Wright, 68, in September. He had escaped from a New Jersey prison in 1970. He was jailed for 15-to-30 years for killing a gas-station attendant during a 1962 robbery in New Jersey. Senior Judge Luis Maria Vaz das Neves said that the U.S. would need to find other grounds for an extradition request, such as a crime committed more recently, to reopen the case.

Grace Kelly spent her summers here. The money her father made from the bricklaying company bought every Philadelphian's dream: a place at the shore. Ocean City remains all these years later just as it was: a quiet island of charm and perennial pleasures. The movie theater on the boardwalk that once featured Rear Window is now showing Red Heat. The Chatterbox down at 9th Street remains the haunt of that mythic summertime impostor, High School Harry, the 16-year-old wearing a Villanova jacket.

TRENTON - A Marine from Bergen County, N.J., was killed in combat operations in Afghanistan last week, the Pentagon said Monday. Lance Cpl. Osbrany Montes De Oca, 20, of North Arlington, died Friday in Helmand province, the Department of Defense said. Further details on his death were not immediately disclosed. Montes De Oca was assigned to the Second Battalion, Sixth Marine Regiment, Second Marine Division, Second Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

The Flyers spent a brief but welcome spell at home before continuing to the third game of their six-game trip, Friday in New Jersey against the Devils. The Flyers lost, 5-2, in Toronto on Monday and beat the Jets, 3-2, on Tuesday in Winnipeg. They returned home after the win, practiced Thursday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, then headed to Newark. Defenseman Andrej Meszaros, who has been sidelined since Jan. 24 with a shoulder injury, returned to practice. He was wearing a noncontact yellow jersey and skated in the beginning.