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For almost 50 years, trucks drove in and out of Monmouth Petroleum in North Jersey, filling up with heating oil for home delivery. But leaks and abandoned storage tanks left the site contaminated, another spoiled property in a state filled with shuttered industrial sites. Now, a developer is building an apartment complex on the Manalapan Township site - a plan that New Jersey environmental officials say might have taken years longer, or never happened, if not for the state's new privatized cleanup program.

President Obama has renewed talk of a higher minimum wage - he proposes $9 per hour instead of the current $7.25 federal minimum. Is it a good idea? These sites delve into the debate. States can set their own minimum wages, and most do, although if the state rate differs from the federal rate, the higher rate is the one that usually applies. The U.S. Department of Labor hosts an interactive map that shows the minimum wage in each state. New Jersey and Pennsylvania, for example, hold to the federal $7.25-per-hour rate.

On a recent afternoon last month, a man and his dog jogged down a peaceful, winding lane in Moorestown past a row of tidy $725,000 homes that exhibited tiered fountains and stone goddesses. Not on display in the Wexford development were about 58 monitoring wells that lie about 25 feet beneath the ground in the area, installed after hazardous, carcinogenic solvents were spilled at the nearby defense plant. "We're watching it," said Larry Hajna, spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, referring to tainted groundwater the agency says was caused by Lockheed Martin's predecessor, RCA Corp., nearly three decades ago. While some tests show improvement, the monitoring area off Borton Landing Road has widened.

The name given this year's British-theme Philadelphia Flower Show is "Brilliant!," but the mood at the Camden Children's Garden display this week was anything but bright and sunny - more like cloudy with a chance of despair. As workers set up the fanciful, 320-square-foot exhibit, with a willow tunnel, shed, birdhouses, and dreamy vegetable garden and fruit trees, they couldn't help worrying about the future of the Children's Garden, which recently was ordered by the state to leave its waterfront site next to the Adventure Aquarium.

The Diocese of Camden has entered into an agreement with a developer to install solar panels on "a major piece" of more than 30 acres of woods behind St. Mary's Catholic Home, off Springdale and Kresson Roads in Cherry Hill. Under the agreement - subject to approval from the township - the diocese would lease land to KDC Solar of Bedminster, N.J., to develop a solar project on wooded land to the rear of the nursing home on St. Mary's Drive. The proposed project drew a cautionary note from a township spokeswoman, who said the potential loss of unbuilt space was likely to draw extra scrutiny.

BEIRUT - Rebels backed by captured tanks launched a fresh offensive on a government complex housing a police academy near the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, while the government hit back with air strikes to try to protect the strategic installation, activists said. If rebels capture the complex on the outskirts of Aleppo, it would mark another setback for President Bashar al-Assad. In recent weeks, his regime has lost control of key infrastructure in the northeast including a hydroelectric dam, a major oil field and two army bases along the road linking Aleppo with the airport to its east.

Officers with the Pennsylvania SPCA removed at least 23 dogs late Friday from the property of a woman in Marcus Hook who runs what she calls an animal rescue agency. Terry Silva, operator of Sixth Angel Shepherd Rescue Inc., faces animal-cruelty charges after officers executing a search warrant found sick and underweight animals in a filthy house, according to PSPCA spokeswoman Wendy Marano. She said officers were continuing to search the property Friday night for more dogs. Silva, a lawyer, was cited by the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement in 2010 for transferring dogs in a public place and other violations.

A court decision issued Tuesday brings new uncertainty to whether nuclear materials on a Gloucester County site will be shipped to Utah or kept in place. The ruling from a federal appeals court in Washington sent the question back to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The commission ruled in 2011 that New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection would be in charge of the cleanup at the site in Newfield where Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corp. made metal alloys from 1955 until 1998.

Another in a series leading up to the U.S. Open at Merion Even if the golfer were some unknown competing for a club championship, the photo would be an artistic wonder. Timing, vantage point, framing, lighting - all those elements meshed perfectly for Life magazine's Hy Peskin that sunny 1950 afternoon at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore. But it's what isn't apparent in Peskin's elegant portrait of Ben Hogan at the 50th U.S. Open's 72d hole that has made it the most famous image in golf history.

The politicians and analysts have been talking for more than a year about the potential winners and losers from Mayor Nutter's property tax reform, and now the lines have been drawn. The results of a citywide reassessment key to Nutter's Actual Value Initiative (AVI) were released Friday, and the data confirm some long-held expectations - wealthier, fast-changing neighborhoods are facing stiff increases, and many large commercial properties will see big drops in their bills. Some hikes are jaw-dropping.