Vandalism, Recycling, Utility Rebuke Lead This Week's Top News

Vandals defaced the Voorhis Avenue home of a former committee candidate and local teacher, as well as the cars of a pair of Wyckoff residents during a party Saturday night.

Eileen Avia was hosting a get together for about 20 supporters of her erstwhile campaign Saturday night, she said, when someone spray painted her garage door and the vinyl siding on two sides of her home.

Recycling pickups will increase to once a week, and township residents will stop having separate grass pickups, according to a new committee plan expected to save taxpayers more than $50,000 in the coming year. 

Most of the few dozen local officials and residents who attended a state hearing on Orange & Rockland’s response to Hurricane Sandy Wednesday afternoon in Ramsey wanted answers to the same questions: Why wasn’t the utility able to tell customers when power would be restored? Why did the restoration effort seem so haphazard? Does O&R give priority to customers in New York over those in New Jersey?

Last-Second Field Goal Lifts Ramapo to State Title

The Ramapo High School football team erased a 19-point halftime deficit and captured its second state title in four years on a 48-yard field goal in the final seconds of a 37-34 win over Sparta in the North Jersey Section 1, Group 3 championship Saturday at Kean University.

Franklin Lakes Insurance Broker Sentenced to 5 Years

A Franklin Lakes insurance broker was sentenced today to 60 months in prison for failing to pay more than $2 million in personal income taxes and using straw donors to make almost $100,000 in illegal contributions to a federal campaign committee, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced Tuesday evening. 

Dryer Fire Damages Franklin Lakes Home

Fire departments from eight towns were dispatched to a Franklin Lakes home Sunday morning to fight a fire that started in a dryer's vent pipe.

The Dakota Trail home suffered minimal damage to its first floor joist after lint caught fire inside a dryer vent pipe, fire officials said.

Have a question or news tip? Contact editor Joseph M. Gerace at Joseph.Gerace@patch.com, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox every morning, sign up for our daily newsletter.