For the past few days, the Tri-City Beat mostly has been operated out of my parents’ house in beautiful Great Neck, NY. But today, as Tom Waits would say, I crossed the river to the Jersey side for my buddy’s wedding.

Most of you know that New Jersey became famous about 50 years ago when two Tri-City area towns –Newark and Union City — chose to name themselves after Garden State forebearers. Fremont, apparently, named itself after some street in Las Vegas.

If you want virgin hillsides and bayshore parkland, the Tri-City area towns take the cake, but if you’d give up everything for $3 a gallon gas — and someone required by law to pump it for you too — then Jersey rules.

It also seem to have the juicier news stories this week:

For some recent news from our Jersey kin, click here and here .