Donald Wittkowski

This was probably the first time in history that nearly 300 Porsches were crawling along at less than 10 mph. Altogether, 275 coupes, convertibles and SUVs from the famous German carmaker synonymous with fast, sporty cars took it nice and easy for their grand entrance at the Porsche Boardwalk Reunion show Saturday. Val Mats, an Ocean City resident, marveled over the spectacle of so many high-performance cars rolling down the Boardwalk with such style. “My goodness,” Mats exclaimed.

Police Chief Jay Prettyman, who guided Ocean City’s public safety through the challenges of the pandemic and also oversaw a strategy for containing outbursts of rowdy teenage behavior during the summer tourism season, was honored by City Council on Thursday night on the eve of his retirement. Prettyman, 52, is stepping down Friday after serving as police chief since February 2019, and acting chief the year before that, during a 32-year career in law enforcement.

The federal agency that will oversee a major beach replenishment project this fall or winter for Ocean City, Sea Isle City and Strathmere is considering its options after bids for the contract came in significantly higher than the government's estimate.

A Sea Isle City man accused of punching Philadelphia TV personality Bob Kelly in the face during a supposed TikTok stunt pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Monday and intends to seek admission to a pretrial intervention program. Flanked by his parents, Patrick Iannone appeared in Cape May County Superior Court for his arraignment on an aggravated assault charge stemming from a July 30 attack at the Oar House Pub in Sea Isle that rendered Kelly unconscious.

City Council approved a $10.9 million funding package Thursday night for a series of major projects throughout Ocean City, including a new police substation on the Boardwalk and renovations to the swimming pool at the Aquatic & Fitness Center. The most expensive project financed by the new bond ordinance is a police substation planned at Eighth Street and the Boardwalk. The project is currently under design and will cost an estimated $6.5 million when built in 2024.

It opened in 1923 with Jazz Age glamour – a gleaming white edifice that towered over the Boardwalk and symbolized Ocean City’s rise as a powerhouse seashore tourist destination. In an instant, the luxurious, nine-story Flanders Hotel at 11th Street and Ocean Avenue transformed both the city’s skyline and tourism market while being proclaimed as the “Jewel of the Southern New Jersey Shore.” On Wednesday, representatives of the Flanders, political leaders and other dignitaries held a ceremonial ribbon-cutting to celebrate the hotel’s 100th anniversary – as well as its survival amid decades-long economic upheaval and ownership turmoil that culminated in its temporary closure in 1995.

The Ocean City Housing Authority on Tuesday rejected construction bids for a proposed 60-unit affordable housing development that would replace the 1960s-era Pecks Beach Village housing complex. Jacqueline Jones, the authority’s executive director, called the bids “grossly over budget” and explained that they would be “insurmountable” within the financial framework of the project.

Scott Francis is not only a pilot, but also a prestidigitator. Have you ever seen a plane fly sideways? Impossible, you say? But Francis somehow magically maneuvered his plane sideways during an incredible display of precision flying at the Ocean City Boardwalk Aerobatic Show. Francis and other pilots who performed at the air show Sunday afternoon also treated the thousands of spectators who lined the beaches and Boardwalk to an assortment of gravity defying rolls, loops, twists and flips.

City Council introduced a nearly $11 million bond ordinance Thursday night to finance a series of capital improvements, including a new police substation on the Boardwalk and renovations to the swimming pool at the Aquatic & Fitness Center. The $10.9 million funding package also includes $1 million to continue Ocean City’s multiyear dredging program for the back bays and lagoons. The city has been systematically clearing out the sediment-choked lagoons along the bayfront to make them deeper for boating traffic, the marinas and swimming.

Wind farm developer Orsted recently hit the pause button on its proposed project that would include 98 towering turbines in the waters off the South Jersey coast. But opponents say they will continue to fight until the project is stopped altogether. On Sunday afternoon in drizzling rain, Congressman Jeff Van Drew, members of the local grassroots organization Protect Our Coast NJ and other anti-wind farm protesters rallied on 35th Street beach in Ocean City to reinforce their goal: No to wind farms, no to Orsted.