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Ocean City officials planned for a major storm. And when the blizzard hit Friday night, a city team worked around the clock to keep up with the snowfall and clear the streets. By Saturday afternoon, roads were passable, and by Sunday, many of them were cleared. More than 15 inches of snow made Ocean City the top town in Cape May County for snowfall.

The Ocean City High School is hosting a Career/Job Fair in February and is seeking local businesses to participate. "This is a school-wide effort to connect all Ocean City High School students with community employment opportunities," said Tobi Oves, the district’s K-12 college and career counselor. Details follow.

A typical winter day in Ocean City may include some Boardwalk strollers and residents going about their business of shopping and stopping at local restaurants. But a monster storm brought heavy snow and pummeled the region Friday night into Saturday, making the weekend day anything but a typical one in January.

People did their last-minute errands Friday, second homeowners checked on their houses and residents got ready for the storm by stocking up on groceries and prepared for what may be the first blizzard the region has seen in years. Mayor Jay Gillian urged residents to stay in and “hunker down” to keep safe and allow emergency vehicles to have clear routes and Public Works vehicles to be able to plow the roadways.

The Ocean City School District is getting closer to narrowing down what strengths and characteristics will be most important in a person to make them a viable candidate to become the next superintendent of schools. It is a process involving input from parents, students, educators, faculty, community stakeholders and others. During a Board of Education meeting Wednesday night, the public heard the status of the superintendent search.

Shopping, dining, the Boardwalk, the beaches and everything in between that makes Ocean City a premier vacation resort may get easier to navigate with the possible return of a shuttle service. Mayor Jay Gillian says he is making it a priority to bring back some type of public shuttle service in time for summer.

Some of the best photographs are not touched up. They are not cropped. There is no pixel manipulation. They are authentic. They are imperfect and they are beautiful. That is how Lauren Gayeski, an Ocean City married mother of three, describes the photos she enjoys taking. She is a documentary family photographer. Some of her images have earned her international praise.

The owners of GG's Diamond Cleaners say they hope to reopen their downtown business by the end of the month. The business was damaged by heavy snow from the Jan. 3 storm. Part of the dry-cleaning operation was demolished this past week.

Linda Boris, of Mays Landing, enjoys walks along the beach in Ocean City once a week for the past six years. She especially likes the quieter months for her mini-excursions to the shore to take pleasure in nature and document it in photos. But Wednesday around 1:30 p.m. when she took her weekly stroll, specifically down to 21st Street beach, she discovered something that was more Sci-Fi than nature channel. “There was a tremendous sea of beached horseshoe crabs between 21st and 19th or so,” she said in an interview Thursday night. “Some were dead. Some were slowly working their way back to the ocean. Some were burrowing holes.” Boris, 66, a retired healthcare worker with the U.S. Navy, attributed some the unusual sighting, in part, to a full moon, coupled with recent storms. Horseshoe crabs are sea creatures that have been around for millions of years. They are most closely related to the arachnid family...

ar Friends, I spoke with the president of Shore Medical Center today, and he provided an update on COVID cases statewide. The transmission rate has steadily declined and is currently below 1 (indicating the number of new daily cases is decreasing). The number of health care workers out with COVID is also decreasing dramatically. These are both great signs. Please continue to use caution. Better days are not too far away. We are starting to prepare for 2022 infrastructure improvements, and here are a few updates. New Jersey American Water will be working on Central Avenue in advance of paving and drainage projects this year that will complete the area from 34th Street to 40th Street between West Avenue and the beach. NJAW will then move to Waterway Road, where we are making final revisions to plans for elevation and storm drainage improvements. The neighborhood pumping station and drainage project for West 17th Street is out to bid, with the bid opening scheduled for Feb. 16. The water company is getting ready to award a separate contract for upgrades to water and sewer lines there...