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A narrow, temporary sidewalk that is accommodating construction of a new Republic Bank pushes pedestrians perilously close to traffic at one of Ocean City’s busiest intersections. The sidewalk at the intersection of Ninth Street and West Avenue in the heart of the downtown business district is drawing strong criticism from City Council President Bob Barr, who says that it is “an accident waiting to happen. “Someone is going to get hurt or killed there,” Barr said in interview Tuesday.

Move over, shuffleboard -- just a little. Shuffleboard courts will have to make room for new bocce ball courts at the Sports & Civic Center complex on Fifth Street and the Boardwalk. “Over the years, we have gotten multiple requests to install bocce ball courts in town,” Michael Allegretto, aide to Mayor Jay Gillian, said in an interview Monday. As part of the plan, there will also be improvements to the existing shuffleboard courts.

There was a whole lot of muscle, style and class on the Ocean City Boardwalk this weekend. And all of those attributes fittingly went to the hot rods and Corvettes that gave car buffs more than enough to admire. Whether it was a 1946 Chevy pickup truck that attracted the attention of crowds on Saturday during the hot rods show, or a gleaming red 1962 Corvette on Sunday, there were wheels of all kinds that intrigued over the weekend.

There isn’t a person who doesn’t remember where they were when the twin towers of the World Trade Center were taken down by terrorists in planes. Or where they were when an airliner crashed into the Pentagon or when the passengers on a hijacked plane heroically fought to regain control of the jet when it crashed in Shanksville, Pa. Twenty years ago, nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on 9/11. On Saturday, Ocean City emergency responders, dignitaries and the community came out to honor and remember in a somber ceremony at the Fire Department headquarters.

A plane landed at the Ocean City Municipal Airport on Saturday night, just not on the runway. At about 7 p.m., just as the 9/11 remembrance ceremony was ending at the Ocean City Fire Department headquarters, emergency vehicles headed to the airport at 26th Street and Bay Avenue for the accident. The plane came to rest nose down in a grassy area near the runway. No injuries were reported.

Back to school always means new clothes, new schedules, new teachers, new students and new beginnings. Students in the primary and intermediate schools and high school returned to five days of in-person instruction beginning with a full day on Tuesday, while still social distancing, wearing face coverings and following all health and safety protocols.

Street rods and other classic cars will be on display on the Ocean City Boardwalk during the annual Street Rod Show on Saturday, Sept. 11. Street rods are classic cars (1991 or older) modified with modern parts. On Sunday, Sept. 12, it will be all Corvettes taking the spotlight. On Saturday, classic cars and street rods will be displayed in the municipal parking lot at Fifth Street and Boardwalk from 8 a.m. to noon and will then proceed to the Ocean City Boardwalk to be displayed until 4 p.m. An awards ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 11) in front of the Music Pier (at Boardwalk and Moorlyn Terrace). Registration to participate is still open with forms available at www.ocnj.us/carshow. Day-of registration will be open until 11 a.m. at the parking lot. More than 350 cars from throughout the history of Corvettes will be on display in one of the largest shows of its kind on the East Coast. The cars will be on the Boardwalk between Sixth Street and 14th Street from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday (Sept. 12). For more information, call 609-457-0081 or visit facebook.com/OCNJCorvetteShow/. As part of the weekend festivities, tickets are on sale now for a Saturday night concert (Sept. 11) with the Ocean City Pops featuring The Doo Wop Project. This group traces the evolution of Doo Wop from the classic sound of five guys singing tight harmonies on a street corner to the biggest hits on the radio today...

The New Jersey Tourism Industry Association stands with the New Jersey’s Beach Patrol community in mourning the untimely passing of 16-year-old Cape May Beach Patrol rookie lifeguard Norman V. Inferrera III, who lost his life on Aug. 19 while performing a routine job-related exercise. On Aug. 27, lifeguards from 13 New Jersey beach towns traveled to Cape May to pay their final respects to the fallen guard. The guards then watched over the beaches in the National Historic Resort while members of the Cape May Beach Patrol attended Inferrera’s memorial service. Cape May’s City Council approved a resolution authorizing a shared service agreement between the city and participating units for beach patrol aid and assistance. The Cape May Beach Patrol reached out to communities within the Atlantic Cape Joint Insurance Fund (JIF) to staff the beaches while their lifeguards attended the memorial service in Pennsylvania, and the response was overwhelming...

Make that 3-0 with raptors in the lead again this summer -- the third in a row -- in the war against those pesky seagulls that would love to steal pizza and other goodies from Ocean City Boardwalk strollers and beachgoers. East Coast Falcons once again used their no-nonsense approach to ridding the island of the gulls. This summer they used more raptors and handlers in the job, with 19 falcons, hawks and owls to chase the birds off the beaches, Boardwalk and other areas of town popular with summer tourists.

Jake Brown is not shy about admitting he is superstitious. Why should he be anyway? He is growing a successful business that came out of one very well-known phrase: Knock on wood. Brown, 24, of Ocean City, created the WoodLuck clothing line of shirts, hats, hoodies and shorts with a very special and unique piece that adorns each item -- a real piece of wood. “I have always been really superstitious. If someone said something jinx-worthy, someone would need to knock on wood to fix it,” Brown said in an interview.