In 2014, MyVeronaNJ.com published 1,096 news and feature stories about Verona, from real estate and sports to government and food. We reported on the hugely successful Verona High School football team and the equally successful referendum to improve Verona’s public schools, inside and out. We covered the reviving Verona real estate market and its new businesses, efforts to curb the growth of government spending and, of course, food.
The biggest story of the year occurred outside Verona’s borders: A murder of a college student in West Orange. But that young man was the nephew of two Verona families and his tragic death resonated for many readers.
The stories published in 2014 generated 713,722 pageviews–more pageviews in one year than we generated in our first two years of publication combined. Here are the most-read stories of 2014:
- Verona Families Seek Leads In Nephew’s Murder As Reward Grows: Brendan Tevlin, the nephew of Kathleen Tevlin Nulty and Thomas Tevlin of Verona, was murdered in West Orange Wednesday, June 25. His aunt and uncle asked their community for help in solving his murder.
- CulinAriane Closing As Duartes Shift To Verona Restaurant: Verona’s culinary profile got kicked up several notches as Ariane and Michael Duarte announced that they were closing their high-end Montclair restaurant, CulinAriane, and opening a more family-friendly restaurant in Verona.
- Arrests Made In Murder Of Veronans’ Nephew: In August, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced the arrest of three suspects in connection with the June 25 murder of Brendan Tevlin, the nephew of two Verona families.
- Fatal Fire On Essex Fells-Verona Border: The Verona Fire Department was one of several companies that responded to an early morning blaze that caused the death of an Essex Fells homeowner.
- Help Pick Our Person Of The Year: We looked back at people we profiled in 2014, and asked readers to pick from among six candidates for a new MyVeronaNJ.com award.
- Fairview Driver Totals Super’s Car: On a Thursday, a motorist on Fairview Avenue sideswiped a car belonging to a school employee. The next day, the same driver totaled the car belonging to Verona’s superintendent of schools before flipping his car near the intersection of Fairview Avenue and Franklin Street.
- Dodd Terrace Residents Complain About Music: Tensions rose in Verona after voters overwhelmingly approved a plan to renovate the lower field at Verona High School into a multipurpose sports complex.
- BOE Picks New Superintendent: Once upon a time all of Verona’s public school superintendents were Verona residents. When the Board of Education picked Rui Dionisio in June we returned to that tradition.
- Softball Field Vandalized: The field behind F.N. Brown elementary school that is used by the Verona High School softball program and recreational softball and soccer teams was hit by vandals during the last weekend of September.
- Historic Victorian Listed For Sale: The house at 70 Fairview Avenue sits so far back from the street that most Veronans might not realize that it exists. Those who have seen it might not know that it once was a grand home with a key place in Verona history.
You can browse through even more stories by looking at those that were the most read in each month of the year: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December.
