Residents of Houston’s Fifth Ward live adjacent to documented creosote contamination. The neighborhood is ninety-four percent non-Hispanic Black. It is a state-designated cancer cluster. Those who live there do not need a clinical trial to tell them that cancer is coming for their community. They need a way to find it before it’s too late.
The possibility is no longer theoretical. The NHS-Galleri study — the largest randomized controlled trial of multi-cancer early detection (MCED) ever conducted — demonstrated that a blood test can detect cancer at four times the rate of standard screening alone. Critically, it identified cancers at Stages I and II, when treatment is less invasive, less costly, and far more likely to succeed.
Last month, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation voted to advance sweeping proposed changes to the regulations implementing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). If adopted, these changes could significantly weaken protections for historic and cultural resources across the country.
Gloucester City, NJ (August 30, 2026)(CNBnews)-Our photo of the day is a butterfly. The butterfly that we saw is on the left. The image on the right was taken from the poster below, “Butterflys of New Jersey
Early Sunday morning around 7 AM I walked Sweetie to our backyard. As we were coming up our steps, I saw a funny shape that looked like it was alive. But it was hard to distinguish what it was. Walking slowly up the steps, I could see it was a butterfly as it spread its wings. The delicate movements of its wings caught my eye, creating a mesmerizing dance in the morning light. While I was filming it, Sweetie came running up the steps, filled with excitement, and the butterfly took off, landing gracefully on the side of our house. It stayed there for a minute, seemingly unbothered, allowing me to appreciate its beauty before it flew away into the vast sky. Doesn’t it look like it has two heads?
This encounter brought back a profound memory of my brother, George. He said on his deathbed in 2014 that he would be back one day as a butterfly. His words resonated with me, as they combined both humor and a sense of hope. He also mentioned that he buried his gold coin collection somewhere behind his old house on Broadway, a little secret he held close. Up until his last breath, he maintained his playful spirit, joking around as he drifted in and out of a deep sleep. I often reflect on those moments and hope I can do the same when my turn comes up, facing the end with laughter and grace.
Intrigued by the butterfly I had seen, I decided to conduct a Google search to try and find out what kind it was. A couple of images caught my attention, showcasing some of the same blue coloring that is shown in the butterfly we saw, which also had some orange coloring. But, they were not a perfect match. The reason for that could be that this butterfly wasn’t fully grown. The variety in butterfly species is astounding, and it felt like a small puzzle I wanted to solve. If anyone knows what type it is, please comment below; I’m eager to learn more about the beautiful creatures that share our world.
The closest that I found was the The spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus) is a common black butterfly native to North America, famous for its unique caterpillar stages and mimicry defense mechanisms. [1, 2]
Appearance and Identification
Adults: Black or dark charcoal wings with a wingspan of 3 to 4 inches. The hind wings feature prominent pale blue or green patches and orange spots. Females often show a brighter blue wash on their upper wings.
Do you have a photo or video you would like to share with our readers? Forward it and a caption to wecleary@gmail.com.
Butterflies of New Jersey Poster Print/Field Guide
The tour, announced at a news conference with a diverse coalition of faith leaders and activists, begins this week with events in Kentucky, New Jersey and Georgia where he will give a national sermon at Atlanta’s historic Big Bethel AME Church laying out how low wage and Black voters are the true swing vote in the South and that turning out the vote is the key to the people owning their power. From there, the tour will continue across the South and in battleground states leading up to Election Day, November 3, 2026.
Highland Park Volunteer Fire Co. Ends Ambulance Service; Chief Explains Why
GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ –Chief Irvin Brown of the Highland Park Volunteer Fire Company announced that the department will discontinue its backup ambulance service, citing a steady decline in volunteer participation and increasing training demands.
For more than 30 years, the company provided vemergency ambulance coverage to Gloucester City residents. But Brown said the organization can no longer maintain the level of service the community deserves.
“Volunteerism just isn’t what it used to be,” Brown explained. “We’ve reached a point where we don’t have enough trained personnel to safely and reliably operate an ambulance.”
He noted that modern emergency medical training requires significantly more time, certification, and ongoing education than in past decades. With fewer volunteers able to commit to those requirements, the department faced mounting challenges in staffing ambulance calls.
Brown emphasized that the decision was not made lightly. “We’ve always taken pride in helping our community,” he said. “But we can’t continue a service we’re no longer able to support at a professional level.”
The chief’s announcement reflects a nationwide trend: volunteer emergency services are struggling to recruit and retain members, leaving many communities dependent on paid or regional EMS providers.
SAN PEDRO, Calif. — The Coast Guard and local partner agencies rescued a 53-year-old man approximately 3 miles south of the Seal Beach Pier Monday morning after an extensive search effort that lasted more than 12 hours.
A Coast Guard Air Station San Diego MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew located Paul Anthony Carbullido Jr. alive at approximately 10:48 a.m., while conducting a search pattern south of Seal Beach. The aircrew spotted Carbullido floating on his back while wearing a green life jacket. After recognizing the helicopter overhead, Carbullido raised his head and waved to the aircrew.
This week the COT Truck will be visiting the following neighborhoods from 1 PM to 3 PM:
Learn more about our Community Outreach Team and Truck, and see the full summer schedule here!:
Tuesday, August 18th: Terrestria Pool/ Fox Meadow Drive
Wednesday, August 19th: Catalina Hills Playground/ Beverly Court
Thursday, August 20th: CANCELLED
Friday, August 21st: Harrison Avenue/ Prospect Avenue Playground
Stop out for some fun playing outdoor games like corn-hole, football catch, and Frisbee toss . Please share with your family and friends, and we’ll see you there!
GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ–Jim Nicholson, a Gloucester City resident, was asked by Marilyn Johnson, author of *THE DEAD BEAT, to describe himself. Nicholson replied, \”I don’t do much self-analysis. I’m not a complicated guy. There are not many moving parts here. I’m a pretty simple man.\”
If people only knew the real Jim Nicholson.
A graduate of Gloucester City High School, Class of 1960, Nicholson has lived three lives over a span of 66 years. \”Modest, quiet, and low-keyed you would never know from looking at him that this man has ice water running through his veins,\” said his good friend Bill Tourtual.
Tourtual said Nicholson has been responsible for taking down bad guys for over 35 years and yet rarely if ever talks about his adventures with his friends or family.
Besides raising a family, serving in the Marines and then joining the Army reserves, he has worked a full-time job as an investigative reporter and journalist until his retirement in 2001. And in each life he has excelled without much fanfare.
Tourtual said earlier this summer the 66-year-old, Lt. Colonel James Nicholson (Ret), was asked by the Army to come back to active duty to serve his country one more time.
Nicholson, whose specialty is counterintelligence, accepted the offer and shipped out to the theater of war in the Middle –East last month.
This is nothing new for Col. Jim Nicholson.
Over the course of his Army career he was assigned to a number of covert operations in his 20 plus years in the military. In the 1980’s he spent time running the surveillance on Noriega and preparing for the invasion of Panama. Other counterintelligence adventures included trips to such hot spots of the world as South America, Tajikistan and on the Mexican border.
\”This Simple Man\” also had a remarkable career as an investigative reporter for newspapers in the Philadelphia area. Some of his featured work included stories on murder, the Philly Mob, the riots, and outlaw motorcycle gangs to mention a few. Five of his series led three different Philly-area papers to recommend him for Pulitzers. He also was a radio announcer for a time.
Sean Patrick Griffin, author of *Black Brothers Inc, writes …..Investigative reporter Jim Nicholson was the first journalist to lift the lid on the ‘Black Mafia’. The gang operated a multi-million illegal drug business in North Philadelphia and up and down the east coast. His cover stories for the Philadelphia Magazine and Today revealed a vicious, insidious syndicate that was unknown to the wider population.
He went right to the top, and called Mayor Frank Rizzo. Back in 1970, Nicholson had spent hours at then-Police Commissioner Rizzo’s home and interviewed Rizzo while he watched himself on a national television special called Super Chief. The two hit it off, so much so that Rizzo offered Nicholson a position as public relations officer with thedepartment. Nicholson politely declined, despite the substantial increase in pay the job would have provided. Rizzo was apparently not offended by the rejections, because whenNicholson called him requesting assistance on the proposed Black Mafia project in 1973, Rizzo called Police Commissioner Joseph F. O’Neill and told him to provide Nicholson access to the pertinent information.
In 1982 Jim was tired of investigative reporting and jumped at the chance to take over the obit page for the Philadelphia Daily News. In May 2008, seven years after he retired, Jim won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Professional Obituary Writers.
*The Dead Beat-Author Marilyn Johnson …In that position Nicholson received national attention when ASNE, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, gave him a Distinguished Writing Award for his richly detailed, colorful obituaries of ordinary Philadelphians. The Daily News let him work an eight-or nine month year on the obits desk, and the rest of the time he threw himself into counterintelligence adventures.
After he retired from the Philadelphia Daily News in 2001 he moved to Washington DC to continue his work in counter-intelligence. At the same time he was taking care of his wife Betty who had Alzheimer. When his wife’s sickness required full-time care they moved back to Gloucester City to be closer to his immediate family and devote more time to her. He became Betty’s primary caregiver working 24/7 at home to make her comfortable. In his spare time he continued to do some part-time consultant work via computer in counterintelligence for a friend whose business was located in the Washington DC/Virginia area.
Asked about his devotion to Betty he told author Johnson, \”I was separated for eight years from this woman, not a good marriage, doesn’t matter whose fault it was, and then she got ill, and I came back to take care of her,\” Jim said. \”I wasn’t doing anything else. I’m not as good as the people I’ve written about in the obits.\”
When the Army called and stressed that his help was needed for this special mission Jim made arrangements to have another family member take care of Betty for the time he will be away.
Most people in their 60’s are looking forward to retirement. Col. Nicholson, who describes himself as just \”A Simple Man\” has no reservations about placing himself in Harm’s Way one more time for his country.
‘Patriotism’, Thomas Paine observed, is not best measured in times of national comfort and quiet. It is in times of crisis, when the summer soldiers and sunshine patriots have retreated to the safety of official talking points and unquestioning loyalty that those who truly understand the meaning and merit of the American experiment come to its defense.
Thomas Paine no doubt had men like Jim Nicholson in mind when he spoke those words so many years ago. Tonight offer up an extra prayer for Jim and for all soldiers who go beyond the call of duty to protect our country in these terrible and dangerous times.
*THE DEAD BEAT, Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries. The so-called egalitarian obituary was pioneered, Ms. Johnson argues, by a reporter named Jim Nicholson, who worked at The Philadelphia Daily News. During the early 1980’s, Mr. Nicholson started writing obits in which \”people whose lives had been considered dull as linoleum to the general public were offered up as heroes of their neighborhood and characters of consequence.\”Author Marilynn Johnson, HarperCollins Publishers
* BLACK BROTHERS Inc., a true story about The Black Mafia one of the bloodiest crime syndicates in modern US history. From its roots in Philadelphia’s ghettos in the 1960’s, it grew from a rabble of street toughs to a disciplined, ruthless organization based on fear and intimidation. Known in its \”legitimate\” guise as Black Brothers, Inc., it held regular, minute meetings, appointed investigators, treasurers and enforcers, and controlled drug dealing, loan sharking, numbers rackets, armed robbery and extortion. Author Sean Patrick Griffin, Milo Books Publishers
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On July 13, 2026, of Audubon, NJ. She was 75 years old.
Beloved wife of 48 years to Jeffrey L. Oehlers. Dear mother of Adam Oehlers and Lindsay (Steven) Marshall. Loving grandmother of Olivia and Derek Marshall. She is also lovingly survived by her brothers, Mark (Jean) Rogerino and Gregory (Debbie) Rogerino and nieces and nephews.
Clare was a 1969 graduate of Audubon High School. She was a devoted mother, grandmother and child advocate.
Funeral and interment will be private at the convenience of the family.
Arrangements by FOSTER-WARNE FUNERAL HOME, Collingswood and Audubon, NJ.
