NJ lawmakers reach deal on legal weed: This week in Central Jersey history, March 11-17

Gov. Phil Murphy and legislative leaders announced they had reached a deal on legal marijuana, it was reported on Wednesday, March 13, 2019.

Murphy, Senate President Stephen Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, Sen. Nicholas Scutari and Assemblywoman Annette Quijano announced they had come to an agreement on regulatory control, sales taxes and municipal tax revenue.

Here's a look at events that happened in Central Jersey from five, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years ago this week.

Five years ago

March 14, 2019: It was reported after two cases of meningococcal disease at the Rutgers University-New Brunswick campus in February 2019, state and school officials declared an outbreak of the virus on campus and were urging students to get vaccinated.

March 14: It was reported the Sayreville school district was enhancing security in its schools, including the installation of metal detectors that, during a trial run on Monday, March 11, 2019, caused a 45-minute delay to students entering Sayreville War Memorial High School.

March 14: It was reported The Beach Boys would headline the 37th annual QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning in Association with PNC Bank on Sunday, July 28, 2019, as Solberg Airport in Readington, in association with Q104.3.

March 14: Myles Powell scored 29 points in the first half alone as the Seton Hall men's basketball team beat Georgetown, 73-57, in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals, setting an event record, eclipsing the 27 points by Creighton's Doug McDermott in 2014.

March 15: Former Major League Baseball player Lenny Dykstra pleaded guilty in Elizabeth to a petty disorderly persons offense in connection with an argument with an Uber driver.

March 15: Hundreds of New Jersey college and high school students walked out of class, gathering at municipal buildings, college campuses and public lawns, and demanded elected officials prioritize immediate policies to curb climate change.

10 years ago

March 11, 2014: Gregory Mayer, 17, from Bernards, was back home after 17 days and more than 2,100 miles, after running away from his family while on a visit with them in Utah.

March 12: In response to Rutgers President Robert L. Barchi's letter to the campus community the week prior that reaffirmed the selection of Condoleezza Rice as commencement speaker, faculty members criticized a "secret" nomination process.

March 14-16: The Monkees Official 2014 Convention, featuring appearances and performances by surviving Monkees Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, was held at the Hilton Meadowlands Hotel in East Rutherford.

March 16: In boys basketball, Linden High School beat Trenton Central, 66-53, at Rutgers University's Louis Brown Athletic Center in Piscataway, winning their fourth NJSIAA Group IV title.

1999

March 11, 1999: State Superior Court Judge Robert Guterl, sitting in Somerville, rejected Bound Brook arguments that go-go bars were detrimental to revitalization efforts in the downtown business district.

March 12: The pipeline company Texas Eastern Transmission Corp., and five present and former owners of an asphalt company, reached an agreement after three days of negotiations in state Superior Court, meaning a liability trial about the 1994 natural-gas pipeline explosion at the Durham Woods apartment complex in Edison would not happen.

March 12: The Right Rev. Joe Morris Doss resigned as Episcopal bishop of New Jersey, ending a tempestuous four years as spiritual leader of 64,000 Episcopalians in 14 counties in central and southern New Jersey.

March 13: In wrestling, New Providence senior Donnie DeFilippis pinned Eric Norgaard of St. Joseph's of Montvale, finishing his season with a 30-0 record and closing out his career with a 109-3 mark. DeFilippis became New Providence's first state champ since 1976 and its third overall.

March 15: John Calipari was fired as coach of the New Jersey Nets. The team had become one of the NBA's worst that season with a 3-17 record.

March 15: Bruce Springsteen, born and raised in Freehold, along with Paul McCartney and Billy Joel, as well as Dusty Springfield, who died two weeks prior, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

March 17: With backing from the state, Mendham High School officials held their ground with Tamara Brown, 16, of Chester Township, who said she would rather give up softball than her tongue stud.

1974

March 11, 1974: More than $160,000 of coal tar and raw materials used to make roofing material went up in smoke at the Guard-Polymer Chemicals Co., Inc. in Sayreville. Billows of smoke could be seen as least as far as South Bound Brook to the northwest.

March 12: A.D. Gray Jr., superintendent of Trenton State Prison, sent mailgrams to New Jersey sheriffs saying: "Severe overcrowding dictates suspension shipments here until further notice."

March 12: In a move to fight a state Division of Civil Rights order that girls must be permitted to play Little League in the state, New Jersey league officials ordered the immediate suspension of the league's operations throughout the state.

March 14: At the Piscataway Township Council agenda session, the Township Council and Board of Education agreed to a $400,000 cut in the defeated $15.7 million school budget.

March 15: Clark Squire was sentenced in New Brunswick to life imprisonment for the murder of Trooper Werner Foerster during a gun battle on Wednesday, May 2, 1973, on the New Jersey Turnpike in East Brunswick.

March 16: The Hunterdon Center for the Performing Arts sponsored a performance by Ballet Allegresse at North Hunterdon Regional High School in Clinton.

1924

March 13-15, 1924: The movie, "The Humming Bird," starring Gloria Swanson, was shown at Reade's Strand Theatre in Perth Amboy.

March 14: In the three-game basketball championship series between Monroe Avenue M.E. Church and Hope Chapel, Monroe won the first game.

March 17: Louis Orello, 65, who conducted a small meat market in Plainfield and lived in a room above, was found dead in his shop with a bullet wound in the right chest, apparently murdered.

Brad Wadlow is a staff writer for MyCentralJersey.com

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ history for March 11-17