Amy Locane sentenced to five years: This week in Central Jersey history, Feb. 12-18

Actress Amy Locane, charged with a fatal crash in Montgomery, was sentenced on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, to five years in state prison, following a hearing almost nine years after she was charged.

Locane would remain free on her own recognizance pending an appeal of the sentence.

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

Feb. 13, 2019: Jordan Robinson, 25, of Edison, pleaded guilty to the first-degree aggravated manslaughter of Anthony Bowles, 24, of Plainfield, on Friday, Nov. 6, 2015; two other victims were shot and received emergency treatment.

Feb. 13: In a statement from the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, it was announced New Jersey awarded nearly $1.63 million in state aid to 513 undocumented students who attended college in the fall. The students were among the first to apply for the new tuition assistance.

Feb. 14: Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill providing $20 million to help boost horse racing prizes that year.

Feb. 15: After President Donald Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border, New Jersey residents reacted with mixed emotions.

Feb. 15: The Stone Pony 45th anniversary show, featuring Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, was held at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park.

Feb. 17: The first-ever New Jersey girls region wrestling tournament kicked off at Red Bank Regional High School, with more than 260 girls from all over the state participating.

Feb. 18: It was reported New Jersey's federal lawmakers and staffers they oversaw during 2018 took more than $104,000 worth of "gift travel," trips paid for by non-government organizations.

10 years ago

Feb. 12, 2014: Rutgers University agreed to pay $11.5 million to withdraw early from the former Big East and enter the Big Ten the next season.

Feb. 13: A fire destroyed Marilyn Hall, the main lodge at the Girl Scouts' Camp Agnes DeWitt in Hillsborough. It was the second time the main lodge had been destroyed by fire.

Feb. 13: It was reported the Bound Brook Board of Education was paying $250,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former learning disabilities consultant Shari Duddy, who claimed she was defamed, harassed and fired without cause.

Feb. 14: Heavy snow collapsed roofs throughout the area, a day after a nor'easter dumped more than a foot of snow and rare February thunderstorms brought flooding rains.

Feb. 15: William R. McCaw, 22, of Gallatin, Tennessee, a Kean University student, was found in the backyard of a New Brunswick home after he had apparently been fatally beaten.

Feb. 15: Rusted Root, whose latest album was "The Movement," performed at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park.

Feb. 17: The South Brunswick boys indoor track team captured their first indoor Group title at the NJSIAA Groups I and IV championships with 32 points.

1999

Feb. 12, 1999: Union County Bomb Squad workers disarmed a suspected pipe bomb found by a cable installer in the basement of an apartment building at 609 Madison Ave. in Plainfield.

Feb. 15: In the Somerset County Tournament quarterfinal, the Immaculata High School boys basketball team beat Montgomery, 76-63.

Feb. 17: Scott Grote, 31, of Hillsborough, jumped into a rolling lumber truck in Mendham Township and pushed the air brakes down with his hands as the driver, Robert Dugan, 47, of Califon, lay immobilized by a diabetic seizure.

Feb. 17: A more than 270-year-old home at 228 Water St. in Perth Amboy ― the oldest in the city ― was destroyed by fire. A blind 81-year-old man, who was rescued from the first floor, was hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

Feb. 18: Michael Joseph Reddington, 52, who owned and operated Whitehouse Station-based M. Reddington Associates, would be sentenced to four years in jail under the terms of a plea agreement for a check-kiting scheme that bilked $1.4 million from a local bank, it was reported.

Feb. 18: It was reported comedian-ventriloquist Jeff Dunham would perform on Friday, Feb. 19, 1999, at Club Bene in Sayreville

1974

Feb. 12, 1974: The murder trial of Clark Squire, on trial for shooting and killing Trooper Werner Foerster on Wednesday, May 2, 1973, on the New Jersey Turnpike, opened in New Brunswick.

Feb. 13: Voters in Somerset and Middlesex counties killed 17 school budgets. Somerset County residents approved 16 of 19 proposals; Middlesex County residents knocked down 14 budgets and passed only seven.

Feb. 15: Felix N. Cantore, former vice president and member of the board of directors of the Middlesex County Bank, was sentenced in Newark to a year in prison and fined $5,000 for misapplying $90,000 in bank funds.

Feb. 15: Gov. Brendan T. Byrne submitted a $2.75 billion budget to the legislature that was balanced without new taxes and predicted a relatively mild economic slump caused by the energy crisis.

Feb. 15: After eight hours of deliberation, a Union County jury found George Merritt and Gail Madden guilty of first-degree murder in the mob slaying of Plainfield Patrolman John V. Gleason during the 1967 race riots.

Feb. 15: A live stage variety show of vaudeville, hosted by Joe Franklin, television and radio talk show host, would accompany movie screenings on Sunday, Feb. 24, 1974, at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, it was reported.

Feb. 16: Piscataway High School captured the Group IV shuttle hurdle relay in the ninth annual State Indoor Relays at the Jersey City Armory.

1924

Feb. 12, 1924: Eight bales of silk, valued at $10,00, were stolen from a Pennsylvania Railroad freight car in Metuchen.

Feb. 12: In the first game of the annual city and borough scholastic basketball championship tournament, North Plainfield High School beat Plainfield High School, 36-20.

Feb. 14: A grist mill, owned by the Middlesex Milling Co. in New Market, was completely destroyed by fire. The loss was estimated at $75,000, partially covered by insurance.

Feb. 14-16: The movie, "Scaramouche," starring Ramon Novarro, Alice Terry and Lewis Stone, was shown at Reade's Strand Theatre in Perth Amboy.

Feb. 17: Three crosses were burned at three separate locations in New Brunswick, including one on the Queens' Campus of Rutgers College.

Brad Wadlow is a staff writer for MyCentralJersey.com

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ history for Feb. 12-18