Bergen County's 70 municipalities

Boroughitis was the creation in the 1890s, usually by referendum, of many small boroughs in the U.S. state of New Jersey, particularly in Bergen County (map shown). A previously little-used law that allowed parts of existing townships to vote by referendum to form independent boroughs was amended in 1894 to allow boroughs formed from parts of two or more townships to elect a representative to the county Board of Chosen Freeholders. This 1894 act, in combination with another to consolidate school districts, made it easy and attractive for dissatisfied communities to break away and become boroughs, in order to gain a seat on the county board or to keep control of the local school. Forty new boroughs were formed in 1894 and 1895, with the bulk in Bergen County, where townships were broken up or greatly reduced in size; there are few of them there today. The state legislature scuttled the right to elect a freeholder in 1895, and ended the formation of boroughs by referendum in 1896. (Full article...)

383 Madison Avenue

• ... that at one point in 2008, the Bear Stearns Building (pictured) was worth approximately five times the price offered for the acquisition of Bear Stearns?
• ... that a European settler in Kenya who tortured a black employee to death in 1920 was sentenced to just two years' imprisonment?
• ... that the California Golden Bears men's basketball team won the 1959 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship Game by a single point over West Virginia?
• ... that Saudi Arabian poet Hamad al-Hajji lost three members of his family during his childhood and later suffered from schizophrenia until he died at the age of 49 after a lung disease?
• ... that riders on the Jolly Rancher Remix can smell one of five randomly chosen Jolly Rancher flavors?
• ... that television production companies working in Bhadun, Bangladesh, can hire a local woman as an extra for ৳500 (US$5.30) per day?
• ... that Bob Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie" was misspelled on several international releases of Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits 2?
• ... that a civil servant sued his own minister for libel?

Isaac Smith

• In Australian rules football, the AFL season concludes with Geelong defeating the Sydney Swans in the Grand Final (Norm Smith Medal winner Isaac Smith pictured).
• Following the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested for not wearing the hijab in accordance with government standards, at least 50 people are killed during protests in Iran.
• At least 100 people are killed in renewed fighting between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
• In the Swedish general election, the bloc consisting of the Sweden Democrats, Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals wins a majority of seats in the Riksdag.