Thursday Briefs From WOBM News

News from Ocean & Monmouth Counties and around New Jersey.

TOMS RIVER - A homeless man heads to prison for 40 years for shooting two teenaged cousins in Lakewood two years ago, killing one of them. 28-year-old Jamil Parson was sentenced Wednesday in Ocean County Superior Court after confessing to eight charges of murder, aggravated assault and weapons possession. Two other co-conspirators face the same charges in killing of 17-year-old Luis Enrique Garcia and wounding 16-year-old Fernando Reyes.

ATLANTIC CITY (AP) -- Bail has been set at $1 million for a man charged in one of the two deadly shootings in Atlantic City last weekend. Haneef Graves is charged in Sunday's slaying of Corleone Hayes. No arrests have been made in the other fatal shooting.

EDISON(AP) -- Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan says an armed bandit who was shot and wounded during a botched bank robbery yesterday in Edison later shot himself as police tried to arrest him. An autopsy will determine which shot caused his death.

LAKEWOOD - The Lakewood school board attorney keeps his promise and buys desert for the hundreds of school bus drivers working on Thanksgiving. Reports say Michael Inzelbuck purchased over 300 pumpkin pies of drivers and aids and had them delivered to the school board office on Route 9.

WASHINGTON D.C. - New Jersey is one of seven states that has reached eligibility for a piece of $200million of federal school funds in round three of Race To The Top. Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana and Pennsylvania also qualify for the dollars aimed at policy reform and improvements in math, science and technology. South Carolina opted out and California's application was incomplete, the problem that cost Bret Schundler his job as New Jersey's Commissioner Of Education.

WALL - New Jersey Natural Gas says it will cut customers' bills this winter as natural gas supply costs drop. The company says it will offer to credit residential and small business customers' bills for gas usage between December 1st and January 31st.

HIGHLANDS - Seastreak encourages family travel with a price break through Memorial Day 2012. Kids under age 12 ride for free when with adults paying full fare. Ferries leave Highlands and Atlantic Highlands for downtown and midtown Manhattan.