Thursday Briefs From WOBM News

News from Ocean & Monmouth Counties and New Jersey.

JACKSON - A Jackson woman at the center of an international custody dispute in Tunisia is reportedly reunited with her daughters in New Jersey. Suzanne Femster returned with one of her daughters November 15th. Her estranged husband, Walid Bensayeh, brought back the other girl on November 23rd. The case began when the couple went to Tunsia with the girls to visit family but the husband refused to allow Femster to return to the U.S. with their daughters until officials intervened. There's word the couple is working out their differences.

NEWARK (AP) -- President Obama has issued a major disaster declaration for New Jersey for the late October snowstorm that played havoc with roads, trees and power lines around the state. The declaration issued yesterday paves the way for the release of federal disaster funds It covers Cape May, Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren Counties.

BARNEGAT - There's good news about a Barnegat school that's been shuttered since September due to mold. The remidiation efforts at the Cecil S. Collins Elementary School were successful and the building is deemed safe. Officials say the school could reopen in January although no specific date is known.

CHERRY HILL - A Monmouth County man is dead after the SUV he was driving crashed into a parked construction vehicle on the New Jersey Turnpike in Cherry Hill. 73-year-old Robert Johnston of the Navesink section of Middletown was pronounced at the scene yesterday morning. His wife Mary was taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden where she remains critical. The incident is under investigation.

JACKSON - Ocean County freeholders announce plans to begin a construction project on a Jackson bridge damaged by Hurricane Irene. The Bownman Road Bridge, that crosses the main branch of the Toms River, is scheduled to undergo a nearly $1.5 million dollar replacement project as early as January 1st. Plans call for a 42-foot-long span with a 40-foot-wide concrete structure.

WOODBRIDGE - New Jersey Turnpike officials sign off on an agreement with Ocean County to design and coordinate construction at three Garden State Parkway interchanges. Work will be done to make exit 83 in Toms River, exits 88 and 89 in Brick and Lakewood, as well as exit 91 complete interchanges. Officials say the work would happen at the same time a larger $250-million dollar project begins to restore and widen shoulders between Wall Township and Toms River.