Elisa Lala

Parade of Contestants performed the opening number to kick off the Miss New Jersey Pageant preliminary competition at Ocean City Music Pier Thursday, June 12, 2014 in Ocean City, NJ. Thursday was the start of competition for the 24 contestants from across the state who are hoping to win the title of Miss New Jersey 2014 and go on to compete in September's Miss America Pageant at Music Pier in Ocean City.

A Piper Cherokee plane crashed after trying to return to Atlantic City International Airport after taking off Tuesday, officials said. Only the pilot was onboard and he apparently escaped serious injury, said Kevin Rehmann, a spokesperson with the South Jersey Transportation Authority. The single-engine plane lost power and hit a fence, Rehmann said, adding that the pilot exited the plane seemingly unharmed and was being evaluated by medical personnel at the site.

You might snicker when we say judging the Christmas cookie contest was no easy task. We admit at first we, too, wondered how on earth we were lucky enough to have a dozen of the area's best home bakers offer to make us their favorite holiday cookies and deliver them to our office last week, on top of allowing us to both judge (read: devour) and share their beloved recipes with our readers.