Brick

'I could've been killed': Woman describes moment brick was thrown off Fayetteville overpass, shattering windshield

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) --

Fayetteville Police Department is investigating two reports of objects being thrown off overpasses onto cars below.

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The first report happened Feb. 17 around 4 p.m. Drivers on Highway 87 said three young men were on the Arsenal Street pedestrian bridge holding a bucket.

The bucket was filled with paint.

The suspects dumped the paint onto passing cars. The paint happened to land on one driver's vehicle.

Then, on Feb. 21 at around 7:30 p.m., officers responded to a similar call in the same area.

A woman told police someone threw a brick off the Branson Street overpass. That brick shattered her front windshield.

Kimberly Ratcliffe said she was the woman who had the brick thrown through her windshield.

"All of a sudden, I heard a crash and my windshield all of a sudden was broken," she told ABC11 exclusively. "It was a brick that was thrown through my windshield that was dropped from the overpass.

"Thank goodness no one else was in the car with me," she added.

She said she saw two people in hoodies on the overpass.

"There were two young men, possibly aged thirteen into teenagers that were in hoodies that were still standing over the overpass," she said.

Ratcliffe said she has to pay out of pocket for her windshield repairs, which she estimated at $450.

"I could've been killed," Ratcliffe said. "I could've run into someone else or maybe someone could've been walking, and I could've hit someone on the side of the road.

"I would like to see them prosecuted for their actions," she continued. "I think something should be done."

Fayetteville police said the investigation into both incidents is ongoing.

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Brick Schools Release Details For March On Trenton

BRICK, NJ — The Brick Township School District has released details on its plans to participate the march on Trenton by school districts that are losing state aid under S2.

The march, set for Tuesday, March 5 at the Statehouse, aims to highlight how many students in districts affected by the law that was passed last year. Under S2, districts receiving so-called "adjustment aid" are having that funding taken away over the course of the next six years, on the premise those districts are not raising their fair share of school funding through their local property tax levy.

In Brick, the cuts will amount to $42 million cumulatively and, if they go through, will force the district to make serious cuts, district officials said on a flier about the march it distributed on Friday.

More than 290 staff positions could be cut, which could result in more than 30 students per class, the flier says, and extracurricular activities could either be cut completely or require payment for students to participate.

S2 was pushed for more than two years by Sen. President Stephen Sweeney, who insists that districts receiving that money are overfunded. In addition to taking state funding away, S2 requires districts that are under adequacy to increase their property tax levy by the maximum 2 percent. Brick is currently $11.5 million under adequacy, meaning it is spending $11.5 million less on educating the township's children than the state says is necessary for a thorough and efficient education.

Brick is one of nine districts suing the state Department of Education over the issue, saying it's the department's responsibility to distribute aid fairly to all districts.

Those wishing to join the district in the March on Trenton can sign up for one of the buses that will carry people from Brick to the rally; there are 200 seats available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The buses will leave at 11:30 a.m. from the former Foodtown site on Route 70 in Brick. Those who want to attend also are being urged to carpool to the rally.

"The funding formula has always been critically flawed, and the 'revised' version is even worse," the flier says.

It notes that Brick's cost per pupil is in the bottom 22 percent of districts in the state, and that the district has the 9th lowest administrative costs per pupil. The district also is still recovering from SuperStorm Sandy, including a loss of $309 million in current ratables.

For those planning to drive, here is a link to Trenton parking garages.

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Showfields raises $9M for a more flexible approach to brick-and-mortar retail

Showfields, which helps online brands move into offline, brick-and-mortar retail, is announcing that it has raised $9 million in seed funding.

“Our thesis was simple: Make the process of becoming physical as easy as becoming digital,” co-founder and CEO Tal Zvi Nathanel told me.

I’ve written about other companies, like Bulletin, promising a more flexible approach to real-world retail. But one of the things that’s impressive about Showfields is the sheer size of its flagship space — Nathanel said the company has signed a lease for 14,000 square feet in New York City’s NoHo neighborhood.

When I visited the Showfields store last week, only the first floor was open, but it’s already home to a number of brands, ranging from mattress company Boll & Branch, to fitness company Cityrow, to toothbrush company Quip.

Each brand gets their own separate, dedicated space. For example, in the Cityrow space, I got to sit down and try out the rowing machine, while the Quip area had a mock-up bathroom sink to display the toothbrushes.

“This space is about [the brand], not about Showfields,” Nathanel said. “We really look at ourselves as a stage.”

He added that brands can sign-up online to create a pop-up store, providing input while Showfields designs and builds the space. The brand also decides which goods to sell in the store, and which ones to highlight via a touchscreen display. And they can choose whether to have a dedicated staff member, or to share staff with neighboring brands.

Nathanel said the spaces can be designed around different goals — one brand might focus on driving sales, while another might simply want to grow consumer awareness. In each case, Showfields will also provide data so they can see how the space is performing.

The brands pay Showfields a monthly fee, with a minimum four-month commitment. Nathanel emphasized that Showfields doesn’t make any money on the product sales, which he said allows the company to offer a more “curated” and “customer-centric experience.”

Ultimately, Nathanel said the Showfields approach can also result in a more varied and dynamic retail environment (after all, Showfields bills itself as “the most interesting store in the world”). And naturally, he’s hoping to bring this to additional cities, though he declined to offer specifics, beyond saying, “Before the end of the year, we’re hoping to have more Showfields.”

The seed funding was led by Hanaco Ventures, with participation from SWaN & Legend Venture Partners, Rainfall Ventures, Communitas Capital and IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond.

In a statement, Hanaco general partner Lior Prosor predicted the rise of “experiential retail,” which will be “focused on doing everything that e-commerce cannot do well – enabling discovery, trial, and the use of all five senses to come to a purchasing decision.”

“We truly believe that by being consumer-centric at their core