Julio Cortez / AP
A large U.S. flag, left, waves in gusty winds as pedestrians cross the street under streetlights in Newark, N.J. on Sept. 18. A tornado watch has been issued for parts of New Jersey, New York City and New York's lower Hudson Valley until 7 p.m. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center says lightning, hail and wind gusts up to 70 mph are possible. Read more.
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Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger
Gianna Antico and the rest of the Twinkles compete in a local competition, the Cheersport Philadelphia Grand Championship on Dec. 11. 2011, at the Liacouras Center at Temple University.
Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger
Andrea Lipkus doesn't wait till she's at practice to start her stretching exercises as her mom, Valerie, drives her to the World Cup All Stars Gym in Freehold in October 2011.
Below is an excerpt from a 9-month project by New Jersey's Star-Ledger on the Twinkles - Chasing perfection: A tumble into the world of competitive cheerleading
Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger
Andrea Lipkus, Gabby Cignetti, Camryn Sycoff and Samantha Santaniello pass the time giving massages as the Twinkles wait to perform on Nov. 20, 2011, at the Universal Cheerleading Association Northeast Championship in Toms River, NJ.
Jackie Freidman / The Star-Ledger:
The Twinkles, ages 8 through 12, train at the World Cup All Stars Gym in Freehold, where they are redefining what it means to be a cheerleader. Forget right now about what you see on the sidelines at football games. This is cheerleading as a high-flying sport whose soaring participants work like professionals, often devoting six or seven days every week to training.
They attend formal practice on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, take private lessons and flock to the gym for open tumbling sessions. Not even the slightest flaw is tolerated — they will repeat their 2-minute, 25-second routine with mind-numbing devotion for six months before performing it in front of an audience.
Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger
During the second day of the Athletic Championships on Jan. 29 in Providence, R.I., Gianna Antico and her stunt group take their turn practicing stunts in a small convention hall room.
But the Twinkles also act their age, chatting about "Toddlers & Tiaras," how much they hate hair spray and how blueberries turn their teeth purple — all while doing backflips.
"Cheerleading’s taken over the world," World Cup co-owner Elaine Pascale says. "It’s on TV. It’s in magazines. Our community has really grown to be very, very vast as far as encompassing a lot of lay people that never knew such a thing existed."
The girls are aware they are phenoms, devoting their unnaturally chiseled bodies, their time, their emotional capacity and their parents’ money — some more than $10,000 a year — to being the best. Because when you’re a Twinkle, nothing else matters.
Read the complete story -- Chasing perfection: A tumble into the world of competitive cheerleading
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Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger
Lauren Preston gets some help stretching from her mother, Lori, as other Twinkles look on and her teddy bear sits nearby at the Rebel Classic Cheer Championship at Howell High School on Jan. 15. The teddy bear, which she has had since birth and goes everywhere with her, was always close by, until she lost it on a competitive trip to Florida later in the season.
Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger
Gianna Antico hugs Andrea Lipkus to cheer her up after Andrea had a "mind block" and wasn't able to tumble during Twinkles practice in February at the World Cup All Stars Gym.
Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger
Brighid Gibney reacts to the cold spray as she is spray-tanned by cheer mom Dorn Stephenson in a hotel stairwell the night of Jan. 27, before the Twinkles compete at the Athletic Championships in Providence, R.I.
Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger
Nikki Ryan kills time by throwing her American Girl doll into the air while waiting for all the World Cup cheerleading teams to finish on the first day of the NCA All-Star National Championship on Feb. 25.
Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger
Bella Matrone, center, and Brighid Gibney carry the NCA All-Star National Championship trophy and banner offstage after the Twinkles won in Dallas on Feb. 26.
Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger
Alexis Adamo couldn't wait to go to sleep in her NCA All-Star National Championship jacket after the Twinkles placed first in Dallas on Feb. 26.
Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images
Daredevil Nik Wallenda walks across his 1,500-foot tightrope 100 feet above the beach in Atlantic City on Aug. 9, 2012.
Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images
Daredevil Nik Wallenda balances during his 1,500-foot tightrope walk 100 feet above the beach of Atlantic City on Aug. 9.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - Like anyone taking a walk on the beach, Nik Wallenda on Thursday found sand in places he didn't want it.
For Wallenda, it was on the tightrope he traversed some 100 feet over the beach.
"It felt really slippery," he said. So slippery that he considered doing the 1,300-foot walk barefoot.
But ultimately, Wallenda decided to keep on the buckskin and suede shoes his mother made him, and he completed the walk without any real difficulties.
For Wallenda, a member of the seventh generation of the famous daredevil family that's been putting on shows for two centuries, it was another in a long line of death-defying feats. Read More
See more tightrope walking on PhotoBlog
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Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images
Beachgoers watch daredevil Nik Wallenda during his 1,500-foot tightrope walk 100 feet above the beach of Atlantic City on Aug. 9.
Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images
Volunteers hold ropes to steady the wire during daredevil Nik Wallenda's 1,500-foot tightrope walk 100 feet above the beach in Atlantic City on Aug. 9.
Eric Thayer / Reuters
Hot air balloons are pictured during the 30th annual New Jersey Festival of Ballooning in Readington, N.J., July 28.
Robert Sciarrino / The Star-Ledger
The portrait of Trenton Mayor Tony Mack hangs outside the office of the Department of Administration Division of Purchasing at Trenton City Hall as FBI agents search file cabinets on July 19 in Trenton, N.J.
FBI agents are searching offices in Trenton City Hall Thursday morning, a day after the feds raided the home of Trenton's mayor, whose two-year administration of New Jersey's impoverished capital city has been marked by accusations of nepotism and reckless spending. Read more on NBCNews.com
Julio Cortez / AP
Jeannette Gaston lays a rose on top of the casket of her son, Army Spc. Jonathan Batista, during funeral services at Our Lady of the Magnificat, on July 16, in Kinnelon, N.J.
Julio Cortez / AP
Andrew Gaston, center, cries during funeral services for his brother, Army Spc. Jonathan Batista, at Our Lady of the Magnificat, on July 16, in Kinnelon, N.J.
AP reports -- Jonathan Batista, a 22-year-old paratrooper, was on his first deployment to Afghanistan when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire in Kandahar province on July 8. Batista was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 321st Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
Julio Cortez / AP
Pallbearers carry the casket containing the body of Army Spc. Jonathan Batista during funeral services at Our Lady of the Magnificat, on July 16, in Kinnelon, N.J.
Related links:
Slideshow - Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads 2012
John Munson / The Star-Ledger
Painting supervisor Kevin McSweeney walks out onto one of the cables on the George Washington Bridge to inspect the painting operations in Fort Lee, NJ, on July 10.
John Munson / The Star-Ledger
Obed Gonzalez paints one of the large cables on the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, NJ, on July 10.
It was as he was selecting his harness that New Jersey Star-Ledger photographer John Munson realized that he, too, would be joining the George Washington Bridge painters high above rush-hour traffic on the cables suspending the bridge over the Hudson River. As he and reporter Steve Strunsky headed to the span's midpoint, Munson focused on shooting the Port Authority workers and tuning out the vibrations from morning commuters heading into New York City below them.
For the painters, it is just another day at the office. They work on maintaining the bridge year-round, completing a full paint job in approximately 18 months. The Star-Ledger's Steve Strunsky reports:
Kevin McSweeney stood 330 feet above the Hudson River on one of four 36-inch diameter cables strung between the twin towers of the George Washington Bridge.
Manhattan-bound cars and trucks whooshed 100 feet below him as his crew of five bridge painters worked on a narrow platform. Clipped to safety wires, they used rollers to coat the cables with an aluminum-based protective layer.
It was 9 a.m. and already hot under a blazing July sun. But the small gang of adrenaline junkies applied the silvery coating with amazing speed and coordination, seemingly oblivious to the dizzying height.
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John Munson / The Star-Ledger
Keith Schmitt paints the top of the south cable on the George Washington Bridge. Fort Lee, NJ, on July 10.
Photos by Tom Mihalek / Reuters
A steer is roped by one of the two cowboys in the Team Roping event at Cowtown Rodeo in Woodstown, New Jersey, July 7, 2012.
Troy Alexander, from Federalsburg, Maryland, concentrates as he prepares for a ride on bull "I-33" on Saturday.
From the Cowtown Rodeo website:
Cowtown Rodeo was started in conjunction with the Salem County Fair in Woodstown NJ in 1929. The rodeo was held annually during the Fair until 1937. World War II caused the rodeo to be put on hold until 1955
Howard Harris Sr. and and his son, Stoney worked together to establish what is now known as the "oldest weekly rodeo in the United States." Cowtown Rodeo was, and is, known nationwide due to live national TV exposure in 1957 and 1958 and taped exposure nationwide in 1968 and 1969. The rodeo outgrew the original arena and in 1967 Harris built the present arena with a seating capacity of 4000.
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Eddie Anderson, 17, of Franklinville, New Jersey, competes in the junior bull riding division.
Andrew Mills / The Star-Ledger
Asbury Park firefighter Brett Nielson pauses as he prepares to enter the surf to search for the body of a 23-year-old man who disappeared while swimming after lifeguards had gone off duty yesterday. The body was recovered after a short search by divers.
Andrew Mills / The Star-Ledger
Asbury Park firefighters, NJ State Police Troopers and US Coast Guard personnel work to recover a body about 200 yards offshore at the 2nd Avenue beach in Asbury Park where a 23-year-old man disappeared while swimming after lifeguards had gone off duty yesterday.
Jim Gold, msnbc.com -- One swimmer who vanished off the New Jersey shore was found drowned Thursday morning while the search continued for a second caught by rip currents.
Both incidents occurred at beaches where no lifeguards were on duty.
Garrett Giberson, public information officer for the Asbury Park fire department, told NJ.com, website of the Star-Ledger newspaper. “Basically the bottom line is this: When lifeguards are off duty, stay out of the water. Rip tides are dangerous and obviously deadly. It's not worth your life."
See more images of search and rescue efforts in the Star-Ledger's photo gallery.
Friends sob on the shore as hopes fade in finding an 18-year-old swept out to sea by unusually strong current. WNBC's Gus Rosendale reports.
Mel Evans / AP
A Tyrannosaurus Rex moves and growls in an interactive display at Field Station: Dinosaurs in Secaucus, N.J., on May 25. There will be 31 types of animatronic dinosaurs displayed at the Jurassic park opening on May 26.
Michael Bocchieri / Getty Images
A firefighter helps battle a brush fire in the Meadowlands near Metlife Stadium on April 11, 2012 in Carlstadt, New Jersey. Fire departments from around the area were on hand to bring under control one of many brush fires that have broken out in New Jersey and New York. Dry conditions, low humidity and strong winds are some of the culprits to the spreading fires.
Julio Cortez / AP
Two jets with the US Navy Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron, seen from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J., execute a survey flight over the Statue of Liberty on April 2, 2012. The two F/A-18 Hornets flew practice runs to familiarize and evaluate a potential flight course for the upcoming US Navy War of 1812 commemoration during this year’s Fleet Week celebration in May.
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