By TIM MAK | 1/31/12 5:48 PM EST Updated: 1/31/12 6:26 PM EST
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) threatened Tuesday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress if the Justice Department did not provide certain documents in response to the committee’s subpoena.
In a letter to Holder, Issa wrote that “this committee will have no alternative but to move forward with proceedings to hold you in contempt of Congress” if Holder and the DOJ didn’t produce documents they demanded relating to the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal.
>Junk Newspapers – Information to End Delivery of Non – Requested Newspapers
Residents have called Village Hall asking for a way to stop the unrequested newspapers in their driveways – we recommend resident personally contact the appropriate company at the phone number listed on the publication.
To contact The Record – call 888-473-2673; ask to be placed on the “Non Subscriber’s List”.
It may take a few calls to stop the delivery.
The Village of Ridgewood cannot regulate these deliveries as it is a “Freedom of Speech” issue.
>AFP’s Top-Rated Legislators – Heroes and Defenders of the Taxpayer
The 2010-2011 Legislative Session saw five legislators earn AFP’s coveted “Hero of the Taxpayer” award with exemplary ratings of 90% and higher. These legislators included:
Sen. Mike Doherty (R-23) – 93% Asm. John DiMaio (R-23) – 94% Asm. Erik Peterson (R-23) – 93% Asm. Michael Patrick Carroll (R-25) – 92% Asw. Alison Littell McHose (R-24) – 90%
Additionally, 14 legislators were awarded with our “Defender of the Taxpayer” designation for achieving Taxpayer Scores between 80-89%.
Sen. Steve Oroho (R-24) – 84% Sen. Gerry Cardinale (R-39) – 80% Asm. Jay Webber (R-26) – 89% Asm. Gary Chiusano (R-24) – 88% Asm. Scott Rumana (R09) – 88% Asm. Anthony M. Bucco (R-25) – 84% Asw. DiAnne Gove (R-09) – 84% Asm. Brian Rumpf (R-09) – 84% Asm. David Russo (R-40) – 83% Asm. Samuel Thompson (R-13)– 82% Asw. Denise Coyle (R-16) – 81% Asm. Alex DeCroce (R-26) – 80% Asm. David Rible (R-11) – 80% Asw. Amy Handlin (R-13) – 80% AFP’s Taxpayer Zeroes
The bad news for taxpayers is that far too many of our representatives in Trenton are failing to stand up for their interests. No less than 66 out of 70 sitting Legislative Democrats were branded as “Taxpayer Zeroes” for 2010-2011 with scores ranging from 0-29%! Not one Democratic legislator achieved a rating above 40%.
Despite the state’s fiscal problems, including more than $60 BILLION in debt, the majority party in the state Legislature continues to push to spend more and more of your tax dollars on their failed, liberal, Big Government agenda.
Congratulations Asm. David Russo (R-40), Asm. Scott Rumana (R09) , Sen. Mike Doherty (R-23) and noticeably absent Sen. Kevin O’Tool (R-40)
Go to www.TaxpayerScorecard.com now to read and download the Taxpayer Scorecard…and to see a video highlight of Monday’s press conference!
>Sen. Gordon calls for more transparency at Port Authority of N.Y. & N.J.
In the aftermath of a news report that since Gov. Chris Christie took office in 2010, 50 people with ties to him or his administration have obtained jobs at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a Democratic state senator is calling for more transparency at the bi-state agency.
The jobs range from federal affairs director to toll taker and together pay about $4 million in annual salaries, according to The Record of Hackensack. (Hester, New Jersey Newsroom)
NJ drivers would face lower fines for forgetting license, registration under Senate bill
A bill released by a state Senate committee Monday would take some of the financial sting out of being stopped by the police if you forget your driver’s license or vehicle registration.
A bill proposed by state Senate Christopher “Kip” Bateman, R-Somerset, would drop the maximum fine for forgetting those documents from $150 to $100, if all the documents are valid at the time of the police stop and if the officer can verify they are current by using a computer database at the scene. The Senate Transportation Committee voted unanimously Monday to release the bill for a vote by the Legislature. (Higgs, Ganett)
>RIDGEWOOD YMCA TO HOST FUNDRAISER TO SUPPORT ITS WORLD SERVICE PROGRAM “Gotta Have Heart” Fri, February 10, 2012 Time: 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Women’s Club of Ridgewood, 215 W Ridgewood Ave, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
The Ridgewood YMCA will host “Gotta Have Heart”, a fundraiser to support its World Service Program, on Friday, February 10th from 6:30 to 9:30pm at the Women’s Club of Ridgewood. The evening will include wine and cheese tasting and hors d’oeuvres, along with silent auctions and music.
Since 1986, the Ridgewood YMCA World Service has worked with YMCAs in other countries such as Haiti, Kenya, Senegal, Mexico and the Dominican Republic to provide assistance and support in times of crisis and need. Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the Ridgewood YMCA, in cooperation with the Wells Mountain Foundation, launched a massive clothing drive and shipped twelve 40 foot containers of donated items the devastated country. The containers ultimately were retrofitted in Haiti by volunteers, many from the Ridgewood community, to become local YMCAs.
The Ridgewood YMCA World Service Program also recently donated funds to YMCA Senegal for the construction of a new school.
Tom Wells, Chairman of the World Service Committee says, “Our work in Haiti, in Senegal, and in all of the other countries remains critical. The Ridgewood YMCA does so many good things right here in our community, but in this area the burden is on our YMCA family to reach out from our community to help the rest of the world.”
To purchase tickets for “Gotta Have Heart”, please contact Brian Hughes at (201) 474 6030 or email bchughes@hughesenveng.com.
To donate items to the evening’s silent auction or to purchase ad space in the event’s dinner journal, please contact Tom Wells at (201) 587 0888 or email twells@wellslaw.com. The cost to purchase an ad is $200 for a full page, $100 for 1/2 page or $50 for 1/4 page.
As he attempted to clarify a controversial comment he made last week about same-sex marriage and civil rights, Gov. Chris Christie Monday called openly gay Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer) “numbnuts.”
The name-calling came as the governor tried to clear up the comment he made in regards to his call for a voter referendum on same-sex marriage in New Jersey instead of the Democratic-controlled Legislature sending him a bill to legalize it. He has voted to veto the proposal. (Hester, New Jersey Newsroom)
MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2012 BY BARBARA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood has become one of the first hospitals in the state and the only medical center in Bergen or Passaic counties to have a 3-D mammography machine, a new tool in breast cancer detection.
Dr. Lauren Levy, a radiologist at the hospital’s breast center, said the technology helps her find errant cells more easily by allowing her to look at a breast in sections.
“Imagine looking at the breast from the side and trying to find a grape somewhere in the middle of it,” Levy said. “Now think about being able to look at each individual slice to find it. That’s what 3-D mammography does — it slices the breast for us to look at in pieces.”
High-risk patients — those with dense breast tissue, women with a family history of breast cancer or patients who have had an abnormality detected by a traditional mammogram — have been screened on the new device since late November.
>Christie open to ways to remedy anti-bullying setback
Gov. Chris Christie and leading legislators yesterday vowed to address a state ruling that says sections of New Jersey’s landmark anti-bullying law are an unfunded mandate — without discounting the idea of supplying districts with additional money.
Christie said he still needed to review Friday’s decision of the state’s Council on Local Mandates that the law imposed an unconstitutional mandate on districts in not providing adequate funding. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
>Test results offer a long-term look at progress in Ridgewood schools Monday January 30, 2012, 9:22 AM BY JOSEPH CRAMER STAFF WRITER The Ridgewood News
Ridgewood school principals and administrators are working on a set of goals to improve testing scores among students in the village, particularly in language arts literacy at the middle school level, according to a school district official.
>I think the teachers should be taught some organization, time-management and technology
I do not consider myself a helicopter parent; I am a parent who wants to ensure that my child’s homework is done each and every night (correctly) and that they understand time management. One of children is a main-streamed special ed. student who does need assistance with organization. He’s supposed to get support in school but that’s just not happening despite my best efforts. I would do anything to NOT spend time looking up homework but, at this point, it is an absolute necessity. In school, they are teaching more and more technology to all students. Why isn’t all parent-teacher related material available on one site?
I think the teachers should be taught some organization, time-management and technology. It’s silly that one teacher gets minimally trained in a software application like Skyward or Blackboard and this is expected to turn around and teach the other teachers. Spend some of those “professional development days” or NJEA Convention days actually learning these software applications.
>AOL traffic down since HuffingtonPost acquisition Last Updated: 3:27 PM, January 30, 2012
Don’t expect Tim Armstrong to send Arianna Huffington flowers as an anniversary gift.
One year after getting into bed with the media princess and plunking down $135 million to buy the Huffington Post, the AOL boss has seen traffic on his Web site fall to where the ubiquitous e-mail voice should be saying, “You Got Nailed.”
Consider this: AOL had 78.9 million unique visitors prior to the acquisition. Recent Nielsen numbers show a drop-off to 73.6 million.
Analysts ripped Armstrong for overpaying at the time, and an OTM insider goes so far as to call it his “biggest mistake to date.”
“A total disaster from the beginning,” our source, who covers the market, said. “Between all the layoffs and redesign, it’s amazing anyone would want to work at HuffPo. They’re chasing the competition now rather than leading it.”
Police roll out video surveillance truck called The Peacemaker
FORT LAUDERDALE—Tania Ouaknine is convinced the police are watching her.
She’s not paranoid — it says as much on the red sign painted along the side on the hulking armored truck that’s been parked in front of her eight-room Parisian Motel for several days.
“Warning: You are under video surveillance,” reads the bold message on the side of the truck.
From the front bumper of the menacing vehicle, another sign taunts: “Whatcha gonna do when we come for you?”
The truck is a new weapon for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department in the fight against drugs and neighborhood nuisances, and it looks like a Winnebago on steroids. They call it “The Peacemaker,” and it may be a first in South Florida.
Washington -The U.S. Treasury Department boosted its estimate of government losses in the $85 billion auto bailout by $170 million.
In the government’s latest report to Congress this month, the Treasury upped its estimate to $23.77 billion, up from $23.6 billion.
Last fall, the government dramatically boosted its forecast of losses on the rescues of General Motors Co., Chrysler Group LLC and their finance units from $14 billion to $23.6 billion.
>Obama: The most polarizing president. Ever. Posted by Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake at 06:30 AM ET, 01/30/2012
President Obama ran — and won — in 2008 on the idea of uniting the country. But each of his first three years in office has marked historic highs in political polarization, with Democrats largely approving of him and Republicans deeply disapproving.
For 2011, Obama’s third year in office, an average of 80 percent of Democrats approved of the job he was doing in Gallup tracking polls, as compared to 12 percent of Republicans who felt the same way. That’s a 68-point partisan gap, the highest for any president’s third year in office — ever. (The previous high was George W. Bush in 2007, when he had a 59 percent difference in job approval ratings.)
