>Backyard Pool Swim Lessons Mon, June 27, 2011 – Tue, August 16, 2011 Time: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM Location: YMCA, Your home
This summer, pool owners can take advantage of nationally renowned YMCA swim lessons in their own backyard. From June 27-August 16, the Ridgewood YMCA’s Backyard Pool program offers two-week sessions of eight, half-hour classes. A special one-week session of four half-hour classes, August 22-26, finishes out the summer.
There is also a choice of time periods – 10:00 am-noon, noon-3:00 pm or 3:00 – 5:00 pm. The program combines high quality swim instruction with ultimate convenience.
The Ridgewood YMCA has the largest Backyard Pool program in northern New Jersey. Instructors are highly qualified, trained and lifeguard certified. The choice of private, semi-private, or small group classes maximizes learning and helps children master swim skills. Parents find the home setting convenient for them and reassuring for their children.
Early registration for Backyard Pool is recommended, as sessions fill up fast. For session availability and fees according to group size, contact Janet Oliver, 201-444-5600 x 304 or email joliver@ridgewoodymca.org
N.J. legislature moves to cut benefits for public workers
New Jersey lawmakers on Thursday approved a broad rollback of benefits for 750,000 government workers and retirees, the deepest cut in state and local costs in memory, in a major victory for Gov. Chris Christie and a once-unthinkable setback for the state’s powerful public employee unions. (Pérez-Peña, The New York Times)
> Examining changes to health insurance and pensions
New Jersey legislation will significantly increase costs or reduce benefits for three-quarters of a million public employees and retirees. (The New York Times)
>Is College Worth It? College Presidents, Public Assess, Value, Quality and Mission of Higher Education
By Pew Social Trends Staff
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report is based on findings from a pair of Pew Research Center surveys conducted this spring. One is a telephone survey taken among a nationally representative sample of 2,142 adults ages 18 and older. The other is an online survey, done in association with the Chronicle of Higher Education, among the presidents of 1,055 two-year and four-year private, public, and for-profit colleges and universities. (See a description of our survey methodology.)
> Conservative Republican Ian Linker Announces US Senate Candidacy
Challenges Bob Menendez’s Perilous Fiscal Record
(Ridgewood, NJ) – Ian Linker, practicing attorney, father, husband, and resident of Bergen County, NJ, has filed paperwork with the FEC to run for the US Senate in 2012 against Bob Menendez. He issued the following statement today declaring his candidacy.
“America is at a crossroads. Will we continue on our current path towards socialism and financial ruin or will we return to our founding principles of a limited federal government and a vibrant growing free market economy? Following the latter path will not be easy but it will spare us, our children, and my children from most certain financial servitude.
“I will be the kind of Senator that has the courage to make the tough choices and puts his principles before power. I just want to help put this country back on track. I pledge that I will serve only two terms and return to the practice of law.
“I understand that to restore our country’s greatness we must vastly reform the way the federal government operates, that our children must grow up loving this country not listening to its leaders apologize for its actions, and that to restore our fiscal footing the federal government must stop spending more than it brings in and further cut spending. We need a balanced budget amendment. We also must reform the safety net government provides so those who truly need it will benefit for generations to come.
“If I am elected, I will introduce and support legislation that facilitates economic growth. Our unwieldy tax code must be made flatter, fairer, and simpler. To get businesses hiring again we also need to more closely scrutinize and restore sanity to a regulatory regime that is simply too expensive and burdensome for business to comply with.
“We need an American energy policy that taps domestic energy resources to end our dependence on foreign oil, create American jobs, and bring down the cost of oil. We also need to secure our borders. And we need healthcare reform that actually addresses the out of control cost of healthcare.
“I am running for the US Senate in 2012 against Bob Menendez to save this country for my children because Bob Menendez will continue us on our current path to financial ruin. The government has incurred more debt since Bob Menendez joined the Senate in 2006 than we did in the first 230 years of our nation’s history, and he has supported legislation that has brought us to the edge of the abyss.”
“He voted for Wall Street bail outs, an ineffective nearly trillion dollar stimulus bill, higher taxes, reckless spending, and a healthcare bill that does not address the rising cost of healthcare but centralizes more power in Washington, DC.
“Bob Menendez is wrong for NJ and wrong for our country. If I am elected, I will be a public servant the people of NJ will be proud of, and save America for our children.”
Ridgewood High School Athletic Stadium Floods – Graduation Ceremony Moved To RHS Front Lawn Boyd Loving
The HoHoKus Brook overflowed its banks on Thursday afternoon flooding the RHS athletic stadium. The graduation ceremony for the RHS class of 2011 was moved to the front lawn of RHS as a result. Workers moved chairs from the athletic field to the front lawn following a heavy downpour in mid afternoon.
>DUAL FAMILY GARAGE SALE-Saturday June 25th @9:00 am-3:00 pm (Ridgewood, NJ)
Dual Family Garage Sale
Saturday-June 25th-9am to 3pm
484 & 490 Hanks Avenue Ridgewood NJ.
Items include-Wine Enthusiast Wine unit, wrought iron glass table, Ethan Allen coffee table, wall art, children’s clothing, toys, and much much more.
No earlybirds please.
Multi-Family yard sale (Ridgewood, NJ)
Multi-Family yard sale this Saturday June 25th. Location: 434 George St (off E. Glen Ave) around the corner from fire station, Ridgewood, NJ (Bergen County)
Baby/toddler toys, kitchen items, dishes, NIB Icecream maker, books, bar stools, Ethan Allen coffee table, picture frames, vases, NIB Black & Decker hedge trimmer, toddler bed frame, purses (Ralph Lauren and other brand names), Coach briefcase, iron gym pull up bar, NIB Seinfeld DVD collection, clothes and MORE!
>With the trend going anti-smoking of all kinds, the possibility of pot becoming the next adult vice of choice in public circles is getting slimmer by the day
The original poster said they would rather have their kids smoke pot versus drink alcohol. You can’t mention all the positive studies done on marijuana and summarily dismiss the positive studies on moderate alcohol consumption. I’ve yet to see anyone dining al fresco in town, sipping from a wine glass and then bursting into a coughing fit like smokers do to extract every last hit off a roach. With the trend going anti-smoking of all kinds, the possibility of pot becoming the next adult vice of choice in public circles is getting slimmer by the day. If you’re an appeasing parent and cave you your kid’s id, go for it. Were it my choice, I’d choose neither.
New Jersey’s high school exit exam has long been the subject of debate and disagreement.
Through all of it, there are now three ways to graduate from a public high school. Pass the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). Pass the Alternative High School Assessment (AHSA), the much-maligned back-up test. Or, failing the first two, the newest and last option is to win on appeal to Trenton. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
Prior to the 1970’s, New Jersey was an economic powerhouse and an envy of other states across America. New Jersey offered businesses and entrepreneurs a low tax environment where they could flourish and create jobs. Likewise, New Jersey offered its residents and ideal place to prosper and raise a family.
In the years since, New Jersey’s tax climate has devolved into one of the worst in the nation. Out-of-control spending, as well as burdensome regulations and mandates from Trenton, have all contributed to New Jersey’s dismal tax climate. And New Jersey has become unaffordable to many of our friends and neighbors who have fled for greener pastures.
While Trenton legislators and past governors share in the blame for our state’s fiscal woes, the state’s activist Supreme Court has arguably been most responsible New Jersey’s economic decline.
For decades now, New Jersey’s runaway Supreme Court has overstepped its bounds with outrageous decisions on school funding, housing and even taxpayer-funded abortions.
The Mount Laurel decisions led to the socialist affordable housing bureaucracy – the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH). Thanks to the Mount Laurel decisions, property taxes have been driven higher as local zoning boards have lost their authority to build in their communities as they see fit and taxpayers and businesses have been forced to subsidize the homes of others.
In Right to Choose v. Byrne (1982), the Court ruled that the State could not prohibit public funding of abortions through Medicaid. Thanks to the Court’s Byrne decision, New Jersey taxpayers, many of whom object to the procedure on religious and moral grounds, are nonetheless compelled to subsidize abortions through their tax dollars.
Starting with Robinson v. Cahill I (1973) and continuing with a series of more than twenty Abbott cases, the Court has infringed upon the Legislature’s constitutional authority to appropriate our school dollars. Thanks to Abbott, hundreds of millions of our tax dollars have been redistributed from New Jersey’s suburban and rural towns to failing school systems like Newark and Camden. Abbott is one of the main reasons our income taxes are so high.
The Court’s blatant disregard for our state constitution and incremental usurpation of the Legislature’s authority to allocate school aid dollars has resulted in New Jersey becoming the most expensive public school system in the country. On average, Abbott District schools receive more than $20,000 per pupil yet there is little to show in the way of results for this massive transfer of wealth.
Amazingly, New Jersey’s Supreme Court still doesn’t think this is enough. Just last month, the Court ruled that last year’s allocation of state aid was unconstitutional and ordered yet another $500 MILLION in funding for the Abbott Districts!
Senator Mike Doherty (R-23) and a number of other conservative leaders along with AFP activists will begin a long overdue campaign to educate citizens across New Jersey about the destructive role the Court has had on our state.They will be hosting a press conference in Committee Room 3 at the State House in Trenton on Thursday, June 23 at noon. Lunch will be provided.
> FLOOD WATCH: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY 349 AM EDT THU JUN 23 2011
…PERIODS OF TORRENTIAL RAIN POSSIBLE THROUGH TONIGHT ACROSS THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY…NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY…NEW YORK CITY AND NASSAU COUNTY…
.A WARM FRONT EXTENDING SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE LOCAL AREA FROM A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER WISCONSIN WILL SERVE AS THE FOCUS FOR THE CONVERGENCE OF MOISTURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH TONIGHT. ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP IN THIS ENVIRONMENT WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAIN…RESULTING IN AREAS OF FLASH FLOODING.
WESTERN PASSAIC-EASTERN PASSAIC-HUDSON-WESTERN BERGEN- EASTERN BERGEN-WESTERN ESSEX-EASTERN ESSEX-WESTERN UNION- EASTERN UNION-ORANGE-PUTNAM-ROCKLAND-NORTHERN WESTCHESTER- SOUTHERN WESTCHESTER-NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)-BRONX- RICHMOND (STATEN ISLAND)-KINGS (BROOKLYN)-NORTHERN QUEENS- NORTHERN NASSAU-SOUTHERN QUEENS-SOUTHERN NASSAU- 349 AM EDT THU JUN 23 2011.
How much will consumers have to pay to make offshore wind happen?
The state’s efforts to vault into the lead of developing offshore wind farms may be derailed by a new regulatory effort to determine how to finance those projects. (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)
Cash buyers are kings in weak home-sales market By Julie Schmit, USA TODAYUpdated 1d 1h ago | 210 | 10
Last month, all-cash buyers accounted for 30% of existing home sales, up from 25% in May 2010, and 12% two years ago, says the National Association of Realtors.
Cash buyers, who are mostly investors, accounted for at least 30% of existing-home sales for the fifth-straight month, the association says. They hit 35% of buyers in March.
The cash buyers are enticed by low prices and potential rental income, economists say. But while their activity has helped curb price drops, price increases have yet to follow.
Under Obama, U.S. Casualty Rate in Afghanistan Increased 5-Fold
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
By Edwin Mora
(CNSNews.com) – The average monthly casualty rate for U.S. military forces serving in Afghanistan has increased 5-fold since President Barack Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009.
1,540 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since Oct. 7, 2001, when U.S. forces began fighting in that country to oust the Taliban regime that had been harboring al Qaeda and to track down and capture or kill al Qaeda terrorists.
