With 70 New Jersey school districts now opening their doors to outside students, nearly 2,000 students chose to leave their hometowns for their education this fall, according to preliminary figures from the state.
For the schools, it’s an opportunity to fill seats and pick up extra money from the state — as much as $11,500 per student. For the students, it’s a chance to participate in programs not offered by their own schools.
The biggest takers continue to be the dozen districts that have pioneered New Jersey’s Interdistrict Public School Choice program for the past decade, with 275 students from across Bergen County attending Englewood’s high school academies and close to 200 attending Folsom’s lone elementary school. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
Despite some optimistic assessments, doubt still haunts solar sector
Scott Weiner is troubled by a lot of the rhetoric he hears about New Jersey’s efforts to promote solar energy, particularly what he called the pejorative terms used to describe incentives and subsidies supporting the sector.
According to the past president of the Board of Public Utilities (BPU), “Where we are today should be a cause of celebration.”
Weiner made that statement to a group of state officials and industry executives at a meeting in Bordentown on Friday, where the chief topic was how the state should finance its programs to spur greater reliance on clean energy sources, such as solar, and ways to reduce energy consumption in the state. (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)
> Railroads aim to replace or revamp aging bridges
Union Pacific Railroad is anticipating operational efficiency gains from a major bridge replacement project, as well. The Class I plans to replace a 103-year-old, 890-foot-long structure spanning the Mississippi River on the Overland Route in Clinton, Iowa. The double-track, steel through-truss swing span bridge is a major choke point on the route, which accommodates up to 65 freight trains daily and is used to haul about 140 million gross-tons of cargo annually, UP officials said in an email.
During a 24-hour period, the swing span might be open a cumulative total of five hours to accommodate barge traffic during the peak river shipping season; barge traffic has priority over rail traffic.
This swing span bridge is obsolete, with a horizontal bridge opening of only 177 feet — well short of the 300-foot minimum now required by the U.S. Coast Guard, UP officials said. In addition, the bridge has been struck by river barges and watercraft more than 100 times in the past 15 years, they said.
To alleviate problems associated with the antiquated structure, the Class I proposes to build a new clear span bridge, which would “greatly increase river traffic safety and eliminate a railroad bottleneck,” UP officials said. Project details still are being finalized and a construction schedule has not been determined.
Because the bridge’s design calls for a clear span, longer approaches will need to be employed to gain the necessary elevation over the river, UP officials said. The new bridge, along with other nearby projects — including a new crew change facility — will bring the total investment in the area to about $400 million, they estimate.
A short line already is investing capital in a bridge project, to the tune of $500,000. New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway Corp. (NYSW) crews are beginning to upgrade a bridge near Ridgewood and Midland Park, N.J., that retains a 25 mph speed restriction.
The project is an example of an alternative method to bridge replacement or rehabilitation, according to NYSW officials.
The 83.5-foot-long, double-track, through-plate girder bridge was built on two abutments in 1913 and carried tracks over a long-abandoned trolley line right of way.
Instead of building a new bridge, crews will employ an earthen fill and drainage pipe method. To complete the project, 225 linear feet of ballast and track will be installed on top of the fill, which will be graded to the same level as the tops of the old abutments. As of press time, work was slated to begin late last month or in October.
Bridge maintenance no longer will be required and the railroad will register locomotive fuel savings because the speed restriction will be eliminated, according to NYSW officials.
>Bethlehem Lutheran Sole Sisters Walk for Breast Cancer
(RIDGEWOOD-NJ) Thirteen women from the Ridgewood area participated in the 2011 NYC AVON Walk for Breast Cancer. Known as the Bethlehem Lutheran Sole Sisters, they raised over $36,000 for breast cancer research. Pictured: Autumn Lexer, Aimee Ensign, Maria Torre, Patty Criscenzo, Elaine Bitten, Jennifer Benjamin, (last row) Anne-Marie Dalessandro, Patricia Poole, Gretchen Nelson, Nancy Evenden, Lynette Matthews, Marisa Panecki, and Jill Krause.
>Valley Expansion: You can have a better hospital without this plan. Valley’s entire history from its beginnings proves that
You can have a better hospital without this plan. Valley’s entire history from its beginnings proves that. There was never an expansion done anywhere near the size of the current proposal. Yet plenty of expansion and modernization was surely done over the years. Many more specialty areas were added over the years since Valley began,too.
Remember, Valley started as the entire hospital’s footprint being what’s now the doctor parking lot on Linwood. Phillips- now the oldest building– greatly expanded the hospital when it was built. Then Bergen followed, then Cheel.
Also bear in mind as to Ridgewood, the host community, our population really has not changed greatly in size throughout most of Valley’s existence.
What you probably can NOT have without this plan though is a big regional medical center that attracts patients and their doctors from all over. That’s not a reasonable definition of “serving the community” to me, unless you define “community” as basically the entire tri-state area and perhaps beyond that.
This area has a lot of facilities to choose from.. and in fact many providers who practice at Valley offer their patients other choices for procedures than only Valley.
For one very specialized procedure, a local close friend was recently offered a choice of either Clara Maas or Valley. The specialist surgeon who performed the procedure has offices in both Ridgewood and the Clara Maas area.
The patient chose Valley, but the doctor also commented that Clara Maas was every bit as good as Valley in terms of services for the procedure needed, and that actually more such procedures are done there than at Valley, not just by that provider, but overall in NJ.
When Pascack was open, even more choices were available and many docs practicing at Valley were also listed as having privileges at Pascack.
If you do lookups of Valley physicians at the Valley site and then go look up that provider individually, you’ll find that many (and likely most) have privileges at multiple hospitals. Some doctors on the Valley site have a feature you can directly click for more info about their practice, too – and among those, you’ll also find most have multiple hospital affiliations — in fact quite a few continue to list “Pascack” as an affiliation.
So, just like many docs have multiple offices, they also have multiple affiliations with hospitals. Quite a few on the Valley directory also practice from Hackensack too.
Thus, with a plan that provided for some modernization but not the “regional med center” model, you could have the advantage of a “renewed” Valley while still having something sensible in terms of its fit with the site and within the Village as its host community.
It’s hard for me to understand how patients or overall care will suffer if the proposed plan is not built, when so many doctors who practice at Valley also practice elsewhere, and will likely continue to also practice at Valley.
If the current Valley is so “behind the times” as the “experts” seem to testify, why are so many of those same leading area doctors practicing there at all, given that so many of them have other area hospital privileges?
I’m all for them tearing down the old Phillips building and doing some modernizing.. but you don’t need this plan for that. Something more modest would clearly satisfy that need – just as Valley’s previous updates have been able to do.
Baroni keys local chamber into Port Authority opportunities
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey offers many opportunities for small to midsized businesses to pursue contracts, its deputy executive director, Bill Baroni, told the Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce earlier this week.
Baroni noted at the Oct. 18 meeting that the authority had 2,003 separate contracts last year.
“The board is making sure businesses large and small have (the opportunity) to compete,” he said.
The Port Authority is undergoing an audit of its spending, including employee compensation and rising costs at the World Trade Center construction site, as governors Chris Christieand Andrew Cuomo, of New York, “have made it clear that every dollar, every dime that the Port Authority has be spent wisely,” Baroni said. (Kitchenman, NJBIZ)
New York and New Jersey are preparing to administer mandatory school-readiness tests to children as young as 4 years old in an effort to win millions of dollars from the federal government.
The states submitted applications this week for the newest round of federal Race to the Top money, the Obama administration’s signature education program. The competition gives more weight to bidders that perform wide-ranging assessments of children in the first few months of kindergarten.
In New York, they would gauge children’s language, math, science and literacy skills, as well as emotional and physical development, and general knowledge.
The results would provide a baseline measure of each student’s skill level when he or she enters the school system, according to a proposal the Board of Regents approved this week. The test results, however, wouldn’t force students into special education classes or block them from school, officials said. (Fleisher, The Wall Street Journal)
Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi ,Wednesday, October 26th @ 5:00pm Star of The Jersey Shore will sign her new book: Confessions of a Guidette. Books available October 25th
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change. Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings. Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable. Please call the store for details.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
>FREE SHRED DAY FOR RIDGEWOOD RESIDENTS – November 12, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011, the Ridgewood Recycling Division will host another Shred Day event from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM. Shred Day is an opportunity for Ridgewood residents and businesses to dispose of sensitive documents by shredding them. A mobile, on-site paper shredding company will be at the recycling center for this rain or shine event. Those who wish to do so may watch on camera as their documents are shredded for recycling.
Acceptable items include cancelled checks, computer printouts, copy paper (all colors), envelopes, letterhead, and stationary. Prohibited items include binders, plastics, overnight shipping envelopes, photos, carbon paper, and non–paper items.
The Village of Ridgewood Recycling Division is not being charged for this service. It has been made possible by the Bergen County Utilities Authority.
The Recycling Center. located at 205 E. Glen Avenue, Ridgewood, is open from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Monday through Saturday. Items accepted at the Recycling Center include electronics, clothing & textiles, appliances, bottles & cans, papers & cardboard, yard waste, tires, and metals.
>They want $lice of the occu-pie 500G fight at Zuccotti By GINGER ADAMS OTIS
Even in Zuccotti Park, greed is good.Occupy Wall Street’s Finance Committee has nearly $500,000 in the bank, and donations continue to pour in — but its reluctance to share the wealth with other protesters is fraying tempers.
Some drummers — incensed they got no money to replace or safeguard their drums after a midnight vandal destroyed their instruments Wednesday — are threatening to splinter off.
“F–k Finance. I hope Mayor Bloomberg gets an injunction and demands to see the movement’s books. We need to know how much money we really have and where it’s going,” said a frustrated Bryan Smith, 45, who joined OWS in Lower Manhattan nearly three weeks ago from Los Angeles, where he works in TV production.
Smith is a member of the Comfort Working Group — one of about 30 small collectives that have sprung up within OWS. The Comfort group is charged with finding out what basic necessities campers need, like thermal underwear, and then raising money by soliciting donations on the street.
“The other day, I took in $2,000. I kept $650 for my group, and gave the rest to Finance. Then I went to them with a request — so many people need things, and they should not be going without basic comfort items — and I was told to fill out paperwork. Paperwork! Are they the government now?” Smith fumed, even as he cajoled the passing crowd for more cash.
> Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In ….Finland ?
By MATTHEW MOSK, BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) and RONNIE GREENE ABC NEWS and iWATCH NEWS Oct. 20, 2011
With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.
Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department’s $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the company’s manufacturing jobs are still limited to the assembly of the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car in Finland.
>Fed up—Had Enough Doc Bob Villare, M.D. State Assembly Candidate District 3 856-423-4500
Warren Buffett offers one of the best quotes I’ve heard about the debt ceiling when he says “You just pass a law that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election
To discipline Trenton, I suggest a Balanced Budget and Debt Reduction Act accompanied by a Fraud & Abuse Commission. Quasi government “Authorities” will have no power to tax and bond and their expenditures must be approved by the Assembly. We need a flat state income tax in range of 3.5%, and need to free public workers to establish their own 401-k pension plan where they are free to decide how to fund it each year. Younger workers can elect to take home more in their paycheck, while older public workers can elect to put more into their pensions. This will take a tax burden directly off the property owners!
The State Assembly and Senate must accept the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as their own health insurance plan, or agree to not implement same in NJ. Lottery money goes to benefit seniors and for no other purpose. Anyone raiding this fund is subject to sanctions.
Legislation that adds substantial debt or deficit to taxpayers must be approved by a public vote and 2/3s majority. If you are on welfare, you must submit to a periodic drug test. Welfare comes with an expiration date. You must reapply each year to show continued need. This is a safety net, not a way of life.
Assembly and Senate Term Limits shall be imposed. If you can’t get the job done in four or six years, then you return home and are ineligible for re-election.
Finally, a major civil rights issue must be decided to allow sweeping change in education and tax relief. Parents deserve the right and freedom to educate their children in the public or private school that gives their child the best chance for a quality education. The money to fund that education should follow the child, not the zip code. It is every parent’s right to demand this equal opportunity.
>Steve Jobs told President Barack Obama he was “headed for a one-term presidency,” Steve Jobs biography: Did Apple CEO warn Obama? By TIM MAK | 10/21/11 7:03 AM EDT Updated: 10/21/11 11:46 AM EDT
Steve Jobs told President Barack Obama he was “headed for a one-term presidency,” citing the U.S.’s competitive disadvantages with China and a “crippled” education system, a new biography of the former Apple CEO indicates.
“You’re headed for a one-term presidency,” Jobs told Obama in a meeting last year where he asserted that the White House needed to be more friendly toward business, according to the Huffington Post, which obtained a copy of Walter Isaacson’s forthcoming book, “Steve Jobs.”
Jobs also told Obama that “regulations and unnecessary costs” put the United States at a competitive disadvantage with China, where companies can build factories more cheaply.
Strategic development plan puts economic growth on the map
With the release by the Christie administration of its strategic development plan, some skeptics are questioning whether its goal of spurring economic growth will wind up supplanting some of the nation’s most stringent environmental rules.
The bent to economic development is clear throughout the 41-page draft plan unveiled on Wednesday, a reflection of a recurring theme advanced by the governor during his 22 months in office.
The plan envisions setting up geographic cluster zones to attract high-growth industries, such as manufacturing, technology, pharmaceuticals/life sciences, and other sectors. Among the documents attached to the plan are maps identifying where such segments would be located, such as firms dealing in the financial services sector. (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)
