Month: January 2012

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>Web and mobile resources to avoid transit delays

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PJonrthe+train therigdewoodblog.net


Web and mobile resources to avoid transit delays

By Michael Lavitt/For The Times of Trenton
Published: Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 9:47 AM    

As commuters face ever more irritating delays on aging systems in an era of uncertain mass transit funding, there are also more ways than ever to stay abreast of what’s happening.

Here are some web and mobile resources that can help you stay informed and hopefully make better decisions:

https://www.nj.com/times-opinion/index.ssf/2012/01/lavitt_go_to_apps_to_avoid_tra.html

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>911 emergency care bill to get a second look

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emergency theridgewoodblog.net



911 emergency care bill to get a second look


A bill that would provide first aid to the state’s emergency medical services was conditionally vetoed on Monday by Gov. Chris Christie. The measure would require licenses and criminal background checks for all EMS workers and seeks to improve 911 care and response times.

Sen. Joseph F. Vitale (D-Middlesex), incoming chairman of the Senate’s health committee, let the measure expire and said lawmakers would retool it in the new session. “I think we’re almost there,” Vitale said.  (Fitzgerald, NJ Spotlight)

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/12/0110/0152/
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>NJ education reform: School budget election changed, private urban charter schools OK’d

>NJ education reform: School budget election changed, private urban charter schools OK’d


Two Democratic proposals for education reform overwhelmingly passed the Legislature late Monday, heralding what could become a spring full of new initiatives aimed at changing public education.

State Sen. Donald Norcross, D-Camden, brother of longtime South Jersey Democratic boss George E. Norcross III, sponsored both bills.  (Method, Gannett)

https://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20120110/NJNEWS10/301100012/NJ-education-reform-School-budget-election-changes-private-urban-charter-schools-OK-d
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>Sweeney plans to take first step on federal campaign trail

>Sweeney plans to take first step on federal campaign trail


State Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney said Monday he plans to file paperwork this week to open a federal exploratory committee, a first signal that the Democrat is interested in running for federal office.
Sweeney declined to say whether he would challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg in 2014, saying only that he was keeping “all options open” as he looks to the future.  (DeFalco, Associated Press)

https://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120110/NEWS01/301100013/Sweeney-plans-take-first-step-federal-campaign-trail
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>New Jersey lawmakers back sports gaming

>New Jersey lawmakers back sports gaming


Twenty years after missing a deadline to let its residents bet on professional or collegiate sporting events, New Jersey lawmakers passed legislation Monday night that would make it legal.

But that was the easy part. Once Gov. Chris Christie has signed the measure, as is expected, the state faces an uphill battle in federal court to try to overturn a law banning sports betting in all but four states.

The state Senate and Assembly adopted a bill that would let New Jerseyans place bets at the 11 Atlantic City casinos and the state’s four horse racing tracks on football, baseball, basketball and other professional or college sports games. Bets could not be placed on games involving New Jersey collegiate teams such as Rutgers, Seton Hall, or Princeton.  (Associated Press)

https://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71263.html
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>Christie vetoes Democrats’ make work ‘Back to Work New Jersey’ bill

>Christie vetoes Democrats’ make work ‘Back to Work New Jersey’ bill


As a new session of the Legislature begin Tuesday, Gov. Chris Christie on Monday signed 25 bills and conditionally vetoed 14 others but it was his one absolute veto that raised the ire of Democrats.

Citing the estimated $3 million cost, Christie vetoed the “Back to Work New Jersey” bill, a major late-session piece of Democratic legislation.

In his veto message, the governor declared the bill is “nearly identical” to one that he vetoed last year because of the proposed cost.  (Hester, New Jersey Newsroom)

https://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/state/christie-vetoes-democrats-back-to-work-new-jersey-bill
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>Homeland Security monitors journalists

>Homeland Security monitors journalists
Published: 07 January, 2012, 01:56

Freedom of speech might allow journalists to get away with a lot in America, but the Department of Homeland Security is on the ready to make sure that the government is keeping dibs on who is saying what.

Under the National Operations Center (NOC)’s Media Monitoring Initiative that came out of DHS headquarters in November, Washington has the written permission to retain data on users of social media and online networking platforms.

Specifically, the DHS announced the NCO and its Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) can collect personal information from news anchors, journalists, reporters or anyone who may use “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.”

According to the Department of Homeland Security’s own definition of personal identifiable information, or PII, such data could consist of any intellect “that permits the identity of an individual to be directly or indirectly inferred, including any information which is linked or linkable to that individual.” Previously established guidelines within the administration say that data could only be collected under authorization set forth by written code, but the new provisions in the NOC’s write-up means that any reporter, whether someone along the lines of Walter Cronkite or a budding blogger, can be victimized by the agency.

https://rt.com/usa/news/homeland-security-journalists-monitoring-321/

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>NJ Lawmakers move to end marriage waiting period

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NJ Lawmakers move to end marriage waiting period

A bill that would end the state’s waiting period for couples looking to wed has cleared the New Jersey Legislature.

Currently, the state imposes a 72-hour waiting period for couples seeking a marriage license.  (Associated Press)

https://www.app.com/article/20120109/NJNEWS10/301090103/NJ-lawmakers-move-end-marriage-waiting-period
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>TSA defends banning cupcake from airplane

>TSA defends banning cupcake from airplane 
byCharlie Spiering Commentary Staff Writer

“I wanted to make it clear that this wasn’t your everyday, run-of-the-mill cupcake.” blogs TSA Blogger Bob Burns today, defending the TSA’s “Cupcate-Gate,” incident against critics.

According to the story that went viral during the Christmas holiday, a TSA agent confiscated the cupcake from Rebecca Hains, a teacher who planned to feed it to her son on the plane.

“The TSA at Logan Airport said the cupcakes looked delicious and told us to have a great trip. But in Las Vegas, they were dangerous. They shouldn’t be delicious in one part of the country and a security threat in the other.” Hains said at the time.

https://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/tsa-defends-banning-cupcake-airplane/302656

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>Poll: Americans, 2-1, Fear Obama’s Reelection

>Poll: Americans, 2-1, Fear Obama’s Reelection
January 9, 2012

When it comes to how Americans view President Obama going into the new year, there appears to be very little spirit of Auld Lang Syne. Instead, according to the new Washington Whispers poll, many voters aren’t forgetting what they dislike about Obama and want him out office.

In our New Year’s poll, when asked what news event they fear most about 2012, Americans by a margin of two-to-one said Obama’s reelection. Only 16 percent said they fear the Democrat won’t win a second term, while 33 percent said they fear four more years. [Check out the top political events of 2011]

https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2012/01/09/poll-americans-2-1-fear-obamas-reelection

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>Last-minute N.J. measures: Schools, sewers

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Last-minute N.J. measures: Schools, sewers

Private companies will be allowed to build and manage a limited number of schools in Camden, Newark, and Trenton under a bill passed by the Legislature on Monday and sent to Gov. Christie for approval.

The measure was among dozens passed by the Democratic-controlled Assembly and Senate, then sent to Christie’s desk as the two-year legislative period ended with a marathon voting session that lasted late into the night.  (Katz and Farrell, The Philadelphia Inquirer)

https://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20120110_Last-minute_N_J__measures__Pets_to_school_budgets.html
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>Jersey Shore evacuation plan advances

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snooki2artchick theridgewoodblog.net
photo courtesy of ArtChick.biz 

Jersey Shore evacuation plan advances

New Jersey is improving its plans to quickly evacuate large sections of the Shore in the event of a storm or other emergency.

The Legislature approved the recommendations Monday of a task force that studied the state’s ability to move large numbers of people away from the coast. 

The plan includes lane reversals on major highways leading away from the Shore; using schools as emergency shelters; and setting up a registry of residents who would need special help in leaving the area.  (Parry, Associated Press)

https://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20120110_Shore_evacuation_plan_advances.html
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>The state of the Governor’s education agenda

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The state of the Governor’s education agenda

On the last day of its session yesterday, New Jersey’s state legislature passed one pilot bill to open up a dozen “renaissance schools” and another to allow districts to move school elections to November.
It was an anticlimactic end to a year that Gov. Chris Christie said would bring sweeping changes to public education.

Still, pension and health benefit reform and a 2 percent cap on school taxes are no small accomplishments, and the governor helped drive the debate over issues like tenure reform, merit pay, charter schools, and school funding — all of which are yet to be resolved.  (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/12/0110/0144/
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>30th Annual Ridgewood and Glen Rock Martin Luther King Jr Observance and Service

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Dr Martin Luther King Jr theridgewoodblog.net



30th Annual Ridgewood and Glen Rock Martin Luther King Jr Observance and Service

The 30th annual Ridgewood/Glen Rock observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day will be held on Monday, January 16, 2012, at the Ridgewood United Methodist Church, 100 Dayton St., Ridgewood, NJ. This year’s celebration will focus on the theme, “The Power of One, The Strength of Many.” Sponsored by the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee of Ridgewood/Glen Rock Communities, the celebration begins at 10:00 a.m. with an interfaith service featuring speaker Rabbi Neil Tow of the Glen Rock Jewish Center, as well as readings by Ridgewood and Glen Rock students and musical performances by the Indian Hills Chamber Choir and Men of Umoja Chorus. The service will be followed by a rally in Van Neste Square and conclude with a community luncheon at the church. The event is free and open to the public.

Rabbi Tow has been serving the Glen Rock Jewish Center since 2006. He serves on the board of the Jewish Federation Apartments in Paterson, New Jersey and on the Jewish Community Relations Council. Interfaith work has become an important part of Rabbi Tow’s service to the community, and he is a member of the Religious Communities of Glen Rock, the Community Relations Advisory Board of Glen Rock and Ridgewood, as well as the 2011 “Bergen Leads” class, a 10-month learning and leadership experience for community leaders in Bergen County. He co-teaches an interfaith Bible Study class, is a leader of the Glen Rock Interfaith American Cancer’s Relay for Life team, and recently introduced a series of free 30-minute lunchtime webinars on social justice.

The annual Ridgewood/Glen Rock Martin Luther King Jr. celebration began in 1983 in an effort to unite area residents, regardless of faith or ethnic background, in worship and action as they work towards peace and justice for all. More than 20 religious groups, the Ridgewood and Glen Rock Boards of Education, local government, and civic organizations participate in and support the event each year. Financial support is generously provided by many organizations, individuals, agencies, and businesses throughout the area.

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>Sustainable Energy Joint Venture for Ridgewood

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Sustainable+Energy+001 theridgewoodblog.net



Sustainable Energy Joint Venture for Ridgewood

The Village of Ridgewood has entered an agreement to optimize the treatment process through the conversion of biogas at the Water Pollution Control Plant to electricity via anaerobic digestion, installation of solar arrays to produce additional electricity and the addition of ultraviolet light for wastewater disinfection. Renewable energy is expected to provide all the electricity required to operate the wastewater treatment plant.