Month: January 2012

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>ANNUAL FRIENDS IN THE BUSINESS CONCERT IS JANUARY 13

>ANNUAL FRIENDS IN THE BUSINESS CONCERT IS JANUARY 13

The Ridgewood Friends of Music presents the Friends in the Business Concert at George Washington Middle School on Friday, January 13 at 8 p.m. The concert will feature John Lange, Jennifer and Mark Montague, Kristen Plumley, Gay Willis, ArtIe Bressler and RHS alumni Bill Thoman. Musical selections range from classical pieces, broadway musicals and songs from a jazz cafe! Tickets are available at Town & Country Apothecary located at 60 East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, and From The Top Music Studio located at 47 Prospect Street, Midland Park. Tickets are $20 adults; $15 senior citizens and $10 students.

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>Customers tapped by water rate increases

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Customers tapped by water rate increases

With thousands of heads to shampoo, spa robes to bleach and more towels to wash every week than anyone cares to calculate, the owner of five beauty salons in South Jersey is concerned about the cost of water.
Anthony Rossano, owner of Bernard’s Salon and Spa in Cherry Hill and Marlton and three spinoffs called B2, introduced women to sybaritic pleasures 23 years ago. Back then, the cost of water was barely a blip on his business budget.

Today, with increases up to 20 percent pending by New Jersey American Water, the state’s largest regulated water company, the cost of water is becoming a burden.  (Stilwell, Gannett)

https://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120108/NEWS01/301080024/Customers-tapped-by-water-rate-increases
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>Assembly to consider train station parking bill

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Assembly to consider train station parking bill

Legislation designed to remedy parking problems at New Jersey Transit stations will be considered by the Assembly on Monday.

The measure — which has already passed the state Senate — would clarify that a paid, reserved permit parking space may be used by the general public during off-peak times. Proponents say that would help alleviate chronic parking space shortage problems experienced at the sites.

Off-peak times are defined as from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Friday, and all day during weekends and holidays.  (Associated Press)

https://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120109/NEWS02/201090307/Assembly-consider-train-station-parking-bill?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|State
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>Beating Megan’s Law: How violent sex offenders can legally live in towns without the public knowing

>Beating Megan’s Law: How violent sex offenders can legally live in towns without the public knowing


Recently released sex offenders can live for months near schools, day care centers and playgrounds, with no requirement that community members — or even police — be notified.

New Jersey’s Megan’s Law requires that offenders be classified after their release from prison, a process that can take several months to complete.

Little Egg Harbor Police Chief Richard J. Buzby Jr. said he learned in the early fall that a man convicted of sexually assaulting two young girls had moved into nearby Tuckerton near two playgrounds and several school bus stops.  (Mikle, Gannett)

https://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20120108/NJNEWS/301080014/Beating-Megan-s-Law-How-violent-sex-offenders-can-legally-live-towns-without-public-knowing
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>Sarah Palin: Mainstream media and Barack Obama want Mitt Romney as nominee

>Sarah Palin: Mainstream media and Barack Obama want Mitt Romney as nominee
by Tony Lee01/08/2012

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said the mainstream media and President Barack Obama “want to face Mitt Romney in the general election.” She made those comments on  “Justice With Judge  Jeanine” on FOX News on Saturday during the same time the Republican presidential candidates were debating in New Hampshire on ABC.

Palin said the mainstream media would take a hands-off approach to Romney “in order to bolster Romney’s chances” to “finally face Obama.”

https://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=48638

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>FCC’s Genachowski proposes broadband reform

>FCC’s Genachowski proposes broadband reform
By Hayley Tsukayama

In a Monday speech, Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined a draft proposal that would reform the commission’s Lifeline program to include provisions to encourage broadband adoption. The program, currently aimed at providing affordable telephone service to low-income Americans, is supported by the Universal Service Fund.

“The program is outdated, focused on phone service when high-speed Internet has become our vital communications platform,” he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-tech/post/fccs-genachowski-proposes-broadband-reform/2012/01/09/gIQA7CaflP_blog.html

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>Snoop Dogg to W.H.: Legalize pot

>Snoop Dogg to W.H.: Legalize pot
By PATRICK GAVIN | 1/9/12 6:34 AM EST

Lots of celebrities want to meet the president and they often come with their own pet requests: Sign this or that, take a picture with my kid, how can I steal a hand towel from a White House bathroom?

But Snoop Dogg wants something different. The rapper (real name: Calvin Broadus) has been a longtime advocate for the legalization of marijuana (and a frequent user of it) and spoke to Hot 99.5’s Toby Knapp about the subject and how he might convince President Barack Obama to support a change in the country’s drug laws.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71224.html#ixzz1iyVlcZAa

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>A Penny saved is a Penny earned

>A Penny saved is a Penny earned 
January 8, 2012 1:57 PM

ORLANDO (CBSMiami/AP) – As Benjamin Franklin once wrote ‘A penny saved is a penny earned’.

In Orlando on Saturday an old penny saved was sold for $1.38 million.

The one-cent copper coin was made at the Mint in Philadelphia in 1793, the first year that the U.S. made its own coins. James Halperin of Texas-based Heritage Auctions said the sale was “the most a United States copper coin has ever sold for at auction.”

Heritage officials said in a news release that the name of the buyer was not revealed but that he was “a major collector.” One of the coin’s earliest owners was a well-known Baltimore banker, Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr.

https://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/01/08/old-penny-sells-for-1-38-million/

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>In the suburbs, charter schools raise concerns about local control

>In the suburbs, charter schools raise concerns about local control


When a charter school opens in a gritty urban neighborhood, few parents and officials argue that kids in the district don’t need an alternative to the local public schools. In a leafy New Jersey suburb — which may be home to some of the best schools in the country — charters can spark off a battle between skeptics and believers. The former often dismiss charters as “boutiques,” and argue that they’ll sap increasingly scarce dollars from local schools. The latter want their kids to have more choices and challenges — like Mandarin language immersion — and think their school taxes should pay for them.

Ultimately, the issue comes down to local control. Should school districts have the right to bar a charter from opening in their midst, as well as the right to refuse to pay for it?  (Lehren, NJ Spotlight)

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/12/0109/0026/
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>New Jersey lawmakers look bailout Solar Developers

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DonQuiote theridgewoodblog.net
New Jersey lawmakers look bailout Solar Developers 

New Jersey lawmakers, pressed by solar-power lobbyists, will send a bill to the full Legislature that would compel utilities to more than double their solar production in 2013.

The bill – which industry lobbyists want lawmakers to pass by Monday, the end of the lame-duck session – would boost New Jersey’s solar industry, but at the expense of ratepayers and utilities, critics say.
“What the solar developers are asking for is a bailout,” said Stefanie Brand, the state’s public advocate for utility customers.

“They want to get the benefit of the system,” Brand said. “And they need more money than the market will give them.”  (Schectman and Patberg, The Record)

https://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20120109_N_J__lawmakers_seek_to_compel_greater_solar-energy_production.html
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>N.J. considers changing school elections criteria

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N.J. considers changing school elections criteria

A bill giving New Jersey districts the option to move school board elections to November will go before the state Legislature.

The measure up for consideration Monday also allows school budgets to skip voter approval if they are within the 2 percent property tax cap. Otherwise, voters would have to approve the additional spending.
School elections are now held in April in New Jersey, and all school budgets require voter approval.  (Associated Press)

https://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120109/NEWS02/201090301/N-J-considers-changing-school-elections-criteria?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|State
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>Ridgewood Chamber Restaurant Week

>Ridgewood Chamber Restaurant Week
Sun, January 15, 2012 – Thu, January 19, 2012
Time: 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Mark your calendars! – just in Ridgewood!
2012 Restaurant Week (s)

For the days listed, participatig restaurants will be offering you the chance to experience dining in Ridgewood like never before.

Each Chef is preparing a tantalizing 3-course, prix-fixe menu for your dining pleasure. Choose from 3 appetizers, 3 entrees and 3 desserts for only $20.12. Beverage, tax and tips not included. Regular menu will also be available.

Participating restaurant to be announced soon.

FREE PARKING after 6:00pm and all day Sunday.

SHOPPER PARKING LOTS – $.25 per hour up to 12 hours. (best buy in town $1.00 for 4 hours of parking)

for more information, call 201-445-2600 or email:
info@ridgewoodchamber.com.

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>Special Report: Did N.J. property tax reform help most taxpayers?

>Special Report: Did N.J. property tax reform help most taxpayers?


New Jersey homeowners paid an average of 2.4 percent more for property taxes in 2011, the smallest increase in nearly two decades, showing Gov. Chris Christie’s push to restrain local levies might be working.
A Star-Ledger analysis of taxes in all 566 New Jersey towns shows the average property tax bill was $7,758 last year, an increase of about $182 from 2010.

Although more than 82 percent of the towns saw some increase in their average property tax bills last year, the 2.4 percent increase was a significantly slower rate of growth, the newspaper found. In 2010, property taxes rose 4.1 percent and year-over-year increases topped 7 percent for three consecutive years in the middle of the past decade.  (DeMarco and Sagara, The Star-Ledger)

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/nj_property_tax_increase.html
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>Christie: School changes this year

>Christie: School changes this year


Gov. Christie said he believed he had a good shot at making significant changes to public schools this year because the Legislature seems to have the political will to vote on proposals that stalled in 2011.

The Republican governor told the Associated Press he might have overreached by expecting the Democratic-controlled Legislature to approve a contentious public worker pension/health benefits overhaul, then take up difficult education issues in a reelection year. He said he realized now the legislators were probably too fatigued politically to do both.  (Delli Santi, Associated Press)

https://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20120109_Christie__This_is_the_year_for_overhauling_schools.html
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>Blackberry roulette: Urban Word of the Day

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crossingthestreet theridgewoodblog.net



Blackberry roulette: Urban Word of the Day

I see this deadly game played almost daily in the CBD.

January 8: Blackberry roulette

Driving a motor vehicle while talking or texting on a cell phone.

Each time I see someone driving and talking on the phone I say to myself something’s got to be done about these dangerous people; but nothing ever is. They just keep motoring along playing Blackberry roulette until one day their carelessness alters the life of an innocent.