Back to School: 2 More North Jersey School districts join school choice initiative
August 23, 2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Both Bergenfield and Pompton Lakes have joined the growing list of school districts that will give seats to a limited number of students from other towns in the fall of 2013. The Christie administration has vigorously promoted the 12-year program to expand options for families.
The NJ state Department of Education now has 107 districts offering 6,144 seats in the Interdistrict School Choice Program in 2013-14. That’s up from 67 districts and 3,357 students this fall.
Bergenfield and Pompton Lakes join Englewood and Manchester Regional High School in Haledon in North Jersey that are already participating in the program .
The Interdistrict School Choice initiative lets districts with empty seats offer them to students who live elsewhere at no charge to the family. The student’s home district pays transportation costs up to 20 miles each way, and state choice aid follows the child. When applications outnumber open seats, districts hold lotteries. Families that want to apply for 2013 must do so by Nov. 2. For information, visit nj.gov/education/choice/studapp/.
Warren Place and Marshall Street Ditch cleanup left to Ridgewood residents
Thursday August 23, 2012, 12:07 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
A group of about two dozen residents were officially informed this week that the village is unable to alleviate flood risks associated with a ditch located on private property in the Warren Place and Marshall Street neighborhood.
Residents in the Warren Place and Marshall Street neighborhood were informed this week that ditches located on private property will not be cleaned by the village.
Residents in the Warren Place and Marshall Street neighborhood were informed this week that ditches located on private property will not be cleaned by the village.
Homeowners in the area told The Ridgewood News on Wednesday that they had just received a letter from the village, dated Aug. 17, stating that “current circumstances do not allow for maintenance on private property, nor improvements on private property.”
“Any improvements to the drainage ditch,” the letter continued, “would be difficult due to minimal access for heavy equipment through resident’s yards.”
Lastly, residents whose property contains portions of the ditch were advised to clean the area on their own.
The village’s decision was rendered following residents’ public pleas at several council meetings this summer. Susan Schreiber and Pam Welch were the most recent homeowners to ask the governing body for help, speaking to council members during this month’s public meeting.
Romney: Obama Has Tried To Substitute Government For Free People’
killough.mugshot.4
Posted by
CNN’s Ashley Killough
(CNN) – Mitt Romney continued to hammer President Barack Obama over the president’s controversial remark about business owners, arguing Wednesday that the president’s administration has been chipping away at economic freedoms.
“It is free men and women that drive our economy. Freedom is what makes America work. And President Obama, bless his heart, has tried to substitute government for free people–and it has not worked, and it will never work,” Romney said at LeClaire Manufacturing in Bettendorf, Iowa.
Another Victory for Voter ID
Elizabeth GarveyAugust 15, 2012 at 1:15 pm
This morning, in a victory for election integrity, a Pennsylvania district court judge denied a preliminary injunction to stop Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law from going into effect.
The law, passed in March 2012, minimally changes Pennsylvania’s election code to require citizens voting in person on Election Day to present photo identification. Acceptable forms of photo identification include IDs issued by the federal or state government, such as municipalities, accredited public or private schools, and care facilities. Citizens who cannot produce an approved form of ID may still cast a provisional ballot provided that the person delivers proof of identification within six days after the election. The law imposes a similar ID requirement for absentee ballots.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation is charged with issuing free identification cards. For those who cannot afford the minimal cost of supporting documentation, such as a birth certificate, their votes will still count if they sign an affirmation that they can’t afford the cost.
The challengers claimed that many citizens will be disenfranchised or severely burdened by the photo ID requirement. At a trial in July, the challengers put forth testimony regarding the number of registered voters supposedly without certain types of photo ID (e.g., drivers licenses) as of June 2012, but others have noted that most of these voters have other approved IDs that they use to pass through airport security or get into government buildings.
Judge Robert Simpson flatly rejected the challengers’ attempt to “inflate the numbers” of disenfranchised voters—which he estimated were “somewhat more than 1% and significantly less than 9%,” as claimed by the petitioners. He also found that the testimony of the petitioners’ expert was “not credible” and demonstrated bias.
This outcome is similar to those in the unsuccessful lawsuits against the voter ID laws of Georgia and Indiana. In all three states, the courts threw out the opinions of the alleged experts hired by the plaintiffs as “not credible.”
In a motion for a preliminary injunction, the challengers must demonstrate their likely success on the merits. The challengers failed to convince the judge that Pennsylvania’s law is facially unconstitutional (rather than as applied, which means that the law is unconstitutional only in its application to a particular person under particular circumstances). The challengers provided “speculation about hypothetical or imaginary cases,” which Judge Simpson correctly observed has “no place in a facial challenge.”
Fraud in elections is a legitimate problem, and states from Colorado to Rhode Island have addressed it by passing laws that require identification at the polls. Voter ID laws strengthen enfranchisement of registered voters and ensure the integrity of elections, and now Pennsylvania joins the ranks of other states with common-sense voter ID laws that have withstood judicial scrutiny, such as Indiana, Arizona, and Georgia.
Ridgewood Water requests proposals for professional Utility Billing and Related Services.
Proposal schedule, background information, scope of work, required contents of the proposal, and evaluation criteria are available by calling 201-670-5521 or by email to dscheibner@ridgewoodnj.net
N.J. will be testing ground for new primary-care practice model
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today selected 73 primary-care practices and five health insurers in New Jersey to participate in a new federal program aimed at incentivizing the creation of a patient-centered health system to improve access to primary care at lower costs.
“We asked what investment it would take to make our primary-care system the most innovative and comprehensive one in the world and to deliver more integrated care, and every corner voiced support for the public-private partnership,” Dr. Richard Gilfillan, director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, said today during a conference call. “This initiative will support doctors and nurses by giving them the tools they need to deliver better care … and they will have the incentives and rewards to make it happen. We see great potential, as better health and better care lead to the better costs.” (Eder, NJBIZ)
Just because The Glee Project‘s Ali Stroker of Ridgewood is paralyzed from the chest down doesn’t mean she always has to play the saint.
“I’m in a wheelchair, but there’s so much more to me,” says the 24-year-old actress, who got to show off her bitchy side, her sexy side, and more on her way to a co-runner-up finish on Oxygen’s competitive casting call for a role on the Glee mothership. “It’s always been my goal to make people see beyond just the storyline of having a disability. What if the audience had a chance to question if they actually liked the person in the wheelchair?”
TVLine caught up with Stroker to talk about her Glee Project run — from a scary incident with some poolside slushies to her romantic scene with eventual winner Blake Jenner. Read on for the whole enchilada!
Back to School: Reader Question the wisdom of “Student Loans”
It is all an illusion like everything else. We are conditioned to believe that we have to have a college degree to succeed in life. Many employers and future employees are taught to believe this. Employers are made to believe that a degree means that you are more trainable than a person who doesn’t and would be employees are basically conned into going to college hoping to land that great job after they graduate.
We get grants, loans, pay out of our own pocket thousands of dollars increasing our debt. by the time you have a degree you have to compete with a flooded job market and forced to take jobs that require no degree at all and now your stuck paying back staggering amount of loan fees.
Now you not only struggle with the price of everyday living but with paying back all the loans. You also spend time regretting all the time and money you wasted trying to get a precious piece of paper that your parents have hanging on their wall. You are not the only one.A majority of college students experience the same issues. A lot of pockets got fat from those loans. Those people are all part of the same elite that wish to control the entire world and its economy.
Labor Department spent $500G in stimulus on green-job ad blitz on Olbermann, Maddow
By Judson Berger
Published August 22, 2012
FoxNews.com
The Obama administration paid a PR firm nearly $500,000 in stimulus funds to run a barrage of ads on White House-friendly cable programs promoting its green job training program.
According to government records, the Labor Department paid the money in late 2009 to a company that negotiated a media buy on MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” and “The Rachel Maddow Show.” The ad was set to run more than 100 times — 14 times a week for two months.
It’s unclear how many people might have gotten involved in the green job training program because of the ads. But in terms of direct economic impact, the official online entry on the contract listed zero jobs created as a result of the payment.
“On the surface, this doesn’t pass the basic sniff test,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who sits on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told FoxNews.com.
TSA Rifles Through Bags, Conducts Pat Downs At Paul Ryan Event
Government agents moving out of airports and into the streets
Steve Watson
Infowars.com
Aug 22, 2012
For some time we have been warning that the TSA is systematically moving beyond the nation’s airports and conducting operations on the streets of America.
The latest example of this kind of activity occurred at an event organized by Mitt Romney’s GOP running mate Paul Ryan this past weekend in The Villages, Florida.
The Shark Tank blog reports that TSA officers showed up alongside Secret Service and the local Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, and proceeded to do what they do like no one else does.
“A big WTF is in order here.” the blog notes, adding “We heard that the TSA was going to expand its ummm, ‘reach,’ but to assist in political campaigns is quite the jump in broadening their ‘transportation security horizons.’”
“I counted no less than (6) TSA agents alongside the usual uniformed Secret Service detail-not to be confused with the ‘Men In Black’ looking agents.” blogger Javier Manjarres notes, with a picture of the agents in action (below).
A major component of the Obama Administration’s regulatory crackdown on fossil fuels was struck down Tuesday by a federal appeals court panel that ruled the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule “transgressed statutory boundaries.” The decision vacates a measure that otherwise jeopardized thousands of jobs and the reliability of the nation’s electricity supply.
The regulation at issue, also known as the Transport Rule, involves power plant emissions (sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, in particular) that waft across state lines and contribute significantly to other states’ noncompliance with national air quality standards. Finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in August 2011, the rule was stayed shortly thereafter in response to dozens of legal challenges from states, utilities, trade associations, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Derived from the so-called “good neighbor” provisions in the Clean Air Act, the regulation mandated reductions of sulfur dioxide emissions by 73 percent (below 2005 levels) and nitrogen oxides by 54 percent (below 2005 levels) in just two years. Analysts warned that the requirements, which would necessitate retrofitting some 575 coal- and natural-gas-fired power plants, were unaffordable and unachievable in the allotted timeframe. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation estimated that companies would be compelled to retire 3 GW to 7 GW of electricity generation (the equivalent of powering 2.25 million to 5.25 million homes).
In other words, the rule—along with more than a dozen other costly regulations imposed in the past three years—went a long way toward realizing President Obama’s 2008 campaign declaration that electricity prices would “necessarily skyrocket” under his energy platform.
The Clean Air Act authorizes the EPA to calculate an upwind state’s contribution to a downwind state’s nonattainment of air quality standards (accounting for the downwind state’s own contribution and emissions from other upwind states). But the EPA ignored the plain language of the statute and instead required far more stringent cuts in emissions—irrespective of states’ actual contributions to nonattainment in downwind states. In so doing, the court concluded, “EPA’s reading of [the good neighbor provision] reaches far beyond what the text will bear.”
Indeed, much to the court’s chagrin, the EPA went to ridiculous lengths to justify its abuse of authority. As noted in the opinion, the “EPA would not rule out the possibility that…it could require a state to reduce more than the State’s total emissions that go out of State.” (Emphasis in original.)
The court also rejected the EPA’s “absurd” and “unreasonable” attempt to force implementation plans on the states before the states were given a reasonable opportunity to implement their own. For all its other flaws, the Clean Air Act does allow for a measure of federalism: The EPA is authorized to set air quality standards, but states are responsible for choosing which individual sources within their borders must reduce emissions and by how much. The EPA instead trampled on the statute by foisting federal implementation plans on the states before they were given an opportunity to devise their own.
Until the EPA comes up with a lawful rule, the court ordered the agency to revive a previous incarnation of the good neighbor regulation (a.k.a. the Clean Air Interstate Rule)—despite the fundamental flaws in that regulation previously identified by the court. But the court is also once again requiring the agency to formulate a new rule that will pass legal muster and warned the agency that it must act expeditiously.
Whether the agency will appeal Tuesday’s ruling remains to be seen. But there’s little reason to expect that the EPA will hew by the rules in the future, considering its longstanding disregard for the law. Meanwhile, a dozen other costly and unwarranted regulations still threaten the energy sector, diverting huge sums of money and time to challenging government’s chronic abuse of power. But the fight is worth waging.
Back to School: Education 2012: Top New Jersey High Schools
Just in time for back-to-school, we present our 2012 list of the best public high schools in New Jersey.
Posted August 13, 2012 by Ken Schlager, Amanda Staab
Glen Rock, which moves from number 28 in 2010 to number 4 this year.
Ridgewood dropped from 20th to 28th
For the first time since 2008, a new number 1 tops the New Jersey Monthly list of the state’s Top 100 Public High Schools. New Providence High School in Union County ascends to the summit of the rankings, up from number 5 on the previous list (published in September 2010). In fact, a number of high schools make significant moves up—or down—the list, which is based on data reported by the schools to the Department of Education for the 2010-2011 school year. (https://njmonthly.com/articles/towns_and_schools/2012-top-high-schools-methodology.html)
Some of the biggest moves are fueled in part by New Jersey’s use of a new graduation-rate calculation. In the past, our rankings distinguished between students going on to four-year colleges, two-year colleges and other postsecondary schools. The data for students going to four-year colleges was given extra weight, making it a potent driver of the results. This year’s rankings use the new four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate, introduced by New Jersey in 2011, as mandated by the federal government.
Poll: 84 Percent of Young Adults Say Key Life Decisions in Jeopardy
89 Percent of Young Adults Say the Poor Economy Impacts Daily Life, 84 Percent Say Key Life Decisions in Jeopardy
Only 38 percent say today’s leaders represent their interests, while 76 percent intend to vote in the presidential election
Washington, DC – (8/22/12) – Generation Opportunity, the largest non-profit, non-partisan organization in America engaging and mobilizing young Americans (18-29 years old) on the important economic issues facing the nation, released new polling data today on Millennials as the 2012 presidential election nears. Since its launch in June of 2011, Generation Opportunity has amassed a following of 4 million fans on Facebook and is actively organizing Millennials across the country through grassroots tactics, voter registration, and voter turnout efforts.
“These numbers should put elected leaders on notice. What you see is a very pointed story of the impact the failed policies coming out of the White House over the course of the last three years are having on the daily lives and the long-term plans of young Americans. Frankly, it is not a pretty picture – millions of young Americans are paying the price, in a very personal way, for failed leadership and failed policies,” stated Paul T. Conway, president of Generation Opportunity and former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of Labor. “Millennials are savvy. They know national policies have personal impact – they feel it first-hand. So it is no surprise that so few believe their interests are being represented in Washington, and it is no surprise that they plan to make their voices heard this November.”
For Generation Opportunity, the polling company, inc./WomanTrend, conducted a nationwide online survey of 1,003 American adults ages 18-29 between July 27 and July 31, 2012. This study has a ±3.1% margin of error at a 95% confidence interval, and sampling quotas were used to ensure the survey was representative of the larger 18-29 year old nationwide population with regard to race, region, and gender.
89% of young people ages 18-29 say the current state of the economy is impacting their day-to-day lives (Accepted multiple responses) (Randomized):
51% reduced their entertainment budget;
43% reduced their grocery/food budget;
43% cut back on gifts for friends and family;
40% skipped a vacation;
38% driven less;
36% taken active steps to reduce home energy costs;
32% tried to find an additional job;
27% sold personal items or property (cars, electronic appliances, or other possessions);
26% changed their living situation (moved in with family, taken extra roommates, downgraded apartment or home);
17% skipped a wedding, family reunion, or other significant social event;
1% other;
8% none of the above (accepted only this response);
3% do not know/cannot judge (accepted only this response).
84% of young people ages 18-29 had planned to but now might delay or not make at all a major life change or move forward on a major purchase due to the current state of the economy (Accepted multiple responses) (Randomized):
38% – Buy their own place;
32% – Go back to school/getting more education or training;
31% – Start a family;
27% – Change jobs/cities;
26% – Pay off student loans or other debt;
25% – Save for retirement;
23% – Get married;
12% – None of the above (accepted only this response);
4% – Do not know/cannot judge (accepted only this response).
83% of young people ages 18-29 say that current economic conditions have impacted their summer plans (Accepted multiple responses) (Randomized):
53% cut back on entertainment and non-essential social spending like nice meals, spa treatments, bars, and going to the movies;
34% had to skip taking a vacation here in the United States;
25% will spend the summer looking for a job until one opens up;
24% had to work all summer without any vacations;
24% will spend the summer working a job they do not like just to make ends meet;
19% had to skip taking a vacation abroad to another country;
1% other, specified;
14% none of the above (accepted only this response);
3% do not know/cannot judge (accepted only this response).
64% of young people ages 18-29 believe the availability of more quality, full-time jobs upon graduation is more important than lower student loan interest rates.
76% believe that the lack of job opportunities is shrinking the American middle class.
Only 38% believe that today’s political leaders reflect the interests of young Americans.
76% of Millennials plan to vote in the election for President this year.
Back to School: School Choice program eyes expansion
The state Education Department has proposed changes to the popular Interdistrict School Choice Program, including allowing more public schools to participate.
It would also accept “non-public school students.” Such students, according to the proposal, could “enroll in choice schools if the choice school district chooses to admit the student and seats are available after all eligible public school students have been admitted.” (Hassan, State Street Wire)
