‘Amazing Race’ set for this weekend in Ridgewood
Wednesday October 17, 2012, 11:27 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
Ridgewood’s next great race will not pass through Veterans Park, nor will it close off any residential streets. All participants, however, will be challenged and likely break a sweat.
Based loosely on the television reality program, the Amazing Ridgewood Race is a scavenger hunt that will take contestants through a combined lesson in shopping and village trivia while leading them on a tour of the Central Business District (CBD).
Several full teams have already signed up, but additional squads and individuals can register through race day on Saturday, Oct. 20, according to Tony Damiano, owner of Mango Jam and president of The Ridgewood Guild.
Sponsored by the Guild, the race is designed to attract consumers to local businesses and promote the various restaurants, shops and professional services that are available in the CBD.
“It’s hard to come up with retail events other than running a sale,” Damiano said, adding that the Guild’s Music in the Night and Movies in the Night programs are “terrific for our restaurants.”
“That’s why it was not hard to get the businesses involved [in the Amazing Race]. We didn’t have to coerce any business into joining. They couldn’t say no to the idea,” he said.
About three dozen Ridgewood businesses have committed to help out in the race, Damiano told The Ridgewood News.
Ridgewood NJ , Since 1940, the Ward family has operated Ward’s Pumpkin Patch in Ridgewood, New Jersey. They offer the best quality and selection of pumpkins, gourds, and squash in Northern New Jersey. They have pumpkins to make common Jack-O-Lanterns as well as giant pumpkins, tiny munchkins, and gourds in unusual shapes.
Ward’s Pumpkin Patch offers mums, cornstalks, haystacks and Indian corn as well as a rotating selection of fall decorations. One of the most popular, and best-selling items, is our painted pumpkins featuring cartoons, sports, and Halloween themes. And on weekends leading up to Halloween Wards offers goat feedings, and other events, read more below about this year’s calendar. So bring your entire family for a fall outing at Ward’s Pumpkin Patch!
“Over the generations you have seen many of the Ward family members working to bring you the best haystacks, corn stalks and pumpkins.One of the greatest joys for us is working with our family and seeing our neighbors come to the patch year after year.We love Ridgewood, and we love pumpkins!
So come on down to the patch to talk with Janet about the best types of pumpkins for cooking, ask Pete about the season’s varieties, see Dave waving to customers in his latest Halloween costume, ride along with Jeff, see Ashleigh painting pumpkins, or have your purchase assisted by Courtney, Devon and Sydney.It is a family enterprise and we all get involved!”
Hours: Open every day in October from 10am to sunset.
Events: This year we are debuting a brand new barrel ride. Hop aboard for a ride around the property! Rides take off periodically throughout the day and they are FREE!
We will be offering special events on the last two Sundays in October. Check our Calendar to see this season’s fall schedule for full descriptions. Oct. 21 at 2:00-2:30 pm – Story Time at Ward’s Farm & Meet a Scarecrow Oct. 28 at 12:00-3:00 pm – Decorate a Pumpkin!
Timeline established for two proposed housing developments in Ridgewood
Wednesday October 17, 2012, 1:57 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
A timeline to coordinate meetings and file reports for two proposed downtown housing developments was established at Tuesday’s Ridgewood Planning Board meeting with hopes that the hearings continue to progress.
file Photo Town Garage
Planning Board Attorney Gail Price instructed traffic experts hired by the village as well as developers Garden Homes and Two-Forty Associates to meet outside of regular board meetings and discuss their individual findings. Those meetings and subsequent reports should take place over the course of the next two to three weeks, Price said.
A full, detailed traffic study for both development applications should be presented to the Planning Board and members of the public on Nov. 20.
During the same timeframe, experts who previously testified on behalf of the applicants will be asked to respond to a five-page document prepared by Village Planner Blais Brancheau and submitted to board members for review. The document is a checklist of key factors that the board should consider when determining if a multi-family housing complex is appropriate for a particular location.
Record High Enrollment for Food Stamps: 46,681,833 Million
12:51 PM, OCT 16, 2012 • BY DANIEL HALPER
Food stamps enrollment has hit a new record high. 46,681,833 million are now enrolled in the social welfare program, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, the federal department that runs the program.
Here’s a chart from the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee, outlining the program’s enormous growth:
As the chart shows, when President Obama took office, enrollment in the food stamps program was 31.98 million. Now, not even four years later, it’s a whopping 46.48 million. (In 2002, as the chart states, “19.1 million Americans received food stamps.”)
In fact, the newly released data represents enrollment in July (the last month for which data is available). Assuming the program remained on its projected path, the number of those enrolled in food stamps is likely now larger by several hundreds of thousands.
Heritage Experts Analyze Second Presidential Debate
Amy Payne
October 17, 2012 at 8:40 am
https://tinyurl.com/cj2b8fz
During last night’s debate between President Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney, Heritage’s policy experts were live-blogging their analysis of the ideas discussed. Below are some of the highlights of our experts’ reactions to the major points made.
Join us today at 11 a.m. ET for a Google hangout as Heritage experts discuss the debate with state and national bloggers. You can watch the hangout on our Google+ page. Submit questions—starting now—on Twitter with the hashtag #HeritageFan.
“Getting Tough on China”: The Truth About Trade
President Obama said during the debate that he signed three trade deals. Not true. Obama was left three free trade agreements on his desk when he took office. Those deals and many others were initiated, negotiated, and signed by President Bush. The one trade agreement that Obama has prioritized, the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) involving now 11 countries, was also initiated by President George W. Bush.
What Obama did was to delay passage of agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama that were already completed. He did so to appease labor unions and others in his political base. During the three years of waiting for the President to submit the U.S.-Korea FTA, the U.S. lost $30 billion in exports.
The United States needs an energetic, committed trade policy. We need a TPP that is truly a free trade agreement and of sufficient scale to make a major impact on the U.S. economy. That means accommodating the world’s third largest economy and U.S. ally, Japan. In means folding in other willing free trade partners like South Korea. And it means putting TPP on a timeline that gets it completed, passed and implemented as quickly as possible.
“Getting tough on China,” something both candidates claimed to aspire to, is good—as long as what is meant by that is ensuring China abides by its international trade commitments. But this is not enough—it is not a trade policy. The U.S. needs to create opportunity with trade, not just manage bad behavior.
– Walter Lohman
Chinese Currency Manipulation and U.S. Employment
Governor Romney suggested that China’s currency manipulation was related to business activity and job creation in the U.S. However, as Heritage’s Derek Scissors showed, there is in fact little to no relationship between China’s currency policy and U.S. employment:
[T]he exchange rate between the yuan and the dollar has no direct effect on American prosperity or American jobs. It never has. Seventeen years ago, China sharply devalued the yuan against the dollar. Yet American unemployment fell for years afterward. Since 2005, the PRC has been slowly raising the value of its currency, which is what protectionists say they want. And American unemployment has soared.
There are, however, other policies the U.S. President and Congress should pursue to return America to a place where businesses want to invest and hire workers. These include pro-growth tax reform, reducing undue regulatory burdens on the economy, and enabling energy exploration and production.
– Romina Boccia
Did Someone Say Libya?
The issue was raised in the debate: What did the Administration do about security before the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, and how did it respond afterward? It was the question that the President never clearly and explicitly responded to. When it comes to how the White House responded to the attack, the Administration has a lot of explaining to do. Its series of explanations was muddled and misleading.
When it comes to responding to the attack, Americans of course expect that our government will go after the perpetrators. The questions of how our government responded to the terrorist threat in Libya, however, still has to be answered.
– James Jay Carafano
Are Oil Companies Sitting on Leases?
Are oil companies sitting on leases? The short answer is no. President Obama made this statement tonight, and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar routinely makes this statement. But as Kathleen Sgamma, Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for the Western Energy Alliance, recently testified:
By looking at the statistics over time, it is evident that industry has become much more efficient over the last several decades. While we used to hold 80,000 leases and produce on 24% in 1988, we now hold just 49,000 leases and produce on 46%. Secretary Salazar’s statements that this shows industry is intentionally leaving leases idle is tired rhetoric that fails to take into account the huge obstacles the federal government places in the way of oil and natural gas producers, and the fact that not every lease has recoverable oil and gas.
Just because oil companies aren’t drilling, this does not mean that no activity is occurring on that land. Environmental review, permitting, seismic research, and exploration may be occurring. But even that fails to address the real problem: The environmental review and leasing process takes entirely too long.
Rather than implementing an efficient leasing process, the Department of the Interior added three unnecessary and duplicative administrative regulations to the leasing process in 2010. Oil companies are not sitting on leases; they are simply not being issued by the DOI, or the DOI is making it more difficult to actually obtain the leases.
– Nicolas Loris
Energy Production on Federal Lands Has Fallen
While President Obama made the familiar statement that oil and gas production is the highest it has been in eight years, Governor Romney was right to point out that this was driven by production on private and state lands. Oil and gas production on federal lands is, in fact, down.
According to a recent report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), energy production decreased 13 percent on federal lands in fiscal year (FY) 2011 when compared to FY 2010. The official moratorium and de facto moratorium as a result of a molasses-like permitting process reduced planned capital and operating investments by $18.3 billion and cost the Gulf more than 162,000 jobs in just the past two years.
Federal production in the West has experienced a similar fate: The Administration’s delays on permitting oil and gas projects public lands are preventing economic activity. In Utah and Wyoming, for instance, projects held up by the National Environmental Policy Act process are preventing the creation of 64,805 jobs, $4.3 billion in wages, and $14.9 billion in economic impact every year.
– Nicolas Loris
Immigration: Finally, Debate Touches the Third Rail
For the first time in two debates, the issue of fixing our broken borders and flawed immigration system was finally addressed by the two sides that want to occupy the White House. They offered two very different approaches and a distinct choice. One approach is to change the laws to accommodate the unlawful population that is already here—an approach that will not only not fix the problem, it will just make America a magnet for more problems. The other approach is to make the laws work and create a legal system that gets employers the employees they need when they need them to grow the economy and create more jobs.
There are good answers to address these tough problems. What we need in Washington is leadership that is willing to do the job.
– James Jay Carafano
Tax Plan Details: No Taxes on Savings
Governor Romney, when giving more details on his tax plan tonight, discussed that families making $200,000 or less would face no taxes on savings. The Heritage Foundation’s New Flat Tax would deduct savings immediately from taxable personal income, and savings would remain tax exempt until spent on consumption. This would lead to greater financial security for the American middle class by providing incentives for greater personal savings.
The New Flat Tax, as outlined in Heritage’s Saving the American Dream plan, would replace today’s convoluted tax system with a simple, neutral, and transparent tax system that would allow America to achieve its full economic potential.
– Romina Boccia
The Auto Bailout and Bankruptcy
President Obama once more criticized Governor Romney for saying GM should go bankrupt. But Romney tonight finally cleared the record, pointing out that that is exactly what happened – GM and Chrysler DID go bankrupt. But, as Obama confirmed, the administration didn’t stop there – it nationalized the firms. Taxpayers are still some $25 billion in the hole and still own a quarter of the shares of GM. Bankruptcy was the right solution; a bailout was not.
Christie in late Senate race push for Joe Kyrillos
After months of running an underdog challenge to U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, Joseph Kyrillos has finally unleashed his most effective weapon: Gov. Chris Christie.
But a series of campaign events beginning this week with the popular governor may come too late for the Republican state senator, according to political analysts and polls. Mr. Kyrillos trailed Mr. Menendez 55% to 37% in a Quinnipiac University Polling Institute survey of likely voters released on Tuesday, a growing deficit in an uphill battle.
The poll comes as the pace of the New Jersey Senate race picks up. Mr. Kyrillos released his third television ad, featuring images of him and Mr. Christie. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman held fundraisers for Mr. Kyrillos last week, and first lady Mary Pat Christie is hosting an event for him in Woodbridge Thursday. (Haddon, The Wall Street Journal)
Duran Duran’s John Taylor at Bookends Thursday,October 18 @ 6:00pm
Co-founder of Duran Duran, John Taylor, will sign his new book: In The Pleasure Groove
Books available October 16th
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.
While we try to insure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
CURL:Crowley skews hard for Obama in disastrous debate
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Another debate, another debacle for America’s media.
In the runup to the second presidential debate, CNN’s Candy Crowley declared that she would not just be a “fly on the wall” as she played the tiny role of moderator, that she would step in whenever she chose to say, “Hey, wait a second, what about X, Y, Z?”
And boy did she, cutting off Republican Mitt Romney repeatedly and often throwing the floor to President Obama with an open “let me give the president a chance here.”
More, she alone decided the topics for the debate, picking questions from the 80 so-called “undecided” voters chosen by the Gallup polling organization. Her selections were tailor-made for Mr. Obama — Mitt Romney’s tax plan, women’s rights and contraception, outsourcing, immigration, the Libya debacle (which gave Mr. Obama to finally say that the buck stops with him, not, as Hillary Clinton said, with her).
She even chose this question, directed to both men: “I do attribute much of America’s economic and international problems to the failings and missteps of the Bush administration. Since both of you are Republicans, I fear the return to the policies of those years should you win this election. What is the biggest difference between you and George W. Bush, and how do you differentiate yourself from George W. Bush?”
Ms. Crowley, who called Mr. Romney’s selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as running mate a “ticket death wish,” asserted her unilateral power at the outset, telling the audience before the cameras went on that she planned to “give the debate direction and ensure the candidates give answers to the questions.”
After both candidates answered Question One, she blurted: “Let me get a more immediate answer” — whatever that means. But when Mr. Romney sought to correct falsehoods told by the president, she cut him off: “We have all these folks here.” In the end, Mr. Obama would get 9 percent more time.
Read more: CURL: Crowley skews hard for Obama in disastrous debate – Washington Times https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/17/curl-crowley-skews-hard-obama-disastrous-debate/#ixzz29Xoe8wzY
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
Postal Service Hits Borrowing Limit
By ERIC MORATH
The U.S. Postal Service in September hit its $15 billion borrowing limit from the U.S. Treasury for the first time in its history, leaving the agency with only the revenue it takes in from selling stamps, shipping and other services to cover its enormous operating costs.
The Postal Service has added $2.4 billion to its debt since June 30, pushing the agency to its borrowing cap, a spokesman said Tuesday.
“Being at the limit is a serious situation because our limited liquidity does not give us operating flexibility,” Postal Service spokesman David Partenheimer said. “Without passage of comprehensive legislation as part of the Postal Service’s business plan to return to financial stability, we continue to project low levels of cash.”
The agency hit the limit in late September, though it had sufficient cash reserves to make a $1.4 billion workers compensation payment on Monday, Mr. Partenheimer said. The Postal Service was set to disclose its borrowing situation in an annual financial filing due out on Nov. 15. The Postal Service is on a fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.
Citigroup Board Said to Oust Pandit After Setbacks
By Donal Griffin and Bradley Keoun – Oct 16, 2012 5:08 PM ET
Citigroup Inc. (C) directors ousted Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit after concluding his mismanagement of operations caused setbacks with regulators and cost credibility with investors, a person with knowledge of the discussions said.
Episodes that led the board to replace Pandit with Michael Corbat included the rejection by regulators in March of a plan to boost shareholder payouts, said the person, who requested anonymity because board deliberations are private. Citigroup’s $2.9 billion writedown on the Smith Barney brokerage unit and a two-level cut of its credit rating by Moody’s Investors Service also contributed, the person said.
Directors had discussed whether to replace Pandit for months, even before the appointment of Michael E. O’Neill as chairman in April, the person said. O’Neill, a board member since 2009, and other directors became increasingly frustrated with Pandit’s performance, and Corbat told the bank’s 262,000 employees today that a shakeup may follow.
Dispite Biden Assurences: Negotiations to extend U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan starting soon
Posted By Josh Rogin Tuesday, October 16, 2012 – 12:24 PM
Despite statements by Vice President Joe Biden, the State Department is about to begin formal negotiations over the extension of U.S. troops past 2014, a top State Department official said Tuesday.
U.S. and Afghan negotiators met in Kabul to talk about the Bilateral Security Agreement that will govern the extension of U.S. troops past 2014, when President Barack Obama said the combat mission in Afghanistan will end and the U.S. will complete the transition of the entire country to Afghan government control.
Also last week, Biden told Americans during his Oct. 11 debate with Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan that U.S. troops were leaving Afghanistan by 2014.
Kyrillos says he’d be a better fir for N.J. than Menendez in Senate
U.S. Senate candidate Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr. says the economic maladies facing the nation arrived in New Jersey first — and contends that since he’s helped Gov. Chris Christie grapple with similar issues at home, he’s equipped to repeat that task in Washington.
Kyrillos, a longtime Republican state senator from Monmouth County, said in a visit with Gannett newspapers’ editorial board members at the Asbury Park Press that “the country’s failing” but U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez won’t deliver a needed new economic direction.
“All the challenges that affected New Jersey — people leaving the state, companies not expanding here, not growing here, choosing to set up shop in California or New England or abroad, they’re all affecting the country now,” Kyrillos said. “We saw it in New Jersey already. You wrote about it for the last decade. All these same challenges now affect the country as a whole. We’re seeing in essence the New Jersey-ization of the country. And we’ve seen the movie, so we’ve got to get competitive.” (Symons, Asbury Park Press)
NCAA moves championships from N.J. due to sports gambling law
The National Collegiate Athletic Association will relocate five championships from New Jersey after the state adopted regulations for sports wagering at racetracks and Atlantic City casinos.
NCAA rules prohibit holding any championship session in a state with legal wagering that’s based on single-game betting involving a point spread or money line.
While sports gambling is still prohibited in New Jersey by a 1992 federal law, the state has filed a lawsuit challenging the ban. Yesterday’s action by the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement will allow casinos and racetracks to apply for licenses to provide sports wagering starting Jan. 9, 2013, with the applications costing $50,000. (Matuszewski, Bloomberg)
Yaron Brook, President of Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights has been added as a speaker in addition to The New Founders ,Authors Joe Connor & Mike Duncan
This is a outstanding lineup you won’t want to miss!
Mark your Calendar!! NJTPC General Meeting – October 16, 2012 – (Tuesday) – 6:30 pm (early start so we can all get home for the televised debate – we promise!) PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGE to 6:30 FOR THIS MEETING ONLY!!!
124 Essex Street, Rochelle Park, NJ – Harley Davidson Building (Go to the back, through the gate and up the stairs to the second floor meeting room)
Those who can, please bring snacks, cookies or brownies to share.
Bring a friend
New Jersey’s first medical-marijuana dispensary wins clearance to begin selling
New Jersey’s first medical marijuana dispensary has been cleared to begin selling the drug to patients who register with the state Department of Health.
After weeks of setbacks, Greenleaf Compassion Center received a permit Monday to open for business in a former drug paraphernalia shop in Montclair, Essex County. The nonprofit organization will be allowed to offer only strains with reduced potency.
Health Commissioner Mary O’Dowd said Greenleaf had passed its final inspections, but could not say when the dispensary would open for business. Asked if it would do so before the end of the year, she said: “I would expect that.”
In August, when patients could begin signing up, O’Dowd had anticipated that Greenleaf would start dispensing marijuana in September. On Monday, she would say only that Greenleaf would open when it was ready. (Hefler, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
