>FYI : Kenneth Disko of Mountainside pleads guilty to rigging school construction contracts
Disko Associates, which has worked with Ridgewood for about 30 years
TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2011 BY KELLY EBBELS STAFF WRITER THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
An engineer with a firm employed by the Ridgewood school district has been charged with taking more than $80,000 in kickbacks in relation to construction projects in three other school districts.
As a contracted engineer and architect in the school districts of Westfield, Tinton Falls and Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Kenneth Disko, 47, of Mountainside, “allegedly orchestrated a series of bid-rigging and kickback schemes from 2001 to 2010,” according to the office of the state Attorney General. The kickbacks allegedly involved rigged bids and fraudulently inflated costs; three contractors were also indicted for providing the kickbacks in exchange for providing artificially inflated cost estimates for the construction projects.
More N.J. charter school oversight pushed by lawmaker
Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex) Thursday urged the state Senate to pass several measures she is sponsoring that would create more accountability and oversight in the creation and operation of charter schools in New Jersey.
The legislation (A-3356 and A-3852), which provide what the Assemblywoman describes as a sensible approach to Gov. Chris Christie’s effort to expand the number of charter schools in the state. The bills were approved by the Assembly in June and discussed by the Senate Education Committee Thursday. (Hester, New Jersey Newsroom)
A Senate hearing yesterday on charter schools brought out many of the same familiar faces, led by a growing cadre of parents from suburban communities like Princeton, Highland Park, East Brunswick, and a new one to the list, Cherry Hill.
While more than half of all of New Jersey’s charter schools operate in its poorest cities, there was nobody from places like Paterson, Trenton, and Camden. They weren’t entirely without representation, to be sure, as various advocates stepped up to speak, but New Jersey’s fierce debate over charter schools has had a distinctly suburban feel of late. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
Includes free ballroom dance lesson and prize for best costume.
All are invited to enjoy an evening of ballroom dancing and refreshments at the annual Ridgewood YMCA Halloween Masquerade Ball on Saturday, October 29 from 5:00pm-7:30pm at the Ridgewood YMCA.
Single and couples are welcome at the event, which will begin with a free, half hour ballroom dance lesson with Dance Master Lestat. The evening will continue with dancing and refreshments from 5:30pm-7:30pm. Prizes will also be awarded for the best costume, although wearing of costumes is optional.
Tickets are $15 per person or $25 per couple and include a 20% discount coupon for dinner, valid October 30 at The Office and Smith Brothers restaurants and October 31-November 3 at Marcello’s and The Stable restaurants.
To purchase tickets, please contact Carol Livingstone at 201.444.5600, ext 330 or email [email protected]
>Home-improvement business in Ridgewood is star of new DIY show
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2011 BY VIRGINIA ROHAN STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
BROTHERS ON CALL 9 p.m. Sunday DIY Network
While television producer Alan LaGarde was living temporarily in Ridgewood last year, he kept seeing bright blue trucks with the words “Man Around the House” all over town.
LaGarde checked out the company’s website and read up on its owners, brothers Jon and Terry Wittmaack.
“We said, ‘This could be our guys,’ ” says LaGarde, who had already discussed doing “some kind of handyman show” with DIY Network. “We saw that they have a great reputation … and they were brothers, and that was a cool component. And then when we met with them, they were real people.”
>NE Laser Vein Institute – Exclusive Pumpkin Offers
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>Opponents file dozens of documents in bid to block Pascack Valley’s reopening By Beth Fitzgerald
With state Health Commissioner Mary E. O’Dowd expected to decide next month whether Pascack Valley Hospital, in Westwood, should be reopened by Hackensack University Medical Center, opponents on Friday released dozens of documents and a lengthy statement arguing there is no need for the facility’s 128 additional hospital beds, which they say will harm Bergen County hospitals that are now stronger financially in the wake of Pascack’s 2007 closure.
The statement, by Englewood Hospital and Medical Center to O’Dowd, also raised questions about Hackensack UMC’s for-profit partner in the new hospital, Texas-based Legacy Hospital Partners. According to the statement, the current chairman and CEO of Legacy “were executives with Columbia/HCA (now HCA) in the 1990s, when Columbia/HCA was implicated in the largest Medicare fraud in U.S. history. At the time, these executives were supervising dozens of Columbia/HCA hospitals found guilty of Medicare fraud. The aggregate fines and penalties totaled $1.7 billion — the largest amount ever assessed for Medicare fraud.
>Cain the Tax-Code Killer A Commentary By Lawrence Kudlow Saturday, October 15, 2011
Herman Cain is the only GOP presidential candidate who wants to kill the tax code. That’s right. Put a knife in it. Junk the entire system. And people are cheering as he rises in the polls in his quest for the nomination.
Cain’s 9-9-9 plan is not perfect. But then again, the good should never the enemy of the perfect.
Congressman Paul Ryan gives the plan a thumbs-up. Supply-side mentor Art Laffer tells me it would be “far, far better than the current system.” And Chris Chocola, president of the free-market Club for Growth, calls it “a truly revolutionary tax reform that would amount to a massive job-creating tax cut on investments, savings, and income.”
As the world now knows, 9-9-9 translates to a 9 percent income-tax rate, a 9 percent value-added net sales tax rate on business, and a 9 percent national sales tax overall. Like many conservatives, I am troubled by the national-sales-tax piece. It reminds me too much of Europe. It could start low and then build on top of the other taxes. But I totally support the first two nines on personal income and business. In my view, these are vast improvements.
For his part, Cain argues that the sales-tax nine would pick up revenue and help to lower the rate for everybody, especially the middle class. His economic adviser Rich Lowrie told me in a CNBC interview that the sales tax is a replacement tax, not an add-on tax like you’d find at the state level. This is a key point. Lowrie said, “All we are doing is pulling out taxes that are invisible. We’re cutting the rates. We’re putting them back in at lower rates.”
Lowrie is referring to the payroll tax, which in the Cain plan will go from 15 to 9 percent. That constitutes a net tax cut and a good deal more transparency regarding costs and prices that are embedded in the current code. I’m not sure I buy into this point entirely, but it’s an interesting argument.
Unable to sell their homes in this stagnant real-estate market, more homeowners are settling in for the long haul and renovating.
But at a time when there’s less home equity to tap into and lending standards are still tight, people will likely be able to spend less on renovations than before the housing crisis. If you’re looking to make updates on a budget, figure out which projects are going to make a big difference—for your comfort now and resale later—for relatively little money.
“Before, everyone had built so much equity in their home, people were going so over and above in home-improvement projects,” says Jon Wittmaack, a Ridgewood, N.J.-based licensed contractor and co-host of home-improvement show “Brothers on Call” on the DIY Network. Now, customers “are more cost-conscious.”
> Nazis and Communists Throw Their Support Behind Occupy Wall Street Movements Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, October 15, 2011, 3:27 PM
The American Nazi Party likes what it sees.Today the American Nazi Party released a statement in support of Occupy Wall Street movement.
The foremost authority on National Socialism in America has this to say about “Occupy” [ANP leader Rocky Suhayda -ed.] :
What is really MISSING – is the “MOVEMENT” from these popular protests – its time to pull WN heads out of their collective ass’s, and JOIN IN the attack on Judeo-Capitalism. What do you suggest? That WN Working Class White people DEFEND the Judeo-Capitalists? IF the “movement” wasn’t so PATHETIC it would be OUT THERE – LEADING these protests! The fact that its these “lefties” as you call them, who are picking up the ball and running with it – only shows how much more in tune THEY are with the fed up masses of White Workers, than the fossilized, reactionary “right-wing”. WHO holds the WEALTH and POWER in this country – the JUDEO-CAPITALISTS. WHO is therefore the #1 ENEMY who makes all this filth happen – the JUDEO-CAPITALISTS. WHO therefore do WN need to FIGHT? My heart is right there with these people, perhaps someday the “movement” will SHOW the same COURAGE and DEDICATION that these people OUT THERE FIGHTING are SHOWING!
>Valley Hospital: Community Out reach confirms strong Support for Valley Renewal
Hi PJ,
Have you seen Valley’s two page ad thanking Ridgewood residents for overwhelmingly supporting their renewal?
Hope to see an article about this in the Ridgewood Blog because I’m sure people will jump all over it!
Regards,
D
According to Valley,
What Took Place? In early August, individuals representing The Valley Hospital began knocking on the doors of Ridgewood residents to talk to them about The Valley Renewal. Each of the 8,430 homes in the Village was visited over several weeks. In total, 3,468 different household conversations were held – that’s 41% of the homes in Ridgewood.
What Did We Find? We were incredibly gratified by the willingness of Village residents to talk with the outreach staff. It confirmed that Valley is very important to the community, and that residents are willing, under convenient circumstances, to share their thoughts and perceptions.
We visited all corners of Ridgewood. 16 of the 19 precincts demonstrated majority support for Renewal. We talked to residents in 3,468 households in all 19 voting districts. We talked to more people in the 3 districts in and around the hospital than other districts to ensure that we heard the perspectives of our immediate neighbors.
We discovered broad support. 62% of those we had conversations with support Renewal. 16 of the 19 districts demonstrated majority support for Renewal. Of the remaining 3 districts, 2 had more support than opposition. We found a small minority of opposition Only 1 district (12) had greater opposition than support for Renewal, but even in this district, opposition was NOT in the majority. Community-wide opposition is just 18%. Those who identify themselves as undecided community-wide is 20%.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2011 BY LESLIE BRODY STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
Eric Sheninger, the principal of New Milford High School, has tapped out more than 12,000 tweets since he joined Twitter — or about 13 a day
Now he’s got more than 14,500 followers on Twitter from around the country. That’s more than a “Today” show co-host and nearly as many as the U.S. secretary of education.
His goal? To tap into the oceans of educators everywhere using social networking to share tips, ask advice and promote what they’re doing. “I’m opening up what I’m thinking as a principal to the global society,” he says.
