>U.S. Consumer Confidence Drops to Three-Decade Low
By Jillian Berman – Aug 12, 2011 10:39 AM ET
Confidence among U.S. consumers plunged in August to the lowest level since May 1980, adding to concern that weak employment gains and volatility in the stock market will prompt households to retrench.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment slumped to 54.9 from 63.7 the prior month. The gauge was projected to decline to 62, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.
Former New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli has job lobbying government for owners of Bayonne Medical Center, who are in deal to buy Hoboken University Medical Center
Former New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli is a government lobbyist for the Bayonne Medical Center, whose for-profit owners are close to sealing a deal to buy Hoboken University Medical Center.
Torricelli’s Lambertville-based firm, Rosemont Associates, represents Bayonne Medical Center and its affiliated companies as a governmental affairs consultant on legislative and regulatory matters, said Sean Jackson, a spokesman for Rosemont Associates. (Hack, The Jersey Journal)
> Village mayor and council failing to support local business
Letters to the Editor
FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2011
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Village mayor and council failing to support local business
To the editor:
I almost missed the article on the incentive bonuses (“Incentive bonuses to replace raises”; Ridgewood News; July 29; page A1) because it was ironically overshadowed by your article on the fire department contract (“Concessions to save millions”; Ridgewood News; July 29; page A1).
It seems hypocritical for our mayor, Village Council and village manager to vote for incentives for senior managers (disguised as an incentive program) when others are taking pay cuts and paying more for their benefit packages. When the senior managers accepted their positions, they knew what their pay scale was and they are expected to work diligently. If they are unhappy with their position or compensation, they should resign. It is offensive that our local government (aside from Councilman Paul Aronsohn) voted to increase our property taxes by 7.4 percent so they could give pay hikes and hire back employees that were laid off a few years ago. They are doing this at a time when most private businesses are slashing bonuses and cutting salaries.
When owners of solar systems generate electricity, they earn credits subsidized by ratepayers. The same will be true if, and when, offshore wind farms start generating power about 20 miles off the coast of New Jersey. Now developers of tidal power want a piece of the action.
A developer pushing tidal power as a viable energy source in New Jersey, yesterday called on the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to adopt a pilot program to develop 10 megawatts of tidal capacity from currents off the Jersey coast. (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)
>Graydon Swim Team coach Jane Morales ‘unsung hero’
Letters to the Editor
FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2011
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Graydon Swim Team coach ‘unsung hero’
To the editor:
We would like to give our heartfelt thanks to a person who has worked tirelessly for over 18 years running the Graydon Swim Team.
From registering 3,000-plus children, overseeing yearly setup at the pool with the Recreation Department, searching and finding wonderful dedicated coaches, running the Lake League, credentialing swimmers for the County Championships, ordering trophies and swim gear, supervising the yearly dinner, judging, timing, organizing hundreds of volunteers to personally hand writing award ribbons, Jane Morales is a true unsung hero.
Thousands of swimmers have benefitted from her calm, easy manner and legions of parents need never know the mountains of paperwork, miles of e-mails and endless phone calls that have been made on their children’s behalf by Jane. She worked so hard so that our kids could become stronger, more confident swimmers and enjoy the camaraderie of team sports and the thrill of competition.
>Four Village Council ‘yes’ votes now amounts to a strong vote of confidence for Dr. Gabbert
Nothing ‘fishy’. No ‘scam’ here. An elected body hired somebody they liked. That person is doing a good job, vastly better than the previous guy. Four out of five members of the elected body (i.e., more than half) decide he deserves a raise, so he gets it.
Basic civics.
What is your point, that raises to non-union town employees should be approved unanimously by the Village Council? If so, I wonder whether you believe that anyone would receive a raise under such a rule.
The fact that the raise was approved 4-1, rather than 3-2, means that for each one of the four that voted in favor of the raise, the decision was clear. Otherwise, at least one of the four could easily have voted no in order to score points as a hard-nosed budget hawk while at the same time avoiding blame for putting the kibash on the raise. Instead, each of the four ‘yes’ votes now amounts to a strong vote of confidence for Dr. Gabbert, much to Aronsohn’s chagrin. Aronsohn simply wants to create a reputation as the ‘great dissenter’. This really only means that he is willing to vote ‘no’ only when a ‘no’ vote will have no real effect other than to provide him with a soapbox.
I agree that we need a second railway tunnel. However, the proposal that was on the table was ridiculous. It went to the wrong place in Manhattan and cost way too much, and had New Jersey paying for way too much of it. Let New York pay their fair share, route the tunnel to Penn Station, and allow non-union labor to bring the costs down. Then it would make sense.
Schools prepare for bigger role in fighting bullying problem
The number of reported bullying incidents in New Jersey schools is expected to increase this year as officials deal with the problem more aggressively.
A state law that takes effect Sept. 1 strengthens and expands the role and responsibilities of schools in dealing with bullying behavior. Attorneys and experts leading a workshop for school officials Thursday at Richard Stockton College said they expect increased vigilance to lead to more reported cases.
“There may be people worried about being held liable if they don’t report something,” said Ray DiNovi, a school anti-bullying specialist with Rowan University and the Educational Information and Resource Center. (D’Amico, Press of Atlantic City)
Commuter Tax: Gov. Christie ‘unlikely’ to back NJ-NY toll hike
Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday he’s unlikely to support a proposal to sharply increase tolls on bridges and tunnels between New Jersey and New York, but he didn’t rule out smaller toll increases to pay for infrastructure improvements.
The proposal by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey would increase tolls by $4 for E-ZPass customers and $7 for cash-payers as soon as September at the Outerbridge Crossing, Bayonne, Goethals and George Washington bridges and at the Holland and Lincoln tunnels. An additional $2 increase would happen in 2014. (Delli Santi, The Associated Press)
>FLAGS ORDERED FLOWN AT HALF-STAFF FRIDAY, AUGUST 12
Upon Executive Order from Governor Chris Christie, flags at Ridgewood schools will be flown at half-staff on Friday, August 12, 2011, in recognition and mourning of a brave and loyal American hero, United States Army Sergeant Alessandro Plutino, a 2001 graduate of Pitman High School who lost his life in Afghanistan while serving his country.
> 73 percent of Americans believe U.S. on wrong track
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON | Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:21pm EDT
(Reuters) – Economic fears are weighing heavily on Americans, with a large majority saying the United States is on the wrong track and nearly half believing the worst is yet to come, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Wednesday.
The poll reflected growing anxiety about the U.S. economy and frustration with Washington after a narrowly averted government default last week, a credit rating downgrade by Standard & Poor’s, a stock market dive and a stubbornly high 9.1 percent jobless rate.
President Barack Obama was politically bruised in the brutal, weeks-long debt debate, and negative views on the economy are worrisome signs for his 2012 re-election bid.
His approval rating dropped to 45 percent from 49 percent a month ago, according to the poll conducted from Thursday to Monday. Obama’s predecessor, President George W. Bush, never saw his approval rating dip below 46 percent in Gallup polling in his re-election year of 2004.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll found 73 percent of Americans believe the United States is “off on the wrong track,” and just one in five, 21 percent, think the country is headed in the right direction.
>Global Warming Link to Drowned Polar Bears Melts Under Searing Fed Probe
by Audrey Hudson
08/11/2011
Polar bears drowning in an Alaskan sea because the ice packs are melting—it’s the iconic image of the global warming debate.
But the validity of the science behind the image—presented as an ignoble testament to our environment in peril by Al Gore in his film An Inconvenient Truth—is now part of a federal investigation that has the environmental community on edge.
Special agents from the Interior Department’s inspector general’s office are questioning the two government scientists about the paper they wrote on drowned polar bears, suggesting mistakes were made in the math and as to how the bears actually died, and the department is eyeing another study currently underway on bear populations.
Biologist Charles Monnett, the lead scientist on the paper, was placed on administrative leave July 18. Fellow biologist Jeffrey Gleason, who also contributed to the study, is being questioned, but has not been suspended.
>LINKER CONDEMNS MENENDEZ’S FEAR-MONGERING OVER TRANSPORTATION FUNDING BILL
(Ridgewood, NJ): On Monday, conservative Republican U.S. Senate candidate from New Jersey Ian Linker blasted Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) for his recent statements about H.R. 1737, the Surface Transportation and Taxation Equity (STATE) Act. The Act, introduced by U.S. Congressman Scott Garrett (R-NJ 5), “returns primary responsibility for transportation and infrastructure projects back to the states without increasing taxes,” said Congressman Garrett.
Senator Menendez has criticized the bill as “political” and “not about creating jobs, or investing in our future, it’s about ideology.”
Linker condemned Menendez’s statements, “This may come as a surprise to Bob Menendez but the federal government does not collect and distribute funds collected through the gasoline tax to be spent on highway construction and improvement in the most efficient way. A lot of the money we allocate gets spent on red tape and does nothing to improve our roads or create jobs. The STATE Act cuts out much of the bureaucracy and gives flexibility to the states to collect and spend money on transportation projects where needed.” Linker said.
Linker continued, “Rather than discuss the issue, Bob Menendez once again stands in the way of progress and innovation by fear mongering. In classic Menendez style, with cameras and microphones present, the Senator stood in front of a picture of a car going off a cliff and told folks the STATE Act will cut spending and kill jobs. What the good Senator failed to mention, however, is that the Act will save money, but only because the government will spend it more efficiently and cut out bureaucracy, something we already have too much of in Washington.”
“So does Bob Menendez have a proposal to improve the way we spend money on highway construction and improvement? You’ll have to ask him. Because while he was busy engaging in class warfare, conjuring up imagery of destruction and famine, he forgot to mention it,” Linker added.
>Araya Rebirth Hosts Diaper Drive
Mon, August 01, 2011 – Sat, October 01, 2011
Time: 12:00 AM
Location: Araya Rebirth Spa, 10 Garber Square, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Araya Rebirth is hosting a Diaper Drive during the months of August and September. Araya will be collecting diapers in closed packages to donate to the Childrens Aid and Youth Services in support of their belief that acting locally helps build our surrounding communities. Please help by bringing any donations to Araya Rebirth Spa at 10 Garber Square in Ridgewood. For more info contact (201) 445-7005.
