>Court Sides With Property Owners Over EPA Published: Wednesday, 21 Mar 2012 | 12:11 PM ET
The Supreme Court has sided with an Idaho couple in a property rights case, ruling they can go to court to challenge an Environmental Protection Agency order that blocked construction of their new home and threatened fines of more than $30,000 a day.
Wednesday’s decision is a victory for Mike and Chantell Sackett, whose property near a scenic lake has sat undisturbed since the EPA ordered a halt in work in 2007. The agency said part of the property was a wetlands that could not disturbed without a permit.
In an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, the court rejected EPA’s argument that allowing property owners quick access to courts to contest orders like the one issued to the Sacketts would compromise the agency’s ability to deal with water pollution.
New Jersey has 127 miles of coastline along the Atlantic and 83 miles along its bays, a natural treasure that brings in more than $35 billion in tourism revenue a year.
Looking to expand access to those beaches and waterways, the state Department of Environmental Protection this week adopted new rules that it says enhances entry to those areas, particularly for fishermen. (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)
News is breaking daily in every direction these days, with gas prices rising, food prices going up regularly and our budgets shrinking into a decline but, at the same time, the government is telling us that ” The economy is getting better. ” Excuse me, better for the stock market from time to time perhaps, but that does not help the average family to meet its’ daily living expenses for such luxuries as food, heat and electricity. Food and energy are not even counted in the government’s inflation figures. “What, there must be something wrong here!” And, what about jobs? jobs, jobs, jobs………….. and the pipeline! Here we are stuck in ” The Won’t Drill Society!”
Sadly, companies are still letting people go through outsourcing, lack of business activity and expanding costs of government regulations…………..Small businesses are particularly hard hit these days and they are the backbone of our economy.
Meanwhile, the internet policing bills, which were stopped by the outcries of companies and the public previously, are back on the drawing board. New cyber security legislation is now being discussed in the Senate under the closed door policies of the Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid.
“Yes, the more things change, the more they remain the same.” Oh, and according to Newmax, CIA DIRECTOR Davis Patraeus , says technological advances have opened up a whole new field of spying opportunities. ” Apparently, privacy is becoming almost obsolete in this ” Brave New World. “
At the same time, back at the White house, the president is looking to “Merge Agencies to Consolidate His Authority,” while signing still another order for a supply of drones to fly over America in the future, both night and day That’s novel for a free country. And, contraceptives have run amuck while free speech is getting a run for its’ money, as well. But, best of all, the president has just added another executive order to the mix, which gives him complete power over every thing and everybody in case of a national emergency. This is not a new wrinkle for presidents, however. The first time this order was issued was in 1950. But, it would be wrong not to point out that ” It will make a big difference who the president is at the time when and if this order is given. And, with President Obama, it could be most troublesome! Oh, and don’t forget your green light bulbs at 50 dollars a piece.!!!
Just another green idea to go along with your new Chevy Volt………………even though you can only go about 60 miles without a charge!
Sound like progress to you? Well, we’ll hear how great everything is when the president goes on his next campaign trip. Yes, indeed, It’s all great folks, if you want to go in reverse while being told your in first gear. What a trip!
Intervening in troubled school districts just got simpler
The Christie administration and the state Board of Education have moved ahead to streamline how and when they decide to intervene in school districts.
Meanwhile, debates roil in two of New Jersey’s biggest cities over what role the state should play in running local schools in the first place. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
>Ridgewood Fire Department will seek accreditation Wednesday March 21, 2012, 11:52 AM BY JOSEPH CRAMER STAFF WRITER The Ridgewood News
The Ridgewood Fire Department will be seeking accreditation in the coming year, a designation intended to increase organizational and procedural efficiency and which could provide discounted insurance for the village, officials said.
According to Fire Chief Jim Van Goor, only two other municipalities in New Jersey – Bloomfield and Summit – have accredited fire departments.
“We’re looking to be the third,” he said.
Accreditation is a process whereby a fire department reexamines its policies and procedures by using a set of criteria to gauge performance and efficiency. Guidelines are provided by an accreditation company. Officials said that with budgetary stresses mandating a stronger look at department efficiency across all village services, the time was right at this stage to pursue the designation.
> U.S. drug scarcity puts lives in jeopardy By Barbara Williams — The Record (Hackensack, N.J.)
HACKENSACK, N.J. (MCT) — Dan Schiavello shouldn’t be alive.
His doctors expected his Stage 4 cancer to kill him long ago. He’s survived because of a chemotherapy drug that has attacked the tumors in his body, shrinking most and even eliminating some.
But now, that drug is no longer being made.
He has been scrambling to find Doxil, the medication that has been his lifeline the last five years. He spends hours every day on the phone and on his computer searching for a dose and has traveled hundreds of miles for an infusion. He has found himself in a world where people are willing to put a price on his survival, like the pharmacist who offered to sell him a dose from a secret stockpile for $14,000 in cash.
Fair share of what? Is there some big money pool that we can all get a share of? I believe that they are looking for a bigger share of what I make. That is not a fair share, that is just a grab.
The union makes this mistake every time. When any regular person is up for evaluation – in is case it is a group evaluation – they are prepared with examples of how hard they have worked and how they contributed to the company’s goals. If an employee came in demanding their fair share, they would be shown the door. Union workers think that because they represent a large group they do not need to explain anything. No accomplishments, just show me the money.
Watch out what you wish for, general public! I am a teacher. You all keep saying that we should join the public sector if we are so unhappy. If we did, that would create a glut in the marketplace on jobs (an ever bigger one than there is now) and we’d be competing with YOU for your jobs. Want that? I don’t see any of you in the private sector beating down our doors to come into the trenches and teach today’s distracted youth.
I work hard at my job every day. NO, I am not complaining. I am proud and stating a fact. I am asked EVERY year to do more and more. Now I am liable to report each and every bullying instance I hear/see/hear tell of, etc. I can get sued if I don’t and something happens. More paperwork, more distraction from doing my job, which is to teach.
>NJ has mandated that teachers pay a greater share of healthcare premiums. But the annual increase is still FAR FAR below the actual increase in costs.
Information has been seriously miscommunicated and this needs to be corrected.
For over forty years, Ridgewood teachers have contributed towards health care costs. In June, a legal mandate was passed whereby public school employees were required to contribute additional money towards health care; a four-year phase-in was created. This year, the REA’s medical contribution to the BOE is $800,000the following year $1.4 million culminating in 2013-14 with medical contributions to the BOE reaching $2.1 million based on current premium costs. As health costs rise, so does the % of contribution. In three years, the Ridgewood BOE will have collected over $4 million in employee contributions. This money comes directly from teacher contributions and isn’t being culled from add’l school taxes. Teachers are asking for a fair contract based on a more equitable distribution of these BOE funds
How about if you REALLY correct the misinformation and tell the WHOLE story. What percentage of his/her health care premium does the individual teacher currently pay? What percentage does the teacher pay for family care? And what are the yearly increases in the percentage, based on the law?
I’ll let you fill in those percentages (forget the total $$ amount, it means nothing without context).
How much is the real COST of the premiums increasing this year? I’ve got that one — 20%. And that’s a typical annual increase.
What do you mean that in three years the BOE will have “collected” $4 million in employee contributions? Where do you think that money will be? Not sitting in the bank, no, it will have been spent each of those three years — every last penny of it plus MUCH MORE — on paying your premium costs. Where do you think the rest of the money to pay the FULL premium cost will have come from? Yes, as you put it, “culled from taxes.” Now can you see the problem?
You are making the mistake — as teachers’ union groupthink has done for generations — to think that any funds which the district has must be “distributed” equitably. When some aid comes in, or a savings is reached, the union’s immediate thought is “give some to the teachers.” That is no way to run a business.
You are correct, the state of NJ has mandated that teachers pay a greater share of healthcare premiums. But the annual increase is still FAR FAR below the actual increase in costs. With the state cap on the amount the district can raise taxes, the system simply cannot continue to stand. The deficit between costs and income can only come by cutting programs.
>Readers Respond to teacher raising healthcare costs
Information has been seriously miscommunicated and this needs to be corrected.
For over forty years, Ridgewood teachers have contributed towards health care costs. In June, a legal mandate was passed whereby public school employees were required to contribute additional money towards health care; a four-year phase-in was created. This year, the REA’s medical contribution to the BOE is $800,000the following year $1.4 million culminating in 2013-14 with medical contributions to the BOE reaching $2.1 million based on current premium costs. As health costs rise, so does the % of contribution. In three years, the Ridgewood BOE will have collected over $4 million in employee contributions. This money comes directly from teacher contributions and isn’t being culled from add’l school taxes. Teachers are asking for a fair contract based on a more equitable distribution of these BOE funds
Reader …
…and still, teachers pay orders of magnitude less than private sector employees for health care.
Why don’t you provide some useful numbers, like the per teacher monthly contribution (prorated over a 12 month year) and allow the taxpayers to compare THAT number to the one that they pay in the private sector.
But that would not serve your needs since it would shed some light on how sweet of a deal the teachers have it compared to private sector employees.
You would prefer to be disingenuous and disrespectful to the taxpayers by “seriously miscommunicating” the comparative costs that teachers are paying for health care benefits. Rather than being grateful for having not only a comparatively very, very small health care contribution, but also in many cases a much, much more generous package of health care benefits, you would rather whine and moan and try to greedily and selfishly line your own pockets on the backs of the taxpayer.
You may think that you are very clever and are representing your union well, but in fact you are insulting the taxpayers and increasing opposition to the teacher’s position by exposing the teacher’s union’s greed and scorn for the taxpayer.
The state health department on Monday posted to its website the eighth annual Hospital Performance Report, which lets consumers assess the quality of care for every hospital in New Jersey — a boon when trying to choose a facility or make other healthcare decisions.
The report also makes it possible for New Jersey hospitals to see how they stack up against their peers, determining where they lead and where they lag in relation to dozens of quality indicators — from how consistently a hospital gave the right care for pneumonia and heart failure to the frequency of hospital-acquired infections. (Fitzgerald, NJ Spotlight)
Newark super drums up support for sweeping reforms
Newark schools superintendent Cami Anderson’s announcement yesterday of the final details in her plans to reorganize New Jersey’s largest district was almost as much about appearance as it was about substance.
The substance was significant: The outright closing of six school buildings; the “renewal” of eight more with new leadership, faculty and programs; and the expansion of both early childhood and high school options. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
Property tax relief? Not while the state diverts local utility taxes
For years, the state has skimmed money from special accounts in its fiscal budget to help balance the books.
Perhaps no one has suffered more from the accounting sleight of hand than local governments, which, in in the past decade, have been denied hundreds of millions of dollars in utility taxes that should have helped municipalities provide property tax relief to residents. (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)
State tax revenue growth across the country slowed in the last three months of 2011 to the lowest point since the economic recovery began, a think tank said Monday.
The Rockefeller Institute of Government said tax revenue increases hesitated at 2.7 percent.
When two states are factored out — one with a large increase and the other with a large decrease — the growth for the quarter came to 4.4 percent. (Method, Gannett)
>Aronsohn Calls for New Approach to Budget ,we have one question Paul where have you been for the last 3 years? by Paul Aronsohn on Mar 19, 2012 • 12:00 am
Ridgewood — Councilman Paul Aronsohn called today for a new approach to the Village’s municipal budget — one that starts from a 0% tax increase and gives residents a greater voice in the process.
“We need to get this right,” Aronsohn explained. ”We need to end business as usual.”
Starting from a 0% Tax Increase
Noting that the Council recently began its consideration of the 2012 municipal budget by working off of a document produced by the Village Manager — one that proposes a 7.6 percent tax increase as a starting point — Aronsohn said that the Council had it “backwards.”
“We have got this backwards,” he claimed. “Rather than assuming a large tax increase and then trying to whittle it down, we should start with budget proposals that assume no tax increase whatsoever.”
“We should explore different ways of absorbing storm-related and other extraordinary costs into that draft zero-growth budget. By doing so, we will get a much better sense of the tradeoffs and have a much better chance of keeping down the residents’ tax burden.”
