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>Former Dem. Congressman Kennedy Alleges ‘Quid Pro Quo’ for Access to White House

>Former Dem. Congressman Kennedy Alleges ‘Quid Pro Quo’ for Access to White House
8:42 AM, APR 15, 2012 • BY DANIEL HALPER

Access to the Obama White House is in direct correlation to the amount of money donated to the president’s reelection effort and the Democratic party, the New York Times reports today.

The Times reports: “those who donated the most to Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party since he started running for president were far more likely to visit the White House than others. Among donors who gave $30,000 or less, about 20 percent visited the White House, according to a New York Times analysis that matched names in the visitor logs with donor records. But among those who donated $100,000 or more, the figure rises to about 75 percent. Approximately two-thirds of the president’s top fund-raisers in the 2008 campaign visited the White House at least once, some of them numerous times.”

https://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/former-dem-congressman-kennedy-alleges-quid-pro-quo-access-white-house_637051.html

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>ANNUAL SCHOOL ELECTION IS APRIL 17

>

RHS Field theridgewoodblog.net

ANNUAL SCHOOL ELECTION IS APRIL 17

Following a Public Hearing on the 2012-2013 school budget on Monday, March 26, the Ridgewood Board of Education approved the 2012-2013 budget, which will now be presented to voters on Tuesday, April 17.

On Tuesday, April 3, the Board of Education and Superintendent Dr. Daniel Fishbein will make a final public presentation on the proposed 2012-2013 school budget. Please plan to attend  at the Ridgewood High School Library Media Center at 7:30 p.m.

Questions about the budget may also be addressed to the superintendent at [email protected].

Click here https://tinyurl.com/75eh53n to view an updated presentation on the proposed 2012-2013 school budget.

Click here https://tinyurl.com/85hg6z4 to view Ridgewood comparative statistics on educational spending and staffing ratios from  the May 2011 Comparative Spending Guide from the New Jersey Department of Education.

Click here https://tinyurl.com/d4p7f28 to view the summary of tax increases presented to the Board at the March 19, 2012 Joint Meeting with the Village Council.

Click here https://tinyurl.com/6w2oktp to view the complete Fiscal Year 2012-2013 budget.

Any Ridgewood resident who is a registered voter may vote in the Annual Election on Tuesday, April 17, either at regular polling locations or by mail-in ballot. Applications for mail-in ballots must be received in the Bergen County Elections office by Tuesday, April 10. Full information may be found on the Bergen County website or by clicking here. Forms are also available at any Municipal Clerk’s office or other public agency. For further information, please call the Superintendent of Elections office at 201-336-6100 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

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>Foreclosures still climbing for commercial properties

>

Foreclosures still climbing for commercial properties

Alongside pronouncements that the state’s business outlook is brightening, foreclosures of non-residential properties have been increasing in New Jersey.

During the economic downturn in 2009, the state saw 3,827 non-residential foreclosure filings, including tax sales. That was more than double the amount two years earlier at the onset of the Great Recession.
During 2011, data from the state’s court system show non-residential foreclosure actions hit 5,027. Early indications this year are that the surge continues.  (Tyrrell, NJ Spotlight)

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>Home prices close to bottoming, to rise in 2013

>

RidgewoodRealestatesign theridgewoodblog



Home prices close to bottoming, to rise in 2013
By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON | Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:03am EDT

(Reuters) – The relentless decline in home prices is nearing an end and prices should rise for the first time in seven years in 2013, but a possible new wave of foreclosures could threaten the recovery, according a Reuters poll of economists.

The median forecast of 24 economists polled by Reuters was for the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index to end the year unchanged. That was the same finding back in January for this house price gauge, which covers 20 cities.

“We are expecting a gradual improvement, but if we get a big wave of new foreclosures coming to the market, price declines could be even greater,” said Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York.

https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/12/us-usa-economy-housing-idUSBRE83B0U920120412

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Curb Appeal: Building Value AND Pride of Ownership

>Curb Appeal: Building Value AND Pride of Ownership
By Michael Fidanza

I spent almost all of yesterday taking advantage of the great weather and doing some new planting. It’s amazing what just a few new shrubs can do to change the look of your house. It was a great feeling to step back to the curb and take a look at the new landscaping; it was a beautiful, yet subtitle, change for the better.

During the past couple of weeks, I have toured some properties that are beautiful on the inside but a little tired on the outside. Maybe it’s the weather or avoiding the issue of changing the exterior – sometimes we let things go too long.

Unfortunately, the outside of your home is the first impression a guest sees. Without even a little bit of upkeep, visitors can be turned off before they even reach the door.

You may not even realize that your exterior needs sprucing up! Remember, in one year, we have been through a water shortage, a windstorm, a hurricane and a pre- Halloween snowstorm. The residual effects may have left you with a few things to It’s always a good time to make improvements to your home’s exterior; not just because you may want to sell your house but because it affects how you feel.

Pride of ownership translates into everything you do and creates a synergy that extends into the rest of the house.

These are just a few areas that do not require a lot of work but pay big dividends. Just by having a great lawn instead of a good lawn makes a huge difference.

When it comes time to sell, it’s not like you are in a scramble to get the outside done PLUS you get to enjoy your home more until that day comes.

Don’t let your home become that dull place you spend half you life at. A great looking exterior is the key to a homeowner’s happiness.

Michael is a licensed Realtor here Ridgewood. You may contact him at

[email protected]

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>Why Airport Security Is Broken— And How To Fix It

>Why Airport Security Is Broken— And How To Fix It

Air travel would be safer if we allowed knives, lighters and liquids and focused on disrupting new terror plots. A former head of the Transportation Security Administration, Kip Hawley, on embracing risk.

Airport security in America is broken. I should know. For 3½ years—from my confirmation in July 2005 to President Barack Obama’s inauguration in January 2009—I served as the head of the Transportation Security Administration.

You know the TSA. We’re the ones who make you take off your shoes before padding through a metal detector in your socks (hopefully without holes in them). We’re the ones who make you throw out your water bottles. We’re the ones who end up on the evening news when someone’s grandma gets patted down or a child’s toy gets confiscated as a security risk. If you’re a frequent traveler, you probably hate us.

More than a decade after 9/11, it is a national embarrassment that our airport security system remains so hopelessly bureaucratic and disconnected from the people whom it is meant to protect. Preventing terrorist attacks on air travel demands flexibility and the constant reassessment of threats. It also demands strong public support, which the current system has plainly failed to achieve.

https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303815404577335783535660546.html

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>‘Buffett Rule’ Election year gimmick

>‘Buffett Rule’ Election year gimmick 
By Dana Milbank, Published: April 11

President Obama admits it: His proposed “Buffett Rule” tax on millionaires is a gimmick.

“There are others who are saying: ‘Well, this is just a gimmick. Just taxing millionaires and billionaires, just imposing the Buffett Rule, won’t do enough to close the deficit,’ ” Obama declared Wednesday. “Well, I agree.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rebuffing-obamas-buffett-rule/2012/04/11/gIQA7m4HBT_story.html?hpid=z4

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>Glen Rock brush fire injures firefighter, suspends NJ Transit service for 2 hours

>Glen Rock brush fire injures firefighter, suspends NJ Transit service for 2 hours
Published: Saturday, April 14, 2012, 4:39 PM     Updated: Saturday, April 14, 2012, 4:39 PM

GLEN ROCK — A brush fire along the train tracks near the Glen Rock fire station injured one firefighter and suspended train service for two hours this afternoon, firefighters said.

At 1:28 p.m. firefighters received a call of a large brush fire burning in a quarter-mile wooded area along the train tracks said Glen Rock fire chief Tom Jennings. The cause of the blaze is unknown but was one of a few brush fires in the state on the dry, warm afternoon.

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/glen_rock_brush_fire_injures_f.html

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>The Internet Taxes that Could Be Coming

>The Internet Taxes that Could Be Coming
Mike Brownfield April 12, 2012 at 9:02

If you’ve ever bought anything on the Internet, over the phone, or from a catalog, you might have noticed that when you buy from some stores, you don’t pay any state sales tax, but if you buy from other stores, you do. That’s because a Supreme Court decision protected out-of-state businesses from revenue-hungry states. But a new bill working its way through Congress would change all that, turning every online retailer into a sales tax collector. And that’s legislation Congress should reject.

Back in 1992, the Supreme Court ruled in Quill Corporation v. North Dakota that a state cannot force a retailer who doesn’t have any physical presence in that state to collect sales taxes from Internet, phone or catalog sales. So if you ordered a book online from BarnesandNoble.com and there’s a Barnes and Noble store right down the street from your house, you’d have to pay sales tax. But if you ordered that book online from a mom and pop bookstore with one location halfway across the country, they wouldn’t have to collect sales tax from you.

In the Quill case, North Dakota tried to force out-of-state retailers to collect sales taxes and remit them to North Dakota, even if they didn’t have a physical presence in the state. Quill Corporation, which sells office supplies and is based in Delaware, had offices and warehouses in Illinois, California and Georgia, but didn’t have any bricks, mortar, employees, or sales representatives in North Dakota. It did, however, have 3,000 customers there and $1 million in annual sales, so North Dakota wanted Quill to collect tax on those sales.

https://tinyurl.com/7o4cd8m

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>Just a reminder as you vote on a new Ridgewood School Budget : Mike Doherty’s Fair School Funding could save Ridgewood $42,050,037

>Just a reminder as you vote on a new Ridgewood School Budget : Mike Doherty’s Fair School Funding could save Ridgewood $42,050,037

State Senator Mike Doherty has drafted legislation that will provide an equal amount of school aid for every student in New Jersey, regardless of where they reside. Mike’s legislation is consistent with Article VIII, Section IV, Paragraph 2 of the New Jersey State Constitution, which states that “the fund for the support of free public schools . . . shall be annually appropriated to the support of free public schools, and for the equal benefit of all the people of the state.”

Under Mike Doherty’s plan of Fair School Funding, Ridgewood Village will get back $42,050,037 more each year for school funding!

A draft of Senator Mike Doherty’s bill appears below:

An Act concerning State school aid and supplementing Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

Whereas, Article III., Paragraph 1, of the New Jersey State Constitution states, “The powers of government shall be divided among three distinct branches, the legislative, executive, and judicial. No person or persons belonging to or constituting one branch shall exercise any of the powers properly belonging to either of the others, except as expressly provided in this Constitution.”

Whereas, Article VIII, Section IV, Paragraph 1, of the New Jersey State Constitution states, “the Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free public schools for the instruction of all children in State between the ages of five and eighteen years.”

Whereas, Article VIII, Section IV, Paragraph 2, of the New Jersey State Constitution states, “the fund for the support of free public schools . . . shall be annually appropriated to the support of free public schools, and for the equal benefit of all the people of the state.”

Whereas, Article VIII, Section I, Paragraph 7.a. of the New Jersey State Constitution states, the income tax is to be “annually appropriated . . . exclusively for the purpose of reducing or offsetting property taxes.”

1. Notwithstanding the provisions of P.L.2007, c.260 (C.18A:7F-43 et al.) or any other law to the contrary, State school aid for the first school year beginning after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) and for each subsequent school year shall be provided to school districts as follows:

Where TDE is the total number of students enrolled in a school district;

TSE is the total number of students enrolled in public schools in New Jersey;

TITR is the total projected income tax revenue to be collected by the State of New Jersey;

and TDSA is the total amount of school aid to be provided to a school district.

a. The Department of Education shall determine each public school district’s projected resident enrollment (TDE) for the budget year and the total Statewide public school resident enrollment (TSE) of children between the ages of five and eighteen years of age.

b. The State Treasurer shall determine the total projected revenue from the State income tax (TITR) for the budget year.

c. State aid for each school district (TDSA) for the budget year shall be determined pursuant to the following formula:
(TITR/TSE) x TDE = TDSA

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill establishes a new formula for the allocation of State aid to school districts to satisfy the Legislature’s constitutional responsibility to provide for a system of free public schools and provide property tax relief through the appropriation of revenues generated by the state income tax.

The bill provides school district State aid by determining a per pupil amount of State aid and multiplying that amount by the school district’s projected resident enrollment for the budget year. The per pupil State aid amount is determined after the State Treasurer projects the total revenue amount from the State income tax for the budget year.

Following the determination of the projected total State income tax, the Department of Education is to divide that amount by the total projected resident enrollment of the school districts. The department determines each school district’s State aid by multiplying this per pupil State aid amount by the district’s projected resident enrollment.

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>Valley’s position:whatever it takes

>

Valley Hospital theridgewoodblog.net



Valley’s position:whatever it takes


Valley’s position:


“We will climb any wall. If we can’t climb the wall, we will jump over it. If we can’t jump over it, we will pole vault over it. If we can’t pole vault over it, we will parachute over it, but whatever it takes to pass the Valley Expansion, we will do it!”


Believe it.

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>Valley Renewal : What are the mechanics needed to reverse the H:Zone

>Valley Renewal : What are the mechanics needed to reverse the H:Zone

I’d also like to know what kind of legislation is needed to enable the only govt we elect here — the VC – to have the power to override an appointed Board’s decision and revert Master Plan changes if the elected govt decides that an appointed board has adopted something which is not in the best interest of the Village as a whole.

Can that be done via a new ordinance? Or is something else needed?

The Planning Board is not elected and I think it’s impt that elected government have the ultimate power to decide what will or will not be adopted in a Master Plan or anything else which affects the entire Village.

I realize the VC has the power to not introduce something as indeed they used following the Valley hearings.

But they should also have the power to revert changes made by any appointed board to a Master Plan or anything else which affects the Village at large.

Fine to have an appointed (not elected) board study, consider and PROPOSE amendments to a master plan, but actually ADOPTING such changes should be the duty of elected – not appointed- government.

So, either let the VC have that power as our only elected government locally, or put such proposed changes to a Village wide referendum vote when they affect the Village as a whole.

WHY? When an appointed board can just adopt amendments to a Master Plan or anything similar- we are stuck with that outcome with no recourse to revert it unless that same appointed board decides to do so.

The public then has no oversight, since neither did we appoint them nor do we have the power to recall them or vote them out if we wish to.

After all, didn’t we all read somewhere it’s SUPPOSED to be government of, by and for the people?

What are the mechanics needed to get that done- anyone know?

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>Last-minute tax tips for procrastinators

>Last-minute tax tips for procrastinators
Associated Press
Posted:   04/13/2012 06:03:11 PM PDT
Updated:   04/13/2012 06:03:11 PM PDT

CHICAGO — Getting an extra two days to file taxes beyond the usual April 15 tax filing deadline isn’t likely to cure a nation of procrastinators this year.

Tens of millions of us routinely wait until just before the deadline to file returns. More than 30 percent of taxpayers filed the week before Tax Day or later via extensions in 2011, and Internal Revenue Service statistics show the pace is similar this year.

Perhaps working under deadline pressure helps you focus better on the task at hand. But procrastinating may come at a price.

“The amount of work that’s going to need to be done at the last minute is no less just because you’ve waited, and the potential for errors is greater,” says Suzanne Shier, a tax strategist at Northern Trust Bank in Chicago. “There’s not really an upside to waiting.”
So you probably should dive into your tax return without waiting any longer.

Either way, there’s little time left to round up records and research the details of any tax code changes from last year.

Here are some points for end-of-season tax filers to keep in mind:

https://www.contracostatimes.com/business/ci_20393180/last-minute-tax-tips-procrastinators