Holidays Fuentes Now in Stock @ Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood Special Holiday Fuentes Have Arrived!
Opus X and Anejo as well as other very rare and special Fuentes are available starting Friday December 16, 2011.
Specialty cigars are limited to 1 or 2 per person as we hope to share these limited cigars with all our customers!
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
~Gary, Barbara and Collin”
The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood | 10 Chestnut Street | Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450 Phone: 201-447-2204 | Email: [email protected] Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00AM – 5:30PM and Thursday Night 6:30PM – 8:30PM
>Ex-Freddie, Fannie CEOs Sued for Understating Loans By David Glovin and Joshua Gallu – Dec 16, 2011 11:07 AM ET
Daniel Mudd, the former chief executive officer of Fannie Mae, and Richard Syron, ex-CEO of Freddie Mac, were sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for understating by hundreds of billions of dollars the subprime loans held by the agencies.
The lawsuits filed today in Manhattan federal court were followed by an SEC statement that it had entered into non- prosecution agreements with each lender. Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enterprise which issues almost half of all mortgage-backed securities, and Freddie Mac, the McLean, Virginia-based mortgage-finance company, had “agreed to accept responsibility” for their conduct, the SEC said.
December Recess Aviation and Rocketry Camp with Ridgewood Recreation
Come discover the aviator in you! Join Hobby Quest and Ridgewood Recreation for a two day camp of building models from scratch and flying them outdoors (weather permitting).
Students will learn to read plans, make necessary calculations and work with hobby tools. They will learn the importance of each part: the wings, rudder, elevator and fuselage. Famous aviators and historical inventions are also reviewed.
The camp is offered to students in grades K-5 and will be held both Tuesday and Wednesday, December 27 and 28, from 9 am to 12 noon each day, at the Stable, 259 North Maple Avenue. The cost per child is $65 per child which includes all materials.
Space is limited and early registration is suggested. Register online at www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass or in person or by mail – The Stable, 259 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood. The registration form can be located on the Recreation homepage at www.ridgewoodnj.net/recreation. For more information contact the Recreation Office at 201-670-5560.
By Kathleen Lynn, McClatchy/Tribune news 12:09 p.m. CST, December 15, 2011
Julie Tung, a history major turned software executive, wanted a historic house to restore. Ed Schwartz, her boyfriend (now husband), wanted a house he could make energy-efficient. And it had to be near Glen Rock, N.J., where his son lives.
They found the answer in a 240-year-old Ridgewood, N.J., house in such woeful shape that it was at risk of being torn down. In 2006, the couple paid $843,000 for the house, which was built by members of the Westervelt family, early Dutch settlers.
Five years and hundreds of thousands of dollars later, the couple has a house that mixes old and new to make it sustainable. The chandeliers are antique, but their bulbs are energy-efficient LED or compact fluorescent. There are solar panels on the roof and the original pine on the floors.
The Ridgewood train station is a model of inefficiency
The train station is a model of inefficiency. There is a colossal center awning presumably to shield the dozen or so max people at a time who take the train from Ridgewood to points west. The entire train debarks north of both crossings, even further from the parking lot. The eastbound platform has an awning that halfway overhangs dead space, and hardly provides any shelter from rain in a slight breeze…which is moot anyway because the eastbound trains stop for the most part south of that whole awning anyway…just where they stopped before. When you come up from Franklin to the eastbound track, you have to go all the way to the end of a long ramp then back up the ramp to the platform; there are no stairs straight to the platform (yes, I have missed the train because of this).
To top it all off, the power bill alone would probably pay a couple salaries.
And the station house is sterile east bloc retro compared to what it used to be: warm, cozy and with a nice lady selling coffee and bagels.
>Suburban school construction hits lowest point in past decade
2011 did not turn out to be a very good year for school construction in New Jersey.
On the heels of the Schools Development Authority launching just a single project so far in one of New Jersey’s poorest districts, the suburban districts had their slowest year in a decade as well.
On Tuesday, just two of six projects proposed by districts were approved by voters in the referendum votes that take place five times a year. That makes 2011 the lowest year for both the number of projects approved and projects proposed since the Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act was signed in 2000.
Only a quarter of the 24 projects proposed overall this year won voter approval, according to the state’s School Boards Association, continuing a trend from the middle of the decade when a majority passed. In 2010, only half were approved. The best year was in 2003, when 93 projects were proposed, and voters passed 73 of them. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
>Here We Go Again : Turnpike budget blat; toll hike to fund road projects
Call the 2012 New Jersey Turnpike Authority operating budget a wash.
The bottom line of the 2012 operating budget is unchanged from this year’s at $475 million, but there are 141 fewer faces at the authority, which helped keep spending down to operate the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, said Veronique Hakim, executive director. The total number of authority employees will be 2,011 full-timers in 2012, she said.
“The 141 are mostly retirees. We’re using more part-time toll collectors and there are changes in the flow and function,” she said. “If someone who was sitting next to you retired, it is likely you are doing your job and theirs.” (Higgs, Gannett)
>With states desperate to keep jobs, companies have upper hand, report finds
As the unemployment crisis grinds on, states are trying to both lure and retain businesses by offering tax breaks, grants, cheap loans — just about anything (short of candy and foot massages) they can think of. But how many jobs do these expensive incentives actually create?
And are the jobs any good?
Economic development programs cost states and cities billions of dollars a year, but many programs require little if any job creation, fewer than half call for wage standards, and fewer than a quarter require the companies to provide health care for their workers, according to a study of program requirements scheduled to be released Wednesday by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit research organization that tracks corporate subsidies. Some merely require companies to invest in plants or new equipment, which could actually enable them to reduce their head counts. (Cooper, The New York Times)
State Democratic lawmakers remain split over how far deregulation should extend for telecommunications and cable TV.
The AARP and consumer groups say loosening the rules could leave residents with little recourse if faced with higher bills and reduced services.
But with Democrats offering competing bills, it appears neither side will be a winner in obtaining full approvals before this legislative session ends next month.
Senators Ray Lesniak of Union County and Bob Smith of Middlesex County, prime drivers of the two vastly different pieces of deregulation, said there’s little chance the proposals will move forward in the final weeks of the upper house‘s lame duck session.
Lesniak’s offering boasts Republican support. It has already passed through the Assembly but has undergone heavy criticism from consumer groups, who claim it gives too much freedom to companies such as Verizon and Comcast. (Jordan, Gannett)
One of New Jersey’s 13 congressmen will be out of a job next year, when two incumbents are thrown together into a new district and forced to compete for a single seat.
Just whom those incumbents will be is expected to be decided next week by a bipartisan commission meeting in New Brunswick. The result will help determine whether Democrats or Republicans ultimately lose a seat. New Jersey is currently represented by seven Democrats and six Republicans.
The panel, headed by Rutgers Law School Dean John Farmer Jr. as the tie-breaking 13th member, will begin reviewing district maps proposed by both parties on Monday. While the process isn’t required by law to be completed till mid-January, Farmer has been aiming for an agreement on a new map before Christmas. (Delli Santi, Associated Press)
Men’s chorus performing holiday music – classics, Broadway, pop, and more! December 17 & 18 at Ridgewood United Methodist Church, Dayton Street, Ridgewood.Guest artist trumpeter Rick Henley. $15 at the Door; $10 in advance www.ridgewoodorpheusclub.org Information:201/652-2873
Fast food restaurant ordinance approved in Ridgewood
THURSDAY DECEMBER 15, 2011, 11:10 AM BY JOSEPH CRAMER STAFF WRITER THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Following extensive discussion this year at the Ridgewood Planning Board level, an ordinance amending the village code to permit fast food restaurants in the Central Business District (CBD) was unanimously passed with little fanfare at the Village Council meeting on Wednesday.
The ordinance eliminates the definition and word usage of “fast food” and revises existing permitted uses in the B-1, B-2 and C zones to specifically prohibit drive-through uses – including banks, pharmacies and restaurants – and window service.
>I don’t deny that most of our teachers are hard-working and dedicated but I don’t believe that they are hurting
In regards to the phys ed specifics, here is some info. According to the latest NJ Dept. of education figures on Ridgewood phys ed teachers:
Number: 22 Highest salary – $126,216 Lowest salary 30,144 Average salary 87,700 Median salary 96,030 Salaries > 100k 10
I don’t deny that most of our teachers are hard-working and dedicated but I don’t believe that they are hurting. Many family members and friends have lost jobs or have not seen an increase in wages in 4 years. When our president says “pay your fair share” or uses the term “shared sacrifice”, he means EVERYONE, doesn’t he?
>RHS Should Join Forces with Wikipedia Peter Coti RHS Student Wikipedia Editor
As we all know, Ridgewood High school is a top national school but it still lacks in many areas. One area it lacks in is the ability to integrate computers into classrooms. Some of the issues that have been raised is the cost of programs that could be integrated and the benefits it would have. I feel that in order for Ridgewood High School to remain progressive and prestigious it requires integration of the Wikipedia Ambassador program.
The Ambassador program has been used in schools such as Yale, NYU, and Columbia. If RHS were to partake in this program it would become the first high school in the world to join in and it would be on the same field as Ivy league colleges.
The program would also allow for new ways for students to learn. Wikipedia can help teach neutral point of view writing which is something that is not often taught to students even though it can be quite useful in certain professions. This neutral point of view aspect will also encourage critical thinking as they will need to boil a topic down to its bare basics to contribute to Wikipedia. The implementation of Wikipedia would also justify effort into a project as they will not simply have the satisfaction of a grade, their hard work will be visible to the millions of unique visitors of Wikipedia monthly.
The costs of running this program at RHS would be minimal. Already 140 “Welcome to Wikipedia” brochures are on standby nearby and already there are class materials published online for educations (https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Materials_for_Teaching ). The only cost will be the hours it takes to orient teachers to the project and the basics of Wikipedia that they can then pass on to their students.
The combination of the low cost, and potentially high benefits leads me to believe that if we were to have an Ambassador program run from RHS it would be successful and a benefit to the school.
Bergen County Executive Kathleen A. Donovan The Record Op-Ed: Benefits denied
There aren’t all that many absolutes in public life, but here’s one of them: Part-time board members do not deserve health benefits courtesy of the taxpayers.
Given the fact that outrageous perks of this type continue in many areas, it’s worth noting when someone stops them. That’s what Kathleen Donovan, the Bergen County executive, did last week when she vetoed meeting minutes of the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority, preventing the nine commissioners from giving themselves health benefits.
Estimated annual health costs for a family of four are almost $20,000, according to various actuarial firms. So it’s unlikely anyone is going to willingly give up coverage if it’s available. That’s why we need leaders with the guts to stop part-time politicians from getting it. Let’s reserve health benefits for full-time workers.
Over the years, health benefits for part-time New Jersey politicians often have been the norm, not only for utility commissioners, but for council members in many towns and even members of the Legislature.
The ongoing economic doldrums have brought more attention to these juicy perks. What is tolerable when unemployment is 3 percent and when most people are getting annual 4 percent pay increases seems less palatable when unemployment is around 9 percent and wages are flat. Donovan cited the economy in her veto letter, saying that health benefits for commissioners are “contrary to the sound fiscal policy of the county.”
Health benefits for full-time employees are a legitimate component of their compensation packages. Health benefits for part-time board members are not. They exist merely to reward the politically connected. In rejecting benefits for utility commissioners, Donovan rightly criticized the agency for being the last in the county to try to give commissioners such benefits.
The authority’s proposed budget for next year is about $15.5 million. The health benefits were part of a proposed stipend package that would have cost $89,000. That is a small part of the overall budget, but as is often the case in situations like this, it is not the money but the principle that’s important. The authority, which provides sewer treatment service to 11 towns in northwest Bergen County, should have known not to support a benefit plan that was out of step with both county policy and the economic times. Donovan’s veto should not have been necessary.
What we truly need is for the Legislature to outlaw taxpayer-funded health benefits for all part-time elected officials and board members statewide. In the absence of such sweeping legislation, we must rely on local politicians to stop the abuse themselves. In this case, we’re glad Donovan stepped forward to do just that.
