file photo by Boyd Loving
September 29,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood resident Jacqueline Hone spoke during both public comment segments. She explained why Roberta’s departure is just the tip of the iceberg and suggested her staff also needs to be investigated.
September 29,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, A New Jersey Transit train crashed into the terminal in Hoboken. The incident happened at around 9am on Thursday. It’s been confirmed Pascack Valley Train #1614, departs Spring Valley 7:23 am(?) due to arrive at 8:30 am. Train came in on Track 4 .
Initial report is over 100 injuries .
Massive Emergency services response.
Hoboken is shut down to non emergency services.
Correction 1 confirmed dead by Governors Christie and Como , not passenger someone standing on the platform .
PATH service to HOB will be operating full rush hour service .
Shuttle buses from HOB to SEC running.
Cause of accident is still unclear .
It is being reported that major damage has been done to the train station including a partial roof collapse. Reports from riders say no indication that anything was wrong.
NATIONAL COFFEE DAY
September 29th 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Whether getting one to go or lingering over a second cup, on September 29 be sure to observe National Coffee Day! Ah, the perfect cup of java. According to an expert cupper (a professional coffee taster), there are four components of a perfect cup: aroma, body, acidity, and flavor.
From the moment the average coffee lover opens a fresh bag of coffee beans, the aroma beckons, percolating the senses. Even those who don’t drink coffee tend to enjoy the fragrance a roasted bean casts.
When determining the body of a coffee, the bean, the roast, and the brew are all factors. The bean affects the texture of the coffee, whether its silky, creamy, thick or thin on the tongue and throat. However, the darker the roast and how it is brewed will alter the feel of a coffee’s body, too. Grandpa’s motor oil blend versus the coffee shop around the corner’s silky smooth, well-practiced grind have entirely different bodies.
The region a coffee is grown determines its acidity. The higher the elevation the coffee grows, the higher the quality and the acidity. These coffees are considered brighter, dryer, even sparkling by cuppers.
When it comes down to it, coffee lovers cherish the flavor as well as the caffeinated boost this roasted bean gives morning or night, black or with cream and sugar. Hot or cold it provides enjoyment even when decaffeinated!
There are many legendary accounts of how coffee first came to be, but the earliest credible evidence of either coffee drinking or the knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the 15th century in the Sufi monasteries around Mokha in Yemen. It was here coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed, much like they are prepared today. Yemeni traders brought coffee back to their homeland from Ethiopia and began to cultivate the seed.
In 1670, coffee seeds were smuggled out of the Middle East by Baba Budan, as he strapped seven coffee seeds onto his chest. The first plants grown from these smuggled seeds were planted in Mysore. It was then that coffee spread to Italy, to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia and the Americas.
Brazil produces more coffee in the world than any other country followed by Colombia. More than 50 countries around the world grow coffee, providing a delicious variety for the indulgence of steamy cups of the black drink for connoisseurs to consume.
According to yelp :
1. American Bulldog Coffee Roasters
31 N Broad St
Ridgewood, NJ 07450Phone number(201) 857-4176
2. Ridgewood Coffee Company
90 E Ridgewood Ave
Ridgewood, NJ 07450Phone number(201) 493-1002
3. Grandma’s Secret
9 S Broad St
Ridgewood, NJ 07450Phone number(201) 857-8788
4. Village Tea Shop
10 S Maple Ave
Ridgewood, NJ 07450Phone number(201) 857-0230
5. Sook Pastry
24 S Broad St
Ridgewood, NJ 07450Phone number(201) 493-2500
6. Bagelicious
19 N Broad St
Ridgewood, NJ 07450Phone number(201) 652-9421
7. Starbucks
193 E Ridgewood Ave
Ridgewood, NJ 07450Phone number(201) 670-0690
8. Raymond’s
101 E Ridgewood Ave
Ridgewood, NJ 07450Phone number(201) 445-5125
9. Whole Foods Market
44 Godwin Ave
Ridgewood, NJ 07450Phone number(201) 670-0383
10. Cupcakes By Carousel
192 E Ridgewood Ave
Ridgewood, NJ 07450Phone number(201) 389-3090
HOW TO OBSERVE.
Enjoy a cup or two of your favorite coffee. Use #NationalCoffeeDay to post on social media. Here is a list of National Coffee Day Specials.
Ridgewooood NJ, Once again, much was accomplished with this new and improved council! Of course somethings never change ,Rurik Halaby came to the mic twice to insinuate that Ms. Knudsen( pronounced once correctly, second time with a hard k!) should be transparent about her raffle win and her sons becoming Ridgewood police officers. Thankfully Susan called for a point of order and Bernie Walsh made reference to Roberts Rules and that personal comments made to a council member from the floor are not allowed. It probably won’t stop future rants.
Richard Calbi from the Water Department gave a good report on the chromium 6 that has been in the news. According to Ridgewood Water Ridgewood is below the level considered dangerous even though the EPA has made no formal recommendations or issued guidelines.Currently Ridgewood Water is below the California guidelines and those issued by The World Health Organization.
Matt Rogers reported on the status of Affordable Housing, the water suit filed by Glen Rock, Midland Park and Wyckoff and the Valley Hospital appeal.
Ridgewood Water: a possible trial in November if a scheduled mediation in October is not successful.
The Stanley Healthcare solution includes Wi-Fi RFID badges that nurses, physicians and other personnel can use to identify their locations and call for assistance.
By Claire Swedberg
Sep 27, 2016—
The Valley Hospital, in Ridgewood, N.J., has been using a real-time location system (RTLS) to monitor the locations and identities of staff members who press their emergency badge. Before the hospital deployed the system, only 50 percent of personnel reported a sense of workplace safety. Once those workers began utilizing the RTLS, provided byStanley Healthcare, that figure rose to 85 percent.
The Valley Hospital rarely experiences violence in its ER, but there have been incidents in which employees have indicated feeling uncomfortable, the hospital reports. After members of a patient’s family prevented a nurse from leaving that patient’s room, that nurse asked the hospital to institute a better means of protecting personnel. The facility, which treats 74,000 patients in its emergency department each year, already offered wired emergency alarms in each room, but it decided that a wireless system would provide greater support to employees wherever they were in that department. The solution consists of Stanley Healthcare Wi-Fi-enabled call badges and software that helps security personnel identify who has placed a distress call, as well as where that person is located and what he or she looks like.
‘Monday Night Football’ Tanks Against Presidential Debate
September 27, 2016 1:53 PM
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) — How do you stop a monster that keeps growing and getting more powerful the more you feed it? You could start by feeding it less, or stopping altogether. The National Football League, and its esteemed commissioner, is one such creature, and it appears that scores of long-hungry fans may finally be stuffed.
Sports Business Daily reported Monday that the overnight ratings forSunday Night Football between the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears drew 18.62 million viewers and scored a 12.9 in the Neilsen ratings, which is down from 13.7 in Week 2 and 13.9 in Week 3 a year ago. Elsewhere, the early-afternoon regional slate of games on CBS dropped by 18 percent compared to Week 3 last season while FOX’s 4:25 p.m. game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles (which saw Philly win in a surprisingly one-sided affair) dropped by 1 percent from the same time slot last season. The lone bright spot was FOX’s early-afternoon slot, which went up by about 3 percent.
September 28, 2016, 02:54 pm
By Katie Bo Williams and Cristina Marcos
Congress voted Wednesday to override President Obama for the first time in his eight-year tenure, as the House followed the Senate in rejecting a veto of legislation allowing families of terrorist victims to sue Saudi Arabia.
The House easily cleared the two-thirds threshold to push back against the veto. The final tally was 348-77, with 18 Republicans and 59 Democrats voting no.
The Senate voted 97-1 in favor of the override earlier in the day, with only Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) voting to sustain the president’s veto.
“We can no longer allow those who injure and kill Americans to hide behind legal loopholes denying justice to the victims of terror,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte(R-Va.).
The White House immediately slammed lawmakers following the Senate vote.
https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/298315-house-overrides-obamas-9-11-bill-veto
“Hillary Clinton and Lester Holt came at Donald Trump last night as a “Tag Team.””
.
True.
.
This is how it plays out….
.
1. Each candidate declares victory in the debates
2. Press lauds Clinton (presidential, heroic, prepared, ad nauseum) and eviscerates Trump (idiot, unprepared, out of control, unfit to be president, ad nauseum)
3. Trump gets a bump in the immediate post debate polls
4. Media and pundits discount these polls and point out how they are inaccurate and flawed.
5. More polls from “respected sources” over the next few weeks still show a Trump bump
6. Much hand wringing, panic and threats to leave the country amongst the liberal elite if Trump becomes president .
7. Increase in anti-Trump reporting in the media.
8. Trump ultimately prevails in November.
9. Obama pardons a record number of criminals and signs a record number of executive orders before January 20th.
10. Liberals break promises to leave the country.
11. The really vicious Trump attacks start and last for 8 years.
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) In a stunning new documentary released just today, I reveal how politically correct speech control (thought control) gave rise to Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. The film reveals how the phenomenon of progressive fanaticism — safe spaces, social justice warriors, microaggressions, generation snowflake crybullies — mirrors the Brownshirts of Nazi Germany and escalates demands for obedience into physical violence against innocents.
Click here to watch the film now on YouTube (at least until they ban it).
We’re already seeing a similar phenomenon today with numerous Black Lives Matter terrorist shootings of police officers, beatings of innocent people merely because they are white, and calls for extreme acts of violence against police officers and Caucasians. The aggressive, violent behavior of “progressive fanatics” is now mirroring the rise of the Third Reich that eventually led to genocide and the mass murder of millions.
This will give you chills.
Daniel Lattier | September 27, 2016
Philosopher George Santayana’s line has become cliché, but it’s so damn true: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Well, perhaps if more Americans today read Plato (like they used to), then our country wouldn’t be repeating the same mistakes he warned us about 2,400 years ago.
In Book VIII of his Republic, Plato uses a fictitious conversation between his teacher Socrates and Adeimantus to explain howdemocracies—when they become too radical—devolve into tyrannies.
I have included M. James Ziccardi’s apt summary of this conversation below. The parallels between the “tyranny” Plato describes and America today are chilling:
https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/wow-platos-tyranny-sounds-exactly-america-today
By Claude Brodesser-Akner | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on September 27, 2016 at 1:42 PM
TRENTON — Lawmakers from both political parties are mulling whether New Jersey should legalize marijuana, but differ over whether it should be more leniently regulated and taxed like cigarettes, or more restrictively, like alcohol.
Late last week, Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris) introduced a bill (A4193) that legalizes marijuana, treating it and marijuana products in the same fashion as tobacco, which is sold only to those over 19 years of age.
Carroll’s bill would also provide for records expungement for certain past marijuana offenses.
September 27, 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
New Jersey Combats Opioid Abuse with New Initiatives During National Recovery Month
Trenton NJ, Expanding his commitment in the fight against opioid addiction in the Garden State, Governor Chris Christie today announced new initiatives in recognition of National Recovery Month, including an Emergency Order to ban the manufacture, distribution, sale, and possession of seven illegal knock-offs of the highly addictive opioid “fentanyl” and an expansion of the state’s Recovery Coach Program.
“We are doubling down on our efforts to combat the epidemic of opioid addiction – a pervasive crisis in communities and neighborhoods throughout our nation. This past summer, I was joined by 45 other governors in a compact through the National Governors Association to carry on this battle, and today we continue New Jersey’s leadership role, in part, by becoming one of the first states to take on the use, sale, and distribution of illicit fentanyl analogs produced by drug trafficking networks,” said Governor Christie.
The Office of the Attorney General and its Division of Consumer Affairs is issuing an Emergency Order to ban the manufacture, distribution, sale, and possession of seven illegal knock-offs of the highly addictive opioid “fentanyl” which are being manufactured by drug dealers. Additionally, the Governor announced the expansion of the Recovery Coach Program, which connects persons who have been saved from drug overdoses to people who can help them find treatment.
These initiatives were among several unveiled by the Governor as he was joined in his outer office by cabinet members and former Governor James E. McGreevey, director of the New Jersey Reentry Corporation (NJRC), which was funded by the Christie Administration to provide addiction treatment, transitional housing, job training and employment to ex-offenders with substance use disorder.
FENTANYL EMERGENCY ORDER
This Emergency Order issued by Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino adds seven “fentanyl analogs” – derivatives of the regulated prescription drug – to the list of Schedule I Controlled Dangerous Substances (CDS) in New Jersey, subjecting them to the strictest level of state control.
Used to treat acute pain, fentanyl is up to 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times more powerful than morphine. Fentanyl knock-offs, often more potent than their legal prototype, have been sold on street corners across New Jersey, usually disguised as much less potent drugs like heroin, oxycodone, or other abused prescription drugs. The result has been deadly. Last year, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration listed New Jersey as one of five states hit hardest by a “surge” in fentanyl-related deaths. The total had reached 150 by mid-year, according to the latest available statistics.
“Those responsible for supplying the drugs that caused these deaths will no longer be able to fly under the legal radar in our state,” said Attorney General Porrino. “We are empowering our law enforcement agencies with the legal clout to arrest and fully prosecute anyone caught manufacturing, distributing, or possessing these lethal drugs.”
Knock-offs covered by the order include: Furanyl Fentanyl, 3-Methyfentanyl, 3-Methyl Butyrylfentanyl, Valeryl Fentanyl, Norfentanyl, Para-Florobutyryl-Fentanyl, and Carfentanyl. Under the order, manufacture, distribution, sale, or possession of the chemicals is now a third-degree crime. Violators are subject to a fine of up to $25,000 and imprisonment for a three- to five-year term. The Order will remain in effect for 270 days, or until a regulation is adopted through an administrative process to formally classifying the counterfeit drugs as Schedule I CDS.
EXPANSION OF THE RECOVERY COACH PROGRAM
Already demonstrating success in Camden, Essex, Monmouth, Ocean and Passaic counties, the Recovery Coach program connects people who have been saved from drug overdoses – often with the opioid reversal drug Narcan — with recovery coaches who can provide guidance and support and help them into treatment for their addiction. The Governor announced the program will be expanded into six more counties – Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Hudson, Gloucester and Middlesex.
Recovery coaches, who often are in recovery themselves, are on-site in hospital emergency rooms in the five counties where the program already operates. They tap into their own personal recovery experience to help individuals when they are most vulnerable and need support. This initiative ensures a continuum of care for individuals recovering from an overdose reversal.
NARCAN REBATE EXTENSION
The Christie administration reached a deal this summer with Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., to extend for another year the ability for police departments and other public first responder entities to continue purchasing the opiate antidote Naloxone at a significant discount. Under that agreement, California-based Amphastar will continue to provide a $6 rebate for each Amphastar Naloxone syringe purchased.
Naloxone – often referred to by its most commonly known trade name Narcan – is an opioid antagonist drug used to reverse overdoses of heroin and other opiate-based narcotics. More than 500 law enforcement agencies across the state, including the New Jersey State Police, are now trained and equipped to administer the drug. Statewide, there were 7,222 deployments of Naloxone by law enforcement and EMS personnel in 2015. Law enforcement and EMS have deployed Naloxone more than 6,000 times so far this year.
In 2015, New Jersey became the third state to obtain a contractual commitment from Amphastar to provide discounts on Naloxone-related purchases. Under the new agreement struck with Amphastar, the Attorney General’s Office will continue to act as administrative conduit in the rebate process.
LEGACY OF FIGHTING ADDICTION
The initiatives announced today continue Governor Christie’s extensive efforts to combat the epidemic of opioid addiction, including: mandatory, statewide drug courts; expansion of New Jersey’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program to include interstate data-sharing; statewide availability of the overdose reversal drug Naloxone (Narcan); a historic infusion of funding to expand capacity for behavioral health treatment; and formation of an Interim Management Entity (IME), a telephone hotline that provides access for the uninsured and those on Medicaid to addiction treatment.
Recently, the state’s Drug Monitoring Initiative at the Regional Operations and Intelligence Center earned national recognition by the National Governors Association and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for its groundbreaking efforts to monitor drug activity in the state. Their work there has enabled law enforcement and public health experts to better understand the supply chain, trends, implications, and threats from illicit drug activity and to notify the public of potentially lethal batches of drugs in the region as overdoses are reported.
In addition, this year marks the second anniversary of the Governor’s creation of the Facing Addiction Task Force, a 12-member team of leaders and experts from inside and outside of government to fight drug addiction through treatment and prevention. Led by Pastor Joe A. Carter of the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, the task force has been developing strategies to destigmatize, prevent and treat the disease of addiction with a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach.
In July, Governor Christie along with 45 other governors, signed the National Governors Association’s Compact to Fight Opioid Addiction, committing to fight the epidemic. That compact urges the governors to take steps to raise awareness of opioids and addiction, reduce the inappropriate prescribing of painkillers and facilitate treatment and recovery for those already addicted.
“We have made impressive gains in this fight, and we know there is more work to be done,” added Governor Christie. “With these new initiatives and the alliance of the National Governors Association, we should be able to help more and more people break the cycle of addiction, to reclaim their lives and to improve the lives of all of us dealing with the consequences of opioid addiction in society.”
TARA NURIN | SEPTEMBER 27, 2016
Amid growing recognition that some students are going hungry, Rutgers-New Brunswick is the latest university in New Jersey to open a food pantry
Ramen noodles. Priced around 13 cents a bag, they’ve been a staple of college life for decades, helping the archetypal “starving student” afford tuition, housing, books, and the occasional beer. But the typical shrug in reaction to this paradigm is giving way to real concern as institutions of higher learning realize that hunger on campus is a serious problem that’s hurting students’ ability to learn.
This summer, Rutgers University-New Brunswick became the latest of at least five New Jersey colleges and universities — and more than 300 nationally — to install a free food pantry on campus. So far, about 30 students have taken advantage of Rutgers’ non-perishable goods. But the need is far greater.
September 28,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, Governor Chris Christie School Funding Fairness Formula Catches the Eye of the Ridgewood Board of Education. In the latest RPS news letter Board President Sheila Brogan devoted a significant amount of space to the Christie Fairness formula and the failure of the Abbott School districts .
Sheila Brogan’s Legislative Report September 2016
Lately, there has been much discussion in Trenton about state funding for school districts. Governor Christie has asked the courts to give the state relief from the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 (SFRA) and to allow the NJDOE Commissioner relief from statutory and contractual impediments that negatively impact on the thorough and efficient
The first link below will bring you to the Abbott Memorandum, filed for Governor Christie, asking the NJ Supreme Court for relief from the current funding formula. It is 95 pages, but worth the read.
Some of the issues discussed in the memorandum are —
#1 More funding does not equal higher student achievement in the School Development Authority (SDA) districts (formally the Abbott districts). The SDA districts have 22.8% of all NJ students and they receive 59% of the pre-K through grade 12 school aid.
#2 The most important factor for quality education is effective teachers. Districts must be allowed to have systems in place to attract and retain effective teachers. Statutory and contractual impediments to this must be eliminated. Essentially, the memorandum calls for eliminating LIFO (last in, first out) when there is a reduction in force (RIF) of the teaching staff. The memorandum also calls for streamlining the process of removing tenure teachers who are ineffective. It requests that the court allows the Commissioner to override contractual impediments in teacher contracts that negatively impact on student achievement.
In another document released last week, the State Auditor listed flaws in the way the state distributes school aid. There were four recommendations:
#1. School funding should be distributed based on current district data — for example — current enrollment and district demographics. The state is not using current data. Eighty percent of districts are receiving less aid than what they should receive under the current state aid formula, School Funding Reform Act of 2008 (SFRA).
#2. Special Education funding is not being distributed on the actual number of special education students in a district. Under the 2008 state aid formula, the state started using the census model to distribute money using the assumption that every district had a14.78% special education classification rate. Some districts have higher classification rates. According to the report in 2015, 234 districts, and in 2016, 258 districts, had actual classification rates that were more than10% higher than the state’s rate used for funding. This funding is not tied to actual need.
#3. Pre-school aid should be adjusted for actual enrollment. According to the report, in 2016, 30 districts over estimated enrollment and overpayments to these districts from the state amounted to $32.9 million
#4. The per pupil cost for preschool ranges from $2,036 to $27,663 and this disparity leads to imbalances in funding. It should be noted that districts receiving pre-school funding can offer half day or full day programs creating disparity in the educational experiences and opportunities offered these students.
This report is linked below.
Finally, Senate President Sweeney and Senator Ruiz introduced a concurrent resolution, SCR119, to establish the State School Aid Funding Fairness Commission consisting of six members who would be appointed by the Senate President (2 members ,one of whom would represent the NJEA), Speaker of the General Assembly (2 members, one of whom would represent a NJ education professional association), Senate Minority leader (1 member), and General Assembly Minority Leader (1 member). The Senate approved SC119 on Thursday. The Commission would be charged to study the following issues:
#1. the impact of School Funding Reform Act of 2008 (SFRA) adjustment aid and state aid growth limitation provisions;
#2. the tax levy growth limitation and the ability for school districts to adequately fund operating expenses;
#3. the per pupil administrative cost limits and its impact on district staffing and operations;
#4. determining local fair share amounts and how property tax abatements impact fair share; and
#5. the ability for districts that are at or above adequacy budget to lower their tax levy if given additional state aid
The report must be issued no later than June 30, 2017 with its findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation. The legislation would be introduced in the Senate and the Assembly. It would not be referred to committees. The proposed legislation would be given three readings and must be approved or rejected by the Senate and the Assembly without changes or amendments.
Over the next 5 years, $500 million would be added to the state budget for school districts to give districts 100% of the aid as determined by SFRA.
The process for the commission will include three public hearings to gather input and then three hearings after the report is issued to elicit public input on the findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation.
It now goes to the Assembly for consideration.
https://www.nj.gov/governor/
https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/
In addition to the four semifinalists, 25 students have been identified as Commended Students in the most recent competition.
Advanced Placement Scholars Named
One hundred thirty six students at Ridgewood High School have been named AP Scholars by the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college level Advanced Placement Examinations.
The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on the students’ performance on AP exams. At RHS:
About 18 percent of the more than 1.9 million high school students worldwide who took AP Examinations in May 2016 performed at a sufficiently high level to merit such recognition.
Twenty-one award recipients are juniors. These students have at least one more year in which to do college-level work, and possibly earn another Advanced Placement Award.
