DECEMBER 30, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2015, 9:59 AM
BY BY DIANA OLIVEIRA
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Working behind the scenes at a broadcast of a presidential primary debate can be chaotic. Anything can go wrong at any moment, and the technical crew is expected to think on its feet and try to salvage potential disasters.
The role is an embodiment of stress. But 20-year-old Ashling Stanek was unaffected by the pressure of being a runner for ABC’s Martha Raddatz and George Stephanopoulos at last Saturday’s Democratic debate. In fact, backstage was where the Saint Anselm College junior felt most comfortable.
“I’m least stressed when there’s lots to do, and when I’m busy and moving and figuring everything out,” said Stanek.
A 2013 Ridgewood High School graduate, Stanek is currently a member of the Kevin Harrington Student Ambassador program at the college’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics (NHIOP) in Manchester, N.H. Her position at NHIOP – the center features presentations by renowned speakers, authors and scholars almost daily – has helped her become involved with networks like WMUR, ABC, MSNBC, ESPN and CSPAN. She met the majority of the 2016 presidential candidates, some of them multiple times. She was, therefore, more than qualified to be selected to take part in ABC’s weekend-long coverage of the Democratic primary debate on campus.
Growing up, Stanek regularly sat with her father and discussed what was in the news, specifically the goings-on in Washington, D.C. So, she was understandably thrilled when she learned she’d be putting her longtime knowledge of politics to good use and witnessing political action in person as a member of the production’s crew.
“I’m really interested into going into media production,” said Stanek. “I was really excited to finally get the opportunity to work with all the technology.”
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving Ken Smith parking lot in Ridgewood to be repurposed
December 31,2015
Boyd A. Loving
Ridgewood NJ ,At a recent public meeting of the Village Council, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld reported that the large parking lot at the former Ken Smith Motors will be repurposed by the property’s owner.
The lot is now being used for CBD employee parking on a permit only basis. Village of Ridgewood parking enforcement agents patrol the lot and issue summonses to violators. The Village currently receives a percentage of each permit fee.
The effective date for complete control by the property’s owner was said to be 1/1/2016. It is reported that the owner plans to offer commuter parking as well as employee parking (maybe “open” parking as well). The Village will not receive any revenue under the new plan, and will not provide any enforcement services.
Special Public Meeting – Multi-Family Housing – January 8, 2016
Ridgewood NJ , There will be a Village Council Special Public Meeting held on Friday, January 8, 2016 @ 5PM in the Court Room at Village Hall. Various Consultants will be presenting proposals for the 4 Multi-Family Housing Studies covering; fiscal impact, traffic, education & municipal infrastructure.
The firms that are competing to conduct the special impact studies that residents overwhelmingly requested on September 30th. The question arises is ,”why would you schedule such a meeting at 5:00pm on a Friday unless you did not want residents to attend?”
Contrary to the view point promoted by the Deputy Mayor , most residents do have a jobs. Jobs are particular necessary to pay the enormous amount of federal ,state and local taxes . No one who can afford to live in Ridgewood who works in the private sector gets home that early .
The other issue that would make sense would be to delay any decision regarding the parking garage until the comprehensive studies are done. It makes absolutely no sense to hire an outside company to conduct the studies without including the proposed garage.
I can’t recall the Village Council ever approving a resolution permitting such an operation (at The Stable).
Does anyone know how this all happened and whether it’s legal? Are they operating there for free (on the taxpayer’s dime), or is money exchanging hands? All a mystery.
It’s the worst-kept secret in the Garden State: People are leaving the state in droves — New Jersey has the highest out-migration rate in the nation — and those who stay aren’t doing well.
But New Jersey is also the nation’s leader in another troubling, underappreciated category: Nearly half — 48 percent — of New Jersey’s young adults are living with their parents, more than in any other state.
Let that sink in. Tens of thousands of people in their prime — who should be building their dreams — are stuck in Mom and Dad’s basement.
Living with the parents means other dreams are being put on hold, like getting married, having a family or starting a business. As a millennial myself, I was fortunate to get married a few weeks ago. But 71 percent of young adults in the state have never been married.
Everyone has to accept disappointment in life, but far too many young New Jerseyans are getting used to disappointment being the status quo. And far too many families are literally being broken up as generations move out of state. I asked around recently — what’s life like in the Garden State for millennials?
“I’m living at home, have three degrees and can’t find a paying job anywhere! I’m currently working for free so I have some experience to put down on my résumé,” one 30-year-old attorney told me.
Don’t believe me when I say New Jersey’s economy is breaking up families? Then don’t take it from me, take it from a retired mother of three adult children, who said: “We have three kids living in three different states who will never return! They are asking us when we are leaving.”
If Hillary plays the sexism card, then Bill’s behavior is fair game.
Dec. 29, 2015 6:35 p.m. ET
Donald Trump last week used some typically coarse language to describe Hillary Clinton,who responded by accusing Mr. Trump of sexism while announcing that she is unleashing Bill Clinton to campaign for her. This was too ripe an opening for Mr. Trump, who is now attacking Hillary for acquiescing in Bill’s predations against women.
Mr. Trump is rude and crude, but in this case he is raising an issue that rightly bears on the 2016 election campaign and the prospect of a third Clinton term. Mrs. Clinton wants to use her gender both as a political sword and shield to win the White House. The purpose is to make male politicians less willing to take her on, while reinforcing her main and not-so-subtle campaign theme that it’s time to elect the first woman President.
So she and her allies will try to spin any criticism as sexist. Even politically correct Bernie Sanders got this treatment after he said during a debate this autumn that “all the shouting in the world” wouldn’t keep guns out of the wrong hands. Mrs. Clinton later said that “I haven’t been shouting, but sometimes when a woman speaks out, some people think it’s shouting.” Against Republicans, she’ll play the “war on women” theme non-stop.
Yet no one in American politics better personifies a war on women than Mrs. Clinton’s husband. For readers too young to recall the 1990s, we aren’t merely referring to Trumpian gibes about female looks or “Mad Men” condescension. Mr. Clinton was a genuine sexual harasser in the classic definition of exploiting his power as a workplace superior, and the Clinton entourage worked hard to smear and discredit his many women accusers.
Start with “bimbo eruptions,” the phrase that Mr. Clinton’s Arkansas fixer Betsey Wrightused to describe the women who had affairs with Bill. Gennifer Flowers almost derailed his primary campaign in 1992, until Hillary stood by her man on CBS’s “60 Minutes” and the media portrayed Ms. Flowers as a golddigger.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge has certified two shareholder class actions accusing Facebook Inc of hiding concerns about its growth forecasts prior to the social media company’s May 2012 initial public offering.
U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet in Manhattan said retail and institutional investors who claimed to lose money from buying Facebook shares at inflated prices in connection with the $16 billion IPO may pursue their respective claims as groups.
The decision is dated Dec. 11 but had been kept under seal, which Sweet lifted in an order made public on Tuesday.
Other Facebook defendants include Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and other officials.
Facebook is appealing the class certifications, which the Menlo Park, California-based company said are “without merit” and conflict with “well-settled” precedent.
Shareholders accused Facebook of concealing internal projections prior to its IPO of how growth in mobile devices, an area in which it generated little ad revenue, might hurt its prospects, even as it quietly warned underwriters to cut their forecasts.
Facebook made its market debut on May 18, 2012 at $38 per share. Its share price fell to $17.55 on Sept. 4, 2012 and stayed below the IPO price for more than a year.
The stock ultimately rebounded, and closed on Tuesday up $1.33 at $107.26 on Nasdaq. That gave Facebook a roughly $303 billion market value, Reuters data show.
A powerful solar storm set to slam Earth today will make for stunning views of the Northern Lights just before New Year’s Eve. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center said the “strong” storm could allow the Northern Lights to dip as far south as Oregon and Illinois.
NOAA classifies solar storms on a scale of one to five (one being the weakest; five being the most severe). Today’s storm is forecast to be a G3 event, meaning it could have the strength to cause fluctuations in some power grids, intermittent radio blackouts in higher latitudes and possible GPS issues.
A House panel on Wednesday announced it is opening an investigation into U.S. intelligence collection that may have swept up members of Congress.
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s announcement of the probe comes after a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. collected information on private exchanges between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of Congress during ongoing negotiations for nuclear deal with Iran.
“The House Intelligence Committee is looking into allegations in the Wall Street Journal regarding possible Intelligence Community (IC) collection of communications between Israeli government officials and Members of Congress,” Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said in a statement. “The Committee has requested additional information from the IC to determine which, if any, of these allegations are true, and whether the IC followed all applicable laws, rules, and procedures.”
DECEMBER 30, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2015, 11:05 AM
BY RODRIGO TORREJON
STAFF WRITER |
WALDWICK SUBURBAN NEWS
Waldwick – The Planning Board is expected to hear a new application from the developer of a previously-rejected Solana assisted living facility starting Jan. 6.
Residents opposed the facility, focusing on its height variance claiming it would result in a building that loomed over their homes to the north. Residents eventually created “Preserve Our Waldwick,” which hired both an attorney and planning consultant to fortify opposition.
By Jim Finkle and Dustin Volz
Reuters
December 29, 2015
By Jim Finkle and Dustin Volz
(Reuters) – Twitter Inc has clarified its definition of abusive behaviour that will prompt it to delete accounts, banning “hateful conduct” that promotes violence against specific groups.
The social media company disclosed the changes on Tuesday in a blog post, following rising criticism it was not doing enough to thwart Islamic State’s use of the site for propaganda and recruitment.
“As always, we embrace and encourage diverse opinions and beliefs, but we will continue to take action on accounts that cross the line into abuse,” Megan Cristina, director of Trust and Safety, said in the blog.
The new rules do not mention Islamic State or any other group by name.
“You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or disease,” according to the revised rules. ()
The company previously used a more generic warning that banned users from threatening or promoting “violence against others.”
In filling in for talk show host Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday, conservative commentator Mark Steyn drew a comparison between Bill Cosby, who has lost much of his exposure after allegations that he may have raped numerous have come to the forefront, and former President Bill Clinton, who reportedly will be campaigning for his wife, Democratic presidential Hillary Clinton.
Steyn pointed out that one has become persona non grata while the other has been universally embraced as “the most beloved guy in America.”
“I mean that as a seriously question incidentally,” Steyn said. “Why is Bill Cosby finished? He was the most beloved guy. We keep hearing Bill Clinton is the most beloved guy in America. ‘If Bill Clinton was on the ticket, he’d sweep all 50 states. It would be a landslide. Americans love Bill Clinton.’ They loved Bill Cosby – nice grandfatherly Bill Cosby. But somehow, for some reason – you don’t see ‘The Bill Cosby Show’ on TV anymore. You don’t see it on the rerun channels. He is not appearing anywhere.”
Ridgewood NJ, The RHS Robotics’ team competed in the FIRST Technology Challenge at Englewood as part of the FIRST Robotics league. The RHS team came in first place in their competition in conjunction with their alliance team. Aside from building a robot meant to complete a set of tasks in the fastest time, the RHS team was also honored for their professionalism and sense of community by receiving the Connect Award. The group had to submit an engineering notebook along with goals for sustaining the program and recruiting new students to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. They also had to engage with the engineering community at large.
Survey to Gather Opinions on Full-Day K
Ridgewood NJ , The Full-day Kindergarten Exploratory Committee will seek residents’ input via an online community survey, opening January 4. All residents are invited and encouraged to participate. Click here for more information and to view the postcard that will be mailed to all residents.
The Full-day Kindergarten Exploratory Committee now has a folder on the Curriculum web page. Click here to go directly to the folder, which contains reports done by demographer Ross Haber.
The teachers union (NEA) recognizes that full-day kindergarten programs close achievement gaps between young children from minority and low-income families and their peers. By providing a solid foundation of learning to children from all backgrounds, full-day kindergarten programs ensure all students’ academic, social, and emotional success.( https://www.nea.org/home/11541.htm )
Be wary of mandating full-day kindergarten
A petition circulating throughout many school districts asks residents to support the extension of the kindergarten program from a half-day program to a full-day one. While no one disputes the advantages and positive impact of early childhood education, those supporting this endeavor are trying to pull the wool over the taxpayers’ eyes by minimizing the cost of their new program.
Efforts to make full-day kindergarten a state mandate by state law stalled because Gov. Christie understands that whatever the state mandates, the state must then pay for. Recently, he vetoed a bill that would create a task force to study issues related to the establishment of full-day kindergarten.
In his veto message, Gov. Christie stated, “Further, while the Department of Education is ready, willing, and able to assist districts in implementing a full-day program, the decision of whether to offer a full-day program should reside with local boards of education and their constituents.”
Since the decision on the extension of full-day kindergarten was not “solved” in one fell swoop, each district remains free to decide for itself what it would like to do. In this respect, a district-wide vote on a referendum of this nature represents the purest form of democracy.
Today is Holy Family Sunday, the day on which the Church celebrates family life and asks us to reflect on the family as
the basic unit of society. It is the family in which we are nurtured and nourished and which, throughout our lives,
offers the support that allows us to continue to grow and, at the same time, to be secure in the knowledge that there is a
place where we are loved. It is in the family that we experience the ties that bind, bringing us together into the
most intimate of all human relationships. We all know that families continue under a great deal of stress right now, not
only because so many households now have to have two “breadwinners,” but also because of the number of marriage
relationships that have failed and the stress of “blended families,” and the continued pressure to re-define marriage,
now also including the looming possibility that polygamy will be the next hot-button issue.
As our reflection, I once again offer this prayer, composed by the poet Robert Louis Stevenson, for all our families and
for the parish family of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. It captures so many of the deepest wishes we hope for our
families and it is my hope, prayer and wish for all of you. Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank you
for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope
with which we wait for tomorrow; for the health, the work, the food and the bright skies that make our lives
delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth.
Let peace abound in our small community. Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Give us grace and
strength to forbear and persevere. Give us the grace to accept and forgive offenses. Forgetful ourselves, help
us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others.
Give us courage and gaiety and a quiet mind. Spare us to our friends, soften us to our enemies. Bless us in all
our endeavors. Give us the strength to encounter that which is to come that we may be brave in peril,
constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath and in all changes in fortune, and down to the gates of death,
loyal and loving, one to another.
As the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children to their father, we ask of You this help and
mercy for Christ’s sake. Amen.
God bless all our families and this parish family of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and a very large and warm thank
you for all of you who make this parish a real family.
All peace and joy in the New Year,
Fr. Ron
P.S. And here I go with another PS, which directly affects this parish family that I just wrote about. I have
briefly written previously on the proposed parking garage the Village is considering building on the site of
the present ground lot on Hudson Street. The Council had a first vote on the authorization of the bonds to pay
for the lot. I am not sure if the Council has officially approved the largest of the designs, for 400+ cars, but, I
believe the bond issue would be for an amount that is needed for that design.
As I wrote, I have concerns about the proposed size of that project, the traffic it could create around the church, and the
proposed re-orientation of Hudson and Passaic Streets, affecting the way funerals park at Mount Carmel and ingress and
egress into and from the driveways that surround the former convent. As I write this, we have engaged an
independent consultant to review the Traffic Impact Study prepared for the Village.
I invite all interested parishioners to one of two meetings to be held this week, one on Tuesday evening, December
29, 2015 at 7:30 PM or, for those who prefer not to come out at night, Wednesday afternoon, December 30, 2015
at 2:00 PM. Both meetings will be held in the Parish
Center and the purpose is to give you any information about our review of the Traffic Impact Study and to
offer you the opportunity to respond to the project proposed by the Village. In preparation, I encourage
everyone to go to the Village website www.ridgewoodnj.net . If you click on the Hudson
Street garage icon you will find some valuable information, including the simulations of the designed
garage as it fits into adjacent buildings and from different perspectives. It is very helpful in understanding the project.
It is important that we hear from you before January 6, 2016, when the Village Council will take up the Bond Issue again.
