By Kelly Heyboer | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on December 15, 2015 at 9:30 AM, updated December 15, 2015 at 10:55 AM
RANDOLPH — David Browne appeared to be a rising star in New Jersey education.
The veteran educator had a $167,500-a-year job as superintendent of the Randolph school district in Morris County.
In recent years, Browne had been taking a more public role in education, writing editorials and speaking to legislators as an advocate for statewide education issues. He and his wife, Upper Saddle River school superintendent Monica Browne, lived in a historic house in an upscale neighborhood in Bergen County with their two young daughters.
“For too long, educators – and I’ve been guilty of this myself – have stopped trying to have a voice. No more. I don’t want to stay quiet anymore,” Browne, 56, told an education blogger over the summer.
Then, he went silent and his life appeared to fall apart.
In September, Browne took a medical leave from his job with no public explanation. On Oct. 13, he was found lying outside his garage as it burned to the ground. Two weeks later, he resigned from his superintendent job, accepting a $62,350 payout from the school district.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The nation’s second-largest school district shut down all of its campuses Tuesday after an emailed threat targeted students at many Los Angeles-area schools.
The shooting in nearby San Bernardino that left 14 people dead this month influenced the decision to close all the schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, which 640,000 students attend, Superintendent Ramon Cortines said.
New York City officials say they received the same threat, but quickly concluded that it was a hoax. New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said he thought Los Angeles officials overreacted.
Bratton said the person who wrote the note claimed to be a jihadist, but made errors that made it clear the person was a prankster.
A law enforcement official says the threat was emailed to a school board member late Monday and appeared to come from overseas. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.
DECEMBER 15, 2015, 11:55 AM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2015, 12:07 PM
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEWARK — Three men were charged Tuesday in a computer hacking and spamming scheme that federal prosecutors in New Jersey said compromised the personal information of 60 million people and netted more than $2 million in profits.
Timothy Livingston, 30, of Boca Raton, Florida, operated a business known as A Whole Lot of Nothing that sent spam emails on behalf of clients including insurance companies and online pharmacies, charging $5 to $9 for each spam email that resulted in a completed transaction, according to authorities.
In addition to Livingston, the indictment charged Tomasz Chmielarz, 32, of Rutherford, New Jersey; and Devin McArthur, 27, of Ellicott City, Maryland, with conspiracy to commit fraud and related activity in connection with computers and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Livingston and Chmielarz also were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and related activity in connection with electronic mail.
Another reminder this morning of the dangers and the quick decisions NJ police sometimes have to make. This gun was being held by a man on Route 17 in Rochelle Park. It’s a BB gun, but the Bergen County prosecutor says the orange tip had been painted over. Is there any realistic way for the officers involved not to have believed that was a real gun? The man was shot and is at the hospital
DECEMBER 14, 2015, 7:46 AM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2015, 6:43 AM
BY RICHARD COWEN AND JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Why a Maywood man had a BB gun whose orange tip had been painted black is one of the questions detectives were investigating Monday after the man crashed a car outside the Bergen County Board of Social Services office and was shot by two Rochelle Park police officers.
The shooting occurred at 3:27 a.m. after police were called to the building at 218 Route 17 north by security officers, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said via his Twitter account.
The driver remained inside the Toyota sedan after he crashed it in a driveway, the prosecutor said. The officers’ shots struck him in the lower body.
Molinelli identified the driver as Matthew S. Chaseman, 46, of 14 Marlboro Court in Maywood, and said his injuries did not appear to require surgery.
Chaseman was being treated Monday at Hackensack University Medical Center. The officers were not injured in the incident, which delayed operations at the Social Services office for several hours.
As of late Monday afternoon, authorities had not provided a detailed explanation of what had prompted the shots, which also shattered the rear window on the driver’s side of the car.
A Teaneck couple who identified themselves as Chaseman’s parents pulled into the driveway of their home shortly before 3:30 p.m.
The woman said she had called the hospital. “He’s going to be fine,” she said. “We’re not at all concerned.”
By Jim Lambert NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on December 14, 2015 7:15 AM
Mike Glynn, one of the state’s most successful track and field and cross-country coaches, will be inducted into the New York Armory Coaches Hall of Fame later this month, the New York Armory announced.
Glynn, along with the coaches listed below, will be inducted into the Armory Coaches Hall of Fame during the AT&T Hall of Fame Invitational on December 19.
Glynn, who began his coaching career at Paramus Catholic (1966-79), where he built a powerhouse in boys cross country and track and field, retired from coaching at Ridgewood last spring after leading the Maroons program from 1985-2000 and from 2003-2014.
During his time at Ridgewood, Glynn’s teams have won six Bergen Group titles and five NNJIL titles. His Ridgewood squads have won 12 straight Group 4 sectional titles since 2012.
Glynn, a retired guidance counselor, produced five indoor state individual champions and 22 outdoor individual group champions. His track and field teams earned five Bergen County team titles, shared a sixth, and won 33 Bergen Group Championships.
DECEMBER 14, 2015, 11:29 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2015, 6:33 AM
BY JOAN VERDON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
One of North Jersey’s oldest shopping centers, formerly known as Bergen Mall and reborn as The Outlets at Bergen Town Center, is preparing for another major makeover.
The Paramus shopping center’s owner is planning an expansion — reportedly to add a level above the existing center — to meet demand for space at the mall, which has benefited in recent years from the success of its off-price and outlet tenants, the fastest-growing category in apparel retailing.
Urban Edge Properties, the public company that owns the mall, expects to invest as much as $130 million in a 200,000-square-foot addition to The Outlets at Bergen Town Center, according to a recent financial filing by the company. That would make the project similar in size to the last renovation and expansion of the mall in 2006, and would increase its size by about 20 percent.
The proposal is a sign of the strength of the North Jersey retail market, and particularly Paramus. The planned revamp would be the latest example of malls responding to pressure to constantly evolve as they face the challenge of online commerce and changing shopping patterns.
Urban Edge has revealed some details about the project in public financial documents, and in meetings with analysts, but has not yet submitted plans to Paramus. Those familiar with the project said Urban Edge plans to add a third retail level over part of the existing shopping center, the section of the mall that houses the majority of its stores and the parking deck. One source said the expansion could be larger than 200,000 square feet, and possibly as big as 500,000 square feet.
Bergen Town Center is 1.2 million square feet. It is divided into two separate sections — the parcel west of Forest Avenue, which is a traditional enclosed mall with a parking deck and a parking lot bordered by a strip of additional stores, and the area east of Forest Avenue, which includes freestanding stores, including a Lowe’s and an REI store that provides gear for camping and hiking.
The enclosed mall portion was 99.9 percent occupied as of the end of September, according to Urban Edge’s third-quarter earnings report.
Ridgewood NJ, could a new APP now being used in Boston be the answer to Ridgewood’s Parking problems? According to the news Park Wise App, it’s all in a days work . The Park wise App now available in Boston allows you to view free spots and soon-to-be open spots in your area . It also tracks parking regulations and street cleaning schedules and some would say the best part is it automatically reminds you where you parked .
From their website; ParkWise is a Boston based parking app that alerts users to scheduled street sweeping taking place in their neighborhood, as well as other features like helping them find an open parking spot.
When a driver is looking for a parking spot, ParkWise provides real time information about open parking spots, as well as the location of soon-to-be open spots in the area. Once a driver finds a spot and parks their vehicle, ParkWise will save the location for the driver’s future reference. It will also alert the driver about any upcoming street cleaning scheduled to take place at the parking spot location, or any other restrictions like events and festivals.
ParkWise automatically updates the status of a parking spot for other users. When a driver approaches their vehicle, ParkWisewill automatically alert other drivers in the area about the soon-to-be open spot, and once they drive away, it will be marked as open.
ParkWise aims to create drivers’ communities where neighbors share information about available street parking spots to save time and gas for everyone in the community.
Unlike other parking apps, ParkWise complies with city regulations and does not allow users to sell or hold their spots. We created an app that is fair and legal. All parking spots are first come, first served.
ParkWise currently covers most Boston neighborhoods including Somerville and Cambridge. ( https://www.northendparking.com/ )
So could this be it , a new APP to bring downtown Ridgewood Shoppers into the 21st century ? Certainly it would be far cheaper and faster to roll out than building a garage .
ParkWise helps Boston drivers find empty parking spots
There never seem to be enough parking spaces on Boston’s crowded streets, but a local company is teaming up with an Israeli firm to help drivers hunt them down.
Anagog Ltd., of Tel Aviv, uses the location trackers in thousands of smartphones to identify empty parking spots, much the way Google Maps reports on traffic conditions by using GPS to track the speed of smartphones traveling on the same road.
Anagog’s software can tell when a phone is moving at driving speed, when it’s slowed to a walking pace or stopped altogether. When a phone goes from 40 miles per hour down to a dead stop, then starts moving at 5 miles an hour, the software infers that the user was in a car, parked, and got out.
The place where the rapid motion stopped is now identified as a parking space. When the driver returns to his car and pulls away, the increased speed indicates the car has left its space, which is now available to others.
“It is not foolproof, but it certainly gives a level of visibility that is not available today,” said Jake Levant, Anagog’s chief marketing officer.
Anagog’s technology has been embedded into ParkWise, a free parking app developed by StreetInfoTech LLC of Boston, and the companies are currently testing the service in the North End.
NJ Senator Mike Doherty (R-23) questioned New Jersey’s outsized spending on transportation infrastructure, saying that he has not found a satisfactory explanation as to why the state pays more than ten times what similarly populous states like Massachusetts pay to fix their roads, bridges and highways
Sweeney Trots out ‘New Jersey – Investing in You’ with Key Senators
They came bearing gifts in the Christmas season, – $174 million’s worth, to be precise – state Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) and his colleagues in the Senate Democratic Caucus, the statehouse cough-up of seven weeks-worth of round table visits around New Jersey in the respective districts of the senators who now stood sedately at attention with Sweeney. Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ Read more
DECEMBER 14, 2015, 7:30 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2015, 7:59 PM
BY SALVADOR RIZZO
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
Democrats and Republicans in the state Senate unveiled competing economic plans for New Jersey on Monday, with each side promising a lasting fix to the haphazard way the state has been funding major expenses such as pensions and road projects over the years.
The dueling plans are as ambitious as their details are hazy.
On the Democratic side, Senate President Stephen Sweeney outlined a plan to invest at least $1 billion over the next four years on transportation projects, school initiatives, new study commissions and a new “infrastructure bank.”
His plan calls for expanding pre-kindergarten to 17 school districts that do not now offer it; extending light rail service farther into Bergen County and widening the eligibility range for tax breaks on retiree income, raising the income limit for married couples from $10,000 to $100,000. Funding for higher-education scholarships also would grow.
But Senate Democrats did not include a funding mechanism; Sweeney said his proposal would spur enough economic activity to pay for itself, namely by enticing older residents to stay in-state instead of moving after they retire.
“This state has been starved of investment for too long, and we now need to refocus,” he said at a Statehouse news conference.
The recent terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., have vaulted terrorism and national security to become the American public’s top concern, and they’ve helped drive President Barack Obama’s job rating to 43 percent — its lowest level in more than a year, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
What’s more, seven-in-10 Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction — the highest percentage here since Aug. 2014.
And 71 percent say the shootings and random acts of violence that have taken place this year — from Charleston, S.C., Oregon and Colorado, to the terrorist shootings in San Bernardino, Calif. — are now are now a permanent part of American life.
“For most of 2015, the country’s mood, and thus the presidential election, was defined by anger and the unevenness of the economic recovery,” says Democratic pollster Fred Yang of Hart Research Associates, which conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies. “Now that has abruptly changed to fear.”
That kind focus on security and terrorism “is a very different campaign than the one we thought we’d be running,” McInturff adds, referring to the 2016 presidential race.
The billionaire businessman surges to 41 percent after releasing proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S.
By NICK GASS
12/14/15 12:00 PM EST
Updated 12/14/15 12:48 PM EST
Donald Trump just got a little more vault in his ceiling. Nationwide, the polling-obsessed Manhattan multi-billionaire and leading Republican presidential candidate broke into the 40s on Monday.
According to the results of the latest Monmouth University poll surveying voters identifying as Republican or independents leaning toward the GOP, Trump earned 41 percent, nearly tripling the support of his closest rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who took 14 percent.
The poll underscores Trump’s success at keeping voters fixated on his unprecedented presidential campaign. The latest national survey was taken after Trump landed another whopper, proposing in an emailed statement last Monday to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. The statement gave Trump another boost of media attention, and some speculated it was designed to shift the conversation away from a Monmouth poll from Iowa released earlier that day that showed Cruz with a 5-point edge in the state.
Trump was still smarting from that poll last Friday, trashing it during a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa, though he may change his tune after this latest result.
DECEMBER 14, 2015, 7:46 AM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2015, 2:06 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN AND RICHARD COWEN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Two Rochelle Park police officers shot a man who was armed with a BB gun outside the Bergen County Board of Social Services Monday morning, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said.
Police were called to the building at 218 Route 17 North in Rochelle Park by security after the man crashed his car and remained inside it, the prosecutor said on Twitter.
The officers’ shots hit the suspect in the lower part of his body and shattered the driver’s side rear window of his Toyota sedan, authorities said. Molinelli said the injuries were not life-threatening and did not appear to require surgery.
The prosecutor identified the suspect as Matthew S. Chaseman, 46, of 14 Marlboro Court in Maywood. Chaseman is being treated at Hackensack University Medical Center. The officers were not injured.
Molinelli said that it wasn’t immediately clear whether Chaseman had a real gun. The orange tip of the gun had been painted black, the prosecutor said. He said he did not know whether Chaseman pointed the gun at any of the officers.
About 11 a.m., half a dozen detectives from the offices of the Bergen County Prosecutor and Sheriff entered Chaseman’s apartment at Hammel Gardens and removed several bags of his belongings. The evidence included a bow and arrows.
Ridgewood NJ, A Ridgewood attorney says that he is planning on filing a class action lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributors of hoverboards a this years popular holiday gift.
Attorney Joe Santoli tells the Ridgewood blog that he plans to file the suit against hoverboards in New Jersey, New York and California. Whats a Hoverboard you ask ? Hoverboards are a motorized, two-wheel, skateboard-sized vehical that users stand on. They have been a very hot gift item with millennials.
Santoli’s suit claims that hoverboards are unreasonably dangerous because they use lithium batteries that are “notoriously unstable” and “prone to fire.” He says that there have been numerous reports of fires related to the boards. Santoli claims that there have been 10 Hoverboard fires this year .
Santoli is looking to talk to purchasers of ALL hoverboards since they ALL have the potential to cause serious bodily injury due to not only the fire risk but also to the inherent instability of riding them. He can be reached at 201-926-9200 .
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is currently investigating reports of hoverboard fires, some of which have been captured on video and gone viral. Spokeswoman Patty Davis called it a high-priority investigation because of the scooter’s sudden popularity.
Earlier this month several airlines have banned the hoverboards in checked or carry-on luggage due to the alleged fire risk.
Santoli’s suit will demand the immediate recall of the hoverboards and refunds of the full purchase price for consumers who bought them.
Ridgewood NJ, Find out first-hand why Super Science Saturday, the biggest science and technology exhibition in Northern New Jersey, has won a prestigious award from the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame.
Science professionals, parents, teachers and students are all welcome to play a role in making this award-winning event an even bigger success in 2016. Super Science Saturday welcomes new members for the all-volunteer Executive Committee that is planning the next exhibition, scheduled for February 27 at Ridgewood High School.
There also are a variety of other volunteer opportunities for those who are passionate about science and technology and want to be involved in a high-impact program like Super Science Saturday– from helping spread the word about this award-winning exhibition, coordinating with new adult and student presenters or just assisting on the day
The 28th annual Super Science Saturday is a particularly special event, as the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame (NJIOF) recently recognized Super Science Saturday for its
“Advancement of Invention & Process.” This award recognized Super Science Saturday for creating and sustaining this annual half-day exhibition, which showcases the marvels of science and technology for attendees of all ages.
NJIHOF honors inventors whose lifetime work has contributed significantly to the prosperity of New Jersey. Inaugural award winners include Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison. Over the years, NJIOF has recognized Nobel Laureates and prominent researchers in many fields, including those who have pioneered life-saving drugs, and contributed to advanced communications technology, astrophysics and NASA missions.
Super Science Saturday’s Executive Committee is proud to be recognized along with such distinguished award-winners.
Ridgewood NJ, (201) Family magazine has named 45 doctors from The Valley Hospital’s Medical staff to its “Top Doctors” list.
In order to select these exceptional physicians, MSP Communications completed an extensive, multistep vetting process. Candidates were initially identified through research and the recommendations of other physicians. They were then evaluated in 10 areas ranging from honors and awards to leadership positions. After a round of peer reviews, the final selection was completed, with only around 5 percent of physicians in a state or region being chosen for this distinction
