James - THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG. - Page 2826 of 3743

Posted on August 28, 2015August 28, 2015 by James — 1 Comment

Ridgewood police beef up DWI patrols

Honda-Civics-collide-Ridgewood-Police-Ridgewood-Fire-Deparrtment3-300x225

file photo by Boyd Loving

AUGUST 27, 2015 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015, 4:36 PM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Village police officers will be cracking down on drunk driving over the next two weeks.

The nationwide campaign, titled “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over,” will run through Sept. 7. It is aimed at reducing the amount of drunk-driving accidents that typically occur during hectic travel times.

Ridgewood is enforcing the initiative by putting extra patrols on the road focused solely on catching those drinking and driving.

“When an officer is only looking for DWIs, they can concentrate on that. That’s why we see an increase in DWIs during the campaign,” said Sgt. John Chuck of the Ridgewood Police Department.

Chief John Ward said patrol units also park close to the train station and bars to encourage people to take alternate transportation home. He said that police sometimes even call cabs to transport people home safely.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/crime-and-courts/ridgewood-dwi-patrols-ramped-up-1.1399647

Posted on August 28, 2015September 10, 2021 by James — Leave a comment

September 11th – Ridgewood Remembers Our Neighbors and Friends

For the month of September, “Portraits” of the 12 residents Ridgewood lost in the Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001, will be displayed in the Ridgewood Library Auditorium which is open 7 days a week.

All are invited to visit this exhibit to reflect and remember –

Richard Blood; Michael Carroll; Daniel McGinley; James Munhall; Charlie Murphy; Steven Paterson; Michael San Phillip; Bruce Simmons; Steven Strobert; Gina Sztejnberg; Jon Vandevander; and Christopher Wodenshek.

Mt. Carmel Church will hold a Mass at 7PM on September 11th

Posted on August 28, 2015August 27, 2015 by James — Leave a comment

Donald Trump trounces GOP field, Biden leads general election match-ups

By Theodore Schleifer, CNN

shington (CNN)Vice President Joe Biden fares better against top GOP candidates in hypothetical general election match-ups than Hillary Clinton, according to a new national survey.

The Quinnipiac University poll, released Thursday, also shows Donald Trump smashing the GOP presidential competition garnering 28% support from registered Republican voters in the 17-member field. The real estate mogul’s closest competitor is retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who tallies 12%.

Just 7% said they would vote for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a record low since November 2013.

Those results show just how far both Trump — now the Republican front-runner — and Bush — the old one — have come. Bush led national polls for much of the first half of 2015, but was quickly dislodged by Trump, after he announced his presidential ambitions this June.

Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida both are tied with Bush at 7%, the polls shows, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at 6% and former tech CEO Carly Fiorina and Ohio Gov. John Kasich tied at 5%.

“Donald Trump soars; Ben Carson rises; Jeb Bush slips and some GOP hopefuls seem to disappear,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the survey. “Trump proves you don’t have to be loved by everyone, just by enough Republicans to lead the GOP pack.”

And Trump certainly isn’t loved by everyone, the survey shows. About 1-in-4 GOP voters say they would never vote for Trump, topping the field. Bush comes in second with 18%.

Clinton still leads the Democratic race at 45% support from registered Democrats, followed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at 22% and Biden — who is currently mulling a 2016 bid — at 18%.

But Biden, currently sporting the highest favorability rating among any 2016 candidates polled of either party, tops Trump 48% to 40%, compared to Clinton, who beats Trump 45% to 41%. Biden also beats Bush, 45% to 39%, compared to Clinton, who beats Bush 42% to 40%.

https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/27/politics/donald-trump-jeb-bush-poll-quinnipiac/index.html

Posted on August 27, 2015August 27, 2015 by James — 3 Comments

Department of Homeland Security Raids Rentboy, an Escort Website

Raid of Rentboy, an Escort Website, Angers Gay Activists

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORDAUG. 26, 2015

For some gay activists, it had shades of bathhouse raids and gay-bar roundups from decades ago. On Tuesday, federal authorities burst into the Union Square office of the gay-escort website Rentboy.com and arrested the chief executive and several employees on prostitution charges.

Rentboy, which federal authorities called the biggest male-escort website, had been around for almost two decades, allowing escorts to pay to advertise themselves. It was well known in the gay community, hosting pool parties, dances and awards shows throughout the country.

After federal authorities charged its top executives with promoting prostitution, seized the website and went after the business’s assets on Tuesday, many gay activists were infuriated. The Transgender Law Center, a civil-rights group, criticized the arrests, as did some male sex workers. Several activists said they would use the episode to renew calls to decriminalize prostitution.

“To many in our community this feels like a throwback to when the police raided gay bars in the ’50s and ’60s,” Justin Vivian Bond, a performer and an activist who is transgender, wrote in an email. “This invasion of a consensual hookup site which is run for and by members of the L.G.B.T. community feels like a real slap in the face after gentrification and the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations drove so many gay bars out of business and forced people to meet online instead of in person,” the activist added, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Danny Cruz said he had posted ads on Rentboy “to supplement income” for about seven years, starting when he moved to New York. He said he had talked regularly to the executives who were arrested, both about his business and about staying safe.

“I don’t see why the government would be interested in what two people do behind closed doors,” Mr. Cruz, who is now involved in the Sex Workers Outreach Project in Los Angeles, said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/nyregion/raid-of-rentboy-an-escort-website-angers-gay-activists.html

Posted on August 27, 2015August 27, 2015 by James — 1 Comment

Touring the camps: Ridgewood football

AUGUST 23, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2015, 1:20 AM
BY JIM MCCONVILLE
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD |
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD – There is a very different feel to the Ridgewood football team as it embarks on the 2015 campaign. The first thing that pops out is the filled-out bodies, especially among the linemen.

There is also a different intensity, one likely borne out of the disappointing way the Maroons ended the 2014 season. After starting 5-0 and outscoring opponents 220-24, they fell prey to their success.

A 35-0 loss to Paramus, a defeat that head coach Chuck Johnson called, “one of the most embarrassing moments in my 30 years here,” started a five-game losing streak.

Senior Mike Kendrick probably said it best when he recalled, “we basically got smacked in the mouth and didn’t react.”

That memory is what drives Kendrick and the rest of the seniors. You can see it in practice, as there is an extra spark to every drill.

“We’re learning from the mistakes of last year,” said Kendrick, the left tackle and only returning starter on the offensive line. “We know we have to be better than last year. We’re watching every film to see where it went wrong and focusing on being better and working on getting stronger to be able to go up against the better linemen.”

Johnson was proud that six of his players bench pressed more than 300 pounds this spring, a sign that the Maroons have bought into the work ethic.

The linemen, offensively and defensively, average an extra 20 pounds per man. How strength translates to blocking schemes is still a big question.

https://www.northjersey.com/sports/high-school-sports/football/maroons-kick-it-up-a-notch-1.1396937

Posted on August 27, 2015August 27, 2015 by James — 2 Comments

What Does Joe Biden Know?

As the vice president edges toward a presidential run, is he banking on further public disclosures to discredit the frontrunner?

YONI APPELBAUM

AUG 26, 2015

As Joe Biden edges closer to a presidential run, there’s no shortage of theories as to what he’s up to. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has built a commanding lead in the national polls, giving Biden little apparent space to gain traction. Perhaps he’s counting on the early-primary state of South Carolina to provide a critical boost. He might be banking on appearing as a stronger general-election candidate than any of his potential rivals in the primary race. Maybe after spending the past 42 years of his life running for elective office, he just can’t stop.

But there’s one intriguing theory that has so far garnered little attention: What if Biden knows something about Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton that the rest of us don’t?

After jumping to what seemed a prohibitively large early lead, Clinton has stumbled in recent months. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, hardly the most charismatic politician, has emerged as a viable challenger, generating enormous enthusiasm on the campaign trail, and surging ahead in polling averages in New Hampshire.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/08/joe-biden-hillary-clinton-email/402448/

Posted on August 27, 2015January 20, 2019 by James — 1 Comment

N.J. courses on the list as The Barclays announces future sites

AUGUST 25, 2015, 12:31 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015, 12:41 PM
BY ANDY VASQUEZ
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

EDISON — The Barclays will be spending a lot of time in New Jersey over the coming years.

The PGA Tour tournament, which changes sites each year, is being played at Plainfield Country Club in Edison this week. Tuesday morning, tournament officials unveiled the future rotation through 2022.

In the next seven years, the Barclays will be played in Jersey four times.

After two years on Long Island, the tournament will next be played in New Jersey in 2018, at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus. That begins a a stretch of three consecutive years in New Jersey.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-courses-on-the-list-as-the-barclays-announces-future-sites-1.1397925

Posted on August 27, 2015August 27, 2015 by James — Leave a comment

N.J. Supreme Court ruling a lifeline for young immigrants

AUGUST 26, 2015, 12:58 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015, 11:46 PM
BY SALVADOR RIZZO AND MONSY ALVARADO
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD

Young people living in New Jersey who entered the United States illegally as minors have the right to apply for a federal amnesty program geared toward those under 21 who were battered or abandoned in their home countries, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The court handed a victory to three immigrants who walked across the U.S.-Mexico border — one young man from India now living in Passaic County and two teenage girls from El Salvador now in Elizabeth — who argued that they could not return home because they faced life-threatening conditions such as extreme poverty and rampant gang violence.

In a 6-0 decision, the high court ordered new hearings before New Jersey family judges to determine whether the three were abused, neglected or abandoned in their home countries and whether their “best interest” is to stay in the United States.

No matter the outcome, they then may apply to federal authorities for “special immigrant juvenile status,” the court said. Only the U.S. Department of Homeland Security can make the final decision whether to grant them legal status — and, in the case of the two girls, to stop or continue their deportation proceedings, the court said.

Writing for the court, Judge Mary Catherine Cuff also found that the young man was subjected to gross negligence by his mother, his sole caregiver in India, where he was born. That finding, which reversed a lower-court ruling, could help him persuade federal officials to grant him legal status.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-supreme-court-ruling-a-lifeline-for-young-immigrants-1.1398481

Posted on August 27, 2015August 26, 2015 by James — 1 Comment

BUZZFEED: BREITBART’S BOYLE, GOTNEWS’ JOHNSON ‘WERE RIGHT’ ON MENENDEZ PROSTITUTION STORY

menednez_ridgewood trainstation_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

by BREITBART NEWS25 Aug 2015

With a new Department of Justice (DOJ) court filing showing that the feds have compiled “corroborating evidence” that allegations that Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his mega-donor Dr. Salomon Melgen solicited underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski tweeted that Breitbart News’ Matthew Boyle and GotNews’ Chuck Johnson “were right” all along.

“[I]t looks like” Boyle and Johnson “were right about Menendez according to latest FBI filing,” Kaczynski tweeted on Tuesday, referencing an earlier Tweet about the DOJ filing based off a Breitbart News story on the matter Monday evening.

Boyle had broken the story while working for The Daily Caller before the 2012 election and shortly thereafter came to work for Breitbart News. Johnson, then a freelancer, helped contribute research to the story, and since went on to found GotNews.

Boyle, Johnson and David Martosko—the former executive editor of The Daily Caller who went on to become Washington editor of the U.K. Daily Mail—wrote several followup stories digging into the same matter. All three were the subject of vicious and false attacks mainstream media-wide over their now-proven accurate reporting–including, most egregiously, from the Washington Post’s Carol Leonnig and Manuel Roig-Franzia, who inaccurately accused them of being part of a Cuban plot to take down Menendez.

https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/25/buzzfeed-breitbarts-boyle-gotnews-johnson-were-right-on-menendez-prostitution-story/

Posted on August 27, 2015June 27, 2021 by James — Leave a comment

CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES NEW INTERACTIVE FLOOD WARNING MAPS OF HO HO KUS BROOK

file photo by Boyd Loving

CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES NEW INTERACTIVE FLOOD WARNING MAPS FOR PASSAIC RIVER BASIN

MAP DETAILS SIX-MILE STRETCH OF RIVER RUNNING THROUGH WALDWICK, HO-HOKUS AND RIDGEWOOD IN BERGEN COUNTY

Ridgewood NJ, The fourth in a series of online, interactive flood-preparation maps designed to aid emergency management personnel and to inform residents in the Passaic River Basin about flooding events in real time has been launched, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin announced today. The Ho-Ho-Kus Brook Flood Inundation Map, covering a 6-mile span of the river in Bergen County’s Waldwick Borough, Ho-Ho-Kus Borough and Ridgewood, is the fourth map designated for the Passaic River Basin in response to recommendations made by Governor Christie’s Passaic River Basin Advisory Commission.

The map was developed in a partnership between the DEP and U.S. Geological Survey. Fifteen additional maps covering critical areas of the basin will be produced in coming months as part of a cooperative effort between the DEP, USGS and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Flood inundation mapping is among the recommendations in the commission’s 15-point plan for short-term and long-term measures to help mitigate flooding impacts in the basin. Governor Christie formed the commission in 2011 in response to a series of damaging floods in the basin, which covers significant portions of Bergen, Morris and Passaic counties.

Key recommendations of the plan called for better information to help prepare for and respond to flooding emergencies. “The Christie Administration remains committed to addressing flooding issues in the Passaic River Basin through mitigation, property acquisitions, de-snagging efforts and emergency preparedness and response,” Commissioner Martin said. “These easy-to-use online maps offer real-time information to residents about conditions during significant rainfalls and will assist local, state and federal officials in making critical decision to protect the public in the event of flooding.” “This flood preparedness tool highlights how our agencies and local officials are working together to create more resilient communities, and to provide better flood preparedness and responses to flooding,” added USGS Associate Director for Water Bill Werkheiser.

In addition to this latest map, flood inundation maps are being developed for Lodi, Ridgewood and Upper Saddle River along the Saddle River; for Little Falls, Pine Brook, Chatham, Millington and Clifton along the Passaic River. Maps are also being created for Pompton Lakes, Mahwah and Oakland along the Wanaque River; for two locations in Wanaque along the Wanaque River; for Pompton Plains along the Pompton River; for Riverdale and the Macopin Intake Dam along the Pequannock River; and for Little Falls along the Peckman River. Previous flood inundation maps were produced for a 2.75-mile reach of the Saddle River in Lodi; a 4.1-mile stretch of the river in Saddle River Borough; and for a 5.4-mile span of the river running downstream from Ho-Ho-Kus Borough through the Village of Ridgewood and Paramus Borough to the confluence with Hohokus Brook in the Village of Ridgewood.

To view the Hohokus Brook map, visit: https://wimcloud.usgs.gov/apps/FIM/FloodInundationMapper.html?siteno=01391000. A click on the map shows the stream flows and water depths for the stretch of the stream that extends from White’s Lake Dam in Waldwick Borough, downstream through Ho-Ho-Kus Borough to Grove Street in the Village of Ridgewood.

Monitoring tools include current stream gauges, which provide real-time data via satellites to the USGS and the National Weather Service. The flood inundation map shows where floodwaters are expected to travel. Emergency management officials and residents can use this information to evaluate the potential threat of floodwaters to property and infrastructure.

Through the website, users will also have the option to receive email notifications in real time of critical thresholds reached in the river via the USGS WaterAlert. To view the Scientific Investigations Report (SIR 2015-5064) documenting the development and methods used to create the flood inundations maps, visit: https://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sir20155064 For current conditions for USGS stream gauge 013910000 Hohokus Brook at Ho-Ho-Kus, visit: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=01391000

For information on the Governor’s 15-point Passaic Basin plan and the Passaic River Basin Flood Advisory Commission, visit: https://www.nj.gov/dep/passaicriver/

Posted on August 27, 2015August 27, 2015 by James — 19 Comments

Is the Village waiting for this to blow over. Its been over 40 days what do we need the FBI. Maybe a TV show. Maybe we should contact 48 hours

August 27,2015

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, As reported on this blog, Village Officials confirmed this month that an illegal dumping of construction materials took place behind Ridgewood’s composting facility on Lakeview Drive.

Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld said a “couple of truckloads” of asphalt, concrete blocks and other construction material were discovered at Lakeview on July 14 during a regular inspection of the area. The debris was found behind a berm at the back of the facility.
Officials are not sure of the exact date of the dumping, but it is presumed to be sometime between the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (NJDEP) previous inspection in mid-June and the date of discovery.

Ridgewood Police Capt. Jacqueline Luthcke confirmed last Wednesday the department’s investigation is still active and has been ongoing since

This is going to be the new COLD CASE for the Village of Rdgewood. The person or persons responsible will be name only when the statues of limitations are up for this crime or they are retired and collecting a pension. Either the Police Department Management is inept or the Village Manger is holding back. If the person responsible was a village employee or ” worker bee” they would be gone by now.

Posted on August 27, 2015August 27, 2015 by James — Leave a comment

Ridgewood agrees to pay $55K to settle water company’s alleged permit violations

AUGUST 26, 2015, 5:24 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015, 5:42 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — The village council has agreed to pay $55,000 to the state to settle litigation over permit violations allegedly committed by Ridgewood Water.

The council had contested the violation, issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, accusing the utility of drawing too much water into one of its wells.

Ridgewood officials had fought the state on the charges for more than two years. Water utility revenues will pay the settlement amount, officials said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-agrees-to-pay-55k-to-settle-water-company-s-alleged-permit-violations-1.1398565

Posted on August 27, 2015August 26, 2015 by James — Leave a comment

Iranian official: “Israel should be annihilated”

AUGUST 25, 2015 7:08 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER

A senior Iranian official on Tuesday said Israel “should be annihilated,” and that the thawing relations with the West would not translate into a shift in Tehran’s position concerning the Jewish state.

Hussein Sheikholeslam, a foreign affairs adviser to parliament speaker Ali Larijani, told Iranian media that contrary to remarks by British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, “Our positions against the usurper Zionist regime have not changed at all; Israel should be annihilated and this is our ultimate slogan.”

Hammond was in Iran on Monday for the reopening of the UK embassy in Tehran, and said that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had indicated a “more nuanced approach” to Israel’s existence. Hammond said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s “revolutionary sloganizing” should be distinguished from “what Iran actually does in the conduct of its foreign policy.”

“We’ve got to, as we do with quite a number of countries, distinguish the internal political consumption rhetoric from the reality of the way they conduct their foreign policy,” the Guardian quoted Hammond saying.

Sheikholeslam told a Hamas news outlet earlier this month that Iran has resisted pressure exerted by the P5+1 world powers during the nuclear negotiations to halt its political involvement in Gaza, Syria and Yemen.

“These powers admitted that the reason for their pressure on us is our position on Israel,” he said. “We told them that we reject the existence of any Israeli on this earth.”

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/08/iranian-official-israel-should-be-annihilated

Posted on August 27, 2015August 26, 2015 by James — Leave a comment

CBO report forecasts unsustainable debt in long term

By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times – Tuesday, August 25, 2015

The economy is sluggish but growing and inflation remains low, painting a decidedly mixed picture for the federal government, the Congressional Budget Office reported Tuesday, saying the fiscal situation is improving this year but will snap back by 2018 to swelling deficits and unsustainable debt.

The inflation rate is so low that Social Security beneficiaries probably won’t get a cost-of-living raise after this year, the CBO said. But tax revenue is up and spending has stayed pat, which is helping reduce the pool of red ink in the federal budget.

Combined, those numbers mean the government will run a deficit of $426 billion in fiscal year 2015, down about $60 billion from 2014 and marking the smallest deficit of President Obama’s tenure.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/25/budget-deficit-smallest-obamas-tenure-cbo/

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