JULY 13, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JULY 13, 2015, 10:58 AM
BY MATT SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
A bus pulled into the parking lot of the village’s First Presbyterian Church earlier this month, carrying some precious cargo: A group of New York City-area children, being brought into the suburbs for two weeks of enjoyment with a host family.
The visit is organized by the Fresh Air Fund, an independent, not-for-profit organization that was founded with the purpose of getting children out of low-income city areas and into the fresh, open air for a few weeks.
The families open their homes to, in many cases, a complete stranger.
Many of the host families were excited for their young charges to arrive, already thinking ahead to the bevy of fun activities they planned.
“We’re doing a softball camp together, and then we’re going to watch the fireworks, watch the Fourth of July parade together,” said Charlotte Reis, whose family welcomed Kaleigh Joseph of Jamaica, Queens, into their home. Charlotte’s mother, Kim Reis, added that they would probably go swimming as well.
Alicia Joel, who is hosting for the first time, said that the family was looking for fun volunteer activities to do as a group.
“Our son is 15 and we were looking for volunteer activities for him this summer,” she said, adding that she “was looking up different things” and decided that hosting someone “would be a great opportunity that we could all do together as a family.”
WEST DEPTFORD NJ, Town officials have adopted an ordinance that restricts protests in the hometown of New Jersey Senate President Steve “Benito”Sweeney, surprise surprise .A West Deptford committee on Wednesday prohibited picketing within 100 feet of a home and limited protests to 10 people for one hour every two weeks. Violators face fines of up to $2,000 and 90 days in jail. So much for freedom of speech .The police state ruling was voted along party lines with three Democrats pro police state in favor and two Republicans opposed the draconian infringement of rights. Sweeney of coarse a Democrat.
Recent protests by a gun rights group staged in last month outside Sweeney’s home have created acrimony between the town and protesters. Sweeney turned on his lawn sprinklers to disperse protesters. Sweeney has also been getting pressure from a Glassborro Nj group looking to push for his recall .https://www.facebook.com/events/1469404500017150/
It’s not us, it’s the Chinese! Iran’s supreme leader mocks Obama with letter warning some of the ‘other’ countries that signed his nuke deal ‘are not trustworthy’
Stunning jiu-jitsu move just 8 minutes after Obama’s press conference has Ayatollah Khamenei cautioning Obama to watch the P5+1 nations carefully Most American critics of the nuclear bargain with Tehran charge that it’s Khamenei who can’t be trusted to hold up his end Russia, China, France, the UK, Germany and the European Union all inked the deal with the US and Iran Khamenei said Obama should be ‘concerned about possible violation of commitments by the other parties’ ‘You are well aware that some of the six states participating in negotiations are not trustworthy at all,’ he wrote in a letter posted on Twitter
By DAVID MARTOSKO, US POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:29 EST, 15 July 2015 | UPDATED: 17:53 EST, 15 July 2015
Just eight minutes after President Barack Obama wrapped up a White House press conference he called on Wednesday to defend a day-old nuclear deal with Iran, the Islamic republic’s supreme leader used Twitter to tweak him.
In a short letter to Obama that he posted on Twitter, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wrote that it’s partner nations like China and Russia who should be watched carefully – not Iran – to make sure they honor the terms of the landmark bargain.
‘You are well aware that some of the six states participating in negotiations are not trustworthy at all,’ Khamenei wrote in a stunning rhetorical act of jiu-jitsu.
The agreement, signed by Iran, the U.S., Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the European Union, seeks to limit Tehran’s aggressive nuclear program in exchange for dropping a series of crippling economic sanctions.
It has been a very interesting month. Since my first post I have connected with old high school friends who have active or recovering addicts in their families. I have been contacted by people who are living the nightmare of Addiction as parents, spouses, children and friends of addicts as well as addicts themselves. Many have shared powerful stories of recovery. I have written or spoken the words ‘I am sorry for your loss’ too many times to count, though we really do need to keep counting… Every person we lose leaves a gaping hole in the world. That hole will swallow us all if the tide is not turned.
I did not intend to start a blog, and I am a bit unsure of where to take it from here. I am, after all, just the Mom of a recovering addict who posted a bit of a hissy fit to her Facebook after learning of another senseless death. I don’t think I can keep tossing out hissy fits, it would get old pretty quickly. I have decided that I will post when something is swirling around in my head enough to make me sit down and write about it, since that’s what happened the first time. It may be a few things in a short amount of time, followed by a lull. We’ll just have to see where this blog leads me.
This is a new journey and I’m glad for the company of all who would like to walk this path with me. We have certainly walked it alone for far too long.
Today’s thought: What could I have done differently?
This question haunted me for many, many years. Should I have taken him back to school to get a forgotten book? When he left his report on the counter in fifth grade should I have left it there instead of bringing it to school? He had ADD so organizing was hard for him. Did I do too much? Did he never learn to be accountable for his own actions? Was I too worried about him failing a stupid sixth grade math test? Should I have let him fail and learn the result of not putting in the work instead of making him study against his will? Should have, would have, could have were constantly swirling in my head. Tiny voices blaming, blaming…
Yes, I should have let him fall on his face when he was little. The consequences of their errors grow as they do. I didn’t have to catch him when he fell —- I was holding on so tightly he never really fell. And when he went away to college he fell hard. So yes, I should have let him fail more when he was young.
In all honesty, that is the one thing I feel I could have changed. I don’t know what else I could have done differently that would have gotten him to ‘just say no’ to drugs. Above is an old newspaper clipping of my son and his friends from the neighborhood with their ‘just say no’ signs. They marched around the neighborhood chanting. He wore his D.A.R.E. (Drug Addiction Resistant Education) T-shirt forever. We spoke about drugs and drinking and sex. Once, when my son was a freshman in high school he had some friends over. Two of the girls brought booze into my home in soda screw top bottles (OK, lesson one: no outside drinks allowed in my home). They also had some joints on them. My son and his friend came to me and told me what was going on. THEY CAME AND TOLD ME. Parents were called, girls cried, drama ensued. BUT HE TOLD ME. How, then, did this kid end up a freakin’ heroin addict? The one who told. The one who knew better. No matter how much we think ‘they’ve got this’, they don’t. Life is not black and white, and adolescence is the murkiest of grays.
Tedesco unveils a very expensive initiative to bring Internet to low-income high schoolers in Bergen County
JULY 15, 2015, 7:29 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2015, 9:18 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Bergen County Executive James Tedesco on Wednesday unveiled an initiative aimed at providing basic broadband Internet service to low-income families with children who are starting high school this fall.
Tedesco announced he will provide a $50,000 grant from a discretionary fund in his budget to Jersey On, a non-profit that aims to connect more low-income families to the Internet.
A wireless router is the hub of your home or business network, delivering a single Internet connection to other devices on the network, through either wired Ethernet or a wireless connection. Some routers, targeted at novice users, are easy to set up, while others take a little more know-how. Routers also vary in the throughput they can manage, depending on the antenna configuration and the hardware inside.https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398080,00.asp
The organization is headed by Josh Gottheimer, a Microsoft executive who is a Democratic candidate for the 5th Congressional District seat now held by Republican Scott Garrett.
The $50,000 will provide a pocket-sized Wi-Fi hotspot device good for up to five wireless devices at no cost to 531 freshmen within the county whose families are eligible for the free or reduced-cost lunch program, starting this fall.
Those families also will receive free wi-fi for the four years that their student is in high school.
3480 – Bond Ordinance – Pre-construction Funding for Hudson Street Parking Garage ($500,000)
Ridgewood NJ, The Village Council approved the $500K “preliminary” expense by a 4-1 vote with Knudsen being the only “no.”
Wording for the “bogus” non-binding referendum passed unanimously. Expect property taxes to jump as a result. There is no way in the world parking utility revenues will ever be able to completely pay off the principal and interest on a $15 million bond.
JULY 14, 2015, 6:23 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2015, 6:39 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
A Ridgewood woman has sued a state administrative law judge, claiming the judge has been violating her right to due process as she contests her dismissal from the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office.
The federal lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Newark by Alexis Fitzsimmons, an advanced practice nurse laid off from the Sheriff’s Department in the spring of 2011. Days after losing her job, Fitzsimmons — who’d been working as the department’s chief nursing officer — challenged her dismissal, contending it was “illegitimate” and political retaliation, the suit reads.
Fitzsimmons’ lawsuit, filed June 15, claims she lost her job soon after Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino assumed office. The suit claims Saudino’s move was sparked by “groundless rumors” he had been told claiming Fitzsimmons was romantically involved with his predecessor as sheriff, Leo McGuire. Fitzsimmons’ suit further claims she was given 20 days’ notice prior to her dismissal and not 45 as is required by law.
Months later, the Civil Service Commission cleared the way for Fitzsimmons to appeal her layoff. The matter was assigned to New Jersey Office of Administrative Law Judge Irene Jones. Jones is named as a defendant in Fitzsimmons’ suit, as is Judge Laura Sanders, who oversees the administrative law office.
In February of 2013, Fitzsimmons’ suit claims, she filed a motion to compel the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office to provide discovery as well as answers to several questions. For nearly eight months, Jones declined to rule on the motion, reads the suit. Then, a two-page order issued September 30, 2013 denied the motion without offering any explanation for the opinion.
Brendan Corcoran Proclamation
July 15th 2015
Boyd A. Loving
Ridgewood NJ, Presentation of New Jersey State Senate Proclamation made during the Ridgewood Village Council meeting held on Wednesday, July 15 from State Assemblyman David Russo, (R) District 40, to Ridgewood Fire Department Lieutenant Brendan Corcoran for his Guinness World Record Breaking Full Firefighters’ Gear Run on Memorial Day, 2015. Pictured with Lt. Corcoran and Assemblyman Russo is Corcoran’s 5-year old daughter, Cailin.
JULY 15, 2015, 2:19 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2015, 2:23 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Years-long litigation against Ridgewood Water must be decided by a Superior Court judge, a state appeals court ruled on Wednesday.
The Appellate Division of New Jersey’s Superior Court reversed a trial judge’s 2014 decision transferring the suit to the Board of Public Utilities for resolution.
In a 25-page ruling, the Superior Court Appellate Division remanded the matter back to the trial court, noting “this is not a case requiring the particular expertise associated with the jurisdiction of the BPU.”
Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn declined to comment Wednesday, citing the ongoing nature of the litigation.
The class action lawsuit was filed against Ridgewood Water in Superior Court by Wyckoff officials in 2010, with the municipalities of Glen Rock and Midland Park joining the action as plaintiffs a year later.
The lawsuit alleges the water utility raised its rates in 2010 by 21 percent and that rates further rose 5 percent in 2011 and 2012.
The suit contends the rate hikes were approved in an ordinance adopted by the village council, and characterizes the increases as “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable and, accordingly, should be declared invalid and unenforceable.”
The board also adopted a fare and service plan which includes an average 9% increase in fares
NJ TRANSIT ADOPTS FISCAL YEAR 2016 OPERATING AND CAPITAL BUDGETS
NEWARK, NJ — The NJ TRANSIT Board of Directors today adopted a Fiscal Year 2016 (FY 2016) operating budget and capital program that supports continued investments in infrastructure and equipment to maintain the system in a state of good repair and enhance the overall customer experience.
The board also adopted a fare and service plan which includes an average 9% increase in fares, with no customer paying more than 9.4% after rounding, and modest changes for rail and bus service.
“NJ TRANSIT is moving forward with a balanced budget that reflects a laser-like look at individual business lines in order to maximize efficiencies and maintain a safe transportation system,” NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim, said. “As transit professionals, we owed our customers and stakeholders a good-faith effort to present them a solid plan that had the least impact on our riders. After much hard work, I am confident we delivered on that.”
The Board adopted a $2.116 billion operating budget and a $2.099 billion capital program for the fiscal year that started July 1, 2015.
Nearly half of the revenue in the FY 2016 operating budget comes from fares ($1.005 billion), supported by a comparable amount from state and federal program reimbursements ($961.8 million) with the balance from a combination of commercial revenues ($115.2 million) and state operating assistance ($33.2 million).
The capital program funds continued state-of-good-repair investments in transit stations and infrastructure supports an ongoing fleet modernization program and advances service reliability, safety and technology initiatives.
Operating Budget
The FY 2016 operating budget reflects an increase of state funding along with a stable level of federal and other reimbursements, which will enable NJ TRANSIT to meet the agency’s projected expenses this fiscal year. Approximately 59 percent of the operating budget is dedicated to labor and fringe benefits costs. Other significant expenses include contracted transportation services, fuel and power and materials, which together comprise approximately 27 percent of the operating budget.
This year’s operating budget reflects a $76.7 million (8.3 percent) growth in passenger revenue, based on the fare adjustment and ridership trends. Overall passenger revenue and commercial revenue represents approximately 53 percent of the total FY 2016 operating program.
Capital Program
The FY 2016 capital program continues to prioritize investment in infrastructure to maintain an overall state of good repair, enhance safety and reliability, and improve the overall customer experience on the system.
The program continues to invest in upgrades to the Northeast Corridor (NEC),
the agency’s most utilized rail line. The NEC is allocated $61 million in FY 2016 as part of NJ TRANSIT’s ten-year, $1 billion Northeast Corridor investment program.
Highlights of the program include $82 million in rail station improvements: $27 million for Summit Station improvements, $14 million for Elizabeth Station enhancements, $6 million for Perth Amboy Station improvements and high-level platform construction, $4 million for Newark Penn Station upgrades, $4 million to reconstruct Lyndhurst Station to make it accessible to persons with disabilities and $2 million for New Brunswick Station improvements.
The program also supports continued investment in rolling stock renewal, with $87 million invested in rail rolling stock improvements and $40 million toward the purchase of new buses.
In addition, the program is undertaking approximately $913 million in major capital projects that will help advance NJ TRANSIT’s resiliency to extreme weather events.
NJ TRANSITGRID, which will serve as an electrical micro-grid capable of supplying highly reliable power when the centralized power grid is compromised, is being funded through this effort as well as other projects including Delco Lead Train Safe Haven Storage and Service Restoration, Hoboken Long Slip Fill and Rail Enhancement, Train Controls Resiliency, and Raritan River Drawbridge Replacement.
Funding is also provided for technology and security upgrades, local programs, and rail, bus and light rail infrastructure improvements.
Approximately 42 percent of the capital budget comes from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Sandy Resiliency funds, with the balance coming from federal and other sources including 22% from the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF).
Fare and Service Adjustments
Throughout the past five years, NJ TRANSIT held the line on fare increases while maintaining high quality services and implementing new customer amenities including MyTix, Departurevision, and MyBus Now.
However, costs such as contract services – Access Link, the organization’s paratransit service, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and private carriers – and workers’ compensation, general liability insurance, healthcare and benefits, and pensions have steadily risen. As a result, NJ TRANSIT was left with a significant budget gap.
Although NJ TRANSIT identified more than $40 million in reductions in overtime, fuel savings, energy and vehicle parts efficiencies, the agency still faced an approximate $56 million budget gap for the 2016 fiscal year. To close the gap, fare and service adjustments were proposed and now approved. The fare adjustment will go into effect on October 1st.
Hans von Spakovsky / @HvonSpakovsky / Rachel S. Landsman / July 13, 2015
COMMENTARY BY
Hans von Spakovsky@HvonSpakovsky
Hans von Spakovsky is an authority on a wide range of issues—including civil rights, civil justice, the First Amendment, immigration, the rule of law and government reform—as a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and manager of the think tank’s Election Law Reform Initiative.
Rachel S. Landsman
Rachel S. Landsman is a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.
Obama’s Department of Justice may have been involved in the IRS scheme to target conservative non-profit organizations, according to newly-released documents obtained by Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act.
The documents reveal that Lois Lerner met with attorneys from the Public Integrity Section (including its chief) of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and a representative from the FBI in 2010 to discuss using campaign-finance laws to bring criminal charges against conservative non-profit organizations.
A memo prepared by Siri Buller, a tax law specialist who worked for Lerner, summarizing the meeting talks about the possibility of “a three-way partnership among the DOJ [Department of Justice], the FEC [Federal Election Commission], and the IRS” to “prevent prohibited activity by these [conservative] organizations.” Of course, the problem is that the activities that Lerner thought were “prohibited,” like expressing opinions about Obamacare, were not prohibited.
Emails between Justice Department and IRS employees also expose an attempt by the Justice Department to obtain unredacted versions of the documents IRS employees provided to Congress. One July 2013 email from a Justice Department employee to a lawyer for the IRS (the names have been redacted) says “If any of your clients have documents they are providing to Congress that you can (or would like to) provide to us before their testimony … we would like the unredacted documents.” It goes further, stating “I just know that some employees have assembled their own set [of documents], in which instance it is helpful to obtain them.”
Emails between IRS officials confirm that the IRS transmitted 21 disks containing 1.25 million pages of highly confidential tax information to the FBI. These pages included information from 2007-2010 regarding 113,000 tax returns of non-profit organizations.
The House Committee of Oversight and Government Reform was “astonished to learn…that these 21 disks contained confidential taxpayer information protected by federal law” that could not lawfully be turned over to the FBI without meeting very specific requirements for opening a criminal investigation of a particular taxpayer as outlined in 26 U.S.C. §6103. Those requirements were clearly not met by the FBI.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton notes “[t]hese new documents show that the Obama IRS scandal is also an Obama DOJ and FBI scandal … The FBI and Justice Department worked with Lois Lerner and the IRS to concoct some reason to put President Obama’s opponents in jail before his reelection. And this abuse resulted in the FBI’s illegally obtaining confidential taxpayer information.”
Not only did Lerner have friends in the Justice Department, it also seems she had allies in Wisconsin, where conservative non-profit groups were similarlytargeted in a secret “John Doe” investigation for publicly supporting Gov. Scott Walker’s union reforms.
Recently obtained emails show that Lerner was in contact with Kevin Kennedy, director of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, who was one of the government officials behind the investigations of conservative organizations in Wisconsin such as the League of American Voters, Wisconsin Family Action, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and several others. Those emails show them “sharing articles on topics including greater donor disclosure,” which, as The Wall Street Journal points out, is significant “because those were the years when the IRS increased in harassment of conservative groups and Wisconsin prosecutors gathered information” that led to the John Doe “Star Chamber.”
Wisconsin Watchdog describes the state’s John Doe procedure as “a grand jury investigation, without a jury.” These investigations allowed law enforcement to conduct abusive, paramilitary-type raids on the leaders of a number of nonprofits and their families, most of which were conducted before dawn.
In one case, a 16-year-old boy was home alone very early one morning when armed law enforcement officers raided his home as if they were closing in on a dangerous drug cartel or mob operation. Though he was terrified, the officers would not allow him to call his parents.
Several other victims of these nighttime raids came forward, even though they were ordered not to speak about the investigations. The targets of these raids were not criminals—they were Wisconsin conservatives who had supported Act 10, the “Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill,” and whose reputations and livelihoods have been severely damaged as a result of these unwarranted, heavy-handed raids.
In January, a judge blocked subpoenas against the conservative targets of the John Doe investigations. In May, U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Randaordered that the investigations be shut down in their entirety because it was “unlawful” for the state to “target the plaintiffs for engaging in vigorous advocacy.”
These recent revelations suggest that the targeting of conservative non-profit organizations was a scheme that went far beyond the IRS and Lois Lerner alone. It was an effort that involved the coordination of several Obama administration executive agencies and supposedly non-partisan public servants.
With the discovery of the connection to the seemingly-unjustified, retaliatory investigations in Wisconsin, it seems Lerner’s efforts even extended beyond the federal government and into at least one state, threatening conservatives and chilling conservative speech at both the federal and state level.
John Mitchell, Taxpayer Advocate Award to Bergen County Sheriff Mike Saudino. Under Sheriff Saudino’s leadership the taxpayer has saved over $2.5 million through prudent budget cuts and significant overtime reductions. Bravo Sheriff Mike!!
Three Democrats will try to fend off a challenge by Republicans led by Bergen GOP Chairman Bob Yudin
By Alyana Alfaro | 07/14/15 1:35pm
In the upcoming November 2015 election, Bergen County Republicans will have the chance to usurp three seats on the Board of Chosen Freeholders currently occupied by Freeholder Vice Chairman Steve Tanelli, Freeholder Tracy Silna Zur and Freeholder Thomas Sullivan Jr.
The incumbent Democrats are opposed by Republicans John Mitchell, Ken Tyburczy and Daisy Ortiz-Berger.
For Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin, the main determining factor of the upcoming November freeholder election is going to be property taxes.
“There was a four percent increase in the total budget this year under the Democratic majority,” Yudin said. “That increase led to increased property taxes.”
According to Yudin, since Democrats currently have the majority on the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders—only two of the seven members are Republican—the issue of increasing the budget became a partisan one.
“To call it non-partisan is a joke,” Yudin told PolitickerNJ. “We need a serious reduction in the budget. The Republican Party in Bergen County is overwhelmingly in favor of a reduction in property taxes.
Eschewing Yudin’s argument, Democrats note that the chairman of the budget process was Freeholder John Felice, a Republican; and that the budget passed 7-0 with GOP support.
Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37), also believes that property taxes are an issue in New Jersey. However, she thinks that the issue stems from a reduction in state funding to schools and counties, not a function of there being a democratic majority on the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
“I think property taxes are a problem in New Jersey, a big problem,” Weinberg said. “But I don’t think that anybody believes that one party or the other owns it or that one group of freeholders is going to find a unilateral solution.”
Nearly two weeks after 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle was murdered on San Francisco’s Pier 14 by an illegal alien and convicted felon who was released from prison earlier this year, President Barack Obama has failed to contact the victim’s family or mention her in public. Yet Obama took the time to write (and release) 46 personal letters this month to felons imprisoned for non-violent drug offenses whose sentences he has commuted.
Iran’s enemies unsettled by its deal with the West, but Bashar al-Assad of Syria says it is ‘a great victory’
By Richard Spencer, Middle East Editor and Robert Tait, Jerusalem
8:53PM BST 14 Jul 2015
The nuclear deal with Iran caused fury in Israel and consternation around the region at the likely increase in influence and resources of a newly enriched Iran.
Most telling was the loudest expression of support. “I am happy that the Islamic Republic of Iran has achieved a great victory by reaching an agreement,” President Bashar al-Assad of Syria said in a message to his Iranian opposite number, Hassan Rouhani.
Israel and the Sunni Arab world have set aside old grievances to stand together against the West’s engagement with Iran.
The more strident denunciations came from Israel, which regards Iran as a direct threat. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, said the country would not be bound by what he called a “stunning historic mistake”.
“Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran,” he said in a televised address hoursafter the conclusion of the accord. “Iran continues to seek our destruction and we will defend ourselves.”
Republicans seize on Planned Parenthood video
July 14, 2015, 03:10 pm
By Jesse Byrnes
“This latest news is tragic and outrageous,” GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said in a Facebook post linking to the video.
“This isn’t about ‘choice.’ It’s about profiting on the death of the unborn while telling women it’s about empowerment,” Fiorina said.
“This video is beyond disturbing,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) tweeted.
The undercover video, which surfaced Tuesday morning, shows a woman identified as Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s senior director of medical services, describing in detail procedures to retrieve body parts.
“A lot of people want intact hearts these days, because they’re looking for specific nodes,” the woman says in the video released by The Center for Medical Progress, a self-described group of citizen journalists monitoring medical ethics. The video was reportedly recorded in July, 2014 by people posing as representatives from a fetal tissue procurement company.
“Yesterday was the first time she said people wanted lungs,” the woman continues. “Some people want lower extremities too, which, that’s simple. I mean that’s easy.”
“I don’t know what they’re doing with it. I guess they want muscle,” the woman adds. “[W]e’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that.”
In a statement, Planned Parenthood described the video as “heavily edited” and said it “falsely portrays Planned Parenthood’s participation in tissue donation programs that support lifesaving scientific research.”
