Is this sign compliant with the Village’s current sign ordinance?
Anyone know?
photos by Boyd Loving
First the planters, now the sign – What chutzpah!
Author: James
Ridgewood planners on board with changes to ordinance
MAY 22, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The revised version of Ordinance No. 3066 was presented to the Planning Board on Tuesday to give members a chance to comment before it is sent back to the Village Council.
The amendments were prepared by a subcommittee of village officials and presented to the council on May 6. The governing body decided it would be best for the Planning Board to weigh in before introducing the ordinance.
The purpose of the ordinance is to strengthen certain provisions that already exist and to revise the process by which an applicant seeks a master plan amendment. The revisions clearly define the Planning Board’s flexibility in deciding how and when to proceed with an application.
Officials began considering revisions due to a community debate that took place last year over the ordinance’s perceived role in the master plan amendment applications received by the board, with some saying it allowed Valley Hospital and outside developers to take over the Planning Board process, said Mayor Paul Aronsohn.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/plannerson-board-with-new-changes-1.1340532
FCC’s Open Internet Order Won’t Stand Up To The First Amendment
GUEST POST WRITTEN BYFred Campbell
Mr. Campbell is executive director of the Center for Boundless Innovation in Technology and a former chief of the FCC’s wireless bureau.
Is watching Netflix on the broadband Internet more like (A) watching cable television or (B) talking on the telephone? Common sense suggests the answer is “A,” and the court that overturned the previous open Internet rules chose “A”; the First Amendment demands it. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) nevertheless chose “B.”
In the 2015 Open Internet Order, the FCC concluded the Internet is the functional equivalent of the public switched telephone network and is subject to the common carrier regulations in Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. If it had admitted the Internet offers communications capabilities that are functionally equivalent to the printing press, mail carriage, newspaper publishing, over-the-air broadcasting, and cable television combined, it would have been too obvious that its decision to classify broadband Internet service providers (ISPs) as common carriers is unconstitutional. Like all other means of disseminating mass communications, broadband Internet access is a part of the press that the First Amendment protects from common carriage regulation.
The dark side of meditation and mindfulness: Treatment can trigger mania, depression and psychosis, new book claims
Theory is that techniques help relieve stress and live for the moment
But 60% of us have apparently suffered at least one negative side effect
Experts: Shortage of rigorous statistical studies into the negative effects of meditation is a ‘scandal’
By HARRIET CRAWFORD FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 05:56 EST, 22 May 2015 | UPDATED: 11:20 EST, 22 May 2015
Meditation and mindfulness is promoted by celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow and Russell Brand, who boast of its power to help people put stress out of their minds and live for the moment.
But the treatment can itself trigger mania, depression, hallucinations and psychosis, psychological studies in the UK and US have found.
The practice is part of a growing movement based on ancient Eastern traditions of meditation.
However, 60 per cent of people who had been on a meditation retreat had suffered at least one negative side effect, including panic, depression and confusion, a study in the US found.
States quietly consider ObamaCare exchange mergers
By Sarah Ferris – 05/22/15 06:00 AM EDT
A number of states are quietly considering merging their healthcare exchanges under ObamaCare amid big questions about their cost and viability.
Many of the 13 state-run ObamaCare exchanges are worried about how they’ll survive once federal dollars supporting them run dry next year.
Others are contemplating creating multi-state exchanges as a contingency plan for a looming Supreme Court ruling expected next month that could prevent people from getting subsidies to buy ObamaCare on the federal exchange.
The idea is still only in the infancy stage. It’s unclear whether a California-Oregon or New York-Connecticut health exchange is on the horizon.
But a shared marketplace — an option buried in a little-known clause of the Affordable Care Act — has become an increasingly attractive option for states desperate to slash costs. If state exchanges are not financially self-sufficient by 2016, they will be forced to join the federal system, HealthCare.gov.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/242885-exclusive-states-consider-obamacare-mergers
North Jersey Boy Scout leaders react to BSA president’s call for change on policy toward gays
AP File photo
MAY 21, 2015, 1:02 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015, 7:33 PM
BY JOHN SEASLY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
For local Boy Scouts of America leaders, the issue of whether to end the ban on gay Scout leaders comes down to doing what’s beneficial to keep their organization going.
In this Friday, May 23, 2014 file photo, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates addresses the Boy Scouts of America’s annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn., after being selected as the organization’s new president.
Reacting Thursday tor the BSA president’s urging of an end to the ban, North Jersey Scout leaders reacted generally with support for opening leadership posts to qualified individuals, but in some cases expressed a wait-and-see caution.
President Robert Gates, speaking at the organization’s national annual meeting in Atlanta, said the longstanding ban on gay adult leaders was unsustainable and called for change to prevent “the end of us as a national movement.”
In 2013, the BSA voted to allow openly gay youth as Scouts, but not gay adults as leaders. Gates, who at the time was in favor of allowing gay leaders, said Thursday that recent national gay rights debates have made the issue much more urgent.
Christie compares coverage of GWB and Clinton email scandals; says media bias apparent
MAY 21, 2015, 5:56 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015, 7:23 PM
BY MELISSA HAYES
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
Governor Christie said media bias contributed to heavier coverage of the George Washington Bridge lane closures than of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s use of personal email as secretary of state, as he called for an apology Thursday.
Christie, appearing on CNBC’s Squawk Box, said he was branded as “guilty” by media outlets, but an internal investigation he commissioned, a legislative inquiry led by Democrats and a federal investigation have all cleared him of an involvement in the incident.
“I was guilty, guilty. I had done it,” he said. “Now we’re 15 months later, where are the apologies pouring in? Not one thing I said on the day after the bridge situation has been proven to be wrong.”
NJ students will spend less time taking controversial state tests
MAY 21, 2015, 11:46 AM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015, 7:26 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Students will spend less time taking standardized tests next year in New Jersey and 10 other states, a response to complaints from teachers, parents and school officials that the exams took up too much instruction time and overwhelmed local schools.
The governing board of the tests, called PARCC, voted to cut down total testing time by about 90 minutes, the officials said in a statement released Thursday.
“The changes will improve and simplify test administration for schools, teachers and students, without diminishing the goal of the assessment,” the statement said.
Locally, testing critics said that, while they were glad state officials were responding to their concerns, the changes do not go far enough. Too much time still will be spent preparing for the tests, they said, because of the high stakes attached to them. The results are used to evaluate the performance of teachers, administrators and schools and will become a graduation requirement in 2019
Ridgewood Run set for Monday
The Fred d’Elia Memorial Day Ridgewood Run, organized by North Jersey Masters, will take place on Monday, May 25. The race has been taking place in Ridgewood for 39 years and the 40th will have a few changes and special guests.
Founded in 1976 by the late Fred d’Elia and his wife, world-renown marathoner Toshiko, North Jersey Masters is the largest running club in Bergen County and one of the largest running clubs in New Jersey. Many Ridgewood residents belong to the club.
At last year’s race, a memorial was given in honor of Toshiko d’Elia, who passed away last February.
This year, her daughter Erica Diestel of Allendale will once again walk the course with family members and friends of “Toshi.
Commute by train? Here’s how much NJ Transit wants to hike your Ridgewood Commute
By Carla Astudillo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on May 21, 2015 at 10:50 AM, updated May 21, 2015 at 10:52 AM
Just in time for the final public hearings on Thursday, we created an easy-to-use calculator where you can find out just by how much your fare will go up — if NJ Transit’s 9 percent fare hikes are enacted.
NJ Transit only made available the proposed fare increases for commuters going toNew York Penn Station, Hoboken and Newark Penn Station. That’s why the calculator only includes prices going to these three destinations.
The interactive will let you know just how much a one-way, round-trip, reduced and monthly passes would cost, as well as how much more you’d pay a year if you buy the monthly pass.
FROM
Ridgewood
TO
New York Penn Station
Current Proposed Change
One way $9.25 $9.75 +5.4%
Reduced $4.25 $4.65 +9.4%
Round Trip $18.50 $19.50 +5.4%
Monthly $273.00 $298.00 +9.2%
One way $9.25 $9.75 +5.4%
Reduced $4.25 $4.65 +9.4%
Round Trip $18.50 $19.50 +5.4%
Monthly $273.00 $298.00 +9.2%
If you buy monthly passes for your commute, you currently pay $3,276 annually. With the hike, you’ll pay $3,576 — as in $300 more.
Data breach at three Bergen County hospitals involves thousands of patients
MAY 21, 2015, 5:51 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015, 5:56 PM
BY COLLEEN DISKIN AND MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Three Bergen County hospitals are alerting thousands of patients that their personal information may have been stolen by a billing clerk under federal investigation.
Valley Hospital in Ridgewood (pictured), Englewood Hospital and Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck have informed patients of a data breach.
The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, and Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck have informed patients treated in their emergency departments that their names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth may have been illegally given out by a company contracted to handle physician billing, officials said.
An employee at Medical Management, LLC, which provides billing services to 40 providers in several states, worked at the company from Feb. 2013 until March 2015 and copied personal information and illegally passed it on, officials said.
Clinton Foundation reveals up to $26 million in additional payments
By Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger May 21 at 9:53 PM
The Clinton Foundation reported Thursday that it has received as much as $26.4 million in previously undisclosed payments from major corporations, universities, foreign sources and other groups.
The disclosure came as the foundation faced questions over whether it fully complied with a 2008 ethics agreement to reveal its donors and whether any of its funding sources present conflicts of interest for Hillary Rodham Clinton as she begins her presidential campaign.
The money was paid as fees for speeches by Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. Foundation officials said the funds were tallied internally as “revenue” rather than donations, which is why they had not been included in the public listings of its contributors published as part of the 2008 agreement.
According to the new information, the Clintons have delivered 97 speeches to benefit the charity since 2002. Colleges and universities sponsored more than two dozen of these speeches, along with U.S. and overseas corporations and at least one foreign government, Thailand.
The payments were disclosed late Thursday on the organization’s Web site, with speech payments listed in ranges rather than specific amounts. In total, the payments ranged between $12 million and $26.4 million.
Health Insurers Seek Hefty Rate Boosts
Proposals set the stage for debate over federal health law’s impact
By
LOUISE RADNOFSKY
May 21, 2015 5:34 p.m. ET
Major insurers in some states are proposing hefty rate boosts for plans sold under the federal health law, setting the stage for an intense debate this summer over the law’s impact.
In New Mexico, market leader Health Care Service Corp. is asking for an average jump of 51.6% in premiums for 2016. The biggest insurer in Tennessee, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, has requested an average 36.3% increase. In Maryland, market leader CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield wants to raise rates 30.4% across its products. Moda Health, the largest insurer on the Oregon health exchange, seeks an average boost of around 25%.
All of them cite high medical costs incurred by people newly enrolled under the Affordable Care Act.
Under that law, insurers file proposed rates to their local regulator and, in most cases, to the federal government. Some states have begun making the filings public, as they prepare to review the requests in coming weeks. The federal government is due to release its rate filings in early June.
Insurance regulators in many states can force carriers to scale back requests they can’t justify. The Obama administration can ask insurers seeking increases of 10% or more to explain themselves, but cannot force them to cut rates. Rates will become final by the fall.
“After state and consumer rate review, final rates often decrease significantly,” said Aaron Albright, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency overseeing the health law.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/health-insurers-seek-hefty-rate-boosts-1432244042
Domestic surveillance fate unclear after lengthy Senate talk
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
May 21, 3:47 AM (ET)
By CHARLES BABINGTON
WASHINGTON (AP) — The fate of the government’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records is unclear following an FBI warning, House-Senate disagreements and more than 10 hours of criticisms by a GOP presidential candidate.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the most libertarian-leaning of the major Republican presidential contenders, dominated the Senate floor from 1:18 to 11:49 p.m. Wednesday to decry the National Security Agency’s mass collection of phone data without warrants. In doing so, he highlighted deep divisions within Congress — and among his party’s presidential hopefuls — over the program whose existence was exposed by former contractor Edward Snowden, now living in Russia.
Paul wasn’t coy about the political overtones. His campaign issued a fundraising appeal while he slowly paced and steadily talked in a mostly empty Senate chamber. It also told reporters that several conservative House Republicans were available for interviews after they sat a while in support of Paul in the Senate.
It marked the second time in two years that Paul has used a marathon Senate speech to draw attention to a pet issue, and to himself, as C-SPAN cameras provided unbroken footage for Twitter and other social media. In March 2013 he spent 13 hours filibustering John Brennan’s nomination to head the CIA, to underscore Paul’s opposition to U.S. drone policies.
Wednesday’s performance wasn’t an official filibuster because the bill before the Senate dealt with trade, not surveillance. Still, by never sitting or yielding the floor, Paul kept senators from talking on other topics.
Paul opposes renewal of key sections of the Patriot Act, which the government cites to authorize the massive examination of who calls who on American phones. The government does not collect the content of the calls. Those sections are set to expire June 1.
The Republican-controlled House voted overwhelmingly to end bulk collection of phone data but to allow surveillance on a case-by-case basis if a special court approves. President Barack Obama supports that change. Paul says it doesn’t go far enough.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is among those Republicans who want to keep the full program going. But McConnell says the Senate will vote on the House bill, and possibly other versions, before beginning a Memorial Day recess.
https://apnews.myway.com/article/20150521/us-nsa-surveillance-8f7cf281bc.html
For Many American States, It’s Like the Recession Never Ended
by Mark Niquette
Six years after the recession ended, many U.S. states are hard pressed to balance budgets because of a sluggish recovery and their own policy decisions. The fiscal fragility raises questions about how they will weather the next economic downturn.
A majority of states are making cuts, tapping reserves or facing shortfalls despite an improving national economy and stock markets at record levels, according to Standard & Poors and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. State revenue hasn’t rebounded to a prerecession peak adjusted for inflation, and other factors are putting pressure on budgets.
Alaska, Oklahoma and energy-producing states saw receipts fall with global oil prices. Kansas overestimated revenue after tax cuts, while New Jersey faces a shortfall thanks to unfunded pensions. Even some Republican governors have championed tax increases to avoid further diminishing services curtailed during the 18-month recession, the deepest downturn since the Great Depression.
“The extent of the weakness is really impressive,” said Donald Boyd, who tracks state finances at the Rockefeller Institute in Albany, New York. “There’s a lot of pressure on governors and legislators.”
Thirty-two states faced budget gaps in fiscal 2015 or 2016 or both, according to an April 27 report by Standard & Poors. The fiscal year ends June 30 in all but four states.
