Hackensack Medical Center has deal to merge with Meridian Health
MAY 12, 2015, 2:24 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015, 5:07 PM
BY MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Hackensack University Medical Center and its parent company have signed a definitive agreement with Meridian Health to merge the two systems to merge, a deal that will create the state’s largest hospital network.
The new organization, to be called Hackensack Meridian Health, will employ more than 23,000 people and have more than $3.4 billion in revenues, eclipsing Barnabas Health, currently the state’s largest health care system.
The deal, which is undergoing regulatory review, will create a system with 11 hospitals and two children’s hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties and a large network of outpatient services, including surgery centers, rehab facilities and cancer care.
“This will be a game changer in health care,” said Robert C. Garrett, president and CEO of Hackensack University Health Network.
MAY 11, 2015, 10:01 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015, 8:51 AM
BY HERB JACKSON
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT |
THE RECORD
The crime of using a traffic jam for political retribution was never something Congress explicitly put in the federal statute books.
So U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman had to rely on laws Congress did pass as he built a criminal case in the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal against three of Governor Christie’s former appointees.
Fishman relied on Section 666 of Chapter 18 of the United States code, a law sometimes called a national ban on corruption that is intended to punish fraud, bribery, theft and embezzlement from agencies that receive federal funds. The law also makes it is a crime to “misapply” property of federal aid recipients.
“That’s what gives us a federal hook in this case over that crime,” Fishman said at a news conference May 1. “Congress decided it was important to make it a crime of federal jurisdiction if people take resources – money, bribes, things for their benefit or for the benefit of other people – from state and local agencies that get federal money.”
But whether that is a legitimate use of the statute is very much open to debate in the legal community. One law professor, who has called Section 666 a “stealth statute,” questioned whether Fishman stretched the law too far to fit the bridge scandal. A Washington, D.C., defense lawyer also warned Fishman’s interpretation could face a challenge in appeals courts. And a researcher at a centrist think tank said the charges are the equivalent of making politics a crime.
Fishman said the law had been used in many past corruption cases, including the convictions of former Newark Mayor Sharpe James, former Perth Amboy Mayor Joe Vas, and even former Passaic Mayor Joseph Lipari back in 1992.
Former federal prosecutors said Fishman did what the Justice Department has done for years: He applied laws that Congress intentionally left vague to the facts of the case before him.
MAY 12, 2015, 8:33 AM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015, 8:33 AM
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF AND STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Alpine Country Club President David Kushner and his wife, Nanci, allegedly sent anonymous, harassing emails to Tenafly resident Cory Hechler, according to court papers that were made public Monday.
Hechler, a longtime friend and golfing partner of David Kushner, filed a civil lawsuit last year alleging that Kushner persuaded him to invest in business deals that lost a substantial amount of money.
The Kushners have been charged with harassment in the Tenafly case, which was announced on Friday without the name of the alleged victim.
The Kushners also face charges, made public last week, that they stalked and harassed the Cresskill High School basketball coach by sending anonymous emails in an attempt to get him fired. The Kushners’ son played basketball at Cresskill High School.
Authorities also said Monday that they are investigating an incident Friday night at the Kushners’ home on Adams Drive in Cresskill.
Officers responding to a noise complaint reported that someone at the home was taken to a hospital, and that a quantity of alcohol was seized. Cresskill Deputy Police Chief James Domville said he did not know whether the couple was home at the time.
No charges have been filed in the matter, but the detective bureau is investigating to determine whether underage drinking took place at the home, Domville said. He said he did not know the age of the person taken to the hospital.
A bill that would add two members to NJ Transit’s Board of Directors advanced to the state senate for a future vote.
(Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on May 11, 2015 at 12:52 PM, updated May 11, 2015 at 12:54 PM
A bill that would add two commuters to NJ Transit’s board is rolling down the tracks toward a vote.
The bill, proposed by state Senators Nicholas Sacco, D-Bergen, and Raymond Lesnaik, D-Union, was unanimously cleared by the five members of the senate Transportation Committee Monday morning and will go to the full senate for a vote.
The bill would add two non-voting commuter members to NJ Transit’s eight member board of directors.
“It’s difficult to get public input into decisions that affect people’s lives by people who take public transportation to get to work,” Lesniak said. “By having two public members, who will be able to make a motion, to have it voted on, we will be doing better by giving (the board) more public input.”
Lesniak used the upcoming NJ Transit fare increase public hearings as an example of why riders need representation on the board. Some of them are at inconvenient locations or times for commuters to attend and voice their opinion.
The idea was supported by founders of the state’s newest commuter commuter group, the New Jersey Commuter Action Coalition. They questioned why the proposed members wouldn’t have a vote.
“If these individuals are allowed to attend meetings in their entirety and engage with the rest of the group to truly exchange ideas, I think it is a great start,” said Michael Phelan, NJCAN co-founder. “If they will sit there and observe and be asked to leave so that the adults can talk for real after the meeting, then it’s not good. Why wouldn’t these members of the public be as capable of absorbing facts and voting as those who are on the board?”
Phelan suggested that bill should require that the two commuter board members take the next two available voting seats, as they become available, and that those seats continue to be held by commuters going forward.
March 27, 2015
By Martin D. Brown and Rachel Sheffield
In 1965, Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who later served as a U.S. Senator from New York, introduced what has come to be known as the Moynihan Report.[1] His report focused on the increases in disparities between white and black Americans in terms of income, standard of living, and education. Moynihan boldly asserted that the root cause of these disparities was the breakdown of marriage in the black community. “The fundamental problem,” he assessed, “is that of family structure.” In his report, Moynihan called for a national effort to strengthen the black family in America.
While the report was denounced by activists at the time, Moynihan’s observations were valid and the problems he identified have worsened over the past 50 years. Family breakdown among all Americans is a far greater problem today than it was five decades ago. To advance opportunity for all in America, policymakers and other leaders must promote marriage and the intact family in policy and culture.
Where We Were in 1965
The following statistics illustrate the state of the American family when Moynihan released his report:
Marriage. Overall, in 1965, only about 7 percent of men and women had never married by age 35. The percentage of whites who never married by age 35 was just about 7 percent. For black women, it was roughly 6 percent; for black men, the percentage was just below 10 percent.[2]
Single-Mother Households. Overall, about 11 percent of children lived in homes headed by a single mother (1968 data). About 6 percent of white children and 29 percent of black children lived in homes headed by a single mother.[3]
Unwed Childbearing. In 1965, 7.7 percent of all children in the United States were born to single mothers. Roughly one-quarter (approximately 26 percent) of black children and about 4 percent of white children were born outside marriage.[4]
Divorce. In 1960, just 2 percent of all men ages 15 and older had ever been divorced and 2.5 percent of all women had ever been divorced. Among white Americans, 2 percent of men and 2.5 percent of women had ever been divorced. Among black Americans, 2 percent of men and 4 percent of women had ever been divorced.[5]
Poverty. In 1965, the poverty rate had been steadily declining for more than a decade and was at 17.3 percent.[6]
Where We Are 50 Years Later
Since Moynihan’s report 50 years ago, marital breakdown and unwed childbearing in the United States have reached far greater levels among all Americans.
Marriage. Overall, the percentage of never-married Americans has increased significantly since 1965. About 10 percent of women and 14 percent of men have never married by age 35, according to 2010 data. Among black men and women, the percent never married was substantially higher, at about 25 percent for both men and women in 2010.[7]
Single-Mother Households. In 2014, about 24 percent of children in the United States were living in a household headed by a single mother, over twice the amount in 1965. Among white children, the percentage had more than tripled, from 6 percent to about 19 percent, and for black children had increased by 42 percent such that over 50 percent of black children were living in a single-mother household last year.[8]
Unwed Childbearing. The number of children born to single mothers has also skyrocketed since the 1960s. More than 40 percent of children in the United States are born outside marriage. About 29 percent of white children, 72 percent of black children, and over half of Hispanic children were born to single mothers in 2014.[9]
Divorce. In 2014, the percentage of individuals ever divorced had increased dramatically from the 1960s. Overall, about 9 percent of men and 11 percent of women had been divorced. These percentages were roughly the same by gender for both white and black Americans.[10]
Poverty. In 2014, the poverty in the United States was slightly lower than it was in 1968, at about 14.5 percent.[11]
Family Structure Matters for Opportunity
Tragically, family breakdown, including the decline in marriage and the rise in unwed childbearing and divorce, leave children in fragmented families and at significantly greater risk for poverty and other negative outcomes that can hinder their opportunity to thrive.
First, children in single-parent homes are at a much greater risk for poverty. Compared to their peers in married-parent homes, children in single-parent homes are more than five times as likely to be poor.[12]
Children in single-parent families also experience diminished educational opportunities. They are less likely to graduate from high school and to attend and graduate from college.[13]
Furthermore, marriage protects children against delinquent activity. Teens in father-absent households are significantly more likely to engage in criminal activity and are also more likely to be incarcerated.[14]Teens from single-parent households are also at greater risk for abusing alcohol and drugs.[15]
Teens in non-intact families are also at a greater risk for engaging in early sexual activity and of becoming a teen parent.[16]
Moynihan’s Report and Opportunity for All
The need to strengthen the family is even more urgent today than it was 50 years ago. While Moynihan’s report focused on the black family, and while the concern today is all the greater for this original group, trends in marriage and family breakdown are a concern among Americans of all races. In order for all families in America to have the greatest opportunity to thrive in the 21st century, it is crucial that America heed Moynihan’s original warning and seek to reestablish the stability of the family.
In 1965, the generations of injustice and racial oppression that had contributed to the weakness of the family in the African American community were poignant. While it is still necessary today to fight systemic injustice where it exists, it is crucial to strengthen the institutions that nurture opportunity and protect against the many adverse outcomes that are associated with family breakdown. Without addressing these issues, far too many children will be left with diminished opportunities to reach their potential.
Conclusion
Policymakers and other leaders must find ways to strengthen marriage. They can start by ensuring that policy does not undermine marriage. This can be accomplished by reducing marriage penalties prevalent in the nation’s means-tested welfare system.
Furthermore, policymakers should send a clear message about the crucial importance of marriage and the intact family, particularly with regard to how strong families protect children from poverty and other risks. They can do this through a public advertising campaign, following the model of anti-smoking campaigns and campaigns that have encouraged youth to “stay in school.”
Leaders in all sectors should utilize their resources to strengthen and nurture healthy marriages. Churches and nonprofit and community-based organizations must also make the strengthening of marriage and family a priority.
It will require great courage from leaders to push back against the prevailing cultural trend of family breakdown, particularly since America is now seeing second-generation and third-generation fragmented families. However, these efforts are necessary if America hopes to restore and expand opportunity for all Americans.
—Martin D. Brown is a Visiting Fellow in the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, of the Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity, at The Heritage Foundation. Rachel Sheffield is a Policy Analyst in the Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity.
Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line now fully operational
Significant infrastructure investments will maintain reliability
(Newark, N.J. – May 11, 2015) With the new Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line now entirely operational, Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G), New Jersey’s largest utility, is fully equipped to meet customer demand for safe, reliable electricity this summer.
The 500-kilovolt line was fully energized today by PPL Electric Utilities from the Susquehanna station in Berwick, Pa., to PSE&G’s Hopatcong switching station. PSE&G energized the portion of the line from Hopatcong to its Roseland switching station in April 2014. PSE&G has spent more than $775 million on the project to date. The PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator, determined that Susquehanna-Roseland was needed to maintain reliability by relieving congestion on other regional transmission lines.
PSE&G constructed 45 miles of the line in New Jersey and PPL built the 101-mile Pennsylvania portion. The two companies worked together to build a four-mile segment through National Park Service lands along the borders of the two states.
“In addition to maintaining electric capacity and reliability, the energizing of this line marks the completion of a major project that has created thousands of New Jersey jobs and has benefitted the state’s economy,” said Kim Hanemann, senior vice president of delivery projects and construction for PSE&G. “We could not have completed this critical project without the cooperative relationship between PSE&G and PPL. Working together, we successfully navigated the lengthy permitting and licensing process at both the state and federal levels. The S-R line is one of a number of substantial infrastructure upgrades we are making to keep the lights on and New Jersey’s residents cool when temperatures climb.”
PSE&G customers are benefiting from $2.6 billion in electric and gas investments the utility is making this year. Equipment has been replaced, facilities have been upgraded and additional redundancies have been added system-wide in order to maintain reliability.
Notable investments that will be in service for the first time this year, ensuring that energy is delivered safely and reliably to customers, include:
$435 million for the Mickleton-Gloucester-Camden 230kV reinforcement consisting of 20 miles of new and upgraded overhead transmission, installing 16 miles of new 230kV underground circuits, and upgrades at five existing stations expected in-service for June. This project maintains electric service reliability for customers in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties.
$77 million for the Aldene-Springfield Rd-West Orange 230kV Conversion Network reinforcement consisting of rewiring from Cranford to West Orange to replace underground circuits with high-rated conductors, and upgrades at two stations. This project maintains electric service reliability for customers in Union and Essex counties.
$76 million to replace 14 aging transformers to maintain electric service reliability for customers in Bergen, Union, Middlesex, Somerset, Mercer, Gloucester and Burlington counties.
$63 million for rewiring projects from Ridgefield to Saddle Brook to Fair Lawn in Bergen County to replace underground circuits with high-rated conductors to maintain reliability.
$66 million for the Branchburg-Bridgewater reconfiguration of the switchyards at four existing stations and rewiring two overhead transmission lines. This project maintains electric service reliability for customers in Middlesex and Somerset counties.
$41 million to install a 69,000-volt upgraded substation, providing increased local transmission supply capacity to customers in south Bergen and north Hudson counties. Additionally, $63 million for 69,000-volt upgrades to switching station equipment and lines in the East Rutherford, Fair Lawn and Paterson areas.
$35 million invested in tree trimming across PSE&G’s service territory to ensure adequate clearance and prevent tree contacts along transmission and distribution lines.
“These investments, along with our highly skilled and dedicated workforce, play a big role in making us one of the most reliable utilities in the country, and the most reliable in the Mid-Atlantic region year after year,” said John Latka, senior vice president of electric operations for PSE&G. “Customers can rest assured that when temperatures spike and they turn on their air conditioners, we’ll be ready.”
The forecasted summer peak for this year is 10,306 megawatts. Last year’s peak was 9,474 megawatts, set on July 2, and PSE&G’s all-time summer peak was 11,108 megawatts, set on Aug. 2, 2006.
PSE&G expects to have no problem delivering the additional power required during the summer months, but utility crews will be ready to respond to service interruptions should they occur. The utility’s rigorous, year-round preparedness program for summer includes conducting employee training; developing emergency summer operating plans; performing summer peak reliability analysis; inspecting transmission lines using helicopters and infrared cameras; and reinforcing lines and other equipment.
Two economic research papers published this month show that where children live can have an impact on their prospects for success later in life. Parents already know that—and it is why houses in good neighborhoods often cost three or four times as much as houses in bad neighborhoods.
The new studies have garnered outsized attention,[1] but the results are neither as clear nor as firm as reported. One paper finds both benefits and costs to relocating families with children. The other paper finds that children who moved had different outcomes in different places—but does not prove that their success or failure would be replicated by others who made the same moves.
Disruption and Opportunity
The first study is straightforward and finds that the experimental Moving to Opportunity housing-voucher program in the 1990s had positive effects for young children and negative effects for teenagers.[2] In their new neighborhoods, the younger kids benefited from growing up with safer streets, better schools, fewer gangs, more neighbors with intact families, more prosperity, harder-working adults, and the rest of the characteristics that define a “good neighborhood.” It confirms what families already know: Sometimes the path to opportunity involves a new location.
However, moving to a better neighborhood hurt teenagers’ future earnings, possibly because the move disrupted social networks. The disruption cost confirms the importance of place: Social networks are valuable even in very poor neighborhoods. The paper indicates that the disruption cost is large—equal to about five years of living in a better neighborhood[3]—although it is statistically imprecise. The disruption cost affects young children as well as teens; the authors did not test whether it affects adults.
Families who participated in the Moving to Opportunity experiment understood the potential costs of moving: About half of those who were offered a subsidy turned down the chance to move. Presumably, the families who opted out were those for which the disruption costs would have been larger and the benefits smaller.
The paper makes a contribution by emphasizing that moving has up-front costs as well as long-term benefits for children. It implicitly cautions against housing policies that move families around and recommends targeting existing relocation opportunities to families with young children.
Moving to Opportunity has been widely studied. Previous studies found no effect on most income, health, and academic outcomes for both adults and children.[4] Although the present study finds some positive income effects for young children, the experiment failed to achieve most of its objectives.
It would be unwise to turn the Moving to Opportunity experiment into a widespread feature of housing policy. An earlier generation of urban social planners also believed that geography caused poverty and moved thousands of poor families from their old tenements to brand-new government housing projects. The projects often became much worse neighborhoods and stand today as a symbol of governmental hubris and failure.
“Potentially Misleading”
The second study is much harder to understand and economists are still debating what the results mean.[5] Regrettably, the paper is ripe for misinterpretation. The authors call the study “The Impact of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility,” but the “neighborhoods” in question are counties or entire metropolitan and rural areas. Unlike the Moving to Opportunity study, the second study has almost nothing to say about neighborhoods in the sense of Plymouth-Exchange, Jamaica Plain, or Petworth.[6]
The study primarily uses data gathered from families moving at least 100 miles, not families remaining within the same metro area. When a family moves, the authors compare the outcomes for younger children to the outcomes of older children. They do find that the effects of a move (positive or negative) have more influence on outcomes for siblings who are young at the time of the move than for those who are teenagers. They also find that geography matters more for boys than for girls.
However, unlike the first study, the second lacks experimental rigor. Families who move are dissimilar to families who stay put. The study also tries to remove the effects of parental income, so that a parent who earns $60,000 a year in Santa Clara County, California (median household income: $92,000[7]), is directly compared to a parent who earns $60,000 a year in Colusa County, California (median household income: $52,000[8]). But a parent capable of earning $60,000 a year in Colusa is likely more skilled or more motivated than one earning $60,000 in high-wage Santa Clara. Even more concerning is that the life events (such as job loss, divorce, or graduation) that spark a move to Santa Clara are likely to indicate a different trajectory in family fortunes than the life events that spark a move to rural Colusa.
The authors recognize this shortcoming, admitting that “the availability of jobs is another important factor in a location decision, [so] it is potentially misleading to consider the negative correlation with rent and house prices as an indication that it is cheaper on net to move to a [region] with a higher causal effect.”[9]
The same caution can be extended to most of the paper. One of the primary benefits of living in Santa Clara County is the availability of well-paid work. So when The New York Times reports that Colusa County is “better than about 85 percent of [U.S.] counties”—including Santa Clara—for low-income children’s economic prospects, it is assuming that their parents make the same amount of money living in Colusa as they would in Santa Clara or anywhere else.[10] For most prospective movers, ignoring the job market would be foolhardy.
Technically speaking, the effects that the authors estimate are analogous to the “treatment on the treated.”[11] That is not the same as estimating the marginal treatment effect, which would be of vastly more interest to parents and policymakers.
The paper is so easily misinterpreted because it answers a question that no one is asking[12] while sounding similar to questions that many people do ask: “Where should I move to maximize my children’s opportunities? Should I move at all?” The study does not answer those questions.
Local Policy
Research on neighborhood effects may tempt policymakers to play real estate agent, subsidizing moves from one place to another. A better approach is to use the research as a reminder of the importance of local policies.
Municipalities can improve children’s outcomes by promoting public safety and using competition and parental choice to offer better and more diverse schools. Counties with high wages and low unemployment, like Santa Clara, should permit denser residential construction, allowing more families to afford access to their job markets.
Many, perhaps most, American families will move to a better neighborhood or more prosperous city at some point in their lives. But American families need new opportunities, not just a shuffling around of existing ones. The response to failing schools, shuttered factories, and gang-haunted playgrounds can—and should—be much more innovative than a moving truck.
—Salim Furth, PhD, is Research Fellow in Macroeconomics in the Center for Data Analysis, of the Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity, at The Heritage Foundation.
MAY 11, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, MAY 11, 2015, 12:24 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Ridgewood district administrators informally assessed enrollment numbers of the village’s six elementary schools since 2009, a response to the public’s mounting concerns over anticipated class sizes next year.
In its search for a trend, the administration determined that a definitive conclusion could not be identified.
What the research did do, however, was provide a baseline for the district as it continues to monitor overall enrollment heading into the next academic year.
Board of Education (BOE) members said for the past several weeks that they have engaged in numerous conversations and fielded emails from parents alarmed with increasing class sizes. Two dozen parents publicly expressed related concerns at a school board meeting last month.
Those speakers, most with children attending Willard and Hawes schools, noted that high enrollment in the lower grades is adversely impacting the educational environment for the students. The rising student-to-teacher ratio also places a burden on the staff, parents contend.
MAY 12, 2015, 8:27 AM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015, 8:33 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
SOUTH NYACK, N.Y. — A Ridgewood man and former Nyack College softball coach charged with more than 90 counts of harassment and forcible sexual touching returned to court Monday afternoon for a brief hearing.
Kurt Ludwigsen spoke not a word during his appearance before Judge Dennis Lynch in South Nyack’s courthouse.
Authorities in Nyack arrested Ludwigsen last month after several members of his softball team — between the ages of 18 and 23 — accused him of touching and kissing them inappropriately.
Ludwigsen’s wife, Ann, said in a statement released soon after his arrest that she was “shocked to learn of the charges filed” against her husband and “was wholly unaware of the circumstances surrounding the allegations and is learning the facts of this matter as they unfold.”
Ludwigsen has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The judge set Aug. 3 as the date for Ludwigsen’s next court appearance.
Meanwhile, police in Petaluma, Calif., said they had conducted a brief criminal investigation into “loose” allegations made against Ludwigsen.
No charges were filed against Ludwigsen, said Petaluma police Lt. Dan Fish, who added that the “very non-specific” allegations were “4 years old” and “revolved around sports.”
MAY 11, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, MAY 11, 2015, 9:50 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The issue of sidewalks, and lack thereof, on Clinton Avenue returned to the Ridgewood Council on May 6 as residents came forward to voice their opinion on that issue, as well as the safety concerns held by parents whose children walk to Ridge School.
In February, the council approved a resolution for Clinton Avenue improvements, which included paving, but not installation of sidewalks as recommended by the Citizen Safety Advisory Committee (CSAC).
Councilwoman Susan Knudsen said the topic was put on for discussion at last Wednesday’s work session for residents who believed they were not a part of the process because they were not aware of when CSAC was discussing Clinton Avenue.
Many of those who did come forward last week noted that the lack of sidewalks on Clinton, as well as other nearby streets, is part of a larger safety issue surrounding Ridge School.
Anastasia Bamberg, who lives on Melrose Place, said the village is missing an opportunity to install sidewalks, but believes the street should remain closed to traffic during the day.
“I think Clinton Avenue is a great example of closing the street and I’d like to close more streets in Ridgewood to get kids to school and not have as much traffic,” she said. “I understand that the residents object to sidewalks, but I think they’re objecting because they think it will be opened to traffic.”
The Village of Ridgewood has partnered with Parkmobile the leading provider for on-demand and prepaid mobile payments for on- and off-street parking pay by phone. There will now be an easier effortless and innovative way of paying for parking transactions by mobile phone. The new partnership will allow pay by phone transactions so residents businesses and visitors will be able to conduct their parking transactions by mobile phone throughout Ridgewood.
Ridgewood NJ May 11 2015 – Parkmobile LLC announced today a new partnership with the Village of Ridgewood that will allow customers to use their mobile phones to pay for parking at all Village owned lots. This is the first step in expanding mobile payment transactions throughout the Village of Ridgewood. Parkmobile will be available for the on-street meters in the near future as well. Customers will be able to utilize their smartphones to pay for parking using Parkmobile’s mobile applications for iPhone Android Windows Blackberry and Amazon phones. After an exhaustive search Parkmobile was selected. Patrons may register in advance at www.parkmobile.com or download the mobile app in their phone’s app store.
“We are excited to work with Parkmobile pay by phone industry leader and implement a Village-wide pay by phone option. This partnership will expand current payment options and revolutionize the current parking operation as it has done for Glen Rock Summit Chatham and Montclair.”
“We are very happy to launch our mobile payment parking service in the Village of Ridgewood” said Cherie Fuzzell CEO of Parkmobile LLC. “This technology offers customers a new and better way to pay for parking and is truly beneficial to them as well as the city. Our service eliminates the need to swipe a card or feed coins to a meter and can make our lives easier and more efficient.”
Once registered customers may use the mobile app internet or call a toll free number to pay for parking. After setting up their account they can immediately start using the system with their registered mobile phone. This convenient service also provides customers the ability to receive alerts when their meter time is about to expire and use credit cards in locations that do not offer manual credit card payments. Meters accepting coins are still available except at the Chestnut Street Lot and some parking spaces at the Rt. 17 Park & Ride Lot.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Mitt Romney and Jets Flight Crew Cheerleaders watch a Jets game from owner Woody Johnson’s private box in December 2014.Photo: Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com
Sorry I missed the party !
By Chris Perez
May 11, 2015 | 12:16pm
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Mitt Romney and Jets Flight Crew Cheerleaders watch a Jets game from owner Woody Johnson’s private box in December 2014.Photo: Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com
Chris Christie shelled out $300,000 on food, alcohol and desserts during his five years as New Jersey governor — more than 80 percent of his state allowance, a report said.
The 52-year-old’s most noteworthy spending sprees came during Giants and Jets games at MetLife Stadium in 2010 and 2011, according to a New Jersey Watchdog analysis of records released by the governor’s office on Monday.
Christie racked up $82,594 in concessions, which were paid for by debit card to Delaware North Sportservice. But the menu remains a mystery because the governor’s office did not provide any receipts, business reasons or names of individuals who were joining in on the feast, Watchdog reports.
“The official nature and business purpose of the event remains the case regardless of whether the event is at the State House, Drumthwacket or a sporting venue,” Christie press secretary Kevin Roberts explained in a prepared statement.
In the attempt to avoid a potential scandal which could shatter Christie’s dreams of becoming president, the New Jersey Republican State Committee chose to reimburse purchases from “DNS Sports” to the state Treasury in March 2012. The governor has stopped using his expense account at MetLife ever since.
On Monday, Christie’s camp was quick to explain the alleged spending — claiming he never made any purchases for his own use.
The number of cops killed in the line of duty during violent acts has almost doubled in the past year, the FBI said.
In 2014, 51 cops were killed in a felony crime — up from just 27 the year before, which marked a 35-year low,according to preliminary data released Monday by the FBI.
By region, eight cops were killed during the commission of a crime in the Northeast, 17 in the South, 14 in the West, eight in the Midwest and four in Puerto Rico.
An average of 64 officers were killed per year nationwide from 1980 to 2014 in felony cases, the FBI said.
The data come amid spiking tensions between law enforcement and minority communities after deaths of unarmed black men and boys at the hands of cops in Baltimore, Staten Island and Ferguson, Mo.
The recent turmoil also has shed light on the dangers faced by cops across the country.
Among the 51 slain cops, 46 were shot at with handguns, rifles and shotguns; four were run over by vehicles; and one was killed with the offender’s bare hands, the FBI said.
They faced a variety of situations, including 11 who responded to disturbance calls, 10 who were conducting traffic pursuits or stops, eight who were ambushed and six who were investigating suspicious people or situations.
“This was a bad progressive idea,” said Assemblyman Michael Carroll, a Republican in Morris Plains, N.J. “The U.S. Senate was much more responsive and accountable prior to the amendment because it had to answer to the states.”
Without the 17th Amendment, said Assemblyman Jay Webber, a Republican in Parsippany, N.J., local party officials could exert influence at the national level.
“In a state like New Jersey, where the county party structure is so strong, you could expect to see influence shift to county chairs and other power brokers,” he said. “What they now do at the state level, they could have been in a position to do nationally.”
Although it might change the priorities of New Jersey’s U.S. senators, repeal of the 17th Amendment probably would not significantly change who served, according to Kim Guadagno, the state’s lieutenant governor.
“The Democrats have a significant registration advantage in the state,” she said. “I’m not sure you would see any kind of major change in who became the U.S. senators. But I am glad to see Justice Scalia focus attention on the amendment and what it meant for the country as a whole.”
Scalia said the trend toward using constitutions as lawmaking documents has increased in recent years as special interests have learned to insert “pet projects” into constitutions.
“A constitution is about setting structure; it is not about writing the preferences of special-interest groups,” he said.
In fact, he said, the less done to the Constitution, the better. During the question-and-answer session, someone asked if a constitutional convention would be in the nation’s interests.
“A constitutional convention is a horrible idea,” he said. “This is not a good century to write a constitution.”
A federal judge has agreed to reopen a lawsuit that seeks access to emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server.
The federal judge’s decision marks the first time a court has taken action in the email scandal.
Judge Andrew Napolitano explained the particulars behind the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit this morning.
Judicial Watch and the State Department – usually on opposite sides in these types of cases – are actually in agreement, with both asking Judge Reggie B. Walton for the documents to be turned over.
Napolitano called Walton a “tough cookie” and “probably the last judge in Washington, D.C., [Clinton] wanted this issue to be in front of.”
He said that the State Department consented to the request because they have been “embarrassed” by their lack of access to Clinton’s emails.
The court had previously dismissed Judicial Watch’s request, thinking the documents did not exist.
