Apr 25, 1:38 PM EDT
BY NEDRA PICKLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — With debate gearing up over the coming expiration of the Patriot Act surveillance law, the Obama administration on Saturday unveiled a 6-year-old report examining the once-secret program to collect information on Americans’ calls and emails.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence publicly released the redacted report following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the New York Times. The basics of the National Security Agency program had already been declassified, but the lengthy report includes some new details about the secrecy surrounding it.
President George W. Bush authorized the “President’s Surveillance Program” in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The review was completed in July 2009 by inspectors general from the Justice Department, Pentagon, CIA, NSA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
They found that while many senior intelligence officials believe the program filled a gap by increasing access to international communications, others including FBI agents, CIA analysts and managers “had difficulty evaluating the precise contribution of the PSP to counterterrorism efforts because it was most often viewed as one source among many available analytic and intelligence-gathering tools in these efforts.”
Critics of the phone records program, which allows the NSA to hunt for communications between terrorists abroad and U.S. residents, argue it has not proven to be an effective counterterrorism tool. They also say an intelligence agency has no business possessing the deeply personal records of Americans. Many favor a system under which the NSA can obtain court orders to query records held by the phone companies.
The Patriot Act expires on June 1, and Senate Republicans have introduced a bill that would allow continued collection of call records of nearly every American. The legislation would reauthorize sections of the Patriot Act, including the provision under which the NSA requires phone companies to turn over the “to and from” records of most domestic landline calls.
APRIL 23, 2015 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
* Employment, interest rates cited as Passaic, Bergen home sales rise
Fueled by a stronger job market, housing sales activity is picking up steam, with existing home sales up 6.1 percent nationwide in March, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.
A separate report, from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said that home prices nationwide were also on the rise — up 5.4 percent in the 12 months ending in February. But prices were up only 2.6 percent in the Middle Atlantic region, which includes New Jersey.
That story was reflected in Bergen and Passaic counties, which saw little price improvement but an increase in sales activity.
“After a quiet start to the year, sales activity picked up greatly throughout the country in March,” said NAR economist Lawrence Yun. “The combination of low interest rates and the ongoing stability in the job market is improving buyer confidence and finally releasing some of the sizable pent-up demand that accumulated in recent years.”
Existing-home sales nationwide in March were at an annual level of 5.19 million.
Veteran defense lawyers see possible criminal inquiry for Clintons
By James Rosen
Published April 25, 2015
FoxNews.com
With a sitting Democratic senator recently indicted on federal bribery and corruption charges, top criminal defense lawyers in the nation’s capital say Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton could conceivably face similar scrutiny, amid mounting disclosures about the tangled finances of her family’s philanthropic foundation.
The new book “Clinton Cash” by Peter Schweizer, an investigative reporter affiliated with the right-leaning Hoover Institution, has unleashed a torrent of conflict-of-interest allegations relating to the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton’s own conduct during her tenure, from 2009 to 2013, as secretary of state.
Particular scrutiny – by Fox News, the Washington Post, and the New York Times – has focused on why the State Department, under Clinton’s leadership, green-lighted a foreign transaction that enriched major donors to the foundation while placing an estimated 20 percent of America’s stockpile of uranium – the fissile material that can be used to make nuclear weapons -under the control of a Kremlin-backed Russian firm.
It was, moreover, shortly after the uranium deal went through that former President Bill Clinton nailed down a $500,000 fee for a speaking event in Moscow.
“There’s certainly smoke there,” said Caleb Burns, a partner at the Washington law firm Wiley Rein LLC, who has long experience handling financial and public integrity cases. “The question’s going to be whether or not she took any official action in exchange for those donations. If she did, I think there is going to be a high, high likelihood of additional scrutiny, either from Capitol Hill or from the Department of Justice itself.”
Burns likened the known fact setting in the Clinton controversies to that which led to the federal indictment, earlier this month, of Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, who stands accused of performing favors for a well-connected Democratic donor in exchange for pricey gifts. Menendez has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
After giving a version of his stump speech to a mostly gray-haired crowd in Iowa, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin was pressed on Friday by two twenty-something Republicans about a percolating issue he did not mention: immigration.
Mr. Walker’s apparent hardening on immigration has inspired a flood of reporting and commentary. Most recently he told the radio host Glenn Beck that he favored restricting legal immigration in tough economic times, a position to the right of most other 2016 presidential hopefuls.
He repeated that view Friday after a speech in Cedar Rapids, when Eddie Failor, 24, expressed concern “as a young Republican” that the party must make inroads to new voter blocs, including by supporting a comprehensive overhaul of immigration.
Mr. Walker told Mr. Failor that his top priority would be securing the border. He also said he favored “making sure the legal immigration system is based on making our No. 1 priority to protect American workers and their wages.’’
Alexander Staudt, the treasurer of the University of Iowa College Republicans, also told Mr. Walker in the meet-and-greet line that he was concerned that by talking tough on immigration, Republican candidates would turn off Hispanics.
Alex and Ani will be hosting a launch party for two new collections that they have in the store from 10 – 8 on Sat. April 25. They will be setting up a table of lite bites and refreshments from surrounding Ridgewood businesses and will be showing all of these new products!
HEATHER VOTOR
STORE MANAGER
201.857.0911
134 EAST RIDGEWOOD AVENUE
RIDGEWOOD, NJ 07450
WWW.ALEXANDANI.COM
Ridgewood NJ, Shock and dismay as Bruce Jenner Comes Out as a ‘Conservative Republican’ and ‘Christian’
In an interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC Friday, Bruce Jenner said he is transgender, and more shockingly a Republican. and not just a any Republican a Conservative Republican . He even went as far as to say he was a Christian. “This is why God put me on this earth… to deal with this issue.” Sawyyer was stunned .
“Are you a Republican?” Sawyer asked. Jenner Replied “Yeah, is that a bad thing?” Jenner replied. “I believe in the Constitution.”, clearly another strike against him .
Jenner was immediately blasted on line by open minded ” Liberals” , ” Frankly we thought Diane Sawyer’s head was going to explode.
APRIL 24, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
When a handful of residents resurrected the Ridgewood Arts Council (RAC) last year, there was little doubt cast that the group’s members would struggle to make their mark. Now, they’re preparing to leave a lasting legacy.
Members of the RAC along with their friends and other interested residents, some 20 in total, met Tuesday night to discuss the progress of the organization and its current initiatives while rallying support of the abundance of creativity in the village.
“We all know that Ridgewood has a thriving arts community, whether it’s in painting, singing, dancing, and culinary arts. There’s so much here,” Mayor Paul Aronsohn said during the evening’s welcome. “This is a great organization to bring it all together and make it available for everyone to see.”
In an effort to bring various art forms together, the RAC has launched a campaign to create “Ridgewood Art at Village Hall,” a permanent art display that would adorn the interior walls and halls of the municipal building. This week, the first eight art pieces donated for exhibit consideration were presented for viewing.
Paul Nungesser, the Columbia University student accused of raping fellow student Emma Sulkowicz, is now suing the university for doing nothing to stop Sulkowicz’s harassment campaign against him, which he claims “effectively destroyed” his college experience, reputation, and future career prospects.
His lawsuit contains a wealth of new information about the contested sexual assault, including dozens of messages establishing Sulkowicz’s sexual “yearning” for Nungesser, which she sent to him both before and after the alleged incident. (Full text of the lawsuit here, courtesy of KC Johnson.)
Sulkowicz and Nungesser initially became friends at Columbia, developing an intimate relationship that involved several sexual encounters and frequent discussions of sex and relationships. Eventually, she accused him of choking, attacking, and anally raping her. Nungesser was cleared by Columbia’s sexual assault adjudication process (the police later declined to pursue charges, citing a lack of probable suspicion), which prompted Sulkowicz to go public with her claims and start carrying her mattress everywhere she went as a form of protest against what she viewed as a miscarriage of justice. She became something of a spokesperson for rape victims, and was even invited to attend the State of the Union address with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York).
There were reasons to doubt Sulkowicz’s claims. Reason contributor Cathy Young outlined some of them in a detailed piece for The Daily Beast. Perhaps most damning for Sulkowicz’s credibility are friendly messages she sent him, and continued to send, even after he allegedly raped her.
Ridgewood Police and the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Police Department has been receiving numerous reports of tax returns being filed fraudulently. The Ridgewood Police will assist the victim with filing documentation of the incident. All incidents should be reported to the Internal Revenue Service Investigation Unit.
STOLEN IDENTITY REFUND FRAUD
ALERT: The IRS does not send unsolicited email, text messages or use social media to discuss your personal tax issue. If you receive a telephone call from someone claiming to be an IRS employee and demanding money, you should consult the IRS Tax Scams/Consumer Alerts webpage: https://www.irs.gov/uac/Tax-Scams-Consumer-Alerts. If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to believe that you do, report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) at 1.800.366.4484 or at www.tigta.gov.
Stolen Identity Refund Fraud (SIRF) Enforcement
One of the Tax Division’s highest priorities is prosecuting people who use stolen identities to steal money from the United States Treasury by filing fake tax returns that claim tax refunds. Working to stop Stolen Identity Refund Fraud, or SIRF, is vital because these schemes threaten to disrupt the orderly administration of the income tax system for hundreds of thousands of law abiding taxpayers and to cost the United States Treasury billions of dollars.
SIRF crimes are complicated to prosecute because they are often perpetrated by large criminal enterprises with individuals at all stages of the scheme: those who steal the Social Security Numbers (SSN) and personal identifying information, those who file false returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), those who facilitate obtaining the refunds, and the masterminds who promote the schemes. These criminal enterprises are able to exploit the speed and relative anonymity of highly automated systems for storing personal information, preparing and filing tax returns electronically, and generating income tax refunds quickly—often in the form of electronic payments.
Identities used in SIRF crimes may be stolen from anywhere. SIRF criminals have used social security numbers stolen from institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes, and public death lists, thereby exploiting some of the most vulnerable members of our communities—the elderly, the infirm, grieving families. However, everyone with a social security number is potentially vulnerable to having their identity stolen. According to the IRS, from 2008 through May of 2012, the Service has identified more than 550,000 taxpayers who have had their identities stolen for the purpose of claiming false refunds in their names.
Typically SIRF perpetrators file the false returns electronically, early in the tax filing season so that the IRS receives the false SIRF return before the legitimate holder of the social security number has time to file their return. The SIRF perpetrators arrange to have the refunds electronically transferred to debit cards or delivered to addresses where they can steal the refund out of the mail.
SIRF crimes cross state borders, and increasingly, national borders. Successfully prosecuting the wrongdoers requires a national strategy of information sharing and coordinated prosecution. The nation-wide reach of the Tax Division’s centralized criminal tax enforcement and its ability to coordinate closely with every United States Attorney’s Office, and through them local law enforcement and police, makes it possible for the Government to respond efficiently and forcefully to the explosion of SIRF crimes. Moreover, the Tax Division has created expedited procedures for working with the United States Attorneys’ Offices on SIRF crimes to ensure the quickest possible investigation and prosecution of these cases. Additionally, the Division works closely with the Internal Revenue Service to quickly share information obtained from our investigations and prosecutions of SIRF cases that the IRS can use to make it more difficult for the schemes to be successful by blocking the refunds from being paid in the first place.
The Tax Division has had considerable success in SIRF prosecutions, which have generated long sentences for those convicted of SIRF crimes. This page contains links to articles, websites, and press releases with information on how the Justice Department and IRS are dealing with SIRF crimes, guidance for citizens whose identities have been stolen and used to file false tax returns, and efforts of the Justice Department to prosecute these crimes.
– Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division
Potential class-action lawsuit filed against the maker of TurboTax
the Ridgewood PD and the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, Ridgewood Police report on April 18, 2015 at 6:55 PM Ptl Anthony Mormino responded to a hit and run motor vehicle accident on East Saddle River Road. Ptl Keith Killion located the vehicle that left the scene on Wall Street. While investigating the incident it was determined that the driver and a passenger were attempting to hide the vehicle in a garage.
The driver Arnella E. Migirov 21 of Elmwood Park was arrested and charged with DWI, DWI in a School Zone, Unsafe Vehicle, Failure to Exhibit Documents, Failure to Install Interlock Device, Reckless Driving, Following to Closely, Leaving the scene of an accident wit Injury, and Failure to Report an Accident with Injury. The accused was released pending an appearance in Ridgewood Municipal Court.All defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
We haven’t been in communications via E-Notice for a while! And I was actually hesitating sending this note out as there may be little if any impact on you as a result of our new Amnesty Program but decided on balance it would be good to communicate on this topic. I have attached a copy of the Permit Amnesty Program that the Building Department is offering for residential work that has been previously completed without having the required permits. This program is based on the review of more than 650 pending applications as well as discussions with residents. This program runs through August 21, 2015.
Two other topics that I would like to mention while I have your ear. First of all potholes: over the last several weeks we have received calls from about 450 residents, others have used our website application, resulting in the filling of over 2,000 potholes around town. Please keep that input coming – although our staff is also on the lookout for potholes, our best source of information is you.
I know that there has been news stories about animal sightings, sometimes the animals – mainly raccoons and coyotes- are rabid. If an animal looks like they are intoxicated or displaying weird behavior, you are encouraged to call the Police Department. I would also suggest that if you see a coyote, rabid or otherwise, please phone the Police Department……if we get several sightings I will put out an E-Notice. Unfortunately we cannot as yet target an E-Notice to a geographic area within the Village but we will indicate in the notice where the sightings have occurred.
You do not need to receive an E-Notice to communicate with me – please always feel free to share your observations and feedback. I had my April Meet the Manager session last evening and my next one will be on Saturday, May 23rd from 9 – noon.
Click Here
Have a great spring, Roberta
Best regards,
Roberta
Roberta Sonenfeld
Village Manager
201-670-5500, ext. 203
file photo by Boyd Loving
APRIL 24, 2015, 10:20 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2015, 10:25 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Village property owners would pay 1.2 percent more in taxes over the next year, under a $47.1 million 2015 municipal budget introduced by officials this week.
Ridgewood’s operating budget raises expenses and revenues overall by 1.8 percent, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld said during the council’s Wednesday night meeting.
The tax increase is the first in the village in two years and would result in a $46.72 increase for owners of the average home, assessed at $690,672.
Second quarter property taxes are due May 1, 2015. There is a 10 day grace period for property tax payments. Since the 10th falls on a Sunday, all payments must be received in this office by Monday, May 11, 2015 to avoid a penalty. Postmark is not accepted.
Please allow ample time for mail delivery. If you are using online checking, confirm with your banking institution that payments will arrive on time and be sure to include your block and lot number in the memo. We cannot make exceptions for payments still en route on May 11th . All payments received after the May 11th deadline will accrue interest from May 1, 2015. Payments may also be dropped off in the yellow Village mail box at the rear main entrance.
Study after study shows that Americans are not saving for retirement like they should, and a new survey finds that nearly one third of people who have some sort of savings plan have amassed less than $1,000 for retirement.
The survey titled “Preparing for Retirement in America,” by Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald and Associates, finds that only 65 percent of workers have any savings for retirement, a number that fell below the 75 percent figure from 2009.
But 28 percent of workers report that they have saved less than $1,000 for retirement, and almost 6 in 10 Americans say that their financial planning needs improvement.
Additionally, 34 percent say they have made no effort at all to saving anything or make a retirement plan. Still, most say that they intend to start saving at some point.
But intentions may not be enough. “Intending one thing and doing another is human, but it’s an impulse we should all fight hard to resist,” Rebekah Barsch, vice president of planning and sales at Northwestern Mutual, said in a press statement. “Intentions only get us so far. And when the stakes are high, it’s taking action that’s critical.”
The financial issues plaguing Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign have become too much even for liberal groups, and now Common Cause is calling for an independent audit of donations to the Clinton Foundation.
Amid suggestions that foreign governments donated to the foundation in hopes of getting special treatment from President Obama’s State Department when Clinton was his top diplomat, the group on Friday said a “thorough review” is needed.
“Six years ago, at Mrs. Clinton’s confirmation hearing for her appointment as secretary of state, then-Sen. Dick Lugar observed that ‘that foreign governments and entities may perceive the Clinton Foundation as a means to gain favor with the secretary of state.’ He was right, and his remarks remain relevant today as Mrs. Clinton seeks the presidency,” said Common Cause President Miles Rapoport.
US Air Force Band comes to Ridgewood Hosted by the Ridgewood YMCA, YWCA of Bergen County with the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce Friday May 1, 7:00pm The YMCA YWCA building 112 Oak Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450 For details or reservations please call: 201-445-2600 Donations gratefully appreciated at the door Proceeds benefit Ridgewood YMCA and YWCA Bergen County children’s summer camp scholarships
For details or reservations please call – 201-445-2600 or email [email protected]
Bergen County children’s summer camp scholarships
