Ridgewood NJ, In late February, 108 RHS students attended the DECA State Career Development Conference. Students completed exams, role play scenarios, and presentations, with the top three in each event moving onto the International Career Development Conference to be held in Orlando, Florida.
The RHS chapter took home a variety of awards and honors from the week’s events. RHS DECA will be sending over 30 students to the international competition. Among those honored at the Cherry Hill competition was junior Alex Formichella, who was elected as a New Jersey state officer. She is only the third RHS student to win this distinction.
Feds: Hackers stole 1 billion email addresses in spam scheme
MARCH 6, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015, 3:44 PM
WIRE SERVICE
The Associated Press
ATLANTA – Computer hackers stole a whopping 1 billion email addresses from U.S. marketing companies in what federal authorities Friday described as a massive spam scheme.
Three people were indicted on federal charges in what John Horn, the acting U.S. attorney based in Atlanta, called “one of the largest reported data breaches in United States history.” He said they netted $2 million in commissions from millions of spam emails that routed recipients to websites selling software and other products.
That means the defendants would have averaged just a fraction of a penny for each of the stolen email addresses.
Still, authorities said the case is significant because of the scale of the information stolen. Horn said hackers targeted marketing companies that send bulk emails to customers of their commercial clients. They gained access to the firms’ computer systems by sending emails with hidden malware to the marketing companies’ employees.
The hackers not only stole hundreds of millions of email addresses, Horn said, but they also succeeded in using the marketing firms’ own systems to send the hackers’ spam messages.
One of the defendants, 25-year-old Vietnamese citizen Giang Hoang Vu, pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud before a federal judge last month. He has not been sentenced.
SHARE, Inc. to Present Free Workshop Series Addressing Elder Law, Vision and Hearing Issues and Patient Advocacy
SHARE, Inc. to Present Free Workshop Series in March and April
Area Residents are Invited to Programs Addressing Elder Law, Vision and Hearing Issues and Patient Advocacy
The Shared Housing Association for Ridgewood and Environs (SHARE, Inc.) will continue its free workshop series addressing issues concerning seniors, their families and caregivers. These programs will be presented by local service providers and area residents are invited to attend.
The following workshops will be held in March and April at the SHARE residences indicated:
Wed., Mar. 11 at 7 p.m. – Elder Law Issues: Michael Manna, Esq., will examine issues including durable power of attorney, living wills and estate planning. 130 Prospect Street, Ridgewood, N.J.
Thurs., Mar. 19 at 7 p.m.– Sight Augmented: Bernhardt Schneider from Pear Enterprises will demonstrate equipment that assists the vision impaired. 104 Cottage Place, Ridgewood, N.J.
Thurs., Apr. 2 at 12 p.m. – New Jersey Hearing Aid Project: Audiologist Ann Marie Olson will discuss two programs that are available to low-income seniors. 104 Cottage Place, Ridgewood, N.J.
RSVP’s are welcome but not required. To register or for more information, please contact Marianne Bennett at [email protected].
SHARE, Inc. is a New Jersey non-profit that provides an affordable, home like environment for independent seniors in shared residences located at 104 Cottage Place and 130 Prospect Street in Ridgewood, N.J. For more information visit www.shareridgewood.org.
Christine Nunn of Picnic on the Square on the one technique home cooks should master
March 4, 2015 Last updated: Wednesday, March 4, 2015, 1:21 AM
The Record
Christine Nunn of Picnic on the Square, Ridgewood
Christine Nunn wasn’t always on course to work in the kitchen — the 50-year-old chef and co-owner of Picnic on the Square in Ridgewood was once a journalist, and worked for the Ridgewood News after graduating with an English degree from Montclair State University in 1986.
By 2001, the Fair Lawn resident was working in Manhattan doing technical writing, but after 9/11, she decided that life was “too short to not do” exactly what she wanted to do.
She enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America in January 2002 and even lived in the dorms for a semester at age 37 (which was “horrifying”). She graduated in December 2003 and created the catering company Picnic. In 2005, she opened a storefront in Emerson, where she stayed for five years before opening Picnic, The Restaurant in Fair Lawn, which garnered rave reviews. After 2 1/2 years, Picnic served its last meal on New Year’s Eve 2012.
In 2013, Nunn published “The Preppy Cookbook” and worked as executive chef at Grange restaurant in Westwood. Three months ago, she opened Picnic on the Square in Ridgewood. The lovely, brick-walled 34-seat New American restaurant received 2 1/2 stars from The Record last month.
Here, she talks about the technique home cooks should master and the best way to cook fish.
62.8%: Labor Force Participation Has Hovered Near 37-Year-Low for 11 Months
March 6, 2015 – 10:01 AM
By Ali Meyer
(CNSNews.com) – The labor force participation rate hovered between 62.9 percent and 62.7 percent in the eleven months from April 2014 through February, and has been 62.9 percent or lower in 13 of the 17 months since October 2013.
Prior to that, the last time the rate was below 63 percent was 37 years ago, in March 1978 when it was 62.8 percent, the same rate it was in February.
“The civilian labor force participation rate, at 62.8 percent, changed little in February and has remained within the narrow range of 62.7 to 62.9 percent since April 2014,” the BLS said in its release on the February employment data.
92,898,000 Americans were not in the labor force in February, according to data released from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday.
The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population who participated in the labor force by either having a job during the month or actively seeking one.
In February, according to BLS, the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population, consisting of all people 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 249,899,000. Of those, 157,002,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one.
The 157,002,000 who participated in the labor force was 62.8 percent of the 249,899,000 civilian noninsttutional population, which matches the 62.8 percent rate in April, May, June, and October of 2014 as well as the participation rate in March of 1978. The participation rate hit its lowest level since February 1978 (62.7 percent) in September and December of 2014.
Assisted living facility, luxury condos pitched for Ridgewood lot
March 6, 2015 Last updated: Friday, March 6, 2015, 4:12 PM
By Mark Krulish
Staff Writer |
The Ridgewood News
Two developers were invited to the Ridgewood Village Council meeting on Wednesday night to present proposals for the redevelopment of the North Walnut Street zone.
A committee of village officials had been meeting with potential developers over the past several weeks to give feedback on ideas for the redevelopment zone. From those meetings, the committee selected candidates for a public presentation, described as the “first step” in a process to determine the best use for the site. It has been noted that one of the conditions for any redevelopment on the site was that it would have to provide a net gain of 100 parking spaces in the Central Business District (CBD).
Harley Cook of Kensington Senior Development presented a proposal for an assisted-living facility in Ridgewood so that local seniors can continue to stay in the village even when their health requires full-time care.
The proposal includes a parking garage to be built and donated to the village – with the existing Town Garage to be removed at the developer’s expense – in exchange for the right to build an assisted-living residence, with the first floor of the building dedicated to retail and other commercial uses.
March 6, 2015 Last updated: Friday, March 6, 2015, 12:31 AM
The Ridgewood News
The limits of civility
To the Editor:
Work obligations prevented me from attending the panel on civility, so I offer my observations here.
“Civility” is like “decency,” or “freedom,” or any number of other vague concepts against which no one could sensibly argue. My college professors called such terms “glittering generalities” and warned us to beware of hiding behind them.
“Civility” can enable the sophist to evade challenge by deflecting the emphasis from what is said to how it is said. “What a rude, mean, tactless thing to say” is not a refutation of an underlying argument, only a deflection. Sometimes harsh criticism is deserved and hard words are unavoidable.
I was particularly uncomfortable with the correspondent in last week’s paper who deplored questioning motives. Motives that cannot stand up to questioning are likely to be questionable. For example, “nonprofit” is simply a form of corporate organization in which any excess is ploughed back into the corporation rather than disbursed as dividends to shareholders; there is nothing especially virtuous about it, and though the corporation is nonprofit, individuals who derive their income from it generally are not. Many a scoundrel has cloaked himself in the robes of righteousness, and over the past few years the chorus of voices demanding more accountability for “nonprofits” has grown in both number and volume..
With regard to anonymity, the Federalist Papers were written under pseudonyms; it is understandable that critics of wealthy and powerful institutions might well want not to risk retaliation.
In sum, critics are well advised to avoid ad hominem arguments, intemperate words, and insults because they undermine your logic and alienate possible allies. But otherwise, as Harry Truman said, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Ridgewood police warn residents to be proactive about preventing break-ins
March 6, 2015, 1:18 PM Last updated: Friday, March 6, 2015, 1:18 PM
By CHRIS HARRIS
The Record
RIDGEWOOD — Police officials warned residents this week to be proactive about break-ins, which have been on the rise in the village.
Ridgewood’s Chief John Ward said that so far in 2015, there have been three residential burglaries in the village and two failed attempts.
Ward said 2015 was on pace to surpass the previous three years for burglaries and break-in attempts, noting there were 44 last year, 53 the year before, and 46 in 2012.
Ward told the council Wednesday his department was taking its own measures to reverse the trend, but said there are things Ridgewood residents can do to prevent their homes from being victimized.
“We are stepping up patrols, and using unmarked cars while making positive progress on leads,” Ward said, adding he’d like to see neighborhood watch programs return to the village.
“Residents and neighbors are your best defense, and that means giving up personal space and information,” Ward said.
file photo by Boyd Loving Sen. Robert Menendez swearing in our mayor at Ridgewood REORG
Menendez: White House’s least favorite Dem
“I have to be honest with you, the more I hear from the administration and its quotes, the more it sounds like talking points that come straight out of Tehran,” Menendez. “And it feeds to the Iranian narrative of victimization when they are the ones with original sin–an illicit nuclear weapons program, going back over the course of 20 years, that they are unwilling to come clean on.” https://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/dem-senator-obamas-iran-talking-points-straight-out-tehran_824204.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) —Sen. Robert Menendez might be a senior Democrat but he’s no friend of the White House.
In fact, he’s emerged as one of the most troublesome obstacles to President Barack Obama’s legacy-building effort to end decades of U.S. estrangement with Cuba and Iran. He’s also poked the administration on its troubled relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he shares a hawkish outlook towards Tehran.
But the senior senator from New Jersey, 61, is now in the news for a different reason, after CNN first reported Friday that the Justice Department is preparing to bring criminal charges against him.
People briefed on the case say prosecutors plan to allege that Menendez used his Senate office to push the business interests of a Democratic donor and friend in exchange for gifts. The charges, which are expected to be formally laid within weeks, threaten to seriously imperil Menendez’s political prospects at a time when his influence in Washington has rarely been greater.
Menendez is currently the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, after serving briefly as chairman when his predecessor John Kerry left to become Secretary of State and before Democrats lost the Senate majority last year.
But his position in the minority belies his influence.
Poll: Majority of Americans Believe Obama has ‘Done Little or Nothing’ to Help the Poor and Middle Class
By Barbara Boland | 24 hours ago
Most Americans believe the government of President Barack Obama has helped the rich, and believe it’s done “little or nothing to help” the poor or middle class, according to a Pew Research Center poll released yesterday.
72% believe the government’s policies have “done little or nothing to help middle class people;” 68% believe Obama’s policies have provided little or no help for small businesses and 65% say the same for the poor.
Opinion: The FCC’s Net Neutrality Victory Is Anything But
The day after the FCC’s net neutrality vote, Washington was downright frigid. I’d spoken at three events about the ruling, mentioning at each that the order could be overturned in court. I was tired and ready to go home.
I could see my Uber at the corner when I felt a hand on my arm. The woman’s face was anxious. “I heard your talk,” she said.“If net neutrality is overturned, will I still be able to Skype with my son in Turkey?”
The question reveals the problem with the supposed four million comments submitted in support of net neutrality. Almost no one really gets it. Fewer still understand Title II, the regulatory tool the FCC just invoked to impose its conception of net neutrality on the Internet.
Some internet engineers and innovators do get it. Mark Cuban rightly calls the uncertainty created by Title II a “Whac-a-Mole environment,” driven by political whims. And telecom lawyers? They love it: whatever happens, the inevitable litigation will mean a decade’s worth of job security.
Dads’ Night performances set for this weekend in Ridgewood
March 5, 2015 Last updated: Thursday, March 5, 2015, 3:10 PM
By By Tiffany Katehakis
Staff Writer |
The Ridgewood News
There aren’t many opportunities to see grown men dress up in the costumes of their children’s favorite character.
But the fathers who are a part of Somerville-Hawes Dads’ Night set the bar pretty high when it comes to doing things for their kids.
The organization, now in its 71st year, has become a brotherhood of sorts, spanning multiple generations.
The event now has more dads participating than ever before.
This year Dads’ Night returns with two performances at the Benjamin Franklin Middle School auditorium at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 6 and 3 p.m. Saturday, March 7. The free show is general admission seating.
Perhaps it is the silliness of it all that these dads embrace that becomes the element that bonds them together.
The show is written, produced, and stars Ridgewood fathers with kids in the elementary schools.
John Boehner’s Coward Complex
By: Jeffrey Lord | March 6th, 2015
Call him by the right name: House Speaker John Pelosi.
Question? If John Boehner is going to govern like Nancy Pelosi, why is he the Republican Speaker of the House in the first place?
John Pelosi is the guy who in theory is the leader of the Republican House majority but in fact is regularly engaged in pushing not the GOP agenda but undermining it to pass the Obama agenda. And in his zeal to do this he will spare no effort to attack his own members, most particularly those willing to stand with the conservative principles so well identified today with Ronald Reagan.
“Leadership coming after me.”
Thus said a conservative member of the House in an e-mail to me as the news made the rounds that a former chief of staff to House Speaker John Pelosi (sorry, Boehner) and a former chief of staff to Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus were leading a campaign led by the American Action Network that aired commercials attacking conservatives for opposing amnesty. The names would be Barry Jackson (Boehner) and Mike Shields (Priebus.) Not surprisingly, when the group’s American Action Network Forum was announced in 2010 the New York Times reported that “Republicans who are donors, board members or both include…. Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida.” Former Governor Bush, it appears, has since departed the group as he prepares his run for the GOP presidential nomination. But not to worry. Time Magazine reported back there in 2010 that “Sharing office space with American Crossroads is the American Action Network (AAN)…” That’s right. That would be Karl Rove’s American Crossroads.
The ad attacking conservative Republicans over the DHS funding was disguised, but of course, as being pro-defense against terrorists as it sought funding for the Department of Homeland Security. The ads fooled no one. They were a glossy, audio grade-A example of what a sell-out of principle sounds like. Like the bill the group supported, the ad was a cave-in to the Obama executive action on amnesty. Something Republican candidates across the country promised faithfully they would oppose. The commercial was the taped version of what Margaret Thatcher used to call the “socialist ratchet” with conservatives elected to oppose the leftist agenda in reality agreeing with it and working actively to move the country left. The code word for doing this in America is “governing” when in fact what is really meant is “capitulation” – as defined here in “8 RINO Rules.” The effect is to ratchet America further and further left, continually moving away from its founding principles. Just not as fast and but of course better managed.
Corzine Huckster Bradley Campbell Leads Charge Against ExxonMobil Deal
“The” Bradley Campbell who as NJDEP commish issued a no-further-action letter on DOW Chemicals Superfund site in Paulsboro for Sweeney and Burzichelli’s crony Pork Paulsboro, where Campbell has a sweetheart consultant job, along with Kolluri, former NJDOT commish??? Pork Paulsboro – No oversight no money for cleanup thanks to Campbell. Perhaps he’s posturing for a position on DumpSweeney’s cabinet with this NY Times article? That Brad Campbell??
NYT ExxonMobil coverage “irresponsible, disingenuous, and baldly political”
Posted by Matt Rooney On March 05, 2015
By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Chris Christie told last week’s CPAC gathering that he planned to give up The New York Times for Lent.
I suspect he’s still abstaining after today’s coverage of the ExxonMobil settlement, Save Jerseyans, including a guest op-ed from the former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Bradley Campbell. Alleging that the Governor’s chief counsel, Christopher Porrino, drove the settlement negotiations rather than the Attorney General’s office, Campbell directly accused Porrino of having “inserted himself into the case, elbowed aside the attorney general and career employees who had developed and prosecuted the litigation, and cut the deal favorable to Exxon.”
Press Secretary Kevin Roberts struck back. Hard.
“Baseless allegations concerning the State’s proposed settlement with ExxonMobil were published today in the New York Times based on comments from a known partisan, Bradley Campbell (a many-time Democratic appointee who worked for the Clinton Administration and McGreevey Administration),” Roberts noted in a statement.
Roberts (center) with Governor Christie at Bordentown Regional High School in March 2012. (Governor’s Office/Tim Larsen)
“The notion that this settlement represents something less than what is fair for New Jerseyans is absurd and baseless when you consider the facts of the settlement and Campbell’s prior comments on this case,” he added, pointing out that today’s announced $225 million damages settlement (not pre-announcement, baseless partisan-motivated speculation, a point I made yesterday on WNYC radio) is hardly unreasonably small.
Want proof? Here you go:
In May 2006, after a state judge ruled in New Jersey’s favor against ExxonMobil (remember: this expensive litigation is many, many years old), Bradley Campbell reportedly told the Star Ledger that damages “could run into hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Why does Mr. Campbell think the price tag of the settlement stinks today?
When a 9-figure settlement was perfectly acceptable in 2006?
file photo Boyd Loving Senator Menendez at Ridgewood REORG
First on CNN: Feds prepare criminal corruption charges against Senator Bob Menendez
By Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN
Updated 2:27 PM ET, Fri March 6, 2015
Washington (CNN)The Justice Department is preparing to bring criminal corruption charges against New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat, alleging he used his Senate office to push the business interests of a Democratic donor and friend in exchange for gifts.
People briefed on the case say Attorney General Eric Holder has signed off on prosecutors’ request to proceed with charges, CNN has learned exclusively. An announcement could come within weeks. Prosecutors are under pressure in part because of the statute of limitation on some of the allegations.
The case could pose a high-profile test of the Justice Department’s ability to prosecute sitting lawmakers, having already spawned a legal battle over whether key evidence the government has gathered is protected by the Constitution’s Speech and Debate clause.
