West Bergen Tea Party presents :
Estate and Inheritance Reform with Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi and Assemblyman Robert Auth
Stop the Gas Tax Increase APF Director Daryn Iwicki
West Bergen Tea Party Meeting Tuesday, February 10, 2015
At the Larkin House Park
380 Godwin AveWyckoff, NJ 07481-1530
Union Group pushes for new ways to fund N.J. transportation projects
February 9, 2015, 3:01 PM Last updated: Monday, February 9, 2015, 3:03 PM
By JOHN REITMEYER
STATE HO– USE BUREAU |
The Record
A group that’s been pushing state lawmakers and Governor Christie to come up with a new way to fund transportation projects in New Jersey brought that effort to Trenton on Monday, holding a news conference to put more pressure on leaders to act.
“Now is the time for the final push,” said Tom Bracken, chairman of Forward New Jersey, a group made up of 75 different organizations, including labor unions, local government representatives and business groups.
New Jersey pays for its road, bridge and rail work primarily using funds raised from borrowing and from the state’s gas tax. But later this year the revenue generated by the gas tax will be going only to pay off debt, with few funds left in the state Transportation Trust Fund for new projects.
Bracken called that “the most critical issue facing the state right now.” He stopped short of endorsing an increase of the gas tax, which at 14.5 cents per gallon is among the lowest in the country, but said it should be among the options up for discussion as the leaders try and find a solution.
“I support a long-term, sustainable, dedicated solution,” Bracken said.
Members of labor unions had the strongest presence at Monday’s event, filling much of the room.
Grand jury indicts North Bergen woman on charges she fatally struck cyclist
February 9, 2015, 2:34 PM Last updated: Monday, February 9, 2015, 2:39 PM
By KIBRET MARKOS
Staff Writer |
The Record
A Bergen County grand jury indicted a North Bergen woman on Monday on charges that she fatally struck a bicyclist in Edgewater last year while driving drunk.
Siobhan Stokley, 40, was arrested after a crash in which she is accused of hitting 61-year-old Tony Tyson of Jersey City with her 2007 Hummer H2 while he was riding his bike along River Road. The crash occurred around 11 p.m. on May 9, 2014, while Tyson was riding his bike in the right lane, authorities said.
Authorities said Tyson was hit from the back and thrown to the pavement, and suffered injuries that left him in critical condition at the Hackensack University Medical Center. Stokley was arrested at the scene and charged with drunk driving and assault by auto, but the charge was upgraded to death by auto when Tyson died two days later.
The indictment returned Monday charges Stokley with one count of death by auto, a second-degree offense that carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
House GOP Wants to Know What DOJ Did With $36B in Bank Fines
Some of America’s top banks paid a grand total of more than $36 billion to settle charges of selling worthless mortgage securities to investors.
Bill Hemmer explained on “America’s Newsroom” that the Justice Department was supposed to give that money to groups who help struggling homeowners, but some House GOP members don’t think that’s where the money went.
Now, a House committee is investigating.
Judge Andrew Napolitano explained that Republicans believe JP Morgan Chase, CitiBank, Bank of America, and others agreed to “give money to liberal-leaning nonprofit housing organizations” in order to avoid criminal prosecution.
Napolitano noted that this controversial move by the Justice Department is not illegal and is actually common in both political parties.
https://insider.foxnews.com/2015/02/09/republicans-suspect-doj-gave-money-bank-fines-liberal-groups
RHS: Project Graduation 2015 Updates
Shore House Raffle: Buy a $100 chance for a seven-bedroom shore house vacation. Only 500 tickets will be sold; the drawing will be held at the final Jamboree performance on February 7.Click here for details and the order form.
The Fashion Show is April 19. The Committee is now securing donations for the auction. Click here for more information and the donation form. Items may be dropped off at Gail Mandell’s office, Life Opportunities Unlimited, 75 North Maple Ave. Suite 104 Monday – Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fashion Show chairpersons are ShariHellman (201-310-6286 [email protected] and Gail Mandeli (201- 248-2575 or [email protected]).
PG-15 upcoming monthly meetings: March 12, April 9 and May 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the RHS Library.
Dues are due. Make $165 check payable to “RHS Class of 2015” and mail to Sharon Walker, 94 Sherwood Road, Ridgewood, NJ 07450.
Class of 2015 Project Graduation Representatives
Chairpersons Tara Callaghan 201-803-7778 and Rosie McCooe 201-602-8097
Chairpersons email: [email protected]
Treasurer Sharon Walker [email protected]
Communications Jeff Coster [email protected]
Warren Buffett faces pressure for more disclosure
Stephen Foley in New York
Warren Buffett is under fire from investment analysts who cover his $370bn company, Berkshire Hathaway, over the quality of its financial disclosures.
While Berkshire has grown to be the third-largest company on the US stock market, its quarterly filings reveal far less detail than companies of a similar size, according to the analysts, who all urged Mr Buffett to consider expanding disclosures, particularly about Berkshire’s large insurance businesses.
Mr Buffett rejected the criticism, telling the Financial Times that Berkshire communicates “all the relevant factors for a long-term investment in the shares”.
The FT interviewed five of Berkshire’s six analysts, all of whom noted the difficulty in modelling the company’s financial results. One said Berkshire “could stand to reveal more”; others described the level of disclosure as “limited”, “poor” and “terrible”.
Berkshire’s businesses span insurance, utilities, railways, manufacturing, retail, newspapers and many more industries. Eight of its subsidiaries would be Fortune 500 companies if they were split off.
https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/89fea440-ae1c-11e4-8d51-00144feab7de.html#axzz3RD7L0cMy
Democrats in Trenton look to remove superintendent salary caps
FEBRUARY 8, 2015, 11:32 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2015, 11:35 PM
BY ALLISON PRIES
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Saddle River is on the hunt for its third superintendent in three years.
Alpine wants permission to keep its interim leader beyond the two-year state limit.
And Ho-Ho-Kus is hoping its high-achieving, parent-involved district appears attractive to superintendent candidates — even though it can offer them only $135,000.
Leaders in some small, wealthy North Jersey school districts say the superintendent pay cap — instituted by Governor Christie in 2011 — has dealt them a particularly hard blow. Once seen as appealing places to work, these districts now are having trouble drawing and retaining top candidates because they’re competing with larger districts that are allowed to pay more and New York State, which has no salary limits. What’s more, they are willing to pay top dollar, but can’t.
On top of it, many of these chief executives often work double duty as principals, so offering them less than what they could earn in subordinate roles elsewhere isn’t always an easy sell.
Christie targeted superintendent salaries five years ago with his Reform Agenda to help school districts keep costs low and better finance priority services.
Superintendent salaries had risen, on average, 46 percent or $100 million between 2001 and 2010, according to the governor’s office.
The cap resulted in the reduction of salaries for about 360 school superintendents, or 70 percent, for a potential savings of nearly $9.8 million statewide, $2.2 million in Bergen County and $650,000 in Passaic County, according to the state data.
When the cap was imposed, Christie’s move was panned by educators and praised by fiscal conservatives, who complained about the state’s high property taxes — and even higher per-pupil costs for suburban districts.
Today, the New Jersey Senate Budget Committee will vote on a bill sponsored by Sens. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood-Ridge, and M. Teresa Ruiz, D-Newark, that would roll back the caps, prohibiting the state Department of Education from regulating the maximum salary a school district can pay its superintendent. The bill was already considered by the education committee, Sarlo said.
file photo Boyd Loving
Planning Board Amendment to Meeting Schedule – Cancelled 2/17; Add 2/19
PLANNING BOARD
AMENDMENT TO MEETING SCHEDULE
In accordance with the provisions of the “Open Public Meetings Act,” please be advised that the Planning Board has scheduled a special public meeting and work session for THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015, in RIDGEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT CENTER, 627 E. RIDGEWOOD AVENUE, RIDGEWOOD, NJ beginning AT 7:30 p.m.
The Board may take official action during this Special Public Meeting at which time the Board will continue the public hearing concerning a proposed amendment to the Land Use Plan Element of the Master Plan which would recommend changes in zone district classifications and boundaries within the Central Business District and surrounding area, creating the AH-2, B-3-R, and C-R Zone Districts and amending the existing C Zone District.
All meetings of the Ridgewood Planning Board (i.e., official public meetings, work session meetings, pre-meeting assemblies and special meetings) are public meetings which are always open to members of the general
NJ School Performance Reports are Out
letter from Dr. Daniel Fishbein regarding the reports
February 4, 2015
Greece: Greenspan predicts exit from euro inevitable
Greenspan says only political integration will save the euro
Continue reading the main story
The former head of the US central bank, Alan Greenspan, has predicted that Greece will have to leave the eurozone.
He told the BBC he could not see who would be willing to put up more loans to bolster Greece’s struggling economy.
Greece wants to re-negotiate its bailout, but Mr Greenspan said “I don’t think it will be resolved without Greece leaving the eurozone”.
Earlier, UK Chancellor George Osborne said a Greek exit would cause “deep ructions” for Britain.
Mr Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, said: “I believe [Greece] will eventually leave. I don’t think it helps them or the rest of the eurozone – it is just a matter of time before everyone recognises that parting is the best strategy.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-31249907
file photo
STORM MESSAGE: RIDGEWOOD SCHOOLS DELAYED OPENING MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9
The fiddling with temperature data is the biggest science scandal ever
New data shows that the “vanishing” of polar ice is not the result of runaway global warming
By Christopher Booker
10:15PM GMT 07 Feb 2015
When future generations look back on the global-warming scare of the past 30 years, nothing will shock them more than the extent to which the official temperature records – on which the entire panic ultimately rested – were systematically “adjusted” to show the Earth as having warmed much more than the actual data justified.
Two weeks ago, under the headline “How we are being tricked by flawed data on global warming”, I wrote about Paul Homewood, who, on his Notalotofpeopleknowthat blog, had checked the published temperature graphs for three weather stations in Paraguay against the temperatures that had originally been recorded. In each instance, the actual trend of 60 years of data had been dramatically reversed, so that a cooling trend was changed to one that showed a marked warming.
This was only the latest of many examples of a practice long recognised by expert observers around the world – one that raises an ever larger question mark over the entire official surface-temperature record.
Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce Parking Meeting – Feb. 9
PARKING MEETING RE-SCHEDULED
MONDAY FEBRUARY 9, 2015
ROOTS – 6PM
Chestnut Street
We are glad that everyone is safe.
Hope to see you at ROOTS 2/9/15 @ 6pm
The Mayor and Village Manager
will be attending to answer questions.
Ben and Jerry’s Valentine Event
Limited Reservations Available
Reserve Today!
Ben & Jerry’s is offering a Mooeuphoric Ice Cream Experience this Valentine’s Day. You and up to two guests can reserve a personalized ice cream tasting experience with a dedicated Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Guru only on Valentine’s Day, Saturday, February 14.
Based on your favorite flavors, we will customize a tasting menu that is sure to delight. You and your date will leave in a state of Mooeuphoria. Call for details:201-689-1122.
Ash Wednesday Services – Old Paramus Church
