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Ridgewood Wrestling riding momentum from solid finish in counties

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Ridgewood Wrestling riding momentum from solid finish in counties

January 9, 2015    Last updated: Friday, January 9, 2015, 12:31 AM
By Matthew Birchenough
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR |
The Ridgewood News

The Ridgewood High School wrestling team passed an early-season test with a strong performance at last week’s George Jockish Bergen County Coaches Association (BCCA) Holiday Tournament, giving the squad some early-season momentum heading into its dual-match schedule.

The Maroons scored a team total of 78.5 points, which was good enough for 12th place overall in the tournament held Dec. 29-30 at Rockland Community College in Suffern, N.Y., and second among Group 4 schools, finishing only behind Old Tappan (seventh, 87 points).

“We were fortunate enough to come out with five medal-winners, which is the second-highest total we’ve ever had,” RHS coach Torre Watson said earlier this week. “We were really very happy about how we did.”

Senior Nick Saglimbeni (152 pounds) and junior 182-pounder Kyle Inlander — Ridgewood’s captains — both earned third in their respective weight classes after falling in the semifinals to the eventual champion.

https://www.northjersey.com/sports/high-school-sports/wrestling/rhs-captains-coming-up-big-on-the-mat-1.1189261

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Ridgewood Boys Basketball upshifts, downshifts during six-game win streak

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Northen Highlands at Ridgewood file photo

Ridgewood Boys Basketball upshifts, downshifts during six-game win streak

January 9, 2015    Last updated: Friday, January 9, 2015, 12:31 AM
By Greg Tartaglia
SPORTS EDITOR |
The Ridgewood News

MIDLAND PARK — Jon Davila went from being a passenger in a Ferrari to being the driver of a Volkswagen in a 24-hour span.

On Tuesday, the Ridgewood High School senior was one of five Maroons to score in double digits in a quadruple-overtime, 89-87 win at Indian Hills.

“We were trying to tell kids about the game in school [Wednesday], and I couldn’t remember one thing that happened after the third quarter,” Davila said with a chuckle. “The game was going way too fast.”

Such was not the case later that day, when the 6-foot guard was Ridgewood’s top scorer with nine points in a 45-33, non-conference victory at Midland Park.

“Last night was full-court man-to-man, both teams, virtually the whole game,” RHS head coach Mike Troy said Wednesday. “This one was, they [Midland Park] sat in a zone and made us work the ball side-to-side. The complexion and the strategy of the games were far different.”

https://www.northjersey.com/sports/high-school-sports/boys-basketball/rhs-upshifts-downshifts-during-win-streak-1.1189187

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Which States Rely the Most on Federal Aid?

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Which States Rely the Most on Federal Aid?
January 08, 2015
By
Liz Malm,
Richard Borean

Though taxes are the most common and recognizable source of state government revenues, it’s important to remember that they’re not the only source. In fact, state governments received 31.5 percent of their total general revenues from transfers from the federal government in the 2012 fiscal year.

That number varies pretty widely for specific states, however. For example, Mississippi obtains 45.3 percent of its total state general revenues from the federal government (the largest share in the country). Also on the high end are Louisiana (44.0 percent), Tennessee (41.0 percent), South Dakota (40.8 percent), and Missouri (39.4 percent).

On the other end of the spectrum are those states who receive a much smaller share of general revenues from the federal government. The lowest federal share occurs in Alaska at 20.0 percent, followed by North Dakota (20.5 percent), Virginia (23.5 percent), Hawaii (23.5 percent), and Connecticut (23.6 percent).

For all fifty states, see the map below. Note that this measure of general revenue includes tax collections but excludes utility revenue, liquor store revenue, and insurance trust revenue.

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Ridgewood may bar ‘ugly’ housing

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Ridgewood may bar ‘ugly’ housing

JANUARY 8, 2015, 9:16 AM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015, 9:19 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD – The village could impose restrictions on buildings within one of its proposed redevelopment areas to prevent the construction of “ugly” housing complexes downtown, an official said.

Village Planner Blais Brancheau’s comments came at Tuesday night’s Planning Board meeting, under cross-examination by Ira Weiner, an attorney representing Citizens For a Better Ridgewood.

For more than two years, the Planning Board has heard testimony on the master plan change, which, if approved and then adopted by the Village Council, would permit high-density housing complexes.

Three developers are seeking the master plan amendment, and each plans to build multifamily, high-density housing downtown if it is adopted.

Citizens For a Better Ridgewood is a grass-roots organization that says it endorses comprehensive planning, but opposes the village ordinance that allowed the three developers to request the master plan change.

Brancheau on Tuesday night responded to Weiner’s question, saying “standards could be drafted” into the master plan amendment “to avoid” certain design elements in future construction.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-may-bar-ugly-housing-1.1188596

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Ridgewood water supply free of lead, utility reports

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Ridgewood water supply free of lead, utility reports

JANUARY 9, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — Ridgewood Water has declared that the village water is free of lead — a move made in response to concerns following a 2012 report that showed the chemical had leached into the system.

The utility’s business director, Dave Scheibner, addressed the council this week to allay fears created by the water analysis, which was sent to customers last week.

“The water supplied by Ridgewood Water does not have lead in it,” Scheibner said, adding similar notices were issued in 2012 and 2013.

An analysis determined higher-than-acceptable lead levels in the water, Scheibner said, attributing the spike to homes in the utility’s territory that use plumbing materials that can leach the chemical into the water.

Scheibner made the comments after Catherine Gray, the mother of three children, asked the council whether her children’s health was at risk.

“Our population seems at risk for lead exposure,” Gray said. “We are worried, we are concerned and we are here for answers.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-water-supply-free-of-lead-utility-reports-1.1189353

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Ridgewood, fire department’s union come to terms on contract

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file photo by Boyd Loving

Ridgewood, fire department’s union come to terms on contract

JANUARY 8, 2015, 8:04 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015, 8:05 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD – The village and the fire department’s union have come to terms on a new four-year agreement that the council is expected to accept the agreement when it meets next week.

The new contract was agreed to by both sides on Dec. 17, said Ridgewood’s Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, who detailed the agreement’s terms at the council’s meeting Wednesday night.

Sonenfeld said that both sides worked together during negotiations to avoid arbitration “and heavy use of lawyers.”

Under the terms of the new agreement, the council agreed to raise the starting base salary for a firefighter to $36,000 from $32,000, while creating three additional pay-scale steps, stretching the time in which a firefighter can obtain the top pay level to 13 years from 10.

The new contract eliminates longevity payments for new hires, and puts a cap on top terminal leave at $15,000 for those with at least a year of banked sick days, Sonenfeld said.

The union agreed to forgo pay raises for the first three years of the deal, with a 1.5 percent salary increase guaranteed for 2018, the final year of the contract.

“In recognition of our mutual commitment to growing staff and future leaders, we put in place an education benefit that provides for partial tuition reimbursement for job-relevant degrees and courses,” Sonenfeld said.

Sonenfeld projects the new contract will save the village approximately $170,000 per new officer over the course of their career with the fire department.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-fire-department-s-union-come-to-terms-on-contract-1.1188958

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New trial ordered on claim of Ridgewood liability in boy’s drowning at Graydon Pool

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JANUARY 8, 2015, 7:29 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015, 7:33 PM
BY PETER J. SAMPSON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

An appeals court Thursday ordered a new trial in a wrongful-death case in which the Village of Ridgewood was hit with a multimillion-dollar verdict after a jury found negligent supervision at Graydon Pool led to a 13-year-old boy’s drowning in 2008.

Soo Hyeon Park, his sister and parents had just arrived from South Korea and were visiting with friends in Ridgewood when they decided to go to the pool on July 15, 2008. While swimming out to a dock in the deep end with the two sons of his host, the boy began struggling to stay afloat and went under. None of the nine lifeguards on the stands around the pool that day saw the boy while he was in distress.

The jury found the village was negligent in its supervision and scanning of the patrons in the water and that the negligence contributed to Soo’s death. It awarded $10 million in damages: $4 million for the pain and suffering the boy endured as he drowned, $5 million to his parents and sister for their emotional distress and $1 million on the wrongful death claim as compensation for his parents’ and sister’s loss of Soo’s guidance, support and services, the appellate decision said.

In a post-verdict ruling, the trial judge accepted Ridgewood’s argument that the family was not entitled to damages for their pain and suffering because they failed to meet a medical expenses threshold of $3,600 under the Tort Claims Act, and the judge vacated the jury’s $5-million award on the emotional-distress claims.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/new-trial-ordered-on-claim-of-ridgewood-liability-in-boy-s-drowning-at-graydon-pool-1.1188894

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If the Internet becomes a public utility, you’ll pay more. Here’s why.

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If the Internet becomes a public utility, you’ll pay more. Here’s why.

By Grover G. Norquist and Patrick Gleason
January 6, 2015

The Federal Communications Commission is in the middle of a high-stakes decision that could raise taxes for close to 90 percent of Americans. The commission is considering whether to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service and, in doing so, Washington would trigger new taxes and fees at the state and local level.

The agency would like to make Internet service a public utility, placing broadband under Title II regulation of the Communications Act of 1934. This move would make broadband subject to New Deal-era regulation, and have significant consequences for U.S. taxpayers.

Under this decision to reclassify broadband, Americans would face a host of new state and local taxes and fees that apply to public utilities. These new levies, according to the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), would total $15 billion annually. On average, consumers would pay an additional $67 for landline broadband, and $72 for mobile broadband each year, according to PPI’s calculations, with charges varying from state to state.

https://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/01/05/treating-internet-like-a-public-utility-brings-a-new-tax-for-the-new-year/

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FCC Chairman Strongly Hints He’ll Favor Internet Reclassification – CES

The FCC Holds Open Internet Roundtable

FCC Chairman Strongly Hints He’ll Favor Internet Reclassification – CES

Chairman Tom Wheeler didn’t say so directly, but he left little doubt that he and fellow Democrats on the FCC will stand up to cable and telco Internet providers next month by adopting net neutrality rules that redefine broadband as a regulated, communications service. ISPs have said that such a move would chill investment. But for the last 20 years the wireless industry has been regulated under so-called Title 2 rules — with provisions limiting the FCC’s ability to set prices —  and it “has been monumentally successful,” Wheeler said today at the International CES conference in Las Vegas. “There is a way to do Title 2 right …A model has been set in the wireless business.

https://deadline.com/2015/01/fcc-chairman-tom-wheeler-net-neutrality-title-2-ces-1201343353/

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“Time’s up for denial and hypocrisy,” Le Pen

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France’s Front National leader Marine Le Pen said France has to confront the beliefs of the gunmen who stormed the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo this morning. Photographer: Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images

Le Pen May Gain as Magazine Attack Strains French Divide

By Angeline Benoit, Sandrine Rastello and Caroline Alexander January 07, 2015

France’s Front National leader Marine Le Pen pinned the blame for the killing of 12 people in Paris yesterday on Islamic radicals, as mainstream leaders tried to downplay the religious dimension of the attack.

While President Francois Hollande called for national unity in an attempt to deter the public from demonizing the country’s 5-million strong Muslim community, Le Pen said France has to confront the beliefs of the gunmen who stormed the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

“Time’s up for denial and hypocrisy,” Le Pen, who has railed against immigration, said in a video posted on her party’s website. “The absolute rejection of Islamic fundamentalism must be proclaimed loudly and clearly.”

Story: How French Weekly Charlie Hebdo Became a Terrorist Target

The lessons voters draw from the deadliest attack on French soil since World War II will shape the political debate as the country looks toward the 2017 election. Hollande, the most unpopular president in modern history, is struggling to make up ground on Le Pen, who’s seen her support surge as she blames immigrants for France’s near-record unemployment and deepening inequalities.

https://www.businessweek.com/news/2015-01-07/le-pen-may-benefit-as-magazine-attack-exposes-french-divisions

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Christie friendship with Jerry Jones began after Cowboys won Port Authority bid, spokesman says

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humm …are people really saying Christie cant be a Cowboys fan

Steve Adubato “Life-long Dallas Cowboys fan, Governor Chris Christie says Jerry Jones is a personal friend and there’s no problem being in his luxury box for the last few Cowboys “wins” or flying on his private jet. Some of Christie’s critics see it differently. In a 12/22 exclusive live interview with the Governor which aired on NJTV, Thirteen WNET New York, WHYY, Verizon FiOS1 – New Jersey, 77 WABC and WBGO Jazz 88.3, I ask the Governor about the whole “Cowboys/Jerry Jones” subject. “

Christie friendship with Jerry Jones began after Cowboys won Port Authority bid, spokesman says

TRENTON — A spokesman for Gov. Chris Christie said today that the governor and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones were not friends during the bid procurement process for the observatory of the Port Authority’s One World Trade Center site, a bid that ultimately went to Legends Hospitality, a company partly owned by Jones’ Dallas Cowboys.

“The friendship began in the summer of 2013,” said spokesman Kevin Roberts, adding that “whether they had met in 2010 or 2011 in a passing way, I can’t account for that.”

The Dallas Cowboys, in partnership with the New York Yankees and investment fund Checketts Partners, all have a stake in Legends Hospitality, which won out in bidding to operate the observatory of the Port Authority controlled One World Trade Center when it opens later this year.

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/01/governors_spokesman_says_christies_friendship_with_jerry_jones_began_in_the_summer_of_2013_not_durin.html#incart_river

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Lamenting Liberty Lost

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Lamenting Liberty Lost

Unless we have a radical change, we will continue our march toward the federal destruction of the presumption of liberty.

Andrew Napolitano | January 8, 2015

A British author, residing in the United States for the past 30 years, created a small firestorm earlier this week with his candid observations that modern-day Americans have been duped by the government into accepting a European-style march toward socialism because we fail to appreciate the rich legacy of personal liberty that is everyone’s birthright and is expressly articulated in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Os Guinness, the author of more than a dozen books defending traditional Judeo-Christian values and Jeffersonian personal liberty, argued that we should embrace individual liberty and personal dignity and reject the “no givens, no rules, no limits” government we now have. He went on to opine that the government today is not the constitutionally restrained protector of personal freedoms the Framers left us, but rather has become the wealth-distributing protector of collective interests the Founding Fathers never could have imagined.

Yet the problem is a deep one. The Framers believed in the presumption of liberty, which declares that we are free to make personal choices, and the government cannot interfere with our liberties unless we violate the rights of others. Stated differently, the federal government cannot interfere with our personal choices by writing any law it wants; it can only regulate behavior or spend money when the Constitution authorizes it to do so.

But for the past 100 years, the federal government has rejected the Madisonian concept that it is limited to the 16 discrete powers the Constitution delegates to it, and has claimed its powers are unlimited, subject only to the express prohibitions in the Constitution. Even those prohibitions can be gotten around since government lawyers have persuaded federal courts to rule that Congress can spend tax dollars or borrowed money on any projects it wishes, whether authorized by the Constitution or not. The courts even have authorized Congress to use federal tax dollars to bribe the states into enacting laws that Congress is powerless to enact, and Congress has done so.

https://reason.com/archives/2015/01/08/lamenting-liberty-lost

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Charlie Hebdo Massacre Reactions: ‘I’m All for Free Speech and Murder is Wrong, But…’

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Charlie Hebdo Massacre Reactions: ‘I’m All for Free Speech and Murder is Wrong, But…’

Anthony L. Fisher|Jan. 8, 2015 11:40 am

The massacre at the Paris offices of the venerable satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has been met with near-universal condemnation, but a growing chorus of self-appointed arbiters of good taste are going public, following up cursory denunciations of the murders with caveats that Charlie Hebdo is a “provocative,” “racist,” “Islamophobic,” “homophobic” publication who brought much of its trouble on itself.Twitter/Carlos Latuff

Richard Seymour at Jacobin makes this point most succinctly in the final paragraph of his article:

No, the offices of Charlie Hebdo should not be raided by gun-wielding murderers. No, journalists are not legitimate targets for killing. But no, we also shouldn’t line up with the inevitable statist backlash against Muslims, or the ideological charge to defend a fetishized, racialized “secularism,” or concede to the blackmail which forces us into solidarity with a racist institution.

Earlier in the piece, Seymour explains why he presents no evidence, or even argument, that Charlie Hebdo is a “racist institution”:

I will not waste time arguing over this point here: I simply take it as read that — irrespective of whatever else it does, and whatever valid comment it makes — the way in which that publication represents Islam is racist.

https://reason.com/blog/2015/01/08/charlie-hebdo-agnostics-im-against-murde

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Two Montclair State students working to produce short film

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Two Montclair State students working to produce short film

JANUARY 8, 2015    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015, 12:32 AM
BY TINA PAPPAS
STAFF WRITER |
PASSAIC VALLEY TODAY

woodland park – Local resident Nicholas Juzdan is producing a short film, along with writer/director Joseph Robert Redl of Ridgewood. Both are students of Montclair State University (MSU). Juzdan, who is also a graduate of Passaic Valley High School Class of 2011, recently received a degree in entertainment marketing business from MSU. Redl is currently a junior, majoring in filmmaking.

“This is my second film,” said Juzdan. “It’s a short film and we’ve been putting our cash and crew together. We’ve been trying to raise money for various things in the budget for stuff like casting, props, sets, which we needed to build all those things ourselves.”

According to Juzdan, the film, named “Xs On Trees,” centers on a character named Duncan, who has just been dumped by his girlfriend. He begins to realize what life is really about and learns these lessons with the help of some new and not so new friends.

“It’s about the whole process of growing up and going through break-ups,” he explained. “Duncan has trouble moving forward after his last relations but with the help of an older guy named ‘Pop,’ he eventually does. Pop teaches Duncan about growing up and eventually moving forward.”

Juzdan added that the project is listed on Indiegogo.com for the production to raise funds to complete the short film.

https://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/movies/two-montclair-state-students-working-to-produce-short-film-1.1188123

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Lure of the South takes a toll on corporate NJ; new demographics, globalization play roles

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Lure of the South takes a toll on corporate NJ; new demographics, globalization play roles

JANUARY 7, 2015, 11:36 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015, 6:28 AM
BY HUGH R. MORLEY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Forty-five years after New Jersey’s manufacturing industry began its decline, as companies started moving their factories to the South, there are signs that the state’s corporate sector may be going the same route.

Tuesday’s announcement by Mercedes-Benz USA that it plans to move its corporate headquarters from Montvale to metro Atlanta followed similar announcements in the last 18 months by Hertz of Park Ridge, which moved to Florida’s Gulf Coast, and Sealed Air of Elmwood Park, which is moving to Charlotte, N.C.

So now three Fortune 500 companies, along with nearly 2,000 jobs, are moving or have moved to Southern locations that years ago would likely not even have been considered by corporate executives.

Though they cited reasons for their moves specific to their business or industry, it’s clear that the South now holds an attraction that it once did not. A variety of factors are in play, including lower taxes and operating costs, an improved quality of life and a stronger workforce.

“I don’t think it’s a tidal wave yet,” said James Hughes, dean of the Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy at Rutgers University. But change is clearly afoot, he said.

“What’s changed is the perception of the South,” he said. “After the first frontier companies moved there, they proved that there is no problem securing a high-quality workforce, and that people would migrate there if there were good jobs available.”

To be sure, many companies have left New Jersey for other destinations. New York’s Rockland and Orange counties, for example, still attract a good number of companies, including Hunter Douglas and Croton Watch Co. recently. Yet the lure of the South appears to be growing.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/lure-of-the-south-takes-a-toll-on-corporate-nj-new-demographics-globalization-play-roles-1.1187618