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North Jersey hospitals vigilant after Ebola advisory

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North Jersey hospitals vigilant after Ebola advisory

AUGUST 1, 2014    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY COLLEEN DISKIN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

The U.S. government warned Americans on Thursday not to travel to West African nations in the grip of an Ebola outbreak, while local hospitals and airports were also advised to be on the alert for travelers showing signs of the deadly virus.

But health officials, while stressing the need for providers to exercise vigilance as always, said there’s little reason to believe an Ebola case would walk through the doors of any New Jersey hospitals.

“It’s very low risk right now for the United States,” said Dr. Gary Munk, director of clinical virology at Hackensack University Medical Center, who said medical institutions are nonetheless engaging in a campaign of “information and awareness.”

The state Department of Health this week issued an advisory reminding hospitals and health care providers of the symptoms to watch for and steps to take with a patient who reports having traveled within the last three weeks to Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia.

“We have carefully reviewed the health advisory from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and have alerted our entire emergency service team regarding the signs and symptoms,” said Stacie Newton, spokeswoman for University Hospital in Newark. “They are fully prepared to respond to any patients who come to University Hospital and may have symptoms of the disease.”

The CDC, which routinely has officers stationed at international terminals, like the ones at Newark Liberty and John F. Kennedy airports, have been posting updated travel alerts since the disease, which has now killed more than 700 people in the worst recorded outbreak in history, first appeared in March. When outbreaks like this occur in other countries, the CDC works with international organizations to identify sick travelers and, if necessary, restrict them from continuing on their journeys.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/local-hospitals-vigilant-after-ebola-advisory-1.1060872#sthash.bnw5V1Z0.dpuf

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Ridgewood Mayor’s Corner: August Agenda

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Ridgewood Mayor’s Corner: August Agenda

AUGUST 1, 2014    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2014, 12:31 AM

Welcome to the August edition of the Mayor’s Corner – my monthly Ridgewood News column that seeks to make village government more accessible, more transparent, more responsive.

Council agenda: The council will meet two times this month – Aug. 6 and 13. On the agenda will be parking proposals, planning board-related issues, employee residency requirements, the establishment of a Green Team and a host of other important issues.

All of our meetings are open to the public, and residents are encouraged to attend and participate. Please visit our website for more information – ridgewoodnj.net – or to watch the meetings online.

The new council: Following our reorganization meeting on July 1, the new Village Council hit the ground running. Our July meetings were full of good discussions, important votes and even a few laughs. We’ve even played softball (see below).

In addition to our standard council work, each of us serves as a liaison to different committees/boards. Here is a quick snapshot of our respective areas of responsibility:

Mayor Paul Aronsohn: Planning Board; Chamber of Commerce; Bergen County League of Municipalities; and Ridgewood Community Access Network.

Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli: Library Board of Trustees; Board of Education; Ridgewood Arts Council.

Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck: Financial Advisory Committee; Ridgewood Community Center Advisory Board; Parks, Recreation and Conservation Board; and the Fields Committee.

Councilwoman Susan Knudsen: Planning Board; Ridgewood Fourth of July Committee; Project Pride Committee; and the Historic Preservation Committee.

Councilman Michael Sedon: Ridgewood Environmental Advisory Committee; Ridgewood Green Team Advisory Committee; Citizens Safety Advisory Committee; and the Shade Tree Commission.

If you need to contact any or all of us, please visit the “Mayor/ Council” section of the village website.

Downtown discussion: The deputy mayor convened a meeting last week to discuss the Central Business District (CBD).

It was the start of what will be an ongoing community-wide conversation about the future of our downtown – one that addresses everything from parking needs to traffic flows to public transportation to possible development. The meeting participants represented a good cross section of the village and gave voice to a good mix of ideas and suggestions.

Going forward, the key is to recognize that we all have a role to play in this process. Government officials should facilitate the conversation. Business and other community leaders should inform it. Residents should drive it. And throughout the process, we should all embrace the fact that this conversation is an opportunity to take our CBD to the next level – a unique opportunity to make it an even better place to shop, dine and just have a good time.

The next meeting is tentatively planned for Wednesday, Aug. 20 at the Ridgecrest apartment building (7 Ridge Road). All Ridgewood residents are welcome. To confirm the time and location, please check out the village website or contact the deputy mayor at [email protected].

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-guest-writers/august-agenda-1.1060691#sthash.YXXJJKCi.dpuf

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Village Chasing Away Another Ridgewood business

Permanent-Makeup

Village Chasing Away Another Ridgewood business 

AUGUST 1, 2014    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2014, 12:31 AM
BY JODI WEINBERGER
STAFF WRITER

A Ridgewood business that performs permanent cosmetic procedures and scar camouflage is fighting the Zoning Board of Adjustment to stay in the village, where it’s been for three years.

Elizabeth Veloz, owner and one of two employees at Endurance Permanent Cosmetics, is appealing the decision of the zoning official “that a business which performs micropigmentation of the skin is not a permissible use in the P-2, professional office district.”

The business is currently located in a Transition District at 75 Oak St., where the zoning board has also determined that it is not permitted, so Veloz is seeking to move to 42-44 S. Maple Ave., the Professional Office District. She said the landlord on South Maple Avenue has been holding the office for her since April.

The issue arose after her Oak Street landlord, Alpe Realty LLC, failed to apply for a certificate of occupancy for Endurance Permanent Cosmetics. The landlord issued what Veloz called a “very nice eviction letter” after the zoning board denied their request to allow the use.

Veloz’s business has been housed in the basement of the converted Oak Street Victorian home for three years with two other tenants on floors above: a therapist and Village Plastic Surgery.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/village-business-tries-to-find-a-zone-1.1060810#sthash.CnjgoYaV.dpuf

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Urbanization: Ridgewood ordinance on master plan amendments at center of debate

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Urbanization: Ridgewood ordinance on master plan amendments at center of debate

AUGUST 1, 2014    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2014, 12:31 AM
BY JODI WEINBERGER
STAFF WRITER

On July 18, 2007, a law was passed that defines the process of how the master plan in Ridgewood is amended.

More specifically, the law – Ordinance No. 3066 – makes formal the process and fees charged to any interested party should they petition the Planning Board or Village Council for a change.

The ordinance has been the topic of much debate over recent months as the Planning Board has heard back-to-back applications for amendments to the master plan, first from The Valley Hospital and currently from three housing developers seeking to put high-density housing in the Central Business District (CBD).

One thing is for sure: The ordinance was written in response to The Valley Hospital’s first proposal to expand in 2006. But what’s happened since then is less clear. The ordinance became a talking point during this year’s municipal election and has pitted developers against residents as they battle over who has the right to plan the vision of the village.

To get a better understanding of how the law works, The Ridgewood News spoke with attorneys representing the village (Matt Rogers), the Planning Board (Gail Price), The Dayton and Chestnut housing developers (Thomas Wells), and the citizen opposition group (Ira Weiner) about the history of the ordinance and how it’s played out with the public.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ordinance-is-at-center-of-debate-1.1060846#sthash.qFl3w9C3.dpuf

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Socialist Utopia Argentina Declared in Default by S&P as Talks Fail

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Socialist Utopia Argentina Declared in Default by S&P as Talks Fail
By Camila Russo and Katia Porzecanski  Jul 30, 2014 10:10 PM ET

Standard & Poor’s declared Argentina in default after the government missed a deadline for paying interest on $13 billion of restructured bonds.

The South American country failed to get the $539 million payment to bondholders after a U.S. judge ruled that the money couldn’t be distributed unless a group of hedge funds holding defaulted debt also got paid. Argentina, in default for the second time in 13 years, has about $200 billion in foreign-currency debt, including $30 billion of restructured bonds, according to S&P.

Argentina and the hedge funds, led by billionaire Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp., failed to reach agreement in talks today in New York, according to the court-appointed mediator in the case, Daniel Pollack. In a press conference after the talks ended, Argentine Economy Minister Axel Kicillof described the group of creditors as “vulture funds” and said the country wouldn’t sign an accord under “extortion.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-30/argentina-defaults-according-to-s-p-as-debt-meetings-continue.html

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Dow Plunges 317 Points, Wipes Out 2014 Gains

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Dow Plunges 317 Points, Wipes Out 2014 Gains

U.S. stocks sustained heavy losses on Thursday as traders ditched a wide swath of assets, leading the blue-chip average to hit the flat-line for 2014.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 317 points, or 1.9%, to 16563, the S&P 500 tumbled 39.7 points, or 2%, to 1931 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 93.1 points, or 2.1%, to 4370.

In a sign of the breadth of the selloff, every major sector was down by at least 1%. The biggest losers could be found in telecommunications, technology, energy and health care. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was running about 40% higher than the one-month average. The VIX, a measure of implied volatility in U.S. stocks, surged 26%.

ExxonMobil (XOM), the world’s biggest publicly-traded energy company, revealed stronger-than-expected profits on the day, but revenues missed expectations. The Dow heavyweight’s shares fell more than 1%, suggesting they would weigh on the blue-chip average.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/07/31/dow-plunges-300-points-wipes-out-2014-gains/

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This Chart Proves the War on Poverty Has Been a Catastrophic Failure

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This Chart Proves the War on Poverty Has Been a Catastrophic Failure
Robert Rector / July 28, 2014

For the past 50 years, the government’s annual poverty rate has hardly changed at all. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 15 percent of Americans still live in poverty, roughly the same rate as the mid-1960s when the War on Poverty was just starting. After adjusting for inflation, federal and state welfare spending today is 16 times greater than it was when President Johnson launched the War on Poverty. If converted into cash, current means-tested spending is five times the amount needed to eliminate all official poverty in the U.S. How can the government spend so much while poverty remains unchanged?

The answer is simple: The U.S. Bureau of the Census official “poverty” figures are woefully incomplete. The Census defines a family as poor if its annual “income” falls below specific poverty income thresholds. In counting “income,” the Census includes wages and salaries but excludes nearly all welfare benefits. The federal government runs over 80 means-tested welfare programs that provide cash, food, housing, medical care, and targeted social services to poor and low-income Americans. Government spent $916 billion on these programs in 2012; roughly 100 million Americans received aid from at least one of them, at an average cost of $9,000 per recipient. (These figures do not include Social Security or Medicare.)

Of the $916 billion in means-tested welfare spending in 2012, the Census counted only about 3 percent as “income” for purposes of measuring poverty. In other words, the government’s official “poverty” measure is not helpful for measuring actual living conditions.

On the other hand, the Census poverty numbers do provide a very useful measure of “self-sufficiency”: the ability of a family to sustain an income above the poverty threshold without welfare assistance. The Census is accurate in reporting there has been no improvement in self-sufficiency for the past 45 years..

https://dailysignal.com/2014/07/28/index-culture-opportunity/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

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Obama’s Self-Made Border Crisis

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Obama’s Self-Made Border Crisis
Mike Needham / @MikeNeedham / July 30, 2014

“You didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” In the case of the ongoing crisis along America’s southwest border, that someone is President Obama. When the president used his pen to sign the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, memorandum on June 15, 2012, he effectively rolled out the welcome mat to those abroad seeking to immigrate illegally.

The numbers are undeniable. From 2011 to 2013, the number of minors crossing the border illegally increased threefold, from roughly 8,000 to 24,668. Officials initially estimated that number would soar to 60,000 this year, though it is now expected to be close to 90,000.

Some have attempted to attribute the sudden wave of migration to factors other than the actions taken by the Obama administration. Most frequently cited is the stunning violence plaguing Central America, but according to United Nations data the region’s dramatic increase in violence began in 2007.

The other frequently cited cause is a little-known anti-trafficking law that gave additional protections to certain immigrant minors, but that law passed in 2008. While those two factors may intensify the crisis, there was no greater pull factor than the president’s executive decreeforbidding immigration officials from enforcing the law.

Accounts from those who have been encouraged to undertake the perilous journey from Central America to the United States confirm that the Obama Administration’s actions were their driving force. According to an internal Border Patrol memo leaked last month, the main reason minors and women from Central America had entered the U.S. was “to take advantage of the ‘new’ U.S. law that grants a free pass or permit” to stay in the country.

Some officials have defended lax enforcement, suggesting these so-called “permisos” are simply the notices to appear at a future immigration hearing issued to minors who enter the country illegally. It is important to understand, however, how the president’s DACA program works. It is not merely “deferred action,” as the name suggests, but rather a program that issues papers, identification and work permits for two years to those illegal immigrants under 30 who qualify.

What’s more, many minors believed June 2014 — two years after Obama’s DACA memo — was the cutoff for the program. In this light, one would be hard pressed to deny that the DACA initiative has been seen by minors and young adults as a “free pass” incentive program.

Earlier this month, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández seemed to confirm the notion, telling Time what we “shouldn’t forget” about “is the lack of clarity of U.S. immigration policy.” Hernández said “my call to the United States is that it defines these rules with clarity” to prevent smugglers from taking advantage of the ambiguity.

https://dailysignal.com/2014/07/30/obamas-self-made-border-crisis/

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Christie urges lawmakers to change bail system

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Christie urges lawmakers to change bail system

Gov. Christie on Wednesday urged lawmakers to vote for changes he says are needed to reverse the “utter failure” of New Jersey’s bail system, declaring that “we are nearly out of time to act.” (Seidman/The Philadelphia Inquirer)

https://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140731_Christie_urges_lawmakers_to_fix__quot_broken_quot__criminal_justice_system.html

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House votes to sue Obama

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House votes to sue Obama

By Cristina Marcos – 07/30/14 08:36 PM EDT

The 225-201 vote fell along party lines, with five Republicans voting against the measure. No Democrats supported it.

The lawsuit is a direct response to GOP frustration with Obama’s wide-ranging use of executive power.

Republicans have been particularly angry over Obama’s decision to ignore several deadlines in the Affordable Care Act and his decision to defer the deportation of certain young people who illegally immigrated to the United States as children.

In the last week, lawmakers have been riled up by reports that immigration advocates and Democrats are pushing the administration to take additional executive actions to give more immigrants legal status.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/213859-house-votes-to-sue-obama#ixzz392T734ZF

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Liquor-license law needs reform, developers say

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Liquor-license law needs reform, developers say

JULY 31, 2014    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY LINDA MOSS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

* Real estate developer in North Jersey says make laws fair

NEW BRUNSWICK — Calling current liquor laws outdated and inequitable, members of the commercial real estate industry are working to reform the process in a way that won’t penalize business owners who already have a license, which in some cases can cost millions of dollars.

“The license holders are the beneficiaries of the monopoly,” George Jacobs, a principal of Clifton-based Jacobs Enterprises Inc., told an audience of about 100 real estate officials Wednesday. “We’re trying figure out compensation schemes where these guys will not be hurt, but economic development can be stimulated.”

Jacobs was part of a panel that the New Jersey chapter of NAIOP, a commercial real estate trade group, held at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

Jacobs, who presented a 30-page report on restaurant-consumption liquor licenses in New Jersey in 2011 at the meeting, outlined what the industry is doing to bring change to liquor-license laws. He also explained why the status quo poses challenges to developers, supermarkets and restaurateurs.

“The law breeds corruption, inefficiency, delay and costs,” he said.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/liquor-licensing-faulted-1.1060238#sthash.F4GF958H.dpuf

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Ridgewood Police: West Glen Avenue Train Trestle Painting Project

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Ridgewood Police: West Glen Avenue Train Trestle Painting Project 

New Jersey Transit will begin painting the West Glen Avenue Train Trestle starting the project on or about Friday, August 1st.

Transit anticipates that the work will require alternating lanes of traffic (one lane closed to do the work). Each lane closure should take no more than 1.5 weeks, for a total of 3 weeks of lane restriction. Hours of work are scheduled to be 8:00am to 4:30pm Monday through Friday. Some Saturday work may be required to keep to the schedule.

Traffic will be controlled by Ridgewood Police Officers when the road is restricted to one lane of travel.

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Ridgewood school board incumbents to run unopposed

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Ridgewood school board incumbents to run unopposed

JULY 29, 2014    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JULY 29, 2014, 3:55 PM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Residents will have an easy decision to make in the voting booth on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Incumbents Sheila Brogan and Christina Krauss are running unopposed for three-year terms on the five-member Ridgewood Board of Education.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/ridgewood-school-board-incumbents-to-run-unopposed-1.1058979#sthash.rPWTHqe5.dpuf

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US banks braced for large deposit outflows

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US banks braced for large deposit outflows

By Tracy Alloway and Camilla Hall in New York

July 30, 2014 8:54 pm

US banks are steeling themselves for the possibility of losing as much as $1tn in deposits as the Federal Reserve reverses its emergency economic policies and raises interest rates.

JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US bank by deposits, has estimated that money funds may withdraw $100bn in deposits in the second half of next year as the Fed uses a new tool to help wind down its asset purchase programme and normalise rates.

Other banks including Citigroup, Bank of New York Mellon and PNC Financial Services have also said they are trying to gauge the potential effect of the Fed’s exit on institutional or retail depositors who might choose to switch to higher interest accounts or investments.

“There are investors, traders and sellside analysts that are very concerned about it,” said one top-10 investor in several large US banks.

An outflow of deposits would be a reversal of a five-year trend that has seen significant amounts of extra cash poured into banks thanks to the Fed flooding the financial system with liquidity. These deposits, which act as a cheaper source of funding, have helped banks weather the aftermath of the financial crisis.

https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/58848270-1729-11e4-8617-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz392EVEzmc

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Report reveals ‘disturbing trend’ of brazen attacks against border security by gangs, drug and human traffickers

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Report reveals ‘disturbing trend’ of brazen attacks against border security by gangs, drug and human traffickers

 A game warden hit in the head with a rock while trying to seize a raft. Police officers wounded in an hours-long standoff with a gang member wanted for murder. Criminals spewing obscenities and death threats at local cops before asking for – and receiving – medical treatment.

And that was just last week.

A weekly report distributed by a Texas state agency to senior law enforcement officials paints a grim picture of the Mexican border, where authorities regularly confront illegal immigrant gang members and draw automatic gunfire from across the Rio Grande, and where local, state and federal authorities fight a never-ending battle against drug smugglers.

The most recent Border Operations Sector Assessment report compiled by the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Border Security Operations Center, dated July 25 and obtained by FoxNews.com, details local and federal authorities encountering smugglers carrying millions of dollars’ worth of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine, some of which was found in vehicles filled with biblical passages and religious items; federal agents being assaulted and shot at; gang members brazenly approaching people in their homes; and ranch workers witnessing men crossing into the U.S. wearing camouflage and carrying long guns and automatic weapons.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/07/30/exclusive-report-reveals-disturbing-trend-brazen-attacks-against-border/