Military History of Ulysses S. Grant by Adam Badeau
Adam Badeau who was an aide to Grant during the Civil War wrote this account of Grant’s campaigns based on his eye-witness experience and on original documents. We have personal items from Adam Badeau in our collections.
Ridgewood Library Receives grant for Binding of Books, 2012
Supported by grant money from the Bergen County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs, the Ridgewood Public Library has preserved and re-bound books from its collection that had been unavailable due to their fragile condition. Turul Bindery in Wharton, New Jersey did the preservation work. The following books are now availalbe on the shelves in the Bolger Heritage Center. Please call for more information: 201-670-5600, x 135
Taxes, Taxes and more Taxes Tax break nears end for online shoppers
Republican governors, eager for new revenue to ease budget strains, are dropping their longtime opposition to imposing sales taxes on online purchases, a significant political shift that could soon bring an end to tax-free sales on the Internet.
Conservative governors, joining their Democratic counterparts, have been making deals with online retail giant Amazon.com AMZN +1.41% to collect state sales taxes. The movement picked up an important ally when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie—widely mentioned as a potential vice-presidential candidate—recently reached an agreement under which Amazon would collect sales taxes on his state’s online purchases in exchange for locating distribution facilities there.
Mr. Christie called taxation of online sales “an important issue to all the nation’s governors” and endorsed federal legislation giving all states taxing authority. (Langley, The Wall Street Journal)
New Jersey seeks to regain edge in high technology
New Jersey’s formerly booming high-tech sector has a lower profile, battered by a series of corporate contractions over the last 16 years. But there are new efforts by state officials and business leaders to help the state recapture its once-dominant share of jobs in science, engineering and technology.
If it works, a thriving brain belt can power New Jersey’s economy back to prosperity, said Esther Surden, who has covered the technology industry for trade publications for over 30 years. (Jordan, Asbury Park Press)
NJEA looks to limit School choice takes tough stance on new charters
The relationship between the New Jersey Education Association and charter schools has been a checkered one.
In the early 1990s, the powerful teachers union fought against the state’s charter school law before ultimately signing on. Since then, it has openly said it supports charters — and has organized unions in a dozen of them — while raising protests about some aspects of the alternative schools.
Now, the union is again mixing it up, as the Christie administration is about to announce the latest round of final charters for schools opening this fall, including possibly New Jersey’s first all-online schools. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
Obama campaign revs up black outreach fears black voters have lost appetite for “hope and change.”
By Niall Stanage and Amie Parnes
President Obama’s reelection campaign is making a determined and carefully calibrated effort to boost enthusiasm among black voters, a group that could swing the election in key battleground states.
Polls have Obama winning more than 90 percent of the black vote against Mitt Romney, but there are signs that the high African-American turnout that fueled his 2008 victories in North Carolina and Virginia could dissipate after the hard realities of the president’s first term.
The chances for depressed turnout are increased by the bad economy, which at its worst drove the unemployment rate for blacks above 16 percent and led to some disillusionment with the candidate of “hope and change.”
African Americans “don’t have to vote for [Romney]” to help his campaign, said broadcaster and author Earl Ofari Hutchinson.
“An abstention from the polls is effectively a vote for Romney,” he said. “If there is only a minuscule drop-off [in turnout], it will spell trouble.”
Homeland Security warns of hackers targeting popular Niagara software
By Robert O’Harrow Jr., Published: July 13
The Department of Homeland Security on Friday warned that a popular system used by organizations around the world to manage millions of machines and devices over the Internet is vulnerable to attack from hackers.
The software system known as the Niagara Framework enables corporate, military, health-care and other users to remotely control or monitor medical devices, elevators, video cameras, security systems and a wide array of other sensitive operations.
In an alert issued Friday, cybersecurity officials said that Niagara users should immediately prohibit guest users, bolster passwords, cut off direct access to the Internet and take other steps to prevent hackers from exploiting configuration and software flaws.
“Disable the ‘guest’ and ‘demo’ user accounts if enabled,” says the alert, issued by the department’s Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team. The alert advised other steps:
●Lock out accounts that receive excessive invalid login attempts.
The other foreclosure crisis: Losing a home over $400 in back taxes
By Les Christie @CNNMoney July 11, 2012: 9:59 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — People are losing their homes over unpaid tax bills that, in some cases, add up to just a few hundred dollars.
Outdated state laws that allow local governments to sell tax liens on delinquent properties to investors in order to more quickly collect on overdue property taxes is sparking a second “foreclosure crisis,” a report from the National Consumer Law Center said Tuesday.
When homeowners don’t pay property taxes or other municipal bills, like water or sewer fees, local governments have less money to maintain services like schools, police and fire departments and road maintenance. By selling tax liens, those governments can collect on what it is owed.
Investors, in return, effectively own a claim against the property until the homeowner pays the county or municipality back or until they default on the debt entirely. The investor can either collect interest on the taxes owed from the homeowner. Or, if the homeowner fails to pay up, the investor can take possession, or foreclose, on the home.
Judges rule state can seize affordable housing funds, but towns allowed to appeal
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-5257-11 MOTION NO. MBEFORE PART: Y JUDGE(S): CUFF FUENTES MESSANO
“In the light of the record presented, we are satisfied that a global preliminary injunction, restraining COAH from transferring funds held in trust by municipalities to meet their affordable housing obligations, is not warranted. For the past four years, municipalities have known of their obligation to present affordable housing plans to COAH for approval to secure the availability of trust funds and “commit” or protect such funds from forfeiture under N.J.S.A. 52:27D-329.2d. The ambiguity, if any, concerning the term “commit” has not precluded municipalities from seeking COAH’s approval of particular housing projects on a case-by-case basis. The Governor’s recent rejection of legislative efforts to provide a more concrete definition of “commit” does not transform a fouryear-old deadline into an unforeseen event warranting immediate judicial intervention.
We are nevertheless concerned that, under these circumstances, COAH may sieze affordable housing trust funds without giving the affected municipalities adequate notice and an opportunity to contest the transfer. We, therefore, order that before any transfer is effectuated, COAH must provide the affected municipality with written notice describing the exact “
Another piece of history lost
July 14.2012
the staff of the Risgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , Another piece of history lost . The Zabriskie Slave Tenement house was demolished in Paramus yesterday .This was an ongoing battle over the past 3 years, and according to all accounts the demolition came without warning.
This was not the Schedler house in Ridgewood.
In September Freeholder John D. Mitchell came to the Dunkerhook site and met with Ted Manvell and Joe Suplicki who had spearheaded the movement to save the house. Mitchell was the first elected official to visit the site and show an interest in the status of the house.
Mitchell said on Facebook , “The shame of this is that all the pieces to a very complex puzzle were actually coming together. The mover was ready to move the house for free, the college was making plans for its permanent home as a learning center, grant requests and other funding avenues were promising, stubborn legal challenges were finding solutions, and many, many fine people were pitching in. We were really close.”
Hopefully this tragedy will energize preservationist in Northern New Jersey especially in Bergen County to speak up to save our precious history,. Bergen county holds many unique treasures dating back before the founding of the country . These include the Schedler house in Ridgewood which is still standing today but is also slated to be demolished to make way for more ball fields. Once these site are gone they are gone forever .
Water Main Break Closes Busy East Ridgewood Avenue In Ridgewood
July 14.2012
Boyd A. Loving
4:37 PM
Ridgewood NJ, A portion of East Ridgewood Avenue in Ridgewood was closed in both directions on Saturday so crews from the Ridgewood Water Company could repair a broken 10 inch water main. The broken main, between Circle Avenue and John Street, was reported to Ridgewood Water at approximately 2:00 PM. Police diverted all traffic away from the break beginning at approximately 3:30 PM. The road is expected to be closed until at least 7:00 PM on Saturday.
12U Players (L to R): Chris Symington, Jake Dowson, Michael Dyrhaug, Bobby Sullivan, Timmy Conklin, Drew Granski, Matteo Conn, Charlie Cardew, Jack Neilson, Patrick Cummings, Davis Weil, Parker Scott Coaches (Lto R): Terry Cardew, Head Coach Chip Conklin, Chris Dyrhaug, Bob Sullivan
For many people, the idea of investing in gold is a relatively unknown concept. After all, when we think about investment opportunities, we tend to focus largely on the traditional stock market, where we can buy and sell shares of companies. For some, this is a means of income, and for others it is a side financial venture designed to make a little more money over time. But gold investment is an entirely different concept, as it is done by literally purchasing physical gold bullion, rather than shares of any specific company. So, how and why is it done, exactly?
It is actually very easy to invest in gold, thanks to various online sites such as Bullion Vault, where you can buy, manage, and sell gold as you please. Unless you specifically want to keep your gold in your home, you may not ever see your gold bullion, but you can buy any amount that you want, and have it stored in any of a selection of vaults worldwide, to be kept safe until you wish to withdraw or sell it. Actually, the whole process is extremely easy and convenient, which means that if you do ultimately decide that gold investment is for you, there isn’t anything to hold you back from jumping right in. Deciding whether or not gold investment is a good idea depends more on your own preferences and personal decisions.
While gold bullion seems like a luxurious source of investment, you do still need to understand that the gold market is not designed for quick, or even significant gains. As compared to the ordinary stock market, and the average company, the price of gold is relatively stable, and is less prone to sudden shifts in value. For this reason, most people who invest in gold bullion to so to protect their existing monetary assets, rather than in the hopes of making a significant amount of money. If your money is tied up in gold, then it is less subject to negative economic shifts that can downgrade the value of your currency.
This does not, however, mean that gold is always a safer source for your wealth than currency is. Typically, the price of gold moves up or down with an inverse relationship to the value of the U.S. dollar, which means that in times of economic stability in the United States, the dollar is likely to be strong, and a gold investment may make less sense. Likewise, when the value of the dollar is dropping, gold becomes a more strategic investment. These are not concrete rules so much as general trends, but they can help you to understand when to trust the gold bullion market.
This is a guest post on behalf of Bullion Vault written by Micahel Andrus, a freelancer with experience writing about alternative forms of investment.
“Municide” not so sure its out of the question
July 14,2012
James Foytlin
Ridgewood NJ, On Tuesday San Bernardino became the third California city in less than a month to seek bankruptcy protection, with officials saying the financial situation had become so dire that it could not cover payroll through the summer and the city is facing a $46-million deficit.
So this begs the question with residential real estate at decade low valuations and commercial real estate still falling it seems only a matter of time before the dominoes begin to fall.
Ridgewood itself is experiencing a massive amount of tax appeals which some question whether the Village is underestimating our liability.
While vested interests and Muni Market promoters attacked Meredith Whitney for most of 2011 because of her ill timed call as to what some have called “Municide”, where she dared to predict that catastrophic muni default rates were in the cards.
Many argue that the size ,depth and variety of the muni bond market as well as the lack of institutional players coupled with insurance and the states infinite ability to tax makes a massive muni default or “Municide ” highly unlikely ,even sighting the lack of defaults during the Great Depression as proof.
The current low interest rate environment has done much to prop up muni prices. but with the print your way out of trouble attitude coming from Washington logic suggests it only a matter of time before price inflation begins to spiral and the breaks will have to be applied by ratcheting up interest rates.
Low valuations of residential property are pressuring property tax revenues ,with massive unemployment the states ability to continue to raise taxes seems to be challenged by a the law of diminishing returns . Add to that a fleeing population to lower tax destinations leaving an ever larger tax burden for those left behind .
Now add to this scenario the new willingness of towns, cities and county’s to seek bankruptcy protection and I am not so sure a “Municide” is out of the question ?
how long before weather issues effect local produce?
Food crisis fears as US corn soars
By Jack Farchy in London
Is the world on the brink of another food crisis?
It has become a distressingly familiar question. With the price of agricultural staples such as corn, soyabeans and wheat soaring for the third summer in five years, the prospect of another price shock is once again becoming a prominent concern for investors and politicians alike.
The debate marks a dramatic shift from just a few weeks ago, when traders were expecting bumper crops and policy makers were comforting themselves that – if nothing else – falling commodity prices would offer some relief to the troubled global economy.
But since then, scorching heat and a paucity of rain across the US has withered the country’s corn and soyabean crops, with the US Department of Agriculture this week making the largest downward revision to its estimate for a corn crop in a quarter of a century.
