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Ridgewood Knights Raise over $30,000 for Local Charities at Centennial Celebration

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Ridgewood Knights Raise over $30,000 for Local Charities at Centennial Celebration

Ridgewood-NJ-June 17, 2014: The Ridgewood Knights of Columbus Council #1736 celebrated their 100-year anniversary on Saturday, June 14, 2014. The day was a testament to the Knights’ dedication and service to Ridgewood and the surrounding community. The evening began with a celebratory mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, offered by The Most Reverend Archbishop Bernard Hebda, to a standing-room-only crowd.  Guests then adjourned next door to an open-air reception. Many former Grand Knights and their families were in attendance. Jerry Vivino and his orchestra provided the live entertainment. Joe Antonacci, a Ridgewood resident, former Grand Knight, and a noted boxing ring announcer, was master of ceremonies for the evening. There were many unique and once-in-a-lifetime silent and live auctions offered, such a weekend rental of a Porsche 911, a round of golf at the Ridgewood Country Club, and an evening dinner with the priests of Mount Carmel. The auctions were lively and well spirited.

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unnamed-16Sean Noble, the current Grand Knight, thanked the many supporters and organizers of the event. In particular, he thanked Brian Conn, who had the vision of an event on such a grand scale, which initiated the planning process over a year ago; Dave Seaman, Mark Stappenbeck, and Pete Bernardo, who handled the fundraising and financial planning; Joe Carey, Kevin Casey, and Doug Findlay, who managed the infrastructure and catering; Tim Bradley, who managed the printing of the programs and invitations; and Andy Meyer, in charge of the entertainment committee. “While this evening was the culmination of a year’s worth of planning, it really marks a beginning for the next 100 years for the Knights in Ridgewood”, said Noble.

The Knights also paid tribute to Daniel McGinley, a brother Knight who worked in the World Trade Center and was killed on 9-11. Pat Mullin lead the crowd in a special rendition of “Danny Boy”.

Through the generosity of local businesses and residents, over $30,000 in donations was raised, which will go to benefit three worthy organizations: the Ridgewood 

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Ridgewood stockbroker has been barred from the securities industry

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Ridgewood stockbroker has been barred from the securities industry 

Penalties for North Jersey finance professionals in Ridgewood, Hawthorne

JUNE 16, 2014    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2014, 4:39 PM
BY KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

A Ridgewood stockbroker has been barred from the securities industry after selling $5 million in investments in two companies, allegedly without revealing the companies’ financial issues or that he was a part-owner of one of them.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, announced the action against Gregory J.P. Osborn of Ridgewood, who formerly worked for Middlebury Securities in Ridgewood. Osborn consented to the penalty without admitting or denying wrongdoing.

According to FINRA, Osborn was the primary salesman for Middlebury’s private offerings, which accounted for the majority of its revenues, before he left the company in mid-2012. He sold about $5 million in securities in two companies – NVG, a provider of financial-services software, and NVL, a telecommunications and computer company. The investments promised returns of 12 percent.

But, according to FINRA, Osborn failed to tell investors that NVG and its chief executive faced tax liens totaling more $3 million and that NVL had no revenues and was operating at a loss, as well as the fact that both companies had failed to repay previous investors, as promised.

In addition, FINRA said, Osborn did not disclose that he was a part-owner of NVL. According to FINRA, Osborn earned about $100,000 in commissions on these securities sales.

But investors weren’t so lucky, according to FINRA. “During the relevant period, investors never received any return of their principal and were never paid any interest,” FINRA said.

Osborn could not be reached for comment.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/penalties-for-north-jersey-finance-professionals-in-ridgewood-hawthorne-1.1036218#sthash.FevvbN83.dpuf

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Reader says Planning Board thinks you don’t care about stopping Valley Hospital’s unreasonable expansion

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Reader says Planning Board thinks you don’t care about stopping Valley Hospital’s unreasonable expansion

Ridgewood residents, the Planning Board thinks you don’t care about stopping Valley Hospital’s unreasonable expansion because not enough of us show up to these meetings. Yes, on election day we sent a message by electing Village Council members who are opposed to Valley’ Hospital’s massive expansion plans, but it is not enough. Everyone in town should care about this issue, but most of all those of you who will have kids at B.F. over the next 6-10 years (do you want you kids walking past a massive construction site on their way to school everyday or having to spend the day trying to learn with destractions that a massive construction project will create?). And those of you who may not have kids going to B.F. but live near Valley Hospital you should care given that your home values will be negatively impacted by the expansion. And those of you will live anywhere in Ridgewood should care as a massive Valley Hospital in Ridgewood will alter the character of the entire town, and it is hurting your fellow Ridgewood residents who are your friends, neighbors, etc. Can you spare any time at all (even if you must leave early) to support us?

Please show up and support us, even if for only 1/2 hour. Thanks.

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Ridgewood Firefighters Prevail as 30 firefighters face off in annual grill competition in Paramus

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Ridgewood Firefighters Prevail as 30 firefighters face off in annual grill competition in Paramus

JUNE 15, 2014, 3:04 PM    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2014, 9:32 PM
BY MINJAE PARK
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

PARAMUS — They’re used to beads of sweat crawling down their necks in the heat, as smoke rises into the sky.

But the mission on Sunday afternoon as 30 firefighters gathered in the Paramus Fairway parking lot wasn’t to douse flames, but instead to use them to grill ribs, burgers and chicken at the fourth annual Firefighters Food Face-Off….

….As the food stock depleted, the panel of judges, which included three food writers and a chef, announced a winner: Ridgewood.

Shortway said their burger, topped with an egg and maple bacon chips, sealed it.

“Everyone said the burger was the best,” he said…….

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/30-firefighters-face-off-in-annual-grill-competition-in-paramus-1.1035655#sthash.zFK8hU3B.dpuf

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Ridgewood to have random sobriety checks at dance

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Ridgewood to have random sobriety checks at dance

JUNE 17, 2014    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — Police will randomly administer sobriety tests to teens attending Friday’s Backwoods Dance, an annual party that is expected to draw around 1,100 students.

Last year, the dance — organized for Ridgewood High School students in Van Neste Park to both “teach and entertain” — turned away 10 attendees who tried to smuggle in alcohol, said David Zrike, co-founder of the event.

This year, 11 police officers will carry Breathalyzers with them.

“We allow the police to be in charge, and they feel it would be a good deterrent” to pre-dance drinking by some students, Zrike said.

A letter will be going home this week to parents of high school students about the dance and the use of Breathalyzers.

After seeing teenagers being arrested outside a party five years ago in Ridgewood, Zrike contacted the high school’s former principal, Jack Lorenz, to organize safe events to keep the village’s young people out of trouble.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/towns/village-to-have-random-sobriety-checks-at-dance-1.1036391#sthash.RuLRdxsN.dpuf

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Ridgewood planners set to vote on Valley Hospital’s expansion

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Ridgewood planners set to vote on Valley Hospital’s expansion

JUNE 16, 2014    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2014, 2:09 PM
BY BARBARA WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER
THfE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — After 16 months of hearings, the Planning Board is set to vote Tuesday on The Valley Hospital’s proposal to nearly double in size, a project that has polarized the village and pitted the medical center against a vocal group of residents.

This round of hearings is the latest push in Valley’s eight-year effort to expand. The meetings have been heated, frequently tedious and sometimes downright ugly, with residents yelling and booing a combative attorney who represents the hospital.

“These meetings have all been one-sided — Valley’s side,” said Jody McCambridge. “I just hope they make a wise choice and keep the hospital the size it is now.”

Valley officials are seeking an amendment to the village master plan for the expansion. Their plan calls for the hospital to grow from 562,000 square feet to 995,000 square feet, with one building that will rise 94 feet high. The expansion will include a 245,000-square-foot parking garage.

Hospital executives declined to comment. Supporters of the project said the hospital needs to expand and renovate to keep current in a highly competitive market.

“You have to decide whether Ridgewood wants access to a first-class medical center,” Gene Cornell, president of Ridgewood Residents for Valley, told the Planning Board this month. “The need for renovation is clear.”

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/health-news/board-set-to-vote-on-valley-plan-1.1035834#sthash.m2tBpKDu.dpuf

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Planning Board – Meeting Schedule June 16 & 17 – Valley Hospital Application

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Planning Board – Meeting Schedule June 16 & 17 – Valley Hospital Application

PLANNING BOARD

AMENDMENT TO MEETING SCHEDULE

Special Public Meetings: June 16 & June 17, 2014

In accordance with the provisions of the “Open Public Meetings Act,” please be advised that the Planning Board has scheduled special public meetings for:

Monday, June 16, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium at the Benjamin Franklin Middle School, 335 North Van Dien Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, at which time the Board will receive instructions regarding the proposed H-Hospital Zone amendment to the Master Plan.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium at the Benjamin Franklin Middle School, 335 North Van Dien Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, at which time there will be Board deliberation and vote only concerning the proposed H-Hospital Zone amendment to the Master Plan. Doors will be open at 6:30 p.m.; all ingress into the auditorium will be limited to the doors located at the rear of the auditorium. 

The Board may take official action during these Work and Public Meetings. 

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 public.

Jane Wondergem

Secretary to the Board

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On immigrant surge, White House story falls apart

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On immigrant surge, White House story falls apart

BY BYRON YORK | JUNE 16, 2014 | 2:58 AM 

At any other time, the growing crisis on the Mexican border, with tens of thousands of unaccompanied young people crossing illegally into the United States, might dominate the news. Yet the situation has received less attention than it might amid the furor over House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s primary defeat, the collapse of Iraq, the continuing Bergdahl matter, and Hillary Clinton’s book tour. They’re all genuinely important news stories, and they’ve crowded out disaster at the border.

But whether or not many people noticed, this was the week in which the Obama administration’s attempts to deflect blame for the border crisis fell apart.

Most of the illegal immigrants are what Border Patrol officials call OTMs. That is,
while they are crossing into the United States from Mexico, they are actually from other countries — in this case, mostly Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador — and are classified as Other Than Mexican immigrants.

Top administration officials have tried to attribute the surge in crossings to violence and poverty in those countries. “The situation is motivated primarily by the conditions in the countries that they’re leaving — El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala,” said Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday. “Violence, poverty — I believe that is principally what is motivating the situation.”

For its part, the White House dismissed arguments from Republicans that President Obama’s DACA decree — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which allowed thousands of illegal immigrants to stay in this country if they came at a young age — created, in effect, a magnet for young people to try to enter the U.S. illegally. At the White House briefing on June 9, deputy press secretary Josh Earnest was asked about statements from House and Senate Republicans “that this was sort of the byproduct of the president putting together DACA, and so, because of the way that that’s been sort of filtered through, immigrant children believe that they can cross the border and stay here.”

“I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in the ability of Republican members of Congress to divine the thoughts and insights of children in Central American countries,” Earnest answered. “My point is, I’m not sure this withstands a whole lot of scrutiny.”

https://washingtonexaminer.com/on-immigrant-surge-white-house-story-falls-apart/article/2549755

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US officials signal willingness to work with Iran amid chaos in Iraq

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US officials signal willingness to work with Iran amid chaos in Iraq

By Kristina Wong and Ian Swanson – 06/16/14 01:59 PM EDT

The Obama administration on Monday expressed a willingness to work with longtime enemy Iran in response to the Sunni militant offensive in Iraq.

The comments from Secretary of State John Kerry highlighted the administration’s struggles to zero in on a policy response to Iraq, where the central government appears to be crumbling in the face of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) advance.

Kerry said the administration was open to any constructive process that would reduce violence.

“Let’s see what Iran might or might not be willing to do before we start making any pronouncements,” Kerry told Yahoo News. “I think we are open to any constructive process here that can minimize the violence, hold Iraq together, the integrity of the country and eliminate the presence of outside terrorist forces.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/international/209445-kerry-isis-doesnt-have-ability-to-overrun-baghdad#ixzz34pb7BzC9

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Don’t let Valley bully Ridgewood

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Don’t let Valley bully Ridgewood
Cathy Benson
Ridgewood, June 11

At this week’s Ridgewood Planning Board meeting, representatives of The Valley Hospital made clear that the village of Ridgewood is its opponent. The gloves are off. Valley’s attorney, Jon Drill, attempted to deliver blow after blow.The opening salvo was Drill’s attempt at intimidation by reminding the Planning Board of its loss in court to Valley back in 1985. This was followed up by his threat that Ridgewood would lose $1.7 million in property taxes from properties owned by Valley due to conversion to non-profit status and that the hospital would withhold money for improvements at the intersection of Van Dien and Linwood avenues despite the fact that Valley is a major contributor of traffic, if the amendment is not approved.

Next was his assertion that the single bus line stopping in front of Valley (20 trips a day, no service on Sunday) carries the full significance of “access to public transportation.”

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/the-record-letters-to-the-editor-monday-june-16-1.1035848#sthash.ABwdlnLZ.dpuf

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Federal Tax Revenues Set Record Through May; Feds Still Running $436B Deficit

RECORD TAX REVENUES THROUGH MAY-CHART-PHOTO-1

Federal Tax Revenues Set Record Through May; Feds Still Running $436B Deficit
June 12, 2014 – 11:20 AM\
By Terence P. Jeffrey\

( CNSNews.com) – Federal tax revenues continue to run at a record pace (in inflation-adjusted dollars) in fiscal 2014, as the federal government’s total receipts for the fiscal year closed May at an unprecedented $1,934,919,000,000, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement.

Despite record revenue, the federal government still ran a deficit of $436.382 billion in the first eight months of the fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, 2013 and will end on Sept. 30, 2014.

In the month of May alone, the federal government ran a deficit of $129.971 billion–bringing in $199.889 billion in revenue while spending $329.860 billion.

The White House Office of Management and Budget has estimated that in the full fiscal 2014, the federal government will collect $3.001721 trillion in taxes, spend $3.650526 trillion, running a deficit of $648.805 billion..

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/federal-tax-revenues-set-record-through-may-feds-still-running-436b

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U.S. evacuates embassy as bombs, fighting rock Iraq

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U.S. evacuates embassy as bombs, fighting rock Iraq

BAGHDAD – Islamic militant insurgents captured the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar early Monday, its mayor and residents said, striking another blow to the nation’s Shiite-led government a week after it lost a vast swath of territory in the country’s north.

The town has a population of roughly 200,000 people, mostly ethnic Shiite and Sunni Turkomen, and was taken just before dawn, Mayor Abdulal Abdoul told the Associated Press.

A Tal Afar resident reached by phone confirmed the town’s fall and said militants in pickup trucks mounted with machineguns and flying black jihadi banners were roaming the streets as gunfire rang out.

The United States said Sunday it was evacuating some staff from its embassy and beefing up security as deadly explosions rocked the Iraqi capital and militants released graphic images appearing to show its fighters massacring captured Iraqi soldiers.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/06/15/iraq-us-qaeda-insurgency/10545803/

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N.J. Democrats to push for paid sick time

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N.J. Democrats to push for paid sick time

TRENTON – New Jersey Democrats and labor activists are pushing to require private employers to provide paid leave for workers who are sick or who need to attend to loved ones with an illness. About 38 percent of the state’s private-sector workforce, or 1.2 million employees, do not have access to earned sick leave, according to a 2013 study by the Rutgers Center for Women and Work. (Seidman/The Philadelphia Inquirer)

https://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20140616_N_J__Democrats_to_push_for_paid_sick_time.html

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Ridgewood resident and international restaurateur Drew Nieporent returns to his roots

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Ridgewood resident and international restaurateur Drew Nieporent returns to his roots

JUNE 15, 2014    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2014, 10:21 AM
BY ELISA UNG

A new sign just went up in the window of 239 W. Broadway in Tribeca: Bâtard. The dining news website Eater.com quickly placed Bâtard at the top of its list of the hottest Manhattan establishments of the moment – declaring: “This is the restaurant that all the critics and fine dining lovers will be checking out this summer.”

But there are still other reasons why we all might care about this particular address and this new restaurant: The man behind it is not only a longtime Ridgewood resident, he also helped shape the American dining scene.

It was 1985 when restaurateur Drew Nieporent, then 29, opened his first restaurant, Montrachet, in a converted woodworking shop at that Broadway address. It was a highly pioneering move – most obviously in the neighborhood he chose, referred to in one review as an “alien ZIP code.”

The vision was also novel: a restaurant known not for its silver domes on plates and formal service but for a comfortable, genial atmosphere, even though this was no casual bistro. It had a $16 prix-fixe menu and no dress code (Nieporent was fond of asking guests to simply cover their feet and genitals).

Its executive chef was a then-unknown named David Bouley; the restaurant was quickly awarded a rare three stars from The New York Times.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/food-and-dining-news/dining-news/the-man-who-changed-fine-dining-1.1035518#sthash.s40kQ7QI.dpuf