“WORK TO WOW” FASHION SHOW EVENT FOR THE YWCA BERGEN COUNTY
United Water will be hosting a “Work to Wow” Fashion Show event on Thursday, April 10 from 6:30 – 8:30 pm at the Lord & Taylor store in the Fashion Center Mall, East Ridgewood Ave., Paramus. The evening will begin with networking and light fare/beverages as well as silent auction viewing. Following this, United Water and YWCA staff will be modeling new Spring fashions.
Terri Capparelli, fashion consultant from Lord & Taylor will be on hand to discuss the latest fashion trends and will show attendees how to shift from functional day wear to an after hour sensatiojn. Proceeds from the event will directly benefit the newly formed YWCA Bergen County Girl’s Leadership Academy, a 10-month long learning experience designed to educate and empower girls through experiential learning, site visits and leadership lessons. Program will be launching in September 2014. Tickets are $25 per person. For more information, please email [email protected].
Teen who sued parents lands $56K scholarship
By Joe Tacopino
April 2, 2014 | 5:36am
It turns out she didn’t need her parents’ money after all.
The bratty New Jersey teen who sued her mom and dad for child support and college money is bragging about the hefty scholarship she won from a Massachusetts school.
Rachel Canning, who dropped the ludicrous lawsuit against her folks last month, revealed the windfall on her Facebook page Sunday, The Star-Ledger reported Tuesday.
“Decision made,” Canning wrote on March 30. “WNE U class of 2018 BME Major w/ 56,000$ scholarship.”
Western New England University, the school Canning said she is attending, is located in Springfield, Mass.
The school’s tuition is about $46,000 per year, including room and board, the paper said.
This would leave the former Morris Catholic HS student with nearly $10,000 of spending money before she needs to hit up Mom and Pops.
Bramnick: Putin ‘horrified’ that Menendez banned him from Hudson County
NEWARK – Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-21) got in a dig on Hudson County tonight at Brendan Byrne’s birthday bash.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin banned Senate foreign Relations Committee Chairman U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) from Russia, Bramnick said.
Menendez retaliated by banning Putin from Hudson County.
“Putin was horrified because that’s where he learned how to run elections,” Bramnick cracked.
The minority leader later ragged on other high table dignitaries.
“McGreevy’s thinking ‘My scandal wasn’t that bad,’” Bramnick said. “Kean’s thinking, ‘I didn’t have a scandal, and I am still the most popular governor in New Jersey.’” (Pizarro/Politicker)
Port Authority Business Model is Broken, Report Says
NEWARK — The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is broken, according to a report issued yesterday, and unless its mission is drastically reshaped, the bi-state agency’s fortunes are more dubious than a ride on the Pulaski Skyway.
The George Washington Bridge lane closing scandal has ignited a debate over the role and behavior of the 93-year-old authority. But the 28-page report by the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University claims the agency’s business model — which includes $800 million in pet projects for the governors of New York and New Jersey — is inherently flawed and its financial woes have been decades in the making.
“The critical problem facing the Port Authority today is not mismanagement, political abuse or rivalry between New York and New Jersey,” Mitchell Moss and Hugh O’Neill, who authored the report, wrote. “The fundamental challenge is that the business model under which the Authority has operated for the past thirty years is no longer sustainable.”
When it was created in 1921, the authority had a simple enough business plan, the report states. Big money generators like the George Washington Bridge and Idlewild Airport — now John F. Kennedy International Airport — helped fund capital projects at other port facilities that did not generate much revenue. (Giambusso/Star-Ledger)
NJ State Board of Education considers motions on charter schools, teacher evaluations
TRENTON — The New Jersey State Board of Education will consider amendments to the teacher evaluation process and charter school regulations at its monthly meeting in Trenton this morning.
The board meeting, the first since acting education commissioner David Hespe took office last month, will also include a vote on the list of religious holidays for the 2014-15 school year. The list is issued annually by the department to serve as a guide for local school boards. Those boards can add holidays to the state issued list.
New Jersey law states students cannot be marked absent for missing school because they are observing a religious holiday.
Board members will hear a new proposal pertaining to the regulations for educating homeless students and those in state facilities, according to the agenda published by the Department of Education.
Public testimony in the afternoon focuses on charter schools. (McGlone/Star-Ledger)
Downed trees kept millions without power in wake of Sandy, other extreme weather.
The state is promising to get tougher with New Jersey’s four electric utilities over their tree-trimming practices, hoping to curtail the number of outages that occur in extreme storms when blown-down trees take out power lines.
After more than 100,000 trees fell on power lines during Hurricane Sandy, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is looking to adopt stricter standards on how utilities run what the agency calls vegetation management programs in their franchise territories. (Johnson/NJSpotlight)
The Ridgewood Police Department will take part in a new program being initiated by the Division of Highway Traffic Safety. From April 1st through April 21st , we will participate in the Distracted Driving 2014 Statewide Crackdown “UDrive. UText. UPay.”
The purpose of the campaign is to undertake visible, targeted enforcement during the National Distracted Driving Month. Enforcement activities will focus on driver behaviors that distract from the task of driving. This will include the use of cell phones and texting.
Readers questions “Valley is inherently beneficial because they are a hospital ” mantra
During last night’s meeting, it was certainly drilled into anyone sitting there that we must remember that according to the law that Valley is inherently beneficial because they are a hospital. The board must consider the good for the overall population. Mr. Brancheau told the chairman when asked, that the board had to not only consider the good for their own municipality, but also of the region. I have an issue with this. I can see if they were the only hospital around for miles, you wouldn’t want to deny anyone decent care. But everywhere you look there is another hospital in this region. Even Valley tried to argue a few years back that there was an overabundance of beds. The greater good of the region will not be compromised if Valley isn’t allowed this over-expansion, the board must consider the greater good of Ridgewood for this decision.
Rep. Paul Ryan unveils a budget that proposes to cut $5.1 trillion
April 01, 2014, 10:30 am
By Russell Berman and Bernie Becker
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday unveiled a budget that proposes to cut $5.1 trillion over a decade in a bid to erase the federal deficit, while calling once again for dramatic changes to Medicare, Medicaid and the tax code. [READ RYAN’S BUDGET PROPOSAL.]
The nearly 100-page blueprint is likely be the last formal budget proposal from Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, who wants to move to the more powerful Ways and Means Committee next year.
While Ryan adheres to a bipartisan budget agreement that set a $1.014 trillion spending cap for fiscal 2015, he proposes deeper cuts to discretionary accounts after that in order to keep the GOP’s promise to balance the budget within 10 years. In those out years, defense spending gets a boost by $273 billion over the level President Obama proposed in his budget last month.
“The Bipartisan Budget Act was a good first step. But we can and must do more,” Ryan said in a statement, referring to the two-year deal he struck in December with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.). “As the House majority, we have a responsibility to lay out a long-term vision for the country, and this budget shows how we will solve our nation’s biggest challenges. By cutting wasteful spending, strengthening key priorities, and laying the foundation for a stronger economy, we have shown the American people there’s a better way forward.”
Obama May Want to Put the Cork Back In The Champagne Bottle After He Sees These ObamaCare Numbers
Now that Obama has taken a victory lap and popped the champagne cork over hitting the ObamaCare enrollment goal, it looks as if it might be time to put the cork back in the bottle.
Results of a RAND Corporation study suggest that barely 858,000previously uninsured Americans – nowhere near 7.1 million, as claimed by Obama – had paid for new policies and joined the ranks of the insured by the Monday night deadline. The study also indicates that only one-third of exchange sign-ups were previously uninsured.
Yes, millions of enrollees were previously insured, including those who lost coverage when their existing policies were cancelled because they didn’t meet ObamaCare’s minimum requirements.
Still, Obama claimed that “millions of people who have health insurance would not have it”‘ without ObamaCare. The numbers simply do not support that claim.
Moreover, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a shot at Republicans “who have based their entire political agenda on repealing it.” Obama also thanked Democrats, who passed the “Affordable” Care Act without a single Republican vote.
AVO 88 LE14 in stock now at the Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood
AVO 88 Limited Edition 2014
Available now at
The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood
~Gary, Barbara and Collin
The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood
The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood | 10 Chestnut Street | Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450
Phone: 201-447-2204 | Email: [email protected]
Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00AM – 5:30PM and Thursday Night 6:30PM – 8:30PM
Dishing with Saddle River author Mary Higgins Clark, who appears tonight in Ridgewood
APRIL 1, 2014 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY ELISA UNG
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
WHO: Mary Higgins Clark, the “Queen of Suspense” and longtime Saddle River resident.
WHAT: Signing her new novel, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.”
WHEN: 7 tonight.
WHERE: Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood, 201-445-0726, book-ends.com.
HOW MUCH: Free with purchase of the book ($26.99) at Bookends.
FOR MORE INFO: maryhigginsclark.com.
Once upon a time, I thought everything about food could be learned from a Mary Higgins Clark suspense novel.
It started with the lavish dinner of watercress salad, lamb loin chops and “piping hot” asparagus “under a delicate hollandaise” that Dr. Edgar Highley, the villain in Clark’s early novel “The Cradle Will Fall,” prepared for himself as he recalled all the women he had murdered.
Then there were the swanky Washington, D.C., parties in another early book, “Stillwatch,” with buffets of caviar and sturgeon, Virginia ham and “hot biscuits.” And the steak sandwiches that characters were always ordering from the Manhattan Irish pub Neary’s.
April is New Jersey Underground Damage Prevention Month
April 1, 2014
PSE&G reminds everyone to Dial 811 to Call Before You Dig
(Newark, NJ – April 1, 2014) April is NJ Underground Damage Prevention Month, and Public Service Electric & Gas Company is reminding customers, contractors and excavators that they must call before digging to avoid hitting underground gas and electric lines. To make it easy to call, 811 has been designated as the national dialing code to have underground lines located and marked.
When you call 811, you are automatically connected to the New Jersey one-call center, which collects information about your digging project. The one-call center then provides the information to the utility companies, who will send representatives to mark the locations of underground lines in the immediate vicinity of the planned work location with flags, paint or both. Once lines have been properly marked and your locate request becomes valid, you are free to carefully dig around the marked areas.
Every digging project, even a small project like planting a tree or building a deck, requires a call to 811. The call must be made whether you are hiring a professional or planning to do the job yourself. Striking a single line can cause outages and result in repair costs and fines.
Here’s important information to consider:
Underground gas and electric lines are everywhere, even on private properties. You can easily damage them if you don’t know where they are, with the potential to seriously injure yourself or others. Digging into these lines also can disrupt the vital utility services and result in costly delays, expensive repairs and environmental or property damage.
Whether planning a major home improvement project or installing something as simple as a fence or mailbox post, a call must be placed beforehand to know where it’s safe to dig.
Call 811 or 1-800-272-1000 at least four business days before each job to have underground pipes, wires and equipment located. Utility workers will respond and place markers where utility lines are buried, free of charge.
Be sure to wait three full business days after calling before doing any digging. Don’t dig until lines have been marked.
Property owners must maintain and respect the marks. Always hand dig within two feet of marked lines.
If you accidentally damage gas piping or smell gas when excavating, please call 911 immediately from a safe area. Then call PSE&G at 1-800-436-PSEG (7734).
Call before you dig is more than a good idea — it’s the law.
Additional information, including a damage prevention booklet on safe excavating practices and the protection of underground facilities, can be found online at: https://www.pseg.com/call811.
N.J. study warns of continuing struggle for black, Latino children
APRIL 1, 2014
BY MONSY ALVARADO
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
White, Asian, African-American and Latino children in New Jersey scored higher than the national average across racial and ethnic backgrounds in several key indicators that measure a child’s chance at success in school and in life.
But the data in a report, for release today by a national advocacy organization, reveal deep disparities within the state’s racial and ethnic groups in areas including fourth-grade reading proficiency, eighth-grade math skills, high school and college graduation rates, and poverty levels. White and Asian children in the Garden State continue to score better than their Latino and black counterparts in several of these areas.
“To me this report provides data that confirms what we have suspected for a long time, that there is a significant gap in the well-being of children based on race and ethnicity,” said Cecilia Zalkind, executive director of Advocates for Children of New Jersey, a statewide, non-profit, non-partisan child research and action organization that jointly released the information with the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The statistics found in The Kids Count policy report, “Race for Results: Building a Path to Opportunity for All Children” by the Baltimore-based Casey Foundation, is intended to better inform policymakers when making decisions about programs that can benefit children, foundation officials said.
“This first-time index shows that many in our next generation, especially kids of color, are off track in many issue areas and in nearly every region of the country,” said Patrick McCarthy, president and CEO of the Casey Foundation in a press release. “Race for Results is a call to action that requires serious and sustained attention from the private, non-profit, philanthropic and government sectors to create equitable opportunities for children of color, who will play an increasingly large role in our nation’s well-being and prosperity.”
Some Bay Area Residents Refuse To Sign Up For Insurance, Will Pay Penalty
April 1, 2014 12:02 AM
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) – Despite an extended deadline tosign up for health care under Covered California, some in the Bay Area are choosing to pay a penalty instead of insurance because of the cost.
Brian Roi has worked as a bartender without insurance for the last two years. He chose not to sign up for health coverage because at the end of the night, he said the math does not add up.
“It doesn’t work for me.” Roi told KPIX 5. “I went to college. I have to pay all these student loans still I’m paying those. I’m paying credit card bills that incurred when I went to college.”
