Author: James

Ridgewood resident shares Swedish tradition
THURSDAY DECEMBER 26, 2013, 2:02 PM
BY  GLORIA GEANNETTE
MANAGING EDITOR
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Although she has lived in the United States for many years, Ridgewood resident Annika McCrea still celebrates Santa Lucia Day (Dec. 13) every year just like she did when she was a little girl in Sweden. Now her love for the “Festival of Lights” has spread to several hundred people in Ridgewood, who consider it the perfect beginning for their Christmas celebrations.
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McCrea moved with her family to France when she was only 8 and then to Belgium.

“It became especially important to keep our celebration alive when we weren’t living in Sweden,” she recalled.

According to the legend, Santa Lucia (Saint Lucy) walked in a white robe with a crown of candles to bring food and drink (today symbolized by Santa Lucia cinnamon rolls and coffee) to a famished village community in ancient Scandinavia – bringing light and hope to the country in a time of darkness and despair.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community/237320671_Ridgewood_resident_shares_Swedish_tradition.html#sthash.0hMduhVZ.dpuf

file photo Boyd Loving

Ridgewood’s American Legion, Post 53

Ridgewood’s American Legion, Post 53 organizes and sponsors the annual Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day services in Ridgewood, as well as a new initiative, Gold Star Mother’s Day. All veterans are welcome to join this local chapter, helping to support and celebrate those who have volunteered to serve our country and to honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. To learn more about the American Legion mission and their work please go to www.americanlegion.org

For further information on the Ridgewood chapter and activities, please contact Bob Paoli at [email protected]

Excedrin headache No. 2013: 2-in-3 call it a ‘bad year,’ 4-in-10 a disaster for their family

BY PAUL BEDARD | DECEMBER 27, 2013 AT 3:14 PM

Overshadowed by the bungled debut of Obamacare and congressional gridlock, most Americans in a new poll dubbed 2013 a bad year that will be quickly forgotten. For more than four-in-10, the perils of 2013 hit home hard.

“Put simply, most Americans are happy to see 2013 go,” said the latest Economist/YouGov Poll.

— 54 percent called 2013 a “bad year” for the world. Another 15 percent called it a “very bad year,” with just 3 percent calling it a “very good year” and 29 percent a “good year.”

https://washingtonexaminer.com/excedrin-headache-2013-23rds-call-it-a-bad-year-4-in-10-a-disaster-for-their-family/article/2541258

NJ foreclosure pipeline remains clogged
SATURDAY DECEMBER 28, 2013, 12:00 PM
BY KATIE ZEZIMA
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEWARK — The number of homes entering foreclosure across the nation is at its lowest level in years, but a persistent backlog has left New Jersey stuck at year’s end with the nation’s second-largest percentage of homes in some stage of foreclosure.

FILE PHOTO
The Record file photo

Nearly 7 percent of New Jersey homes are in the foreclosure pipeline, behind only Florida at 7.1 percent, according to real estate data provider CoreLogic.

New Jersey also has the country’s second-highest number of homes — 10.6 percent — that are at least 90 days behind on mortgage payments.

For the most part, the high foreclosure numbers stem from a drawn-out foreclosure process and a severely backlogged pipeline of cases.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_foreclosure_pipeline_remains_clogged_.html#sthash.iF1dr8Gw.dpuf

Mass transit tax break set to expire

A mass transit tax break that saves over hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers $1,000-a-year each in commuting costs is set to expire at the end of the year.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, standing beneath the famous timepiece in Grand Central Terminal Monday, called on Congress to extend the benefit before Jan. 1, vowing to withhold his support for a host of additional tax extenders if the program for mass transit failed to pass.

“New York commuters need every break they can get,” Mr. Schumer said.

The current benefit allows commuters to spend up to $245 per month of their pre-tax earnings on mass transit and commuter costs like parking. Over the last year, approximately 700,000 New York residents saved over $330 million through this benefit. More than 2.7 million commuters use the tax break nationwide.

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20131111/BLOGS04/131119986

79,000 New Jerseyans to lose jobless benefits on Saturday
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2013    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY DECEMBER 27, 2013, 11:06 PM
BY  HERB JACKSON
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
THE RECORD

An estimated 79,000 people in New Jersey — which comes out to a higher percentage than any other state — are being dropped from the unemployment rolls starting Saturday as Washington debates whether emergency benefits begun in 2008 are still needed.

The Obama administration says they are, because unemployment nationally is higher now at 7 percent than it was when the aid was begun, and Congress in the past has always waited for unemployment to drop below pre-recession levels before scaling back benefits.

By the numbers

Saturday is the last day that about 1.3 million people nationwide will be eligible for extended unemployment insurance.

In New Jersey, 79,000 will lose benefits.

Over the next three months, another 48,000 in the state will lose benefits.

New Jersey’s unemployment rate is 7.8 percent.

The national unemployment rate is 7 percent.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Continuing the payments comes at a cost — the price tag on yearlong extension would be about $25 billion — and in this era of budget austerity that is a major stumbling block

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/recordpolitics/90K_in_New_Jersey_losing_unemployment_benefits_on_Saturday.html#sthash.SzEmSmLo.dpuf

Substance abuse a problem in Ridgewood
Friday December 27, 2013, 9:33 AM
BY  LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

A few years ago, while sitting in the back of an AP class, a male Ridgewood High School (RHS) junior discreetly rolled a blunt, then left class to smoke it.

Last year, students said, a female RHS sophomore secretly drank alcohol in school; another, they heard, tripped on acid.

In one incident this past summer, an 18-year-old resident with suspected alcohol poisoning was transported to The Valley Hospital, police said, and the 51-year-old owner of a nearby home – with red cups and beer cans strewn through the yard – was issued a summons on charges of making alcohol available to minors.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/237488171_Substance_abuse_a_problem_in_Ridgewood.html#sthash.OSsKqp0P.dpuf

Target confirms encrypted PIN data stolen

Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY6:33 p.m. EST December 27, 2013

The third-largest U.S. retailer says its investigation of the massive data breach is continuing.

Hackers who stole data for up to 40 million credit cards and debit cards used in Target stores removed encrypted data with personal identification numbers — but the theft isn’t expected to compromise card holder accounts — the retail giant said Friday.

“We remain confident that PIN numbers are safe and secure,” said a statement issued by Molly Snyder, a spokeswoman for the company hit by the November-December data breach.

According to the company, Target does not have access to nor does it store the encryption key within its computer systems. When a Target customer uses a debit card in one of the company’s stores and enters his or her PIN, the number is encrypted at the keypad with a widely used security program known as Triple DES, the company said.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/12/27/target-confirms-encrypted-pin-data-stolen/4219415/

Federal  judge rules NSA phone surveillance legal
By ASSOCIATED PRESS | 12/27/13 12:01 PM EST Updated: 12/27/13 2:49 PM EST

NEW YORK — Citing the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal judge on Friday found that the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of millions of Americans’ telephone records is legal, a valuable part of the nation’s arsenal to counter the threat of terrorism and “only works because it collects everything.”

U.S. District Judge William Pauley said in a written opinion that the program lets the government connect fragmented and fleeting communications and “represents the government’s counter-punch” to the al-Qaida’s terror network’s use of technology to operate decentralized and plot international terrorist attacks remotely.

“This blunt tool only works because it collects everything,” Pauley said. “The collection is broad, but the scope of counterterrorism investigations is unprecedented.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/nsa-phone-surveillance-ruling-101569.html#ixzz2ohtU295g

Most U.S. Families Still Routinely Dine Together at Home

Slight majority says family eats together at least six days a week

by Lydia Saad

PRINCETON, NJ — As families gather around the table this holiday season, Gallup finds that family dining is a part of everyday life for the majority of U.S. parents, and that it hasn’t diminished much in recent years. Fifty-three percent of adults with children younger than 18 say their family eats dinner together at home six or seven nights a week. The average 5.1 dinners that families share each week is down slightly from 5.4 in 1997, but unchanged from 2001.

https://www.gallup.com/poll/166628/families-routinely-dine-together-home.aspx