Train derailments have drastically declined, but danger always there
During the morning commute one summer day in 1958, a horror show unfolded on the tracks.
Two locomotives and two coaches derailed before plunging from the Newark Bay lift bridge between Elizabeth and Bayonne, and another train car dangled precariously from the drawbridge before toppling.
Among the 48 killed in the Sept. 15, 1958, accident were Snuffy Stirnweiss, a New York Yankees infielder who played on three World Series-winning teams in the 1940s, the mayor of Shrewsbury and a relative of author Kurt Vonnegut.
Few train accidents were so dramatic, but derailments used to be common and there were more than 3,000 a year in the U.S. in 1980, before technology and safety upgrades reduced that number to about 500 annually.
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving Mahwah resident injured after slamming Jeep into utility pole
December 2,2013
Boyd A. Loving
8:55 PM
Ridgewood NJ, A Mahwah resident sustained non-life threatening injuries on Monday evening after losing control of her 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee and hitting a utility pole in front of 555 North Maple Avenue in Ridgewood. Ridgewood PD, FD, and EMS all responded to the incident, which occurred shortly before 8:00 PM. Although the utility pole was severly damaged and leaning heavily after the crash, no electric outages were reported in the area. Ridgewood firefighters attended to a minor fluid spill resultant from the crash. The Jeep was removed by flatbed tow truck just as a PSE&G trouble shooter arrived at the scene to assess damages. As of 8:55 PM, North Maple Avenue between remains closed indefinitely in both directions between Pine and 2nd Streets due to the leaning utility pole.
Is it safe? Radioactive Japanese wave nears US
By Maxim Lott
Published November 29, 2013
FoxNews.com
In the wake of the deadly tsunami that hit Japan in 2011 and severely damaged a nuclear reactor, Japanese officials say the levels of radiation are safe for everyone outside the reactor area itself. But as radioactive water from the plant nears the West Coast of North America — the water is expected to hit in 2014 — can we be sure it’s safe?
The nuclear reactor continues to leak radioactive water due to poor management, while Japanese subcontractors at the plant have admitted they intentionally under-reported radiation and that dozens of farms around Fukushima that were initially deemed safe by the government actually had unsafe levels of radioactive cesium.
Fukushima locals also claim they’re seeing cancer at higher rates and the Japanese government is covering up the scale of the problem.
So what do independent estimates say? The first measures come from the U.S. government. The FDA has stepped up its monitoring of radiation in seafood due to the Fukushima incident.
North Jersey community groups ready to test HealthCare.gov
Sunday December 1, 2013, 11:02 PM
BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER
The Record
As federal officials touted HealthCare.gov’s latest fixes this weekend, two North Jersey community groups were crossing their fingers for an improvement over the paper applications they’ve been using for the last month.
That could happen today. Based on assurances from the White House, locals are hopeful that they’ll be able to ditch the paper for the website.
“This is really a wait and see,” said Mary Garner, chief executive of the Paterson Community Center, the only organization in Passaic County to receive funds to help residents apply for insurance. “What has to be done is not in our hands to be done. We can’t make an online system. If the whole federal government with all of its money and all of its power and all the pieces of the mosaic that have to be put together to make it work, if they can’t do it, a little tiny community health center doesn’t have the wherewithal.”
The website — HealthCare.gov — was supposed to let consumers shop easily for health insurance, required by the Affordable Care Act when it was launched Oct. 1. The continued technical problems of President Obama’s signature domestic initiative have been a political disaster for him and fellow Democrats.
Nov. 30 was not originally intended to be a key date for the online enrollment system, but it took on outsized political and public importance when administration officials announced five weeks ago that the “vast majority of users” would be able to sign up for insurance through the site by that day. Government and outside technical employees have worked around the clock for weeks on the fixes so the administration could keep its promise to have the site working smoothly for most people by then.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/englewood/North_Jersey_community_groups_ready_to_test_HealthCaregov_today.html#sthash.dxWvqvVL.dpuf
Nobel Prize economist Robert Shiller warns of U.S. stock market bubble
Reuters – 16 hours ago
BERLIN (Reuters) – An American who won this year’s Nobel Prize for economics believes sharp rises in equity and property prices could lead to a dangerous financial bubble and may end badly, he told a German magazine.
Robert Shiller, who won the esteemed award with two other Americans for research into market prices and asset bubbles, pinpointed the U.S. stock market and Brazilian property market as areas of concern.
“I am not yet sounding the alarm. But in many countries stock exchanges are at a high level and prices have risen sharply in some property markets,” Shiller told Sunday’s Der Spiegel magazine. “That could end badly,” he said.
“I am most worried about the boom in the U.S. stock market. Also because our economy is still weak and vulnerable,” he said, describing the financial and technology sectors as overvalued.
Oil supply: The cartel’s challenge
By Ajay Makan and Neil Hume
Shale gas and eased sanctions on Iran will test Opec’s ability to curb output and buoy prices
At a private dinner early in November a group of executives from one of the world’s largest commodity traders was asked to predict the price of oil in a year’s time. Without exception the forecasts, scribbled on place cards without consultation, were for Brent crude to fall well below the $100 a barrel level it has traded above for most of the past three years.
Those predictions reflect a growing consensus in the oil market. From US shale to an easing of sanctions on Iran, the coming years are expected to provide a huge boost to global output, inverting the structure of the oil market in which supplies have long been rationed by a handful of producers.
Even North Jersey wealthy hit by foreclosures
Sunday, December 1, 2013 Last updated: Sunday December 1, 2013, 3:29 PM
BY KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Nine years after spending millions to build their dream home in Franklin Lakes, Kevin and Cheri Schmidt lost it recently to foreclosure.
The Schmidts have sued their bank, saying it’s to blame for their trouble. The bank declined to comment, saying it doesn’t discuss pending litigation.
Although foreclosures mostly affect lower- and middle-income households, the Schmidts’ story shows that families in upscale towns have also felt the pain of losing a home as the economy and housing market cratered. A check of upcoming foreclosure auctions in Bergen County found properties in Saddle River, Old Tappan and Ridgewood, among other more affluent towns.
According to RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks the foreclosure market, about 4 percent of Bergen County’s current foreclosure cases involve properties valued at over $1 million.
Holidays in the Village Downtown for the Holidays and Tree Lighting!
Downtown for the Holidays and Tree Lighting Celebration Friday, December 6, 2013 New this year – “for the kids” 5:30-6:30pm – Santa in the Park for the “wee tots” and a “Kids Corner” offering holiday Arts & Crafts in front of the Park along with live entertainment by the “clock” and in the stores and restaurant along E. Ridgewood Ave. Featuring the RHS Marching Band, RHS Singers, RHS Orchestra 7-8pm “on stage-live” Live Entertainment and Tree Lighting Celebration Featuring performances by Porch Light Productions, From the Top Studio, Art of Motion and Arthur Murray Dance Studio. 8:00-9:00pm “merriment” on E. Ridgewood Ave. Shh – Santa will be back in the Park Lots of music on the Avenue – two live bands, carolers, musicians Stores will be having special sales, restaurant reservation suggested.
Saturday, December 7 8:00am-10:00am Breakfast with Santa at The Office Beer Bar & Grill Reservations required 201-652-1070 10:00am-2pm – Santa arrives at Columbia Bank in a fire truck with gifts for all children attending 60 S. Broad St. 10:30AM FREE KIDS Movie at the Bowtie Warner Theatre 2:00-4:00pm Meet Santa at his house – Memorial Park at Van Nest Square Saturday, December 14 and 21 8:00-12Noon, Breakfast with Santa at The Office Beer Bar & Grill (reservations required 201-652-1070) 12Noon-4:00pm Meet Santa at his house – Memorial Park at Van Neste Square Along with other surprises – weather permitting For latest updates check www.experienceridgewood.com call 201-445-2600. See you there!
Teacher ratings can strain New Jersey school districts
Saturday November 30, 2013, 11:46 PM
BY LESLIE BRODY
STAFF WRITER
The Record
New Jersey’s law requiring districts to start new teacher evaluations this year has become a bonanza for the firms that are helping schools comply.
Many districts have spent tens of thousands of dollars on new online tools for collecting data on teachers’ goals and techniques in the classroom, and training staff members how to use them. Many superintendents are grumbling that on top of the enormous investment of time required to conduct more frequent and in-depth evaluations, these bills are an unfair financial burden imposed by the state.
Ridgewood, for example, has spent $40,000 for a new data system and extensive training on how to use it. Fair Lawn has spent $33,000 so far. And Glen Rock and Hawthorne have paid $25,000.
Ridgewood’s honorary police chief, 10, loses cancer battle
Sunday, December 1, 2013 Last updated: Monday December 2, 2013, 12:12 AM
BY STEPHANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Ten-year-old Michael Feeney was named Ridgewood’s honorary police chief for 2013. While preparing to run in his school election, he swapped campaign tips with the mayor. He was scheduled to light the village’s Christmas tree this week.
photos from Ridgewood PD
But now, the Police Department will give its youngest member a full police funeral on Tuesday and plans to name a future junior police academy after him.
The Hawes Elementary School fifth-grader died Friday after a four-year battle with Ewing’s sarcoma, a very rare, aggressive and often fatal bone cancer that usually develops in children and young adults. On Sunday, his parents recalled Michael’s short life while writing his eulogy.
“He squeezed 100 years into the 10 years that he lived,” his father, Jack Feeney, said.
“I was at the meeting when those residents agreed to baseball field and a park. They didn’t want townhouse.”
Reader says residents never agreed to a ball field at Schedler
To get to school in Ridgewood, on the other side of 17, my kids wait on West Saddle River Rd each morning for the school bus. before purchasing my home I contacted the town to determine what type of development could happen on the property though I didn’t know the name was Schedler.
With the safety of my children in mind I was happy to hear the property was zoned r125 residential and only single family homes could be built. When the property was available the issue was not town houses but dense affordable housing development and low income housing obligations.
This would be a non-issue if the property were used for a single family home the way it is supposed to be. At no time when the property was being discussed by the town did I think the property was going to be a ball field because this was just one of many ideas discussed.
No one agreed to the ball field and actually people were really upset when the baseball guys put a copy of their plan on display. Those men who attended the meetings were bullies and condescending to the residents of the neighborhood most impacted by their offensive plan to knock down every tree and displace every animal for another unnecessary ball field..
As far as I am concerned leave it exactly as it is and I won’t have to worry about my kids. A passive park is a great idea especially since we have nothing here. Even though the property zone r125 should only have a single family home, given the choice of clear cutting and with a baseball field or townhouses, this area would have been much better off with the townhouses.
Property description: The property (block-lot 0251-4704-9) located at 460 W Saddle River Rd, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 has 2,120 sq ft (196.95 m2) building area and is zoned R125. The lot size of 460 W Saddle River Rd is a 296208 sq ft (6.8 acre or 27,518.65 sq meters). The property description is PUBLIC PROPERTY.
PLEASE try to attend the RW Council Meeting this wednesday, Dec 4 at 7:00 to show your support against demolishing the Zabriskie Schedler House (circa 1825)
Is President Obama a lame duck already?
ByRebecca Kaplan CBS News November 29, 2013, 6: 00 AM
Second terms have historically been tough ones for presidents. From Ronald Reagan’s Iran Contra scandal to Bill Clinton’s Lewinsky affair to Hurricane Katrina during George W. Bush’s second term, U.S. leaders have so often found their second four years going off the rails that it’s known colloquially as the “second-term curse.”
President Obama has been no stranger to this trend. Despite winning reelection, he has had to compromise on many of his priorities or have seen them rejected outright by Congress: letting the Bush-era tax cuts expire; gun control measures; investments in the economy, and quite possibly, immigration reform.
While he doesn’t quite qualify as a lame-duck president – a term reserved for the 10-week period after a successor has been elected – Mr. Obama has seen his ability to set and carry out an agenda significantly curtailed just a year into his second term. Political scientists and scholars tend to point to two reasons for this: an obstinate, Republican-controlled House of Representatives, and the botched roll out of the Affordable Care Act, the president’s signature legislative achievement.
Record crowds over weekend, but spending declined
Retailers’ Dilemma: A record number of shoppers turn out, but they spent less for the 1st time
By Anne d’Innocenzio, AP Retail Writer 4 hours ago
NEW YORK (AP) — Retailers got Americans into stores during the start to the holiday shopping season. Now, they’ll need to figure out how to get them to actually shop.
Target, Macy’s and other retailers offered holiday discounts in early November and opened stores on Thanksgiving Day. It was an effort to attract shoppers before Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that traditionally kicks off the holiday shopping season.
Those tactics drew bigger crowds during the four-day Thanksgiving weekend, but failed to motivate Americans to spend.
“The economy spoke loud and clear over the past few days,” said Brian Sozzi, CEO and chief equities strategist at Belus Capital Advisors. “We are going to see an increase in markdowns.”
A record 141 million people were expected to shop in stores and online over the four-day period that ended on Sunday, up from last year’s 137 million, according to the results of a survey of nearly 4,500 shoppers conducted for The National Retail Federation.
But total spending was expected to fall for the first time ever since the trade group began tracking it in 2006, according to the survey that was released on Sunday afternoon. Over the four days, spending fell an estimated 2.9 percent to $57.4 billion.
Shoppers, on average, were expected to spend $407.02 during the four days, down 3.9 percent from last year. That would be the first decline since the 2009 holiday shopping season when the economy was just coming out of the recession.
Does prayer help us resist temptation? Talking to God boosts self-control and emotional stability, claims study
People turn to prayer ‘as a coping response to the high demands in life’ and are rewarded with an increased ability to resist temptation
Previous findings have shown that when people try to control their emotions, the risk of aggressive outbursts and binge drinking rises
By Robin Yapp
Praying helps people stay in control of their emotions and behaviour, according to a new study.
People turn to prayer ‘as a coping response to the high demands in life’ and are rewarded with increased strength and ability to resist temptation, researchers said.
Previous findings have shown that when people try hard to control their emotions and thoughts, the risk of aggressive outbursts and binge drinking or eating rises.
