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Al-Qaeda’s offers 22 tips for dodging drones

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Al-Qaeda’s offers 22 tips for dodging drones

Al-Qaeda’s list of 22 tips for dodging drone attacks – including at least one believed to originate with Osama bin Laden – has been found hidden inside a manila envelope in a building abandoned by Islamists in Mali.

The document includes advice such as “hide under thick trees” (believed to be bin Laden’s contribution), and instructions for setting up a “fake gathering” using dolls to “mislead the enemy”.

Found by the Associated Press in a building in Timbuktu, the ancient city occupied by Islamists last year, the document is believed to have been abandoned as extremists fled a French military intervention last month. It is a Xeroxed copy of a tipsheet authored by a Yemeni extremist that has been published on some jihadi forums, but that has made little appearance in English.

The list reflects how al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghbreb anticipated a military intervention that would make use of drones, as the war on terror shifts from the ground to the air.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/9886637/Revealed-al-Qaedas-22-tips-for-dodging-drones.html

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Fewer Americans Getting Health Insurance From Employer

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Fewer Americans Getting Health Insurance From Employer
Medicare, Medicaid, and military or veterans’ insurance inching higher
by Elizabeth Mendes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fewer Americans reported having employer-based health insurance in 2012 than did in 2008, 2009, and 2010, but at 44.5% it is unchanged from 2011. At the same time, more Americans continue to report having a government-based health plan — Medicare, Medicaid, or military or veterans’ benefits — with the 25.6% who did so in 2012 up from 23.4% in 2008.

https://www.gallup.com/poll/160676/fewer-americans-getting-health-insurance-employer.aspx

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Ridgewood Council to meet with department leaders

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Photo by Boyd Loving

Ridgewood Council to meet with department leaders
Friday February 22, 2013, 1:45 PM
BY  DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

The heads of Ridgewood’s |various departments will begin meeting with the Village Council next week to discuss their specific portions of the 2013 municipal budget.

Special public meetings have been planned for Monday, Feb. 25 and Tuesday, Feb. 26, when representatives from each department will present their wish lists and proposed expenditures for the year. Those lists were submitted to the Ridgewood manager and chief financial officer late last year, but have not been reviewed extensively by the village’s governing body.

Council members, after they review the separate presentations, will have the opportunity to suggest changes and spending cuts to reach their desired budget amounts and any tax increases or decreases.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/192536281_Ridgewood_Council_to_meet_with_department_leaders.html

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Illinois state senator Ira Silverstein looks to squelsh free speech pushes anti-anonymity bill

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Illinois state senator Ira Silverstein looks to squelsh free speech pushes anti-anonymity bill

The bill, called the Internet Posting Removal Act, is sponsored by Illinois state Sen. Ira Silverstein. It states that a “web site administrator upon request shall remove any comments posted on his or her web site by an anonymous poster unless the anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name, and home address are accurate.”

The Democratic lawmaker’s bill, which does not ask for or clarify requirements from entities requesting the comment removal, would take effect 90 days after becoming law.

Pseudonymous and anonymous comments have long been a critical part of U.S. public discourse, though, and the bill may be on shaky legal ground.

Read more: https://dailycaller.com/2013/02/21/illinois-state-senator-pushes-anti-anonymity-bill/#ixzz2LdM5j4JX

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Rival bakeries welcome ‘Cake Boss’ to Ridgewood

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Sook Pastry

Rival bakeries welcome ‘Cake Boss’ to Ridgewood
Myles Ma/NJ.com By Myles Ma/NJ.com
on February 21, 2013 at 6:30 AM, updated February 21, 2013 at 7:58 AM

RIDGEWOOD — Carlo’s Bakery opened with a lot of fanfare.

The bake shop at the center of TLC’S “Cake Boss” drew long lines as it opened its second location after more than 100 years in Hoboken. The new shop has almost 6,000 likes on Facebook.

It might sound hard to compete with such star power. But the owners of two other Ridgewood bakeries say they’re not worried.

In fact, they welcome owner Buddy Valastro.

https://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2013/02/rival_bakeries_welcome_carlos_bakery_to_ridgewood.html

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Ridgewood resident Frank Nestor on ‘Millionaire’s Countdown to the Oscars’

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Ridgewood resident Frank Nestor on ‘Millionaire’s Countdown to the Oscars’
Friday, February 22, 2013
The Ridgewood News

Frank Nestor of Ridgewood will be a contestant on “Millionaire’s Countdown To The OSCARS®” Week, in the episode airing Friday, Feb. 22. Hosted by the Emmy Award-winning Meredith Vieira, Millionaire can be seen on WABC weekdays at 12:30 p.m.
Frank Nestor of Ridgewood is a contestant on the ABC program, ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire,’ with Meredith Vieira. Nestor is a dedicated movie buff.

Frank, 24, is the son of Frank and Sandra Nestor. He grew up in a unique household. His mother is deaf and Spanish is her primary language. Frank’s father traveled a lot for work, so movies connected their family. When everyone was home, they watched films, which brought them together despite their language differences. Frank even learned to read Spanish and English by watching closed captioning.

https://www.northjersey.com/ridgewood/192427851_Ridgewood_resident_on__Millionaire_s_Countdown_to_the_Oscars_.html

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Former Fairleigh Dickinson ‘neo-Nazi’ professor files brutality suit against state police

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Former Fairleigh Dickinson ‘neo-Nazi’ professor files brutality suit against state police
By Dan Ivers/NJ.com
on February 21, 2013 at 11:40 AM, updated February 21, 2013 at 11:43 AM

NEWARK — A former Fairleigh Dickinson professor with ties to neo-Nazi organizations has filed a federal lawsuit claiming he and his girlfriend were brutalized during a police search of his Ridgewood apartment in 2011.

Jacques Pluss said officers from the State Police and Ridgewood Police Department dragged him across the floor, threw him into a pile of ice and snow and burned him with a cigarette.

The suit also says Jessica Stephens, who is now married to Pluss, suffered injuries to her wrists and shoulders while police tied and handcuffed her. The two are seeking unspecified damages.

The allegations stem from a warrant police served at Pluss’ Heights Road apartment in January 2011, after police learned that he made several threats over the Internet against Anti-Defamation League Director Abraham Foxman. Pluss was later charged with bias intimidation and harassment.

https://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2013/02/former_fairleigh_dickinson_neo-nazi_professor_files_brutality_suit_against_state_police.html

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Readers say It’s truly a perfect storm. We have a mayor whose political ambition exceeds any sense of responsibility to his constituents

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Mayor Paul Aronsohn

Readers say It’s truly a perfect storm. We have a mayor whose political ambition exceeds any sense of responsibility to his constituents

It’s truly a perfect storm. We have a mayor whose political ambition exceeds any sense of responsibility to his constituents, a deputy mayor with his own personal agenda and a naive third wheel that will vote for whatever the other 2 tell her to. Please, Bernie hold your ground and make a stink whenever something smells.

Might does not make right. Through a fluke in local electoral politics, raw power is being exercised now. We shouldn’t be surprised that the result is not what the voters and taxpayers of Ridgewood would wish to see. I hope Councilwoman Walsh hangs tough and calls a spade a spade,

ON THE RECORD, whenever the majority on the council is trying to pull a fast one. The duties of office must feel surprisingly burdensome, particularly when one is obliged to assume the role of exorcist as Ms. Hauck’s head slowly spins around, Mayor Aronsohn begins to float out of his seat, and Mr. Pucciarelli starts uttering heinous epithets in a low, menacing voice.


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Readers Debate Urbanization and Multi Family Developments

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Readers Debate Urbanization and Multi Family Developments

“How much longer will it take to get through town?!? How much more air pollution will come from all the extra cars idling at lights waiting to make turns? How much more in taxes will everyone have to pay for these developments for all the extra services required? How many more pounds of trash will each of these housing developments generate?”

“The apartments will certainly generate more in taxes than they require in services. Is quite comical to see all of these new residents complain about ‘extra cars’ when they are driving their monster SUVs around, blocking the roads daily in front of Ridge and Willard, while IDLING their motors. Its ok for you newbies to soak the empty nester’s tax money for your astronomical school budgets, but god forbid a multi-generation businessman decides to improve his property. You people are nothing but a bunch of hypocritical limousine liberals.”

“I think Ridgewood is already overbuilt. We should go back to the good old days when Ridgewood was a classy , gentele hamlet. Accordingly, I propose that every structure built in town since 1900 should be razed to the ground. We would have far less congestion, far fewer students in the school system, no more bloated bureaucracy in Village Hall and things would be just picture perfect again.”

“I have a question for anyone who can answer it. If these housing units are built as proposed how many will be Mt. Laurel housing? ( low income ) The village bought the farm on hillcrest to prevent development there because of low income requirements, the cost of paying another municipality to have your low income housing has skyrocketed. Is this another cost the tax payer is going to get strapped with? Is there anything in the developers proposal that deals with this.”


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Wyckoff-based Sandy charity accused of misusing donations

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Wyckoff-based Sandy charity accused of misusing donations
Thursday, February 21, 2013    Last updated: Thursday February 21, 2013, 7:28 PM
BY  ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER
The Record

State officials moved on Thursday to halt the operation of a purported charity based in Wyckoff that claimed to benefit victims of superstorm Sandy, saying the people running it misused donations and lied about their charitable status.

The state Division of Consumer Affairs filed a lawsuit in superior court in Hackensack, alleging that the charity, the Hurricane Sandy Relief Foundation, collected $631,000 in donations but has given out only a small fraction of that sum to aid Sandy victims.

Instead, the two people who operate it transferred some of the money to their own bank accounts and used it to pay personal expenses, including heating oil for their home, State Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said in a statement. They also used some of the money to pay their credit card bills, to purchase items from the online Apple Store and to buy dinner at a Spanish restaurant in Newark, Chiesa said.

The charity’s operators, John Sandberg and Christina Terraccino, who live together in Sparta, allegedly misled potential donors to believe their organization is related to a legitimate charity with a similar name — the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, whose board chairwoman is Governor Chistie’s wife, Mary Pat. The defendants also falsely claimed their organization was a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity, Chiesa said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/crime_courts/State_moves_to_shut_down_Wyckoff-based_operation_that_presented_itself_as_Sandy_charity.html

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Desperate Postal Service tries to find its “cool” factor

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Desperate Postal Service tries to find its “cool” factor
By Elvina Nawaguna

WASHINGTON | Wed Feb 20, 2013 5:03pm EST

(Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service, desperate and almost broke, is looking to the wallets of younger Americans for some relief.

The federal government’s mail transport and delivery agency this week said it will roll out a line of apparel and accessories it plans to sell in department and specialty stores.

The “Rain Heat & Snow” brand of clothing, named after the Postal Service’s motto trumpeting its carriers’ determination to overcome whatever Mother Nature can throw at them, would put USPS in the “cutting edge of functional fashion,” it said.

“The idea is to blend in with the younger audiences as well as the more educated consumer,” said Roy Betts, a spokesman for the Postal Service.

The fashion line is not the cash-strapped Postal Service’s first attempt to woo younger shoppers. In 2011, the agency waived a rule that required people of note featured on stamps to be dead at least five years.

https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/us-usa-postal-youth-idUSBRE91J1BA20130220

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Village Council Special Public Meeting on Budget

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file Photo Boyd Loving

Village Council Special Public Meeting on Budget – Monday, February 25

MEETING NOTICE

VILLAGE COUNCIL

Report of the Finance Advisory Committee (TIGER TEAM) https://mods.ridgewoodnj.net/pdf/manager/2013FinancialAdvisoryReportFINAL.pdf …

Pursuant to the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act,

Chapter 231, P.L. 1975, notice is hereby given that the Village

Council will hold a Special Public Meeting on Monday, February 25, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. in the Court Room (not the Caucus Room, as previously noticed) of the Ridgewood Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ.

The purpose of this Special Public Meeting is to discuss and review the 2013 Annual Budget with various Department Directors.

Formal action may be taken by the Village Council at this Special Public Meeting.

All public meetings of the Ridgewood Village Council (Public Work Sessions, Public Meetings, and Special Public Meetings) are always open to members of the general public.

 

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Planning Board Public Meeting – February 28, 2013 in Ridgewood Public Library

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Time running out for the Village ?

Planning Board Public Meeting – February 28, 2013 in Ridgewood Public Library

PLANNING BOARD

AMENDMENT TO MEETING SCHEDULE

Work Session & Public Meeting: Thursday, February 28, 2013

In accordance with the provisions of the “Open Public Meetings Act,” please be advised that the Planning Board has scheduled a special public meeting and work session for THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013, in the RIDGEWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY AUDITORIUM, 125 NORTH MAPLE AVENUE, RIDGEWOOD, NJ beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The Board may take official action during this Work and Public Meeting at which time the Board will have continued discussion regarding multi-family housing and mixed-use developments in and near the CBD.

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.

Seeking Residents to Volunteer to Serve on the Planning Board – Deadline February 20

The Village Council is also  looking for residents who are interested in volunteering to serve on the Planning Board.

The Planning Board reviews site plans and subdivision applications; prepares, adopts, and amends the Master Plan; and makes recommendations to the Village Council regarding amendments to developmental regulations and the official map.

All interested residents should fill out a Citizen Volunteer Leadership form (found on the Village website under “Forms”), and send it along with a cover letter and a biography or resume to:

Heather Mailander

Village Clerk

Village of Ridgewood

131 North Maple Ave.

Ridgewood, NJ 07451

Deadline for submissions is February 20, 2013

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Flooded Paterson library hopes book drive will put city kids on path to literacy

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Flooded Paterson library hopes book drive will put city kids on path to literacy
Wednesday February 20, 2013, 10:24 PM
BY  NICK CLUNN
STAFF WRITER
The Record

Cascading floodwaters from Hurricane Irene claimed one of the most cherished institutions on Paterson’s impoverished Northside, the stately two-story branch library on North Main Street and all of its 10,000 books.

Have new or gently-used books you’re not using? Donate them to Paterson children at these drop-off locations.

The building is wrecked, but as the city’s library system readies a smaller replacement, it is teaming up with The Record and Herald News and the libraries of Ridgewood and Fair Lawn on something more — a book drive that aims to give as many Paterson children as possible a book to take home. For many of them, it will be the first book they have ever owned.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/books_paterson_children_library.html