Author: James

Ridgewood Education Foundation gives fundraising campaign a boost
Thursday October 4, 2012, 4:36 PM
BY  LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

The Ridgewood Education Foundation (REF) has provided a grant of $100,000 to the Ridgewood High School (RHS) Home and School Association (HSA) to help the organization fund its proposed library makeover at the high school.
NJMG FILE PHOTO
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The single grant of unprecedented size for the REF represents a sizeable portion of the $850,000 that the RHS HSA needs for the project, known as the RHS Learning Commons.

The organization is attempting to raise the remaining funds by this December, allotting time for permit approval so construction can begin this June. If the rest of the funding is not secured by December, the project will have to wait until at least June 2014 to commence..

https://www.northjersey.com/news/172716611_Ridgewood_Education_Foundation_gives_fundraising_campaign_a_boost.html

The Sad Passing of Our Friend Frank Cannas

We are sorry to share the news that our friend and fellow artist, Frank Cannas, died yesterday at about 6pm. He had been ill for a while.

Frank’s wake will be tomorrow night (Friday, October, 5th) from 6 to 9pm at the
Heritage Funeral Home
35 Morrissey Drive,
Putnam Valley NY
845 526 3000

Mass is Saturday October 6th at 10am at North American Martyr Church (around corner from Funeral Home) followed by burial at Gates of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne NY.

Flowers are being accepted (local florist Putnam Valley Flowers 845 526 2500)

Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving

Two Summonses Issued In Connection With Crash That Sends Two Victims To The Valley Hospital
October 4,2012
Boyd A. Loving
11:59 PM

Ridgewood NJ, A late Thursday night crash at the intersection of Fairway Road and North Van Dien Avenue in Ridgewood sent the driver and passenger of one vehicle to The Valley Hospital for treatment of non life threatening injuries. Witnesses on the scene reported that the driver of a silver Lexus heading westbound on Fairway Road, ran a stop sign and collided with a green Buick sedan headed northbound on North Van Dien Avenue.

Members of the Ridgewood Volunteer Ambulance Corps transported both occupants of the Buick to The Valley Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Paradoxically, both injured parties are employees of The Valley Hospital and were on their way to work at the time of the accident. The driver of the Lexus refused medical attention; she was issued summonses for careless driving and disregard of a stop sign. Both vehicles were removed from the scene by a flatbed tow truck.

Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving

Pascack Valley Hospital on track for spring reopening

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012
BY KIMBERLY REDMOND
MANAGING EDITOR
PASCACK VALLEY COMMUNITY LIFE

Westwood – For nearly four years, “People First” signs stood on lawns in front of houses and hung in the windows of business supporting the need for reopening the old Pascack Valley Hospital as a full-service facility.

The former hospital, located on Old Hook Road in Westwood, closed its doors in 2007 after filing for bankruptcy, and, according to local advocates, left a gap in adequate medical coverage for the Pascack and Northern valley regions.

Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) and its Texas-based partner LHP Hospital Group received good news earlier this year when State Health Commissioner Mary O’Dowd granted a certificate of need to reopen the former hospital as HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley. HUMC and local supporters patiently waited nearly four years to reopen the hospital due to legal challenges brought forth by rival hospitals.

Chad Melton, who was named new chief executive officer of HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley in July, believes the hospital is definitely upgrading in a way that puts “People First.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/172594651_Hospital_on_track_for_spring_reopening.html

Law & Order ‘s Richard Belzer,October 6th Bookends

Richard Belzer, Saturday, October 6th @ 1:00 pmat Bookends
Actor, author and cast member of Law & Order: SVU
will sign his new book, Dead Wrong: Straight Facts on the Country’s Most Controversial Cover-Ups Book available August 14th.

Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.

Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.

While we try to insure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.

Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726

Senate hopefuls State Senator Joe Kyrillos and Robert “Bob” Menendez to hold first debate tonight

Republican U.S. Senate challenger Joe Kyrillos gets a chance to boost his name recognition in his campaign to unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Menendez when the two candidates hold their first televised debate tonight at Montclair State University.

The one-hour debate, co-sponsored by The Record and Herald News, starts at 8 p.m. on the state’s public television network, NJTV. It also will be streamed online at njtvonline.org

Photo By Boyd Loving ,Senator Menendez swearing in Mayor Paul Aronsohn

Menendez, who is seeking his second term, leads Kyrillos by 12 percentage points, according to an average of recent public opinion polls compiled by the website Real Clear Politics. Nearly every poll, however, has shown a large bloc of voters do not now enough about Kyrillos to have an opinion of him.

Kyrillos is a state senator from Monmouth County who has been in the Legislature for 24 years. A former chairman of the Republican State Committee, he led Mitt Romney’s 2008 campaign in the New Jersey primary, and the Republican presidential nominee came to New Jersey to raise money for Kyrillos this spring.  (Jackson, The Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/172601921_Senate_hopefuls_to_hold_first_debate_tonight.html

Free Checking No More: Thanks, Dodd–Frank!
Kaitlyn EvansSeptember 25, 2012 at 6:23 pm

Free checking accounts, once considered common, are becoming increasingly rare as the enormous costs of new regulations hit banks’ bottom lines.

According to the just released 2012 Checking Survey by Bankrate, Inc., a publisher of financial information, only 39 percent of banks continue to offer free checking accounts, a sharp decline from the 76 percent of banks that offered free checking in 2009—before enactment of the massive Dodd–Frank financial regulation statute.

The Bankrate study, which analyzed about 500 checking accounts, also found that the average minimum balance required to avoid a monthly fee rose 23 percent in the past year, to $723.02 for non-interest-bearing accounts.

The jump in service fees is not surprising, as new regulations cost banks billions of dollars annually. The regulatory culprits include restrictions on overdraft fees and price controls on the fees that banks are allowed to charge retailers to process debit card transactions. The onslaught of hundreds of other Dodd–Frank regulations is also taking a toll. These costs have to be made up somehow.

According to Bankrate, almost every checking fee in the survey has increased, with some rising 25 percent or more. For interest-bearing checking accounts, the average minimum balance necessary to avoid fees has doubled in the past two years to $6,117.80, while the average monthly service fee has risen to $14.75.

Consumer overdraft charges and fees for using out-of-network automated teller machines have also increased. Use of an out-of-network ATM now costs an average of $4.07 per transaction.

Although sold as “consumer-friendly,” the Dodd–Frank statute and other regulations on financial services are actually thinning the wallets of consumers. The loss of free checking is just one more of the many problems of this ill-conceived regulation.

Kaitlyn Evans is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please visit: https://www.heritage.org/about/departments/ylp.cfm

Many Uninformed Viewers in Shock over Presidential debate
October 4,2012
the staff fot eh Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Many viewers who have been inculcated in media talking points leaving them woefully uninformed have never heard the the other side of the argument and nothing made that more obvious than the reaction to the Presidential debate last night .

While economic conservatives heard more details from Mitt Romney on his 5 point action plan to create jobs and were put at ease as Romney drew a stark contrast between his policies of limited government and more personal freedom as opposed to the Presidents big government knows better top down approach

Many were clearly shocked because they had never heard the other side of the story. Most of the main stream media has long since given up on reporting the news and instead become the chief propaganda arm for the big government knows best.

While these “command and control ” policies have proven technologically obsolete and historically an abject failure as seen with the fall of the Soviet Union ,American elites and main stream media has clung to collectivist ideals , embracing them and embellishing them regardless of what the facts are since the early 1960’s . More recently most of the mainstream has been reduced to writing nothing more than press releases for the current administrations failed agenda.

So it came as a shock to many in both the media and the public at large to see Mitt Romney run together a string of coherent arguments against “big government” drawing a stark contrast to the values that made America great and the new collectivist direction to which the President simply had no answer other than to regurgitate stale talking points .

The Village of Ridgewood : the more things change the more things stay the same
October 4,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ , The more things change the more things stay the same. So many promises made during the political campaign , but with the appointment of former Mayor David Pfund municipal court judge many can take comfort in the fact that its still the “same old Ridgewood”.

Over the years you begin to notice some of many recycled faces that seem to appear and reappear at the Village Hall. While David Pfund seemed to have just as good as credentials as any of the other candidates , he was clearly the front runner from the get go with the right Valley and Westside connections . The new judge has barely warmed his seat and already we are told he needs a raise .

Ken Gabbert the Village Manager who’s pay and stewardship of the Village was such a point of contention during the campaign has managed to weather the storm and quite the critics particularly with a job well done on his two year negotiations with NJT over finishing the train station.

The Chamber of Commerce which has for years has looked to the Village Hall to solve their problems has rolled out once again another rendition of additional parking for the Village ,now if only they could convince the tax payers to fund it., …ah progress……..

First Presidential Debate : Huge Win for Mitt Romney last Night
October 4, 2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ ,Mitt Romneys big win last night triggered undecided voters in focus groups to swing sharply toward Mitt Romney; Pollster Frank Luntz: ‘I’ve never seen anything like this’. CBS post-debate poll also confirmed this showing a very big win for Romney.

Durring the debate , pollster Frank Luntz assembled a focus group consisting of undecided Colorado voters. By the end of the debate, the group had moved dramatically toward GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

According to Luntz at least half a dozen focus group members who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 now say they will vote for Romney. Virtually everyone in the group said that Romney won the debate and exceeded their expectations. A CBS News post-debate poll confirms a big win for Romney.

Even far left commentator Bill Maher ‏said via twitter “Romney looks more confident and energetic – he’s about a minute away from holding Obama down and cutting his hair. This better be ropeadope” ( No ropeadope came)

Here is what others were saying about the debate via twitter:

Governor Scott Walker ‏said ,”1) Focus on jobs. 2) Connection with real voters. 3) Total command of issues. 4) Absolute passion. @MittRomney was superb! ”

Dennis Miller Show ‏,”Game, Set, Matchless…ROMNEY! ”

Andrea Tantaros ‏” This debate should be a case study in butt kicking.”

Red Alert Politics,: Romney smacks Obama: “You’re entitled to your own airplane and your own house, but not to your own facts.”

Ann Coulter ‏,”Yes, costs will go down under ObamaCare — like they did with the Post Office and Amtrak food service. Govt is a cost-saver’s dream! ”

David Limbaugh ‏,”Obama just throws out facts that are wrong, irrelevant, and meaninglfess.”

Dana Loesch ‏”Romney used “Obamacare.” Obama says “I like it.” So not racist now? ”

Council for Citizens Against Government Waste endorses of Rep. Scott Garrett

(Washington, D.C.)  – Today, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Political Action Committee (CCAGW PAC) announced its endorsement of Rep. Scott Garrett, who is seeking re-election to Congress in New Jersey.

“Vigilance on cutting deficits and reducing the debt has never been more essential,” said CCAGW PAC Chairman Tom Schatz.  “Taxpayers need friends in Washington who will defend their interests, not the special interests.  That is why the CCAGW PAC is supporting Rep. Garrett, who is a bona fide fiscal conservative committed to reducing the size of government by working to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Rep. Garrett has been a principled advocate for lower taxes and smaller government and was designated a “Taxpayer Hero” in CCAGW’s 2011 Congressional Ratings for his score of 95 percent.  “The CCAGW Congressional Ratings certify that he will continue to strive to control spending, fight for lower taxes, and eradicate wasteful programs,” declared Schatz.

Rep. Garrett is an invaluable ally for taxpayers and for anyone who abhors wasteful, bloated government,” added Schatz.  “He is a staunch advocate for free enterprise and limited, efficient government, as evidenced by his votes to end misguided programs like $1.2 billion for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine and to cut $250 million from the Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program.

The CCAGW PAC also urges New Jersey voters to closely examine the records of all incumbents because some have received abysmal vote ratings.  Rep. Rush Holt (D), for example, received a score of 12 percent in the CCAGW 2011 Congressional Ratings and has a lifetime rating of 12 percent, earning the rank of “Hostile to Taxpayers.”  Rep. Albio Sires (D) has been even worse; he scored 9 percent in 2011 and has a lifetime rating of 2 percent.  Reps. Holt’s and Sires’s ratings demonstrate continued support for higher taxes and profligate spending, which have placed the country on a path to fiscal ruin.

“In the current political and fiscal climate, Congress has engaged in an historically unprecedented level of spending, and is supporting actions that will mortgage our children’s futures.  On November 6, 2012, voters in Illinois should support Rep. Walsh, and other candidates like him, so that he can fight for fiscally conservative principles that will be vital to taxpayers in the 113th Congress.  We also urge voters to oppose Reps. Holt and Sires, who have been antagonistic to the interests of taxpayers throughout their tenures in Washington,” concluded Schatz.