Author: James

State program to aid would-be exporters

New Jersey small businesses with an eye to export will soon be able to seek state grant money to develop foreign markets.

In a step aimed at giving promising smaller businesses some international reach, the state’s new International Business Development and Protocol will administer a $204,000 grant from the federal Small Business Administration to advise, train and even fund companies’ first steps beyond U.S. borders.

Michael Van Wagner, the executive director of the state’s Business Action Center, which includes the international development arm, said New Jersey would use the federal money to allow a variety of small companies everything from small trips to international trade shows – a bet he says can pay off for the state in terms of job creation and economic productivity. (Fletcher, The Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/171461711_State_program_to_aid_would-be_exporters.html

Low-wage work force grows 30% as the number of jobs shrinks
BY FRANCINE KNOWLES
September 26, 2012 1:04AM

Low-wage workers in Chicago are better educated, older and rely more on that income these days to meet basic needs than 10 years ago.

And there are substantially more of them.

That’s according to a new report released by Chicago-based Women Employed and Action Now Institute that shows nearly one in six low-wage workers here last year held a college degree.

The report, authored by Marc Doussard, assistant professor in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, defines low-wage workers as those making $12 an hour or less.

The report revealed the share of payroll employees ages 18 to 64 working in low-wage jobs rose from 23.8 percent in 2001 to 31.2 percent last year. That’s a more than a 30 percent rise in the proportion of such workers.

Meanwhile the share of households with a low-wage earner that got all income from low-wage earnings rose from 45.7 percent to 56.7 percent. That’s evidence more people are relying more on those dollars to meet basic needs rather than for disposable income.

https://www.suntimes.com/15379932-761/low-wage-work-force-grows-30-as-the-number-of-jobs-shrinks.html

Gold Star Mothers Being Honored on Sep 30, 2012

Residents from Ridgewood and nearby area are organizing the honoring of Gold Star Mothers on September 30, 2012 from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 30th at Van Neste Park.

The Gold Star Mothers Day is a national event to honor mothers who have lost a son or daughter in the service of our country. Every year, the last Sunday in September our nation honors Gold Star Mothers and families. The American Legion Post 53 and Ridgewood’s Blue Star Families are spearheading the effort to bringing awareness to our community and commemorating the sacrifices these mothers and their families have made. In Ridgewood, we will light luminaries from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 30th at Van Neste Park. Residents will also light luminaries at the end of their driveways. The goal is to see thousands of luminaries lit throughout Ridgewood to honor Gold Star Mothers on September 30th!

The effort has seen a lot of enthusiasm from local groups such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Order of Elks, VFW and many businesses.  To find out how you can be part of this event, please contact Maria Bombace or Bob Paoli.

Bob Paoli                                                                    Maria Bombace

American Legion Post 53                                           Blue Star Mother

[email protected]                                                [email protected]

201-445-1738                                                              201-444-0892

Tentative June date set for Formula One race on streets of Weehawken, West New York New York
Friday, September 28, 2012

BY  JOHN BRENNAN
STAFF WRITER
The Record

Formula One auto racing’s governing body included a new race along the Hudson County waterfront on its official 2013 calendar announced Friday – but with an asterisk.

Still, Grand Prix of America at Port Imperial race executives celebrated the June 16 listing of their event among the 20 such races scheduled worldwide in 19 countries on five continents in the coming year.

The fate of the race — to be held on the streets of Weehawken and West New York just steps from the Hudson River — has been questioned because of cautionary comments by F1 President Bernie Ecclestone on several occasions this year.

The North Jersey race is the only one listed Friday denoted as “TBC” (to be confirmed), and the official Formula One website describes the race as “provisional.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/Grand_Prix_announces_planned_Formula_One_race_in_Weehawken_and_NY.html

Chris Economaki, Voice and Chronicler of Motorsport, Dead at 91
By David Green, Correspondent | Published Sep 28, 2012

Racing journalist and broadcaster Chris Economaki is dead at age 91.
Economaki covered racing of all sorts in a career that began in the 1930s.
He started hawking newspapers and advanced to become editor and publisher of National Speed Sport News.

RIDGEWOOD, New Jersey — Chris Economaki, the dean of American motorsports broadcasters and the unparalleled voice and chronicler of auto racing since the 1930s, died this morning. He was 91.

Economaki was an old-school reporter and writer who made the transition to television via his duties as announcer at various racetracks around the country. When ABC’s Wide World of Sports began carrying edited, tape-delayed coverage of auto racing in the 1960s, Economaki was the pit reporter. He moved to CBS when it began to produce extensive live coverage of NASCAR in 1979 and later to ESPN, announcing everything from stock cars to Formula 1, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and off-the-beaten-path events such as the East African Safari and Bathurst 1000.

His voice was distinctive and his direct, old-time newspaper style of interviewing made for distinctively flavored broadcast coverage.

https://www.insideline.com/car-news/chris-economaki-voice-and-chronicler-of-motorsport-dead-at-91.html

CEOs now see gloomy third quarter, drop growth expectations

Citing uncertainty over the impending “fiscal cliff” and lower demand overseas, an association of CEOs from top companies on Wednesday dropped its growth expectations for the third quarter to the lowest level since the middle of the Great Recession.

The Business Roundtable lowered projections for sales, capital spending and hiring in its latest CEO Economic Outlook Survey to the lowest level since 2009.

The fiscal cliff — an end-of-the-year deadline for a long-term budget deal between Republican and Democratic lawmakers — has businesses putting off hiring and spending decisions, because they don’t know what to expect in the coming months and years, said Jim McNerney, the CEO of Boeing who also heads the Business Roundtable.

“This complete Mexican standoff that we have now is not getting us anywhere,” he told reporters

Read more: CEOs now see gloomy third quarter, drop growth expectations – Washington Times https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/26/ceos-now-see-gloomy-third-quarter-drop-growth-expe/#ixzz27c51MnVP
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

photo by Boyd Loving

Ridgewood Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Jeremy Kleiman has public outreach plans

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2012
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Ridgewood residents have learned over the past year that preparing for the worst-case scenario might be the best defense against storms and other emergency situations.

The Ridgewood Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has stressed this and other safety awareness tips, as the village commemorates National Emergency Preparedness Month now through the end of the month. This year marks the first time that Ridgewood has formally recognized September as emergency preparedness month, which was started in 2004 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“Public information before, during and after an event is absolutely critical,” said Mayor Paul Aronsohn, emphasizing government’s role in keeping the public aware and ready.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/171648311_Ridgewood_OEM_has_public_outreach_plans.html

Credit Parsippany Hills High School Website

N.J. High School Students Planning Cafeteria Boycott To Protest Obama Guidelines
Parsippany Hills Students Ask, Why Should We Pay For The Obese’s Problems?
September 27, 2012 11:58 PM

PARSIPPANY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — Students at Parsippany Hills High School held a strategy session on Thursday to discuss a potential lunch strike, on Friday, over what they have called inadequately sized meals.

“This year you’re eating lunch and you’re like ‘Did I even eat?’ You’re not even full,” senior Brandon Faris told CBS 2′s Derricke Dennis.

New federal guidelines stemming from first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign have resulted in limits on protein and bread, and an increase in vegetables and fruits. The changes have also come at an increased cost.

All of it has also sparked a student campaign that has included online parody videos of students falling sleep in class and performing sluggishly in sports.

They hope to further their efforts with a cafeteria boycott that will cost the school money, and students like Faris said they want to know why they are paying the price for other people’s problems.

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/09/27/n-j-high-school-students-planning-cafeteria-boycott-to-protest-obama-guidelines

file photo of a beautiful Ridgewood home

Historic homes highlighted during Ridgewood walking tour

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2012, 4:15 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

If the walls of Ridgewood’s historic homes could talk, historian Elliot Dee has a pretty good idea of what they would say.

The George Pease House on West Ridgewood Avenue, built in 1869 in the gothic revival style.
Some might say that Dee, who moved to the village a year and a half ago, is something of an “architecture whisperer.”

From looking at the varying architecture of Ridgewood’s oldest homes, Dee can tell the story of how the village transitioned from a small Dutch settlement to a country retreat, then a primary residence, of some of New York City’s most affluent businesspeople.

He can also tell what the architectural style of some of Ridgewood’s oldest homes says about their owners – including the great nephew of former New York Governor DeWitt Clinton and Milton Lightner, the past president of Singer Sewing Machine Company whose house once hosted his wife’s college peer, former First Lady of the Republic of China Madame Chiang Kai-shek.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/171589631_Historic_homes_highlighted_during_Ridgewood_walking_tour.html

file photo of emergency response

Hospitals Warned by U.S. on Medicare Electronic Billing
By Alex Wayne – Sep 25, 2012 7:38 AM ET

Hospital bills are being audited as the U.S. tries to identify whether new electronic records were used to “game the system” and overcharge the Medicare health program.

Some hospitals may be “cloning” patient records and “upcoding” their bills — charging for higher intensity services than are given — to raise payments from the government, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter yesterday to five trade associations. Hospitals caught misusing the electronic systems may be prosecuted for fraud or lose Medicare payments, the officials said.

Encouraged by as much as $27 billion in incentives in President Barack Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus law, hospitals and doctors’ offices have been converting paper record-keeping systems to computers, an effort the administration said would reduce medical errors and save money. Instead, hospitals may be using the systems to increase their billings for Medicare, the federal program for the elderly and disabled, the U.S. said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-25/hospitals-warned-by-u-s-on-medicare-electronic-billing.html