>Once again I feel the need to comment on this blog because some of the people on here make me so angry!
Enough already with the Clifford Holmes subject! Mr Holmes was in the wrong he went after a Police Officers gun…. Instead of celebrating the Holiday I could have been attending my Brothers Funeral… Yes, Officer Steven Shortway is my younger brother I am not afraid to put my name on this blog.. My brother has an injury that has effected his job and his family’s life! He can not go to work, he is in pain, he can not take his young children to the park or get on the floor and play with them. He will need surgery the day before his son’s first birthday..
So you feel sorry for Mr Holmes invite him over when he gets out of jail.. How about some respect for Police Officers that are willing to put their life on the line instead of beating them up all the time!!!!
Suzanne Shortway
*Suzanne, the Staff of the Ridgewood is 100% behind Officer Steven Shortway
>Police go on ticket blitz before Chris Christie gets sworn in . Looks like desperate for cash Municipalities suspect the worse from Christie budget cuts .Many readers have reported in neighboring towns ,particularly Paramus that the Police are aggressively targeting even parked vehicles for their latest ticket barrage. Many readers are urging other motorist to avoid high ticket towns and take your business other places. The Ridgewood blog has been contacted by several groups that are looking to boycott certain jurisdictions particularly on the Jersey Shore because of the excess use of police power to collect revenues . To this date thankfully no one has reported this in Ridgewood and local merchants who seem to have enough issues these days have one less thing to worry about. The Ridgwood blog suggests at lest for the next week or so that shoppers avoid the malls and try to keep you business local and once again we remind everyone that Policing is about public safety not revenue generation.
Governor-elect Christopher Christie today introduced Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff, a former Republican New York City councilman and finance commissioner, as his nominee to be the next state treasurer. If confirmed by the state senate, Eristoff will take the helm of the Department of Treasury in the face of a budget deficit that is expected to be anywhere from $6 to $10 billion. “The way that we’ve been going for the last decade or more has proven to be a failure,” said Christie while introducing Eristoff at Seton Hall Law School. Eristoff, 46, lives in Manhattan but said that he plans to move his family to New Jersey.
He kept his remarks brief and made a request to reporters to go easy on him for today. “I would ask that before you attempt to stump me with arcane financial questions, that you allow me just a few hours, if not days, to be fully briefed up on the minutiae of New Jersey’s current circumstances,” said Eristoff, a city councilman from 1992 to 1999. He was New York City Commissioner of Finance under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, from 1999 to 2002, and Commissioner of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance under Gov. George Pataki from 2003 to 2006.
Eristoff did say that he was looking to institute a “fundamental restructuring and reform of New Jersey’s state finances” and that the job gave him “an incredible opportunity to serve at the front lines of what I believe will be a nationally significant movement to restructure state government as we know it.”… (Friedman, PolitickerNJ)
MIAMI (AP) – A record 2.8 million households were threatened with foreclosure last year, and that number is expected to rise this year as more unemployed and cash-strapped homeowners fall behind on their mortgages.
The number of households that received a foreclosure-related notice rose 21 percent from 2008, RealtyTrac Inc. reported Thursday. One in 45 homes were sent a filing, which includes default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions.
In December, more than 349,000 households, or one in 366 homes, were hit with a foreclosure-related notice. That represents a 14 percent spike from November and a 15percent jump from December 2008.
Banks repossessed more than 92,000 homes, up 19 percent from November. That increase was likely due to lenders working to clear their books at the end of the year, RealtyTrac said.
>On Sunday, Jan. 17, a special family music event in memory of Ridgewood resident Sylvie Rose Hughes will be held at 11 a.m. at the YM-YWHA of North Jersey, 1 Pike Drive, Wayne. The event, which will feature children’s recording artist Suzi Shelton, will benefit the Tomorrows Children’s Fund.
The concert will run for about 60 minutes and is appropriate for families with children 10 and under. Tickets are priced at $10 for adults and $8 for children (those under age 2 will be admitted free). Sponsors ($100) will receive four reserved seats and a meet-and-greet with Shelton. To buy tickets, call 973-595-0100, ext. 237. For more information, contact Shari Kalter at 973-595-0100, ext. 272.
MSNBC is reporting a change on the frequency of pap smears for 20-year-olds (emphasis added):
20-somethings can go 2 years between Paps
New guidelines say it’s enough to spot slow-growing cervical cancer
The Associated Press updated 6:23 a.m. CT, Fri., Nov . 20, 2009
WASHINGTON – Most women in their 20s can have a Pap smear every two years instead of annually, say new guidelines that conclude that’s enough to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.
The change by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists comes amid a completely separate debate over when regular mammograms to detect breast cancer should begin. The timing of the Pap guidelines is coincidence, said ACOG, which began reviewing its recommendations in late 2007 and published the update Friday in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
The guidelines also say:
– Routine Paps should start at age 21. Previously, ACOG had urged a first Pap either within three years of first sexual intercourse or at age 21. Women 30 and older should wait three years between Paps once they’ve had three consecutive clear tests. Other national guidelines have long recommended the three-year interval; ACOG had previously backed a two- to three-year wait.
– Women 30 and older should wait three years between Paps once they’ve had three consecutive clear tests. Other national guidelines have long recommended the three-year interval; ACOG had previously backed a two- to three-year wait.
– Women with HIV, other immune-weakening conditions or previous cervical abnormalities may need more frequent screening.
Paps can spot pre-cancerous changes in the cervix in time to prevent invasive cancer, and widespread use has halved cervical cancer rates in the U.S. in recent decades. About 11,270 new cases will be diagnosed this year, and about 4,070 women will die from it, according to American Cancer Society estimates. Half of women diagnosed with cervical cancer have never had a Pap, and another 10 percent haven’t had one in five years. … As someone who personally had a “bad” pap smear in her early 20’s and was fortunate enough to get treatment immediately, I worry about the adoption of this decision possibly leading to more incidences of cervical cancer that could have been prevented. Is this another example of health care rationing coming our way, should ObamaCare get shoved down our throats? Less quality health care for more money? Posted by KMacGinn at 7:28 AM Labels: health care, ObamaCare
Gov.-elect Chris Christie says after meeting with Treasury officials the state’s projected $8 billion budget deficit could be the low end of the range. He said it was too soon to say where the budget will be cut except that to repeat “everything is on the table.” Christie said finances are like they are not only because of the national economy but also due to eight years of Democrats in charge. He singled out former Gov. Jim McGreevey, saying his budget handling was “obscene”.
Christie also said the state’s rules and regulations governing business are driving companies out of New Jersey and that means a loss of jobs. Here’s an example of what he’s talking about: Assembly Democrat leader Bonnie Watson Coleman is proposing a six-bill package dealing with former prison inmates. One of the laws she wants would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of a criminal record.
I have known people who served their time and went on to lead successful lives. I’ve also interviewed cons who were headed back to the Big House, unable or unwilling to change their ways. Employers should be able to decide for themselves who to hire without the State of New Jersey interfering.
Coleman has been an activist for prisoner rights. Her two sons were sentenced to prison for armed robbery. But her activism has done nothing to clean up the prison system that is a disgrace in New Jersey despite reports that prisoners run their illicit businesses from the inside with the help of cell phones. That is something the state could change were Watson Coleman really into prison reform, thinking more of what’s best for the state than her own personal agenda.
Christie needs to clean house in the Corrections Department. Bring in someone with national experience running prisons to head ours and let him put a competent staff in place. He needn’t bother asking Watson Coleman’s advice.
>Downtown for the Holidays Tree Lighting Celebration, Friday, December 4th No Parking on the street after 4pm…. Streets closed after 5:30pm…. Bus route will be Maple to Franklin to Chestnut across E. Ridgewood Ave. to Prospect and down Spring Ave or vies/versa. FREE PARKING…at all meters YM-YW Oak Street offering parking in there lot after 5:30pm Coldwell Banker – 44 Franklin Ave. – 5:00-8:00pm. Offering pictures with Santa *Ben & Jerry’s – 104 Franklin Ave. – 7:00-10:00pm. Bring your camera; take pictures with Santa, listen to a jazz trio and after the tree lighting have euphoric scoopers. – View Biltmore Tuxedo’s winter wonderland train Village. Kids love to watch. – Backyard Living shows the most beautiful Christmas trees decorated. – Stores will remain open till 9pm. 5:30-6:45pm – ON E. RIDGEWOOD AVENUE…New for 2009/Come early/stay late. -Chestnut St. to Walnut – enjoy seven different (7) musical acts performing holiday songs, along with two stage productions. -Stroll the E. Ridgewood Ave. while shopping and try some hot cider and sweet treats being served free to all by Care One helpers. – Visit old friends and meet new ones while enjoying Ridgewood. 6:50pm-9:00pm Enter Memorial Park at Van Neste Square – – The festivities will now turn toward the stage in the Park o right next to the Holiday tree. – To start the Tree Lighting count down… The Ridgewood Singers will be on stage with Holiday songs Color Guard with Flag Salute Arthur Murray Holiday Dance Porch Light Production From the Top Studio Art of Motion Official Greeting from President of Chamber of Commerce Tom Hillmann will light the Christmas tree Entertainers back on stage for audience participation with Holiday singing Music will continue on the stage and E. Ridgewood Avenue. *Visit the restaurants for dinner, dessert and spirit of the Holiday. For information Chamber website: www.experienceridgewood.com or Call 201-445-2600; visit new Chamber office 27 Chestnut Street, 1st Fl
FREE PARKING IN RIDGEWOOD All Friday’s and Saturday’s in December the Village Council has agreed to provide FREE PARKING* in Ridgewood for ALL Friday’s and Saturday’s in December! Come Shop and Dine in Ridgewood this Holiday Season! * Does NOT include the Park and Ride Lot on Rt. 17)
>Climate sceptics claim leaked emails are evidence of collusion among scientists Hundreds of emails and documents exchanged between world’s leading climate scientists stolen by hackers and leaked online.
Hundreds of private emails and documents allegedly exchanged between some of the world’s leading climate scientists during the past 13 years have been stolen by hackers and leaked online, it emerged today.
The computer files were apparently accessed earlier this week from servers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, a world-renowned centre focused on the study of natural and anthropogenic climate change.
Climate change sceptics who have studied the emails allege they provide “smoking gun” evidence that some of the climatologists colluded in manipulating data to support the widely held view that climate change is real, and is being largely caused by the actions of mankind.
The veracity of the emails has not been confirmed and the scientists involved have declined to comment on the story, which broke on a blog called The Air Vent.
The files, which in total amount to 160MbB of data, were first uploaded on to a Russian server, before being widely mirrored across the internet. The emails were accompanied by the anonymous statement: “We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code and documents. Hopefully it will give some insight into the science and the people behind it.”
A spokesperson for the University of East Anglia said: “We are aware that information from a server used for research information in one area of the university has been made available on public websites. Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm that all this material is genuine. This information has been obtained and published without our permission and we took immediate action to remove the server in question from operation. We are undertaking a thorough internal investigation and have involved the police in this inquiry.”
In one email, dated November 1999, one scientist wrote: “I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature [the science journal] trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie, from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.”
This sentence, in particular, has been leapt upon by sceptics as evidence of manipulating data, but the credibility of the email has not been verified. The scientists who allegedly sent it declined to comment on the email.
“It does look incriminating on the surface, but there are lots of single sentences that taken out of context can appear incriminating,” said Bob Ward, director of policy and communications at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. “You can’t tell what they are talking about. Scientists say ‘trick’ not just to mean deception. They mean it as a clever way of doing something – a short cut can be a trick.”
In another alleged email, one of the scientists apparently refers to the death of a prominent climate change sceptic by saying “in an odd way this is cheering news”.
Ward said that if the emails are correct, they “might highlight behaviour that those individuals might not like to have made public.” But he added, “Let’s separate out [the climate scientists] reacting badly to the personal attacks [from sceptics] to the idea that their work has been carried out in an inappropriate way.”
The revelations did not alter the huge body of evidence from a variety of scientific fields that supports the conclusion that modern climate change is caused largely by human activity, Ward said. The emails refer largely to work on so-called paleoclimate data – reconstructing past climate scenarios using data such as ice cores and tree rings. “Climate change is based on several lines of evidence, not just paleoclimate data,” he said. “At the heart of this is basic physics.”
Ward pointed out that the individuals named in the alleged emails had numerous publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. “It would be very surprising if after all this time, suddenly they were found out doing something as wrong as that.”
Professor Michael Mann, director of Pennsylvania State University’s Earth System Science Centre and a regular contributor to the popular climate science blog Real Climate, features in many of the email exchanges. He said: “I’m not going to comment on the content of illegally obtained emails. However, I will say this: both their theft and, I believe, any reproduction of the emails that were obtained on public websites, etc, constitutes serious criminal activity. I’m hoping the perpetrators and their facilitators will be tracked down and prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows.”
When the Guardian asked Prof Phil Jones at UEA, who features in the correspondence, to verify whether the emails were genuine, he refused to comment.
The alleged emails illustrate the persistent pressure some climatologists have been under from sceptics in recent years. There have been repeated calls, including Freedom of Information requests, for the Climate Research Unit to make public a confidential dataset of land and sea temperature recordings that is “value added” by the unit before being used by the Met Office. The emails show the frustration some climatologists have had at having to operate under such intense, often politically motivated, scrutiny.
Prof Bob Watson, the chief scientific advisor at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said, “Evidence for climate change is irrefutable. The world’s leading scientists overwhelmingly agree what we’re experiencing is not down to natural variation.”
“With this overwhelming scientific body of evidence failing to take action to tackle climate change would be the wrong thing to do – the impacts here in Britain and across the world will worsen and the economic consequences will be catastrophic.”
A spokesman for Greenpeace said: “If you looked through any organisation’s emails from the last 10 years you’d find something that would raise a few eyebrows. Contrary to what the sceptics claim, the Royal Society, the US National Academy of Sciences, Nasa and the world’s leading atmospheric scientists are not the agents of a clandestine global movement against the truth. This stuff might drive some web traffic, but so does David Icke.”
>Hackensack University Medical Center’s board recently adopted policies designed to clean up conflicts of interest amongst its Board members. The new policies are designed to prevent contractors and businesspeople that could potentially do business with the hospital from sitting on the HUMC Board.
A reader asks, “Will Valley Hospital’s Board of Trustees do the same?” Especially when it is realized that the current President of the Valley Hospital Board of Trustees is also the President of Becton, Dickinson & Company; a medical supplies and devices company that could stand to benefit substantially if the “Renewal” goes ahead.
>Agree about the fields. Maybe a solution for the fields is to finance over 10 years, instead of 25, even if it means a slightly higher rate.
Unfortunately the capital needs fund is tougher. The NJEA has to be reigned in so that our annual operating expenses don’t hit the 4% cap every year before we can ask voters to set aside a few $million every year for such a fund. Of course, that assumes voters would allow such a fund…that is a whole different question. The chronic complainers say we should have one. But, I guarantee if you ask them to approve a budget that sets aside money for future (unspecified) use, the same people with criticize the BOE for wanting a “slush fund”.
The NJEA has secured automatic annual increases for teachers, despite virtually no inflation in the economy for years. In fact, the last 2 years have seen DEFLATION. The teachers have enjoyed an unjustified cost of living increase during that time. Maybe we should have a “clawback” policy, like we are demanding on Wall Street.
How about getting the NJEA to agree to an immediate freeze on ALL salaries and benefits for the first 2 years of thenext contract period? Then, after that, permanently agree to a rolling 5-year average CPI calculation over the preceding 5 years to determine each year’s allowable increase. This would make the cost of living increases fairer and more reasonable to taxpayers
I am no expert. But, my guess is that, in the first 2 years, we could take $7-8mm out of our annual budget. Beyond that the budgets would be approximately $2-3mm less per year, on average. If we wanted to, we could elect to keep that money in the budget and set it aside for a capital fund.
>Dear Mayor, This is just a short letter about something that has bothered me ever since I have moved out of NYC and into Ridgewood. Why are leaf blowers, the companies, the personal ones ( I know about all the rules), allowed to destroy any peace I may achieve by living here, when there is NO Organization regarding this bothersome noise matter. I have to say, it really does bother me. I pay, (I’m divorced, 26k) in taxes all year, and the only thing that I would ask for would be some PEACE AND QUIET. I know it sounds silly, but, I mean it. These awful lawn companies need someone to organize their chaos—-big trucks parked wherever they want, noise and dust, and i go outside to play with my five year old, but, HOLD ON, another leaf blowing co is across the street……It seems so simple, and, I honestly wonder if anyone else is bothered by their brashness regarding uncontrolled parking and their NOISE. I am quite literate Sp! 🙂 and have read all the rules, but, oh, low and behold, if I want to spend some time outside on a Sunday, there go all of my Neighbors with their awful selfish noisy leaf blowers. Please Help Me, I need peace in the period of unsteadiness, Ezra Sesto Ferguson, tax payer and Non complainer and member of the Village of Ridgewood for 15 years.
Please respond to this letter, for it is important to me, Ezra.
>By John Reitmeyer/Statehouse Bureau November 18, 2009, 7:38PM
Much of the focus for New Jersey’s local government leaders at their annual conference in Atlantic City this week is on spending money — despite property tax bills that are at an all-time high.
Attendees are greeted inside the convention center by a sea of booths advertising products and services that are being offered by vendors who feed off taxpayer-funded contracts.
New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine speaks as Herbert Stiles, mayor of Elmer, N.J., and president of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, looks on during the league’s annual conference in Atlantic City in this 2006 photo.
And the agenda for the convention, organized every year by the New Jersey League of Municipalities, is filled with workshops that teach local officials different ways to use their budgets for everything from crime prevention and green energy to transportation infrastructure and “emerging video technologies.”
“You see a lot of ways to spend money,” Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said. “What you don’t see is how to regionalize and save money.” About 20,000 people are expected to attend this year’s event, which runs through Friday. Many are billing their communities for meals and lodging, and most are in a public pension system that is teetering toward collapse, one that was the subject of a conference session held on Tuesday.
Other seminars are geared toward better collecting tax money. One is scheduled for Thursday afternoon that will offer ways local officials can fight their residents’ property tax assessment appeals in an effort to maintain their current budgets. Another workshop scheduled for Friday will teach ways to use digital technology to improve tax maps.
The agenda includes a number of workshops focused on budget savings, including several discussions on consolidation and shared services, two themes that were often heard during the recent gubernatorial election, which saw voters side with Republican Chris Christie, the candidate who most aggressively called for tax cuts and reduced corruption. Others seminars talk about ways to find savings through auditing, energy conservation and the use of new technologies.
“I think everyone here is focused on how we’re going to have more efficient government,” said Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-Union). “They’re the ones people are stopping in the grocery stores.” But only a handful of workshops will directly take on local property tax bills that are at an all-time statewide average high of $7,045.
Kean and Sweeney participated in a well-attended legislative forum this afternoon, where state mandates and other state policies were blamed. The lawmakers were challenged by Tenafly Mayor Peter Rustin to do a better job of checking state spending.
“The government can’t be all things to everybody,” he said. But when asked what he would cut, Rustin replied: “My budget isn’t as bad as yours.” Sweeney said there has to be a focus on sharing services and overcoming a tradition of home rule that is celebrated at the conference.
“It’s not always the answer, but a lot of times it is the answer,” said Sweeney, who also serves on the Freeholder Board in Gloucester County. The conference agenda, meanwhile, is offering only a few sessions on ethics and pay-to-play — the practice of financing elections with contributions from regular government contractors — despite recent high-profile corruption busts that resulted in the arrests of several officials.
One of those local representatives in trouble, former Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, was indicted on corruption charges earlier this week. Ingrid Reed, director of Rutgers’ New Jersey project and the chair of the state’s Local Government Ethics Task Force, led a session today she said served as an introduction.
Citizens are demanding more transparency from their local governments when it comes to budgeting, competitive bidding of government work and conflicts of interest, she said.
“I think that’s really what people are concerned about,” Reed said. “It’s not just bribery that they’re dealing with, it’s relationships that are built up over time that are not examined.”
>Are there compliance regulations in state laws governing with regard to cost of living adjustments with the active employeed NJ teachers? How is it the teachers continue to receive yearly increases when there is No increase in the Consumer Price Index for 12 months from Aug.2008 to Aug.2009, which other programs must comply to. Their premium health plans insurance benefits (not HMO’s) are also expected to increase by 28% for 2010.
Both programs, Social Security benefits and NJ Division Pensions and Benefits in compliance,face a freeze on benefits for 2010, there will be no COLA for 2010
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