BY HERB JACKSON
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT |
THE RECORD
U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett said Wednesday that his position on gay candidates running for Congress is being distorted by his political opponents, and that the media are letting it happen.
In an interview in his Washington office, Garrett said he was not, as some critics have said, opposed to gay people seeking office. That is “everyone’s right,” he said.
BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
The FBI is offering a $5,000 reward for information about a man they have dubbed the “Count Down Bandit,” who has allegedly robbed seven banks in North Jersey since July.
In most of the robberies, the man approached the teller and demanded money, the FBI said in a statement. The man then counted from 15 or 10 to one and fled with the cash.
BY MARY DIDUCH AND LINDY WASHBURN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Both Teaneck and Englewood are challenging the tax-exempt status of their local hospitals, joining a growing list of municipalities who want non-profit hospitals to pay property taxes.
The councils of the two municipalities voted to file tax appeals against Englewood Hospital and Medical Center and Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck. Of 62 non-profit hospitals in the state, 17 others now face similar lawsuits.
By Christopher Ingraham March 18
Hell might actually be other people — at least if you’re really smart.
That’s the implication of fascinating new research published last month in the British Journal of Psychology. Evolutionary psychologists Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics and Norman Li of Singapore Management University dig in to the question of what makes a life well-lived. While traditionally the domain of priests, philosophers and novelists, in recent years survey researchers, economists, biologists and scientists have been tackling that question.
Kanazawa and Li theorize that the hunter-gatherer lifestyles of our ancient ancestors form the foundation for what make us happy now. “Situations and circumstances that would have increased our ancestors’ life satisfaction in the ancestral environment may still increase our life satisfaction today,” they write.
They use what they call “the savanna theory of happiness” to explain two main findings from an analysis of a large national survey (15,000 respondents) of adults aged 18 to 28.
First, they find that people who live in more densely populated areas tend to report less satisfaction with their life overall. “The higher the population density of the immediate environment, the less happy” the survey respondents said they were. Second, they find that the more social interactions with close friends a person has, the greater their self-reported happiness.
BY MARY DIDUCH AND LINDY WASHBURN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Teaneck’s township council voted Tuesday to file suit against Holy Name Medical Center’s exemption from local property taxes, as municipal governments around the state take aim at non-profit hospitals for potential tax revenues.
The council voted, 5-1, to authorize the action after two Holy Name executives spoke against the resolution.
“We can avoid all those legal expenses,” said Ryan Kennedy, the hospital’s chief financial officer, appealing to the council to work with the hospital to find a solution.
“It’s a silly route to go,” Michael Maron, the hospital’s president and CEO, said before the meeting. “We’ve had a reasonable relationship over the course of time. We should sit down and talk.” Once a tax appeal is filed, both sides have to hire lawyers and litigation takes years.
The town should wait and negotiate with the hospital, he said. “Worst case scenario, another year goes by,” he said. “Is that the end of the world?”
“We support the town, and we’re willing to consider supporting the town even more,” he said.
Emboldened by a recent state tax court decision, the council took action to “preserve its rights” to potential tax revenues as an Apr. 1 deadline for 2016 tax appeals looms.
Under the current tax rate, if Holy Name’s entire 20-acre property were to be taxed, the liability would be about $2 million. But Maron said the hospital already pays taxes on various smaller properties it owns. It provides free flu vaccines to borough employees, supplies to the ambulance corps, and funds to support special township initiatives, he said.
BY NICHOLAS PUGLIESE AND ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
As she waited for a flight out of Brussels, Wyckoff native Ashley Bruggemann saw people suddenly rushing toward her on Tuesday morning, and thought they were trying to catch a plane.
“Then a whole lot of people started running,” Bruggemann, 25, said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. “They were panicked. A few people were crying.”
Another New Jersey native live-tweeted his evacuation from a Brussels subway train and wrote that there was smoke in the tunnel as he and others walked in darkness to the nearest safe station, with a child heard crying on a video he posted.
New Jersey residents with Belgian roots received text messages from relatives letting them know they were safe, and expressed shock at the terrorist attacks in Brussels at the airport and a train station that left at least 34 people dead and scores injured.
“People cannot get their minds around something like this,” said Wim Vanraes, a Hillsborough resident who grew up in Belgium and was an editor of a Belgian-American newspaper based in Michigan. He said some people in his native country have been expecting a terrorist attack for “a long time” but that others have been “in denial.”
Valerie Blouin-Hunter of Oakland, whose mother came from Belgium, said she received text messages from aunts and cousins Tuesday morning letting her know they were safe. She said she thought about the possibility of a terrorist attack in her mother’s homeland after the Paris attacks last year but put it out of her mind. After Tuesday, she said, “I am very concerned for my family.”
https://www.northjersey.com/news/new-jerseyans-on-the-scene-in-brussels-recount-panic-1.1531558
from Facebook, Left to Right: Mayor Douglas J. Christie, Township Committeeman Kevin J. Rooney, Officer Christopher, Township Committeemen Brian D. Scanlan, Haakon Jepsen, Rudy Boonstra and Benjamin C. Fox, Chief of Police.
BY STEFANIE DAZIO, STEVE JANOSKI AND JIM NORMAN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
The Wyckoff police chief agreed to temporarily step aside Tuesday night while the state Attorney General’s Office conducts an investigation into a complaint that an email he wrote to his officers in 2014 condones racial profiling.
The email, written by Chief Benjamin C. Fox, was anonymously sent to the New Jersey branch of the American Civil Liberties Union last week, according to a statement from the organization.
The ACLU said that, if the email was found to be genuine, authorities should “fire Fox, retrain officers, and conduct audits for both racially biased policing and use of force.”
Document: Copy of the email provided by the ACLU (PDF)
Wyckoff officials were made aware of the email on Tuesday, a township press release said, and engaged in a “series of discussions” on the matter with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.
The Township Committee convened an emergency meeting Tuesday night to address it.
Fox, who was present at the meeting, asked to go on immediate administrative leave while the investigation was pending, the release said, because he felt it was in the “best interest of the department since it would avoid unnecessary distractions.” It would also give Fox the opportunity to meet with representatives from the Prosecutor’s Office and “explain the contents of his email and demonstrate that neither he nor our police department has ever condoned or engaged in profiling.”
The committee unanimously agreed to the request.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/wyckoff-police-chief-to-step-aside-in-racial-inquiry-1.1531382
BY TODD SOUTH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
HACKENSACK — The Bergen County Republican Organization on Monday night endorsed its candidates — including Donald Trump for president — for June 7 party primary nominations to the fall general elections.
More than 500 county Republican Organization committee members and elected officials cast their ballots at the party’s headquarters here.
Trump led with 332 votes, followed by John Kasich with 116 and Ted Cruz with 77.
U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, won the party organization’s nod for his re-election nomination campaign with 273 votes. Garrett faced challenger Michael J. Cino, who drew 44 votes. Cino said he would continue to run against Garrett in the primary.
At the county level six positions are up for election in November: sheriff, surrogate, clerk and three freeholder seats.
The county GOP has lost county offices in recent years. Democrats hold all county offices and five of seven freeholder seats. The Republicans have only one incumbent running in this year’s election, Freeholder Maura DeNicola.
Bergen County GOP Chairman Bob Yudin said he hoped that those candidates who won party organizational support Monday would not face continued challenges leading up to the June primary so that the party could focus on fundraising and defeating the Democrats in the November election.
Though the party won elections for freeholder, county executive and sheriff during his tenure, Yudin readily admitted that fighting the Democrats is an uphill battle.
photo Garrett working to shut down corrupt Import Export bank
march 22,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce which favors corporate and Wall Street bailouts, Amnesty for illegals , the crony driven Export-Import Bank to name a few snubs Rep. Scott Garrett in favor of over favor driven politicians . Special interests have clearly put a target on Garrets back. The snub implies Garrett is the tax payers only friend in New Jersey
Which N.J. Republican was snubbed by Chamber of Commerce?
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce feted five of the six New Jersey House Republicans for supporting the business lobby’s positions on issues such as funding transportation, eliminating the tax on multimillion-dollar estates, and renewing the Export-Import Bank. The Auditor, NJ.com Read more
The Record: Transparency first
STATE SEN. Paul Sarlo is concerned about what he calls “nosy-bodies.” We are more concerned about transparency. And a bill Sarlo introduced early this year would greatly limit the public’s access to police videotapes. This is a misguided idea.
Sen. Paul Sarlo is concerned about what he calls “nosy-bodies.” We are more concerned about transparency. And a bill Sarlo introduced early this year would greatly limit the public’s access to police videotapes. This is a misguided idea. The Record Read more
The Rules are for Everyone else : Politicians Seek to Carry Guns while residents are denied
Bergen Senator Seeks Gun Carry Permits for Judges and Legislators
Veteran Senator Gerald Cardinale (R-39) wants New Jersey to allow legislators, as well as judges at the superior and municipal court levels, to obtain permits to carry handguns provided they complete at least eight hours of firearm safety training. Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ Read more
BY PAUL BERGER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Some Bergen County politicians reacted with surprise earlier this month when the Federal Aviation Administration announced it was moving a busy flight path to Teterboro Airport, apparently at the last minute.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/panel-told-bergen-towns-of-flight-path-changes-last-year-1.1531123
Voters in dark on key details of casino expansion referendum
When New Jerseyans decide in November whether to approve two new casinos in the northern part of the state, they’ll likely have only a vague notion of what they’re voting on. Wayne Parry, Associated Press Read more
BY SCOTT FALLON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
A toxic chemical that recently raised concerns throughout the region when it was found near the Wanaque Reservoir has been detected in several smaller drinking water supplies that serve more than a dozen North Jersey towns.
Test results compiled by the federal government in the past three years show 1,4-dioxane, a probable carcinogen, in Fair Lawn, Garfield, Pompton Lakes and several other towns that rely heavily on wells. It has also been found in almost 80 other water systems in every part of the state, from Shore towns to Highlands communities.
Environmental officials say there is no imminent health threat from the levels of 1,4-dioxane that were detected, but there is still no clear consensus on how much of the chemical can be in drinking water before it makes anyone ill. The federal government has yet to develop a national standard for the chemical in water supplies. New Jersey does not yet have one. And the standards established in other states vary wildly.
Those whose drinking water has 1,4-dioxane are left with little information or guidance about whether it is dangerous.
“We need direction based on good science,” said Ken Garrison, the borough engineer for Fair Lawn, which supplies water to 32,000 residents. “It’s difficult for a water supplier to do anything without getting guidance from the regulators.”
The findings in North Jersey range from a barely traceable amount in Park Ridge to a sample almost 30 times greater taken from some of Fair Lawn’s wells that are in a Superfund site.
While the amounts of 1,4-dioxane found in North Jersey are incredibly small — the highest recording of 3.24 micrograms per liter in Fair Lawn is equivalent to three drops of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool — they are important to regulators in setting baselines that determine how much exposure creates a health threat.
Unlike arsenic, PCBs and other dangerous substances that scientists have studied for decades, 1,4-dioxane belongs to a group of chemicals the Environmental Protection Agency classifies as an “unregulated contaminant” because the agency doesn’t have enough data to determine all of its health implications and its prevalence in water supplies.
The chemical, 1,4-dioxane, is a clear, man-made substance used in paint strippers, degreasers and varnishes. It is also created unintentionally when mixing certain chemicals. It blends with water very easily and is difficult to remove.
Drinking 1,4-dixoane can cause liver and kidney damage and is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” by the U.S. Department of Health. In 2010, the EPA determined that 1,4-dioxane is more likely to cause cancer than previously thought: Cancer could occur in one person out of 1 million exposed to 0.35 milligrams per liter of the chemical over a lifetime.
The chemical made news recently after it was discovered in groundwater at the Ringwood Superfund site in the Ramapo Mountains, where Ford Motor Co. dumped tons of paint sludge almost 50 years ago. Although that groundwater is in the watershed that supplies the Wanaque Reservoir, 1,4-dioxane has not been detected in the reservoir, which serves up to 3 million people.
But it has been found in water systems that serve Fair Lawn, Garfield, Pompton Lakes, Oakland, Ramsey, Park Ridge, Elmwood Park, Ridgewood, Wallington, Hawthorne, Mahwah and other towns that receive most of their water from wells, according to an analysis of EPA data by The Record.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
434 AM EDT SUN MAR 20 2016
THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHERN
CONNECTICUT…NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHEAST NEW YORK.
.DAY ONE…TODAY AND TONIGHT.
A LIGHT SNOWFALL EVENT IS FORECAST TONIGHT WITH 1 TO 3 INCHES
OF ACCUMULATION. THIS WILL RESULT IN SLIPPERY ROAD CONDITIONS.
