Rep. Scott Garrett calls new Hudson River train tunnel vital
OCTOBER 23, 2014, 11:35 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014, 11:42 PM BY HERB JACKSON WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT | THE RECORD
Rep. Scott Garrett said Thursday that a new train tunnel should be built under the Hudson River “sooner rather than later” because the potential closing of one or both of the existing tunnels owned by Amtrak “would be a nightmare.”
But Garrett, in a meeting with the editorial board of The Record, said leaders in New Jersey and New York should reach an agreement first on what share of the cost they would bear if they want Washington to become involved.
Bergen County Zoo program shares insights on bears in N.J.
OCTOBER 5, 2014, 3:04 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2014, 7:19 PM BY ANDREW WYRICH STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
PARAMUS — Waving your arms up and down, banging a can of nails or loudly ringing bells are the most effective ways to handle a possible encounter with a bear, a guest speaker from a New Jersey bear education group that teamed up with the Bergen County Zoo to host a “Bear Aware” event said Sunday.
The daylong event was aimed at educating both adults and children about the black bear population in New Jersey — something that has become increasingly important after a string of bear sightings in Bergen County and the death of a Rutgers student in West Milford, organizers said.
Held in the Education and Discovery Center at the Bergen County Zoo, the “Bear Aware” event was planned months in advance of the recent bear-related incidents, but organizers said teaching the public about the characteristics of the animals and what to do when encountered by one is always worthwhile.
“There has been a rise in bear sightings in our area over the last five years,” said Carol Fusco, the education coordinator at Bergen County Zoo and an event organizer. “It used to be that you’d only see bears in a few counties in the state, but now it’s safe to say that every county has had sightings. We feel that education, both for adults and children, is key.”
Stop & Shop files suit against Bergen County over open records
SEPTEMBER 16, 2014, 7:25 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014, 5:32 PM BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
Stop & Shop Supermarket LLC has filed a lawsuit against Bergen County, claiming the county’s failure to turn over relevant public documents in a timely manner hindered the company’s appeal of a plan for a rival ShopRite Supermarket in Wyckoff.
Lawyers for Stop & Shop contend that county officials withheld a county engineer’s report on the project until nearly three years after the company’s original public records request.
Fears grow that Americans fighting with extremists overseas could bring violence back home
Why I thought Bush made up the whole thing to fight wars so Haliburton could get rich ?
AUGUST 29, 2014, 11:23 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014, 11:33 PM BY KEN DILANIAN AND BRADLEY KLAPPER ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The case of Mehdi Nemmouche haunts U.S. intelligence officials.
Nemmouche is a Frenchman who authorities say spent 11 months fighting with the Islamic State group in Syria before returning to Europe to act out his rage. On May 24, prosecutors say, he methodically shot four people at the Jewish Museum in central Brussels. Three died instantly, one afterward. Nemmouche was arrested later, apparently by chance.
For U.S. and European counterterrorism officials, that 90-second spasm of violence is the kind of attack they fear from thousands of Europeans and up to 100 Americans who have gone to fight for extremist armies in Syria and now Iraq.
The Obama administration has offered a wide range of assessments of the threat to U.S. national security posed by the extremists who say they’ve established a caliphate, or Islamic state, in an area straddling eastern Syrian and northern and western Iraq, and whose actions include last week’s beheading of American journalist James Foley. Some officials say the group is more dangerous than al-Qaida. Yet intelligence assessments say it currently couldn’t pull off a complex, 9/11-style attack on the U.S. or Europe.
However, there is broad agreement across intelligence and law enforcement agencies of the immediate threat from radicalized Europeans and Americans who could come home to conduct lone-wolf operations.
Such plots are difficult to detect because they don’t require large conspiracies of people whose emails or phone calls can be intercepted.
Sharyl Attkisson / @SharylAttkisson / August 21, 2014
For the first time, startling details are being made public about the millions of dollars funneled from Middle East charities to Islamic terrorists and their families.
Families of Islamic suicide bombers received a $5,300 payment.
The money was used to reward terrorists and their families after attacks on Israelis and U.S. nationals visiting Israel between 2000 and 2005 during the second intifada or Palestinian uprising.
The evidence was presented today in a landmark case in New York federal court. Three hundred U.S. nationals claim Arab Bank knowingly provided financial services to terrorists and their financiers in violation of the U.S. anti-terrorism law. Arab Bank contends it did not knowingly serve terrorists.
Palestinians shout as they follow an empty coffin for suicide bomber Wafa Idris. Middle East charities are under scrutiny for financially rewarding families for the suicide attacks. (Photo: Abbas Momani/Newscom)
Bank documents reveal an elaborate system for which Amman, Jordan-based Arab Bank served as the center point. Some Israelis refer to the bank as the “Grand Central Station of terrorist financing.”
Millions of dollars were funneled from Middle East charities to Islamic terrorists.
For example, bank documents allegedly show that a dozen Middle Eastern charities with links to the terrorist group Hamas and other radical Islamic groups transferred $32 million to Arab Bank during the second intifada. The money was then allegedly paid out to families of suicide bombers and other Palestinians who engaged in acts of terrorism against Jews.
An additional charity, the Saudi Committee for the Support of the Intifada al Quds, sent nearly $100 million through Arab Bank. The plaintiff’s analysis of bank records indicates $32 million of it ended up being distributed as cash payments to martyrs and their families, including the families of suicide bombers, and the rest was distributed to other Hamas-controlled charities.
According to evidence presented by the plaintiffs today, based on bank documents, families of suicide bombers received a $5,300 payment, or about four times the average annual Palestinian income at the time of $1,600. If a martyr was wounded but not killed, he received $2,655. If a martyr was arrested and jailed, the family received $1,325. The recipients simply showed up at an Arab Bank branch, presented identification, and received the cash.
>>> Arab Bank Accused of Helping Reward Hamas Suicide Bombers in Terrorism Case
Under anti-terrorism law, it’s illegal for banks to do business with designated terrorist entities or with groups that they know or have reason to believe are linked to terrorists or terrorist activity.
That’s where the two sides sharply differ.
Arab Bank’s main offices in the Jordanian capital, Amman. (Photo: Khalil Mazraawi/Newscom)
Arab Bank’s attorney told jurors in opening statements last week that the Saudi Committee was a legitimate humanitarian group that was never a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Arab Bank also claimed that any business it may have conducted with terrorists or terrorist groups was limited in nature and entirely unintentional, due to typos or mistakes in screening.
Under U.S. law, it’s illegal for banks to do business with designated terrorist entities.
In 2005, Arab Bank settled a U.S. Treasury Department investigation into alleged money laundering and terrorist financing by paying a $24 million fine without admitting wrongdoing.
The plaintiffs in the New York trial are seeking monetary damages and financial penalties from Arab Bank.
Reader says , Ferguson the media will only report it when they are forced to.
It serves their purpose to ‘cherry pick’ what to report- that which incites the masses. “Unarmed black teenager shot by white cop”.
The correct headline would be ‘robber shot by police officer during struggle for officers gun’.. after big thug robber tries to beat the shit out of the cop.
Remember ‘poor little trayvon’? The media showed pictures of him when he was TWELVE YEARS OLD. After the fact we finally saw the ACTUAL pictures of the 17 or 18 year old TEENAGE THUG.
Read the local newspapers. When there is a robbery, the local papers describe the robber, and will state that the suspect is Asian, middle eastern, white, or Hispanic. They will NEVER describe a suspect as black. WHen they leave out the race, its quite simple to ‘connect the dots’ and figure out what race it is.
THe media has done a dis-service to blacks by trying to hide their actions and created a racial divide that gets worse every day
Mark Stankewicz of Ridgewood makes the cut for the Bergen Amateur
AUGUST 8, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2014, 1:21 AM BY GREG MATTURA STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
RIVER VALE – Rus Whitney started strong and, somewhat to his surprise, finished even stronger.
Whitney earned medalist at Thursday’s Bergen County Amateur qualifier after shooting a 1-under 69 at Valley Brook Golf Course that featured a 2-under 33 on the back nine.
“I’ve never put together two good nines here,” said Whitney, 32, an Oradell resident and commodities trader, “and I feel like I did it here today.”
Whitney, whose father, Cyrus, is among New Jersey’s top senior amateurs, earned the first of 15 qualifying spots to the Bergen Amateur on Sept. 14 at Rockleigh GC.
A 77 or better made Thursday’s cut on this short, tight course, and the top four finishers are Bergen residents: Paramus’ Jin Jeon was runner-up with 71, and Harrington Park’s John Trainor and Ridgewood’s Mark Stankewicz each shot 72.
During a strong back nine under almost perfect conditions, Whitney birdied both par-3s and almost aced the 136-yard 17th. He hit a “knockdown” pitching wedge that rolled to within 6 inches.
Jeon labeled his 71 an “up-and-down day,” and it featured an eagle on the par-5 fifth hole — at 580 yards the longest on the course. Jeon, 24, a Northeastern graduate with a degree in industrial engineering, holed out from 95 yards with a pitching wedge.
Trainor was in the first threesome that teed off at 7:30 a.m. and drove to his 72 in just 3 hours, 30 minutes. Trainor, who last year made the cut at the Bergen Amateur, secured a return trip with two birdies and only four bogeys.
“It was a great day, a good day to play golf; not much wind,” said Trainor, 54, a police captain in Tenafly and the club champ at Knickerbocker CC. “The wind was not a real factor and I thought the golf course was the best I’ve seen it.”
This marked the first time Stankewicz, 47, attempted to qualify for the Bergen Amateur. Stankewicz, who made the cut at this year’s New Jersey Amateur, had three birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/sports/golf/whitney-leads-pack-at-qualifier-1.1064529#sthash.Q0SvOsD2.dpuf
Ridgewood rat sightings prompt idea for pest control law at building sites
AUGUST 8, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2014, 1:21 AM THE RECORD Print
Excessive bird feeding could have drawn in some of the rats, Ridgewood’s health supervisor suggested.
RIDGEWOOD — A recent rise in rodent sightings has village officials exploring the feasibility of an ordinance that would require a pest control presence at future construction sites.
More than a dozen residents have reported seeing rats since Tuesday morning, when it was reported that rodents were being spotted behind homes on Bennington Terrace and Howard Road.
Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld told Ridgewood’s governing body at its meeting Wednesday evening that rats have also taken up residence in “14 other areas around town,” including North Pleasant Avenue.
One resident living on that street claims to have trapped more than 20 rats since early July, Sonenfeld said.
A resident in another part of the village said he found a dead rat at the bottom of his in-ground pool.
Ridgewood health officials spent the first half of the week inspecting several properties around where rat sightings were reported.
Obama’s FBI to hire firm to rate ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ stories about the agency
Officials mum on need for and use of such info
The FBI is hiring a contractor to grade news stories about the agency as “positive” “neutral” or “negative,” but the agency won’t say why officials need the information or what they plan to do with it.
FBI officials wouldn’t even reveal how they will go about assigning the grades, which were laid out in a recent contract solicitation. The contract tells potential bidders to “use their judgment” in scoring news coverage as part of a new “daily news briefing” service the agency is seeking as part of a contract that could last up to five years.
The move is reminiscent of a similar effort the Obama administration made to grade media coverage of its response to the BP oil spill. A separate defense contract rating reporters’ work was scrapped in 2009.
In a statement of work, the agency says its public affairs office needs a contractor to help monitor “breaking news, editorials, long-form journalism projects and the larger public conversation about law enforcement.”
But the lack of clear public methods and goals raises “troubling questions,” said Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University.
“You would certainly worry this could affect access,” he said. “It might affect the way they’re going to approach your questions, whether they’re going to be extra careful not to make news if you’re on the ‘bad list.’”
Mr. Kennedy also pointed out that journalism can be nuanced and complicated, raising questions about what sort of guidance the agency provides to contractors to fit stories into positive, neutral or negative boxes.
“If you’re rigorously fair about it and you’re getting the FBI’s point of view out there, they would probably write that as a negative story, but it strikes me as neutral,” he said.
Young Palestinian Girls Carrying Rockets, Gaza, Hamas
The West’s Death Wish Aug. 03 By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
We’ve seen this movie before.
Israel is bombarded with rockets fired by Hamas-backed terrorists, flush with cash from international humanitarian aid efforts and the enemies of democracy lurking elsewhere, and hiding like the worst species of cowards among civilians in schools, mosques and hospitals: https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4553643,00.html
Understandably, Israel defends itself by moving into Gaza to destroy the tunnel networks and rocket sites utilized to terrorize and murder its population, the only peoples living in a health Middle Eastern democracy, all the while proving humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. Wouldn’t we do the same if, hypothetically, Canadian terrorists began raining rockets down on Michigan tomorrow?
Amazingly the West’s answer isn’t universally affirmative.
Not everyone understands or wants to understand. The international community intervenes in the Israeli-Palestinian… by attempting to grab Israel’s wrists and inquiring, in an almost mocking fashion, “why are you hitting yourself?” while Hamas breaks one brokered cease fire after another with impunity. The international media, in turn, focuses on the collateral damage behind Gaza’s lines (remember: Hamas terrorists hide their munitions and fighters behind human shields) and ignores the 3.5 million Israeli citizens living under constant threat of annihilation.
In a word, Save Jerseyans, the dynamic at work here is insane.
Deference to the “cause” of Hamas is so illogical, particularly in light of the latest broken cease fire, that I’m left to assume any support for Hamas is either (1) evidence of Antisemitism or (2) sufficient reason for a CT scan.
Contemplate the “cause” as articulated by its supporters and draw your own conclusions. Hamas’s charter unequivocally calls for the destruction of Israel. Not the relocation of Israel, a “land-for-peace” swap with Israel, a political compromise with Israel, or even monetary reparations to be paid by Israel. All of the Jews in the Holy Land dead. That’s their stated goal. Again, you don’t have to take my word for it. They’ve written it down!
Homicidal actors always announce what they’re going to do before they do it. Hitler and his brown shirts were unabiguously violent anti-Semitic in the 1930s. Mass murders regularly disclose their rants online or to those around them in the run-up to the massacre.
One of the World’s Biggest Sources of Oil Is Right Here in America
Rob Nikolewski / @Watchdogorg / July 29, 2014
SANTA FE, N.M.—Oil production in New Mexico keeps on booming, and it could continue to do so for some time.
“I think the forecast is great,” said Parker Hallam, president and CEO of Crude Energy in Dallas. “I’m excited.”
The Permian Basin, located in eastern New Mexico and West Texas, recently has become one of the world’s biggest sources for crude oil.
The Bakken formation in North Dakota, the Eagle Ford “play” in South Texas and the Permian Basin are each producing more than 1 million barrels of oil per day, with the Permian leading the pack at 1.6 million barrels a day.
Domestic production has grown so large that last month, the International Energy Agency announced the United States surpassed Russia and even Saudi Arabia in oil production.
In New Mexico, field production has doubled in the past three years and is on the verge of surpassing 10 million barrels a month, according to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“I think the next 10 years, we can expect to see three to 3-and-a-half million [barrels a day from the Permian Basin],” Hallam said. “We could see even more than that.”
The reason?
Horizontal drilling, using hydraulic fracturing—“fracking.”
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 445 PM EDT FOR WESTCHESTER…NORTHEASTERN BERGEN AND ROCKLAND COUNTIES…
AT 307 PM EDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO INDICATE A THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING FLASH FLOODING OVER THE WARNED AREA. THESE STORMS REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY.
A flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur reportedly shot down in Ukraine is thought to have been flying in or near an unsafe zone.
A plane which crashed in eastern Ukraine with 295 people on board was reportedly shot down as it flew through or near airspace deemed unsuitable for passenger jets.
The Malaysia Airlines plane, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was travelling at an altitude of 33,000 feet (10,000 metres) when it was shot down, Russia’s Interfax reported.
An adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry told the news agency the Boeing 777 was brought down by a Buk ground-to-air missile, killing all 280 passengers and 15 crew members.
FLASH FLOOD WATCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
358 AM EDT MON JUL 14 2014
…FLASH FLOOD POTENTIAL INCREASES THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY
NIGHT…
…FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM NOON EDT TODAY THROUGH LATE
TUESDAY NIGHT…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW YORK HAS ISSUED A
* FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT…
NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHEAST NEW YORK…INCLUDING THE
FOLLOWING AREAS…IN SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT…NORTHERN
FAIRFIELD…NORTHERN MIDDLESEX…NORTHERN NEW HAVEN…NORTHERN
NEW LONDON…SOUTHERN FAIRFIELD…SOUTHERN MIDDLESEX…
SOUTHERN NEW HAVEN AND SOUTHERN NEW LONDON. IN NORTHEAST NEW
JERSEY…EASTERN BERGEN…EASTERN ESSEX…EASTERN PASSAIC…
EASTERN UNION…HUDSON…WESTERN BERGEN…WESTERN ESSEX…
WESTERN PASSAIC AND WESTERN UNION. IN SOUTHEAST NEW YORK…
BRONX…KINGS (BROOKLYN)…NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)…NORTHEASTERN
SUFFOLK…NORTHERN NASSAU…NORTHERN QUEENS…NORTHERN
WESTCHESTER…NORTHWESTERN SUFFOLK…ORANGE…PUTNAM…
RICHMOND (STATEN ISLAND)…ROCKLAND…SOUTHEASTERN SUFFOLK…
SOUTHERN NASSAU…SOUTHERN QUEENS…SOUTHERN WESTCHESTER AND
SOUTHWESTERN SUFFOLK.
* FROM NOON EDT TODAY THROUGH LATE TUESDAY NIGHT.
* MULTIPLE ROUNDS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS
THE REGION AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE
TUESDAY NIGHT. THE WARM AND VERY HUMID AIRMASS WILL MAKE FOR
THESE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO PRODUCE TORRENTIAL
DOWNPOURS…WITH STORM TOTAL RAINFALL BETWEEN 2 TO 3 INCHES.
LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS CAN BE EXPECTED. THIS WILL INCREASE THE
FLASH FLOOD POTENTIAL.
* THE MAIN POTENTIAL IMPACTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE FLOODING OF
URBANIZED AS WELL AS LOW LYING AREAS…ROADWAYS…AND IN AREAS
OF POOR DRAINAGE. IN ADDITION…SMALL STREAMS OR RIVERS MAY
EXCEED BANKFULL.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD
TO FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION.
YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION
SHOULD FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS BE ISSUED.
Whole Foods recalls salads in New Jersey, 2 other Northeast states
JULY 8, 2014, 4:40 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014, 4:40 PM ASSOCIATED PRESS Print
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS — Whole Foods is recalling two pre-packaged salads sold in three northeastern states due to a mislabeling of allergens.
The mini four-ounce containers of pre-packaged Caesar salad and Mesclun goat cheese salad were sold on July 8 in stores in New York, New Jersey (excluding Princeton, Cherry Hill and Marlton), and Connecticut (excluding Glastonbury, West Hartford and Bishop’s Corner).
The company says allergen warnings were mistakenly switched on the two items. The Caesar salad package now contains a warning about tree nuts, when it should contain a warning about fish and egg allergens, while the Mesclun salad contains a warning about fish and egg allergens.
