RHS Ranks 8th in Bergen Record Football Poll
September 27,2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Bergen Record ranked Ridgewood High School (2-0) number 8 in its top 25 poll this week .The Maroons come off back to back blow out wins and are set to play Hackensack in Ridgewood game time 7pm
RHS Beat Kennedy 53-7 and Eastside, 55-14
23,116,928 to 20,618,000: Households on Food Stamps Now Outnumber All Households in Northeast U.S.
September 17, 2013 – 12:31 PM
By Terence P. Jeffrey
(CNSNews.com) – A record 23,116,928 American households were enrolled in the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—AKA food stamps—during the month of June, according to data released this month by the Department of Agriculture.
That outnumbers the 20,618,000 households that the Census Bureau estimated were in the entire Northeastern United States as of the second quarter of 2013.
According to the Census Bureau, the Northeast region includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania. Thus, in June, the households receiving food stamps exceeded the total combined households in all of these states.
The 23,116,928 million households on food stamps in June also outnumbered the 15,030,000 home-owning households in the entire Western United States in the second quarter of the year and the 18,018,000 home-owning households in the entire Midwest.
Mass Shootings Fuel Fear, Account for Fraction of Murders
By Annie Linskey – Sep 17, 2013 12:02 AM ET
Mass U.S. shootings such as the bloody rampage at the Washington Navy Yard spur safety concerns and garner intense media attention while statistically accounting for few of the total murders reported nationwide.
In the 30 years through March, 78 public mass shootings occurred in the U.S. — incidents in which four or more people were killed at random by a gunman murdering indiscriminately, according to a report issued that month by the Congressional Research Service. These crimes don’t include gang-related killings or domestic disputes where a person slays relatives or other people linked to the murderer.
People hold candles in remembrance of those affected by gun violence during a vigil at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 16, 2013. Photographer: Greg Kahn/Getty Images
The mass slaughters listed in the report caused the deaths of 547 people. Over the same three decades through 2012, that’s less than a tenth of 1 percent of the 559,347 people the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates were murdered in America.
“It is a very, very small percentage,” said James Alan Fox, who teaches criminology at Boston’s Northeastern University and co-authored a book about mass shootings called “Extreme Killing,” published in 2011.
In the wake of shootings such as the one in Washington that claimed at least 13 lives, including the alleged shooter, “our tendancy is to go overboard and overreach in terms of trying to increase levels of security,” Fox said. “The fear is greater than the risk.”
file photo by ArtChick
‘Artificial egg’ made from PLANTS backed by Bill Gates set to revolutionize cooking goes on sale at Whole Foods
By Mark Prigg In San Francisco
PUBLISHED: 11:06 EST, 10 September 2013 | UPDATED: 11:09 EST, 10 September 2013
A radical ‘artificial egg’ backed by Paypal billionaire Peter Thiel and Bill Gates goes on sale in US supermarkets for the first time today.
Made from plants, it can replace eggs in everything from cakes to mayonnaise – without a chicken ever coming close to the production process.
The team today started selling their ‘plant egg’, called Beyond Eggs, in Whole Foods in California – and say it could soon be available in supermarkets worldwide.
‘We want to take animals out of the equation,’ said Josh Tetrick, the firm’s founder. ‘The food industry is begging for innovation, especially where animals are involved – it is a broken industry.’
Tetrick’s idea was to find a mix of easy-to-grow plants that, when mixed together in the right way, replicate the taste, nutritional values and cooking properties of an egg.
This, he believes will allow the firm to produce its substitute for mass market foods – and to allow developing worlds to grow their own versions with added nutrients.
‘Eggs are functionally incredible, they do everything from hold oil and water in mayo to making the muffin rise and holding scrambled eggs together,’ he said ‘I started to think what if we can find plants that can do this. We have about 12 plants pre-selected, including a pea already widely grown in Canada. There’s also a bean in South Asia that is incredible in scrambled eggs.’
Harvard Study: No Correlation Between Gun Control and Less Violent Crime
by AWR Hawkins 28 Aug 2013
A Harvard Study titled “Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide?” looks at figures for “intentional deaths” throughout continental Europe and juxtaposes them with the U.S. to show that more gun control does not necessarily lead to lower death rates or violent crime.
Because the findings so clearly demonstrate that more gun laws may in fact increase death rates, the study says that “the mantra that more guns mean more deaths and that fewer guns, therefore, mean fewer deaths” is wrong.
For example, when the study shows numbers for Eastern European gun ownership and corresponding murder rates, it is readily apparent that less guns to do not mean less death. In Russia, where the rate of gun ownership is 4,000 per 100,000 inhabitants, the murder rate was 20.52 per 100,000 in 2002. That same year in Finland, where the rater of gun ownership is exceedingly higher–39,000 per 100,000–the murder rate was almost nill, at 1.98 per 100,000.
Looking at Western Europe, the study shows that Norway “has far and away Western Europe’s highest household gun ownership rate (32%), but also its lowest murder rate.”
And when the study focuses on intentional deaths by looking at the U.S. vs Continental Europe, the findings are no less revealing. The U.S., which is so often labeled as the most violent nation in the world by gun control proponents, comes in 7th–behind Russia, Estonia, Lativa, Lithuania, Belarus, and the Ukraine–in murders. America also only ranks 22nd in suicides.
The murder rate in Russia, where handguns are banned, is 30.6; the rate in the U.S. is 7.8.
https://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/08/27/Harvard-Study-Shows-No-Correlation-Between-Strict-Gun-Control-And-Less-Crime-Violence
“Jim” McGreevey’s white elephant Xanadu renamed the American dream project
Here We Go Again : Modernize Bergen County New Jersey is looking to Repeal the Blue Laws
Will “Open on Sunday ” help Ridgewood Merchants
August 25,2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, A group called Modernize Bergen County New Jersey looking to “Repeal the Blue Laws” and has according to sources gathered enough signatures to put the Blue Law Repeal on the ballot
The Modernize Bergen County Campaign is a group dedicated to the Repeal of the Bergen County Blue Laws.
According to their Facebook page Bergen County is one of the last remaining Sunday closing laws in the United States that covers selling electronics, clothing and furniture is found in Bergen County, New Jersey.
Bergen County, part of the New York metropolitan area, has one of the largest concentrations of enclosed retail shopping malls of any county in the nation; four major malls lie within the county.
A supporter on their Facebook page claimed , ” Well another Ridgewood women’s clothing store has bitten the dust. Yes Yansi Fugel. Well this is the second women’s clothing store in the past month that has closed in Ridgewood. We all know it is still bad economically, yet another reason for these nasty Blue Laws to finally disappear!!!!”
This debate has raged for years , and despite there inconvenience the Blue Laws have remained resoundingly popular in the County and lets face it food stores , liquor and drug store are all open on Sunday .
While extra hours may help some retailers in an out of down town Ridgewood , perhaps staying open later then 5pm so the few remaining people with jobs could actually shop , maybe a far simpler idea .
The economy in North jersey is very weak and lack of Sunday hours may or may not be contributing to weakness in the retail sector . Lack of Jobs, raising prices, increased taxes , and bad customer service also all contribute to that weakness.
In the past these open on Sunday pushes have been lead by mega retailers , unions , and politician looking to save ill conceived projects in the Meadowlands .
The opposition to Sunday openings have been called ‘racists , bigots, homophobes , flat earth people, rich snobs and worse religious zealots .
While so far this group seems to have shied away from name calling ,it has gotten support from all the NJ main stream media , which implies there is more politics behind this than one is lead to believe.
file photo Boyd Loving
FLASH FLOOD WATCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
836 AM EDT FRI AUG 9 2013
…FLASH FLOODING POSSIBLE INTO THIS EVENING…
…FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING…
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. IN NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY…EASTERN BERGEN…EASTERN
PASSAIC…WESTERN BERGEN AND WESTERN PASSAIC. IN SOUTHEAST NEW
YORK…NORTHERN WESTCHESTER…ORANGE…PUTNAM AND ROCKLAND.
* THROUGH THIS EVENING
* SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE RESULTED IN LOCALIZED AMOUNTS OF
1 TO 3 INCHES OF RAINFALL ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE LOWER HUDSON
VALLEY…NORTHERN FAIRFIELD…AND NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY. MORE
HEAVY RAINFALL FROM ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IS
POSSIBLE THROUGH THIS EVENING. DUE TO THE PREVIOUS
RAINFALL…LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING COULD RESULT FROM ANY
ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN.
* SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE 1 TO 2 INCH PER HOUR
RAINFALL RATES THROUGH THIS EVENING.
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.
Exclusive: Dozens of CIA operatives on the ground during Benghazi attack
CNN has uncovered exclusive new information about what is allegedly happening at the CIA, in the wake of the deadly Benghazi terror attack.
Four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the assault by armed militants last September 11 in eastern Libya.
Sources now tell CNN dozens of people working for the CIA were on the ground that night, and that the agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret.
CNN has learned the CIA is involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy agency’s Benghazi secrets from ever leaking out.
Read: Analysis: CIA role in Benghazi underreported
Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency’s missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency’s workings.
The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress.
It is being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his or her career.
In exclusive communications obtained by CNN, one insider writes, “You don’t jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well.”
https://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/01/exclusive-dozens-of-cia-operatives-on-the-ground-during-benghazi-attack/
Tunnel contract secures future of New York rail expansion
22 Jul, 2013
Tutor Perini has won a tunnelling contract worth $133 million which will ensure future plans to construct a rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River can go ahead.
A 250-metre long, 50-metre wide box tunnel will be built under the Eastern Rail Yard – the future site of the Hudson Yards development.
The tunnel will ‘preserve an underground right-of-way’ safeguarding the future route of planned twin-bored tunnels beneath the Hudson River toward Penn Station.
Money to fund the project will come from the federal Hurricane Sandy relief fund.
The aim of the new tunnels, known as the Gateway Project, is to allow NJ Transit to increase rail capacity by adding an extra 13 trains an hour and Amtrak an extra eight services an hour between New Jersey and New York City.
Work was originally due to be completed by late 2014.
The Gateway Project was developed following the cancellation of ARC Tunnel, and is expected to cost around $14.7 billion.
“New Jersey is facing a transportation crisis,” said Amtrak chief executive Joe Boardman, in a statement which first confirmed Amtrak’s plans to support the project.
https://www.globalrailnews.com/2013/07/22/tunnel-contract-secures-future-of-new-york-rail-expansion/
file photo by Boyd Loving
North Jersey towns applying lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy
Sunday July 21, 2013, 11:40 PM
BY DENISA R. SUPERVILLE
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich remembers how difficult it was providing timely information to a frustrated and anxious public plunged into darkness, with no gas and limited or no Internet access, after Superstorm Sandy barreled into the state.
After daily conference calls with utilities and the governor’s office, Sokolich’s staff distributed hundreds of fliers with updates on power restoration, tree removal and street reopenings.
“It was incredibly time-consuming, but it was the only way to reach the public,” said Sokolich, whose borough sustained about $1 million in public damage from the storm.
Sokolich has learned his lesson and is determined not to be caught off-guard again. For example, Fort Lee is launching an emergency radio broadcast system to deliver local alerts.
With two major tropical storms slamming North Jersey in the last two years, municipalities are rethinking how they plan for and respond to natural disasters. In addition to Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and Sandy last year, the region has been subjected to a March 2010 nor’easter and an October 2011 snowstorm, both of which felled thousands of tree limbs and disrupted electrical power to hundreds of thousands. Municipalities now know they have to prepare for more frequent and disruptive weather events, not just occasional tropical storms and annual winter snowstorms.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/bogota/North_Jersey_towns_applying_lessons_learned_from_Superstorm_Sandy.html#sthash.r9QyZefe.dp
Pick Up your Updated Village of Ridgewood Emergency Planning Guide Here
https://www2.ridgewoodnj.net/main_recent.cfm?ArticleID=1199
file photo Boyd Loving
Readers Not Buying North Jersey Media Group denial that letter to editor pulled
Letters to the editor are signed and by their nature (like editorials and op-ed pieces) represent opinion. Any reader who identifies a factual error or wants to argue a point can write a follow-up letter; this happens routinely in every publication. Dialog and debate are good.
It is not the editor’s role to make sure that all statements in a letter to the editor are accurate as it is in an article or editorial. In most newspapers the top editor would never see letters to the editor before publication at all.
More fact checking in Ridgewood News articles, which are frequently full of errors that could easily have been checked, would be most welcome. But letters to the editor? No.
Valentine’s Day Speed-Dating Event
Thu, February 14, 2013
Time: 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Dos Cubanos, 282 Rte. 4 East, Paramus, NJ 07652
Meet your Valentine on Valentine’s Day!
Why sit home alone? You can meet other
Single Professionals in New Jersey.
Go on many mini-dates all in one night.
Special pricing for AVConnexions Members and Ridgewood Rewards Card Holders. $40 or $45 for non-members.
For more information call 201-632-5991
Stuck with McGreevey’s White Elephant Christie: ‘Disappointed’ in Giants, Jets over suit vs. American Dream “Xanadu” expansion
Governor Christie on Tuesday expressed his displeasure with the recent filing of a lawsuit by the Giants and Jets to try to stop a planned expansion of the American Dream Meadowlands project.
Continue reading Sports authority will take lead on tourism, marketing for N.J.
>HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
554 AM EDT FRI AUG 26 2011
NORTHERN FAIRFIELD-NORTHERN NEW HAVEN-NORTHERN MIDDLESEX-
NORTHERN NEW LONDON-SOUTHERN FAIRFIELD-SOUTHERN NEW HAVEN-
SOUTHERN MIDDLESEX-SOUTHERN NEW LONDON-EASTERN PASSAIC-HUDSON-
WESTERN BERGEN-EASTERN BERGEN-WESTERN ESSEX-EASTERN ESSEX-
WESTERN UNION-EASTERN UNION-PUTNAM-ROCKLAND-NORTHERN WESTCHESTER-
SOUTHERN WESTCHESTER-NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)-BRONX-
RICHMOND (STATEN ISLAND)-KINGS (BROOKLYN)-NORTHWESTERN SUFFOLK-
NORTHEASTERN SUFFOLK-SOUTHWESTERN SUFFOLK-SOUTHEASTERN SUFFOLK-
NORTHERN QUEENS-NORTHERN NASSAU-SOUTHERN QUEENS-SOUTHERN NASSAU-
554 AM EDT FRI AUG 26 2011
…HURRICANE WATCH IN EFFECT…
…FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY EVENING THROUGH LATE SUNDAY
NIGHT…
THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHERN
CONNECTICUT…NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHEAST NEW YORK.
