New Czar has no background or infectious disease experience?
No he is not a Doctor
By David McCabe – 10/17/14 12:24 PM EDT
No sooner had the White House announced that it had selected Ron Klain to coordinate the administration’s response to concerns about the Ebola virus than several congressional Republicans were expressing anger about the pick.
Most highlighted Klain’s past as a political operative. He is a former chief of staff to Vice President Biden and a longtime aide to Democratic campaigns. Those criticizing Klain included Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), who chaired Thursday’s hearing on the response to the virus.
Photo Courtesy of Surabi Ragulan The Ridgewood girls tennis team bested Bergen Tech, 3-2, on Tuesday to claim its second straight North 1, Group 4 championship. BACK ROW, from left: Monica Vitting, Kelly Rekucki, Elizabeth O’Keefe, Katherine Bonfiglio, Brianna Patek and coach Medha Kirtane. FRONT ROW, from left: Kolby Erskine, Selin Tekgurler, Sara Canilang, Swathi Ragulan, Alexandria Absey and Julia Yoon.
Ridgewood Girls Tennis claims second straight sectional crown
October 17, 2014 Last updated: Friday, October 17, 2014, 12:31 AM
By Matthew Birchenough
RIDGEWOOD — A year after completing a long climb back to the top following an eight-year drought in the state-sectional tournament, the Ridgewood High School girls tennis wasn’t satisfied with just planting a flag at the summit. It wanted to set up camp there.
The Maroons have done just that, as they bested Bergen Tech, 3-2, on Tuesday afternoon to claim their second consecutive North 1, Group 4 championship.
“This just shows we’ve come here this far and we’re here to stay. We’re not going anywhere,” senior co-captain Swathi Ragulan said.
Ridgewood (12-3) is scheduled to take on Central section champ West Windsor-Plainsboro South (14-0) in the State Group 4 semifinals at 11 a.m. today at Mercer County Park in West Windsor. The winner of that match will meet the survivor of North 2 champion Ridge (15-1) versus South champion Lenape (12-2) at 3 p.m.
RHS lost last year in the semifinal round against Cherry Hill East.
The Maroons entered the sectional final with a slightly different lineup than they had employed throughout the season.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/sports/high-school-sports/girls-tennis/maroons-make-it-two-straight-in-states-1.1111428#sthash.a5OjFDXe.dpuf
The administration’s Ebola evasions reveal its disdain for the American people.
The administration’s handling of the Ebola crisis continues to be marked by double talk, runaround and gobbledygook. And its logic is worse than its language. In many of its actions, especially its public pronouncements, the government is functioning not as a soother of public anxiety but the cause of it.
An example this week came in the dialogue between Megyn Kelly of Fox News and Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control.
Their conversation focused largely on the government’s refusal to stop travel into the United States by citizens of plague nations. “Why not put a travel ban in place,” Ms. Kelly asked, while we shore up the U.S. public-health system?
Dr. Frieden replied that we now have screening at airports, and “we’ve already recommended that all nonessential travel to these countries be stopped for Americans.” He added: “We’re always looking at ways that we can better protect Americans.”
“But this is one,” Ms. Kelly responded.
Dr. Frieden implied a travel ban would be harmful: “If we do things that are going to make it harder to stop the epidemic there, it’s going to spread to other parts of—”
Ms. Kelly interjected, asking how keeping citizens from the affected regions out of America would make it harder to stop Ebola in Africa.
“Because you can’t get people in and out.”
“Why can’t we have charter flights?”
“You know, charter flights don’t do the same thing commercial airliners do.”
“What do you mean? They fly in and fly out.”
Dr. Frieden replied that limiting travel between African nations would slow relief efforts. “If we isolate these countries, what’s not going to happen is disease staying there. It’s going to spread more all over Africa and we’ll be at higher risk.”
Later in the interview, Ms. Kelly noted that we still have airplanes coming into the U.S. from Liberia, with passengers expected to self-report Ebola exposure.
Dr. Frieden responded: “Ultimately the only way—and you may not like this—but the only way we will get our risk to zero here is to stop the outbreak in Africa.”
Ms. Kelly said yes, that’s why we’re sending troops. But why can’t we do that and have a travel ban?
“If it spreads more in Africa, it’s going to be more of a risk to us here. Our only goal is protecting Americans—that’s our mission. We do that by protecting people here and by stopping threats abroad. That protects Americans.”
Hackensack University Medical Center teaming up to form N.J.’s largest hospital network
October 16, 2014, 9:06 AM Last updated: Thursday, October 16, 2014, 11:41 PM
By MARY JO LAYTON and LIN
Hackensack University Medical Center and its parent company are merging with Meridian Health and its six hospitals in Ocean and Monmouth counties to create the state’s largest hospital network.
The new organization, to be called Hackensack Meridian Health, will employ 23,400 people and have more than $3.4 billion in revenues, eclipsing Barnabas Health, currently the state’s largest health care system.
The “combined organization would serve a much broader geography, expanding access to services and developing a vast array of new non-hospital services to conveniently serve area communities,” Robert C. Garrett, president and CEO of Hackensack University Health Network, said. The plan to merge was announced Thursday.
Hackensack and Meridian together admit nearly 135,000 patients annually at nine hospitals and two children’s hospitals. Two additional hospitals are expected to join the network once Meridian’s proposed merger with Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy is completed, officials said.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/hackensack-university-medical-center-announces-merger-with-meridian-health-1.1110859#sthash.NqSm9Ghm.dpuf
NJ Senate Candidate Jeff Bell: ‘The Federal Government Hasn’t Handled A Single Thing Right’
October 14, 2014 2:28 PM
By Dom Giordano
“This federal government is completely dysfunctional. They haven’t handled a single thing right and their idea is that they can impose a top down model on every issue, whether it’s monetary policy, disease control, the Common Core education standards and the Affordable Care Act above all.” Jeff Bell
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Dom Giordano talked to New Jersey Senate Candidate Jeff Bell on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT. Bell, a Republican, is challenging incumbent Corey Booker in November’s election.
Bell claimed that Senator Booker supports all of President Obama’s economic policies and said rather than helping the middle class, they put them at a disadvantage.
“Most people don’t want to get into the Wall Street stock market casino and it’s a tremendously wearing thing for the middle class, not for the rich people. People that don’t need a loan find it very easy to get a loan at these low interest rates.”
He believes returning to the gold standard would stabilize the economy and boost small businesses.
“The gold standard is the system that levels the playing field. If you know what you’re money is going to be worth one year from now, two years from now, five years from now, then you can navigate. It’s a simpler world. You can get interest on savings. The long term interest rate is up, enough to get savings. Small business is the most important element, from and economic standpoint, that would be liberated because they have a difficulty getting lines of credit that are so low that community banks don’t want to make risky loans when they have so little return.”
Bell also insists the federal government is not equipped to handle crises like Ebola.
“This federal government is completely dysfunctional. They haven’t handled a single thing right and their idea is that they can impose a top down model on every issue, whether it’s monetary policy, disease control, the Common Core education standards and the Affordable Care Act above all.”
Judge refuses to dismiss case against ex-Bergen County Dems chief Ferriero
October 16, 2014, 6:17 PM Last updated: Friday, October 17, 2014, 7:00 AM
By KAREN SUDOL
A federal judge on Thursday refused to throw out a case against a former chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Organization who is charged with profiting from his position through a series of bribery, kickback and extortion schemes.
U.S. District Judge Esther Salas denied a defense request for the dismissal of the 2013 indictment against Joseph A. Ferriero.
Federal prosecutors have charged Ferriero, 57, with extorting millions from a Meadowlands complex developer in exchange for his support and with persuading Bergen towns to hire a software developer who was paying Ferriero. He also secured a Bergenfield borough attorney job for a friend, Dennis Oury, who then persuaded the town to hire grant-writing firm that both he and Ferriero had ownership interests in, according to the indictment.
His trial, which was supposed to begin in November, has been postponed until February because of scheduling issues among the attorneys.
Ridgewood H.S. Athletic Hall of Fame: ‘Quintuple threat’ Nancy Hogan to be inducted
OCTOBER 17, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2014, 12:31 AM THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of stories profiling the 2014 inductees into the Ridgewood High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
In January of 1993, a letter was received by the athletic department at Ridgewood High School nominating Nancy Hogan as a candidate for what was going to be the first class honored in the RHS Athletic Hall of Fame.
That class was never inducted, and the Hall of Fame did not officially get organized until 2004 — 30 years Hogan’s RHS graduation. Her nominator stated at that time, “Nancy epitomizes the high standards of conduct and sportsmanship we look for in our Ridgewood students”
Today, when one looks at what Hogan achieved as a student-athlete, and then what she achieved as a coach of student-athletes, it is easy to see why that nominator was able to make such a bold statement in 1993.
OCTOBER 17, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2014, 12:31 AM BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER | THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The Ridgewood Library is in the running to be named “Best Small Library in America.”
The title is bestowed by the Library Journal, co-sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to “showcase the exemplary work of these libraries.”
The benchmark for “small” is a library serving a population of fewer than 25,000 – and at 24,958 residents, Ridgewood barely makes the cut.
Library Director Nancy Greene worked with her staff to put together the nomination by the Sept. 10 deadline, which required compiling a variety of information like statistical data on the population, circulation, staff and programming.
The nomination itself came from Franklin Appleton, a 63-year-old “lifelong” resident who heard about the award through his friend Robin Ritter, the library’s program coordinator.
“At one time it was just a resource for reading, and of course they had encyclopedias way back when, and I think it’s just kept up with the technology,” said Appleton of how the library has evolved. “It’s held up through the ages, which is why I like it so much.”
The winning library will receive a $20,000 cash award, and will be announced with a feature story in the Feb. 1 edition of the Library Journal. Two finalist libraries will be awarded a $10,000 cash award and will be given special mention in the Library Journal.
Meredith Schwartz, the senior editor of news and features at the Library Journal, said more than 50 small libraries have sent in nominations.
OCTOBER 17, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2014, 12:31 AM THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS Print
Valley is beyond its original intent by Laurence O’Donnell
To The Editor:
Valley Hospital has disappointed us, to say the least. In its relentless campaign to nearly double its size on the same 15-acre site, it is turning to the court in Hackensack. It apparently finds no message in the facts it was turned down by the Village Council in 2010 by a resounding vote of 5-0 and on resubmission of a substantially similar plan to the Planning Board, by a vote last May of 5-2 against the expansion.
The case against the massive expansion is simple: It is too much for a site surrounded by homes with a major middle school at one end. Valley doesn’t seem to accept this.
Seventy-five years ago, before the hospital was built, the 15-acre site was occupied by a horse farm — probably acceptable to the neighbors. The original intent of the hospital was to serve the community — also acceptable to the neighbors and the community.
Actually, Valley started to tread in troubled waters three or four decades ago when it changed its mission from a community hospital to a regional one. Many Ridgewood residents wondered if the hospital and the community could handle big increases in patients, visitors and traffic. Their concerns proved to be valid.
Village should have notified residents October 16th 2014
Boyd Loving
On Wednesday, Oct. 8, Village Council members voted unanimously to award a $4,000 professional service contract for completion of a land survey in connection with the planned purchase of property on which a new children’s playground will likely be constructed. The property to be surveyed, and being considered for purchase, is located on Highwood Avenue near its intersection with South Broad Street.
Immediately following the unanimous vote, which took place during a public meeting, I asked Village Council members whether those who own property near the intersection of Highwood Avenue and South Broad Street had yet been informed of the council’s plan to construct a public playground on Highwood Avenue. I was informed that no such notification has yet been made; village officials are not “ready” to meet with nearby property owners yet.
Frankly, I’m perplexed. The Ridgewood News just published an article about the proposed playground. The issue has been mentioned during two recent Village Council meetings. And, a firm was just awarded a $4,000 taxpayer funded contract in connection with services that must be undertaken prior to property acquisition. But people who own property in the noted area have not been told a thing?
Whether village officials are “ready” or not, now is clearly the right time to be “ready.” Adjacent and nearby property owners must be made aware of the village’s intent with respect to acquisition of property(ies) and facility design/construction before the train leaves its current stop.
Panel discusses ways to energize Bergen County downtowns
OCTOBER 16, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014, 1:48 PM BY LAURA HERZOG STAFF WRITER | THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Ridgewood, Fairview, Hackensack and Paramus may have very different community identities, but they do have one thing in common: They all care about the development of their economic centers.
This was clear when officials representing each of these communities spoke on a Bergen Community College panel on Oct. 7 about the challenges and triumphs they have encountered during ongoing efforts to support their economic centers.
The discussion, titled “Reviving and Refocusing Suburban Downtowns and Regional Economic Centers,” attracted about 40 attendees, many from the Bergen LEADS leadership course.
On the panel were retired Fairview Police Chief Frank Del Vecchio, a Ridgewood resident and Fairview Chamber of Commerce member; Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce President Paul Vagianos; Paramus Regional Chamber of Commerce President Fred Rohdieck; and Hackensack Chamber of Commerce member Francis Reiner, the community’s urban design, planning and redevelopment consultant.
The forum was meant to explore how changing demographics are affecting distinct Bergen County municipalities’ economic centers, and in turn, their “community identities,” which are often shaped by these economic hubs.
Next Village of Ridgewood CBD Discussion Meeting – October 29 at 7PM
Wednesday, October 29th the Village Hall Court Room, 131 N. Maple Ave, from 7PM to 9PM – the conversation will continue regarding the Ridgewood CBD. There will an opportunity for comments from attendees and at 7:30PM a Panel will discuss the role of arts in the Central Business District.
Village Notice : Garber Square Complete Streets Projects
Village of Ridgewood E-Notice
Re: Garber Square Complete Streets Projects
Dear Residents and Businesses,
All that is remaining for the completion of the Garber Square Project is the actual milling, paving and striping of the road. This is currently planned to be done overnight, with the possible exception of striping, so there will be no more planned lane closures during the daytime.
Milling is currently scheduled for Monday, October 20th between the hours of 8 P.M. through 6 A.M. We will do our utmost to choreograph the parts of the road we close during this time period, mindful of both the restaurant traffic and morning commuter traffic. As I have mentioned to you before, this plan is weather dependent.
I would like to thank you again for your patience and understanding. I believe that the area is looking great and more importantly, we will have enhanced the safety for pedestrians, vehicles and bicycles. Please check our website for future updates on the status of the milling, paving and striping.
Another Media Event : Garrett Criticized over Sandy Response October 3,2014 the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Here they go again , less than a month after getting spanked with the silly “fake bridge-gate scandal ” . New Jersey’s mainstream media groups are back at it again looking to demonize Republican Scott Garrett over a pro-ported embellished flier on Garrets work on Sandy relief..
Yes Garret Voted against “Sandy Relief” just like he voted No over Katrina relief. The Heritage Foundation noted that “While Hurricane Sandy was a major disaster, the majority of the funds originally requested by the Obama Administration and in the subsequent Senate passed Sandy bill were to be spent beyond FY 2014. Furthermore, far too much of the funding goes toward superfluous programs that are not related to Hurricane Sandy relief, from repairs to the Smithsonian Institution to upgrades to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration airplanes to more funding for the federal government’s epic educational failure known as Head Start, among myriad other extraneous items. The inclusion of $16 billion in wasteful community development funds is also concerning, especially because the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated it would need a comparatively much smaller $5.2 billion for its “unmet needs.” These non-emergency measures prove how irresponsible Washington has grown, unabashedly using a natural disaster to spend more taxpayer money.
This legislation not only contains glaringly excessive spending, but it also feeds into Congress’s problem of failing to budget responsibly. ” https://heritageaction.com/key-votes/no-on-supplemental-appropriations-for-disaster-assistance-2/
On top of the pork barrel nature of the “Sandy Aid” worse yet has been the distribution of funds in New Jersey which the Record not surprisingly failed to mention that since the “Sandy Aid ” has passed even Jersey City’s Democratic mayor called New Jersey’s allocation of federal disaster relief a “disaster,” and said the state “has a poor track record” of working with local municipalities. https://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2014/04/fulop_tells_congress_njs_distribution_of_sandy_aid_is_a_disaster.html
“The distribution of federal Sandy relief aid was arguably not entirely based upon non objective data, slow to be forthcoming, unresponsive to homeowners and business,” Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said. “In a word, the distribution of the aid was in and of itself a ‘disaster’ of our own making.”https://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2014/04/fulop_tells_congress_njs_distribution_of_sandy_aid_is_a_disaster.html
Some people take their fiduciary responsibility very serious Garrett said in April, “Our fiscal situation is dire. Each of our children and grandchildren are on the hook for nearly $56,000 of our $17.5 trillion dollar debt. It’s time for us to put an end to the overspending and borrowing of more and more money each year. Today, the House Budget Committee puts forth a budget that recognizes that the status quo is unacceptable and unsustainable. Rather than continuing on the road to debt and decline, we instead offer a path forward that focuses on economic growth, expands opportunity, and restores fairness. Years of foolish overspending have brought us to this point, but America’s current economic path is no laughing matter.”
Some people even politicians care about their Kids and the future and Scott Garrett is one of them . In April Garret issued the following statement , “Our fiscal situation is dire. Each of our children and grandchildren are on the hook for nearly $56,000 of our $17.5 trillion dollar debt. It’s time for us to put an end to the overspending and borrowing of more and more money each year. Today, the House Budget Committee puts forth a budget that recognizes that the status quo is unacceptable and unsustainable. Rather than continuing on the road to debt and decline, we instead offer a path forward that focuses on economic growth, expands opportunity, and restores fairness. Years of foolish overspending have brought us to this point, but America’s current economic path is no laughing matter.”
Meanwhile Garret helped out with the Post Sandy clean up even taking time to hand out Turkeys for Thanksgiving at Lowe’s in Paramus . In Ridgewood Our Lady of Mount Carmel church made a massive effort to reach out to the community offering food and shelter with little or no help from “sandy aid” .
The funny thing is now the New Jersey “media”like the Bergen Record or NJ .Com , the Star ledger and a few others , organizations that never covers Scott Garret, never attend his press briefings , never reports or bills or policy debates in Washington hosted by Garret , suddenly are experts on everything Scott Garret was up to during the post Sandy cleanup ? We seem to have heard all this before
So this all begs the question , What was Investment Banker Roy Cho , doing in the aftermath or hurricane Sandy
Parents May Be Liable for What Their Kids Post on Facebook, Court Rules
Parents can be held liable for what their kids post on Facebook FB -1.17%, a Georgia appellate court ruled in a decision that lawyers said marked a legal precedent on the issue of parental responsibility over their children’s online activity.
The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that the parents of a seventh-grade student may be negligent for failing to get their son to delete a fake Facebook profile that allegedly defamed a female classmate.
The trouble started in 2011 when, with the help of another student, the boy constructed a Facebook profile pretending to be the girl. He used a “Fat Face” app to make her look obese and posted profane and sexually explicit comments on the page depicting her as racist and promiscuous, according to court documents.
When the girl found out about it, she told her parents who then complained to the school’s principal. The school punished the boy with two days of in-school suspension and alerted his parents, who grounded him for a week.
But for the next 11 months, according to the appeals court opinion, the page stayed up. It wasn’t deleted until Facebook deactivated the account at the urging of the girl’s parents, the opinion said. The girl’s lawyer says the child’s parents didn’t immediately confront the boy’s parents because their school refused to identify the culprit for confidentiality reasons.
How Federal Agents Illegally Force Twitter, Google, and Banks to Turn Over Private Customer Data Without a Proper Warrant
Private companies are fighting the federal government in court over the Patriot Act’s “National Security Letters,” which violate the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.
Earlier this week, FBI Director James Comey gave an interview to 60 Minutes during which he revealed a flawed understanding of personal freedom. He rightly distinguished what FBI agents do in their investigations of federal crimes from what the NSA does in its intelligence gathering, when the two federal agencies are looking for non-public data.
The FBI requires, Comey correctly asserted, articulable suspicion to commence an investigation and probable cause to obtain a search warrant. It does this because its agents have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution, and their failure to comply with that oath may very well render the evidence obtained by unconstitutional means useless in court.
The NSA, as we know, makes no pretense about presenting probable cause to a judge. Rather, it asks a judge on a secret court (so secret that the judges themselves are kept from the court’s files) for general warrants. A warrant based on probable cause must specifically describe the place to be searched and the person or thing to be seized. General warrants, which the Constitution prohibits, permit the bearer to search wherever he wishes and seize whatever he finds.
