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Reader says the current amendment proposal is doomed and the Mayor wants to make sure something gets through.

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Reader says the current amendment proposal is doomed and the Mayor wants to make sure something gets through.

many on the planning board that night were skeptical of the mayor’s proposal that night. it clearly took many by surprise and you really have to question why he brought it up now. my best guess is that he sees the current amendment proposal is doomed and he wants to make sure something gets through. THAT ISN’T THE PROCESS!!

Let’s remember that the ordinance that allows these amendment proposals in the first place was pushed through by friends of developers (which includes their lawyers). They created a legal process that couldn’t be stopped or participated in by residents once it moved past debate at the council level (or so they thought – they didn’t count on something like the CBR). Recall how Al abruptly ceased debate on these and pushed the vote which brought them to the planning board. Now that the process isn’t working in their favor they are trying to split them up to make it look like a “compromise”.

Also remember this: The developers bought these properties knowing exactly what they were allowed to build. They were banking on being able to push through these amendments that quadruple the number of units/acre currently allowed. That’s just bad business decision making (unless you have some reason to believe your amendment will be helped along). Certainly helps explain why saraceno stormed out in the middle of the cross by his attorney of the CBR planner as it was clear he wasn’t going to rattle her.

If the current amendment proposals are voted down the developers have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a better plan. It is not the town’s job to tell the developers how much more they can get away with than is currently allowed – that’s like asking a cop how much faster you can drive over the speed limit while he’s writing you a ticket.

This is the process the developers and their attorneys created…stop whining because it’s not going your way now!!

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RHS Advanced Placement Scholars are Announced

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RHS Advanced Placement Scholars are Announced
September 22nd 2014

Ridgewood NJ, One hundred forty-two students at Ridgewood High School have been named AP Scholars by the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college level Advanced Placement Examinations. About 18 percent of the more than 1.9 million high school students worldwide who took AP Examinations in May 2014 performed at a sufficiently high level to merit such recognition.The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on the students’ performance on AP exams. At Ridgewood High School, seven students qualified for the National AP Scholar Award by earning an average grade of 4.0 or higher on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams.

Sixty students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.

Thirty-three students qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams.

Forty-nine students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP Exams with grades of 3 or higher.

Fifteen award recipients are juniors. These students have at least one more year in which to do college-level work, and possibly earn another Advanced Placement Award.

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THE RIDGEWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT IS TAKING BACK UNWANTED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS SEPTEMBER 27th, 2014

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Keith Haring’s “Crack is Wack” 

THE RIDGEWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT IS TAKING BACK UNWANTED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS SEPTEMBER 27th, 2014

Ridgewood NJ, On September 27th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Ridgewood Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public its ninth opportunity in four years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. Bring your pills for disposal to the Ridgewood Police Department 131 N.Maple Ave Ridgewood NJ. (The DEA cannot accept liquids or needles or sharps, only pills or patches.) The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

Last April, Americans turned in 390 tons (over 780,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at nearly 6,100 sites operated by the DEA and more than 4,400 of its state and local law enforcement partners. When those results are combined with what was collected in its eight previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners have taken in over 4.1 million pounds—more than 2,100 tons—of pills. 
This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards. 

DEA is in the process of approving new regulations that implement the Safe and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” (that is, a patient or their family member or pet owner) of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them. The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances.

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The Gas Tax Hike Cometh

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The Gas Tax Hike Cometh
Sep. 23  
By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

As recently as March, Save Jerseyans, Governor Chris Christie said gas tax hikes were off the table.

He strongly opposed a proposal from Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-20, Union) earlier in the year which would’ve raised the gas tax by 15 cents over 3 years.

But I warned you earlier this week how the pending confirmation of Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner-designate Jamie Fox could signal a change in thinking, or at least tactics.I take no pleasure in being right. Trust me. I’ll be paying right along side you at the next pump. So enjoy our run of cheap gas (which is attracting drivers to NJ… when does that every happen?) while it lasts…

According to multiple reports, a bipartisan agreement to raise the gas tax between 15 cents and 20 cents or, alternatively, hike the petroleum products gross receipts tax (paid by refineries and distributors) is moving forward behind closed doors. Or some combination of the two. Whatever. Fox, who presumably discussed these issues with Gov. Christie’s team at length, is echoing his support of a gas tax back during the McGreevey Administration by declaring “[n]othing is off the table.”

It damn well should be!

Believe it or not, New Jerseyans enjoy the third lowest gas tax in the United States. A 15 cent tax would’ve added, on average, $230 to the cost of driving every New Jersey car each year. This is on top of Parkway and Turnpike tolls doubling since 2008. At what point does flying or driving (or swimming) around New Jersey make more sense than paying out the rear end to drive through it?

https://savejersey.com/2014/09/gas-tax-christie-new-jersey-fox-transportation-fund/

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The Valley Hospital Earns 12 Gold Seals of Approval for Patient Care

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The Valley Hospital Earns 12 Gold Seals of Approval for Patient Care

September 5, 2014
Ridgewood NJ,The Valley Hospital is pleased to announce that it has earned an impressive 12 Gold Seals of Approval™ for healthcare quality from the Joint Commission, placing it among an elite group of hospitals to achieve this number of Disease-Specific Care Certifications.

Valley holds Gold Seals of Approval for acute myocardial infarction, breast cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, colorectal cancer, heart failure, hip replacement, knee replacement, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, stroke, and uterine-ovarian cancer.

Earning Disease-Specific Certification in 12 clinical areas places Valley among the top tier of hospitals in the country for this Joint Commission recognition. Of particular note, Valley holds more Gold Seals of Approval in cancer care than any other hospital in the country

To earn these distinctions, Valley underwent extensive, on-site evaluations by Joint Commission reviewers.  The Joint Commission is the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.

“These recognitions are reflective of the quality and clinical excellence found in these programs,” said Audrey Meyers, President and CEO.  “In addition, they are indicative of the overall emphasis on high-quality patient care and service that have come to be the hallmark of The Valley Hospital.”

The Joint Commission launched its Disease-Specific Care Certification program in 2002.  According to the Joint Commission, it is the first program of its kind in the country to certify disease management programs.

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Fatal bear attack in West Milford preserve is first recorded in New Jersey in 150 years

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Fatal bear attack in West Milford preserve is first recorded in New Jersey in 150 years

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 7:00 AM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 10:15 PM
BY MINJAE PARK AND JIM O’NEILL
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD

WEST MILFORD — Around the Apshawa Preserve, residents seal garbage containers, bring their dogs inside and scrub their barbecue grills clean, daily chores to ensure that ever-present bears keep their distance. 

But the fatal bear attack on a 22-year-old Rutgers student Sunday — the first recorded in more than 150 years, state officials say — came as a startling reminder of the dangers that can arise from the rare bear-human confrontation.

KEVIN R. WEXLER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
From left, West Milford Police Chief Tim Storbeck; DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese and Passaic County Sheriff Richard Berdnik during Monday’s press conference.

Five friends had been hiking at the preserve in West Milford on Sunday afternoon when they scattered in fear upon realizing a black bear was following them, a move experts say put each individual at greater risk.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/fatal-bear-attack-in-west-milford-preserve-is-first-recorded-in-new-jersey-in-150-years-1.1093520#sthash.nMoi4Reh.dpuf

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Ho-Ho-Kus resident told to remove traffic strips from Powderhorn Road

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Ho-Ho-Kus resident told to remove traffic strips from Powderhorn Road

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 6:04 PM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 6:35 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

HO-HO-KUS — A Powderhorn Road resident broke the law when she hired an engineering firm to install traffic counting cables along her street last week without permission, local officials said.

A letter hand-delivered by a Ho-Ho-Kus police officer Monday afternoon warned Donna Cioffi that if the cables aren’t gone within 24 hours, the borough will have them removed.

Cioffi has long argued traffic volumes down her street — a popular County Road 502 commuter cut-through — exceed the 4,000-plus vehicles that recent counts from municipal officials suggest utilize Powderhorn Road on any given day.

When Cioffi failed to convince borough officials to commission a new traffic study, she took matters into her own hands, paying $600 for a firm she won’t identify to install the traffic strips at night.

The strips record data on traffic speeds, volume and vehicle weight.

“It has come to the attention of the borough government that you have had traffic counting cables placed across Powderhorn Road without the express written consent of the borough of Ho-Ho-Kus,” the letter to Cioffi reads.

“The borough further understands that these cables are connected to an electronic box located in a public right of way,” it continues. “This activity is an illegal encroachment over the public right of way.”

The letter puts Cioffi on notice, saying the strips need to be excised.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ho-ho-kus-resident-told-to-remove-traffic-strips-from-powderhorn-road-1.1093953#sthash.ifxl7GqG.dpuf

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Parking meter trial coming to Montclair this fall

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Parking meter trial coming to Montclair this fall

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 6:03 PM
BY ANDREW SEGEDIN
STAFF WRITER
THE MONTCLAIR TIMES

The Montclair Township Council approved a resolution to move forward with a 90-day smart parking meter trial with Duncan Parking Technologies.

At least one party was not satisfied with the decision. Frank Del Monico, vice president of the East and West Coast of IPS Group Inc., a competing vendor of Duncan Parking Technologies, told The Montclair Times that he sent two letters to the township voicing his disappointment in the resolution.

Del Monico said that, while the township has the right to select whichever vendor it wants, he was puzzled as to why the township did not allow multiple vendors to compete in a trial. In a letter to Mayor Robert Jackson, Del Monico cites municipalities such as New Rochelle, N.Y., and New Brunswick that have conduced multi-vendor trials.

In the case of New Rochelle, Del Monico told The Times, the municipal government drafted a Request For Proposal for trial to purchase. A host of vendors were invited in and, if a vendor was late in attempting to install temporary meters, they were not considered. After 90 days, New Rochelle officials were able to make their selection.

“Montclair would be better served by having a competition, having a field test,” Del Monico said. “You need the voice of the stakeholders. Merchants should have say in this. What we typically do for a trial, we do a portal, a survey. If you’re in public administration you should do that. You have an avenue available to you now.”

Township Manager Marc Dashield said the township went through a Request For Proposal process about a year ago and analyzed a variety of meters and vendors. At this point, the manager said, the township is at the process of wanting to move forward to test whether smart meters are financially viable in Montclair.

As Duncan Parking Technologies is part of a national cooperative, which does not require the township to go out for bid, Montclair is able to have more control over the project and move more expeditiously, said Dashield. Should the trial go well, Montclair would also be able to keep the 50 meters that will be tested, the manager added.

Smart meters, which accept credit cards and smart cards, come with additional associated costs such as wireless network fees. Dashield said that understanding those costs will be important piece to a greater Montclair parking plan. While nothing is set, Dashield said that he anticipated that the meters will be installed in late October or early November.

Commenting on Del Monico’s letter, Jackson said that he did not feel as though Montclair’s trial with Duncan Parking Technologies precludes it from ultimately selecting a different vendor.

“The implementation of the new parking meters is behind schedule and dramatically so for most of us,” Jackson said. “We want to get something done. You can debate for 20 years to do this [vendor] or that [vendor]. This trial will assess how it goes. If we want to go back after the Duncan trial, we can still do that.”

Moving forward with the Duncan Parking Technologies plan is the appropriate step, Jackson said, as it allows the township to move quickly and assess the impact. The mayor said he saw no downside in the trial and added that he was eager to compare the data gathered over the 90 days with the township’s pre-assessment.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/council-authorizes-90-day-trial-1.1093954#sthash.NGw8Lzu0.dpuf

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Addressing special needs housing

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Addressing special needs housing

To The Editor:

Earlier this year, the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) established its latest housing regulations. It was a long-awaited attempt to clarify an increasingly complex situation and to provide our communities with clarity on this issue.

While we can spend hours debating the merits of such rules imposed on our municipalities, we think that it is imperative that attention be paid to a housing shortfall that lies beyond this new set of COAH rules. It is an issue that poses its own set of moral and practical challenges and is a relentless source of anxiety for many New Jersey families.

Specifically, we are talking about our state’s significant shortage of special-needs housing.

Ask any parent of an adult with cognitive, developmental or physical disabilities about housing opportunities and you are likely to get the same concerned look, hear the same compelling plea and feel the same sense of urgency. It is not just a matter of independence for their adult child. It is possibly a matter of life and death, because their adult child may have no place to live once the parents have died.

For them and their children – the literally thousands of people with disabilities waiting on state lists for such housing – the time to act is now. We must address the housing needs of our most vulnerable, and we must provide towns, such as Ridgewood, with more flexibility to make such housing a reality.

To that end, we have introduced Senate Bill 2132 to allow and encourage municipalities to work together to create regional affordable housing opportunities for adults with special needs. The bill would permit any city or town to transfer up to half of its COAH obligation to another city or town within a 10-mile radius, which would receive 1.5 COAH credits per unit of affordable housing to meet its fair share.

Among other things, this legislation would allow built-out communities – those with no space for additional housing – to help meet the needs of its special-needs residents, but to do so in neighboring towns.

In the past, similar regional contribution agreements had been legal and had been successful in creating thousands of affordable homes for people around the state. This bill is different, however, in that it focuses on people with special needs and includes a 10-mile geographical restriction as a common-sense component to keep such housing and services in close proximity – something that will benefit the communities and the families involved.

S-2132 is a significant step toward solving the housing needs of our most vulnerable and a solution that can provide much needed and much deserved relief to many New Jersey families. We therefore urge the Legislature to seize this opportunity and act upon this legislation.

Paul Aronsohn
Mayor, Ridgewood

Kevin O’Toole
State Senator, 40th Legislative District

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-addressing-special-needs-housing-1.1093600

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Reader says So now the Master Plan is something to be tweaked and molded to meet any developers’ needs?

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Reader says So now the Master Plan is something to be tweaked and molded to meet any developers’ needs?

So now changing the Master Plan is reduced to a “regular” negotiable item on the table and is open to regular and frequent changes?

———-
Modifications to the Master Plan should be difficult to implement and should be considered only rarely – when absolutely necessary.

Apparently this mayor and council seem to consider a Master Plan change as one of the many “regular work-a-day tools” at their disposal.
———-

Clearly the ambitious plans of developers do not fit into the “essence” of RW – as evidenced by a need to change the Master Plan.

Changing the “proposed changes” to the Master Plan misses the function of the Master Plan and the problem at hand…
The problem IS NOT that the “original proposed changes” to the Master Plan were too severe.
The problem IS that the developers desires DO NOT FIT AND DO NOT BELONG in RW.

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Ridgewood Board of Education honors record-setting swimmer Charlotte Samuels

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Ridgewood Board of Education honors record-setting swimmer Charlotte Samuels

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 9:49 PM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 9:50 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — Open water swimming sensation Charlotte Samuels smiled widely Monday evening as the Board of Education recognized the 16-year-old athlete’s record-setting feat.

Charlotte — who recently returned from Britain, where she swam the English Channel to become the youngest person to complete open water swimming’s Triple Crown — thanked all the members of Ridgewood’s school board for the honor.

“This is the first time in my career I get to honor someone for breaking a world record,” said Superintendent of Schools Daniel Fishbein, before reading a resolution noting Charlotte’s swimming prowess.

The resolution expressed the board’s congratulations while extending to Charlotte “their best wishes for success in all future endeavors.”

Charlotte received a standing ovation from the 15-member audience, which also included her parents, Steven and Suzanne Samuels.

Sheila Brogan, the school board president, said she was both proud of the Ridgewood High School student, and “in awe” of her.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-board-of-education-honors-record-setting-swimmer-charlotte-samuels-1.1093974#sthash.NHxGxm9p.dpuf

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Lois Lerner breaks silence

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Lois Lerner breaks silence

By RACHAEL BADE | 9/22/14 4:59 AM EDT Updated: 9/22/14 1:13 PM EDT

Employers won’t hire her. She’s been berated with epithets like “dirty Jew.” Federal agents have guarded her house because of death threats. And she’s spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending herself against accusations she orchestrated a coverup in a scandal that has come to represent everything Americans hate about the IRS.

Lois Lerner is toxic — and she knows it. But she refuses to recede into anonymity or beg for forgiveness for her role in the IRS tea party-targeting scandal.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Lerner said in her first press interview since the scandal broke 16 months ago. “I’m proud of my career and the job I did for this country.”

Lerner, who sat down with POLITICO in an exclusive two-hour session, has been painted in one dimension: as a powerful bureaucrat scheming with the Obama administration to cripple right-leaning nonprofits. Interviews with about 20 of her colleagues, friends and critics and a survey of emails and other IRS documents, however, reveal a much more complicated figure than the caricature she’s become in the public eye.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/lois-lerner-breaks-silence-irs-scandal-111181.html#ixzz3E7zD5CXu

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Fresh Graves Point to Undercount of Ebola Toll

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Fresh Graves Point to Undercount of Ebola Toll

By ADAM NOSSITERSEPT. 22, 2014

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — The gravedigger hacked at the cemetery’s dense undergrowth, clearing space for the day’s Ebola victims. A burial team, in protective suits torn with gaping holes, arrived with fresh bodies.

The backs of the battered secondhand vans carrying the dead were closed with twisted, rusting wire. Bodies were dumped in new graves, and a worker in a short-sleeve shirt carried away the stretcher, wearing only plastic bags over his hands as protection. The outlook for the day at King Tom Cemetery was busy.

“We will need much more space,” said James C. O. Hamilton, the chief gravedigger, as a colleague cleared the bush with his machete.

The Ebola epidemic is spreading rapidly in Sierra Leone’s densely packed capital — and it may already be far worse than the authorities acknowledge.

Since the beginning of the outbreak more than six months ago, the Sierra Leone Health Ministry reported only 10 confirmed Ebola deaths here in Freetown, the capital of more than one million people, and its suburbs as of Sunday — a hopeful sign that this city, unlike the capital of neighboring Liberia, had been relatively spared the ravages of the outbreak.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/world/africa/23ebola.html?_r=0

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WH: Americans radicalized in the Middle East back in United States

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WH: Americans radicalized in the Middle East back in United States
By Justin Sink – 09/22/14 11:57 AM EDT

Some of an estimated 100 Americans who have traveled to the Middle East and joined terrorist organizations like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have returned to the United States, a senior administration official said Monday.

At a Monday briefing previewing an administration push for a United Nations resolution to prevent the flow of foreign citizens into conflict zones to join terrorist groups, a senior administration official said that an estimated 15,000 individuals had entered Iraq and Syria to join groups like ISIS and the al Nusra Front. The official said that 2,000 of those foreign fighters were European, and that 100 were Americans.

That number includes Americans “who may have tried to travel or those who have come back,” a second senior administration official said.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/218494-white-house-radicalized-americans-back-in-us

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N.J. firm moving to Philly

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ArtChick(the Rocky Steps)  of ArtChick Photography who also moved from North Jersey to Philly 4 years ago

N.J. firm moving to Philly

September 22, 2014    Last updated: Monday, September 22, 2014, 1:32 PM
The Record
The Associated Press

MARLTON, N.J. – A southern New Jersey firm that manages construction projects around the world is planning to move its headquarters to Philadelphia in the latest move in a battle between New Jersey and Pennsylvania for businesses.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett announced the move of Hill International Inc., on Monday.

He says the company will move 222 jobs to the city over the next three years and has approval for $1.8 million in grants and tax credits

In a statement, Hill President and CEO David Richter says the company was looking to consolidate its operations.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/n-j-firm-moving-to-philly-1.1093728#sthash.dOeIGb33.dpuf