In this Aug. 14, 2014 photo, biotech greenhouse associate specialist Derek Haynes replaces tobacco plants in the greenhouse following examination at Medicago USA, Inc. in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Through its plant-based technology, the facility is capable of producing millions of doses of vaccines. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
EBOLA PUTS FOCUS ON DRUGS MADE IN TOBACCO PLANTS
By MALCOLM RITTER — Aug. 15, 2014 10:22 AM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — It’s an eye-catching angle in the story of an experimental treatment for Ebola: The drug comes from tobacco plants that were turned into living pharmaceutical factories.
Using plants this way — sometimes called “pharming” — can produce complex and valuable proteins for medicines. That approach, studied for about 20 years, hasn’t caught on widely in the pharmaceutical industry.
But some companies and academic labs are pursuing it to create medicines and vaccines against such targets as HIV, cancer, the deadly Marburg virus and norovirus, known for causing outbreaks of stomach bug on cruise ships, as well as Ebola.
While most of the work in this area uses a tobacco plant, it’s just a relative of the plant used to make cigarettes.
“It’s definitely not something you smoke,” said Jean-Luc Martre, a spokesman for Medicago, a Canadian company that’s testing flu vaccines made with tobacco plants.
Medicago has a new production facility in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Once approved by federal authorities, it’s expected to be able to make 30 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine a year, or 120 million vaccine doses to fight a major outbreak of “pandemic” flu if the government requests it.
CD 5 race: Bergen GOP Chairman Yudin challenges Cho, national Dems on Israel
By Mark Bonamo | August 14th, 2014 – 2:31pm
HACKENSACK – Some observers may claim that Congressional candidate Roy Cho’s recent trip to Israel was a step beyond what most first-time candidates do. But Bergen Republican Chairman Bob Yudin’s response to the Democrats’ Fifth Congressional District candidate’s visit to Israel was that Cho is out of step with the national Democratic Party.
“Mr. Cho is completely out of step with the rank and file of the Democratic Party. The majority of the rank-and-file Democrats are not supporting the way Israel is defending itself from Hamas terrorists,” Yudin told PolitickerNJ in reference to the ongoing conflict along the frontier of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip that began with a wave of rocket attacks. “The polling data clearly shows that.”
Yudin referred in part to a Gallup poll released last month that indicated that 65 percent of Republicans asked thought Israel’s actions in the current Middle East conflict are justified, with 21 percent believing they are unjustified and the rest expressing no opinion. Of the Democrats polled, 31 percent thought that Israel’s actions were justified, with 47 percent believing they are unjustified and the rest expressing no opinion.
Yudin, whose son and grandson have served in the Israeli Defense Forces, also referred to a report in the Wall Street Journal that indicated that the United States government had put the sending of a batch of Hellfire missiles to Israel meant to aid in the country’s defense on hold.
“President [Barack] Obama is now insisting on holding back armaments that Israel is using to defend itself to pressure Israel into negotiating with the terrorist Hamas organization. It is clear that the Democratic Party does not support Israel’s right to defend itself,” Yudin said. “[Incumbent U.S. Rep.] Scott Garrett (R-5) and the rest of the Republican Party support Israel 100 percent.”
Yudin also noted that Garrett, a six-term incumbent, has a “positive and responsive” relationship with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the prominent pro-Israel lobbying group.
“We’ve got a Republican congressman that not only says that he supports Israel, he practices it,” Yudin, an AIPAC member, said. “We’re talking about the survival of Israel. That’s an important issue. Mr. Cho says he’s for Israel, but his party is not for Israel, and his president is not for Israel.”
Cho, in an interview with PolitickerNJ on Wednesday immediately after his return from his 60-hour-long trip to Israel, refuted Yudin’s views.
“The way in which [Yudin] describes Scott Garrett’s relationship with Israel is problematic, and almost dangerous in a way,” Cho said. “Just because one member of Congress, who happens to be an incumbent, has shown strong support for Israel, regardless of his intentions or motivations, that doesn’t mean that me as a challenger cannot show as strong as support for Israel.
“Hamas has to make a decision as to who they are – are they a terrorist organization, or are they a government that we can negotiate with? Intentionally embedding itself within their own civilian population while they are fighting this war shows that they are not ready,” Cho continued. “My cultural values are those of somebody who grew up in New Jersey and who identifies with the Jewish culture broadly, as well somebody who understands the foreign policy importance of our relationship with Israel. This is an important issue to me regardless of what Scott Garrett or Bob Yudin happens to think about this particular situation. We need leadership in D.C. that is able to connect the dots.”
The Most Interesting Candidate in the World
Column: Jeff Bell and the Republican future
BY: Matthew Continetti
August 15, 2014 5:00 am
Jeff Bell was a reform conservative before it was cool. He’s spent his career arguing with a risk-averse Republican establishment. He pushed Ronald Reagan to embrace the supply-side doctrine of tax cuts before deficit reduction. He spent the 1990s warning the GOP that its tax policy favored investment capital over human capital, corporate interests over working families. He designed a family-friendly flat tax that reduced payroll taxes, increased the child tax credit, taxed capital gains and regular income at the same rate, and ended business expensing. Payroll tax relief and a generous child tax credit are elements of today’s reform conservatism. Bell was there first.
Bell’s career has been a mix of thought and action. He was born and raised in New Jersey, and graduated from Columbia University. He fought in Vietnam. He was an aide to Richard Nixon and to Ronald Reagan, and was active in the conservative movement more generally. In 1978, he upset liberal Republican Clifford Case in the New Jersey Senate primary, losing to Bill Bradley in the general election. He’s the rare political consultant whose views of the world are more expansive than those expressed on Morning Joe.
Garwood man says home’s flag represents Islam, not ISIS, is not anti-American
GARWOOD — A photo of a Garwood home flying a black flag with an Islamic message has gone viral on Twitter after it was posted Tuesday morning, with commenters expressing concern the resident supports the ISIS jihadist group, with whom the flag is sometimes associated. The Winslow Place resident, Mark Dunaway, 44, told NJ.com he has flown the flag for at least 10 years during Ramadan and on Fridays when he goes to mosque without issue, until the photo of his home was posted on Twitter by @Marc_Leibowitz.
By Jessica Remo | NJ Advance Media, for NJ.com
on August 13, 2014 at 6:20 PM, updated August 14, 2014 at 2:16 PM
GARWOOD — A photo of a Garwood home flying a black flag with an Islamic message has gone viral on Twitter after it was posted Tuesday morning, with commenters expressing concern the resident supports the ISIS jihadist group, with whom the flag is sometimes associated.
The Winslow Place resident, Mark Dunaway, 44, told NJ.com he has flown the flag for at least 10 years during Ramadan and on Fridays when he goes to mosque without issue, until the photo of his home was posted on Twitter by @Marc_Leibowitz.
“I understand now that people turn on CNN and see the flag associated with jihad, but that’s not the intention of that flag at all,” Dunaway said. “It says ‘There is only one god, Allah, and the prophet Muhammad is his messenger.’ It’s not meant to be a symbol of hate. Islam is all about unity and peace. I am not a part of any group like that, and I’m not anti-American. I love my country, but I am a Muslim.”
Dunaway said when Garwood police spoke to him Tuesday, he had no idea a photo of his home was on Twitter and he removed the flag voluntarily given the public concern.
The Pentagon gave nearly half a billion dollars of military gear to local law enforcement last year
The events in Ferguson, Missouri this week are an uncomfortable reminder of the militarization of America’s small town law enforcement agencies. The photos coming out of the town–of heavily armed officers in full combat gear squaring off against unarmed protesters–look like images we’re used to seeing from places like Gaza, Turkey, or Egypt, not from a midwestern suburb of 21,000 people.
One of the ways police departments have armed themselves in recent years is through the Defense Department’s excess property program, known as the 1033 Program. It “permits the Secretary of Defense to transfer, without charge, excess U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) personal property (supplies and equipment) to state and local law enforcement agencies (LEAs),” according to the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center.
The 1033 program has transferred more than $4.3 billion in equipment since its inception in 1997. In 2013 alone it gave nearly half a billion dollars worth of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, according tothe program’s website.
Governor Christie is on the Ocean City Music Pier today pushing for another sweeping round of public employee benefit reforms, Save Jerseyans.
It’s timely.
You know what the pension numbers look like because you’re a regular reader. That being said, our obnoxiously gigantic $40 billion in unfunded pension liabilities is eclipsed only by a public employee health benefit program that’s $47 billion in the red. What else could you expect from a state with roughly 81 government employees per square mile?
But it’s not simply a matter of how many people are drawing pensions and health benefits, retired and active. Nope. It’s how much each plan costs! A new report from the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts and the MacArthur Foundation released Wednesday discovered, unsurprisingly, that our state’s public employee health benefits are the highest in the nation – $1,334 on average – as opposed to $963 nation-wide.
Assembly Republican Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) seized upon the reports release to reaffirm the importance of Governor Christie’s newly-convened reform study commission. “Offering benefits at a fair cost to dedicated public employees is the right thing to do,” added O’Scanlon. “Providing Rolls Royce coverage that taxpayers cannot afford is unacceptable. Under this scenario, everyone loses.”
Wiest: It takes a village to support a community garden
AUGUST 15, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2014, 12:31 AM BY BETTY WIEST
When was the last time you sunk your teeth into a luscious red, juicy tomato?
Our identity is all displayed on our New Jersey license plate: “Garden State.” From every corner of the state, agriculture is still alive. People are growing tomatoes, corn, peaches, apples, grapes and more on extensive farm fields to small homeowner plots and in quite a number of municipalities’ community gardens.
New Jersey has marketed “Jersey Fresh” since 1984 in a continuing effort to advertise, promote and identify a quality-grading program to help farmers inform consumers about the availability and variety of fruits and vegetables grown in our state. New Jersey farmers grow more than 100 different varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs. It turns out that we are also ranked nationally in the top 10 as producer of blueberries, peaches, bell peppers, squash, tomatoes and cranberries.
The nickname “Garden State” goes back to 1876 when Abraham Browning, “an attorney, politician, and the owner of Cherry Hill Farm (hence Cherry Hill) coined the term, comparing New Jersey, two-thirds of which was rolling farmland, to a big barrel, open on both ends, from which Pennsylvanians and New Yorkers gobbled up the state’s agricultural bounty. The nickname was cemented in 1954 despite Governor Robert Meyner’s veto saying, ‘I do not believe that the average New Jersey citizen regards his state as more peculiarly identifiable with gardening or farming than any of its other industries or occupations.'” Despite being one of the most densely populated states, farming is ranked third behind pharmaceuticals and tourism, generating $65 billion a year.
Well, that’s fine for all the big farms in the state, but what about the little guy — the homeowner who knows the power of digging in the dirt, growing vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers for his own interest or for friends.
There is a national organization called the American Community Gardening Association whose mission is to “build community by increasing and enhancing community gardening and greening across the United States and Canada.” It recognizes that community greening in urban and rural communities enhances the quality of life. It is a tremendous resource for support.
My yard does not lend itself to vegetable gardening; the backyard is far too shady. Only recently the front yard has become the only sunny spot and I have now incorporated lots of sun-loving perennials I could previously only enjoy from afar.
For people who live in Ridgewood, you should know that we have a community garden and it is located in Maple Park East just off Meadowbrook Road and the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook. It is overseen by the Village’s Parks and Recreation Department. Plots are “rented” for the growing season for $50 for a 10-foot-by-12-foot space.
AUGUST 13, 2014 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2014, 11:20 AM BY RICHARD DE SANTA STAFF WRITER GLEN ROCK GAZETTE
Structural and other improvements now underway in the Glen Rock and Ridgewood sections of the Saddle River County Park are slated for completion from early fall through January 2015, county officials say.
Following a Glen Rock Gazette inquiry this week, Bergen County Parks Department official Alan Koenig listed key elements and timetables of three initiatives: the Glen Rock Pond Renovation, the Glen Rock Bridge Replacement, and the Bank Stabilization Project involving parkland in Glen Rock, Ridgewood and Fair Lawn.
Ongoing through the end of September, the Glen Rock pond renovation includes dredging of an accumulated silt buildup to the waterway’s original depth, “to provide a better and healthier environment for the fish and reptiles, as the water temperatures increase during the summer months,” Koenig said.
Additionally, the banks of the pond will be stabilized with stone work and plantings; an aerating fountain will be added to promote water circulation; a fishing pier and overlook will be added at the pond’s northern end, and new pavilions will be installed for picnic use.
The dredged material is being tested by the county to determine whether it can be reused elsewhere or must be disposed of, according to Koenig, who said results of the test are expected next week.
AUGUST 13, 2014 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2014, 11:20 AM BY RICHARD DE SANTA STAFF WRITER GLEN ROCK GAZETTE
Structural and other improvements now underway in the Glen Rock and Ridgewood sections of the Saddle River County Park are slated for completion from early fall through January 2015, county officials say.
Following a Glen Rock Gazette inquiry this week, Bergen County Parks Department official Alan Koenig listed key elements and timetables of three initiatives: the Glen Rock Pond Renovation, the Glen Rock Bridge Replacement, and the Bank Stabilization Project involving parkland in Glen Rock, Ridgewood and Fair Lawn.
Ongoing through the end of September, the Glen Rock pond renovation includes dredging of an accumulated silt buildup to the waterway’s original depth, “to provide a better and healthier environment for the fish and reptiles, as the water temperatures increase during the summer months,” Koenig said.
Additionally, the banks of the pond will be stabilized with stone work and plantings; an aerating fountain will be added to promote water circulation; a fishing pier and overlook will be added at the pond’s northern end, and new pavilions will be installed for picnic use.
The dredged material is being tested by the county to determine whether it can be reused elsewhere or must be disposed of, according to Koenig, who said results of the test are expected next week.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/recreation/bergen-county-upgrading-glen-rock-section-of-park-1.1066674#sthash.NxHwY2uv.dpuf
Ridgewood resident’s monitoring of brook helps village locate issue
AUGUST 14, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2014, 3:28 PM BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER
Doug Goodell points to a tree in his backyard where water from the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook reached during the flash flood on Aug. 1.
He walks onto a stone patio toward his Mulberry Place home, showing where it reached during Hurricane Irene in 2011.
A few big steps forward marks where the waters reached during Hurricane Floyd in 1999.
“I use this as a gauge,” Goodell said of his patio, which is marked with black lines that note the distance in feet from the top of the brook’s retaining wall.
For nearly half a century, the village resident has documented the flooding of the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook, and has earned the unofficial title of the go-to data man in the municipality.
Following Hurricane Irene, he put together a book for the village full of photos and information on the flood waters and has made himself available to field questions from village officials. He served on a flood committee for the village in the 1970s and on the Planning Board in the ’80s. A 100-page report he wrote, including drawings of the bridges in the village with flood elevations and flood predictions, is housed in the Ridgewood Library.
“I’d just as soon not have it,” Goodell said good-naturedly of his unofficial position.
Ferguson, Mo., crisis echoes in Bergen County debate
AUGUST 14, 2014, 9:27 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2014, 12:11 AM BY JEAN RIMBACH AND JOHN C. ENSSLIN STAFF WRITERS THE RECORD
What had been a local debate over the use of surplus military armored vehicles for law enforcement in Bergen County intensified Thursday when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder criticized the use of similar equipment to quell looting and civil unrest in Ferguson, Mo.
Holder issued a statement that condemned the violence by both civilians and police in the aftermath of the fatal shooting Saturday of an unarmed black 18-year-old by a white police officer. He also questioned the use of military vehicles that Ferguson police obtained through a federal program.
“At a time when we must seek to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the local community, I am deeply concerned that the deployment of military equipment and vehicles sends a conflicting message,” Holder stated. “At my direction, Department officials have conveyed these concerns to local authorities.”
His remarks drew immediate parallels to the debate now raging in Bergen County, where the Sheriff’s office has moved to obtain two MRAPs – “mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles” – through a U.S. Department of Defense program that has distributed some 600 of the vehicles to law enforcement agencies around the country in the past year.
The issue also has become a major factor in Bergen political races this year, including County Executive Kathleen Donovan’s bid for re-election.
Donovan has questioned the move by Bergen Sheriff Michael Saudino, a fellow Republican, to acquire the vehicles, saying that it unnecessarily “militarizes” police operations in Bergen County.
A city ripped apart: Heavily-armed SWAT teams fire tear gas on demonstrators and arrest two journalists in FOURTH night of clashes over the shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown
Ferguson, Missouri, endured a fourth night of pitched battles between police and protestors SWAT officers and 500 protestors faced-off in St. Louis suburb Tear gas was then fired as the crowd chanted ‘Hands Up! Don’t Shoot’ Smoke bombs were also lobbed into the crowd after dark Protestors responded by attempting to throw Molotov cocktails Earlier two reporters were arrested and then released without charge Demonstrations in the St Louis suburb were sparked by police shooting of an unarmed teenager Michael Brown on Saturday night Missouri Governor Jay Nixon cancelled all appearances on Wednesday night and said he would visit Ferguson on Thursday
By JAMES NYE FOR MAILONLINE and ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 20:38 EST, 13 August 2014 | UPDATED: 16:36 EST, 14 August 2014
Heavily armed SWAT police trained their guns on the public and fired tear gas in Ferguson, Missouri, last night as racial unrest over the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teen rocked the St. Louis suburb for the fourth night running.
An estimated 500 people, who had been protesting 18-year-old Michael Brown’s death on Saturday, ignored the night curfew imposed by police and instead faced-off against officers chanting ‘Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!’
After repeatedly asking them to disperse, the riot police then fired tear gas into the crowd to break it up, causing scenes that resembled a war zone as another night of clashes was sparked between authorities and furious protestors.
The protestors that remained entered into pitched street battles with police and lobbed Molotov cocktails at the camouflage-clad officers who responded with more tears gas and smoke bombs although there were no immediate reports of injuries but at least 18 arrests.
Libertarian, Liberal Lawmakers Share Concerns About Police Tactics in Ferguson
As many Americans turned to Twitter TWTR +2.67% to follow the chaos unfolding in Ferguson, Mo., some members of Congress — currently on August recess — tiptoed onto social media to weigh in as well.
The reactions came from across the political spectrum, with many calling for peaceful protests but also expressing serious concerns over the tactics used by police. The confrontations between police and protesters came after the weekend shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.
Rep. Justin Amash (R., Mich.), a conservative with libertarian leanings, was one of the first to tweet, calling the reports from Ferguson “frightening” and asking “Is this a war zone or a US city?” He said the government was escalating tensions with use of military equipment and tactics.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) tweeted: “This is America, not a war zone. The people of #Ferguson just want answers. We all want answers.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.), an avid user of social media, tweeted a photo of people holding a sign that read, “Peaceful protest is a right.”
Missouri Sens. Roy Blunt (R.) and Claire McCaskill (D.) also used Twitter to assure constituents they were working to resolve the situation. Mr. Blunt said he was “staying in contact w/ local, state & federal officials & urge everyone to please be safe in #Ferguson,” while Ms. McCaskill saying she was “continuing to work the phones to de escalate the tense and unacceptable situation in Ferguson.”
Maybe Johnny Can’t Read Because These Workers Crowd Out Teachers
Kelsey Harkness / @kelseyjharkness / August 13, 2014
Teachers and other staff hold a ‘back to school’ meeting at K.W. Barrett Elementary School in Arlington, Va. (Photo: K.W. Barrett/Creative Commons)
Half of America’s public school employees aren’t classroom teachers, according to a new study. Instead, they’re non-teaching personnel such as instructional aides, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, secretaries, and librarians.
It hasn’t always been this way.
The study from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a nonprofit think tank specializing in education policy, found that the number of non-teaching staff grew by 130 percent from 1970 to 2010. Their salaries and benefits account for one-quarter of current education spending.
To show where each state is on the spectrum between least and most non-teaching personnel per 1,000 students, Fordham created this map:
Chart: Thomas B. Fordham Institute
So why are non-teachers on the rise? The Fordham Institute left that up to school district and state education officials to explain.
By using national, state, and local data, though, “The Hidden Half: School Employees Who Don’t Teach” attempts to draw attention to what some education experts consider an alarming trend.
By a wide margin, Nevada and South Carolina public schools had the fewest non-teaching workers per 1,000 students, at 26 and 28 respectively, the study found. Virginia, Vermont, and Wyoming had the most at 104, as the chart below shows.
Lindsey Burke, the Will Skillman Fellow in education policy at The Heritage Foundation, argues for reducing the number of non-instructional and administrative positions in public schools:
States should consider cutting costs in areas that are long overdue for reform and pursue systemic reform to improve student achievement. Specifically, states should refrain from continuing to increase the number of non-teaching staff in public schools.
Michael Petrilli, president of the Fordham Institute, told The Daily Signal that the results of the study should encourage policymakers to “raise tough questions about whether these trends are helping or hurting children.”
Among the most significant findings of “The Hidden Half’,” the authors say in a release on the study:
Since 1950, school staffing has increased nearly 400 percent, and non-teaching personnel played a major part in that growth. Passage of several pieces of federal legislation — Section 504, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, and Title IX (Equal Opportunity in Education Act) — likely were instrumental in changing the makeup of schools.
America spends far more on non-teaching staff (as a percentage of education spending) than do most of the nation’s economic peers in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S. spends more than double what Korea, Mexico, Finland, Portugal, Ireland, Luxembourg, Austria, and Spain do. Only Denmark spends more.
States vary in staffing their schools, but much of the variation is because of differences within their borders. States with a large proportion of the population living in cities tend to have fewer workers per student. (See chart below.) The category of teacher aides has been the largest gainer over the past 40 years. From 1970 to 2010, aides went from nearly non-existent to the largest group of workers other than teachers.
School districts vary greatly in number of employees, but the differences likely stem from staffing decisions made by leaders. Although factors such as location (rural, suburban, urban) and number of students in special education matter, they don’t explain most of the variation across school districts.
How Would You React To A Neighbor Flying The ISIS Flag, Because It Just Happened Here In The U.S.
Aresident in Garwood, New Jersey is generating a firestorm of controversy for flying the flag of terror group – ISIS.
A photo of the flag was posted on social media by Twitter user, Marc Leibowitz:
According to our friends at the Washington Free Beacon, police reported the residents who were displaying the flag “voluntarily” took it down.
Here’s the thing: the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. However, the oath of allegiance which is taken by all immigrants who become U.S. citizens says that they will protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies “foreign and domestic.” And ISIS even threatened to bring jihad to the White House.
In addition, an ISIS sympathizer in the United States who pledged allegiance to the terrorist group was recently detained at JFK without bail. Clearly, ISIS supporters and possibly even members of the group itself are here in the United States. As this is a national security issue, we can only hope that the proper steps are taken to prevent any threats from ISIS carrying out their plans.
