Acting N.J. Attorney General John Hoffman (left) today announced that a former top executive of the East Orange Water Commission, William Mowell, admitted to conspiring to conceal high levels of an industrial solvent in the water supply. (File photo / N.J. Attorney General’s Office)
Former Ridgewood Water employee pleads guilty to bogus water test results
Ex-top official of East Orange water agency admits concealing chemical in drinking water By Christopher Baxter | The Star-Ledger
He was the chief engineer for Ridgewood Water before Gabbert laid him off in 2010.
TRENTON — A former top official of the East Orange Water Commission admitted today to conspiring to hide elevated levels of an industrial solvent in drinking water pumped to more than 80,000 residents in the city and neighboring South Orange, state authorities said.
William Mowell, 52, of Wyckoff, the former assistant executive director and engineer, pleaded guilty to conspiring with the agency’s former executive director, Harry Mansmann, to falsify levels of tetrachloroethene to show the water was safe to drink, the state Attorney General’s Office said.
Exposure to the chemical, used for dry cleaning and other purposes, over a prolonged period of time is a potential cancer risk, according to the federal health department. But state Department of Environmental Protection officials said their own testing showed residents were not at risk and the water was safe.
Businesses Don’t Leave the U.S. Because of Lack of Patriotism
Curtis Dubay / @CurtisDubay / July 24, 2014
Curtis S. Dubay, a leading expert on tax reform, income tax, corporate tax, international taxes, and the estate tax, is a research fellow in tax and economic policy at The Heritage Foundation.
President Obama will deliver a speech today railing against corporate inversions. That is the process whereby a U.S. business merges with a foreign business and moves the new joint business’s headquarters to the foreign country. Inversions have been a hot topic recently because well-known businesses such as Walgreens, Pfizer, and Medtronic have been looking to engage in the process.
The president, like others before him, decried this practice because he believes it displays a lack of patriotism. However, inversions have nothing to do with love of country. They are all about U.S. businesses keeping up with their global competition.
When a U.S. business inverts it continues paying the same amount of tax it always has on its U.S. income. Any business, no matter where headquartered, pays the 35 percent U.S. corporate tax rate – which is the highest corporate tax rate in the world — on income earned within our borders.
The policy causing all the problems is the extra tax the U.S. levies on the income its businesses earn in foreign countries. This is known as a worldwide tax system. The U.S. is the only industrialized country that taxes the foreign earnings of its businesses.
The worldwide system makes it difficult for U.S. businesses to compete with their international brethren because those businesses don’t face an extra layer of tax when they invest in a growing new market. The extra tax U.S. businesses face makes certain investments unattractive for U.S. businesses that remain attractive to their competitors.
As I explained in a recent paper:
Foreign businesses unencumbered by the worldwide U.S. tax system are free to make investments that the U.S. worldwide tax system makes unprofitable for U.S. businesses. In these situations, U.S. businesses decline in standing compared with their foreign competitors because foreign businesses enjoy increased earnings and enhanced global efficiency from making investments that the U.S. worldwide system forces U.S. businesses to forgo.
If U.S. businesses don’t do anything to remedy this disparity, their relative profitability will fall as they take a pass on more and more growth opportunities their foreign competitors eagerly chase. Eventually this would put the viability of their businesses in jeopardy.
The preferred liberal fix to this problem is to make it harder for businesses to invert by requiring foreign shareholders to own a larger portion of a merged business (50 percent compared to 20 percent under current law) before the headquarters can be moved from the U.S. This change would only make matters worse.
Business will still find ways to remain competitive, such as by selling themselves outright to foreign competition. Raising the threshold could backfire by sending the message to businesses that the U.S. tax system will remain uncompetitive and could become more hostile to investment, causing more to want to flee our shores.
The only fix for this problem is tax reform that reduces the corporate tax rate and stops taxing the foreign income of U.S. businesses. Instead of demonizing U.S. businesses that are trying to do best by their shareholders, employees, and customers, Obama would better serve the country by spending his time working with Congress to make tax reform a reality.
Corporate Tax Inversions Made Simple
By Chris Edwards
Numerous responses to my article in the New York Times yesterday about corporate tax inversions indicated a lack of understanding. Related articles by Levin, Johnston, and Huang similarly suggested that further enlightenment is needed.
The following chart should simplify the issue for NYT readers, columnists, and policymakers.
All data from KPMG. Global average is for 134 countries.
Bergen County Exec’s race: Paramus, Tedesco’s home base, could play strategic role in election’s outcome
PARAMUS – Bergen County Freeholder Jim Tedesco has reason to believe that based on his recent electoral history in his hometown of Paramus, the Democratic candidate for Bergen County Executive might have a chance of defeating Republican incumbent Kathleen Donovan in November. (Bonamo/PolitickerNJ)
On July 7, Congressmen Bill Huizenga and Scott Garrett introduced H.R. 5018, the “Federal Reserve Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014.” H.R. 5018 would mandate that the Fed articulate a rule for conducting monetary policy. It would further require that the Fed report to Congress twice a year and compare the actual results with both their chosen rule and with the “Taylor Rule,” which was developed by Stanford economist John B. Taylor in 1992.
Both the Fed itself and progressive economists have reacted to this very mild piece of reform legislation in the way that vampires react to sunlight. They don’t like it one bit.
During her testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on July 16, Fed Chairman Janet Yellen argued that it would be a “grave mistake” for Congress to adopt legislation constraining the Fed’s management of monetary policy, because this would impair the Fed’s ability to manage the economy, and its ability to respond to financial crises. She said that such a law “…would essentially undermine central bank independence.”
Killer snake in Lake Hopatcong? State says it’s unlikely
Traps were set. Sunbathers and boaters were asked to keep a wary eye. The waters and shoreline were searched and searched again. And again. (Hinchliffe/The Bergen Record)
JULY 25, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2014, 12:31 AM BY LIZ WELLINGHORST STAFF WRITER THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Residents will not need to head to their favorite vacation destination to watch a fresh batch of fudge being hand-paddled at the candy shop.
That’s because Kilwins Chocolate and Ice Cream shop, usually found in vacation spots like Florida, is now open on East Ridgewood Avenue. The July 12 soft opening was anything but soft.
“Some have a surprised look when they come into the store, like they’ve been here before,” said Mary Davis, who is co-owner and franchisee of Kilwins with her husband, Philip. “We had people congregating in the front window, especially kids who glue their faces to our storefront window to watch fudge being made.”
Kilwins, founded in Michigan in 1947, is broadening its reach to suburban ‘urban’ areas. This is the second Kilwins to open in New Jersey.
“Everyone walks out of Kilwins with a smile,” said Philip Davis. “We have fudge, chocolate and ice cream. What better experience can you have?”
JULY 24, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2014, 3:24 PM BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER
Ridgewood has given a green light to establishing a Green Team in the village.
With unanimous approval from the Village Council on July 17, the municipality is one step closer to joining more than 400 other towns in working toward Sustainable Jersey certification.
The team will act as an advisory committee to the village and is a mandatory component for towns seeking the benefits of the Sustainable Jersey program.
Municipalities work toward certification by earning points for offering different activities – such as forming a Green Team, holding educational events about the environment, and recycling efforts – and in return are rewarded with access to resources and grant opportunities.
The program awards certification in three levels – bronze, silver, and gold – and towns stay certified for three years before needing to again qualify.
In Ridgewood, Councilman Michael Sedon is leading the effort and will be the liaison to the Green Team once established.
“The certification comes with the prestige of showing that your town is serious about sustainable projects,” Sedon said.
Ridgewood High School students to be issued laptops
JULY 25, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2014, 12:31 AM BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER
On Sept. 4, all high school students will be given a Chromebook as the district moves toward its full embrace of technology.
The Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) introduced a resolution on July 21 to enter into a five-year lease agreement for $485,000, at an annual interest rate of 1.469 percent, to purchase a Chromebook for every student in the high school.
To offset the cost, the district also accepted a $100,000 grant from The Ridgewood Education Foundation in support of the 1:1 Technology Initiative.
“Thank you for this,” Board President Sheila Brogran said to Foundation officer Jennie Smith Wilson. “It helps us put our 1:1 initiative in place. All four grades at the high school will have the opportunity to have Chromebooks.”
For the high school’s roughly 1,750 students, the Chromebooks will cost about $550,000, said Superintendent Daniel Fishbein. The district budgets about $900,000 per year for technology, he said.
Ridgewood began welcoming laptops and iPads in 2012 with a Bring Your Own Device program and purchased carts of Chromebooks for use at the elementary schools.
JULY 25, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2014, 1:21 AM BY CHRIS HARRIS STAFF WRITER THE RECORD Print
RIDGEWOOD — Inadequate parking remains a major factor in the village’s downtown, according to residents who attended a special forum this week.
Most of 50 people at the Wednesday meeting agreed that the prosperity of the village’s Central Business District hinges entirely on parking and providing more spaces for visitors.
For more than 40 years, Ridgewood officials have tried to address the village’s parking woes, yet a dearth remains.
More than 20 people spoke during the Village Hall forum, which was hosted by Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli. Mayor Paul Aronsohn also attended.
Some speakers suggested that Ridgewood explore a joint effort with business owners to acquire and operate a shuttle bus that would circulate throughout the downtown, carting shoppers to and from off-site parking lots.
Others insisted that a parking garage needs to be constructed downtown.
JULY 24, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2014, 3:27 PM BY BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER
More than 50 people attended a meeting on Wednesday at Village Hall to voice their thoughts and concerns about the Central Business District (CBD).
In total, 18 residents spoke, 12 said parking woes stifle growth, and nine called for development in the downtown in terms of both housing and parking structures.
The meeting was triggered by what Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli said is a need for more open discussions about the CBD to get a sense of what people want for their town.
The forum was not meant to address the applications currently before the Planning Board to amend the master plan to allow multifamily housing. In fact, Pucciarelli asked that residents specifically not speak about them before the forum began.
“If we could avoid talking about that, that would be great,” he said, citing the need to give developers due process.
Three main topics were addressed at the forum: parking, development and process.
Ridgewood school district’s business administrator resigns
JULY 25, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2014, 12:31 AM BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER Print
Michael Falkowksi, the district’s business administrator, is resigning after just over one year working at 49 Cottage Place, the Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) headquarters.
Falkowski’s resignation, effective Aug. 22, was part of the consent agenda during a BOE meeting on Monday, July 21.
“I know that your long commute was an issue,” said Board President Sheila Brogan after thanking Falkowski for his work.
Falkowski was hired in April 2013 and began his tenure on July 1, 2013, putting his total time in the district at one year, one month, and 21 days; or 10,008 hours, or 600,480 minutes.
Falkowski did not offer comment during the meeting about his resignation and declined to comment after the meeting. He would not answer questions about the reason behind his resignation or about future employment. Falkowski did not return additional phone calls or emails seeking comment during the week.
Greenspan says bubbles can’t be stopped without ‘crunch’
Former Fed chairman worries about false dawns and the looming Fed exit
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has always been a student of the economy. Since the financial crisis, he’s become a student of human nature.
Sitting in his office with a view of the Washington Monument in the distance, Greenspan is eager to share the insight distilled in his recent book, “The Map and the Territory,” due out in paperback this fall.
‘There is definite evidence the economy is picking up. The financial system is finally beginning to lend. But, what we don’t know is whether, when the recovery gets underway, it is going to run into another false dawn.’
Alan Greenspan to MarketWatch
Greenspan, 88, who was chairman of the U.S. central bank for more than 18 years, from 1987 to 2006, managed to steer the economy through multiple crises, mainly by slashing rates and remaining upbeat. He suffered a remarkable fall from grace after leaving office and has apologized for trusting big banks too much. He has since gone back and re-examined his views on the economy.
Rep Scott Garrett Marks the Fourth Anniversary of Dodd-Frank reminding us of the burden it puts on American taxpayers for endless Wall Street bailouts. Jul 21, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, issued the following statement today to mark the four year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act:
“It’s been four years since President Obama signed Dodd-Frank into law and our economy’s anemic growth since that time is just one example of why it is ineffective. In addition to holding back the economy, Dodd-Frank also puts unsuspecting American taxpayers on the hook for endless Wall Street bailouts. The sad news is that the consequences of this heavy-handed law continue to creep into every U.S. industry. Now more than ever, we need solutions that address the real issues behind the 2008 financial collapse, protect taxpayers, and ensure that the U.S. continues to have the most robust capital markets in the world.”
Federal Highway Administrator in New Jersey division arrested on fraud charges
The feds this morning arrested the Assistant Division Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), New Jersey Division, for allegedly using a straw company to get FHWA grant funds he also oversaw as a public official, and for falsifying related federal disclosure documents, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said. (Politicker Staff)
