Networking Event July 16th Wednesday
Scott Scarpelli- NJ <[email protected]>
1:08 PM
Networking Event July 16th Wednesday from 5:30pm to 7:30pm in Ramsey
BRADY’S at the Station 5 W. Main St, Ramsey (Upstairs) Cost $15 at the door includes 1 FREE drink and hot food
North NJ Networking Events invites you for a few hours of Networking & socializing at a great local establishment Brady’s in Ramsey. The event will take place upstairs, which opens up to a outdoor patio weather permitting, it will be on rain or shine but we welcome the nicer weather. Please RSVP by 7/14 to [email protected]
July 11, 2014, 9:03 AM Last updated: Friday, July 11, 2014, 10:32 AM
Associated Press
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SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The solar panels that Idaho inventor Scott Brusaw has built aren’t meant for rooftops. They are meant for roads, driveways, parking lots, bike trails and, eventually, highways.
Brusaw, an electrical engineer, says the hexagon-shaped panels can withstand the wear and tear that comes from inclement weather and vehicles, big and small, to generate electricity.
“We need to rebuild our infrastructure,” said Brusaw, the head of Solar Roadways, based in Sandpoint, Idaho, about 90 miles northeast of Spokane, Washington. His idea contains “something for everyone to like.”
JULY 4, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 4, 2014, 12:31 AM BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER Print
Eight graduates at Ridgewood High School’s Project Graduation celebration at Benjamin Franklin Middle School (BF) on June 25 were removed from the all-night party and found in possession or under the influence of alcohol, according to a police report. Of the eight, one was taken to Valley Hospital while the rest were released to their parents, police said.
Following the commencement ceremony on June 24, seniors were taken by bus to a dinner dance. Between the dance and Project Graduation, the teens have time to change out of their white dresses and tuxedos at home before arriving by their own transportation to BF at midnight. Police officers Shayne James and John Ward Jr. were stationed at the event and monitored the new graduates as they walked into the celebration until they left, around 6 a.m.
Superintendent Daniel Fishbein said on July 2 that students next year would be taken immediately from the dance to BF, where they will change to prevent time for the students to drink or get alcohol.
“We do all types of things from just talking to them and having the parents talk to them, but unfortunately kids are resourceful and hopefully that one change of not having time between when they get off the bus and get changed at home will help alleviate that,” Fishbein said.
Glen Rock resident named president of local Rotary Club
JUNE 27, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2014, 12:31 AM GLEN ROCK GAZETTE Print
The Rotary Club of Ridgewood A.M., which covers the towns of Glen Rock, Ridgewood and Ho-Ho-Kus, has named Glen Rock resident Matt Nolfo as its president for the 2014-15 year.
The Club is an international service club which focuses on several projects both locally and abroad, including the Dictionary Project, the Gift of Life Foundation, local Habitat for Humanity projects, shoe, clothing and book drives, scholarships and involvement in many other local charities as well as many international service projects, particularly an orphanage and school in Haiti.
The Club is always looking for new members and is an active club that meets every Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. at It’s Greek to Me in Ridgewood. There are several Glen Rock residents in the Club. Although Rotary is primarily a service organization, the camaraderie often leads to enhanced business opportunities.
Ridgewood school district’s energy program produces results
JULY 11, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2014, 12:31 AM BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER Print
A “behavior modification” program designed to conserve the district’s energy use has turned in significant savings, but when put against the cost of hiring an energy conservation company, the district is just breaking even.
Last year, the Board of Education signed on for a three-year contract with energy-savings company Cenergistic for $168,600 per year and hired an energy specialist for $75,000 per year.
Although the data is not complete, Business Administrator Michael Falkowski told the Board of Education at a meeting on Monday, June 23, that a conservative estimate of savings puts them at 14.3 percent, or $128,235.
It’s been difficult to fully calculate energy savings, said Falkowski, because the district is in the process of disputing some bills with PSE&G. Falkowski said savings could be about 20 percent when all the information is compiled.
If the district does not break even, Cenergistic will fund the difference because it’s a “no loss” contract. When Cenergistic first pitched the program, they hoped for Ridgewood to see a savings of more than $3 million over 10 years, representing a roughly 30 percent reduction in expected energy costs.
“It’s been difficult to produce a comparison from year to year when the data isn’t available,” Falkowski said.
Ridgewood school district’s five-year math review under way
JULY 11, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2014, 12:31 AM BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER Print
With big changes in state testing and curriculum standards coming down the pike, the Ridgewood school district is embarking on a five-year review of its math program.
Although curriculum reviews are routine – Superintendent Daniel Fishbein said they are done every five years – part of the process will look at the sequence of classes and lessons to make sure math topics are adequately covered in time for the standardized testing dates.
“The Common Core has come through and has changed the landscape,” said Greg McDonald, supervisor of mathematics, science, and technology.
The review began during the 2013-14 school year with a committee of teachers and administrators researching best practices and analyzing the current program, along with compiling standardized test results and conducting satisfaction surveys.
In response to one question, 100 percent of teachers in grades K-8 said they supplement the current math program in some form.
Marcia Ringel responds to Mayor and Deputy Mayor Personal Attacks on her
Marcia here. Hit a nerve, I believe. Why attack me endlessly instead of addressing the points raised? I have lowered the tenor of colloquy? I don’t think so.
Village attorney ought to sue me for slander, quoth the Deputy Mayor. Nothing I said was slanderous–merely embarrassing.
Mayor himself has gone around town telling people I don’t like the handicapped. THAT’S slander.
Everybody who thinks I ought to be ashamed of myself, as the Deputy Mayor also asserted, please raise your hand. Or maybe some other persons ought to be ashamed.
The Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli called Marcia Ringel’s statement last night at the Village Council meeting a “slanderous personal attack”
The Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli called Marcia Ringel’s statement last night at the Village Council meeting a “slanderous personal attack” on the Village Attorney Mathew Rogers according to videotape of the meeting on the Village website. He added “perhaps he can sue you”.
We know that Mr. Rogers can’t sue Ms. Ringel. A standard defense to defamation is privilege. When the defendant is a certain type of public official or the statement was during certain official proceedings, the
statement was “privileged” and therefore the plaintiff cannot successfully sue for slander.
However, Ms. Ringel may be able to sue Mr. Pucciarelli for slander. Ironically, after Mayor Aronsohn admonished the tone of Ms. Ringel’s statements and asked everyone from now on to “put aside accusations” and also “put aside personal attacks”, Mr. Pucciarelli could not stop himself. He said Ms. Ringel is “a very angry person” and is “loose with the truth”. I think Mr. Pucciarelli himself would agree he committed slander.
I guess it’s up to Ms. Ringel to decide if she wants to sue or just get an apology for this slanderous personal attack by Mr. Pucciarelli. We will see at the next meeting or before. To paraphrase, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the Village Council.”
Watch our elected officials in action here:
https://www.ustream.tv/recorded/49862179
Ringel statement begins shortly after 9 minutes.
Pucciarelli response begins at around 13 minutes. He goes into a spin like John Belushi in one of the characters he used to do during the news segment of SNL where he fell off his chair at the end.
Lois Lerner Unwittingly Reveals IRS Instant Messaging System
July 10, 2014 Windows Media
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Lois Lerner has unwittingly revealed that the IRS had an internal instant messaging system above and beyond their e-mail system. So when she says that the dog ate her e-mails and that the computer crashed and it had seven months of e-mails or seven, whatever, however many disappeared, I don’t remember ’cause it was bogus, it doesn’t matter.
It turns out that the IRS has this internal messaging system sort of like the old prof notes in the old, old days of the Iran-Contra crisis. Old Microsoft stuff. I don’t know what it is, but it was above and beyond e-mail and Lois Lerner was caught warning other IRS workers to be careful what they put in their e-mails because they might end up being seen. They might end up being subpoenaed so be careful what you put in your e-mails. And nobody, up until that moment, knew the IRS had its own private IM system.
Black Americans: The True Casualties of Amnesty Democrats throw black voters under the bus. By A. J. Delgado
One of the sleeper issues surrounding the debate on amnesty for illegal immigrants – an inconvenient one that no proponent of a widespread amnesty wishes to acknowledge – is the devastating effect so-called immigration reform will have on African Americans.
The black unemployment rate is almost 11 percent, far higher than that of any other group profiled by labor statistics. African Americans are disproportionately employed in lower-skilled jobs – the very same jobs immigrants take. As Steven Camarota asked in a recent column, why double immigration when so many people already aren’t working?
Racism? Or Intrigue? Bob Can’t Decide
Jul. 09 Bob Menendez
By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
You couldn’t make this crap up if you tried, Save Jerseyans.
When news initially broke of an alleged Dominican sex scandal involving U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, New Jersey’s senior legislator in the federal upper chamber decried the kerfuffle as the product of “anonymous, faceless, nameless individuals from right-wing sources seeking to destroy a lifetime of work.”
Now Menendez is blaming the story on Cuban intelligence, an angle first advanced by Rep. Albio Sires. Seriously.
Tucker Carlson, whose Daily Caller initially reported the sex scandal, can’t help but take note of the evolving character of Menendez’s operative theory. “I guess this means Menendez no longer thinks the story is part of a racist plot against him, as he initially suggested,” Carlson told the Business Insider. “But Cuban intelligence? It’s a bizarre claim, and self-serving, and they’ve produced no evidence of any kind to prove it. Obviously we’re skeptical, but we’re making calls right now to see what we can dig up.”
Five Reasons Not to Raise the Gas Tax
By Randal O’Toole
This article appeared in Huffington Post on July 3, 2014.
The federal Highway Trust Fund is running out of money, and some senators have proposed to fix the problem by raising gas taxes. This, however, is the wrong solution because it treats the symptom, and not the underlying reason for the shortfall. Here are five reasons for not increasing gas taxes.
1. The problem is not a shortage of funds but an excess of spending.
For more than 50 years after Congress created the Highway Trust Fund in 1956 it was able to avoid a shortage of funds by a simple measure: it didn’t spend more than was collected in gas taxes. That changed in 2008, when tax revenues declined due to the financial crisis but Congress continued to spend as if the revenues were growing.
Since 2008, Congress has had to replenish the trust fund with $55 billion in general funds. This isn’t, however, a subsidy to highways; in the last decade, Congress has diverted well over $55 billion of gas taxes to non-highway projects.
Increasing the gas tax would simply allow Congress to increase spending on often-frivolous projects that do nothing for highway travelers, with no guarantee that it would keep spending below revenues. Thus, in two or three years we would be likely to see the fund once again run out of money.
2. Our highway infrastructure isn’t crumbling.
Contrary to popular reports, our highways and bridges are in great shape. Despite the fact that Congress has diverted well over a fifth of gas taxes to non-highway projects, the number of bridges considered “structurally deficient” has declined by more than 50 percent since 1990 and the average smoothness of our roads has increased every year.
Recent bridge collapses in Minnesota and Washington weren’t due to inadequate maintenance. One fell due to a construction error that maintenance could not have detected or fixed; the other fell because an oversized truck illegally tried to cross the bridge. Increasing federal gas taxes could not have prevented these or other recent highway problems.
3. Increasing federal gas taxes won’t reduce local road subsidies.
Although state highways pretty much pay for themselves out of user fees such as gas taxes and tolls, city and county roads require billions in subsidies from other taxes. Increasing federal highway taxes won’t end those subsidies. Instead, we need a new way to pay for roads to insure that highway users get what they pay for and pay for what they get.
4. Higher gas taxes don’t address increasing fuel economy.
Cars are getting more fuel-efficient each year and growing numbers of electric cars don’t use gasoline at all. Some people think that owners of more fuel-efficient cars should pay lower tax rates, but they already save by buying less fuel and many received tax breaks when they bought their cars.
The purpose of user fees is to help consumers understand the true cost of what they use and help producers know where to invest in more facilities. Highway user fees should be proportional to how much people use highways, not how much fuel they use. Gas taxes were an adequate user fee when most cars got about the same miles per gallon, but they make less sense today.
5. Raising gas taxes won’t solve our number one highway problem: congestion.
Gas taxes were originally implemented by the states nearly a hundred years ago because they were cheap to collect and congestion wasn’t a serious problem. Today, Americans waste more than $100 billion a year sitting in traffic, and the main reason for congestion is that roads are improperly priced.
Gas taxes are an inefficient user fee because they don’t tell drivers that it costs more to drive on some roads than others or during some parts of the day than others. Oregon and other states are developing electronic fee collection systems that insure that people pay for what they use while protecting privacy.
These systems can eliminate congestion by actually increasing the rush-hour capacity of our roads. Rather than raise gas taxes, Congress should take steps towards implementing a new user fee system that preserves privacy, ends congestion, and eliminates highway subsidies.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Former U.S. Secretary of State at Bookends July 17th She will signs copies of her new book: Hard Choices Thurs., July 17th @ 6:00pm
Note: Books must be purchased in STORE from Bookends. Your Bookends receipt is your ticket. Every person must have at least one book. Maximum 2 books per person. It is recommended that books be purchased days in advance of the event. No Refunds or Exchanges. Sorry, no phone orders
Call Bookends at 201-445-0726 with additional questions.
Bookends is a legendary New Jersey Landmark! We are known for our incredible author events and have hosted well over 1,000 authors in the past 15 years!
All books MUST be purchased from BOOKENDS for any of our events and a valid Bookends receipt must be presented for entry.
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt. Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change. Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.
While we try to ensure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
Missed one of our events? We have Signed Books from some of our recent signings. Call the store to order 201-445-0726.
See Website for details at www.book-ends.com
If you plan on attending the Hillary Clinton signing, it is recommended that you buy the books DAYS ahead. We are open everyday including Sunday. Sorry no phone or mail orders. Everyone attending, must have their own book purchased at Bookends and have a valid Bookends receipt.
Execs on notice after Hillary’s book sales tank
By Emily Smith and Ian Mohr
July 8, 2014 | 9:31pm
There’s hand-wringing and finger-pointing at Simon & Schuster over the soft performance of Hillary Clinton’s “Hard Choices,” for which she got a $14 million advance, sources said — and which was replaced at No. 1 on the best-seller list this week by an “exposé” about Hillary and Bill Clinton.
The former secretary of state’s tome sold 161,000 copies in its first three weeks, according to Nielsen BookScan — but 85,000 of those were sold in the first week. That number has dropped sharply to 48,000 and 28,000 in subsequent weeks, with the most recent numbers due out Wednesday.
Simon & Schuster shipped an optimistic 1 million copies to stores. Hillary reportedly got $8 million for her last book for the publisher, “Living History,” which sold 438,000 copies in its first week and more than 1.15 million overall.
Adding insult to injury, the new book was pushed from the No. 1 spot on the New York Times best-seller list this week by Edward Klein’s story of the Clintons’ pained relationship with Barack and Michelle Obama, “Blood Feud.” A source close to Hillary has blasted the book, along with its author, as “dastardly” and a combination of “pathological lying, hate and just flat-out creepiness.”
NORWALK, Conn. — Start in Room 4, just beyond the reception area: A man is having blood drained from a bruised finger. Over in Room 1, a woman is being treated for eye trouble. Next door, in Room 2, a boy is having his throat swabbed.
For more than eight hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, an assortment of ailments is on display at the tidy medical clinic on Main Avenue here. But all of the patients have one thing in common: No one is being treated at a traditional doctor’s office or emergency room.
Instead, they have turned to one of the fastest-growing segments of American health care: urgent care, a common category of walk-in clinics with uncommon interest from Wall Street. Once derided as “Doc in a Box” medicine, urgent care has mushroomed into an estimated $14.5 billion business, as investors try to profit from the shifting landscape in health care.
The office here is part of PhysicianOne Urgent Care. Bankrolled by two private investment companies, PhysicianOne has grown into an eight-clinic operation, the largest of its kind in Connecticut, with plans for even greater expansion.
But what is happening here is also playing out across the nation, as private equity investment firms, sensing opportunity, invest billions in urgent care and related businesses. Since 2008, these investors have sunk $2.3 billion into urgent care clinics. Commercial insurance companies, regional health systems and local hospitals are also looking to buy urgent care practices or form business relationships with them.
The business model is simple: Treat many patients as quickly as possible. Urgent care is a low-margin, high-volume proposition. At PhysicianOne here, most people are in and out in about 30 minutes. The national average charge runs about $155 per patient visit. Do 30 or 35 exams a day, and the money starts to add up.
Urgent care clinics also have a crucial business advantage over traditional hospital emergency rooms in that they can cherry-pick patients. Most of these centers do not accept Medicaid and turn away the uninsured unless they pay upfront. Hospital E.R.s, by contrast, are legally obligated to treat everyone.
