10th Annual Wiffle for Cancer Tournament on Sunday, June 1 The 10th Annual Wiffle for Cancer Tournament takes place on Sunday, June 1, 2014, at Ridgewood High School, 627 East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, starting at 12:00 noon. Online registration for the tournament is available at www.wiffleforcancer.org. Teams consist of 3 to 5 players and the registration fee is $50 per team. Each participant in the tournament will receive a 2014 tournament t-shirt. Tournament sponsorship opportunities are also available, and additional donations are always welcome. All proceeds of the tournament will benefit the Nick Currey Fund for Ewing Sarcoma Research. The Fund was established in memory of Nick Currey, Ridgewood High School Class of 2004, who lost his 14-month battle against Ewing sarcoma on November 3, 2005. So come out, have some fun and do some good! For further information about the tournament and the Nick Currey Fund, please visit our website, www.wiffleforcancer.org, or contact Ralph Currey at [email protected].
SECRET GARDENS TOUR of Ridgewood Sun, June 01, 2014 Time: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
All around Ridgewood and area, All around Ridgewood and community.
There will be nine (9) private gardens on a self guided tour beginning at the Ridgewood Public Library. Tickets are $25 advance sale or $30 after May 28th.
https://njclubs.esiteasp.com/womengardenersofridgewood/home.nxg or call 201-560-9977. Presented by Women Gardeners of Ridgewood
The Women Gardeners of Ridgewood A Proud History
By Roberta Svarre
In 2005, The Women Gardeners of Ridgewood (also referred to as, “The Women Gardeners” or “the Club”) celebrated its 80th year of operation. The organization owes its name to the fact that a “Garden Club of Ridgewood” was organized in 1914, but its membership was restricted to men. Resentment at this exclusion motivated a group of dedicated women to form “The Women Gardeners of Ridgewood” under the leadership of Mrs. C.W. Stockton in 1925. The club had twenty members and was a charter member of The Garden Club of New Jersey when it was organized. No record of the men’s club remains.
During the Depression years of 1932-33, The Women Gardeners of Ridgewood was unable to pay dues to the state organization and instead became part of the Garden Department of the Women’s Club of Ridgewood. That relationship continued until 1945, when membership in The Garden Club of New Jersey was reinstated.
Some of the longest continuing members of The Women Gardeners of Ridgewood remember serving as joint Hospitality Chairmen. Since the club met in member’s homes, part of the position included hauling borrowed chairs from Van Emburgh’s Funeral Home to the home of the meeting hostess and back.
The Club has a long tradition of community service. For many years members would travel to the Veteran’s Hospital in East Orange, where they would decorate the day rooms and chapel and make tray arrangements.
That tradition continues on the local level today. The Women Gardeners designed and maintain the plantings at the Ridgewood Public Library and provides weekly flower arrangements for the library lobby. The Club designed the garden for the Share house for elderly residents on Prospect Street and supported the garden at the Children’s Services and Family Counseling building.
The Women Gardeners of Ridgewood also provides tray favors for Meals on Wheels during the holiday season and makes centerpieces for the fundraising activities of various local charities. The Club has participated in the showhouse at Skylands Manor, considered an exhibition opportunity for area garden clubs.
The Club is proud of its most recent addition, a Junior Program, “Green Kids” which was started September 2007. Designed for children Grades 3 through 6, this program meets monthly to explore and discover nature, science, gardening, art, birding, weather, recycling, environment and our senses.
As part of its public education efforts, The Women Gardeners present semi-annual Garden Education Day featuring major speakers, workshops and/or boutiques.
The activities of the club are supported by a semi-annual garden tour called “SECRET GARDENS OF RIDGEWOOD.” Begun as part of Ridgewood’s centennial celebration in 1994, Secret Gardens of Ridgewood has become one of New Jersey’s premier garden tours, with visitors coming from all over the metropolitan region. More than 800 visitors toured the gardens in 2008.
Village of Ridgewood Memorial Day Service – May 26
American Legion Post 53 will conduct a Memorial Day service at 11am, Monday, May 26 at Memorial Park at Van Neste Square. All residents are invited to attend. Please bring a chair or blanket.
Graydon Pool Memberships – Available to All Are Now on Sale
The Village Council and the Ridgewood Department of Parks and Recreation are excited to announce memberships are now on sale for the upcoming summer season and all are invited to join the Graydon Pool facility as season members for the 2014 summer season. Come enjoy fun in the sun so close to home! Opening day is Saturday, May 31st.
Pool features include a shaded playground, water play fountains, shade kites, Adirondack chairs, picnic area, sheltered pavilion, charcoal grills, and The Water’s Edge Café. Additional amenities include a lending library of reading books, volleyball, basketball, ping-pong tables, shuffleboard, four-squares and hop-scotch. Special programs include “Storytime Under a Tree” for the little ones and swim instruction for children and adults, as well as an adaptive swim class. The Graydon Swim Team welcomes youth members, ages 8 to 14.
Resident fees are $120 per adult, $110 per child (ages 2 through 15) and $30 for seniors. Non-resident adults will be charged $200 and children, ages 2 through 15, will be charged $175 for the13 week season.
Badges are now on sale and can be purchased from the comfort of home on Community Pass at www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass (Visa and MasterCard are accepted). In person registration assistance will be available Saturdays, May 10 and May 17, 10:00 am to 12 noon, at the Graydon Pool Badge Office (onsite at the pool), 259 North Maple Avenue. Badges may be purchased daily throughout the operating season, May 31st through Septemer 1st.
Details are available at www.ridgewoodnj.net/graydon or you may call the Recreation Office at 201-670-5560 with any questions or if special accommodations are needed.
“Can”struction at Old Paramus Church Needs Canned Food Donations On May 18th in the fellowship hall of Old Paramus Church, there will be a “Can”struction contest with the Sunday School participants acting as construction teams. To make their “can”struction possible they need cans of food in all sizes and shapes . Beginning now, you may drop off at the Education Building, any cans of food to be donated to the local food pantries. There is a box there, just inside the main door for your donation. Hours are 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Monday to Friday, or Sunday mornings. The more cans they have, the bigger and better the construction projects will be. To be a part of the team, just come to Sunday School if you are between the ages of 5 and 13, at 10:00 a.m any Sunday. To watch the contest, come to the Fellowship Hall, following the worship service, about 11:00 on May 18. The entire community is invited. Following the judging of the “can”struction projects, all the cans of food will be donated to the Social Services Association in Ridgewood and the Center for Food Action in Mahwah to feed the hungry. The church is located at 660 E. Glen Ave., Ridgewood. There is ample free parking. If you have additional questions, visit the church website, www.oldparamus.org or call the church office 201 444-5933
The next Regular Public Meeting of the Ridgewood Board of Education will be held on Monday, May 19, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting will be aired live on FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77. Or it may be viewed live via the district website atwww.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the “Link in Live” tab.
Click here to view the agenda for the May 19, 2014 Regular Public Meeting..
2014-2015 Budget Information Taking effect this year, the Ridgewood Board of Education has opted to move the annual school board elections from April to November, thereby eliminating the public vote on the proposed general tax levy if it is at or below the statutory tax levy cap. Since next year’s proposed budget falls within the mandated cap, it will not be put to public vote. The Board approved the 2014-2015 budget at its April 28 Regular Public meeting.
Click here to view the Budget edition of Newsline, sent to Ridgewood residents in May. The newsletter provides information about next year’s school budget.
Click here to view the Fiscal Year 2015 User Friendly Budget.
Click here to view the Fiscal Year 2015 full budget.
Click here to view the 2014-2015 Budget Presentation.
To send a question or comment about the 2014-2015 school budget, please email the superintendent [email protected].
Federal health-care subsidies may be too high or too low for more than 1 million Americans
By Amy Goldstein and Sandhya Somashekhar, Published: May 16 E-mail the writers
The government may be paying incorrect subsidies to more than 1 million Americans for their health plans in the new federal insurance marketplace and has been unable so far to fix the errors, according to internal documents and three people familiar with the situation.
The problem means that potentially hundreds of thousands of people are receiving bigger subsidies than they deserve. They are part of a large group of Americans who listed incomes on their insurance applications that differ significantly — either too low or too high — from those on file with the Internal Revenue Service, documents show.
Income discrepancies have been flagged, but the government has been unable to fix the problems.
The government has identified these discrepancies but is stuck at the moment. Under federal rules, consumers are notified if there is a problem with their application and asked to upload or mail in pay stubs or other proof of their income. Only a fraction have done so, according to the documents. And, even when they have, the federal computer system at the heart of the insurance marketplace cannot match this proof with the application because that capability has yet to be built, according to the three individuals.
So piles of unprocessed “proof” documents are sitting in a federal contractor’s Kentucky office, and the government continues to pay insurance subsidies that may be too generous or too meager. Administration officials do not yet know what proportion are overpayments or underpayments. Under current rules, people receiving unwarranted subsidies will be required to return the excess next year.
The inability to make certain the government is paying correct subsidies is a legacy of computer troubles that crippled last fall’s launch of HealthCare.gov and the initial months of the first sign-up period for insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Federal officials and contractors raced to correct most of the technical problems hindering consumers’ ability to choose a health plan. But behind the scenes, important aspects of the Web site remain defective — or simply unfinished.
Ignoring dramatic changes in tax rules since 1980 creates the false impression that income inequality is rising.
By MARTIN FELDSTEIN May 14, 2014 7:31 p.m. ET
Thomas Piketty has recently attracted widespread attention for his claim that capitalism will now lead inexorably to an increasing inequality of income and wealth unless there are radical changes in taxation. Although his book, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” has been praised by those who advocate income redistribution, his thesis rests on a false theory of how wealth evolves in a market economy, a flawed interpretation of U.S. income-tax data, and a misunderstanding of the current nature of household wealth.
Mr. Piketty’s theoretical analysis starts with the correct fact that the rate of return on capital—the extra income that results from investing an additional dollar in plant and equipment—exceeds the rate of growth of the economy. He then jumps to the false conclusion that this difference between the rate of return and the rate of growth leads through time to an ever-increasing inequality of wealth and of income unless the process is interrupted by depression, war or confiscatory taxation. He advocates a top tax rate above 80% on very high salaries, combined with a global tax that increases with the amount of wealth to 2% or more.
His conclusion about ever-increasing inequality could be correct if people lived forever. But they don’t. Individuals save during their working years and spend most of their accumulated assets during retirement. They pass on some of their wealth to the next generation. But the cumulative effect of such bequests is diluted by the combination of existing estate taxes and the number of children and grandchildren who share the bequests.
The result is that total wealth grows over time roughly in proportion to total income. Since 1960, the Federal Reserve flow-of-funds data report that real total household wealth in the U.S. has grown at 3.2% a year while the real total personal income calculated by the Department of Commerce grew at 3.3%.
The second problem with Mr. Piketty’s conclusions about increasing inequality is his use of income-tax returns without recognizing the importance of the changes that have occurred in tax rules. Internal Revenue Service data, he notes, show that the income reported on tax returns by the top 10% of taxpayers was relatively constant as a share of national income from the end of World War II to 1980, but the ratio has risen significantly since then. Yet the income reported on tax returns is not the same as individuals’ real total income. The changes in tax rules since 1980 create a false impression of rising inequality.
In 1981 the top tax rate on interest, dividends and other investment income was reduced to 50% from 70%, nearly doubling the after-tax share that owners of taxable capital income could keep. That rate reduction thus provided a strong incentive to shift assets from low-yielding, tax-exempt investments like municipal bonds to higher yielding taxable investments. The tax data therefore signaled an increase in measured income inequality even though there was no change in real inequality.
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 lowered the top rate on all income to 28% from 50%. That reinforced the incentive to raise the taxable yield on portfolio investments. It also increased other forms of taxable income by encouraging more work, by causing more income to be paid as taxable salaries rather than as fringe benefits and deferred compensation, and by reducing the use of deductions and exclusions.
The 1986 tax reform also repealed the General Utilities doctrine, a provision that had encouraged high-income individuals to run their business and professional activities as Subchapter C corporations, which were taxed at a lower rate than their personal income. This corporate income of professionals and small businesses did not appear in the income-tax data that Mr. Piketty studied.
WHY ?? COAH , ABBOTT SCHOOLS TAX PAYERS WANT TO KNOW WHY ‘High-level’ talks could save N.J. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner
MAY 17, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2014, 12:24 AM BY CHARLES STILE RECORD COLUMNIST THE RECORD
Stuart Rabner, the chief justice of New Jersey whose position on the court may be in jeopardy, couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to defend his career and his style of jurisprudence.
Instead, he hawked a new “app” for lawyers.
“You can download it right now and see for yourself,” Rabner told an admiring crowd of 400 at the New Jersey Bar Association’s annual convention at the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City. “I won’t be offended.”
Rabner’s focus on high-tech seemed a bit misplaced, given that Governor Christie has made no secret of his displeasure with the chief justice and may deny him tenure. If that happens, Rabner would be the first chief justice in the modern court’s 67-year history to be ousted.
But there was a reason Rabner was studiously avoiding talking about the “elephant in the room” topic, as Paula Franseze, a Seton Hall law professor, described it. State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Christie are discussing possible scenarios in which Rabner gets renominated — and receives tenure until he turns 70 in 2029. In exchange, Sweeney would agree to hold confirmation hearings on one or possibly two Christie choices for other open spots on the court now blocked by Democrats in the Senate who must approve nominees.
Both Sweeney and Christie’s offices refused to comment, but state Sen. Nicholas Scutari, the Union County Democrat who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Friday’s gathering that “high-level negotiations are under way.” He declined to elaborate.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/stile-high-level-talks-could-save-n-j-chief-justice-stuart-rabner-1.1018088#sthash.vE9VGi9Q.dpuf
The Ridgewood Historical Society presents a concert by the Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus of Ridgewood and the Ridgewood High School Maroon Men Sun, May 18, 2014 Time: 2:00 PM
School House Museum, 650 E. Glen Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Sunday, May 18th at 2:00pm, join The Ridgewood Historical Society for a concert by the Orpheus Club Men’s Club of Ridgewood and the Ridgewood High School Maroon Men.
The performance will celebrate the Ridgewood Historical Society’s current exhibit, A Community’s Journey:
Our Place in New Jersey’s History. The concert will be conducted on the steps of the School House Museum, 650 E. Glen Avenue in Ridgewood. Guests should bring their own lawn chairs. Refreshments will be served. Admission is $10. IN the event of rain the concert will be held next door at the Old Paramus Reformed Church.
Bergen County Police would be due hefty pay raise in consolidation with Sheriff’s Office, union says
MAY 16, 2014, 6:41 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2014, 10:58 PM BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
A rose is a rose is a rose, author Gertrude Stein once wrote.
But is a realignment a merger or a consolidation?
That’s the question left dangling after a four-year contract that the Bergen County freeholders approved unanimously this week with the union that represents officers in the Bergen County Police Department.
And it’s a $1-million-a-year question.
The board’s Democratic freeholders contend that their plan to put the 89-member county police force under the command of the sheriff is a realignment, not a merger. The ordinance, approved by the freeholders in October, uses the word transfer, not merger.
Thus they hope to avoid a so-called poison-pill clause insisted upon by the union that would scuttle the deal if the department is merged, consolidated or disbanded into the Sheriff’s Office.
Under that interpretation, the new labor contract would be undone and the final overlapping year of the old contract would kick in.
Three years ago, at the request of Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan, the union agreed to defer pay increases until 2014, the final year of the old contract.
This year, the union made concessions on wages in exchange for job security. It inserted the poison pill to protect against a merger.
If the transfer is not called off or voided by a court, and the union succeeds in invoking the poison pill, then instead of getting a 1.5 percent annual pay hike under the renegotiated contract, the officers would get a 10 percent raise starting this year under the terms of the old agreement. And they would have to negotiate a new one for future years.
The difference is about $1 million in annual salaries.
The freeholders voted for the realignment only after receiving written assurance from the county’s labor lawyer that nothing in the new contract limits which department can supervise the County Police.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen-county-police-would-be-due-hefty-pay-raise-in-consolidation-with-sheriff-s-office-union-says-1.1018056#sthash.yZidHCIC.dpuf
On Saturday, May 17 at Old Paramus Reformed Church in Ridgewood, there will be a free square dance open to the entire community. No experience is necessary. So get out your circle skirts and cowboy boots and come on down. Leave your spurs and mounts outside though. Paul Ingis is the caller. Refreshments will be served. The dance will be held in the Fellowship Hall from 7 to 9:30 pm. Come join us for a great night of fun! If you have questions, please call the church office at 201-444-5933 between 9 am and 1:30 pm or visit the church website at www.oldparamus.org.
President Obama’s big carbon crackdown readies for launch
By ERICA MARTINSON | 5/16/14 7:20 PM EDT
The EPA will launch the most dramatic anti-pollution regulation in a generation early next month, a sweeping crackdown on carbon that offers President Barack Obama his last real shot at a legacy on climate change — while causing significant political peril for red-state Democrats.
The move could produce a dramatic makeover of the power industry, shifting it away from coal-burning plants toward natural gas, solar and wind. While this is the big move environmentalists have been yearning for, it also has major political implications in November for a president already under fire for what the GOP is branding a job-killing “War on Coal,” and promises to be an election issue in energy-producing states such as West Virginia, Kentucky and Louisiana.
Climate change cannot be denied. The inconvenient truth President Obama refuses to accept is that efforts to significantly alter its course are fruitless, and severely handicap America’s ability to mitigate its consequences.
In recent years, more abundant and cheaper natural gas has motivated electric utilities to switch from coal, and energy intensive manufacturers in metals, chemicals and the like have made remarkable, cost-saving progress to reduce energy use.
Responding to consumer preferences, automakers were making more fuel efficient vehicles before the president imposed more stringent mileage standards. The high cost and stress of commuting are encouraging many young people to live closer to jobs. Competition from rail is pressuring trucking companies to purchase more fuel efficient rigs.
Together, those free market decisions have reduced CO2 emissions by more than 9 percent from 2005 levels.
Now, the EPA and other federal agencies want to micromanage those choices by imposing inflexible standards on electric utilities and other manufacturers. Progressives would happily force as many Americans as they can onto mass transit, imposing a huge drain on state transportation and local government operating budgets.
Those initiatives would not do much to arrest global warming but by increasing taxes and production costs, those would send more jobs to China.
Read More At Investor’s Business Daily: https://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-on-the-right/051514-701110-even-if-climate-is-changing-us-policy-is-wrong.htm#ixzz31siQSAHG
