Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital offers Pet Safety Tips
December 21,2013
Ridgewood NJ, Candles can be dangerous for your furry kids. Never leave candles unattended if you have pets. A slight nudge from a dog or curious kitty can cause disaster, not only for your pet, but for the entire family.
Space heaters can also be unsafe just like candles. They can burn a pet that gets too close, and if knocked over, can cause house fires. We want you to enjoy the holiday season with your whole family, so please be careful!
If you have a pet that likes to chew electrical cords, please call our office for some suggestions to avoid shock, injury, and possible death. Celebrate the holidays with your pet, and stay safe!
Tinsel is a holiday decoration that is very attractive to animals, especially cats. It sparkles when it moves and can lure an otherwise well behaved pet. Once a cat starts swallowing, its anatomy makes it difficult to stop, and it can cut through the intestines.
In addition, bright and colorful tree ornaments can attract your pet’s curiosity. Pets can chew and swallow these fragile objects and they may lacerate your pet’s mouth, throat, or intestines. They can also create a choking hazard. Please have a safe, happy holiday.
Outdoor and feral cats face health and safety challenges during the winter months. You can help by keeping your cats indoors. Cats’ fur doesn’t protect them from extremely cold temperatures. When their fur gets wet from walking through snow or being outdoors in the cold rain, they actually become more susceptible to hypothermia and frostbite; their fur chills them instead of keeping them warm. If you let your cats outside, start getting them acquainted with spending time indoors until they get used to not going outside at all. It’s safer and healthier!
If you take them out for a walk in the snow , when you return home, rinse and dry their feet thoroughly to help prevent dermatitis. Stay warm and stay safe!
Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital
320 E. Ridgewood Avenue Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450
Partisan Gridlock Impacts State Supreme Court
December 18, 2013
Senator Kevin O’Toole
Headlines of a government shutdown, stalemate over the debt ceiling, a never ending budget crisis or nominees not receiving hearings, are all we see coming out of Washington. Partisan gridlock, bickering and a failure to do the work of the American people seems to be the norm there. Under the leadership of Governor Christie we have accomplished many great things – in a bipartisan manner.
But there remains one major hurdle that my Democratic colleagues across the aisle can not seem find the bipartisanship to accomplish – a full compliment of justices on the state Supreme Court.
The framers of our state’s constitution spell out in Article 6, Section 6 item 1 that “The Governor shall nominate and appoint…the Chief Justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court.” The constitution, in the same section, very clearly and expressly defines the role of the state Senate as that of “advice and consent.” Since our constitution was adopted in 1948, legal scholars cannot recall a time when we have gone 3 years without a full compliment of justices. Those same scholars cannot remember when the highest court in our State has relied so heavily upon “replacement justices” to adjudicate the law.
My Democratic colleagues say they are concerned with the “partisan” composition of the Supreme Court and that Governor Christie is trying to appoint justices who share his vision. The irony of that statement is that after this past November’s election, 61% of New Jerseyeans share that same “vision” as Governor Christie. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle fail to mention that since our constitution was adopted we have had six Democratic governors and each has had a Democratic majority on the Supreme Court. To put that into perspective, since 1948 the court has had a Democratic majority for 50 years compared to only 13 years of a Republican majority.
Only now, under Republican Governor Chris Christie, Democrat Senators bemoan having a third or fourth justice with a “Republican” designation. However, when for over 50 years, 4 out of the 7 justices had a “Democrat” designation it was of no consequence. This partisan hypocrisy is astounding.
Recently we have seen Governor Christie nominate imminently qualified and ethnically diverse candidates to the Supreme Court, only to have my Democratic colleagues rebuke the first Asian American nominee and first openly gay African American nominee in humiliating fashion, including the unprecedented leaking of confidential personal information. They let the nomination of current Associate Justice Anne Patterson languish for 392 days until she received a hearing. Nominees David Bauman and Robert Hanna have been waiting for over a year – still with no hearing date in sight.
The only nominee to receive a hearing was Justice Fernandez-Vina whose hearing was within 40 days of his nomination and he was confirmed within 70 days. Prior to Governor Christie’s election, the state Senate has traditionally heard nominees within 60 days of their nomination by the then governor. This practice occurred with a Democratic Governor and a Republican controlled Senate, and vice versa.
We recently passed the one year anniversary of the nominations of David Bauman and Robert Hanna to the state Supreme Court and on the heels of the US Senate passing a resolution to prohibit the filibuster of nominations to the federal courts, I have introduced a resolution (SR-132) to change the Senate rules calling for all nominees to the state Supreme Court to receive a hearing within 90 days of their nominations.
If our predecessors in the Senate could thoroughly interview and deem qualified nominees of the past within an average of 60 days, then surely we are capable of doing so in 90. There is no justifiable reason, beyond politics as usual, for our highest court to continue without a full compliment of judges when there are two nominees waiting for us in the Senate to do our jobs. The record speaks for itself; nominees can be thoroughly vetted within 90 days and given hearings.
Claims to the contrary are disingenuous at best and mired in political gamesmanship at worst. For my Democratic colleagues to continue denying New Jerseyeans a complete and constitutional Supreme Court is an abdication of their duties. The only way we can continue effectively serving the residents of New Jersey is by suppressing partisan demons and returning to the practice that has proven to be immensely successful – bipartisan cooperation.
Target Confirms Unauthorized Access to Payment Card Data in U.S. Stores
MINNEAPOLIS — December 19, 2013
Target today confirmed it is aware of unauthorized access to payment card data that may have impacted certain guests making credit and debit card purchases in its U.S. stores. Target is working closely with law enforcement and financial institutions, and has identified and resolved the issue.
“Target’s first priority is preserving the trust of our guests and we have moved swiftly to address this issue, so guests can shop with confidence. We regret any inconvenience this may cause,” said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Target. “We take this matter very seriously and are working with law enforcement to bring those responsible to justice.”
Approximately 40 million credit and debit card accounts may have been impacted between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, 2013. Target alerted authorities and financial institutions immediately after it was made aware of the unauthorized access, and is putting all appropriate resources behind these efforts. Among other actions, Target is partnering with a leading third-party forensics firm to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident.
More information is available at Target’s corporate website. Guests who suspect unauthorized activity should contact Target at: 866-852-8680.
NJT ANNOUNCES COMPLETION OF SYSTEMWIDE RAIL MOBILE TICKETING ROLLOUT
Convenient, easy ticket purchases now available through MyTix app for all NJ TRANSIT rail lines
December 18, 2013
NEWARK, NJ — NJ TRANSIT today announced the completion of a systemwide rail rollout of its mobile ticketing program, as MyTix expanded to the remaining two rail lines: the Northeast Corridor and Atlantic City Rail Line. MyTix enables customers to purchase and display rail one-way tickets, weekly passes and monthly passes anytime, anywhere, using their smartphones.
With the final phase of the mobile ticketing rail rollout complete, customers may now use MyTix for travel to and from all 165 NJ TRANSIT rail stations.
NJ TRANSIT first introduced MyTix in April 2013 as a pilot program on the Pascack Valley Line, as well as between Penn Station New York and the Meadowlands Rail Station for special events, to test the functionality of the app and determine the feasibility of expanding it to include other rail lines. In September, NJ TRANSIT expanded MyTix to the Main/Bergen County and Port Jervis lines, followed in October by the Montclair-Boonton and Morris & Essex lines, and most recently in November to the North Jersey Coast and Raritan Valley lines, as part of a gradual systemwide rail rollout of the program. Some improvements made to the agency’s MyTix app were the direct result of valuable feedback from customers using the app during the gradual rollout.
“As part of our ongoing efforts to tap into the latest technology to improve the overall customer experience, we aimed to place our mobile ticketing app into the hands of all of our rail customers by the end of this year, and we have met our goal right on schedule,” said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director James Weinstein. “All rail customers now have the ability to treat their smartphones as both a ticket vending machine and rail ticket or pass all in one, providing for a seamless experience just in time for the busy holiday travel season.”
MyTix is available for free download on any web-enabled iOS or Android operating system, via the App Store for iOS devices and the Google Play Store for Android devices. To purchase tickets via MyTix, customers must first install the app and then create an account, which will save customers’ profile information and history of ticket purchases for ease of use. Purchased tickets must be activated prior to boarding the train and displayed to train crews upon request (one-way tickets expire two hours and 45 minutes after activation; monthly passes self-activate on the first day of the calendar month and remain active for the entire month; weekly passes self-activate at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday and remain active through 6 a.m. the following Saturday). Customers transferring at Secaucus Junction or traveling to and from Newark Liberty International Airport Station will need to scan the ticket barcode on the fare gate readers to pass through the gates.
MyTix was designed with input from customer focus groups, as well as NJ TRANSIT frontline rail employees and customer service staff.
For more information on MyTix, visit njtransit.com and go to “Ticket Options,” then click on “MyTix” from the drop-down menu.
file photo Ridgewood Train Station closed at 6am and 17 degrees
Well PJ, it happened again. Today, for the second day, the Train station was CLOSED at 6 am, due to the cashier being on Vacation. Being only 17 degree’s, we ( About 30 of us ) were all glad the train was on time.
The inside is a joke. No trim on windows, it looks so unfinshed. How about the Assist. to the Village manager drive from her house on Woodland ave opening the Station at 5:30 ? Yeah …right. It least it will be warmer toward the end of the week. Why do I feel it will happen again ?
Will Your College Go Out of Business Before You Graduate ?
Posted on January 26, 2013
I’ve been getting a lot of questions from High School kids asking whether or not they should go to college. The answer is yes.
College is where you find out about yourself. It’s where you learn how to learn. It’s where you get exposure to new ideas. For those of us who are into business you learn the languages of business, accounting, finance, marketing and sales in college.
The question is not whether or not you should go to school, the question for the class of 2014 is what is your college plan and what is the likelihood that your college or university you attend will still be in business by the time you want to graduate.
Still in business ? Yep. When I look at the university and college systems around the country I see the newspaper industry.
The newspaper industry was once deemed indestructible. Then this thing called the internet came along and took away their classified business. The problem wasn’t really that their classifieds disappeared. It was more that they had accumulated a ton of debt and had over invested in physical plant and assets that could not adapt to the new digital world.
When revenue fell the debt was still there, as were all the big buildings they had purchased, all those presses they had bought and the acquisitions they had made declined in value, but the debt accumulated to pay for them never went away.
The Food and Drug Administration says Monday, there is some evidence antibacterial soap may pose health
By MATTHEW PERRONE
— Dec. 16, 2013 2:07 PM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — After more than 40 years of study, the federal government said Monday it has no evidence that the anti-bacterial chemicals used in countless common soaps and washes help prevent the spread of germs, and it is reviewing research suggesting they may pose health risks.
Regulators at the Food and Drug Administration said they are revisiting the safety of chemicals such as triclosan in light of recent studies that suggest the substances can interfere with hormone levels and spur the growth of drug-resistant bacteria.
The government’s preliminary ruling lends new support to outside researchers who have long argued that the chemicals are, at best, ineffective and at worst, a threat to public health.
“The FDA is finally making a judgment call here and asking industry to show us that these products are better than soap and water, and the data don’t substantiate that,” said Stuart Levy of Tufts University School of Medicine.
Under a proposed rule released Monday, the agency will require manufacturers to prove that anti-bacterial soaps and body washes are safe and more effective than plain soap and water. Products that are not shown to be safe and effective by late 2016 would have to be reformulated, relabeled or removed from the market.
Village Planning Board Executive Session – December 17 at 7PM
Executive Session – 7 PM
to Precede December 17, 2013 Meeting
In accordance with the provisions of the “Open Public Meetings Act,” please be advised that prior to the start of the December 17, 2013 Planning Board Work Session and Public Meeting which is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Village Hall Courtroom, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, the Planning Board will hold an executive session at 7:00 p.m.
With the exception of Executive Sessions, all meetings of the Ridgewood Planning Board (i.e., official public meetings, work session meetings, pre-meeting assemblies and special meetings) are public meetings which are always open to members of the general public.
Reader says so the storm came and went ,and now the mess … from leaves mingled into snow plowed piles, storm drains blocked.
if the town doesn’t have the resources to pick up the leaves and clear the streets in a timely manner (before the arrival of winter storms), then perhaps it is time to rethink the trees.
They are large and many (contrary to the town’s belief) are not healthy -infested with carpenter ants, trunks hollowed. Cut the large trees down.
Replace with smaller flowering pear trees (this is a type of tree not one that actually grows pears but instead grows in a pear shape) … and if the town can’t afford this – then allow me as a homeowner to do so to the trees (perhaps grant me a tax break for paying myself to remove your tree and replace it) …
something has to give … new ideas. new thinking. because currently, this is a mess.
oh and super tall PSE&G poles – make me laugh. I saw poles and wires down because of TOWN TREES … not because the wind knocked over the poles. any hoot.
this comment is just meant to get us all thinking outside of the box on how as a town we can manage the leaves
Sewer service nj – All sewer and drain service in NJ by A1 sewer and drain 201-645-0888
Reports of erroneous WA health exchange debitsbank accounts
by ELISA HAHN / KING 5 News
Posted on December 10, 2013 at 8:28 AM
For the second week in a row, the Washington Healthplanfinder website is down, and it’s causing problems for people who are dealing with billing issues. Some of them say the website is mistakenly debiting their accounts.
Shannon Bruner of Indianola logged on to her checking account Monday morning, and found she was almost 800 dollars in the negative.
“The first thing I thought was, ‘I got screwed,’” she said.
The Bruners enrolled for insurance on the Washington Healthplanfinder website, last October. They say they selected the bill pay date to be December 24th. Instead the Washington Healthplanfinder drafted the 835 dollar premium Monday.
Josh Bruner started his own business this year as an engineering recruiter. They said it’s forced them to pay a lot of attention to their bills and their bank accounts.
“Big knot in my gut because we’re trying to keep it together,” said Shannon Bruner. “It’s important to me that this kind of stuff doesn’t happen.”
They’re not alone.
One viewer emailed KING 5 saying, “They drafted my account this morning for a second time.”
Another woman on Facebook with a similar problem commented, “We are all in the same boat.”
Exercise just as good as drugs in war on major disease
Exercise ‘just as potent’ as drugs against many major diseases
By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent
1:00PM GMT 13 Dec 2013
107 Comments
Exercise could be as effective as some of the best drugs which protect against major diseases, research has found.
A study of more than 300 trials has found that physical activity was better than medication in helping patients recovering from strokes – and just as good as drugs in protecting against diabetes and in stopping heart disease worsening.
The research, published in the British Medical Journal, analysed data about studies on 340,000 patients diagnosed with one of four diseases: heart disease, chronic heart failure, stroke or diabetes.
Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital : Pet Safety in the Holiday Season
December 10, 2013 @ 04:53 PM — by Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital
The holidays are a wonderful time for you and your pet, when you can make the best of memories together. To keep your pet safe during this time, there are several seasonal dangers that should be avoided.
Christmas tree water with fertilizer can cause vomiting and diarrhea if your pet drinks it. Additionally, this stagnant water harbors bacteria that can make your pet sick. Tinsel and ribbon are shiny and string-like, which is attractive to cats. Unfortunately, swallowing either can be life-threatening if they get caught in the intestines; this often requires surgical removal. Cats have been known to eat the tree needles, which can also cause vomiting and diarrhea. Outside or inside, cats may try to climb trees. If you have a tree in your living room, consider bracing it to avoid injury and an avalanche of branches and ornaments. In general, pets should be kept away from the Christmas tree if possible.
When decorating, keep electrical cords and candles out of pet’s reach.
Lawmakers who oversee government surveillance programs receive millions from intelligence companies
December 13, 2013 | Joe Schoffstall – 140 Comments
Every member who sits on the committees that oversee government intelligence operations has received campaign contributions from the top twenty largest intelligence companies in the United States, according to a new report.
Amid the NSA scandal, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — the committees in charge of oversight — denied stricter reform attempts to the NSA programs and instead propelled legislation aimed at restoring their trust. The committees are intended to keep waste, fraud, and abuse in check given most of these programs are hidden from the general public.
Every single member on the committees received campaign contributions from the largest intelligence companies in the U.S. performing services for the the government.
A report from Maplight, a nonpartisan research organization that reveals money in politics, highlights the donations from political action committees (PACs) and individuals from the intelligence services companies to these members. The report shows donations amount to over $3.7 million from 2005-2013.
Rep Scott Garrett Comments on Obama administration stonewalling
Garrett Grills Secretary Lew About Transparency and IRS Targeting
I have been quite disturbed at this administration’s clear pattern of stonewalling anyone who dares shine the light of day into the inner workings of the Obama administration. From the terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, to Attorney General Eric Holder’s refusal to hand over key documents for the Fast and Furious investigation, to the lack of the administration’s cooperation with Congress in providing details regarding ObamaCare’s failed implementation, requests for information have either been met with silence or outright refusal by this administration.
Unfortunately, this pattern has continued at the Department of Treasury under Jack Lew’s leadership.
Today, Secretary Jack Lew testified before the House Financial Services Committee, and I finally had a chance to question him about his unwillingness to respond to three simple questions I asked back in June. I hope you will take a few moments to watch our exchange.
Ridgewood High School alum Laura Hemphill pens Wall Street fiction
Friday, December 13, 2013
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
Ridgewood is known for having a fair number of residents working on Wall Street – and for both profiting and struggling because of it.
In its ranking of highest-earning towns, Money Magazine noted that Ridgewood has a long history of being home to successful financiers from New York, dating back to the early 1900s. Meanwhile, since the financial crisis, the struggles of Ridgewood residents who used to work in the financial sector have been profiled by Bloomberg News and The New York Times.
It seems fitting that “Buying In,” a new fictional book about the financial sector and the 2008 crisis, has been written by a 1999 Ridgewood High School (RHS) graduate and former Wall Streeter.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/books/235690671_Ridgewood_High_School_alum_pens_Wall_Street_fiction.html#sthash.pEk11L4P.dpuf
