Denis Leary ,Wednesday, November 28th @7:00pm
Actor from the hit show: Rescue Me, Denis Leary, will sign his new book: Denis Leary’s Merry F*ing Christmas Books available Oct. 30th We Take Phone Orders if you can’t make the event.
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 insure 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
15% of America Is Shopping Today, 11% Are Already Done
Friday, November 23, 2012
The holiday shopping season keeps starting earlier and earlier.
This year, 11% of Americans had finished the gift-buying before Black Friday, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. That’s up from seven percent (7%) who finished shopping early a year ago. The day after Thanksgiving is often considered the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season.
Television personality Barbara Walters was in the statehouse today interviewing Gov. Chris Christie as part of the release of her “10 Most Fascinating People of 2012.”
Christie’s was one of seven names revealed Monday. The remaining names as well as the top name on the list will be revealed on December 12. (Isherwood/PolitickerNJ)
140 Million Families Will Be Forced to Submit Obamacare Individual Mandate Compliance Forms to IRS
CBO estimates hours and hours of more paperwork for American taxpayers because of the Individual Mandate tax.
The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday announced that six million American families will be forced to pay the Obamacare individual mandate non-compliance penalty tax.
The six million families who will be forced to pay the tax understates the true compliance burden of the looming Obamacare individual mandate scheduled to take effect in 2014:
Every American required to file an income tax return must report to the IRS whether or not they have “qualifying” health insurance under Obamacare.
Thus, this tax will not just impact the six million American families having to pay the tax, but the 140 million U.S. households which file an annual income tax return. Each of the 140 million households will be forced to complete and submit compliance forms to the IRS.
The compliance burden described above does not even take into account the other 19 new or higher taxes in the Obamacare law, which the IRS has determined for the Ways and Means Committee will increase tax preparation time by a collective 80 million hours per year.
The non-compliance penalty tax will hit middle-income Americans, a violation President Obama’s “firm pledge” not to raise “any form” of tax on families making less than $250,000 per year. There are at least seven Obamacare taxes that directly hit families making less than $250,000.
‘Occupy’ doctor had bomb-making chemicals in his home, authorities charge
Published November 18, 2012
FoxNews.com
A New York doctor active in the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 was charged with possessing a large quantity of chemicals used for making bombs, Paramus Patch reports.
Roberto Rivera, 60, a medical doctor, was charged Saturday hours after authorities conducted a raid on his Ridgewood, N.J., home, the website reports.
Rivera was charged with recklessly creating a risk of widespread injury or damage after FBI agents and members of the Bergen County bomb squad found chemicals used in the making of explosives, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said in a release.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo Announce Reopening of 9th Street PATH Station
Monday, November 12, 2012
Trenton, NJ – New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that PATH rail service will resume at the 9th Street station in Manhattan beginning Tuesday, November 13 at 5 a.m. The station will open to ease overcrowding at the 14th Street station during the morning peak hours.
PATH riders will only be able to exit the 9th street station between the morning peak hours of 5 a.m.-9:30 a.m. After 9:30 a.m. passengers will be able to enter and exit PATH trains at 9th Street until 10 p.m.
PATH’s temporary line will now include stops at Newark, Harrison, Journal Square, Grove Street, and Newport stations in New Jersey and at the 9th, 14th, 23rd and 33rd Street stations in Manhattan. Trains will bypass Christopher Street. Disabled passengers will have access to the platforms only at Newark, Journal Square and 33rd Street.
PATH service remains suspended at the Hoboken, Exchange Place and the World Trade Center stations as recovery efforts continue. Due to significant damage that resulted from the unprecedented and widespread flooding in the PATH tunnels and multiple stations, it will be several weeks before resumption of service on the Newark-World Trade Center line and the lines to and from Hoboken station.
For up-to-date information visit the Port Authority’s website https://www.panynj.gov/path/ and follow them on Twitter @PATHTweet.
6,125 Proposed Regulations and Notifications Posted in Last 90 Days–Average 68 per Day
By Penny Starr
November 9, 2012
Subscribe to Penny Starr’s posts
(CNSNews.com) – It’s Friday morning, and so far today, the Obama administration has posted 165 new regulations and notifications on its reguations.gov website.
In the past 90 days, it has posted 6,125 regulations and notices – an average of 68 a day.
The website allows visitors to find and comment on proposed regulations and related documents published by the U.S. federal government. “Help improve Federal regulations by submitting your comments,” the website says.
The thousands of entries run the gamut from meeting notifications to fee schedules to actual rules and proposed rule changes.
On Behalf of the Ridgewood Police I would like to extend a sincere thank you to the residents of Ridgewood for your outpouring of support over the past 12 days. Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on our community, leaving most of us with no power, in the cold, and very long gas lines. During and after the storm, residents and some business dropped off hot food and coffe
e to us. We received a tremendous amount of cooperation from various community organizations and houses of worship. We witnessed and received reports of neighbors helping neighbors. I would also like to acknowledge the men and women of our Police department, Fire department, Emergency Services and Public Works who repeated placed themselves in harms way during the storm and have been working tirelessly in the recovery effort. We appreciate your support and are honored to be a part of this community. Sincerely Chief John M. Ward
A Guide to the Fiscal Cliff and the Options for Congress
Analysis Details What Is Expiring and Who Is Going to Be Most Impacted
Washington, D.C., November 8, 2012—Uncertainty over the expiring sections of the federal tax code known collectively as the “fiscal cliff” represents not only a threat to a prosperous and growing economy, but an abdication of leadership in Washington. The existence of an increasingly temporary tax code highlights the accumulated questions that Congress has refused to answer, according to a new guide to fiscal cliff provisions from the Tax Foundation.
In confronting the cliff, elected officials will need to start by asking big questions about how they want the tax code to work, including what the least economically destructive ways to raise revenue are, how high total spending should rise, and to what extent the code should be used to redistribute income. The present list of fiscal cliff elements will also require them to ask some more specific questions about the future of Obamacare, the estate tax, and the payroll tax.
“The huge potential impact of the fiscal cliff in scope, importance, and dollars is reflected in the anxiety felt by American taxpayers,” said Tax Foundation Chief Economist William McBride. “With so much of the tax and budget system on a short-term lease, and with the proposed permanent fixes so widely varying, economic growth suffers. While past practice suggests Washington will once again duct tape together another short-term extension and put off the hard choices, anything can happen.”
Among the expiring provisions are the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts enacted under President Bush, a compromise on the estate tax, a “patch” in the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), the temporary 2 percent payroll tax holiday, increased business expensing, and the “extenders” package of miscellaneous tax deductions.
In addition, on January 1, 2013, five taxes enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)—popularly referred to as Obamacare—also take effect, along with sequester spending reductions of $109 billion. In late February, the U.S. government will also hit the current debt ceiling, exhausting its ability to borrow without an increase by Congress. Finally, the federal government’s continuing resolution appropriating spending expires on March 27, 2013.
Tax Foundation Special Report No. 204, “The Fiscal Cliff: A Primer” is available here.
The Tax Foundation is a nonpartisan research organization that has monitored fiscal policy at the federal, state and local levels since 1937. To schedule an interview, please contact Richard Morrison, the Tax Foundation’s Manager of Communications, at 202-464-5102 or [email protected].
A possible tax hit for Sandy’s victims
By Bill Bischoff
In addition to the tragedy of lost lives and injuries, Superstorm Sandy caused many billions of dollars in property damage. The sad truth: disasters occur every year in America. If you’re unlucky enough to suffer a disaster-related casualty, here’s what you need to know about the federal income tax implications.
Deductions for Personal Casualty Losses
Theoretically, our beloved Internal Revenue Code allows you to claim an itemized deduction — on Schedule A of your Form 1040 — for personal casualty losses to the extent they are not covered by insurance. Exactly what is a casualty loss? It’s when the fair market value of your property or asset is reduced or wiped out by a hurricane, flood, storm, fire, earthquake or volcanic eruption (not to mention sonic boom, theft or vandalism).
In reality, however, many disaster victims won’t qualify for any personal casualty loss write-offs because of the following two rules. First, you must reduce your loss by $100. Obviously, that’s no big deal. Then you must further reduce the loss by an amount equal to 10% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) for the year (AGI is the number at the bottom of page 1 of your Form 1040). That is a big deal. Say you incur a $20,000 personal casualty loss this year and have AGI of $100,000. Your write-off is a relatively puny $9,900 ($20,000 minus $100 minus $10,000). You get absolutely no tax break if your loss before the two required subtractions is $10,100 or less, and you have no chance at all if you don’t itemize.
But let’s assume you do have a deductible personal casualty loss from a 2012 event after the two subtractions. If the loss was caused by a disaster in a federally declared disaster area (more on that later), a special rule allows you to claim your rightful deduction either this year or last year. For example, victims of Hurricane Sandy can file amended 2011 returns and claim their losses last year. This rule allows you to get some immediate tax savings instead of having to wait until next year when you finally get around to filing your 2012 return. Remember: this special rule is only available for losses in federally declared disaster areas. You can find a by-state listing of these areas by using the interactive map on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) website at www.fema.gov .
Please stop blaming PSE&G for your poor leadership skills in responding to a crisis. After 9 days I finally got power back yesterday. There were 6 trees and 3 utility poles down on my block. Everyone involved with PSE&G was doing their job, from the local PSE&G crew to the crew from Illinois. It was not a quick fix. 3 poles had to be replaced and all utilities needed to be marked. PSE&G checked every day on the progress and spoke freely about the procedures and steps that needed to occur. Frankly, I was amazed that we got our power back as quickly as we did after seeing and hearing stories of the devastation to residents of Ridgewood, Little Ferry, Moonachie and other communities. You may have driven around last night (probably the first time) but when a local resident mentioned our problem to you a week ago, you had no idea that our street even existed and never bothered to check on us or visit.
My problem with you Mr. Mayor was your lack of leadership in providing local residents with helpful information. Instead of Robo calling to throw blame on PSE&G, why didn’t you call to tell us where to get hot food, because eating out every meal got to be very expensive. How about calling to say where we could get ice, extra water, computer access, charge our phones, help for our pets, extra blankets, a place to sleep or get warm, or that we were still having garbage pick -up. Not everyone had family to go to or could afford to get a hotel, or a generator and pay the cost to fill it.
In one of your Robo calls you mentioned that we were responsible for taking the tree branches down to recycling center on our own and to not put them in the street. I have no idea of how we are suppose to accomplish that. Meanwhile you had trucks collecting leaves? That is a perfect example of your pathetic leadership.
You sir, failed to do your job as a mayor, so just stop talking and calling, because frankly I’m tired of hearing from you!!
Due to Storm – Rescheduled to Saturday, November 10
OLD PARAMUS REFORMED CHURCH 140TH ANNUAL HARVEST FAIR SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3 10 am to 4 pm FREE ADMISSION – BARRIER-FREE FACILITY Come early for holiday shopping, have lunch and bring friends. 660 East Glen Avenue at Route 17 South Ridgewood, NJ – 201-444-5933 www.oldparamus.org
‘Dollar Selling’ : Obama Win Paves Way for Monetary Easing
By Lucy Meakin and Monami Yui – Nov 7, 2012 7:25 AM ET
The dollar was mixed on speculation Barack Obama’s re-election as president will boost chances the U.S. will maintain monetary stimulus policies that tend to weaken the greenback.
The U.S. currency fell versus 8 of its 16 major peers as Obama defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who disagreed with current Federal Reserve policy. Obama now faces the so- called fiscal cliff, $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts due to be implemented in 2013. Australia’s dollar rose for a third day as stocks rallied, boosting demand for higher- yielding assets. The euro pared earlier gains as the Greek parliament prepared to vote on austerity measures.
4 Yrs at Private College = $130,468; Median-Priced Existing Home = $173,100; U.S. Debt Per American Under 18 = $218,676
By Terence P. Jeffrey
November 4, 201
(CNSNews.com) – If Americans under the age of 18 were required as a group to pay off the entirety of the federal government’s debt in equal shares, each would now need to pay about $218,676.
That is more than the $130,468 average price tag for four years at a private college or the $173,100 median price for an existing one-family home in the United States.
During the time Barack Obama has been president, the U.S. government debt has increased from approximately $143,255 per American under 18 to approximately $218,676 per American under 18–a climb of $75,421 or about 53 percent.
“Ridgewood uses lessons from Irene to prepare for Sandy” , a bit early for back slapping November 4,2012 the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Many resident felt it was a bit over the top and premature for the Village to be patting it self on the back while some many residents didn’t have power,heat or hot water .
The Ridgewood Police got high marks for everything except for the “ticket frenzy ” . The use of Facebook to put out information received many kudos.
The Village however failed a basic test when power failed at Office of Emergency Management, Village Hall and Village Police Department . Old time residents remarked thankfully we did not have too much rain or flooding because all of the Village’s first responders are still located in flood zones .
Residents also need to understand the Village given how well it fared during Sandy was not going to be Governor Christie or PSE&G ‘s most pressing priority . Take a drive down to Bay Head and you will see what I mean. The Village was very lucky that the CBD was lights on and so many neighbors and local institutions pitched in to help out
The town attracted visitors from all over North Jersey and as far as Hoboken .People came not only to warm up ,and charge their batteries but also to get a hot cup of coffee and a good meal .The Village seemed to make a good impression on everyone who came to visit and I think many local merchants may continue to get business as an after affect from all the good will.
Many remarked how the Village leave crew hustled and yes even the Ridgewood blog will admit it the BOE and particularly Dr. Fishbien really stepped up .The Village Council and Village Officials also should be commended for just like the article says being prepared !
But folks this is not the time to for photo ops and back slapping many residents in the tri-state area are still without power and face a far more daunting situation than almost any of us could imagine . , it best to take a little time out just to remember how lucky we all are. RIDGEWOOD NEWS: Ridgewood uses lessons from Irene to prepare for Sandy
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2012
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
As Hurricane Sandy’s predicted impact and damage quickly became reality, Ridgewood officials were thankful that they applied lessons learned from last year’s extreme weather conditions to preparations for this October’s super storm.
Debris is cleared from the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy. The village was hit hard by flooding during last year’s Hurricane Irene, but was spared any water damage from Hurricane Sandy.
Emergency response teams, led by Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Jeremy Kleiman, began their hurricane preparation plans in the middle of last week, several days before Sandy was expected to hit landfall. The OEM held meetings with all village department heads on Friday and offered specific instructions and details of what to do and what to expect.
