AAA Mid-Atlantic: N.J. gas prices rise sharply
Saturday July 20, 2013, 11:57 AM
Associated Press
TRENTON — Motorists are still seeing sharply higher prices at the pumps in New Jersey.
AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in New Jersey on Friday was $3.60, up 18 cents from last week. That’s also much higher than the price from a year ago, when motorists were paying $3.45.
Meanwhile, the national average price also rose by 12 cents to $3.67. That’s also much higher than the national average from a year ago, when motorists were paying $3.44.
Tawana Brawley rape allegations From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tawana Brawley (born 1972) is an African-American woman from Wappingers Falls, New York. In 1987, at the age of 15, she received national media attention in the United States for falsely accusing six white men, some of whom were police officers, of having raped her. The accusations soon earned her notoriety, which was inflamed by Brawley’s advisers (including the Reverend Al Sharpton and attorneys Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason), the statements of various public officials, and intense media attention.[1] After hearing evidence, a grand jury concluded in October 1988 that Brawley had not been the victim of a forcible sexual assault and that she herself may have created the appearance of an attack.[2] The New York prosecutor whom Brawley had accused as one of her alleged assailants successfully sued Brawley and her three advisers for defamation.[3]
Brawley initially received considerable support from the African-American community.[4] Some scholars suggested that Brawley was victimized by biased reporting that adhered to racial stereotypes.[5][6] The mainstream media’s coverage drew heated criticism from the African-American press and leaders for its treatment of the teenager.[7] The grand jury’s conclusions decreased support for Brawley and her advisers. Brawley’s family has maintained that the allegations were true.
Obama urges nation to grapple with race
David Jackson, USA TODAY 5:12 p.m. EDT July 19, 2013
President Obama said Friday that all Americans should respect a jury’s acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin, but white Americans should also understand that African Americans are pained by Trayvon’s death and continue to face racial discrimination.
“Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago,” the nation’s first African-American president said during a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room.
Obama, who last year said the 17-year-old Florida shooting victim could just as easily have been his son, talked about how he has been subjected to casual prejudice. He also said African Americans need to address the problems of violence in their own communities.
African-American males know they are more likely to be both “victims and perpetrators of violence,” Obama said, and “somebody like Trayvon Martin was probably statistically more likely to be shot by a peer than he was by somebody else.”
The problem is that so many people paint with a “broad brush” and see all black young men as potential criminals, Obama said.
Activist Lotte Diomede explains the virtues of Mobi-Chairs
Activist Lotte Diomede, mother of a disabled son and founder and president of the SMILE Mass Foundation. One goal of her foundation is to donate Mobi-Chairs to all the beaches on Cape Cod. A second group of 20 will be presented this month.
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Lotte Diomede. I am the mother of a wheelchair bound child as well as the president of SMILE Mass. The mission of SMILE Mass is to provide happy, healthy memories to families living with children or adults with disabilities. Our first project is to place 100 Mobi-Chair floating beach wheelchairs to public beaches on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In June of 2012 we placedthe first 20 chairs and on June 28, 2013,we will be placing the next 20 chairs.
Photo by Boyd Loving
As you can imagine, I am keenly aware of issues regarding beaches/pools and disabled persons. I am having trouble understanding why anyone would construct a ramp that leads into the deep end of a lake.Most disabled persons will need assistance getting from their chair into the water and if the ramp leads into the deep end, the person assist ing will not be able to stand—creating a dangerous situation for boththe disabled person and their assistant.*
SMILE Mass has done extensive research on beach wheelchairs, and we find the Mobi-Chair to be top-of-the-line. It goes seamlessly from the parking lot, over the sand and into the water where it floats. It needs no special ramp at a beach as you would push it into the water the same way an ambulatory person would walk into the water.
In 2012, SMIL E Mass worked with 12 different towns and their beach directors. The towns that received Mobi-Chairs are listed on our website at www.smilemass.org/beach-project.html. I’ m sure a call to any one of them would convince you of the safety and benefits of us ing the Mobi-Chair.
If you have further questions, I can be reached at 617-967-7755.
Thank you,
Lotte Diomede
Co-founder & president , SMILE Mass [email protected]
www.smilemass.org
*Note from ThePreserve Graydon Coalition : Lotte says ther
e must always be an assistant. What ’s called“the deep end”
or“the 12-foot section ”is not 12 feet deep in all places, but may drop steeply to
that depth. In addition, as in most lakes, visibility at Graydon Pond does not usually
penetrate to the deepest areas of the water
Lonegan Asks Booker: Are You For School Vouchers or Against?
July 17.2013
“It is time for Cory Booker to man up and say once and for all whether he will support school vouchers if he is elected to the U.S. Senate or will he join President Obama in shutting down school voucher programs.”
Ridgewood , NJ – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan demanded an explanation from Cory Booker on his position on school vouchers.
Throughout his political career, Cory Booker has portrayed himself as a supporter of school vouchers, but it is time for him to put his money where his mouth is. During his seven years as mayor of Newark, Booker never once made an effort to introduce school vouchers in Newark’s failing public school system.
And last week, when called out by Mayor Lonegan, Booker’s campaign said, Booker’s “first priority is strengthening public education,” but “in areas where schools are currently failing our children, however, he believes that parents should have options.” (Philadelphia Inquirer, 07/13/13)
Translation: Cory Booker is not man enough to admit his true position on school vouchers.
“It is time for Cory Booker to man up and say once and for all whether he will support school vouchers if he is elected to the U.S. Senate or will he join President Obama in shutting down school voucher programs,” Mayor Lonegan said.
“Cory had seven years to give low-income students in Newark a chance at receiving a quality education. Instead, he has offered platitudes and vague statements. Cory Booker: “Will you support school vouchers in D.C. or continue to force students trying to succeed to remain in failing schools?”
‘Real Housewives’ husband Joe Giudice’s license trial moved to October
MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY JULY 15, 2013, 1:51 PM
BY JOHN PETRICK
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
The much-anticipated criminal trial of “Real Housewives of New Jersey” husband Giuseppe “Joe” Giudice on forgery charges has been bumped to the fall season – on the court calendar that is, not on Bravo TV’s schedule.State Superior Court Judge Greta Gooden Brown set a new trial date for Oct. 28. Giudice’s trial was supposed to begin Monday but was postponed because defense attorney Miles Feinstein, of Clifton, said an unexpected scheduling change caused a conflict with a homicide trial in Sussex County.
Giudice, a 43-year-old Montville resident, allegedly used his brother Pietro’s identity in June 2010 to obtain a driver’s license at the Motor Vehicle Commission office in Paterson. Obtaining a false driver’s license in New Jersey is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Authorities allege that Giudice used marriage and birth certificates belonging to his 39-year-old brother to obtain the license. Giudice’s license was suspended at the time for driving while intoxicated after he flipped his pickup inMontville in January 2010.
A plea for parking accessibility in Ridgewood
Friday, July 12, 2013
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
The Record
RIDGEWOOD — At least one village resident thinks handicap parking is too hard to come by in Ridgewood.
Denise Lima this week asked Ridgewood’s council to look into supplying additional parking spots throughout town for handicapped motorists and passengers.
Such spots, Lima said, are needed in Ridgewood, near its numerous pharmacies, outside the village’s post office, and right next to the movie theater — areas, she noted, where handicap parking was particularly deficient in town.
“White Hispanics,” “Creepy-Ass Crackers,” “Teenage Mammies,” and “Suspicious A–holes who always get away” — that is the vernacular of the George Zimmerman trial.
George Zimmerman faces life in jail as a jury considers second-degree murder charges against him for killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. But thanks to the media he is already sentenced to life in the American public’s mind as a racist.
NBC edited a tape of Zimmerman’s call to police as he was following Martin to make him appear to be focused on Martin’s race.
The New York Times has referred to him in unique racial terms as a “white Hispanic.” The terminology was necessary to have the story fit into a well-worn news narrative throughout American history from the Scottsboro Boys to Emmett Till to Rodney King – the black victim of white racism. Hispanic people can be as racist as black or white people in a country with a deep history of racism. But, apparently for the Times, Zimmerman’s whiteness was important. It fit their good versus evil tale of a white racist killing an innocent black man.
Yes, horrible isn’t it that someone wants to improve the parking situation in Ridgewood. Parking has been problematic in town for 100 years and is one of the largest difficulties for businesses in the CBD (coupled with the parking Nazis.)
I recently moved to Summit NJ, and this town is THRIVING. One of the main differences? Parking. Everywhere. Find a spot, park for hours or all day, pay via your Parkmobile app on your smartphone. But we would prefer to have constant parking problems in town so we can still view the beauty of the old garage on Franklin Avenue. Ridgewood is dying. Summit knows how to run a town.
After Wyckoff ends its grass pickups, teen entrepreneurs seize opportunity
Monday, July 8, 2013
BY EVONNE COUTROS
STAFF WRITER
The Record
WYCKOFF — Despite the bleakest prospects in decades for teens looking for summer work, two Ramapo High School students are proving there’s still room for young entrepreneurs with a vision and motivation.
Classmates John Douma of Wyckoff and Alex Abolt of Franklin Lakes were hoping to find their first summer jobs in between their junior and senior years, but dreading the prospect of punching up orders in a fast-food restaurant.
So when the town decided in April to discontinue curbside pickup of grass clippings — requiring residents to transport the yard waste themselves to the recycling center — the two saw an opportunity for a start-up and went for it.
Today, they have a fleet consisting of one Ford F-150 pickup and seven customers, who each pay $50 a month to have up to four garbage cans full of grass clippings hauled off.
School drug tests on the rise across North Jersey
Sunday July 7, 2013, 10:58 PM
BY DEENA YELLIN
STAFF WRITER
The Record
The Northern Valley Regional High School District’s plan to launch random drug testing angered parents, who turned out en masse at a recent Board of Education meeting to question a measure being considered by more and more North Jersey schools in the face of a growing teenage drug scourge.
Once reserved for elite athletes, drug testing is now employed by at least a dozen public high schools in North Jersey, including Waldwick, Fort Lee, Kinnelon, North Bergen and River Dell. Northern Valley Regional and West Milford are among those considering it. And in the past year, drug testing has begun moving into middle schools in New Jersey.
Administrators in districts with random testing boast of a sharp decline in drug- and alcohol-related incidents among students. The results have assuaged some parents’ initial fears that testing would be an invasion of privacy and do little to cut down on drug use
EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT FOR BERGEN COUNTY THROUGH 8 PM
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW YORK HAS ISSUED AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING. THE HEAT ADVISORY IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
* LOCATIONS…EASTERN PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY.
* HAZARDS…EXCESSIVE HEAT.
* HEAT INDEX VALUES…UP TO 105 DUE TO TEMPERATURES IN THE MIDDLE AND UPPER 90S…AND DEWPOINTS IN THE LOWER 70S.
* TIMING…TODAY…WITH THE HOTTEST CONDITIONS OCCURRING DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS.
* IMPACTS…SENSITIVE POPULATIONS WILL BE SUSCEPTIBLE TO ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN THE COMBINATION OF HEAT AND HUMIDITY IS EXPECTED TO MAKE IT FEEL LIKE IT IS 105 DEGREES OR GREATER. TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTIONS IF YOU WORK OR SPEND TIME OUTSIDE. WHEN POSSIBLE…RESCHEDULE STRENUOUS ACTIVITIES TO EARLY MORNING OR EVENING. KNOW THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE. WEAR LIGHT WEIGHT AND LOOSE FITTING CLOTHING WHEN POSSIBLE AND DRINK
PLENTY OF WATER.
TO REDUCE RISK DURING OUTDOOR WORK THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION RECOMMENDS SCHEDULING FREQUENT REST BREAKS IN SHADED OR AIR CONDITIONED ENVIRONMENTS. ANYONE
OVERCOME BY HEAT SHOULD BE MOVED TO A COOL AND SHADED LOCATION. HEAT STROKE IS AN EMERGENCY…CALL 9 1 1.
Event Description:
Excessive Heat Warning
Instructions:
TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTIONS IF YOU WORK OR SPEND TIME OUTSIDE. WHEN POSSIBLE…RESCHEDULE STRENUOUS ACTIVITIES TO EARLY MORNING OR EVENING. KNOW THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE. WEAR LIGHT WEIGHT AND LOOSE FITTING CLOTHING WHEN POSSIBLE AND DRINK PLENTY OF WATER.
54 Months: Record Stretch of 7.5%+ Unemployment Continues
July 5, 2013 – 12:16 PM
(CNSNews.com) – Since January 2009, when Barack Obama was inaugurated as president, the United States has seen 54 straight months with the unemployment rate at 7.5 percent or higher, which is the longest stretch of unemployment at or above that rate since 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics started calculating the national unemployment rate.
Today, BLS reported that the seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate for June was 7.6 percent, the same it was in May.
In December 2008, the month after Obama was first elected and the month before he was inaugurated, unemployment was 7.3 percent. In January 2009, it climbed to 7.8 percent. In February, the month Obama signed what the Congressional Budget Office would later determine was an $830 billion economic stimulus law, the unemployment rate climbed to 8.3 percent.
In the Obama era, the unemployment rate peaked at 10.0 percent in October 2010. It did not dip below 9 percent until October 2011, when it hit 8.9 percent. From August to September 2012, it dropped from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent—the first time during Obama’s tenure it went under 8 percent.
– See more at: https://cnsnews.com/news/article/54-months-record-stretch-75-unemployment-continues#sthash.MlWZDiPm.dpuf
A special 4th of July Message from Chief John M. Ward
I would like to personally thank those from our community who attended this year’s parade for your show of support for Honorary Chief Michael Feeney. Moments like these are what define the character of a community.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie gets advice from Chief Michael Feeney
Chief Feeney has done such an excellent job that we have asked him to stay on as our Honorary Chief for the year. Michael will be assisting with many other community policing activities including our new cookies with the chief program.
Our nation’s 237th birthday is being celebrated in many ways that have become familiar over the years. Fifteen percent of Americans will watch a parade; 29 percent will sing patriotic songs; 63 percent will enjoy a cookout with family and friends; 78 percent are likely to see fireworks.
Sixty-one percent consider Independence Day one of our nation’s most important holidays.
We celebrate July 4 with the enthusiasm of a loved one’s birthday because we love our country. Seventy-seven percent would live here even if they had the chance to live anywhere else on the planet.
But despite our love for America, we recognize that it’s not perfect. Only 47 percent believe ours is truly a land with liberty and justice for all. Fewer than half believe our economic system is fair to the middle class or fair to those willing to work hard. Only 34 percent believe our system of justice is fair to those who are poor.
That’s where the Declaration of Independence comes in. That document, one of the most cherished and important documents in the history of mankind, did more than found our nation. It defined our national ideals. Despite all the changes of the past two centuries, Americans still embrace those founding ideals.
Seventy-two percent continue to believe governments derive their only just authority from the consent of the governed.
Eighty-one percent believe all of us were created equal.
Ninety-two percent believe we have all been endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Put it all together, and what the Declaration of Independence proposed was then a radical concept — self-governance. Kings did not possess a divine right to rule. Individuals had divine rights, including the right to select their rulers. In fact, as our nation’s founding document described it, the whole purpose of a government was to protect individual rights.
What was radical then is deeply embedded in the cultural DNA of our nation today. We believe that we have the right to make our own decisions about our own lives so long as they don’t infringe on the rights of others. We use our freedom to solve problems by working together in communities.
This attitude was described by Thomas Jefferson and others as “the Spirit of ’76.” It continues to create problems for political elites today because 63 percent think there is more danger with a government that is too powerful than with one that is not powerful enough.
This concern is amplified by the fact that most voters view the government today as a threat to individual rights rather than a protector of those rights. Most Americans also now believe the federal government has become a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interests.
Only one in four voters today thinks our government has the consent of the governed. That’s a clear call for our government to change its ways and re-earn the trust of those it is supposed to serve. Those are the kind of attitudes that make the Political Class nervous. The fact that we expect more comes from the fact that we as a nation still embrace the Spirit of ’76.
An Independence Day Message from Chairman Raia Today, it is important to sit back and reflect on the precious liberties which unite us all, as we commemorate this beloved day of our independence. As we celebrate, let’s remember that these precious freedoms have been defended for generations by the brave men and women of our armed services. We owe them our acknowledgment, support, and undying gratitude; as you and I both know, the price of freedom is not free. Let us all pause for a moment today, and say a prayer for those who have lost their lives so that you and I may raise our families in the peace and prosperity of the greatest nation on earth. From everyone at the New Jersey Republican Party, we wish you and your family a Happy Independence Day. God bless the United States of America, Samuel S. Raia Chairman New Jersey Republican State Committee
