CDC: Working to identify anyone who had contact with sick patient during infectious period
Everett Rosenfeld | @Ev_Rosenfeld
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first case of Ebola in the United States at a Tuesday news conference.
The CDC said that the patient had come from Liberia, and did not show any symptoms when he arrived in the United States on Sept. 20. The organization said it is closely monitoring the situation.
“It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual…could develop Ebola in the coming weeks,” said Tom Frieden, the CDC’s director. “But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here.”
Frieden said public health officials will be working to identify all of those who may have had contact with the patient while he could have been infectious. Once identified, these individuals will be monitored for 21 days to see if they develop symptoms, Frieden said.
Watch Bill Gates Confirm Everybody’s Worst Fears About Common Core
Rather than defend Common Core from accusations of creeping nationalization, Bill Gates finally confirmed that yes, this is exactly what Core proponents are trying to accomplish—less local autonomy is a good thing.
Robby Soave|Sep. 30, 2014 10:42 am
Common Core critics contend that national education standards will erode local decision-making on school issues while promoting a national curriculum of sorts. Most Core proponents generally dismiss these concerns as unfounded.
But Bill Gates, a major financial backer of the standards, was atypically direct about what peddlers of standardization are trying to accomplish during aPolitico event on Monday. Rather than defend Common Core from accusations of creeping nationalization, he finally confirmed that yes, this is exactly what Core proponents are trying to accomplish—less local autonomy is a good thing, as he says in the video:
“Common Core I would have thought of as more of a technocratic issue. The basic idea of, ‘should we share an electrical plug across the country?’ Well, you can get partisan about that I suppose. Should Georgia have a different railroad width than everybody else? Should they teach multiplication in a different way? Oh that’s brilliant [sarcasm], who came up with that idea? Common Core, the idea that what you should know at various grades, that that should be well-structured and you should really insist on kids knowing something so you can build on it, I did not really expect that to become a big political issue.”
There you have it. Gates views the education system—the many myriad ways Americans could pass on knowledge to their children—as akin to choosing the correct railroad track size. The implication is obvious: after all, there is only one right railroad track size! Similarly, there is only one correct way to teach children, and all children must be taught that way, according to Gates.
Here’s a look from @News12Chopper at the bear up in a tree in #Ridgewood MORE INFO> Lions tigers and yup… a bear ! In a tree in town! Megan Vega @MeganVegaTV
Ridgewood Nj,Bear tranquilized near Ridgewood schools; Students free to leaveABC news reported that students are now being held at 3 schools: GW Middle School, Orchard Elementary, in addition to Ridge Elementary because of bear in tree.
The bear was contained in a tree in a residential backyard .New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife is on the scene.
NJ Department of Fish And Wildlife are deploying nets in preparation of tranquilizing the bear.
Village ROBO calls went out warning residents especial after the bear attack last weekend residents need to know if there was one in their neighborhood.
Per the Reverse 911, the bear was spotted near Ridge School. Do not approach, call police at 201-652-3900.
Ridgewood PD is now reporting on twitter that the bear is on the loose again. Leaving his tree on Godwin Avenue . Children at Ridge school will not be released until it is safe to do so.
Residents have reported the Bear has been running rings around Ridgewood, from Megan Pace .
Ridgewood PD is now reporting on twitter that the bear is on the loose again. Leaving his tree on Godwin Avenue . Children at Ridge school will not be released until it is safe to do so.
Readers report It’s quite a circus ,Police blockades with lights-a-flashin’ 3 or 4 helicopters and a dozen news trucks in full regalia.
In North Jersey’s suburban jungle some animals thrive, others struggle near humans
SEPTEMBER 30, 2014, 6:49 AM BY JAMES M. O’NEILL STAFF WRITER NORTHJERSEY.COM
Canada geese get sucked into the engines of a jet, forcing it to make an emergency landing on the Hudson River. The carcasses of struck deer dot the shoulders of Bergen County roadways. A groundhog slashes the face of a family’s pit bull in Wayne. A black bear kills a hiker in West Milford.
For a variety of reasons, suburbia is growing more wild. Some species are learning to thrive in this human-engineered landscape, leading experts to warn that the number of conflicts between people and wildlife will only increase.
The issue is forcing officials to assess how best to manage these species in places where traditional methods of wildlife management – hunting and trapping – are unpalatable or impractical.
At the same time, as suburbia expands its footprint, other species – those that need specific habitat to survive – struggle to hang on. The bobwhite quail, once common, is virtually extinct in New Jersey, as its grassland habitat disappears. Another bird, the piping plover, crowded out by beachgoers, now numbers about 120 nesting pairs in the state.
“The suburban environment has changed the makeup of wildlife,” said Stewart Breck, a wildlife biologist at the National Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colo.
Researchers are still learning how suburban development alters ecosystems, and what the impacts could be.
Garrett hosted three roundtable discussions with a bipartisan group of Members of Congress and key financial services leaders and CEOs. The purpose of our talks was simple: protect your retirement investments and ensure that all Americans can continue to invest in great businesses and ideas.
Rep Scott Garrett Makes top-5 committee attendance record September 29,2014
Rep Scott Garrett named as top-5 committee attendance record in DC .
“I take my responsibility to ensure that New Jersey’s Fifth District has a voice very seriously. I’m proud of having a top-5 committee attendance record because— as this piece from the Washington Examiner points out—committee meetings, hearings and markups are where the real ‘nuts and bolts’ work of Congress gets done.”
SEPTEMBER 30, 2014 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2014, 1:21 AM THE RECORD
Having a brewski just might be good for your brain
A new study suggests that an element in beer may be good for your brain.
Scientists discovered that xanthohumol, an ingredient in beer, seems to help cognitive function in young mice.
Xanthohumol did not have the same impact on older mice, according to the study, whose results were published this month in Behavioral Brain Research.
The scientists noted that the dose they gave the mice was quite high. A human would have to drink 2,000 liters of beer a day to equal what the mice consumed.
Bear near Ridge Elementary School in Ridgewood is surrounded
SEPTEMBER 30, 2014, 10:47 AM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2014, 11:31 AM BY CHRIS HARRIS STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — A bear has climbed a tree along West Ridgewood Avenue across from the Ridge Elementary School, authorities said.
Dogs are being used to keep the bear in the tree until representatives from the state’s Division of Fish and Wildlife “can come get him,” Mayor Paul Aronsohn said.
There is a significant police presence in the area. Tyco Animal Control was called in to assist, the mayor said.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/bear-near-ridge-elementary-school-in-ridgewood-is-surrounded-1.1099112#sthash.z2c9r1Yw.dpuf
How Long Will It Take to Repair Damage Holder Has Done at Justice Department? Hans von Spakovsky / @HvonSpakovsky / September 27, 2014
Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement Thursday that he is resigning, effective when his successor is confirmed, is welcome news.
As John Fund and I outline in our recent book, “Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department,” every time President Obama has broken, bent, ignored or changed the law, the person at his side advising him how to do it has been Eric Holder.
Mr. Holder is also responsible for spearheading an unprecedented politicization of the Justice Department, which should be of great concern to anyone who cares about the rule of law and the impartial administration of justice.
Why care about who runs the U.S. Justice Department? It matters because Justice is one of the most powerful executive branch agencies in the federal government. It has enormous discretionary power to pursue people accused of breaking the law and to exert major influence over social, economic and national security policies by the enforcement (or non-enforcement) choices made by its top officer.
Justice requires someone who understands that, while the attorney general is a political appointee, he (or she) has a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution and enforce the law in an objective, non-political manner. For the most part, Eric Holder failed in the execution of that duty.
Mr. Holder is the first attorney general in history to be held in contempt by the House of Representatives. He earned this dubious distinction by refusing to turn over documents related to what may be the most reckless law enforcement operation ever undertaken by the Justice Department: Operation Fast and Furious.
Every time President Obama has broken, bent, ignored or changed the law, the person at his side advising him how to do it has been Eric Holder.
During his tenure, the Justice Department launched more investigations and prosecutions of leaks than all prior attorneys general combined, while studiously ignoring high-level “friendly leaks” by White House officials designed to make the president look tough in the fight against terrorism.
Mr. Holder racialized the prosecution of federal anti-discrimination laws and led an unprecedented attack on election integrity laws, thus making it easier for people to commit voter fraud.
His handling of national security issues and his reinstitution of the Clinton-era criminal model for handling terrorists have endangered national security and the safety of the American public.
Mr. Holder has tried to restrict pro-life protesters’ First Amendment right to speak, has prosecuted American companies (under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) for behavior that is routine among government officials, and has on numerous occasions ignored his duty to defend the law and to enforce statutes passed by Congress.
Photo: Christy Bowe/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom
In clear violation of civil service rules, Mr. Holder filled the career ranks of the Justice Department with political allies, cronies and Democratic Party donors.
He treated Congress with contempt and did everything he could to evade its oversight responsibilities by misleading, misinforming and ignoring members of Congress and its committees.
For these reasons and many others, a former career lawyer who served in the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations told us that, in his opinion, “Holder is the worst person to hold the position of Attorney General since the disgraced John Mitchell, who went to jail as a result of the Watergate scandal.” This is quite a criticism given that many DOJ veterans believe that the Department reached its nadir under Mitchell.
But in comparison to Holder, Mitchell seems like an amateur in corrupting the law enforcement duties of the Justice Department to carry out the political objectives of President Obama.
The many cases in which judges have accused DOJ prosecutors of engaging in prosecutorial abuse during Holder’s tenure shows, unfortunately, the extent to which this modus operandi has seeped into the lower levels of the Department.
How long it will take to repair the damage that Eric Holder has done to the management and operation of the Justice Department? There is no way to know.
In the end, it is the president who decides on the character, attributes and competence of the individual chosen to be the head of the largest law enforcement organization in the United States.
And it is the president who decides whether his administration – and his attorney general – will fulfill their obligation to “faithfully execute” their duty to enforce the law and “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Jeff Bell Says Booker looks to the same people who got us into the financial catastrophe of 2008 for economic advise
But Do you really trust these “experts” to run the economy?
Ridgewood NJ, Cory Booker does. He thinks we should listen to them – the people that got us into the financial catastrophe of 2008 – about how to get people back to work. He invokes expert opinion against my monetary policy planas his reason for opposing it. He’s a U.S. Senator and he can’t even come up with his own reasons. This time Cory Booker picked the wrong guy to use this tactic against. Bell has plenty of experience taking on the experts in their own backyard.
Here’s what economist John Mueller told the Associated Press the other day:
“It wouldn’t be the first time that the majority of Ph.D. economists were on one side and Jeff was on the other and he turned out to be right.”
When Jeff tried to persuade the Republican establishment to embrace lower taxes, the experts said it was a foolish idea. By 1986 we passed a tax reform bill that took the top rate down from 50 to 28 percent – with even Ted Kennedy voting for it.
In the eighties and nineties the economy took off with the end of high taxes and inflation. Expert opinion tends to stagnate over time and every so often voters need to show the experts they’re wrong. I think we’re in one of those times again, especially when it comes to our money.
N.J. Supreme Court denies motion to block raises for Bergen County sheriff’s officers
SEPTEMBER 29, 2014, 7:24 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014, 7:32 PM BY JEAN RIMBACH STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan is facing another defeat in her long-running bid to derail a contract negotiated by Sheriff Michael Saudino for his officers, with the state Supreme Court refusing to allow further delay in paying out raises to the union.
The court decision to deny the motion for a stay is one in a string of losses on the matter for the county executive, who remains hopeful the state’s top court will ultimately hear the case.
“This kind of money is just unconscionable for us as a county to be paying off,” Donovan said Monday during a visit to The Record’s Editorial Board, declaring “the case is not over.”
But sheriffs and corrections officers of PBA Local 134 are expected to soon begin seeing some of the millions of dollars due to them under a four-year-pact Donovan earlier deemed “reckless spending.”
“It’s been a long battle for us and this was the top, this was the Supreme Court making their decision and denying her the stay,” said Marcelo Hagopian, union president.
The administration says more than $8.6 million is now owed under the contract, which covers the time period from January 2011 through end of this year. Donovan said they’ll be paying the officers in stages, perhaps one year every four weeks.
09/30/147:30PMBoard of Adjustment Special Public Meeting 10/01/147:30PMVillage Council Public Work Session 10/07/147:30PMPlanning Board Public Meeting 10/08/148:00PMVillage Council Public Meeting 10/14/147:30PMBoard of Adjustment Regular Public Meeting 10/21/147:30PMPlanning Board Public Meeting 10/22/147:30PMVillage Council Public Work Session
Ridgewood BOE MEETS ON OCTOBER 20
The next Regular Public Meeting of the Ridgewood Board of Education will be held on Monday, October 20, 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 at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the “Link in Live” tab.
Click here to view the agenda for the September 22, 2014 Regular Public Meeting.
Yard Signs Are Available for Scott Garrett for Congress email me at onlyonesmallvoice@gmail.com with your name address and how many we can deliver them too you (Ridgewood Area)
School Crossing Guard Positions Available – Contact Ridgewood Police Dept.
The Ridgewood Police Department is accepting applications for School Crossing Guard Positions. Applications are Available at the Police Desk located at 131 North Maple Avenue Ridgewood NJ. P/T position, 10 hours per week (2 hours per day) starting at $17.49/hr. Send application to Police Chief John Ward, Ridgewood Police Dept, 131 N. Maple Ave., Ridgewood, NJ 07450 or return the application to the Police Records Room. The Village of Ridgewood is an EOE and civil service community. 201/652-3900
The Ridgewood Taxpayers’ Association is still looking to reactivate.
The Ridgewood Taxpayers’ Association is a non-profit corporation.
organized in the state of New Jersey in 1993 .
The purposes of the Ridgewood Taxpayers’ Association are as follows :
*To monitor and analyze of the Village and Board of Education ;
*To provide recommendations to the Village and BOE on how to operate on a cost effective basis ;
*To monitor the actions taken by the state of New Jersey , Bergen County the BOE and any governmental entity which has or may have an impact on the taxes of the Village of Ridgewood ;
*To provide information to the citizens of the Village of Ridgewood on the operation of their government and costs associated therewith :
*To promote local, regional and state legislation for the fair taxation of Ridgewood residents ;
*To evaluate candidates for public office .
Membership is available to residents of Ridgewood or anyone who maintains a business address in the Village of Ridgewood .
The Ridgewood Taxpayers’ Association is looking for Board Members and those interested should email there resume and a short cover letter to:ridgewoodtaxpayersassoc@mail.com
Wildscape Clean Up – All Volunteers Welcome – October 5th
Ridgewood Wildscape Assn. Annual Community River Cleanup
to be held Sunday, October 5, 12:45-3PM. Wear old clothes. All equipment provided by the Village of Ridgewood. HoHoKus Brook between Ridgewood Ave-Overbrook Road.
Meet at the Ridgewood High School Parking Lot 12:45. ridgewoodwildscape.org
Downtown Tree Well Report 9.22.14 – Volunteers Welcome
9/22/14 Update; Oak, Chestnut and Broad still need to be weeded and mulched, but I need to work on labeling and identifying the trees before they lose their leaves. Tomorrow I am going to work on labeling wells and identifying trees. I am going to start on Maple and work my way up Ridgewood and down. I will initially label the wells in a inconspicuous place with a permanent marker. Once I have all trees counted I will investigate a more obvious and tasteful labeling method. I will have sheets to fill out for each tree and my plan is to take a picture of each tree that will help identify the species and condition. I would appreciate any and all help. This should be cleaner (and quicker) than weeding and mulching.
Monica Buesser
Shade Tree Commission
For further information contact Monica Buesser …. mkbuesser@gmail.com
SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014, 10:50 AM BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The tedious and comprehensive process of planning a major renovation of a government building, in this case the Ridgewood Public Library, is making slow and steady progress.
The Library Board of Trustees recently discussed its progress on the plans to completely transform the inside of the 34,000-square-foot facility, which hasn’t been updated since 1995.
The process to update the library, which began more than two years ago, started with interviewing members of the public on areas like the library’s strengths and values, and the use needs of different patrons.
From that, a strategic plan was developed with a focus on creating better community gathering and study spaces, an expanded young adult area, and a more welcoming circulation desk at the entrance of the library.
In addition to the resident surveys, the library also studied the demographics of Ridgewood, which showed that 24 percent of residents don’t speak English at home and highlighted a huge income disparity: 33 percent of households have an income of more than $200,000 while 12 percent of households live on an income of less than $35,000.
“We’re the cultural center, the education center, the career center, the equal opportunity center, the early literacy center,” said Library Director Nancy Greene. “There are all the different roles that we try to serve.”
With those details, the library created a Request for Proposals (RFP) in August and received plans back from three architectural firms earlier this month.
Parenting co-pilot, Lenore Skenazy will teach us how to let go so our kids fly!
Free Community Traffic Safety Forum – Wednesday – October 1 – 7PM BFMS
Good News Ridgewood Parents!!
Wednesday, October 1 from 7-9pm at Benjamin Franklin Middle School our parenting co-pilot, Lenore Skenazy will teach us how to let go so our kids fly!
DO NOT MISS THIS EVENT!
Lenore will make us laugh out loud!
She will teach us valuable lessons about trusting ourselves and our children.
The woman known as “America’s Worst Mom” will be the keynote speaker at a community safety forum on Wednesday, Oct. 1 in Ridgewood. The free event is open to anyone concerned about neighborhood and school zone traffic safety, including parents, school personnel and HSA members, law enforcement, public works, businesses, neighborhood organizations – anyone concerned about neighborhood and school zone traffic safety.
Lenore Skenazy is a New York City newspaper columnist-turned-reality-TV show host who earned the moniker after she let her 9-year-old son take the subway – alone. In response to the media blowback, she founded the book and blog “Free-Range Kids” (freerangekids.com), which helped launch the anti-helicopter parenting movement.
Titled “Community Traffic Safety: It’s No Accident,” the event will also feature Tom Everson, founder of Keep Kids Alive Drive 25, a non-profit group, in sponsorship with Teachers’ Insurance of New Jersey. The event, sponsored by the Ridgewood Citizens Safety Advisory Committee, will run from 7:00 to 9 p.m. at Ben Franklin Middle School, 335 N. Van Dien Ave., Ridgewood. Reservations are not necessary.
The purpose of the event is to educate and engage communities on how to implement a community-wide “Keep Kids Alive Drive 25” traffic safety education initiative (KeepKidsAliveDrive25.org). It will focus on speeding, stop-sign running, cell phone use, tailgating, and seat belt use. The first 50 participants will receive a Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 yard sign and five trash can decals. In addition Bookends will provide copies of Lenore Skenazy’s book Free Range Kids.
-Skenazy, a Yale University graduate, believes that children are safer and smarter than comtemporary culture gives them credit for, and her opinions have landed her on talk shows from Dr. Phil to The View. She lectures internationally and has written for everyone from The Washington Post to Mad Magazine (yes – she is funny too). Her reality show on Discovery/TLC International, “World’s Worst Mom,” airs in about a third of the world but not currently in the United States.
The goal of Free-Range Kids! is “fighting the belief that our children are in constant danger from creeps, kidnapping, germs, grades, flashers, frustration, failure, baby snatchers, bugs, bullies, men, sleepovers and/or the perils of a non-organic grape.”
For more information about the event, contact Jeanne Johnson 201-851-3262
Obama has had accurate intelligence about ISIS since BEFORE the 2012 election, says administration insider
A national security staffer in the Obama administration said the president has been seeing ‘highly accurate predictions’ about the rise of the ISIS terror army since ‘before the 2012 election’ Obama insisted in his campaign speeches that year that America was safe and al-Qaeda was ‘on the run’ The president said during Sunday’s ’60 Minutes’ program that his Director of National Intelligence had conceded he underestimated ISIS But the administration aide insisted that Obama’s advisers gave him actionable information that sat and gathered dust for more than a year ‘He knew what was at stake,’ the aide said of the president, and ‘he knew where all the moving pieces were’ Obama takes daily intelligence briefings in writing, he explained, because no one will be able to testify about warning the president in person about threats that the White House doesn’t act on
By DAVID MARTOSKO, US POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:22 EST, 29 September 2014 | UPDATED: 17:42 EST, 29 September 2014
President Barack Obama’s intelligence briefings have provided him with specific information since before he won re-election in 2012 about the growing threat of the terror group now known alternatively as ISIS and ISIL, an administration insider told MailOnline on Monday.
‘Unless someone very senior has been shredding the president’s daily briefings and telling him that the dog ate them, highly accurate predictions about ISIL have been showing up in the Oval Office since before the 2012 election,’ said a national security staffer in the Obama administration who is familiar with the content of intelligence briefings.
The staffer declined to share anything specific about the content of those briefings, citing his need to maintain a security clearance.
But ‘it’s true,’ he said, ‘that the [intelligence] community was sending pretty specific intel up to us.’
‘We were seeing specific threat assessments and many of them have panned out exactly as we were told they would.’
On its one-year anniversary, ObamaCare gets an ‘F’ By Michael D. Tanner September 28, 2014 | 12:00am
This Wednesday will mark one year since enrollment in ObamaCare began. What began with the disastrous rollout of healthcare.gov has ended with the health law’s supporters claiming victory.
It is true that some of the worst predictions have not yet come true. Yet. But in the last year we’ve also seen plenty of bad news for consumers, providers, employers and taxpayers.
A report card:
The Uninsured:Earlier this month, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services director Marilyn Tavenner testified that roughly 7.3 million people signed up for insurance through the exchanges. That’s down from early estimates of 8.1 million, because nearly 800,000 of those who initially enrolled have stopped or never paid their premiums. A bigger question is how many enrollees were previously insured and were just changing plans. Overall, the best estimates suggest that roughly 8 million people gained insurance under ObamaCare, but roughly half of those were enrolled in Medicaid (outside of the exchanges), which isn’t really health-care reform so much as adding people to government welfare. And it still leaves 41 million American adults uninsured. We spent billions to move the needle a tick. Grade: C
Your Plan : Despite the president’s assurances to the contrary, roughly 6 million Americans were kicked off their insurance because their plans failed to offer a lengthy-enough maternity stay, didn’t provide sufficient drug and alcohol rehabilitation benefits or otherwise fell short of the insurance that federal bureaucrats thought that they should have. This includes more than 100,000 New Yorkers. Nearly all eventually found other insurance, but a new study from the National Center for Public Policy Research found that, on average, ObamaCare plans were worse than the plans they replaced, in terms of both providers covered and cost-sharing. A new wave of cancellations is about to begin as well. Those New Yorkers who managed to renew their noncompliant plans prior to the effective start date for ObamaCare last year should start receiving cancellation notices any day now. Some people may not even be able to keep the plans that replaced the plans they couldn’t keep the first time. In several states, insurers have dropped plans that they offered on the exchanges or even withdrawn from the market altogether. And if that was not bad enough, Americans with employer-based insurance may find out their insurance has to be changed starting next year. Grade: F
Premiums: If judged against President Obama’s promise that health-care reform would save us all at least $2,500 through lower premiums, ObamaCare deserves an F. But premium increases have been less bad than expected, especially in states like New York that already had highly regulated insurance markets. Last year, New Yorkers in the individual market saw a reduction in their premiums, but only because the individual market was already in such terrible shape. In states where the individual market was not already dysfunctional, there were significant premium increases. This year, New Yorkers can expect premium increases averaging roughly 6 percent for individual plans and almost 7 percent for small business. Grade: C+
