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Fatal bear attack in West Milford preserve is first recorded in New Jersey in 150 years

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Fatal bear attack in West Milford preserve is first recorded in New Jersey in 150 years

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 7:00 AM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 10:15 PM
BY MINJAE PARK AND JIM O’NEILL
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD

WEST MILFORD — Around the Apshawa Preserve, residents seal garbage containers, bring their dogs inside and scrub their barbecue grills clean, daily chores to ensure that ever-present bears keep their distance. 

But the fatal bear attack on a 22-year-old Rutgers student Sunday — the first recorded in more than 150 years, state officials say — came as a startling reminder of the dangers that can arise from the rare bear-human confrontation.

KEVIN R. WEXLER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
From left, West Milford Police Chief Tim Storbeck; DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese and Passaic County Sheriff Richard Berdnik during Monday’s press conference.

Five friends had been hiking at the preserve in West Milford on Sunday afternoon when they scattered in fear upon realizing a black bear was following them, a move experts say put each individual at greater risk.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/fatal-bear-attack-in-west-milford-preserve-is-first-recorded-in-new-jersey-in-150-years-1.1093520#sthash.nMoi4Reh.dpuf

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Ho-Ho-Kus resident told to remove traffic strips from Powderhorn Road

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Ho-Ho-Kus resident told to remove traffic strips from Powderhorn Road

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 6:04 PM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 6:35 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

HO-HO-KUS — A Powderhorn Road resident broke the law when she hired an engineering firm to install traffic counting cables along her street last week without permission, local officials said.

A letter hand-delivered by a Ho-Ho-Kus police officer Monday afternoon warned Donna Cioffi that if the cables aren’t gone within 24 hours, the borough will have them removed.

Cioffi has long argued traffic volumes down her street — a popular County Road 502 commuter cut-through — exceed the 4,000-plus vehicles that recent counts from municipal officials suggest utilize Powderhorn Road on any given day.

When Cioffi failed to convince borough officials to commission a new traffic study, she took matters into her own hands, paying $600 for a firm she won’t identify to install the traffic strips at night.

The strips record data on traffic speeds, volume and vehicle weight.

“It has come to the attention of the borough government that you have had traffic counting cables placed across Powderhorn Road without the express written consent of the borough of Ho-Ho-Kus,” the letter to Cioffi reads.

“The borough further understands that these cables are connected to an electronic box located in a public right of way,” it continues. “This activity is an illegal encroachment over the public right of way.”

The letter puts Cioffi on notice, saying the strips need to be excised.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ho-ho-kus-resident-told-to-remove-traffic-strips-from-powderhorn-road-1.1093953#sthash.ifxl7GqG.dpuf

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Parking meter trial coming to Montclair this fall

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Parking meter trial coming to Montclair this fall

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 6:03 PM
BY ANDREW SEGEDIN
STAFF WRITER
THE MONTCLAIR TIMES

The Montclair Township Council approved a resolution to move forward with a 90-day smart parking meter trial with Duncan Parking Technologies.

At least one party was not satisfied with the decision. Frank Del Monico, vice president of the East and West Coast of IPS Group Inc., a competing vendor of Duncan Parking Technologies, told The Montclair Times that he sent two letters to the township voicing his disappointment in the resolution.

Del Monico said that, while the township has the right to select whichever vendor it wants, he was puzzled as to why the township did not allow multiple vendors to compete in a trial. In a letter to Mayor Robert Jackson, Del Monico cites municipalities such as New Rochelle, N.Y., and New Brunswick that have conduced multi-vendor trials.

In the case of New Rochelle, Del Monico told The Times, the municipal government drafted a Request For Proposal for trial to purchase. A host of vendors were invited in and, if a vendor was late in attempting to install temporary meters, they were not considered. After 90 days, New Rochelle officials were able to make their selection.

“Montclair would be better served by having a competition, having a field test,” Del Monico said. “You need the voice of the stakeholders. Merchants should have say in this. What we typically do for a trial, we do a portal, a survey. If you’re in public administration you should do that. You have an avenue available to you now.”

Township Manager Marc Dashield said the township went through a Request For Proposal process about a year ago and analyzed a variety of meters and vendors. At this point, the manager said, the township is at the process of wanting to move forward to test whether smart meters are financially viable in Montclair.

As Duncan Parking Technologies is part of a national cooperative, which does not require the township to go out for bid, Montclair is able to have more control over the project and move more expeditiously, said Dashield. Should the trial go well, Montclair would also be able to keep the 50 meters that will be tested, the manager added.

Smart meters, which accept credit cards and smart cards, come with additional associated costs such as wireless network fees. Dashield said that understanding those costs will be important piece to a greater Montclair parking plan. While nothing is set, Dashield said that he anticipated that the meters will be installed in late October or early November.

Commenting on Del Monico’s letter, Jackson said that he did not feel as though Montclair’s trial with Duncan Parking Technologies precludes it from ultimately selecting a different vendor.

“The implementation of the new parking meters is behind schedule and dramatically so for most of us,” Jackson said. “We want to get something done. You can debate for 20 years to do this [vendor] or that [vendor]. This trial will assess how it goes. If we want to go back after the Duncan trial, we can still do that.”

Moving forward with the Duncan Parking Technologies plan is the appropriate step, Jackson said, as it allows the township to move quickly and assess the impact. The mayor said he saw no downside in the trial and added that he was eager to compare the data gathered over the 90 days with the township’s pre-assessment.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/council-authorizes-90-day-trial-1.1093954#sthash.NGw8Lzu0.dpuf

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Addressing special needs housing

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Addressing special needs housing

To The Editor:

Earlier this year, the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) established its latest housing regulations. It was a long-awaited attempt to clarify an increasingly complex situation and to provide our communities with clarity on this issue.

While we can spend hours debating the merits of such rules imposed on our municipalities, we think that it is imperative that attention be paid to a housing shortfall that lies beyond this new set of COAH rules. It is an issue that poses its own set of moral and practical challenges and is a relentless source of anxiety for many New Jersey families.

Specifically, we are talking about our state’s significant shortage of special-needs housing.

Ask any parent of an adult with cognitive, developmental or physical disabilities about housing opportunities and you are likely to get the same concerned look, hear the same compelling plea and feel the same sense of urgency. It is not just a matter of independence for their adult child. It is possibly a matter of life and death, because their adult child may have no place to live once the parents have died.

For them and their children – the literally thousands of people with disabilities waiting on state lists for such housing – the time to act is now. We must address the housing needs of our most vulnerable, and we must provide towns, such as Ridgewood, with more flexibility to make such housing a reality.

To that end, we have introduced Senate Bill 2132 to allow and encourage municipalities to work together to create regional affordable housing opportunities for adults with special needs. The bill would permit any city or town to transfer up to half of its COAH obligation to another city or town within a 10-mile radius, which would receive 1.5 COAH credits per unit of affordable housing to meet its fair share.

Among other things, this legislation would allow built-out communities – those with no space for additional housing – to help meet the needs of its special-needs residents, but to do so in neighboring towns.

In the past, similar regional contribution agreements had been legal and had been successful in creating thousands of affordable homes for people around the state. This bill is different, however, in that it focuses on people with special needs and includes a 10-mile geographical restriction as a common-sense component to keep such housing and services in close proximity – something that will benefit the communities and the families involved.

S-2132 is a significant step toward solving the housing needs of our most vulnerable and a solution that can provide much needed and much deserved relief to many New Jersey families. We therefore urge the Legislature to seize this opportunity and act upon this legislation.

Paul Aronsohn
Mayor, Ridgewood

Kevin O’Toole
State Senator, 40th Legislative District

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-addressing-special-needs-housing-1.1093600

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Reader says So now the Master Plan is something to be tweaked and molded to meet any developers’ needs?

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Reader says So now the Master Plan is something to be tweaked and molded to meet any developers’ needs?

So now changing the Master Plan is reduced to a “regular” negotiable item on the table and is open to regular and frequent changes?

———-
Modifications to the Master Plan should be difficult to implement and should be considered only rarely – when absolutely necessary.

Apparently this mayor and council seem to consider a Master Plan change as one of the many “regular work-a-day tools” at their disposal.
———-

Clearly the ambitious plans of developers do not fit into the “essence” of RW – as evidenced by a need to change the Master Plan.

Changing the “proposed changes” to the Master Plan misses the function of the Master Plan and the problem at hand…
The problem IS NOT that the “original proposed changes” to the Master Plan were too severe.
The problem IS that the developers desires DO NOT FIT AND DO NOT BELONG in RW.

Microsoft Store

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Ridgewood Board of Education honors record-setting swimmer Charlotte Samuels

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Ridgewood Board of Education honors record-setting swimmer Charlotte Samuels

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 9:49 PM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 9:50 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — Open water swimming sensation Charlotte Samuels smiled widely Monday evening as the Board of Education recognized the 16-year-old athlete’s record-setting feat.

Charlotte — who recently returned from Britain, where she swam the English Channel to become the youngest person to complete open water swimming’s Triple Crown — thanked all the members of Ridgewood’s school board for the honor.

“This is the first time in my career I get to honor someone for breaking a world record,” said Superintendent of Schools Daniel Fishbein, before reading a resolution noting Charlotte’s swimming prowess.

The resolution expressed the board’s congratulations while extending to Charlotte “their best wishes for success in all future endeavors.”

Charlotte received a standing ovation from the 15-member audience, which also included her parents, Steven and Suzanne Samuels.

Sheila Brogan, the school board president, said she was both proud of the Ridgewood High School student, and “in awe” of her.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-board-of-education-honors-record-setting-swimmer-charlotte-samuels-1.1093974#sthash.NHxGxm9p.dpuf

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Lois Lerner breaks silence

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Lois Lerner breaks silence

By RACHAEL BADE | 9/22/14 4:59 AM EDT Updated: 9/22/14 1:13 PM EDT

Employers won’t hire her. She’s been berated with epithets like “dirty Jew.” Federal agents have guarded her house because of death threats. And she’s spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending herself against accusations she orchestrated a coverup in a scandal that has come to represent everything Americans hate about the IRS.

Lois Lerner is toxic — and she knows it. But she refuses to recede into anonymity or beg for forgiveness for her role in the IRS tea party-targeting scandal.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Lerner said in her first press interview since the scandal broke 16 months ago. “I’m proud of my career and the job I did for this country.”

Lerner, who sat down with POLITICO in an exclusive two-hour session, has been painted in one dimension: as a powerful bureaucrat scheming with the Obama administration to cripple right-leaning nonprofits. Interviews with about 20 of her colleagues, friends and critics and a survey of emails and other IRS documents, however, reveal a much more complicated figure than the caricature she’s become in the public eye.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/lois-lerner-breaks-silence-irs-scandal-111181.html#ixzz3E7zD5CXu

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Fresh Graves Point to Undercount of Ebola Toll

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Fresh Graves Point to Undercount of Ebola Toll

By ADAM NOSSITERSEPT. 22, 2014

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — The gravedigger hacked at the cemetery’s dense undergrowth, clearing space for the day’s Ebola victims. A burial team, in protective suits torn with gaping holes, arrived with fresh bodies.

The backs of the battered secondhand vans carrying the dead were closed with twisted, rusting wire. Bodies were dumped in new graves, and a worker in a short-sleeve shirt carried away the stretcher, wearing only plastic bags over his hands as protection. The outlook for the day at King Tom Cemetery was busy.

“We will need much more space,” said James C. O. Hamilton, the chief gravedigger, as a colleague cleared the bush with his machete.

The Ebola epidemic is spreading rapidly in Sierra Leone’s densely packed capital — and it may already be far worse than the authorities acknowledge.

Since the beginning of the outbreak more than six months ago, the Sierra Leone Health Ministry reported only 10 confirmed Ebola deaths here in Freetown, the capital of more than one million people, and its suburbs as of Sunday — a hopeful sign that this city, unlike the capital of neighboring Liberia, had been relatively spared the ravages of the outbreak.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/world/africa/23ebola.html?_r=0

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WH: Americans radicalized in the Middle East back in United States

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WH: Americans radicalized in the Middle East back in United States
By Justin Sink – 09/22/14 11:57 AM EDT

Some of an estimated 100 Americans who have traveled to the Middle East and joined terrorist organizations like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have returned to the United States, a senior administration official said Monday.

At a Monday briefing previewing an administration push for a United Nations resolution to prevent the flow of foreign citizens into conflict zones to join terrorist groups, a senior administration official said that an estimated 15,000 individuals had entered Iraq and Syria to join groups like ISIS and the al Nusra Front. The official said that 2,000 of those foreign fighters were European, and that 100 were Americans.

That number includes Americans “who may have tried to travel or those who have come back,” a second senior administration official said.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/218494-white-house-radicalized-americans-back-in-us

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N.J. firm moving to Philly

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ArtChick(the Rocky Steps)  of ArtChick Photography who also moved from North Jersey to Philly 4 years ago

N.J. firm moving to Philly

September 22, 2014    Last updated: Monday, September 22, 2014, 1:32 PM
The Record
The Associated Press

MARLTON, N.J. – A southern New Jersey firm that manages construction projects around the world is planning to move its headquarters to Philadelphia in the latest move in a battle between New Jersey and Pennsylvania for businesses.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett announced the move of Hill International Inc., on Monday.

He says the company will move 222 jobs to the city over the next three years and has approval for $1.8 million in grants and tax credits

In a statement, Hill President and CEO David Richter says the company was looking to consolidate its operations.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/n-j-firm-moving-to-philly-1.1093728#sthash.dOeIGb33.dpuf

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Hiker killed by black bear in West Milford was Rutgers student

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Hiker killed by black bear in West Milford was Rutgers student

September 22, 2014, 7:00 AM    Last updated: Monday, September 22, 2014, 1:45 PM
By TODD SOUTH and STEFANIE DAZIO
Staff Writers
The Record

An official of Rutgers University, where the man killed by a West Milford bear attack on Sunday was a student, issued a statement this afternoon on Darsh Patel’s “tragic passing.”

Richard L. Edwards, chancellor at Rutgers-New Brunswick, wrote in a statement: “As we grieve over his tragic passing, please know that our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and loved ones and to all his friends and fellow students at Rutgers.”

He said the university has made counselors available to members of the Rutgers community.

Patel, 22, of Edison, was identified as the man killed by the black bear Sunday afternoon in the Apshawa Preserve in West Milford.

A bear was found at the preserve and immediately euthanized, West Milford police said in a news release.

Patel and four friends, all from Edison, were hiking in the preserve when they encountered a black bear that began to follow them, the release said. They ran in different directions and called police when they couldn’t find Patel.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/hiker-killed-by-black-bear-in-west-milford-was-rutgers-student-1.1093520#sthash.dp6Qgu9f.dpuf

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Ridgewood mayor suggests two amendments for downtown housing

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Ridgewood mayor suggests two amendments for downtown housing

September 22, 2014    Last updated: Monday, September 22, 2014, 11:39 AM
By Laura Herzog
Staff Writer
The Ridgewood New

If two is usually better than one, what about when it comes to Master Plan amendments?

Last Tuesday, Mayor Paul Aronsohn surprised Planning Board members by suggesting the board split the currently proposed Master Plan amendment, to allow multifamily housing in the village’s central business district (CBD), into two amendments.

He also asked the board to consider reducing the proposed density, as in allowable units per acre.

One part of the newly bifurcated amendment, Aronsohn said, would consider the CBD’s “core” – East Ridgewood Avenue and Franklin Avenue – and the other would consider the CBD’s “periphery” – south of East Ridgewood Avenue and north of Franklin Avenue.

“We’re looking at a lot here. I think it would simplify it. I think it would allow the board to really focus,” Aronsohn said. “I think it would just help our decision.”

In another proposal, the mayor asked the board to consider modifying the density increase to a range around 30 to 40 units per acre, as opposed to the currently proposed 50 units per acre, which has been criticized as too great by opponents.

“I’m thinking closer to 30 makes sense,” he said.

A couple of Planning Board members expressed interest in further pursuing the ideas, which Chairman Charles Nalbantian said would be discussed more in the future, but most said the board should continue moving forward as it is.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-mayor-suggests-two-amendments-1.1093601#sthash.9hy3VdTP.dpuf

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The Middle East Needs Free Markets, Not Troops

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The Middle East Needs Free Markets, Not Troops

Joshua Swain|Sep. 20, 2014 3:00 pm

As Washington prepares to battle with ISIS, Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad of the Islamic libertarian tank Minaret of Freedom Institute warns that warfare won’t lead to stability in the Middle East.

In March, Reason TV interviewed Dr. Ahmad, who believes free market policies are the best way to bring peace and prosperity to the region—and are compatible with Islamic teaching.

Watch Can Muslims be Free Marketeers? above and read the original post below:

“The biggest fear in the Muslim world is the association in their minds of free markets with imperialism,” says Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, president of the Minaret of Freedom Institute. “But those of us familiar with the history of libertarian thought know that true devotees of the free market have always been opposed to imperialism.”

There is nothing inherent in Islam or the Koran, claims Ahmad, that prohibits Muslim-majority countries from joining the world economy. The Minaret of Freedom Institute seeks to educate Muslims and non-Muslims on the libertarian values within the Islam religion. Ahmad sat down with Reason TV’s Nick Gillespie to discuss how libertarian and Islamic values actually complement one another.  

About 15 minutes.

Produced by Amanda Winkler. Camera by Winkler and Joshua Swain.

https://reason.com/blog/2014/09/20/the-middle-east-needs-free-markets-not-t

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Readers Ridicule Extreme Bias in Media Reporting of “Bridgegate or Bridgeapolooza” reporting

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file photo Boyd Loving
Readers Ridicule Extreme Bias in Media Reporting of “Bridgegate or Bridgeapolooza” reporting 

The Record and it’s parent company are dying a well deserved slow death.
Good riddance.!

This all may be true. The one thing that Im concerned with is that poor horse. The Governor is sure asking that horse to do a lot.

so this news will slow the record to only 5 bridgegate stories per week?

I guess you didn’t see the retraction by NBC and the correction of Brian Williams by NBC news. OH well

Finally, it’s not “time for another GWB/let’s see if we can nail Christie” story from the Record. Also , what’s up with their hideous “sense of humor” Christie/GWB songs ad infinitum obsession? Tough choice between NoDoz or Excedrin.

You won’t find this news in The Record! Bridgegate every day of the year, but no mention of the above. Libtard Rag!

CNN was running a “Has Christie redeemed himself yet since Bridgegate” story.

WTF was there to redeem himself from?

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Reader says time to Outsource Coin Collection

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file photo Boyd Loving
Reader says time to Outsource Coin Collection 

Outsource to a company that performs this kind of service . ( check the net) They are bonded. Have the Signal Bureau employees go back to the work they were trained for. If we check the amount of man-hours for these people to collect the coins figure their pay pension and medical against what a company would charges us maybe THE BREATH OF FRESH AIR MANAGER could give the council and more importantly the taxpayers the feeling that something is being done.