Buffett Says Free News Unsustainable, May Add More Papers
Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) struck a deal this month to acquire 63 newspapers, said he may buy more publications as the industry rethinks whether to offer free content on the Internet.
“This is an unsustainable model and certain of our papers are already making progress in moving to something that makes more sense,” Buffett wrote in a letter to editors and publishers of Berkshire’s daily newspapers. “We want your best thinking as we work out the blend of digital and print that will attract both the audience and the revenue we need.”
Special deals, and enter to win a grand prize trip to the Dominican Republic
Saturday June 9, 2012
1:00-5:00 PM
The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood
10 Chestnut Street
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
~Gary, Barbara and Collin
The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood | 10 Chestnut Street | Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450
Phone: 201-447-2204 | Email: info@tobaccoshop.com
Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00AM – 5:30PM and Thursday Night 6:30PM – 8:30PM
Number of high-school students with jobs hits 20-year low
Did somebody say McJobless?
The American job market is no place for students as the number of employed high schoolers has hit its lowest level in more than 20 years, according to new figures from the National Center for Education Statistics.
In 1990, 32 percent of high school students held jobs, versus just 16 percent now. Blame their elders.
Sectors that traditionally have offered teens their first paying gig — fast-food chains, movie theaters, malls and big-box retailers — have now become the last resorts for out-of-work college graduates or older Americans forced back into the labor force out of sheer financial necessity. The resulting squeeze has left students on the outside looking in.
Man tackles alleged car burglar in Ridgewood
May 25.2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, A man chased and tackled a thief who was burglarizing his friend’s car Friday morning, Ridgewood Police said.
According to police the stepped out of MacMurphy’s bar around 1:10 a.m. to take cigarette break and he noticed a man rummaging through his friend’s parked car . The care was parked in front of the bar on Godwin Avenue. He then chased after the burglar and tackled him on the railroad tracks behind the restaurant, calling 911 and holding him until police arrived, said Detective Chris McDowell.
The alleged burglar,accused of taking an iPod cable from the car has been identified as Dereck Miller, 34, of Ridgewood, and was charged with burglary and theft and released on a summons. He was also treated at The Valley Hospital for injuries he received from being tackled.
PSE&G Warns Customers About Nationwide Payment Scam
May 25, 2012
Scammers ask for personal information such as social security numbers
(May 25, 2012 – Newark, NJ) – Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G) is alerting its customers about a nationwide phony bill payment program that promises to credit or pay utility bills in exchange for personal information, including social security numbers. The scam, which has been reported in a number of states, claims that President Barack Obama is providing credits or applying payments to utility bills.
Here’s how the scam works:
• Someone calls a utility customer and tells them that the federal government has a program to pay utility bills on a one-time basis.
• Customers are asked to provide their social security numbers to apply for the program.
• The scammers then give customers a phony federal reserve bank routing number to use to receive the credit or bill payment. Some PSE&G customers have reported that they entered the false information, then called the company to verify that the payment was made by the government on their behalf.
• According to reports, the scammers are also emailing, texting and using social media to reach customers.
Customers should be assured that to help protect the security of PSE&G accounts, PSE&G will not contact customers to request their social security number, as well as username or password for customers who use online account services, such as PSE&G’s myAccount.
What to do if you are contacted:
• If you receive a phone call, email or other communication purporting to be from PSE&G requesting your social security number, username or password, please do not provide it. Nor should you click on any links or respond in any manner.
• Send an email to PSE&G’s security department at PSEG-BAandR@pseg.com with details about what occurred.
• When PSE&G makes an outbound phone call to customers, automated or manually, the caller ID will identify the call as coming from PSE&G. The PSE&G representative will ask appropriate security questions and provide predetermined information to confirm customer identity. If customers do not receive these pieces of information, they likely are not speaking with a PSE&G representative. If customers feel uncomfortable and they know they have an outstanding balance that needs to be resolved, they should hang up and call PSE&G directly at 1-800-436-7734 or visit a local PSE&G Customer Service Center. Service Centers are open Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM with locations listed on customer bills. Addresses also are available online at: https://www.pseg.com/centers.
• Customers who have doubts about the legitimacy of any call from PSE&G, especially one in which payment is requested, should call the utility directly.
Ridgewood American Legion Post 53 places flags to honor veterans
FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2012
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
This past Saturday, Minerva Yakowicz placed an American flag at the foot of an angel marking her husband Joe’s grave in Valleau Cemetery.
Yakowicz’s husband, who was a pilot for the U.S. Air Force during World War II, died last December.
That 2-foot-tall flag was one of nearly 900 that were placed in the past week at the graves of soldiers buried at Valleau Cemetery. The first few hundred flags were placed by about 50 volunteers, including seniors and children, on the morning of May 19. The remaining flags were placed by Bob Paoli, commander of Ridgewood’s American Legion Post 53, and his fellow legionnaire Chris Stout later in the week.
“My heart was full,” Yakowicz said, as she recalled driving past the cemetery and seeing “how nicely all the flags were standing up.”
Coming to a school near you soon: Students will be tracked via chips in IDs
By Francisco Vara-Orta
Updated 11:44 p.m., Thursday, May 24, 2012
Northside Independent School District plans to track students next year on two of its campuses using technology implanted in their student identification cards in a trial that could eventually include all 112 of its schools and all of its nearly 100,000 students.
District officials said the Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID) tags would improve safety by allowing them to locate students — and count them more accurately at the beginning of the school day to help offset cuts in state funding, which is partly based on attendance.
Northside, the largest school district in Bexar County, plans to modify the ID cards next year for all students attending John Jay High School, Anson Jones Middle School and all special education students who ride district buses. That will add up to about 6,290 students.
The school board unanimously approved the program late Tuesday but, in a rarity for Northside trustees, they hotly debated it first, with some questioning it on privacy grounds.
BOE gives preferential treatment to ex-board member Charles Reilly’s comments
May 24.2012
the staff of the ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, we have just been told by the BOE that trustee Jim Morgan can participate in contract negotiations with Ridgewood schools superintendent Daniel Fishbein . Are we the only ones who find this offensive ? The Board of Education (BOE) actually took time out of its busy schedule to entertain the ramblings of a former BOE member Charlie Reilly who currently to our knowledge represents no one to pass judgement on the qualifications of a freely elected BOE trustee Jim Morgan .
The BOE decided that Jim Morgan is “permitted” to participate in upcoming contract negotiations with Superintendent of Schools Daniel Fishbein despite the objection of at least one member of the public? One member of the public?
When the entire town objected to the “dumb dumb math program” its was still rammed down every one’s throats . So maybe the real question is when did the BOE become so concerned with what one or any member of the public has to say ? Lets face it this is the gang that wants to eliminate public comments from the BOE meetings.
Jim Morgan, was elected by the voters of Ridgewood to a one-year term in April, because he is long-time school district watchdog who in the past has been critical of Fishbein and the administration along with many other residents .
So now the BOE has the power to pass judgement on free speech or disqualify people because the disagree with a board policy ? I don’t think so
Perhaps a renewed focus on the “Tradition of Excellence ” in education would be in order instead of wasting the BOE’s precious time with the misplaced ramblings and preferential treatment for ex-board members.
Real federal deficit dwarfs official tally
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
The typical American household would have paid nearly all of its income in taxes last year to balance the budget if the government used standard accounting rules to compute the deficit, a USA TODAY analysis finds.
Under those accounting practices, the government ran red ink last year equal to $42,054 per household — nearly four times the official number reported under unique rules set by Congress.
A U.S. household’s median income is $49,445, the Census reports.
The big difference between the official deficit and standard accounting: Congress exempts itself from including the cost of promised retirement benefits. Yet companies, states and local governments must include retirement commitments in financial statements, as required by federal law and private boards that set accounting rules.
The deficit was $5 trillion last year under those rules. The official number was $1.3 trillion. Liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and other retirement programs rose by $3.7 trillion in 2011, according to government actuaries, but the amount was not registered on the government’s books.
NJ Democratic leaders dismiss first openly gay man picked for the Supreme Court
His nomination has yet to be heard, but already Democratic leaders have dismissed the first openly gay man picked for the Supreme Court, civil rights advocates are softening their support for him and Republicans are left struggling to prevent a second rejection of Governor Christie’s nominees.
“If I were a betting man, I wouldn’t bet on him,” said Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which is expected to hold a confirmation hearing for Bruce Harris next Thursday. “He’s got his work cut out for him.” (Patberg, The Record)
Sanford judge rules in favor of motorist who flashed his headlights
By Rene Stutzman, Orlando Sentinel
6:33 p.m. EST, May 22, 2012
A judge in Sanford ruled Tuesday that a Lake Mary man was lawfully exercising his First Amendment rights when he flashed his headlights to warn neighbors that a deputy had set up a speed trap nearby.
That decision is another victory for Ryan Kintner, 25, who sued the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office last year, accusing it of misconstruing a state law and violating his civil rights, principally his right to free speech.
Exceptional estate property in Leighton auction June 7
Wednesday, 23 May 2012 15:44
ALLENDALE, N.J. – Leighton Galleries Inc. will auction more than 400 lots of exceptional estate property on Thursday, June 7, starting at 5 p.m. EDT. The evening’s categories include paintings, prints, sculpture, silver, Asianware, fine jewelry, elegant glass and porcelain, decorative arts, furniture and more.
LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
Leading off the sale and coming directly from a local Ridgewood, N.J., home is a stunning Collard & Collard burlwood grand piano estimated at $3,000-$5,000. This circa 1860 instrument has been completely restored by Steinway & Co., of Long Island City, N.Y.
Public hearing on Rutgers-UMDNJ merger set for next week
While legislators and university officials meet behind closed doors to negotiate a compromise, the public will get a chance next week to weigh in on the proposed restructuring of New Jersey’s higher education system.
State Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Newark) will host a hearing at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Newark City Hall to focus on how health care in the state’s largest city will be affected by the proposed merger of Rutgers University and parts of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
“We’re bringing folks to the table because we know that this has a much wider impact than just the status of higher education in New Jersey,” Rice said. (Heyboer, The Star-Ledger)
Toll hike could be on the way as U.S. tries to pay for highway repair, expansion
Driving onto an Interstate highway? Crossing a bridge on the way into work? Taking a tunnel under a river or bay? Get ready to pay.
With Congress unwilling to contemplate an increase in the federal gas tax, motorists are likely to be paying ever more tolls as the government searches for ways to repair and expand the nation’s congested highways. (Associated Press)
Some sketchy good news has to suffice as NJ Transportation conference
Their train never left the station, but members of the New Jersey Alliance for Action remained optimistic that they might ultimately connect with other transportation links across the state.
Gov. Chris Christie’s attack on Democratic legislators overshadowed transit issues at the alliance’s annual transportation conference at the Trenton Marriott. An audience of contractors, engineers, consultants, and bureaucrats gobbled up the Governor’s partisan red meat, giving him standing ovations on arrival and departure. (Tyrrell, NJ Spotlight)
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