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Posted on February 28, 2016February 27, 2016 by James — 14 Comments

RIDGEWOOD GRASSROOTS PARKING GARAGE PETITION EXCEEDS SIGNATURE GOAL, SEEKS TO PUT GARAGE FINANCING OPTIONS TO VOTERS

Hundreds upon hundreds of Ridgewood taxpayers demand voice on how to fund parking garage.

February 27, 2016

by NO2BCIA

RIDGEWOOD, NJ Friday afternoon, in a victory for the voice of the taxpayers and responsible public financing, the NO2BCIA [https://no2bcia.com/]citizen group delivered over 1300 signatures, more than enough, to force a binding referendum on a Village ordinance that would have the county rather than the Village bond the proposed Hudson Street parking garage.

The Committee of Petitioners was formed in the aftermath of a failure of the Ridgewood Village Council to achieve the 41 supermajority vote necessary for the Village to bond the project itself, due to lack of critical design renderings requested by Councilmember Susan Knudsen for the community and Council to review and assess, and the lack of a payment plan to present to taxpayers, as requested by Councilman Sedon.

Instead, a simple majority (32) of the Council immediately at the same meeting, introduced Ordinance 3519, an ordinance authorizing the execution and granting of a Lease Purchase Agreement with the Bergen County Improvement Authority.

The petition seeks to protest and repeal Ordinance 3519 until it can be voted on by registered voters of Ridgewood, as a binding referendum question. The Committee of Petitioners seeks to ensure that all aspects of the garage remain securely within the control of the Village.

“This is a huge victory for the residents of Ridgewood who want to have common sense solutions to parking and how it is funded. This petition is not antigarage. In fact, in talking to the many people who signed, many of them voted for a garage on the nonbinding referendum in November. They just want Ridgewood to have full control and flexibility of the pricing structure, especially when it comes to resident and nonresident commuters using the garage.” says Petitioner Lorraine Reynolds. “Now we hope to encourage full Council support for a garage design that meets the wishes of the surrounding community, including shopkeepers, restaurant owners, and most of all, the residents of Ridgewood.”

Petitioner Gail McCarthy adds, “I am very optimistic. ‘Compromise is the best and cheapest lawyer.’ I am pretty sure we would all much rather be spending our time and money shopping in downtown Ridgewood!”

Posted on February 25, 2016June 27, 2021 by James — 10 Comments

Former Ridgewood Deputy Mayor confessing that he sold phony massage therapy training certificates to women who worked as prostitutes at more than two dozen massage parlors in New Jersey

A former Westwood councilman pleaded guilty to federal charges on Wednesday, confessing that he sold phony massage therapy training certificates to women who worked as prostitutes at more than two dozen massage parlors in New Jersey.

Robert W. Miller, 67, of Westwood, who resigned from public office in 2015 after seven years of service, entered the plea in federal court in Newark to a single count of using facilities in interstate commerce to promote prostitution.

As a result of the plea, Miller could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi on May 19.

The defendant, bald and dressed in a gray pin-stripped suit, calmly answered a series of questions posed by the judge and a prosecutor during the hearing.

Miller admitted that for a fee of $500 to $2,500 he offered to provide a massage therapy training certificate, as well as a transcript listing classes taken and grades received, to customers seeking to obtain a state massage license without actually receiving the required training.

Besides creating the fraudulent documents, Miller admitted he was willing to provide them to the New Jersey Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy on behalf of his customers.

Miller acknowledged that between 1997 and 2013 he created at least 50 training certificates containing false information about the classes completed and grades earned by applicants for massage licenses, and provided them to about 25 different massage parlors in Passaic, Hudson, Union and Middlesex counties.

Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. McCarren, Miller admitted that he knew many of the massage parlors were fronts for prostitution and that the phony documents allowed the workers to engage in prostitution under the guise of providing legitimate massage services.

The charges specifically refer to fraudulent certificates and transcripts that he provided for five women working as prostitutes at a massage parlor in Middlesex County in June 2013. The documents falsely claimed the workers had completed 650 hours of training through Miller’s RWM Associates business in order to facilitate their real work as prostitutes, authorities said.

Miller, who also served as a councilman in Ridgewood from 1996 to 1998, also admitted that he operated a purported advertising agency in Westwood, known as A.R.M. Enterprises L.L.C., that could place ads in newspapers for massage parlors using discreet wording that signaled that the massage parlor was also a house of prostitution.

Miller placed ads in local newspapers for a number of massage parlors that operated as prostitution businesses and told many of the owners that he would give them advance notice of any law enforcement investigations into prostitution activities at their businesses, according to the charges.

Miller, who was released on a $50,000 bond, and his public defender, Linda Foster, declined to comment after the hearing.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ex-westwood-councilman-pleads-guilty-in-scheme-to-provide-fake-massage-training-certificates-to-prostitutes-1.1517057

Posted on February 23, 2016February 23, 2016 by James — 1 Comment

GOP invokes Biden Rule No election-season Supreme Court nominees

Biden in ’92: No election-season Supreme Court nominees

By Sarah Wheaton

02/22/16 04:36 PM EST

Updated 02/22/16 07:19 PM EST

Republicans are delighted that a recently unearthed Joe Biden speech appears to be a strong endorsement of the GOP’s current Supreme Court strategy.

“Politics has played far too large a role in the Reagan-Bush nominations to date. One can only imagine that role becoming overarching if a choice were made this year, assuming that a justice was announced tomorrow that he or she was stepping down,” Biden said on the Senate floor in June 1992, not long after Bill Clinton won the Democratic nomination to challenge then-President George H.W. Bush.

“A process that is already in doubt in the minds of many will become distrusted by all,” Biden continued. “Senate consideration of a nominee under these circumstances is not fair to the president, the nominee or to the Senate itself.”

Nearly 24 years later, after C-Span posted the old video, Republicans are offering Biden a hearty second — at least to the part of the 90-minute speech where he calls on the Senate to “seriously consider” not scheduling confirmation hearings and dismissing the potential impact of a short-handed court.

“The precedent of not confirming SCOTUS justices nominated in election years was established by both parties,” the office of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) tweeted on Monday, with a link to a 2-minute clip of the old footage.

In the aftermath of Antonin Scalia’s death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was quick to say that any nominee to fill the vacancy should wait until after the coming election.

The clips and quotes Republicans seized on, however, ignored a passage buried deep in the transcript where Biden called for a “compromise” pick, much as he’s done in the past week.

Posted on February 22, 2016February 21, 2016 by James — 2 Comments

Trump poised to step on the GOP accelerator

BY DAVID LIGHTMAN
CHARLESTON, S.C.

Things sure look good for Donald Trump.

The Republican presidential race expanded across the country Sunday, and polls show the real estate mogul ahead in eight of the dozen states voting in the next nine days.

Trump has now won primaries in two very different states, center-right New Hampshire and evangelical-dominated South Carolina. And the Republican Party system of choosing a presidential nominee favors candidates who continue to win early primaries and caucuses.

“He seems to have about a third of the Republican electorate under his spell, and it’s a durable, non-ideological coalition,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor at Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball Sunday.

The biggest hope for stopping Trump is for a single strong challenger to emerge, and so far that hasn’t happened.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., finished second Saturday in South Carolina, but he was 10 percentage points behind Trump and barely edged Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, even though Rubio barnstormed the state with popular Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.

Rubio also lacks an obvious state where he can win in the next few weeks. He should be a favorite in Tuesday’s Nevada caucus. Rubio lived in Las Vegas as a child, was a church member, and Sunday picked up the endorsement of Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nevada. But a CNN/ORC poll last week showed Trump with a huge lead, with more support than Rubio and Cruz combined.

Posted on February 21, 2016February 21, 2016 by James — 12 Comments

Another Garage Letter that was not Printed by the Ridgewood News

file photo by Boyd Loving , Council majority ie the 3 Amigos

Good morning-
Here is the Letter to the Editor Jim wrote that wasn’t printed this past wknd.

February 17, 2016

Letter to the Editor

What is really going on?

The Town Council voted 3-2 on February 10th to fund the Hudson Street Garage with the Bergen County Improvement Authority. Councilmembers Aronsohn, Pucciarelli and Hauck voted to turn the project over to the county.

Some questions to ponder:

If the goal is a functional, non-partisan government, WHY has our Mayor been off “forming a partnership” with the BCIA for 3 years?

If financial stewardship is important, WHY are we paying more to finance through the BCIA versus funding it ourselves?

If we are going to incur an obligation to the county of more than $10 million, WHY isn’t there a payment plan in place to pay off this obligation?

If we truly care about the look and feel of our historic downtown, WHY haven’t designs/renderings been shown to the taxpayers of Ridgewood?

If all 5 members of our Town Council are independent thinking stewards of our village, WHY haven’t Councilmembers Sedon and Knudsen been privy to all discussions and reports in a timely fashion?

If we want real informed input from our fellow residents, WHY was the Maser study, which showed the 12 feet encroachment into Hudson St., thereby narrowing Hudson to 18 feet, not made public until after the November referendum, when the Village Manager had it on her desk in October?

If the upcoming election isn’t a factor, WHY are Councilmembers Aronsohn, Pucciarelli and Hauck in such a rush to fund this with Bergen County?

Too many unanswered questions.
Lets make sure we have answers before it’s too late.

Respectfully submitted,

Jim McCarthy

Posted on February 15, 2016February 14, 2016 by James — Leave a comment

Obama’s economy: The fierce debate

By Peter Schroeder and Jordan Fabian – 02/10/16 06:00 AM EST

Seven years after President Obama’s inauguration, the debate about whether he saved the economy or held back its recovery is in full swing.

Obama has been taking a final-year victory lap, touting a national unemployment rate that has fallen to 4.9 percent as the latest sign of success for his economic stewardship.

Yet critics in Obama’s orbit, including Democratic congressmen and a former member of his Cabinet, suggest more could have been done if Obama had worked harder with lawmakers and members of his administration.

Rep. Collin Peterson (Minn.) — one of two Democrats still in office out of the 11 who voted against the stimulus
legislation — said the White House made zero effort to bring him, or other centrist Democrats, on board in the fight over the stimulus.

“They just wrote us off, I think,” he said. “I can’t even tell you who in the administration is supposed to be lobbying me.”

It’s a criticism of Obama that has remained steady for his entire presidency: He doesn’t work well with others, whether they are Republicans or Democrats, who disagree with him.

“This is very much a my-way-or-the-highway White House, and this is a president who would rather win the argument than get something done,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, head of the American Action Forum and the top economic adviser to Obama’s Republican opponent in 2008, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

Obama allies say such criticism is unfair and blame Republicans for failing to work with Obama since day one.

“There’s no question that had Congress enacted the president’s economic proposals, the economy would be in a stronger position today,” said Alan Krueger, a Princeton economist who was a top economic adviser to Obama.

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/economy/268856-obamas-economy-the-fierce-debate

Posted on January 30, 2016January 29, 2016 by James — Leave a comment

Official: Some Clinton emails ‘too damaging’ to release

hillary-clinton-what-difference-does-it-make

By Catherine Herridge, Pamela K. Browne

Published January 29, 2016

The intelligence community has deemed some of Hillary Clinton’s emails “too damaging” to national security to release under any circumstances, according to a U.S. government official close to the ongoing review. A second source, who was not authorized to speak on the record, backed up the finding.

The determination was first reported by Fox News, hours before the State Department formally announced Friday that seven email chains, found in 22 documents, will be withheld “in full” because they, in fact, contain “Top Secret” information.

The State Department, when first contacted by Fox News about withholding such emails Friday morning, did not dispute the reporting – but did not comment in detail. After a version of this report was first published, the Obama administration confirmed to the Associated Press that the seven email chains would be withheld. The department has since confirmed those details publicly.

The decision to withhold the documents in full, and not provide even a partial release with redactions, further undercuts claims by the State Department and the Clinton campaign that none of the intelligence in the emails was classified when it hit Clinton’s personal server.

Fox News is told the emails include intelligence from “special access programs,” or SAP, which is considered beyond “Top Secret.” A Jan. 14 letter, first reported by Fox News, from intelligence community Inspector General Charles McCullough III notified senior intelligence and foreign relations committee leaders that “several dozen emails containing classified information” were determined to be “at the CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET, AND TOP SECRET/SAP levels.”

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/29/official-some-clinton-emails-too-damaging-to-release.html

Posted on January 24, 2016January 24, 2016 by James — Leave a comment

FCC accused of power grab on broadband

fcc-net-neutrality_wide-91cb48ed6e00c1ee2ef20d017e094aa3aa547712-s1600-c85

By David McCabe – 01/23/16 01:23 PM EST

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote next week on an annual report about the state of high-speed Internet deployment around the country, something that has become a magnet for debate.

A proposed draft of the congressionally mandated report finds that advanced telecommunications capability isn’t being deployed in a “reasonable and timely fashion” to all Americans. According to a fact sheet released by the agency, 34 million Americans do not have access to wired internet service that meets the FCC’s definition of broadband — download speeds of 25 Mbps and upload speeds of 3 Mbps.

The commission also found that the divide between rural and urban Americans when it comes to broadband access persists. Thirty-nine percent of rural residents don’t have access to wired broadband, according to the report

“To maximize the benefits of broadband for the American people, we not only need to facilitate innovation in areas like public safety and civic engagement, but also to make sure all Americans have advanced communications capabilities,” said commission Chairman Tom Wheeler in a blog post. “The Commission has a statutory mandate to assess and report annually on whether broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.”

But critics say the report isn’t just a compendium of statistics, but a way for the FCC to expand its authority and place arbitrary standards on Internet service providers.

The commission is authorized to take steps to expand access when the annual report finds it lacking, which critics contend turns the report into a tool for amassing more authority.

The FCC sparked controversy when it raised the benchmark speeds for wired broadband to their current levels last year and forced Internet providers to rethink their offerings.

That decision seems certain to loom over the commission’s discussion on Thursday about the latest iteration of the report.

“It’s bad enough the FCC keeps moving the goal posts on their definition of broadband, apparently so they can continue to justify intervening in obviously competitive markets,” said Jim Cicconi, AT&T senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, in a statement earlier this month.“It’s beginning to look like the FCC will define broadband whichever way maximizes its power under whichever section of the law they want to apply.”

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/266770-fcc-accused-of-power-grab-on-broadband

Posted on January 24, 2016January 24, 2016 by James — Leave a comment

Obama and Ryan Plot their next moves together

Obama and Ryan, Long at Odds, Said to Meet as Soon as Next Week
Margaret Talev
Angela Greiling Keane
January 22, 2016 — 3:02 PM EST

President Barack Obama and House Speaker Paul Ryan may sit down together at the White House for a long-anticipated meeting as soon as next week, a person familiar with their plans said.

The blizzard bearing down on Washington may force them to postpone if the capital remains shut down at the start of next week.

The two men haven’t spent significant time together since Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, was sworn in as speaker in October. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said last week that the president hoped that they would have a chance to talk face-to-face “relatively soon.” The person who said the meeting may happen next week asked for anonymity because the timing hasn’t been settled.

It wasn’t clear whether other congressional leaders would take part. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Doug Andres, a spokesman for Ryan, said that “nothing is currently scheduled.” Jen Friedman, deputy White House press secretary, declined to comment.

Obama, 54, and Ryan, 45, have enough in common personally and in some policy areas for the foundation of a relationship, if either of them desired one. They also have enough accrued tension to dissuade either from bothering in Obama’s final year in office.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-01-22/obama-and-ryan-long-at-odds-said-to-meet-as-soon-as-next-week

Posted on January 18, 2016January 17, 2016 by James — Leave a comment

Homeland chairman: Lifting sanctions ‘bankrolls’ terrorism

By Mike Lillis – 01/17/16 02:06 PM EST

The Republican head of the House Homeland Security Committee is warning that the Obama administration’s decision to lift sanctions as part of the Iran nuclear deal will bankroll terrorism at the expense of the United States and its allies.

Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas) has long hammered the nuclear deal as a misguided agreement with untrustworthy adversaries –– a universal sentiment of congressional Republicans. McCaul amplified those concerns on Sunday following the administration’s announcement that it has lifted financial penalties on Iran surrounding its nuclear program.

“I have said from the start that the Iran deal was little more than a negotiation with terrorists. And now with its implementation, we can see clearly one of the dangers it will bring to the free world,” McCaul said in a statement. “The administration is unfreezing billions of dollars for the Iranian government, which will enhance its bankrolling of terrorism, perpetuate its repression, and fuel its efforts to oppose America and our allies in the region and beyond.”

President Obama on Sunday defended the move to lift sanctions, saying Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal has been “verified,” leading to the need for the United States to make good on its part of the bargain.

“Now that Iran’s actions have been verified, it can begin to receive relief from certain nuclear sanctions and gain access to its own money that had been frozen,” Obama said from the White House.

In the same breath, however, Obama announced that he’s installing new sanctions on Iran in response to a pair of ballistic missile tests conducted by Tehran late last year in defiance of United Nation’s resolutions. The dual moves highlight the sharp distinction the administration is making between Iran’s nuclear program and other actions undertaken by Tehran.

“We remain steadfast in opposing Iran’s destabilizing behavior elsewhere, including its threats against Israel and our Gulf partners, and its support for violent proxies in places like Syria and Yemen,” Obama said. “We still have sanctions on Iran for its violations of human rights, for its support of terrorism, and for its ballistic missile program. And we will continue to enforce these sanctions, vigorously.”

The ballistic missile testing “was a violation of its international obligations,” Obama added. “And as a result, the United States is imposing sanctions on individuals and companies working to advance Iran’s ballistic missile program. And we are going to remain vigilant about it.”

https://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=nav_responsive_tab_home

Posted on December 30, 2015December 30, 2015 by James — Leave a comment

House intel committee opens probe of eavesdropping on Congress

By NOLAN D. MCCASKILL

12/30/15 12:30 PM EST

A House panel on Wednesday announced it is opening an investigation into U.S. intelligence collection that may have swept up members of Congress.

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s announcement of the probe comes after a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. collected information on private exchanges between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of Congress during ongoing negotiations for nuclear deal with Iran.

“The House Intelligence Committee is looking into allegations in the Wall Street Journal regarding possible Intelligence Community (IC) collection of communications between Israeli government officials and Members of Congress,” Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said in a statement. “The Committee has requested additional information from the IC to determine which, if any, of these allegations are true, and whether the IC followed all applicable laws, rules, and procedures.”

Posted on December 27, 2015December 27, 2015 by James — 6 Comments

Revolutions are Messy : Elites and media really hate Donald Trump’s voters

By Michael Walsh

December 26, 2015 | 2:55pm

To hear the patronizing wise men of the Republican Party tell it, anyone who would vote for Donald Trump for president must be deranged. “Trumpkins,” they call them, mental midgets and xenophobic troglodytes who’ve crawled out from their survivalist caves in order to destroy the Beltway Establishment.

How their resentful attitude galls the crack cadres of campaign consultants who brought conservatives halfhearted standard-bearers like John McCain and Mitt Romney to do sham battle against Barack Obama in 2008 and ’12, then return to the safety of the US Senate and a beachfront mansion in La Jolla.

The peasants are revolting!

And all on behalf of a bloviating billionaire whose conservatism and party loyalty are suspect.

Now, after months of whistling past the graveyard of Trump’s seemingly inexorable rise and assuring themselves that his candidacy will collapse as voters come to their senses, a CNN poll released Wednesday showing Trump now lapping the field has the GOP establishment in full meltdown mode. The survey shows Trump with nearly 40% of the primary vote, trailed by Ted Cruz at 18%, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio tied at 10%, and the also-rans (including great GOP hope Jeb Bush) limping along far behind.

Their panic was best articulated last week in The Daily Beast by GOP consultant Rick Wilson, who wrote that Trump supporters “put the entire conservative movement at risk of being hijacked and destroyed by a bellowing billionaire with poor impulse control and a profoundly superficial understanding of the world . . . walking, talking comments sections of the fever swamp sites.

https://nypost.com/2015/12/26/elites-and-media-really-hate-donald-trumps-voters/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPFacebook&utm_medium=SocialFlow

Posted on December 23, 2015December 23, 2015 by James — 1 Comment

Islam and the West: An Irreconcilable Conflict?

Monday – December 21, 2015 at 10:11 pm

By Patrick J. Buchanan

“I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here … and … around the world, that there is a ‘clash of civilizations.’”

So said Hillary Clinton in Saturday night’s New Hampshire debate.

Yet, that phrase was not popularized by Donald Trump, but by Harvard’s famed Samuel Huntington. His “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order” has been described by Zbigniew Brzezinski as providing “quintessential insights necessary for a broad understanding of world affairs in our time.”

That Clinton is unaware of the thesis, or dismisses it, does not speak well of the depth of her understanding of our world.

Another attack on Trump, more veiled, came Monday in an “open letter” in The Washington Post where four dozen religious leaders, led by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, charge “some politicians, candidates and commentators” with failing to follow Thomas Jefferson’s dictum:

“I never will, by any word or act … admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.”

Intending no disrespect to Jefferson, if you do not inquire “into the religious opinions of others” in this world, it can get you killed.

“We love our Muslim siblings in humanity,” said the signers of Cardinal McCarrick’s letter, “they serve our communities as doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, journalists, first responders, and as members of the U.S. Armed forces and Congress.”

Undeniably true. But, unfortunately, that is not the end of the matter.

Did the worst attack on the United States since Pearl Harbor, 9/11, have nothing to do with the Islamic faith?

Did Fort Hood and the San Bernardino massacres, the London subway bombings and the killings at Charlie Hebdo, as well as the slaughter at the Bataclan in Paris, have nothing to do with Islam?

Does the lengthening list of atrocities by terrorist cells of ISIS, Boko Haram, al-Qaida, al-Shabaab and the Nusra Front have nothing to do with Islam? Is it really illiberal to inquire “into the religious opinions” of those who perpetrate these atrocities? Or is it suicidal not to?

There has arisen a legitimate question as to whether Islamism can coexist peacefully with, or within, a post-Christian secular West.

https://buchanan.org/blog/islam-and-the-west-an-irreconcilable-conflict-124463

Posted on December 9, 2015December 9, 2015 by James — 2 Comments

Ridgewood High School Learning Commons unveils grand addition

Jerry Lee Lewis photo by Graham Barker from the ‘Jerry Lee Lewis Classic Collection’

DECEMBER 8, 2015 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015, 11:05 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Through the fundraising efforts of several organizations, the Ridgewood High School (RHS) Learning Commons has been outfitted with a baby grand piano, which was unveiled to the public during a Maroon and White performance last month.

Fundraising groups such as the RHS Home and School Association (HSA); the Friends of Music, which raises money for all of the music programs of the schools in the district; a parent organization for the RHS band; a parent organization for the RHS strings playing group; and a parent organization for the RHS choir, raised a total of $12,000 for the piano.

“It was a whole community effort,” said Chris McCullough, district supervisor for fine and practical arts at RHS. “To me, it was really nice that all of those groups came together to support the Maroon and White program.”

According to RHS Assistant Principal Basil Pizzuto, the piano was purchased from a Ridgewood family, which agreed to sell the musical instrument to the school for a discounted dollar amount.

“They agreed to drop their price, so that way we could have the HSA purchase it without further fundraising,” Pizzuto said.

The addition of the baby grand piano, school officials believe, will enhance the Learning Commons as a performance venue.

“We’re going to take advantage of this new, gorgeous space and show the talent of our students and the dedication that they put into their craft,” McCullough said. “Having the piano permanently in the Learning Commons makes this much more possible.”

The Learning Commons, located in the library, was not originally intended to be a place for performances, but McCullough said that the adaptability of its furniture makes it the perfect spot for whatever the shows may need.

“The room was designed to be flexible,” he said. “The tables have wheels, so we are able to transform it into this intimate performing space.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/rhs-learning-commons-unveils-a-grand-addition-1.1469720

Posted on December 9, 2015January 20, 2019 by James — 16 Comments

Ridgewood Firefighters Sue fire truck, siren makers over ‘irreversible’ hearing loss

ridgewood fire department theridgewoodblog.net 1

N.J. firefighters suing fire truck, siren makers over ‘irreversible’ hearing loss

By Craig McCarthy | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on December 08, 2015 at 8:47 AM, updated December 08, 2015 at 5:00 PM

Bayonne Fire Department fire truck leaves the firehouse on Avenue C by City Hall.Jersey Journal file photo

More than two dozen New Jersey firefighters are suing five fire truck manufacturers and a siren maker alleging the noise from the emergency vehicles’ sirens have lead to an “irreversible” loss of hearing.

The lawsuit was removed from state Superior Court and filed in federal court in Newark on Dec. 4 on behalf of 34 current or former firefighters in Elizabeth, Linden, Bayonne, Union, Ridgewood, Kearny, Cranford and West New York. The suit names American LaFrance LLC, Kovatch Mobile Equipments Corp., Mack Trucks Inc., Pierce Manufacturing Inc. and Seagrave Fire Apparatus LLC, as well as the siren maker Federal Signal Corp.

The lawsuit alleges the firefighters, who were each employed by the departments for decades, “have suffered irreversible hearing loss and a permanent decrease of their hearing” making them unable “to enjoy life’s pleasures.”

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2015/12/nj_firefighters_suing_fire_truck_siren_make_over_h.html

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