I realize that everyone has been rightfully frightened as a result of yesterday’s alleged slashing/ attempted robbery and I would like to take this opportunity to alleviate your fears and concerns.
After an exhaustive investigative effort we can now confirm that there was not, nor is there now any current threat to public safety or our children from the alleged slashing/attempted robbery incident which was reported to our police department yesterday.
As many of you have witnessed our community takes the safety of our children very seriously and will mobilize and take all necessary steps to ensure their safety. I would like to thank everyone for their support and cooperation in this matter.
Please be assured that we will continue with our increased presence in and around our schools along with patrols both marked and unmarked which have been in place since the previous attempted luring incident earlier this month.
I will apologize for not being able to provide more details on the matter, however there are portions of the investigation which are still ongoing.
New Jersey Laborers Union Endorses Kathleen Donovan for Re-Election as Bergen Executive
(Hackensack. N.J.) One of the state’s most powerful unions, the New Jersey Laborers Union, endorsed Kathleen Donovan for re-election as Bergen County Executive today, citing her strong record of reforming county government, encouraging and attracting economic growth, and creating family-sustaining jobs for local residents.
With more than 20,000 members statewide–including 3,000 members of Building Laborers Local 3 and 8,000 members of General and Heavy Construction Laborers Local 472 representing Northern New Jersey–the New Jersey Laborers Union is committing its vast resources to the Donovan re-election campaign.
Laborers Vice-President and Eastern Regional Manager Raymond M. Pocino praised Donovan’s competence and commitment to Bergen County as the primary reason for the union endorsement “Since taking office three years ago, Kathe Donovan has improved county services and crafted policies that help residents and support and attract business,” said Pocino. “Our membership is greatly appreciative of what she has done to help Bergen County move forward.”
Donovan said she is extremely pleased with the endorsement of the Laborer’s union and welcomes the backing of the men and women who build our roads, construct our buildings and represent the families that are the backbone of our communities.”
Donovan, who will be seeking re-election to a second four-year term as county executive, following her 20 year career as Bergen County Clerk, said she will continue to fight for economic growth in the region, citing her support for the construction of the new $330 million LG Corporate Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs and the completion of the $3.7 billion American Dream Projection the Meadowlands. These projects are expected to create 11,000 construction jobs and 16,000 permanent jobs.
“I will continue to fight for good paying jobs in Bergen County and battle for sensible government reforms that help working families,” said Donovan.
According to Pocino, the union had very industry-specific reasons for supporting Donovan. “With regard to the New Jersey Laborers Union’s key industry—construction–Kathe Donovan has shown a keen understanding of the importance of responsible infrastructure investment and has implemented policies that raise both construction and community standards through the use of government policies such as Responsible Contractor Language and Project Labor Agreements.”
With the Bergen County Executive elections less than year away, it is anticipated that hundreds of laborers will volunteer time to the campaign through phone banking, voter registration drives, get out the vote drives, and member-to-member education. The New Jersey Laborers Union backed Kathe Donovan in 2010, as well.
The New Jersey Laborers Union is affiliated with the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), and represents more than 20,000 members statewide in various industries, including construction, clean energy, environmental remediation, sanitation and recycling, security, and education. The New Jersey Laborers are widely viewed as having been instrumental in helping to lift living standards and workplace safety for employees in construction, clean energy, and hazardous materials removal, and for developing innovative cooperative relationships with employers.
Ridgewood Named as one of the best places to find a job in New Jersey
November 21, 2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , According to a study done by Nerdwallet Paramus, Ridgewood, Fair Lawn and Bergenfield are among the best places in New Jersey for job seekers .
NerdWallet crunched the numbers to find the best places for job seekers in New Jersey by asking the following questions:
1-Is the city growing? We assessed growth in the working-age population, ages 16 and older, from 2009 to 2011 to ensure that the city was attracting workers and exhibiting a trend of upward population growth.
2-Can you afford to live in the city comfortably? We looked at a city’s median household income to see if workers made a good living. We also analyzed the monthly homeowner costs, including mortgage payments, to see if the city had a reasonable cost of living.
3-Are most people employed? We looked at the unemployment rate.
NerdWallet Concluded that Ridgewood is a close proximity to New York City . Ridgewood saw a 2.7 percent increase in the working-age population from 2009 to 2011, and households earn a median income of $154,348 in 2011, the highest on the list. Additionally, the unemployment rate in August 2013 was only 5.4 percent.
Valley Health Systems head quartered in Ridgewood is a large employer in the region. and Bergen County’s Economic Development Corporation provides local businesses the information and resources necessary to expand.
Now we don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade , but when did Ridgewood become affordable ? and what exactly has Bergen County’s Economic Development Corporation done for the CBD in the town and many commuters might argue that the daily commute is not so inexpensive .
So it looks like we are left with Valley Hospital ,its a nice plug but we are not sure Valley has been a boom for economic growth in the community ?
Today’s kids less fit than parents were, study finds
Tuesday, November 19, 2013 Last updated: Tuesday November 19, 2013, 11:00 PM
BY MARILYNN MARCHIONE
Associated Press
Today’s kids can’t keep up with their parents. An analysis of studies on millions of children around the world finds they don’t run as fast or as far as their parents did when they were young.
On average, it takes children 90 seconds longer to run a mile than their counterparts did 30 years ago. Heart-related fitness has declined 5 percent per decade since 1975 for children ages 9 to 17.
The American Heart Association, whose conference in Dallas featured the research on Tuesday, says it’s the first to show that children’s fitness has declined worldwide over the last three decades.
“It makes sense. We have kids that are less active than before,” said Dr. Stephen Daniels, a University of Colorado pediatrician and spokesman for the heart association.
Health experts recommend that children 6 and older get 60 minutes of moderately vigorous activity accumulated over a day. Only one-third of American kids do now.
“Kids aren’t getting enough opportunities to build up that activity over the course of the day,” Daniels said. “Many schools, for economic reasons, don’t have any physical education at all. Some rely on recess” to provide exercise.
Sam Kass, a White House chef and head of first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move program, stressed the role of schools in a speech to the conference on Monday.
“We are currently facing the most sedentary generation of children in our history,” Kass said.
12 Republican State Senators ask for more details on new NJ Common Core
Tuesday, November 19, 2013 Last updated: Tuesday November 19, 2013, 7:23 PM
BY LESLIE BRODY
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Twelve Republican state senators asked Education Commissioner Chris Cerf on Tuesday for more details on the Common Core, a new set of guidelines for what students should learn in math and language arts in every grade.
In a letter released by Sen. Joe Pennacchio, R-Morris, the group asked Cerf to explain the rationale behind the guidelines, their cost, the method for tracking student performance and the assurance of privacy for student data. Pennacchio said he was not hostile to the Common Core but sought answers to questions that parents and teachers have asked.
Cerf gave presentations recently to the New Jersey Education Association and the state Board of Education on the Common Core. Adopted by New Jersey in 2010, it has the support of Governor Christie, many school leaders and the NJEA, but the union has charged that its implementation has been too fast.
In an email, Cerf applauded the senators for reaching out. “Some citizens have questions about the new state standards because they need more information, while other citizens have questions that are fueled by the spread of misinformation,” Cerf noted. “We look to clearly answer any and all questions.”
New Jersey and 44 states adopted the Common Core voluntarily – with encouragement from the Obama administration – and have begun teaching to reflect its goals. Supporters say the guidelines focus on a clearer, more rigorous set of analytical skills than past standards, and will help American children compete with peers abroad. Critics, however, say the standards actually lower expectations, will usher in too much testing, and hurt local control.
In November 1863, President Abraham Lincoln was invited to deliver remarks, which later became known as the Gettysburg Address, at the official dedication ceremony for the National Cemetery of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, on the site of one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the Civil War. Though he was not the featured orator that day, Lincoln’s 273-word address would be remembered as one of the most important speeches in American history. In it, he invoked the principles of human equality contained in the Declaration of Independence and connected the sacrifices of the Civil War with the desire for “a new birth of freedom,” as well as the all-important preservation of the Union created in 1776 and its ideal of self-government.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
More than 50 apply for village manager’s position in Ridgewood
Monday November 18, 2013, 12:12 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
Members of Ridgewood’s governing body will begin interviewing candidates this month in an effort to fill the village’s top administrative post, with the first of four special meetings scheduled for Monday, Nov. 25.
Ridgewood has been operating without a full-time village manager since Aug. 31, when the Village Council terminated Ken Gabbert from that position. Village Clerk Heather Mailander has been serving as the acting village manager since Sept. 1.
The village manager acts as Ridgewood’s chief executive and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the municipality. Duties of note include overseeing the village’s $45 million municipal budget and approving various personnel hiring and promotion decisions.
More than 50 individuals submitted résumés for consideration, and the council is still determining which of the applicants will be interviewed.
“All council members have reviewed each and every résumé, and all council members are working together to determine which candidates are interviewed. It’s a completely collaborative process,” Mayor Paul Aronsohn said.
The Obama presidency is not over, but it is failing
By Edward Luce
With the exception of the debt ceiling debacle, he has fallen at almost every hurdle
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email [email protected] to buy additional rights. https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/736ec94a-4df5-11e3-8fa5-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2l05Sojnf
Anyone wondering about the scale of the anti-Obama backlash should look at its impact on the 2016 US presidential race. Both major parties are looking for candidates with genuine executive experience. The Republican list of hopefuls is filling up with sitting governors. Among Democrats, hopes rest mainly with Hillary Clinton. Should Elizabeth Warren, the popular senator from Massachusetts, enter the fray Mrs Clinton’s riposte would trip off the tongue. Ms Warren has no governing experience, she could say. And we all know the risks of that.
Having authored an inspirational politics, President Barack Obama’s difficulties are spawning a new fashion for perspiration. Given its limited powers, the strength of the US presidency derives largely from its occupant’s credibility.
Women & Finance seminar
Monday, Nov. 18, 7-8:30pm
Monthly meeting, led by Kathy Entwistle, for women who want to understand and improve their financial picture and strategies. Last meeting of 2013.
All welcome.
Writing a Personal Memoir
Tuesday, Nov. 19, 10:30am
Every person has a story to tell. You don’t have to be famous or a published author to write a memoir. Louis Alexander shows step-by-step how to get started.
For more information, please contact
Jin Lee at 201-670-5600, ext. 125 or [email protected].
RW Library Valley Hospital
Wellness Partnership
The Weekend Warrior
Wednesday, Nov. 20, 7-8:30pm
Whether you’re walking on weekends or training for a triathlon, learn about treatments and prevention strategies for the most common injuries. Speaker: David P. Rudman, M.D., orthopedic surgeon. Free, all welcome. To register, please call 1-800-825-5391 or visit www.valleyhealth.com/events.
Reel Voices Film Festival
“Big Men ” Friday, Nov. 22 at 7:30 (Cafe: 6:45)
(99 mins; 2013) Speaker: Director/Producer Rachel Boynton (pictured) presents her expose on the US company that developed the first oil company in Ghana. Read Ridgewood News interview with Rachel Boynton. Visit Festival site for info/registration
“Countless constituents have contacted my office regarding the negative effects ObamaCare is having on their health care, their businesses, and volunteer service organizations. Despite the president’s repeated promise that ‘if you like your plan, you can keep it,’ more than 800,000 New Jerseyans will no longer be able to keep their plans. Yesterday, I was hopeful that the president would finally agree to delay the implementation of his health care law, but instead he offered a ‘fix’ that is nothing other than a lifeboat with a hole in it. As so many of us feared, Obamacare is just not fixable. The American people need a full and permanent delay of this unworkable law.”
Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ
The Affordable Care Act in on life support
THE Affordable Care Act is dying. Last week, President Obama had to come up with an administrative fix that would allow some people to keep their existing health insurance for another year. Maybe.
I support the objective of Obama’s signature legislative achievement: ensuring that every American has access to affordable health care. That is not a promise made in the Constitution. The Founding Fathers did not envision a society with easy access to doctors and high-tech medicine. Back in the day, a leech was an actual leech, not some faceless health plan administrator blocking access to an expensive medical procedure that might save your life.
So I get why some conservatives are against “Obamacare.” They want the frontier spirit to kick in. If you break a limb, put a splint on it, pour some homemade plaster over that and hope for the best. And if you have something more complicated than a fracture, that’s your problem. Cancer is not mentioned in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence.
To embrace the idea that every person should have access to health care is to embrace a principle not written down by the Founding Fathers, but one that permeates every word and clause that set the foundation for this nation — that America is a nation of great people capable of doing great things. America today still has great people, but many of the people sitting in Congress are not so great; in fact, they are very small.
And these small people have been hoping the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act could be killed. Little did these little people know that the creator of the ACA could be so helpful in making their fantasy become reality. Obama has done so much wrong selling his health care plan it is remarkable the Affordable Care Act has made it as far as it has. (Doblin/The Record)
Possible meningitis outbreak at Princeton University; CDC to import vaccine
Saturday, November 16, 2013 Last updated: Saturday November 16, 2013, 9:15 PM
Associated Press
Print | E-mail
PRINCETON — Federal health officials have agreed to import a meningitis vaccine approved in Europe and Australia but not the U.S. as officials at Princeton University consider measures to stop the spread of the disease on the Ivy League campus.
The Food and Drug Administration this week approved importing Bexsero for possible use on Princeton’s campus, said Barbara Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Princeton officials confirmed the school’s seventh case of meningitis in 2013 this week and a spokesman said trustees will discuss the issue this weekend.
Keynesian Economics, Government Shutdowns, and Economic Growth
By Daniel J. Mitchell
October 30, 2013 3:14PM
Keynesian economics is the perpetual motion machine of the left. You build a model that assumes government spending is good for the economy and you assume that there are zero costs when the government diverts money from the private sector.
With that type of model, you then automatically generate predictions that bigger government will “stimulate’ growth and create jobs. Heck, sometimes you even admit that you don’t look at real world numbers.
This perhaps explains why Keynesian economics has a long track record of failure. It didn’t work for Hoover and Roosevelt in the 1930s. It didn’t work for Nixon, Ford, and Carter in the 1970s. It didn’t work for Japan in the 1990s. And it hasn’t worked this century for either Bush or Obama.
But politicians love Keynesian theory because it tells them that their vice is a virtue. They’re not buying votes with other people’s money, they’re “stimulating” the economy!
Given this background, you won’t be surprised to learn that Keynesians are now arguing that the recent partial government shudown hurt growth.
Here’s some of what Standard and Poor’s wrote about that fight and why the shutdown supposedly reduced economic output, along with their warning of economic cataclysm if politicians had been forced to balance the budget in the absence of an increase in the debt ceiling:
…the shutdown has shaved at least 0.6% off of annualized fourth-quarter 2013 GDP growth, or taken $24 billion out of the economy. …the resulting sudden, unplanned contraction of current spending could see government spending cut by about 4% of annualized GDP. That would put the economy in a recession and wipeout much of the economic progress made by the recovery from the Great Recession. …The bottom line is the government shutdown has hurt the U.S. economy.
Part of me wonders whether the bottom line is that S&P was simply looking for an excuse for having made a flawed economic prediction earlier in the year. They basically admit they goofed (though, to be fair, all economists are lousy forecasters), as you can see from this excerpt, but we’re supposed to blame the lower GDP number on insufficient government spending.
In September, we expected 3% annualized growth in the fourth quarter… Since our forecast didn’t hold, we now have to lower our fourth-quarter growth estimate to closer to 2%.
Unsurprisingly, the Obama Administration has been highlighting S&P’s analysis:
A number of private sector analyses have estimated that the shutdown reduced the annualized growth rate of GDP in the fourth quarter by anywhere from 0.2 percentage point (as estimated by JP Morgan) to 0.6 percentage point (as estimated by Standard and Poor’s)… Most of the private sector analyses are based on models that predict the impact of the shutdown based on the reduction in government services over that period.
And the establishment press predictably carried water for the White House, echoing the S&P number. Here’s an example from Time magazine:
The financial services company said the shutdown, which ended with a deal late Wednesday night after 16 days, took $24 billion out of the U.S. economy, and reduced projected fourth-quarter GDP growth from 3 percent to 2.4 percent.
If nothing else, this is a good example of how a number gets concocted and becomes part of the public policy discussion. Let’s take a step back,however, and analyze whether that $24 billion number has any merit.
The Keynesian interpretation is that the shutdown took money “out of the economy.” According to the theory, money apparently disappears if government doesn’t spend it.
In reality, though, less government spending means that more funds are available in credit markets for private spending. This video explains why Keynesian theory is misguided.
And if you want to dig further into the issue, you can click here for a video that explains why we might get better decisions if policy makers focused on how we earn income rather than how we allocate income.
Now that I’ve shared the basic arguments against Keynesian economics, let me give two caveats.
First, resources don’t get instantaneously reallocated when the burden of government spending is reduced. So I’ve always been willing to admit there could be a few speed bumps as some additional labor and capital get absorbed into the productive sector of the economy.
Second, a nation can artificially enjoy more consumption for a period of time by borrowing from overseas. So if deficit spending is financed to a degree by foreigners, overall spending in the economy will be higher and people will feel more prosperous.
But these caveats aren’t arguments for more spending. The ongoing damage of counterproductive government outlays is much larger and more serious than the transitory costs of redeploying resources when spending is reduced. And overseas borrowing at best creates illusory growth that will be more than offset when the bills come due.
Ultimately, the real-world evidence is probably the clincher for most people. As noted above, it’s hard to find a successful example of Keynesian spending.
Yet we have good evidence of nations growing faster when government outlays are being controlled, including Canada in the 1990s and the United States during both the Reagan years and Clinton years.
And the Baltic nations imposed genuine spending cuts and are now doing much better than other European countries that relied on either Keynesian spending or the tax-hike version of austerity.
Are Millennials Turning Their Backs on the American Dream?
By Joel Kotkin
November 10th 20136:45 am
Pundits on the left and right agree that millennials don’t share the same American dreams that inspired their parents. Could this diagnosis be wrong?
In his classic 1893 essay, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” historian Frederick Jackson Turner spoke of “the expansive character of American life.” Even though the frontier was closing, Turner argued, the fundamental nature of Americans was still defined by their incessant probing for “a new field of opportunity.” Turner’s claim held true for at least a century—during that time, the American spirit generated relentless technological improvement, the gradual creation of a mass middle class, and the integration of ever more diverse immigrants into the national narrative.
Yet today, many consider this modern period of “expansiveness” to be as doomed as the prairie frontier culture whose denouement Turner portrayed. Nothing makes this clearer than the perception of a majority of middle class Americans that their children will not do better than them, with as many as pessimistic about the future as are optimistic. Almost one-third of the public, according to Pew, consider themselves “lower” class , as opposed to middle class, up from barely one quarter in 2008.
Reps. Garrett, Maloney introduce the Restoring Main Street Investor Protection and Conference Act of 2013
Nov 14, 2013
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced H.R. 3482, the Restoring Main Street Investor Protection and Confidence Act of 2013, today.
Rep. Garrett, Chairman of the House Financial Services Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee, and Rep. Maloney, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE), are the lead sponsors of H.R. 3482.
“Our bill serves two key purposes,” said Garrett. “The first is to protect innocent investors from fraud, abuse, and malfeasance. The second is to foster greater confidence in U.S capital markets, which will help encourage economic growth, increase job creation, and efficiently allocate capital.
“By reforming and modernizing the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) of 1970, we will ensure greater equity for victims of fraud, enhance efficient functioning of U.S. securities markets for main street investors, and strengthen the oversight and accountability of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). Given that physical securities are no longer individually mailed to customers, investors must be able to trust the SIPC seal of approval and have confidence in the account statements they receive.
“I fear, however, that if the current law is not modernized and SIPC coverage is not clarified, confidence in our securities markets could suffer. Indisputably, this outcome runs counter to the policy goal of encouraging investment, which is critical to the economic revival our country needs.”
“Markets run as much on confidence as capital, and this bill will restore investors’ confidence in the markets by modernizing the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, and by protecting innocent victims of Ponzi schemes and other frauds from further clawbacks by the very government agency that is charged with protecting them,” said Maloney
Congressman: Benghazi attackers knew location of ambassador’s safe room
By Catherine Herridge
Published November 15, 2013
FoxNews.com
The terrorists who attacked the Benghazi consulate last year knew the location of the safe room where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his security team sought shelter, according to a congressman who spoke for 90 minutes with the diplomatic security agent severely injured in the assault.
“He confirmed this – that it was a very well orchestrated, and well organized, almost a military operation, using military weapons and using military signals,” the late Florida Rep. Bill Young said after meeting diplomatic security agent David Ubben at Walter Reed Medical Center last summer, when both were patients there.
After Young’s death in mid-October, his widow, Beverly Young, gave Fox permission to use her husband’s comments about the Sep. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the record. The congressman had originally spoken to Fox on background last summer.
“He (Ubben) emphasized the fact that it was a very, very military type of operation they had knowledge of almost everything in the compound,” Young explained. “They knew where the gasoline was, they knew where the generators were, they knew where the safe room was, they knew more than they should have about that compound.”
