N.J.’s tough new writing tests have students, teachers anxious
Monday June 24, 2013, 12:02 AM
BY LESLIE BRODY
STAFF WRITER
The Record
As they have for generations, high school teachers lament that many teenagers can’t write clearly. College professors say too many freshmen can’t articulate their ideas in lucid prose. And employers say it can be difficult to find job applicants able to draft a professional letter.
But now, alarm over the poor quality of many students’ writing is taking on new force as New Jersey ratchets up its expectations for children in every grade. In less than two years, the state plans to launch more demanding annual exams that, after a transition period, students must pass to graduate.
The challenge ahead is daunting. Consider this excerpt from an essay about John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” by a Bergen County ninth-grader, a native English speaker without special needs: “George had Lennie picture there dream and made him think peaceful. He made Lennie imiginate there house.”
Complicating matters is the concern that some teachers aren’t able to meet the new writing goals that are being set for their students — and so need training themselves, state officials acknowledge.
The Village Council and the Ridgewood Department of Parks and Recreation announce that memberships are on sale for the upcoming summer season and all are invited to join the Graydon Pool facility as season members for the 2013 summer season. Come enjoy fun in the sun so close to home!
Pool features include a shaded playground, water play fountains, shade kites, Adirondack chairs, picnic area, sheltered pavilion, charcoal grills, and The Water’s Edge Café. Additional amenities include a lending library of reading books, volleyball, basketball, ping-pong tables, shuffleboard, four-squares and hop-scotch. Special programs include “Storytime Under a Tree” for the little ones and swim instruction for children and adults, as well as an adaptive swim class. The Graydon Swim Team welcomes youth members, ages 8 to 14.
Resident fees are $110 per adult, $100 per child (ages 2 through 15) and $20 for seniors (62 and older). Non-resident adults will be charged $175 and children, ages 2 through 15, will be charged $155 for the13 week season.
Badges are on sale and can be purchased from the comfort of home on Community Pass at www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass (Visa and MasterCard are accepted). In person registration assistance is available at the Graydon Pool Badge Office, 259 North Maple Avenue. Badges may be purchased daily throughout the operating season, June 1st through Septemer 2nd.
Details are available at www.ridgewoodnj.net/graydon or you may call the Recreation Office at 201-670-5560 with any questions or if special accommodations are needed.
The Ridgewood Fourth of July Committee is proud to announce its inaugural house decorating contest! The idea is simple, whoever decorates their house with the most patriotic pride in the month of June and has the most likes on our Facebook page will win a gift basket with an American Flag, four Veteran’s Field tickets to the 2013 Ridgewood Fourth of July Fireworks and a flower arrangement from The Little Flower Shoppe.
What:
Decorate your house with a patriotic theme and get your friends and neighbors to support your effort by liking a photo of your house on “Ridgewood Fourth of July Celebration’s” Facebook page.
Why:
To get the community excited about the upcoming holiday, show our town’s patriotic pride and raise awareness that the Ridgewood Fourth of July celebration is non-profit organization funded by donations of businesses and citizens of Ridgewood and our neighboring towns.
Who:
Any home located in Ridgewood, NJ is eligible to enter the contest.
When:
Submissions can be made starting June 1, 2013. Contest begins on Flag Day (June 14, 2013).
(Contest will conclude on July 2 at 11:59PM)
How to Enter:
Email of photo of your home along with the following information to: [email protected].
Name & Address
Phone Number
Year you started living in Ridgewood(optional)
Why you love the Ridgewood Fourth of July Celebration(optional)
Sponsored by:
The Little Flower Shoppe
160 East Ridgewood Avenue
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
We began in 1910 when the local papers, the civic section of the Woman’s Club and the Ridgewood Fire Department joined forces to create a “safe and sane” holiday with an emphasis on Patriotism. It has grown into one of the largest celebrations in the New York City area and has been featured on CNN and Good Morning America as well as local New York stations. The celebration was once again named Best Parade and Fireworks by the readers of 201 Magazine.
Please join with our committee in a very special 2013 Fourth of July celebration as we continue to “Support the Tradition”! Additional information and answers to many of your questions can be found on the Ridgewood Fourth of July Celebration’s website at www.ridgewoodjuly4th.org.
Looking for Yankee Doodle Dandies – Were you born on July 4th?
Ridgewood July 4th Parade Looking for
Yankee Doodle Dandies
Were you born on the 4th of July? Be in the Ridgewood Fourth of July Parade on our Yankee Doodle Dandy Float. This year’s committee float will feature a birthday cake. The first fifteen people to respond will be able to ride on the float. The others can walk along side. If you or someone in your family has a July 4th birthday, please send an email to [email protected]. Please include name, age if the person is a child and contact information. Our committee will contact you in late June to give you the details for the parade.
July 4th in Ridgewood is a very special day that our entire area looks forward to all year. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Honoring our Declaration of Independence.” We are an all-volunteer community group that coordinates the day’s events and does not receive direct funding from the Village of Ridgewood.
The Ridgewood Fourth of July Celebration began in 1910 when the local papers, the civic section of the Woman’s Club and the Ridgewood Fire Department joined forces to create a “safe and sane” holiday with an emphasis on Patriotism. It has grown into one of the largest celebrations in the New York City area and has been featured on CNN and Good Morning America as well as local New York stations. The celebration was once again named Best Parade and Fireworks by the readers of 201 Magazine.
Flag Raising at Wilsey Square 9:00am
Parade begins 10:00 am (Rain or Shine) – North Monroe and Godwin and winds through the downtown
Evening Celebration and Fireworks – Veterans Field: Gates open at 6:00pm Alternate Date- Friday, July 5th.
July 4th Fireworks Ticket Information – Purchase in Advance for Discount
Thursday, July 4th, 2013
Alternate Date – Friday, July 5th
Veteran’s Field, Ridgewood, New Jersey
Entrance gates open at 6:00 PM and close at 9:00 PM
While the Parade is free, Fireworks Tickets are required for entrance to Vet’s Field. Donations for Fireworks Tickets is one of the Celebration’s largest sources of income. Tickets are available for advance purchase at stores for $8. Tickets are on sale at the gates for $15 for adults and $10 for children ages 6-12. Buy your tickets in advance for big savings! Children 5 and under are admitted for free.
Tickets will be on sale at the following vendors for $8 each. Children 5 and under are admitted free.
Backyard Living- 235 Franklin Avenue, Ridgewood, 201-689-9111
ConnectOne Bank- 171 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, 201-670-8484
JT’s Wines and Spirits- 605-607 N. Maple Avenue, Ho-Ho-Kus, 201-652-2220 – Open July 4th until 5:00 PM
Ridgewood Auto Wash Co.
Ridgewood Cycle Shop- 450 South Broad Street, Glen Rock, 201-444-6037
The Wine Seller- 6 West Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, 201-444-3300 – Open July 4th until 5:00 PM
Town & Country Apothecary- 60 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood- 201-652-0013 – Open July 4th until 1:00 PM
Thanks to our ticket vendors! All ticket vendors are volunteers and make no money for their efforts.
At the Ridgewood Library- Monday, June 24 – Saturday, June 29 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM and Sunday, June 30 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Thank you Hobbyist and HILT volunteers!
Tickets are available online for $9 each including postage and handling.
Steve Lonegan calls for “full and complete audit of IRS practices concerning the deliberate targeting of existing conservative public policy organizations.”
June 20,2013
BOGOTA – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mayor Steve Lonegan urged Cory Booker and other candidates to join him in signing a letter calling on the Inspector General for Tax Administration to conduct a “full and complete audit of IRS practices concerning the deliberate targeting of existing conservative public policy organizations.”
Sponsored by the Free Congress Foundation and the Leadership Institute, the letter cites examples of the IRS’s deliberate targeting of existing conservative groups at the same time at which the IRS was targeting newly established conservative organizations.
“The IRS’s targeting of conservative organizations – both existing and newly formed groups – is an outrageous assault on Americans’ constitutional right to political free speech,” Mayor Lonegan said. “Regardless of one’s political affiliation, we should all be opposed to government agencies targeting people based on their political beliefs. I hope Cory Booker and his colleagues will join me in signing this important letter.”
In many Readers Minds Questions remain about TWA flight 800
I couldn’t believe the NBC Today show actually dug up retired local FBI head James Calstrohm from the crypt this morning (Thursday, 6/20/2013) to defend his indefensible 1996 investigation. He appeared immediately after a credible and well-informed critic of his investigation who called Calstrohm out by name. In response, Calstrohm was his usual condescending, oafish self, indiscriminately insulting anyone who would dare to question the FBI’s investigation or its foolish conclusions.
The thing I remember most about Calstrohm from the months after the TWA flight 800 accident were these three words that he uttered in anger and frustration to a caller to Bob Grant’s radio program on ABC (who was complaining loudly to Bob about the utter garbage the US government was trying to fob off on us at to the cause of this accident): “Get a Life!”.
At the time the TWA flight 800 investigation was thrust in Calstrohm’s lap in the summer of 1996, all Calstrohm had been planning to do was retire quietly from the FBI. The fact that he was forced to carry Clinton’s water to prevent him from going down in flames in his re-election bid was clearly chapping Calstrohm’s a$$. Of course, my heart bled for him as I dutifully played the worlds smallest violin.
This event (the corrupt TWA flight 800 investigation) demonstrated to all who had eyes to see and ears to hear that the US government was ready, willing, and able to lie to its people in a big way. Since Clinton’s successful re-election bid, the lies have only been getting bigger, and the damage they cause, more and more calamitous. When are the American people going to finally stand up and effectively defend their country against these depredations?
This was a proven design. The accident happenned in 1996. THese planes were originally flown commercially around 1970. This was 26 years and a few million flight hours on hundreds of planes later. There is NO WAY there is a problem with the fuel tanks. It was an easy ‘out’ to close the case. As a pilot, I never believed this as a cause and always believed it to be a bomb or a missle.
Don’t forget, this happened just months before Bill Clinton’s presidential re-election. Do you think a Clinton would try to cover something up? And witnesses claimed at the time that they saw the arc of a missile.
Protesters in Brazil Revolt against Big Government
Jun 19, 2:26 AM (ET)
By BRADLEY BROOKS
SAO PAULO (AP) – Tens of thousands of Brazilians again flooded the streets of the country’s biggest city to raise a collective cry against a longstanding lament – people are weighed down by high taxes and high prices but get low-quality public services and a system of government infected with corruption.
That was the repeated message Tuesday night in Sao Paulo, where upward of 50,000 people massed in front of the city’s main cathedral. While mostly peaceful, the demonstration followed the rhythm of protests that drew 240,000 people across Brazil the previous night, with small bands of radicals splitting off to fight with police and break into stores.
Mass protests have been mushrooming across Brazil since demonstrations called last week by a group angry over the high cost of a woeful public transport system and a recent 10-cent hike in bus and subway fares in Sao Paulo, Rio and elsewhere.
Did the BOE ask the Ridgewood News to dig up dirt on at the time Principal Jack Lorenz?
The fly has learned that there we more than just philosophical conflicts between the former RHS principal Jack Lorenz and the BOE Lorenz resigned citing “conflicts with higher level district administration as the primary motivator behind his decision and discussed plans for his future in education.” https://www.northjersey.com/news/134479278_Lorenz_discusses_departure.html#sthash.TAts4y3H.dpuf
Going on to say “My relationship with the Ed Center has been a little rocky, and that was the primary reason for my departure,” Lorenz said. https://www.northjersey.com/news/134479278_Lorenz_discusses_departure.html#sthash.TAts4y3H.dpuf
Sources now indicate that there was far more sinister goings on at 49 Cottage Place where is has been alleged that certain Ridgewood News reported was asked directly by the BOE to “dig up dirt” on the then popular Ridgewood High School Principal
Steve Lonegan is New Jersey’s number one champion for taxpayers. As a Mayor and as Americans for Prosperity state director, Lonegan has led the fight for the men and women who work hard and pay government’s bills.
Taking over as Mayor, Lonegan immediately cut municipal spending, bringing a “Taxpayers First” philosophy to borough government, leading to the elimination of wasteful and duplicative services, privatization of some functions and a more cost-efficient user-friendly government.
As a result, Bogota’s municipal spending remained constant for the entire twelve years of Steve’s tenure. Mayor Lonegan kept debt and tax increases far below inflation despite massive state mandates and aid reductions to suburban towns like Bogota. None of the other 565 New Jersey Mayors could boast of such a record.
Thanks to Steve’s strong, conservative leadership, Republicans kept council control for eleven straight elections and Steve was reelected in 1999 and 2003 by double digit margins over his Democratic opponent. He did not run for reelection in 2007, keeping a promise not to serve more than three terms.
As Mayor, Lonegan stood up to powerful public employee labor unions by bringing in civilian dispatchers rather than highly paid police officers. Steve Lonegan created the Taxpayer Protection Act requiring a public vote for new municipal debt or public employee contracts that exceed inflation and under Lonegan, Bogota was the first town in New Jersey to pass a ballot initiative restricting Eminent Domain.
As Mayor, Lonegan refused to fill out affirmative action forms and stated that he would not comply with state laws purportedly requiring him to perform Same-Sex Civil Unions, as it violated his Catholic faith.
Steve Lonegan saw that his role as Mayor took him beyond municipal borders. Whether it was fighting the Newark Arena, illegal state bonding, proposed gasoline tax hikes or countless other taxpayer rip-offs, Mayor Lonegan found that his work led him to speak out more and more for frustrated taxpayers all over the state — even taking on Governors and legislators in both parties to do what was right for working families and all taxpayers.
After twelve years as Mayor, Lonegan stepped down to devote full-time to his role as New Jersey Americans for Prosperity state director. He had compiled a record of cutting taxes, spending and debt far below inflation — a record unmatched in any of the other 565 New Jersey municipalities.
Since coming to Americans for Prosperity in 2006, Steve continued his fight for taxpayers by defeating two state ballot questions in 2007. The first would have forced an 8% sales tax for phony property tax “reform” and the second that would have bonded nearly a half billion dollars for taxpayer financed Embryonic Stem Cell “research.”
The Star Ledger’s Paul Mulshine said that “Lonegan single-handedly ignited the biggest taxpayer revolt since the Florio years” by defeating these two questions. With the ink on the results barely dry, Lonegan led the successful fight to stop Governor Corzine’s $38 Billion Toll Hike and Borrowing Scheme. His efforts so perturbed the embattled Governor that his staff even ordered the Mayor arrested for daring to challenge Corzine’s radical proposal. And Lonegan’s AFP efforts led to the defeat of taxpayer-financed legislative elections in the state.
In between all this, Steve published a book Putting Taxpayers First, where he outlines a blueprint for Republican victories in the Garden State.
Since then, Steve worked to get Governor Chris Christie to take New Jersey out of Cap and Trade, stop the Obamacare Exchanges, defeat the destructive Residential Foreclosure Act and fight increases in the State Income Tax.
Steve Lonegan was born in Teaneck’s Holy Name Hospital on April 27, 1956. He grew up and graduated from High School in Ridgefield Park where he set several high school track records. Steve earned a B.A. in Business Administration from William Paterson College where he was Football Team Captain and an All Conference Division Center, later earning an M.B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Steve built and managed retail, custom homebuilding and manufacturing businesses employing dozens of workers, prior to becoming Americans for Prosperity state director for New Jersey.
Steve and his wife Lorraine (Rossi) live in Bogota and have two adult daughters: Brooke and Katherine (Parany). The Lonegan family attends St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Bogota, where Steve’s daughter was the third generation of Lonegans to be married at the altar of St. Joseph’s Church.
Whether it is speaking out for taxpayers, taking on bureaucrats or fighting for homeowners, no one in New Jersey is as vocal, as active, and as determined to succeed as Steve Lonegan. Tough and independent, Mayor Steve Lonegan is the undisputed champion of New Jersey’s overtaxed and overregulated working families. He will be that champion in the United States Senate.
CNN Poll : 50% felt the White House ordered the IRS to target conservative groups
CNN Poll: Did White House order IRS targeting?
Posted by
CNN Political Unit
Updated 8:01 a.m. ET, Tuesday, 6/18
Washington (CNN) – A growing number of Americans believe that senior White House officials ordered the Internal Revenue Service to target conservative political groups, according to a new national poll.
And a CNN/ORC International survey released Tuesday morning also indicates that a majority of the public says the controversy, which involves increased IRS scrutiny of tea party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, is very important to the nation.
Republicans argue that the Obama administration used the IRS to intimidate and harass political opponents. Democrats say poor management at the tax agency, rather than political bias, is to blame. Congressional sources on both sides say that interviews with IRS workers so far have found no evidence of political dealings by the White House. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, touting an independent IRS inspector general report, has said the scrutiny appears to have originated with “IRS officials in Cincinnati,” where the agency’s tax exempt division is centered.
Planned civil service changes irk N.J. state workers
By Jane M. Von Bergen, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: June 17, 2013
New Jersey public employees are bracing for what their union leaders say is the latest anti-worker onslaught by the Christie administration.
The New Jersey Civil Service Commission, all of whose members are Gov. Christie’s appointees, has proposed sweeping changes it says would streamline the promotion process, making it easier to advance top-notch people.
That’s not how the unions see it. They say the changes would invite cronyism and political favoritism, discouraging state, county, and municipal workers who don’t want to play politics.
“It’s often been said that one man’s flexibility is another man’s cronyism,” Ben Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, pointed out.
“The major benefit of the . . . program,” the proposed regulations say, “would be the provision of greater flexibility in the advancement of employees.”
Exactly, said Hetty Rosenstein, the New Jersey leader of the Communications Workers of America, the union that represents most public employees in the state.
IRS supervisor in DC scrutinized Tea Party groups’ cases
Published June 17, 2013
FoxNews.com
WASHINGTON – A Washington-based IRS supervisor acknowledged she was personally involved in reviewing Tea Party applications for tax-exempt status as far back as 2010, Fox News confirms — a detail that further challenges the agency’s initial claim that the practice of singling out those groups was limited to a handful of employees in Ohio.
Congressional sources confirmed to Fox News that Holly Paz, who until recently was a top deputy in the division that handles applications for tax-exempt status, told congressional investigators she reviewed 20 to 30 applications. Some requests languished for more than a year without action.
The account undercuts the narrative that senior officials only learned of the practice after it had already started in the Cincinnati office.
Details of Paz’s role were first reported by The Associated Press. Still, Paz provided no evidence that senior IRS officials ordered agents to target conservative groups or that anyone in the Obama administration outside the IRS was involved.
‘NSA should come clean about domestic spying’: Ray Kelly
By JENNIFER BAIN
Last Updated: 6:18 PM, June 17, 2013
Posted: 4:09 PM, June 17, 2013
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly launched a stinging rebuke to the federal government’s secret phone and Internet monitoring campaign — and suggested leaker Edward Snowden was right about privacy “abuse.”
“I don’t think it ever should have been made secret,” Kelly said today, breaking ranks with US law-enforcement officials.
His blast came days after the Obama administration and Attorney General Eric Holder outraged New York officials by endorsing a federal monitor for the NYPD.
Kelly appeared to firmly reject Holder’s claim that disclosure of the monitoring campaign seriously damaged efforts to fight terrorism.
Ridgewood officials asked to support new cell phone law
MONDAY JUNE 17, 2013, 9:15 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Motorists involved in car accidents might one day be asked to show their license, registration – and cell phone.
A new bill making its way through the state Senate will, if ratified, permit law enforcement to seize and search the cell phones of drivers following a motor vehicle crash. The intent of the potential legislation is to determine whether the driver had been distracted by the use of a hand-held phone.
Under the proposal, police will be allowed to search a driver’s cell phone after an accident without a subpoena, but the responding officer must have reasonable grounds to believe a violation occurred. Police will be instructed to immediately return the phone to the driver after it is checked, according to the bill.
The bill’s primary sponsor, Ocean County-based Sen. James Holzapfel, said the crackdown is focused on motorists who either text or talk on the phone while driving
