Trenton NJ, “Increasing the tax on gas and diesel by 4.3¢ a gallon is simply too much, too fast. While we understand and are accepting of the need for some type of increase in order to keep the Transportation Trust Fund solvent, this dramatic of a tax increase will hurt small businesses, families, and ultimately drive fuel sales even lower, creating the need for further excessive tax increases over the next several years” said NJGCA Executive Director Sal Risalvato.
Ridgewood NJ, Parents & guardians: It’s the countdown to the start of school! Have you completed your online registration yet? Cross it off your list before Labor Day weekend!
Parents and guardians, just a reminder to complete your online registration in Skyward by midnight, September 4. All households must complete this process through the Skyward Family Access service, a password-protected site that provides parents access to information on courses, grades, homework, attendance, classroom messages, food service and fee management. The information in Family Access will aid in current and continuing communication between you and your child’s teachers to promote student success. Each parent has their own Skyward login ID connected with their email on record.
Trenton NJ, New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti today announced $161.25 million in County Aid to help make infrastructure improvements on the local level. This funding was doubled in Fiscal Year 2018 to become the largest County Aid grants in New Jersey history and this year’s grants maintain that amount provided to counties across the state.
Whippany NJ, Jay Webber, candidate for Congress released a policy paper announcing his four pillars of a safe and fair immigration system.
“Our country is held together by a shared set of values and should be open to those who will commit to upholding them. Those values we hold dear include respect for the rule of law and protecting our nation from those who do not share that respect. We can work together to make sure that our nation of immigrants continues to be a welcoming place, even as we uphold our laws and ensure fairness for all Americans.” – Jay Webber
Paterson NJ, just days an illegal immigrant from Mexico, Cristhian Bathena Rivera, 24, was charged with first-degree murder and stands accused of killing college student Mollie Tibbetts and dumping her body in an Iowa cornfield, after he allegedly accosted her during a July 18 jog when she threatened to call police.
And the father of a missing 3-year-old who was arrested at a New Mexico compound linked to “extremist Muslims” last week was training children to commit school shootings. Prosecutors allege Jihadi Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 39, was conducting weapons training on the compound, where 11 children were found hungry and living in squalor.
Yesterday back home in New Jersey a brutal slaying in Long Branch (Monmouth County) was allegedly perpetrated by a man who is present in the United States on an expired visa.
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Toastmasters has been around since May 1958 and on June 26th we held our celebration dinner at the Unitarian Society, our home for 30 of those 60 years. Past Club President and current member John Citti served as Toastmaster for the evening. Another past President, Diane Weiss, kicked off the festivities with an invocation. After dinner there was, of course, Table Topics, led by Keith Lazarus. The keynote speech was presented by David Romanchick, a six-time winner of District 46 and District 83 contests who placed second in the 2000 World Championship of Public Speaking. The Toastmaster of the Year award was presented to Akhil Kumar and a special Certificate of Appreciation was given to James Sutherland for his many years of service and mentoring.
Trenton NJ, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and the Division of Consumer Affairs today announced that 29 unlicensed movers have been issued Notices of Violation (“NOVs”) as a result of “Operation Mother’s Attic, a State-led undercover sting targeting public movers suspected of operating without licenses. Each unlicensed mover was also assessed a $2,500 civil penalty
The sting operation occurred over the course of four days in April 2018. Investigators from the Division’s Office of Consumer Protection (“OCP”) posed as individuals planning to move from an upscale neighborhood in Montville. The investigators found various unlicensed moving companies advertising online and hired them for their “move.” The movers drove to Montville, expecting to find a luxury home full of items to load, and were instead met by a team of OCP investigators, who issued them NOVs for operating without licenses.
Washington DC , The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first generic version of EpiPen and EpiPen Jr (epinephrine) auto-injector for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including those that are life-threatening (anaphylaxis), in adults and pediatric patients who weigh more than 33 pounds. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA gained approval to market its generic epinephrine auto-injector in 0.3 mg and 0.15 mg strengths.
Trenton NJ, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and U.S. Marshal for the District of New Jersey Juan Mattos today announced that federal, state, and local agencies have united with the U.S. Marshals Service to help reduce gang violence across the state of New Jersey in Operation Summer in the City. The U.S. Marshals Service in the District of New Jersey and the U.S. Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force conducted this collaborative effort involving all levels of law enforcement as an extension of the U.S. Marshals Gang Enforcement Program. The initiative came out of a meeting between Attorney General Grewal and U.S. Marshal Mattos at which they discussed strategies for reducing violent crime across the state. This one week fugitive initiative during July targeted New Jersey’s gang members and most violent offenders. This operation resulted in the arrest of 166 fugitives, which included 61 documented gang members including 42 Bloods, 13 Crips, 3 Latin Kings, 1 Surenos, and 1 Trinitarios member.
Operation Summer in the City was conducted throughout the Cities of Newark, Trenton, Jersey City, and Camden from July 16 through July 20. The objective was to strategically target the State’s most dangerous fugitives in order to curb the violence in these cities, and have a direct impact on the quality of life for the residents in these communities. Marshals and task force officers focused on targeting fugitives with violent charges as well as documented gang members. Not only were some of New Jerseys most violent offenders apprehended during this operation, but law enforcement also seized guns, drugs, and money. Of these notable seizures, 11 firearms, 7.15 kg in narcotics, one vehicle, and $100,000 in cash were confiscated.
The U.S. Marshal for the District of New Jersey, Juan Mattos states, “The U.S. Marshals Service is thankful for the relationships that we have with our city, county, state, and federal law enforcement partners that worked tirelessly in sweltering and scorching conditions to make ‘Operation Summer in the City’ a huge success. We heard the public’s pleas for help and their expressions of gratitude for making their neighborhoods safer as a result of these arrests. We listened to you loud and clearly, and we will continue pursuing these violent fugitives that are hiding in every corner of your city.”
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal states, “Upon becoming Attorney General, I promised to make fighting violent crime a top priority, and this operation is part of delivering on that promise in a collaborative way. Law enforcement throughout New Jersey has a tremendous partner in the U.S. Marshals Service, and our strategy in ‘Operation Summer in the City’ was to conduct the type of operations that the U.S. Marshals conduct every day, but multiply our forces so we could blanket these four cities with deputy marshals and other law enforcement officers and target New Jersey’s most dangerous fugitives. This collaboration, including the tremendous work of our county prosecutors’ offices, who are prosecuting the overwhelming majority of these fugitives, is a great example of how we are working together to reduce and prevent violent crime in New Jersey. In fact, six-month data for 2018 shows a decline of 24 percent in shooting ‘hit’ victims in New Jersey compared to the same period in 2017, and a 23 percent decline in shooting murder victims, and I think that law enforcement is having a real impact in these declines by leveraging the great cooperative relationships we have fostered and sharing intelligence to address major causes of violence. Law enforcement agencies work best when they work together, and this sweep of gang members and violent offenders is an outstanding example.”
The U.S. Marshals Gang Enforcement Program is part of the Agency’s Organized Crime and Gangs Branch (OCAG). Through strategic fugitive investigations, the OCAG seeks to disrupt and destabilize criminal networks holistically, from the street level gangster to high-ranking leaders of the most notorious Transnational Criminal Organizations. In the state of New Jersey alone, the U.S. Marshals Service Gang and Regional Fugitive Task Forces have arrested 242 documented gang members from January through July of this year. In that same time frame, a total of 1,489 fugitives have been arrested by U.S. Marshals Task Forces in New Jersey and that number continues to grow, as each and every single day, some of the most violent offenders in the state are apprehended.
The full list of participating Law Enforcement agencies include:
United States Marshals
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
United States Postal Inspection Service
Homeland Security Investigations
ICE
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey
NJ State Police Gangs and Organized Crime Unit, Fugitive Unit, and K-9
New Jersey Parole
New Jersey State Police
New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice
New Jersey Department of Corrections
Port Authority Police Department
Essex County Sheriff’s Office
Essex County Prosecutor’s Office
Hudson County Sheriff’s Office
Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office
Union County Sheriff’s Office
Mercer County Sheriff’s Office
Trenton Police Department
Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office
Mercer County Prosecutors Office
Burlington County Sheriff’s Office
Ocean County Sheriff’s Office
Camden County Sheriff’s Office
Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office
Camden County Prosecutor’s Office
Deptford Police Department
Camden County Metro Police Department
Newark NJ, after immense pressure by the Trump administration ,the European Union says that it has agreed to a series of concessions that would avoid a costly trade war with the US. The EU has agreed to:
• Increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from the United States;
• Lower tariffs;
• Align regulatory standards on medical products;
• Import more US soy beans.
The European Union delegation, led by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his top trade officials, met with President Donald Trump in a bid to level the field on trade. The official said the EU has agreed to work with the Trump administration to lower tariffs on both sides of the Atlantic .The delegations are still fine tuning language in a common statement on car tariffs. There will be no further tariffs as the details are worked out.
Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal in New Jersey could be the prime beneficiary or any trade agreement lowering tariffs and promoting trade .The Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal, a major component of the Port of New York and New Jersey and perhaps the most successful component . Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal is the principal container ship facility for goods entering and leaving New York metropolitan area and the northeastern quadrant of North America and is one of the few areas of job creation success in New Jersey .
The port is located on Newark Bay, the facility is run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Its two components—Port Newark and the Elizabeth Marine Terminal (sometimes called “Port Newark” and “Port Elizabeth”)—sit side by side within the cities of Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, just east of the New Jersey Turnpike and Newark Airport
As of 2004,Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal was the largest container port in the eastern United States and the third-largest in the country.Since 1998, the port has seen a 65% increase in traffic. In 2003, the port moved over $100 billion in goods. In 2006, it handled more than 20% of all US imports from Germany a major European trading partner .
Ridgewood NJ,After a productive partnership spanning 70 years in their shared 112 Oak Street, Ridgewood facility, the Boards of Directors of the Ridgewood YMCA and YWCA Bergen County announce plans to restructure their joint operations.
While the Ridgewood YMCA will continue operations at 112 Oak Street, YWCA Bergen County will move its operations and services to a new, centrally located Bergen County headquarters with satellite programs in communities served. The transition period will begin in August 2018 and be completed in September 2018.
“The Ridgewood YMCA and YWCA Bergen County have decided this course of action to better serve our community while preserving the very important missions of our respective organizations,” said Ernest Lamour, CEO of the Ridgewood YMCA.
“We support the Ridgewood YMCA’s essential work as they do ours, and have mutually agreed to end our longstanding partnership so we can deepen and strengthen our commitments to our complementary but distinct missions,” said Helen Archontou, CEO of YWCA Bergen County. “We believe this thoughtful decision will help ensure that both organizations remain sustainable and relevant to the people we serve well into the future.”
The Ridgewood YMCA will expand its operations at 112 Oak Street and provide the same high-quality services that all members have come to expect and enjoy in youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. A future capital fundraising campaign will be explored, and with the support of the community, much needed facility upgrades and improvements will be made.
YWCA Bergen County will expand and enrich its core programs and services, including empowering women and girls with the tools they need to learn and grow, advocating for the equality of all people, supporting families with excellent child care and camps, enhancing the well-being of people of all ages and abilities, raising awareness to prevent sexual violence, and helping survivors heal.
Ridgewood YMCA and BFC members in good standing will continue their membership unchanged. YWCA Bergen County members will receive information specific to their memberships, and can contact [email protected] for assistance.
Visit Ridgewood YMCA (ridgewoodymca.org) and YWCA Bergen County (ywcabergencounty.org) on the web, and follow them on social media for information and updates.
Trenton NJ, still dreaming, in what can only be described as a “hail mary” ,Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal today joined three other states in suing the Trump Administration over its $10,000 cap on the federal tax deduction for state and local taxes (SALT).
Joining New Jersey in suing both the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department were New York, Connecticut and Maryland. The lawsuit seeks to prevent the federal government from enforcing the SALT deduction cap, and to have the cap declared invalid.
Governor Phil Murphy welcomed the action.
“What the Trump Administration enacted with the SALT deduction cap was nothing more than a tax hike on our working and middle-class families and seniors,” said Governor Murphy. “I made a commitment to New Jerseyans to provide long-term property tax relief when I signed legislation to preserve deductibility by enabling municipalities to create charitable funds. We will continue to fight to protect local taxpayers and businesses and I applaud Attorney General Grewal and the states of New York, Connecticut and Maryland for their leadership and action in challenging the constitutionality of this assault on our states.”
“Today we are making good on our promise to fight for New Jersey taxpayers – by taking legal action to protect our residents and restore fairness to the tax code,” said Attorney General Grewal. “Simply put, the federal government violated the constitution when it imposed new, arbitrary limits on the amount of state and local taxes that residents could deduct on their federal tax returns.”
In 2017, the Federal Government adopted a significant change to the federal tax code. Previously, taxpayers who itemized their deductions could deduct from their federal tax liability all money paid for state and local income, property and sales taxes. Under the new code, however, the same taxpayers are only permitted to claim a comparatively small deduction of up to $10,000 for those taxes.
The lawsuit filed today notes that the so-called SALT deduction on individual federal tax liability has historically been recognized by Congress as essential under the Constitution. “A SALT deduction has been a part of every federal income tax law since the first federal income tax was enacted in 1861,” the complaint explains.
The lawsuit adds that the SALT deduction is necessary to prevent federal taxes from interfering with each state’s right to determine its taxation and fiscal policies, because federal taxes crowd the states out of traditional revenue sources like income, property and sales taxes.
The suit asserts that the federal government’s “drastic” decision to cap the SALT deduction at $10,000 will significantly increase the federal tax liability for residents of each of the plaintiff states, including New Jersey. Homeowners who could once deduct the full cost of their local property taxes now can only deduct a fraction of those taxes. That will increase the cost of owning a home, which in turn will depress home values.
To make matters worse, the states explain, the federal government went after these states deliberately. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin even said, the point of the changes to the SALT deduction was to “send a message to the[se] state governments” that Washington wants them to change their spending policies. That effort to coerce states, the complaint notes, is another reason why the latest SALT changes are illegal.
Today’s joining of the federal lawsuit by Attorney General Grewal is the Attorney General’s latest action aimed at protecting New Jersey residents from oppressive new federal tax policies under the Trump Administration.
In May, Attorney General Grewal wrote the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) urging that it stop “playing politics” and drop its plan to enact a rule that would prevent New Jersey residents from claiming deductions for charitable contributions made to their local governments. Governor Phil Murphy had previously signed a law allowing residents to receive property tax credits for such charitable contributions.
Ridgewood NJ, we are still having trouble rectifying the fact that resident who are looking to preserve the crabgrass walkway at the train station are the same residents who supported building high density housing, wanted to clear cut Schedler , place turf fields on every corner and never mentions the two years the porta potty and heavy machinery sat on the “grassy knoll” .
Ridgewood NJ, Proposed Parking Lot Reconfiguration – Train Station Expansion
Proposed parking lot reconfiguration details are:
One bench, center of island, to be provided by others.
11 decorative streetlights, matching pattern used in the Village
An increase of 38 parking spaces
15 trees are to be removed. All were examined by the Village Arborist for health, most were in poor health.
14 trees are to be planted, 11 of which will be red oaks
44 of the reconfigured spaces will be for compact cars, with a stall size of 9-wide by 16-feet deep.
One way counter-clockwise circulation in the parking lot.
22-foot wide circulation lane.
Center island is to be 14-feet wide.(It is currently approx. 33 feet wide, at the widest section)
Sidewalk in the center island to be 5-feet in width.
Standard 9-foot by 18-foot parking stalls surrounding the center island
Center island sidewalk to be tinted a dark color (as per SHPO).
Existing lot has 107 parking spaces. Reconfigured lot will have 145 parking spaces.
Trenton NJ, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that an Ocean County man who had over 36,000 videos and images of child pornography on his computer devices was sentenced today to state prison. He was one of 40 men arrested in 2016 in “Operation Statewide,” a child pornography sweep by the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which includes the New Jersey State Police, Division of Criminal Justice, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, and numerous state, county and local law enforcement agencies.
Anthony White, 31, of Lakewood, N.J., was sentenced today to six years in state prison, including three years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Linda Baxter in Ocean County. He pleaded guilty on March 6 to second-degree charges of distributing child pornography and attempting to manufacture child pornography. He will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and will be subject to parole supervision for life.
Deputy Attorney General Rachael Weeks prosecuted White and handled the sentencing for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau.
In pleading guilty, White admitted that he knowingly used file-sharing software to make 25 or more files of child pornography readily available for any other user to download from a “shared folder” on his computer. He further admitted in connection with the attempted manufacturing charge that he tried to reproduce images of child pornography that he previously downloaded. While monitoring a peer-to-peer file-sharing network popular with sex offenders, a detective of the New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit (DTIU) downloaded 38 videos and images of child pornography from a shared folder at a computer IP address later traced to White. White was arrested on July 20, 2016, when members of the DTIU and State Police TEAMS Unit executed a search warrant at his home and seized computer devices, including a desktop computer. A forensic preview of the devices revealed over 36,000 videos and images of child pornography, one of the largest collections of child pornography ever seized by law enforcement in New Jersey.
“We are working hard through our proactive online investigations to banish the offensive notion that viewing child pornography is somehow a victimless crime,” said Attorney General Grewal. “Tens of thousands of children were cruelly abused to create the videos and images in White’s collection, and he exploited and re-victimized those children by his actions.”
“By sending defendants like White to prison, we deliver the message that possessing and distributing child pornography are very serious crimes – crimes that create a market for the terrible abuse of innocent children,” said Director Veronica Allende of the Division of Criminal Justice. “This prison sentence reflects our determination to prosecute these offenders aggressively using New Jersey’s tough child pornography laws.”
“People like Anthony White care more about getting caught than they do about the innocent children who are subjected to the horrific abuses portrayed in the videos they willingly share on the internet,” said Colonel Patrick Callahan of the New Jersey State Police. “As a result of the great work by our troopers and law enforcement partners, White will remain under parole supervision for life after he serves his prison sentence.”
Operation Statewide was a 2016 multi-agency child pornography sweep coordinated by the New Jersey State Police, as lead agency for the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The operation resulted in arrests of 40 men, including defendants in every county of New Jersey. During the operation, investigators monitored Peer to Peer, or P2P, file-sharing networks popular with child pornography offenders. Such networks play a major role in the distribution of child pornography, functioning in the same manner as websites used for privately sharing music or movies. Because videos and photos of child pornography keep recirculating, they result in the perpetual re-victimization of the children who were sexually assaulted or abused to produce them. Law enforcement has cataloged a large number of these images and videos, and the electronic files can be traced in various ways. During Operation Statewide, detectives downloaded child pornography that defendants offered from shared folders on their computers, tracing the files to their point of origin.
Attorney General Grewal commended the detectives of the New Jersey State Police DTIU and members of the other agencies in the New Jersey ICAC Task Force who conducted Operation Statewide, as well as the attorneys who participated in the investigations and are prosecuting the resulting cases.
Attorney General Grewal and Director Allende urged anyone with information about distribution of child pornography on the internet – or about suspected improper contact by unknown persons communicating with children via the internet or possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children – to please contact the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Tipline at 888-648-6007.
