Ridgewood refines policies as opt-out movement gains steam
February 14, 2015 Last updated: Saturday, February 14, 2015, 9:30 AM
By Darius Amos
Staff Writer |
The Ridgewood News
Elisabeth Rose’s daughter used to enjoy going to school. She loved to read and loved to learn.
But all that changed once her child’s third-grade class began preparations for the state-mandated PARCC exams.
“She couldn’t understand the text and the questions … she’s not liking school anymore,” Rose said, speaking candidly at Monday’s Board of Education (BOE) meeting.
She further described her daughter’s transformation as one that “breaks my heart,” particularly after days when the student came home crying.
“It’s really sad because she can’t be the only one who’s having trouble in the elementary school setting. There was a time when [students] weren’t taught to test; they had the freedom to learn,” Rose added. “Please put something in place so the students have an option.”
Green Scheme Brings Down Democrat Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber
Governor John Kitzhaber announces his resignation
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned effective Wednesday, Feb. 18, in a letter submitted to Secretary of State Kate Brown.
“I am announcing today that I will resign as Governor of the State of Oregon,” he wrote in a statement released just after noon Friday.
Brown, also a Democrat, will be sworn in as Oregon’s 37th governor, but the timing of that ceremony is uncertain.
In just four months, a public corruption scandal involving Kitzhaber and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, has hobbled one of Oregon’s most durable politicians. Kitzhaber, a public official for 37 years, was sworn in for a historic fourth term as governor just a month ago. Facing not only a state criminal investigation and an ethics review, Kitzhaber watched his support from fellow veteran lawmakers crumble this week.
The governor’s resignation does not end either the criminal investigation or ethics review.
Kitzhaber, 67, did not appear in public on Friday and neither did his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes. Instead, he issued a page-long statement that was released Friday that made clear his pain and frustration with having to abandon what was to be a historic fourth term. Yet, he wrote, he understood why the move was necessary.
Criticism had mounted in recent weeks over how Kitzhaber had handed Hayes’ roles as an unpaid clean energy and economic policy adviser in his office, and as a consultant paid to promote the same topics. Since Kitzhaber took office in 2011, Hayes had collected at least $213,000 from contracts, records showed.
Questions remain as to whether Hayes reported some of that income on her federal taxes.
Garrett Leads Bipartisan Effort Against the Unfair Practice of Civil Asset Forfeiture
February 14, 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Chairman of the Congressional Constitution Caucus, issued the following statement in support of the reintroduction of the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act, to protect Americans from having their property seized without the due process of law through civil asset forfeiture:
“Most Americans assume that the government cannot take your things without due process, but it is happening,” said Garrett alongside his colleagues from the House and Senate. “Under current law, federal, state and local police can seize your property unless you can prove you acquired it legally. This must change. The FAIR Act will protect our constitutional rights and save American families from a costly and messy legal process to regain what is legally theirs.”
PHOTO : Garrett joins a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers that want to change the unfair practice of civil asset forfeiture with the FAIR Act. (From Left to Right: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ),Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN))
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday accused former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of helping to spur unrest in the Middle East that led to the current battle against militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
“One of the people I blame for a lot of this, frankly, is Hillary Clinton,” he said on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom.”
“The disaster that is Libya is now a breeding ground for terrorists and also a breeding ground for armament. I really do blame Hillary Clinton’s war in Libya for creating a lot of the chaos that is now spreading throughout the Middle East.”Paul has repeatedly needled Clinton ahead of the two politicians’ potential 2016 bids, this time when host Bill Hemmer asked for his take on President Obama’s proposed authorization to fight ISIS, sent to Congress Wednesday. The proposal includes vague language that limits the president from “enduring offensive ground combat” but would allow him to authorize limited ground operations and have soldiers target ISIS forces and their associates.
But the plan hasn’t been welcomed with open arms on Capitol Hill. Some Democratic lawmakers told The Hill that the language may still be too broad, while Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement that he’s concerned the president’s language isn’t broad enough to give “our military commanders the flexibility and authorities they need.”
PSE&G residential electric bills to increase 2.1 percent on June 1
Feb. 13, 2015
Utility corrects previous 5.1 percent calculation errorNewark, NJ ,Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G) today said the impact of the recent Basic Generation Service electricity supply auction on residential electric bills will be a 2.1 percent increase on June 1, when new electric rates take effect. The utility had previously said the impact would be an increase of 5.1 percent.
“The bill impact information we provided to the NJ Board of Public Utilities at the conclusion of the auction was inaccurate,” said Jorge Cardenas, vice president of asset management and centralized services. “While the wholesale prices for electricity secured in the auction are correct, we made a calculation error in how the new prices would affect customer bills on June 1. We are pleased to report that the typical residential bill will increase by 2.1 percent and not the 5.1 percent we had indicated. It was our calculation error and we sincerely regret both the error and any confusion that may have resulted.”
The bill for a PSE&G residential customer who uses the statewide average of 650 kilowatthours per month will pay $123.82 a month, or $2.58 more per month when averaged over the entire year.
“We commend the Board of Public Utilities for once again approving this efficient and competitive way to secure electricity on behalf of our customers,” Cardenas said. “Our continued investment in transmission infrastructure, along with our commitment to renewable energy sources, contributed to the modest increase to typical residential bills.”
Cardenas said the transmission investments are mandated by regional grid operator PJM to ensure grid stability in PSE&G’s densely populated service territory, enabling the utility to ensure the delivery of safe, reliable electricity. “Our customers are benefitting from a more modern electric system that will provide strong reliability for many years to come,” he added.
Although electric bills are rising slightly, most PSE&G customers also receive gas service and are benefitting from lower gas bills this winter. PSE&G lowered the price of residential gas supply on October 1, 2014 to 45 cents per therm — its lowest rate in 14 years. In addition, the utility is providing significant bill credits to residential gas customers for usage from November 2014 to March 2015 – saving the typical residential gas customer more than $200 during the five-month period.
Since January of 2009, reductions in the cost of gas supply have lowered bills 44 percent, for an annual savings of $741 for PSE&G’s current typical residential gas heating customer. Since 2012, PSE&G has issued bill credits that reduced customers’ supply portion of their bills by a total of approximately $400.
By DAVID E. SANGER and NICOLE PERLROTHFEB. 12, 2015
PALO ALTO, Calif. — President Obama will meet here on Friday with the nation’s top technologists on a host of cybersecurity issues and the threats posed by increasingly sophisticated hackers. But nowhere on the agenda is the real issue for the chief executives and tech company officials who will gather on the Stanford campus: the deepening estrangement between Silicon Valley and the government.
The long history of quiet cooperation between Washington and America’s top technology companies — first to win the Cold War, then to combat terrorism — was founded on the assumption of mutual interest. Edward J. Snowden’s revelations shattered that. Now, the Obama administration’s efforts to prevent companies from greatly strengthening encryption in commercial products like Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android phones has set off a new battle, as the companies resist government efforts to make sure police and intelligence agencies can crack the systems.
GOP Sen Ron Johnson: We Have 16,000 Unique Lerner Emails with Potential Admin Contacts
Thursday on Fox New Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) explained in November the Treasury Inspector General reported that it had recovered almost 80,000 missing emails from the seized IRS disaster recovery tapes. Upon investigation it was found approximately 80 percent are duplicates, which leaves roughly 16,000 recovered, unique Lois Lerner emails.
The Wisconsin senator promised “a number of committees,” working together will spend the next couple of month “sorting through” the emails to “piece together this plot.”
Johnson said, “This administration has been completely opaque. But that’s one question. Who was communicating with Lois Lerner? What emails were exchanged with the White House or Treasury department? That’s what we are trying to get to the bottom of.”
Trenton (still) refuses to tackle the onerous fee that’s really an insidious tax
Posted by Joe Sinagra On February 11, 2015 2 Comments
By Joe Sinagra | The Save Jersey Blog
The Realty Transfer Fee (RTF) was established in 1968 to offset the costs of tracking real estate transactions. It may be called a fee, Save Jerseyans, but in reality it’s another insidious stealth tax place upon New Jersey home owners. Sometimes this tax is referred to as an “exit tax.”
How does it work? The New Jersey Division of Taxation states that the Realty Transfer Fee is calculated based on the amount of consideration recited in the deed or, in certain instances, the assessed valuation of the property.
Why? This tax started out as a $350 flat fee paid to help support the recording of real-estate transactions such as the upkeep of books, records and maps keeping them up to date.
And what does the size or value of your property have to do with how much tax the seller pays? I would think in this day and age, with all the technology we have, that all of this record keeping should not be as involved as it once was. If the county clerk’s office where all these transactions get recorded, supposedly became more modern and efficient, why have the costs escalated other than being an easy money grab for the state as a guaranteed source of revenue.
N.J. tax collections running $180M ahead of revenue projections
FEBRUARY 11, 2015, 5:29 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015, 5:29 PM
BY JOHN REITMEYER
STATE HO– USE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
Tax collections for Governor Christie’s $32.5 billion state budget were running $180 million ahead of revenue projections at the halfway mark of the state fiscal year according to figures released by the administration Wednesday.
The numbers were obtained in response to a public records request filed by The Record and show a marked difference from this time last year when the state was running a $331 million revenue shortfall.
New Jersey’s constitution requires a balanced budget, and Christie was eventually forced to delay property tax relief payments and significantly reduce the state payment into the public employee pension last year to address a gap that later swelled to $1 billion.
The figures from the state Department of Treasury show tax collections in December 2014 came in $237 million above revenue projections, helping reverse a nearly $50 million shortfall from November. That left tax collections 1.6 percent ahead of revenue projections at the midway point of the state fiscal year, which runs through June 30.
Auditors Report on Ridgewood Parking Utility raises serious questions as to whether other people also participated in this theft against the Village
Ridgewood NJ, In a statement released by the Mayor ,Council and Village Manager :
On March 19, 2014, following an investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, former Ridgewood employee Thomas Rica admitted in Bergen County Superior Court to stealing $460,000 from the municipality’s parking utility over about a 3-year period – from 2010 to January 2013. At that hearing, Mr. Rica entered into a plea agreement in which, among other things, he was required to repay the amount of $460,000.
Following that hearing and a subsequent July 10, 2014 sentencing hearing, the Village of Ridgewood’s insurance carrier, the Municipal Excess Liability Fund, hired a forensic accounting firm, Nisivoccia LLP, to undertake a comprehensive audit of the loss incurred by the Village’s parking utility. That audit is now complete.
Yesterday, we received Nisivoccia’s final report, which concludes that over a similar period of time, approximately $850,000 was stolen from the Village. The auditor’s conclusion is very disturbing and raises serious questions concerning the scope and method of the crime or crimes that have been committed against the Village. Most notably, it raises the question as to whether other people also participated in this theft against the Village, acting independently or in cooperation with Mr. Rica.
Although we have taken and continue to take several concrete steps to strengthen controls on parking utility revenues, we believe that it is absolutely necessary to try to determine the full extent of the theft[s] committed during the 2010 to January 2013 period.
We are therefore exploring all of our legal options, including possibly starting a Ridgewood Police investigation into this matter. We will make a determination as to next legal steps within weeks.
We are continuing to work with Nisivoccia LLP to review our processes and controls – past and present – to determine if negligence and/or procedural violations contributed to the theft[s} and what steps, if any, still need to be taken to prevent theft going forward.
We are continuing to work with the Municipal Excess Liability Fund to recoup all of the monies stolen from the Village. This is a top priority.
Feds won’t release IRS targeting documents
By Bob Cusack – 02/10/15 06:00 AM EST
The Obama administration is refusing to publicly release more than 500 documents on the IRS’s targeting of Tea Party groups.
Twenty months after the IRS scandal broke, there are still many unanswered questions about who was spearheading the agency’s scrutiny of conservative-leaning organizations.
The Hill sought access to government documents that might provide a glimpse of the decision-making through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
The Hill asked for 2013 emails and other correspondence between the IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The request specifically sought emails from former IRS official Lois Lerner and Treasury officials, including Secretary Jack Lew, while the inspector general was working on its explosive May 2013 report that the IRS used “inappropriate criteria” to review the political activities of tax-exempt groups.
TIGTA opted not to release any of the 512 documents covered by the request, citing various exemptions in the law. The Hill recently appealed the FOIA decision, but TIGTA denied the appeal. TIGTA also declined to comment for this article.
Ridgewood Sanitation Services During Snow and Icy Weather
Dear E-Notice Residents,
Due to the recent snow and ice conditions we are requiring that for the foreseeable future your sanitation containers have to be placed on the curb, by the driveway, for pick up. Last week we tried a hybrid approach in telling residents that we would continue rear yard pick-up if the driveways were free and clear of snow and ice. Unfortunately this caused some confusion. We also had four accidents last week of our staff falling and two needing to go to the hospital.
I know that for me personally this morning there was snow and ice on my driveway which was not there last evening. We placed our garbage out by the curb. The sanitation workers come around early during the coldest portion of the day. There are municipalities that suspend rear yard pick-up for the entire season for this reason. We would prefer to keep the services at a normal level whenever possible.Once we resume normal pick-up we will send E-Notices as well as post to our website.
A false friend :Why governments should stay out of the mortgage business
Feb 1st 2015 | Business and finance
IN THIS week’s print edition, we explore how mortgage subsidies have encouraged banks to lend more to homeowners and less to firms, with pernicious economic consequences. The Economist has long been a critic of such handouts. Back in 2000, we pointed out that implicit state guarantees for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, mortgage insurance giants, may do serious damage to the American economy if they take on too much risk. The federal takeover of the two firms in September 2008 as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis suggests we were right to be worried.
Fannie, Freddie
America’s government should get out of the mortgage business
Apr 15th 2000
FANNIE and Freddie sound like a sweet couple living down the street. But in America they are more likely to own the mortgage on your and your neighbours’ house. For Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are two of America’s biggest financial institutions—and also two of its most indebted, with around $1 trillion of debt between them. Fannie Mae is the Federal National Mortgage Association, Freddie Mac the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. They dominate America’s mortgage market, a pre-eminence that is becoming controversial because these “federal agencies” are assumed (despite official denials) to be guaranteed by the government (see article).
Fannie and Freddie stand accused of using their “government guarantees” to steal business from unambiguously private lenders. One think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute, says they are on course to “nationalise” the mortgage market. Some congressmen now wish to change the law to tame these monsters before they stick the taxpayer with a bill reminiscent of the savings-and-loan bust in the 1980s.
The original idea behind Fannie and Freddie was innocuous enough. It was to provide liquidity to mortgage lenders, and so help people to buy homes, at a time when private markets could not stump up enough money. But today the financial markets are more than able to deliver. What the federal mortgage agencies do now is to distort the private market. This is a perfect example of what people mean when they talk of moral hazard caused by government intervention.
Greece: Greenspan predicts exit from euro inevitable
Greenspan says only political integration will save the euro
Continue reading the main story
The former head of the US central bank, Alan Greenspan, has predicted that Greece will have to leave the eurozone.
He told the BBC he could not see who would be willing to put up more loans to bolster Greece’s struggling economy.
Greece wants to re-negotiate its bailout, but Mr Greenspan said “I don’t think it will be resolved without Greece leaving the eurozone”.
Earlier, UK Chancellor George Osborne said a Greek exit would cause “deep ructions” for Britain.
Mr Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, said: “I believe [Greece] will eventually leave. I don’t think it helps them or the rest of the eurozone – it is just a matter of time before everyone recognises that parting is the best strategy.
The fiddling with temperature data is the biggest science scandal ever
New data shows that the “vanishing” of polar ice is not the result of runaway global warming
By Christopher Booker
10:15PM GMT 07 Feb 2015
When future generations look back on the global-warming scare of the past 30 years, nothing will shock them more than the extent to which the official temperature records – on which the entire panic ultimately rested – were systematically “adjusted” to show the Earth as having warmed much more than the actual data justified.
Two weeks ago, under the headline “How we are being tricked by flawed data on global warming”, I wrote about Paul Homewood, who, on his Notalotofpeopleknowthat blog, had checked the published temperature graphs for three weather stations in Paraguay against the temperatures that had originally been recorded. In each instance, the actual trend of 60 years of data had been dramatically reversed, so that a cooling trend was changed to one that showed a marked warming.
This was only the latest of many examples of a practice long recognised by expert observers around the world – one that raises an ever larger question mark over the entire official surface-temperature record.
