Thursday, May 23, 2013
No one was in the car when it caught fire just before 8 p.m. Thursday.
A total of four vehicles were damaged when a Pontiac's engine compartment caught fire and flames spread at a Ridgewood auto yard Thursday night. Ridgewood firefighters said the engine compartment of a gold Pontiac sedan was fully engulfed when they arrived on scene at about 8 p.m. Thursday. Though the fire was quickly contained, flames had spread to three nearby vehicles. The Pontiac was in an accident earlier in the day and brought to the yard by City Wide Towing, firefighters said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
DEP officials say the handicap ramp at Graydon Pool in Ridgewood won't be ready for summer.
With work on a handicap ramp at Graydon Pool not expected to begin until at least the fall, Fair Lawn officials have opened up the borough's sandbottom pool this summer to Ridgewood residents with physical challenges. At a public forum on Monday, DEP officials told village officials and residents that they have yet to sign off on a controversial handicap ramp to Graydon. The ramp has been the subject of intense debate for several years. The council voted late last year to allocate $48,000 toward the construction of a 40-foot ramp at the 2.6 acre site. But the DEP process has been frought with delays. Ridgewood residents with physical challenges will still have the option to spend a day at a beach in Bergen County thanks to neighbors in …
Residents say council colleagues "bullied" Riche over phone system installation work his company performed for the village in 2012. The council did not appropriate $8,000 for emergency work at fire headquarters, though it was approved by town officials.
Ridgewood Councilman Tom Riche's company, Extel Communications, received a $24,000 contract in June to upgrade the phone systems at the water department, Village Hall and to perform work at fire department. But he collected $32,000, $8,000 more than the council had authorized. How and why it happened became the subject of debate among the increasingly divided village council on Wednesday night. One way or another, Riche said he's done doing business with the town. The council majority said Riche had a responsibility to tell the council that he took more than what was authorized and further questioned if council members should do business with the town in the first place. Riche said he's donated a tremendous amount of his time and money to …
The governor visited HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley, which is set to open June 1.
Gov. Chris Christie visited Westwood Thursday for a ceremonial ribbon-cutting at HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley. Christie praised the hospital's officials for their work and State Health Commissioner Mary O'Dowd for ultimately approving the hospital last year. HUMC at Pascack Valley was the first hospital to receive a license from New Jersey in almost 30 years. "I'm thrilled that this is happening and we can be part of it together," Christie said. Christie and other officials also credited members of the community for their support in reopening the former Pascack Valley Hospital, which closed in 2007 at the same site. Christie said he gave his support to the new hospital because people in the region needed it. "It's all about the people …
Bergen County Police Chiefs Association holds second Blue Mass to honor those in law enforcement who have given their lives in the line of duty.
Police from all over Bergen County celebrated the second annual Blue Mass honoring law enforcement officers who gave their lives in the line of duty at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Ridgewood Wednesday morning. Fairview Chief of Police Frank Delvecchio established the mass last year as a way to honor those police officers who have given their lives in service to the residents of Bergen County. "The mass came about as a way to include God in remembering and honoring those police officers who have served and gave their lives in the line of duty, or have served and passed," Delvecchio, a Ridgewood resident, said. A lone police officer's hat, a tri-folded American flag and a single red rose were placed on the altar representing the …
“After 27 years in education, I can’t imagine a standardized test that will capture authentic learning,” Jean McTavish tells northjersey.com.
One Ridgewood parent's two sons won't be stressing out about standardized tests this week. Jean McTavish, a New York City school principal, told The Record that she's protesting the NJ ASK tests; her ten-year-old and thirteen-year-old children will skip the ASKs this week. “After 27 years in education, I can’t imagine a standardized test that will capture authentic learning,” McTavish told the paper in early April. She's among many joining the nationwide movement to end the standardized testing. “Our children are more than test scores! Join us in our fight to save public education!" she tweeted on April 14. While state code says students "shall" take the tests, there are no codified penalties, The Record reported. The news website quoted …
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Village school system leaving national lunch system, seeks to offering better, healthier food to students.
There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but Ridgewood officials are betting students will pay more for a better lunch. They're so confident, they're willing to leave the national school lunch program. According to Business Administrator Angelo DeSimone, revenue opportunities could be realized by leaving the federal program. By opting out of the program, revenue should be made up for with better options offered to students. The national lunch program came under fire from parents and students complaining the offerings were sparce and in many districts, wholly unappetizing. (This food is terrible, and the portions are so small!) The cafeteria program last year lost a total of $108,654 in 2011-2012, though roughly half of that figure came …
A Wednesday night dinner will give parents a sampling of nutritious school lunch options, with the proceeds going to the Kelly Creegan Foundation.
A Franklin Lakes bar will host a dinner benefiting the Kelly Creegan Foundation, a charity memorializing a six-year-old girl who died tragically in a driveway car accident in 2011. No Fuss Lunches, a Hawthorne based company comprised of 25 parents that sells and delivers alternative, nutritious meals to school children at nine schools Ridgewood, Glen Rock, and Midland Park, will provide the food. “I think the reason we’ve expanded so quickly is that in a way we’re surrogate moms,” said co-founder Gabriella Wilday, explaining that the company, consisting of local parents providing home-cooked school lunches, has gone from seven to over 200 hundred daily lunches in the seven months since its founding. No Fuss will hold a tasting of its lunch…
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Middle school student's father had appealed the district's finding of bullying, which concluded the boy had called a classmate "fat" and "a horse" on multiple occasions, The Star-Ledger reports.
An administrative law judge on Tuesday rejected an appeal brought by a Ridgewood boy and his father, ruling that the boy had bullied a girl at B.F. Middle School and meant to "insult and demean her," The Star-Ledger reported. "A reasonable person should know that repeatedly calling a teenage girl ‘fat’ or ‘fat a**’ would have the effect of emotionally harming her," Judge Jeffrey Gerson wrote, according to The Star-Ledger. The Ridgewood school district found the boy culpable under the new Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, passed into law two years ago. His father had appealed the ruling and sought to have it stricken from his son's file, the Star-Ledger reported. The boy admitted calling the girl "horse," but denied calling her other names, the…
Traffic jams all over Midland Park, Wyckoff as a result of downed wires.
Power lines fell on Goffle Road Tuesday afternoon, causing power outages and creating massive traffic jams in the area. Police closed Goffle Road from Wyckoff Avenue to Ravine Avenue while PSE&G works to restore the power. The Ridgewood Fire Department also responded. Residents in the Wyckoff area reported brief power outages at around 2:45 p.m. The four-way traffic light at Godwin Avenue was down at around 3:30 p.m. Two yellow school buses were parked end-to-end at Godwin and Goffle to prevent traffic from using Goffle Road. Traffic was moving sluggishly around Wyckoff's Coolidge School area as a result. No injuries were reported when the primary wires fell.
RdgwdGRock
10:06 am on Friday, May 24, 2013
some duct tape and paint touch-up and those cars will be as good as new more ›