Free Republic

With the arrest of a second Lodi resident, the Bergen County Prosecutors Office (BCPO) says that it has resolved all the executed and planned attacks on area synagogues that took place in December and January.Nineteen-year-old Aakash Dalal was arraigned on Monday as co-conspirator in the most dangerous attacks, in which firebombs were thrown into the rabbi’s residence at Congregation Beth El in Rutherford. According to Prosecutor John Molinelli, who announced the arrest at an afternoon press conference on Friday, March 2, Dalal has been friends since middle school with Anthony M. Graziano, who was arrested in January and charged with...

Federal Appeals Court Judge Michael Chertoff’s ties to the financiers of the Sept. 11 attacks may prevent his confirmation as Homeland Security Chief. According to a June 20, 2000 article in the The Record of Bergen County, New Jersey, Chertoff defended accused terrorist financier Dr. Magdy Elamir. Elamir’s HMO was sued by the State of New Jersey to recoup $16.7 million in losses. At least $5.7 million went “to unknown parties... by means of wire transfers to bank accounts where the beneficial owner of the account is unknown,” according to the article. Foreign intelligence reports given to then chairman of...

If there ever was a sign that we've had more than enough snow this winter, here it is. Bergen County, New Jersey administrators found themselves in quite a pickle this winter. With their plowing budget quickly running dry, they've come up with a juicy solution. Bergen County is just across the Hudson from New York – and despite being among the wealthiest counties in the nation, this winter has busted their budget for snow removal. Road salt comes at a hefty premium, and being only halfway through winter, they've invested in a new, and much cheaper, snow melter: pickle juice

The First Presbyterian Church of Rutherford has partnered with the Interfaith Dialog Center (IDC) of New Jersey to present a unique educational opportunity for the community to read the Qur'an in an environment designed to promote respect and mutual understanding of all faiths and cultures. Participants will read the Qur'an from cover to cover over a period of 10 weeks and are invited and encouraged to attend weekly one-hour discussions led by IDC experts on the assigned surahs (or chapters). The sessions are designed to review the week's readings, explore similarities and differences with the Bible and foster meaningful discussion....

Glen Rock High School world language teacher Alphonse Dattolo has a soft spot for underdogs. Consider the evidence: he was a devoted Phillies fan long before they shed their ignoble title as the "losingest team"; his favorite novel is "Don Quixote" - a story teeming with characters challenging the odds; and his favorite movie is "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" - a tale of a poor girl holding fast to her dream of getting a good education. It may be this soft spot that keeps him coming to school day after day ... after day ... for a total of...

A federal prosecutor blasted Fairview’s police chief for going to bat for a Cliffside Park man who was sentenced Monday to 51 months in prison for keeping a small arsenal of illegal firearms, including a silencer-equipped 22-caliber pistol, in his home.   Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa M. Colone told U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway that he should not consider Chief John Pinzone’s letter in support of leniency for Giovanni DeMaio, because the chief neglected to mention he is dating the defendant’s daughter.While the judge received more than 90 letters similar to Pinzone’s, attesting to DeMaio’s kindness and charitable endeavors in...

WABC TV in New York carried a story about one of Jon Corzine's close aides ( I missed the name) being arrested. He was stopped for talking on cell phone and the police found 15 viles of drugs. Anyone know anything more. Of course this is being smothered. This is not even on WABC TV's web site hmmmmmmmmmm

ENGLEWOOD, N.J. (Aug. 24) — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi will set foot on U.S. soil for the first time next month when he comes to address the U.N. General Assembly. Now he wants to put down stakes in the middle of American suburbia.

RIVER EDGE — A borough resident is on a mission to get saint status for a beloved Detroit priest, who he believes answered prayers to heal his son's cancer.           Ryan Blute holding photo of the Rev. Solanus Casey, whom he prayed to for a cancer cure. Kevin Blute hopes the Vatican will make the Rev. Solanus Casey the first male saint born in the U.S., and     suggested a friend's prayer group name itself after the friar. Blute's teenage son, Ryan, was diagnosed with melanoma in 2007 and has since recovered.  "I feel like I'm in gratitude to him big...

Newark's Roman Catholic archbishop is upset part of Bill Maher's movie was filmed at Bergen County parish. Maher set part of his documentary "Religulous," which mocks organized religion, in Our Lady of Mercy in Park Ridge. A spokesman for Archbishop John Myers said the parish priest was aware of a policy that prohibits any commercial filming in churches. But Jim Goodness said filmmakers told the Very Rev. Charles Grandstrand that Maher wanted to film his Jewish mother there because the church was such a big part of her life. Hi father was Catholic. Maher grew up in nearby River Vale....

ALPINE — The tavern’s visitors nodded in rhythm as a musician sang 19th-century songs, drinking hot cider and savoring bread and cheese.   At the Kearney House in Palisades Interstate Park in Alpine, Michael Giorgio, 6, listens to a timeless song from historian Thaddeus MacGregor. With a roaring hearth, songs and stories were grand entertainment before radio, TV and the Internet. A fire crackled in a hearth near the table, heating a kettle of water for cleaning dishes after the meal. A young woman in a dress served drinks, while the host — the floppy brim of his traditional slouch...

A Paramus middle school student was sent home Friday after he came to school dressed up as Jesus for Halloween. For a few hours, Alex Woinski was the messiah of West Brook Middle School, but like the real Jesus, Woinski was condemned, so to speak. "Sort of like a new remake of what supposedly happened," Woinski told CBS 2. Decked out in sandals, a robe, fake beard and thorns, the 13-year-old joined 500 other students at his school's Halloween celebration, and on this day, he was the chosen one - to go home. "It was offensive to some students," Woinski...

Two former managers at investment bank Bear Stearns have been arrested in New York over the collapse of the bank's hedge fund last year. Reports say Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin will face charges in connection with their management of hedge funds that collapsed in June 2007. The bank's hedge funds bet on the high-risk sub-prime mortgage market in the US before it collapsed. Authorities in Brooklyn are due to give details about the case later. FBI spokesman Jim Margolis told the BBC the men faced criminal charges of "securities fraud related to their management of two Bear Stearns hedge...

Seven ninth-graders at Pascack Valley High School have been suspended for the rest of the school year for distributing racy photos of middle school girls via cell phones and school-issued laptops. A student who saw the photos on a laptop tipped off a teacher, and the administration alerted Hillsdale police last week, district Superintendent Benedict Tantillo III said today. More than 20 girls who are now in ninth grade were in the photos, the superintendent said. Some pictures appeared to have been taken two or three years ago, and some of the subjects moved to private high school instead of...

Candid Camera: Clerk Whacks Robber With Mug Clerk Says He Was Worried About How He Might Look On VideoPOSTED: 10:17 am EST December 12, 2007 ELMWOOD PARK, N.J. -- When a thief started taking cash from his register over the weekend, Dunkin' Donuts employee Dustin Hoffmann fought back by clobbering the man with a ceramic mug. Caught On Tape: Clerk Fights Robber With Cup But Hoffmann admits he was less worried about the stolen cash than how he might look on the video-sharing site YouTube. "What was going through my mind at that point was that the security tape is...

Real estate mogul Donald Trump said Wednesday he has signed a deal to take over the Meadowlands EnCap golf and housing project, bailing out the struggling development. Trump promised a “spectacular” project that would be “the finest of its kind anywhere in the world.” “I’m a miracle worker,” Trump said. Trump's talks with a bank syndicate connected to the project were first reported in Wednesday’s editions of The Record. The deal, described as a “binding term sheet,” is subject to approval by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. It calls for a luxury golf course and a combination of housing, office,...

MAHWAH, N.J. (CBS) ― Bergen County parents are floored by a new school lunch policy. Their children were forced to eat their lunch on the floor. Mahwah School Superintendent Charles Montesano won't let CBS 2 HD in his high school, specifically anywhere near the floors inside. Yet, that's exactly where students have been eating their lunch. That's right. Nearly 1,000 students attend classes at Mahwah High School daily, and at lunchtime, a good majority of them are on the floor, as seen in pictures obtained exclusively by CBS 2 HD. (snip) Renowned microbiologist Dr. Philip Tierno warns 80 percent of...

Peter Caporino stood in a Jersey City courtroom last week in a green prison jumpsuit and blue slippers, with his hands cuffed behind his back. He held his head high but looked tired. "Mr. Caporino, are you thinking clearly today?" Superior Court Judge Peter Vazquez asked him. "Yes," Caporino replied, nodding. The exchange began the final ironic twist in the strange, sorry tale of "Petey Cap," one of the better-known and well-liked mobsters to grace or -- depending on your view -- plague North Jersey. Caporino was the Hasbrouck Heights wiseguy who traded four decades of service in the mob...

A teenager in New Jersey has broken the lock that ties Apple's iPhone to AT&T's wireless network, freeing the most hyped cell phone ever for use on the networks of other carriers, including overseas ones. George Hotz, 17, confirmed Friday that he had unlocked an iPhone and was using it on T-Mobile's network, the only major U.S. carrier apart from AT&T that is compatible with the iPhone's cellular technology. While the possibility of switching from AT&T to T-Mobile may not be a major development for U.S. consumers, it opens up the iPhone for use on the networks of overseas carriers....

Bergen County Jail inmates who want to brush up on their legal defense can do so now from their cells, a move that officials say is a first nationwide.  Jail officials have begun rolling out the first batch of 80 laptops – each about the size and heft of a large hardcover novel – to some of the 1,000 inmates who occupy the near-capacity lockup. About $100,000 has been spent so far from an account funded by profits from items purchased from inmates, such as toothpaste and candy bars, to buy the $1,200 notebooks and install the necessary wireless...

After interviewing pupils and staff members who were in a classroom on Wednesday at Union School where an 11-year-old was displaying a penknife, police investigators have concluded that the pupil did not threaten anyone or pose a safety threat to others, Chief Steven J. Nienstedt said Friday. "The investigation reveals that the pupil did not threaten anyone," Nienstedt said. "The pupil possessed the knife in school, which is not a violation of law under these circumstances. However, it is a violation of school policy, and the school authorities are addressing that accordingly." Because the pupil was a minor, authorities withheld...

The president of a public high school's Christian Club is suing for the right to hold an event at the school to air his anti-homosexuality views. Jason Aufiero, a senior at Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale, wants to hold a "Day of Truth" next week to present what he considers the biblical teaching against homosexuality. His lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Newark, is backed by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian legal group. Evangelical Christians have begun staging Day of Truth events in response to the national "Day of Silence" that some districts hold...

The ex-principal of Teaneck High School, already facing charges that he engaged in sexual conduct and conversation with a student, may face more charges if questionable photos on his computer are child pornography, authorities said. Joseph White, 61, has been charged with official misconduct and endangering the welfare. The charges stem from accusations that he had sexually explicit conversations in May and June of 2006 with a 17-year-old boy in his office, including one incident where White is alleged to have asked the boy to expose himself and to take his pants off in return for a recommendation. In the...

Calling him "a cold-blooded wiseass," a judge sentenced a 22-year-old man to life in prison Friday for murdering a Hackensack man over a $30 drug deal. "You shot him in front of his wife," Superior Court Judge Donald R. Venezia told Akeem Fleming. "And you walked away smugly. You didn't care." Fleming was 17 when Anthony Settipane, a house painter, went to Central Avenue in Hackensack with his wife to buy drugs on Dec. 10, 2001. A jury in Superior Court in Hackensack found that Fleming took $30 from Settipane and walked away without delivering the drugs. When the Settipanes...

The mayor of a small Bergen County, New Jersey town is calling for a McDonald's boycott if the fast-food chain does not take down a Spanish-language billboard.... Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan said the advertisement is "offensive" and "divisive"......"The true things that bind us together as neighbors and community is our belief in the American flag and our common language," Lonegan said. "And when McDonald's sends a different message, that we're going to be different now, that causes resentment." Representatives for McDonald's and CBS Outdoor in New York, the company that owns the billboard on River Road in Bogota, defended the...

MAHWAH -- Two white watering cans and a yellow broom dangle above the porch of a stone and shingle house perched atop North Hillside Avenue. Just below, empty flower pots and plastic chairs and tables clutter the entryway. "No trespassing" and "Beware of dog" signs line the sloping property. The more-than-100-year-old house has been home to Samantha Moor for 10 years. Its sloppy condition is the reason she nearly spent the night in jail. Moor, in her late 40s, was arrested Tuesday morning and sent to the Bergen County Jail for failing to pay $4,921 in fines issued by Mahwah...

Did anyone hear Rose from NJ on Rush today? She was incredible!!! Rush said that she could quite possibly be the caller of the year!

This spring, a forgotten battle will be remembered. It happened in Fort Lee 225 years ago, in the final years of the Revolutionary War. On one side: some 300 Bergen County militiamen, loyal to the rebel cause. On the other: 200 Americans still loyal to King George. Behind the clash was a desperate shortage of firewood in British-controlled New York City after the harsh winters of 1779 and 1780. What is today Bergen County offered a plentiful supply of wood, and Britain's Loyal Refugee Volunteers wanted it. The skirmishes between the two sides in May 1781 came to be known...

A Salvadoran man wanted for a 2001 murder in his homeland was arrested in an upscale Midland Park neighborhood early Thursday where he was working as a landscaper, authorities said. Rene Hugo Mejia Juarez, 25, illegally crossed the Mexican border into the United States in 2001, shortly after he and an accomplice allegedly murdered a man on a riverbank in Canton El Sauce, El Salvador, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Mejia was living in a rental house in Midland Park with three other illegal immigrants when agents from ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service, along with local police, raided...

MAHWAH - The hill was steep, rocky and muddy. And members of Boy Scout Troop 334 of Montvale on Saturday had to figure out how they would guide their 100-pound-plus homemade sled down the slope to a paved road. They tied rope around their waists, they pulled hard, but a series of rocks and logs didn't make their challenge any easier. Instead, it caused one of the sled's skis to snap. "These old skis couldn't take the stress," said Anthony Dobbs, 14. After about 15 minutes of trudging through water, mud and fallen trees, the team emerged, wet and tired,...

Zen master tells curious to embrace a new faithRIDGEWOOD - The two-hour lecture at the Old Paramus Church Education Center began with several minutes of silent meditation.  And for many who attended, participating in meditation was a first step in understanding the basic teachings of Buddhism and Eastern philosophy.  "All attempts at mutual education are important to help us grow," said Robert Kennedy, the noted Jesuit priest and Zen master. "It widens our vision."Kennedy Roshi, as he is known to Buddhists, was the key speaker at Saturday's event, which was attended by more than 100 people of varied faiths. It...

The fear of lawsuits from the American Civil Liberties Union has driven 216 Boy Scout, Cub Scout and related troops across the state - including 35 in North Jersey - to sever their charters with public institutions. Many of them, including Troop 124 in Northvale, have enjoyed a long friendship with municipalities that have sponsored the Scouts, provided them with funding and offered a comfortable meeting space. But an ACLU threat has sent troops scrambling for new sponsors. The Boy Scouts of America issued a directive last April for all troops to transfer their sponsorship by the end of the...

It's a match made in heaven: Jessica Sunshine and comet Tempel 1. The geologist, a Tenafly native with an asteroid named after her, never expected to meet this kind of celestial body. But talent and dumb luck landed her on NASA's Deep Impact mission that might reveal the building blocks of the universe. The $333 million project involves an impactor, fired from a mother ship, hurtling at 23,000 mph and crashing smack dab into the comet a little before 2 a.m. on Monday, creating a massive crater up to 14 stories deep. Through a telescope, the cosmic union won't look...

A Bergen County, NJ, priest will be delivering a sermon on compassion three days in a row next week, but he won't be speaking from a pulpit. Believing actions often speak louder than words, the Rev. Peter Wehrle will be cycling from Perryville, Md., to New York City from Friday, Sept. 10, through Sunday, Sept. 12, to raise funds for people suffering from HIV/AIDS.Also taking part in the 265-mile fundraiser, Braking the Cycle will be a Montclair cyclist who manages a brewery in New York and a former Cliftonite who serves as a corporate tax accountant.Proceeds of the event will...

Lawyer's love of labor Richard Loccke laughs sheepishly when he's told what other lawyers say about his demeanor at the bargaining table. "I've never intimidated anybody," he says in his standard baritone. "I've never exploited anyone." As a labor lawyer who has thrived in the rough-and-tumble backrooms of collective bargaining for more than 30 years, Loccke knows full well what he brings to negotiations. His tenacious bargaining skills, mastery of the state's arbitration laws and vast client list have had an enormous impact on police salaries and municipal budgets, his friends, clients and critics say. "Rich is the best police...

White picket warfare Friday, August 19, 2005 TARIQ ZEHAWI / THE RECORDHayden Mobbs, 5, rounding the bases in his Ramsey yard. Officials say the family's fence is too high and too close to the street. Cars, cement mixers and landscaping trucks thunder by Hayden Mobbs as he whacks a baseball and scurries around the bases - kept safe from the traffic by a white picket fence that borders the front yard of his Ramsey home.The 5-year-old is oblivious to his parents' $6,000 headache - the very same fence that protects Hayden and his 3-year-old brother Ian from running absent-mindedly into...

The achievement gap between minority and white students has long been a stain on the bright mosaic of culturally and racially diverse school districts.From North Jersey to Cleveland to San Diego, whites as a group generally score considerably better on standardized tests than their minority peers. Whites also tend to enroll in more honors classes, while minorities are more prevalent in remedial courses.Now, one Bergen County district is introducing a sweeping concept that it hopes will bridge its gap by addressing a wide range of possible roadblocks to academic success.The initiative includes dozens of ideas. Some are in the talking...

A 16-year-old girl who had been missing since Saturday was found stabbed to death and dismembered — and police say her killer lived right next door. Jonathan Zarate, 18, appeared Monday in Morris County Court to face charges of murder, weapons offenses, and hindering apprehension in the slaying of Jennifer Parks. Zarate lived next door to Parks in their Randolph, N.J., neighborhood, and prosecutors say the 16-year-old victim left her house early Saturday morning to watch TV with Zarate. But then, authorities said, the two became embroiled in an argument that led to Parks' gruesome killing.

...The reactor type used at Chernobyl was inherently unsafe — it has never been used in this country and never will. Above all else, it lacked a containment structure, designed to contain radiation should everything else fail. The only other meltdown in history came at Three Mile Island — whose containment dome completely contained all the radiation released by the meltdown. Radioactive gases were then control-released into the atmosphere over the course of a week. Sounds scary? Had you been standing at the perimeter fence at TMI during this period, you would have received about the same radiological dose as...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Amanda Zkiab visits The Citadel Mall four or five times a week, but the 25-year-old isn't there to scour the sale racks, stuff herself with food-court goodies or cruise for a date. Zkiab bypasses the shops and goes straight to the Catholic Center, which offers Mass, confession and spiritual guidance in a place where people normally worship couture and pray they haven't reached their credit limit. Even the rosaries are free. "It's so convenient, there's no excuse," Zkiab said one afternoon after Mass. "When I'm done, it's like, 'Oh, I can shop.'" What started as an...

A remake of the old TV show "Bewitched" will be in theaters Friday, a Hollywood version of that lovable sitcom from the '60s and '70s, where Elizabeth Montgomery's Samantha cast spells and twitched her nose to get her husband, Darren, out of jams. Ever wonder if witches really exist? Ever wonder if one lives next door? Pearl Essence and Syren Star are two suburban witches who have come out of the broom closet. A year ago, the pair started Gypsy Wagon, a pagan-friendly online group. "We do not worship any sort of god or goddess, we focus on the elemental...

Father Paul Sretenovic, a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, who was ordained to the priesthood in 2002, has abandoned the Novus Ordo in order to embrace Catholic Tradition without compromise. Father Sretenovic (pronounced Stre-ten-o-vich) informed his ordinary, the Most Reverend John Myers, the Archbishop of Newark, of his decision in a letter mailed to his Excellency’s home address on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Wednesday, December 28, 2004: “Your Excellency: I am writing to inform you of my decision to leave the Archdiocese of Newark. It is a decision that is eighteen months in the making,...

breaking on msnbc

LODI, N.J. -- Public schools in this Bergen County community of 24,000 canceled classes for Thursday after more than two dozen youngsters were taken to the hospital with a mysterious skin rash. The outbreak was discovered Wednesday afternoon among youngsters and adults attending an after-school program at the Boys and Girls Club of Lodi. Twenty-nine people were taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where they were released after being evaluated and taking showers, said hospital spokeswoman Ann Marie Campbell. "There have been no severe reactions or respiratory problems of any kind," Campbell said. State and local health officials could not...

SADDLE RIVER, N.J. - The wife of hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons faces drug and motor vehicle charges after police said she was driving erratically and ignored the flashing lights of a cruiser for nearly two miles. Kimora Lee Simmons was arrested just after midnight Monday outside the couple's estate in Saddle River, according to published reports. Saddle River police and a spokeswoman for Ms. Simmons did not immediately return messages left Thursday. Simmons, 29, was charged with eluding an officer, possessing marijuana, careless driving and operating a vehicle while possessing a drug. The former model, who helps design clothes for...

Either click here or hit the link in the thread's header but the basic story is that in northwest New Jersey, the Democrat's guy running for state senate TWICE won the "Pretty Penis" contest at an East Village gay bar. I'm thinking, Stand Up For Morrison is a good starting suggestion. He could run with Gore under the slogan, "Stiff and Stiffer", a take off on "Dumb and Dumber".

Fair Lawn officer killed in shootout     Play the video (04/18/03) BERGEN - A manhunt involving numerous law enforcement agencies was launched on Thursday night after a shootout in Bergen County ended with one police officer dead and another wounded.Fair Lawn Police Officer Maryann Collura was helping a Clifton officer who was involved in a car chase on Thursday night. The Clifton officer was chasing a red sports car that was eventually stopped on a church's front lawn.Authorities say when the officers tried to arrest the people in the car, at least one of the suspects and the Clifton...

(1010 WINS) (Hackensack) -- Bergen County school officials are apologizing to the parents of special education students. That's because the students names and addresses were inadvertently given to the campaign of County Executive-elect Dennis McNerney a few days before the November fifth election.Deputy Superintendent Leonard Margolis says a secretary mistakenly provided the information when a McNerney staff member asked for the names of students in the county's technical school district. State and federal laws prohibits the release of information regarding special education students without their parents consent. Some parents and Republican officials have called for an investigation into the matter...

PoliticsNJ.com  Updated on 06/12/02 12:01 AM Sheehan, declaring Marshal Law in Bergen, cancels election... The reorganization meeting of the Bergen County Republican Organization was abruptly cancelled tonight when a group of Republicans led by State Sen. Gerald Cardinale surprised GOP County Committee members b nominating Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan for County Chairman.  Sources say that the incumbent, James Sheehan, may not have had the votes to win and decided he'd be better off postponing the election until next Tuesday.  Sheehan said that he wanted to set up election machines.Cardinale reportedly blames Sheehan for his defeat at the Bergen GOP convention...