Monday, March 18, 2013
The bill creates more severe punishment for child porn possession and distribution.
- PUBLIC SAFETY
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Monday, March 18
The State Senate passed a bill designed to prevent child porn Monday. The legislation, which still requires approval from the State Assembly, would widen the definition of child porn to cover all victims under the age of 18 and create more severe penalties for possession and distribution with mandatory prison sentences, according to a release from Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R-Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic), the bill's primary sponsor. It would also make file sharing on peer-to-peer networks count as distribution instead of possession, impose lifelong parole for convicted offenders and prevent a possession conviction from being expunged from an offender’s record. “This legislature has the duty to pass one of the most important initiatives in …
Thursday, March 14, 2013
County Executive Kathleen Donovan stressed the importance of the county working with municipalities to share costs in her state of the county address Thursday.
County Executive Kathleen Donovan outlined her vision to cut spending by pushing for greater cooperation between county and municipal government Thursday in her state of the county address. From exploring cooperative electric and gas purchases to sharing county police services, Donovan touted her administration's record of working with local government to trim costs at both levels. "In 2013, I want Bergen County to be the laboratory for innovation in partnerships with local municipalities to deliver essential services for less money," she said, declaring a "new era of intergovernmental cooperation." Donovan's primary shared service pitch involved encouraging more towns to consolidate emergency dispatch services and embrace use of the …
Monday, March 11, 2013
Sen. Kevin O'Toole: “New Jersey’s child pornography laws must better protect children and capture more predators.”
- PUBLIC SAFETY
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Monday, March 11
A bill crafted to deter child pornography and prevent repeat incidents is headed to the New Jersey Senate after its passage Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bipartisan legislation provides law enforcement and prosecutors to charge per offense, seek mandatory jail terms and makes it easier to charge and convict for possession and distribution by establishing the use of child pornography file-sharing programs as a second-degree crime, according to a release from the bill's primary sponsor, Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R-Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic.) “There is a rapid proliferation of child pornography especially online, and so New Jersey’s child pornography laws must better protect children and capture more predators,” O’Toole said…
Hundreds from across the area gathered in Bergenfield for Bergen County's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.
The weather was picture perfect for Sunday's St. Patrick's Day Parade in Bergenfield. Hundreds came out to enjoy the bands, the pipes, the dancers and all who marched in the parade. Have your own picture you want to share? Upload it to the gallery. Have a question or news tip for Wyckoff-Franklin Lakes Patch? Contact editor Joseph M. Gerace at Joseph.Gerace@patch.com, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox every morning, sign up for our daily newsletter.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Here are the top headlines from around Bergen County, brought to you by the Patch editors who know those towns best.
Mother, son and friends have sold a “significant” amount of marijuana to township minors, police say. Police became concerned about the mental status of a man parked near a middle school Monday afternoon in Ridgewood. A Fair Lawn High School graduate who now lives in Garfield was arrested Wednesday on charges he impersonated a police officer to force sex on a woman in a Fairfield hotel, police said. A neighbor aided a mother and her young children after a house fire injured five people. County officials will hold a gun buybacks in April funded by seized assets at locations across Bergen County, the sheriff's office announced Thursday.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Here are the top headlines from around Bergen County, brought to you by the Patch editors who know those towns best.
A Glen Rock resident and business owner molested a toddler in his home over the course of a year, prosecutors alleged Friday. A Glen Rock hedge fund manager pleaded guilty to charges he defrauded investors — including a disabled, elderly woman — out of more than $4 million while he took lavish vacations, dropped thousands at chic nightclubs and purchased luxury cars. Anthony Graziano, of Lodi, and Aakash Dalal, of New Brunswick, remain in Bergen County Jail since they were first charged in connection with a series of arson and bias attacks at a number of Bergen County synagogues. Robert Schroeder would have to forfeit his seat in the New Jersey State Assembly and pay back nearly $5 million as a condition of the deal. In a televised battle …
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Morris and Essex could feel the largest impact of spending cuts.
- GOVERNMENT
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Thursday, February 28
More than 13,000 federal employees in North Jersey could be affected if the sequestration cuts go into effect after Friday's deadline. The numbers above show the federal employees by county in New Jersey in 2012, according to the latest figures from Eye on Washington, a DC-based lobbying firm that tracks federal employment. It compiles the data from the Office of Personnel Management, Federal Employment Statistics and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (U.S. Postal Service Employees are excluded in this count. The USPS receives no tax dollars in its operations and would not be affected by the sequestration cuts.) Essex County residents could potentially feel the greatest impact, as it has the largest share of federal employees in New Jersey …
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Fourteen pedestrians were killed across the county in 2011.
- PUBLIC SAFETY
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Wednesday, February 27
Fourteen pedestrians were killed on Bergen County roadways in 2011, according to a new report issued by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. In Bergen County, Route 17 and Essex Street in Hackensack were ranked as "most dangerous" by the campaign. Route 17 saw one pedestrian death each year from 2009 to 2011. Three pedestrians were killed on Essex Street in 2011, the report said. The 14 pedestrians killed on Bergen roads in 2011 was a slight decline from 15 deaths in 2010, according to the study. "The analysis found that arterial roads – roads with two or more lanes in each direction that are designed to accommodate vehicle speeds of 40 mph or higher – are the most deadly for pedestrians, with almost 60 percent of pedestrian deaths in …
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Here are the top headlines from around Bergen County, brought to you by the Patch editors who know those towns best.
- NEWS
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Saturday, February 23
A traffic stop on the Palisades Interstate Parkway Thursday led police to the arrest of a gang member with 100 bags of heroin concealed in his anus, authorities said. A former Fairleigh Dickinson University professor linked to a neo-Nazi group has filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging he and his wife were victims of police brutality during a 2011 raid of his Ridgewood apartment. Mason DiGiulio, who was born last month at only 25 weeks old, died last week. He was one month old. Valley Hospital is expected to return to the Ridgewood Planning Board with a new expansion proposal in March after the settlement of a lawsuit a neighborhood opposition group filed against the board and hospital. A man who was arrested by a team of police from four…
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Hackensack event to feature two keynote speakers
- GOVERNMENT
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Thursday, February 21
The county's annual Black History Month Celebration is scheduled for Thursday at One Bergen Plaza in Hackensack, officials announced. The celebration will feature keynote addresses from Clinton Lacey and Arnold Brown. Lacey is a deputy commissioner with the New York City Department of Probation and will speak about the Emancipation Proclamation. Brown, a longtime community activist and noted historian, is the co-chair of the Martin Luther King Jr. Monument Committee and the county's African American Advisory Committee. He will address "The March on Washington: A Date with History." WABC-TV reporter Anthony Johnson will serve as master of ceremonies. The event is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Feb. 21 on the fifth floor of the county …
disgusted
9:55 pm on Monday, March 18, 2013
Kathleen and eastside dad the higher costs in your utility bills come from the cost of energy energy to produce the requisite form of energy and to get it to the consumer. There are alternative energy companies out there selling power cheaper than pseg if you dont like their rates move to another provider. Flagmen have been tried and failed severely if pseg could get away without hiring cops don'… more ›