Monday, December 17, 2012
U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg will ask Congress to approve a ban on ammunition magazines of more than 10 rounds. Do you agree with his proposed bill?
- GOVERNMENT
-
Monday, December 17, 2012
In the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, CT, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) announced plans to reintroduce high-capacity magazine ban legislation in the 113th Congress. Lautenberg’s bill, the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act, would prohibit the manufacture and sale of ammunition magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds. It also would ban ammunition magazines that could be readily converted to accept more than 10 rounds. “In light of yet another horrific shooting tragedy, it is clearer than ever that there is no place in our communities for deadly high-capacity gun magazines and I will keep working to pass my bill to reinstate the ban on them,” Lautenberg said in a statement. “If we don't pass a high-capacity …
Sunday, November 11, 2012
The new normal is hard to take
I knew even before I called my next door neighbor the news was probably bad. "How is it?" I asked. "You don't know?" he replied. My heart sank. We had fled our sweet little Bayville home near the Toms River at noon on Monday, the deadline for the mandatory evacuation order. We headed for my son and daughter-in-law's house in Toms River. A Bayville fireman knocked on our front door about 9 p.m the Friday night before Hurricane Sandy. He smiled, then stepped into our cozy living room lit with harvest lights. We had to sign a paper acknowledging that we understood if we stayed and got into trouble, no one would be able to help us at the height of the storm. And so began preparations for the exodus. I filled zippered plastic bags with water …
Monday, September 24, 2012
The latest data includes four years of pain, with income, insurance and job losses.
There was new evidence last week of the damage done by the recent recession. The U.S. Census Bureau released numerous new social, housing and economic estimates for larger geographic areas, including New Jersey's counties. And the results confirm the pain many are feeling. Median household income dropped again last year in Morris, Passaic, Somerset and Sussex counties. And it's been a steady decline in three of the four from 2008 to 2011. In Morris County, the typical household had $91,332 in income, down about $3,000 from 2010 and nearly 11 percent lower than the $102,147 median in 2008. Those changes are in real, inflation-adjusted dollars, so the impact is clear: Morris County households lost about $11,000 to save, invest and spend in …
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The Tea Party of Middlesex County was at Woodbridge's St. James Fair. They, and folks who reached out to them, had a lot to say.
As I stood in front of our Middlesex County Tea Party booth at Saturday’s St. James Street Fair handing out balloons, Constitutions, postcards about the candidates and fact sheets about the issues facing our nation, I was approached by a small, middle-aged man with a slight accent who asked me a simple question, “What is the Tea Party?” We chatted about the origins of the term Tea Party, about Sam Adams and the Boston colonists who protested tyrannical rule, “Taxation Without Representation” and how the T.E.A. initials came to mean “Taxed Enough Already.” He was surprised to see us there. He had read that the Tea Party was filled with hate-filled racists - domestic terrorists who wanted to bring down the government. “No,” I said, “we’re …
Friday, August 24, 2012
The writer contends that the flammability of materials used in new construction make fire sprinklers a necessity.
- OPINION
-
Friday, August 24, 2012
To the Editor, The United States is on the brink of a fire crisis. New lightweight construction methods and materials are making it harder and more dangerous for firefighters to safely extinguish blazes and for occupants to escape safely. It’s estimated that most homes built within the past 20 years contain these dangerous lightweight materials, which are designed to carry a greater load with less material by using prefabricated components. While these lightweight construction materials are touted as being more cost-effective and environmentally friendly, they also allow fires to spread much more rapidly, significantly reducing the time occupants have to escape a fire, and the time firefighters have to safely extinguish the blaze. In …
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Yet another great American dies from the dreaded disease. When will a cure be found?
- OPINION
-
Thursday, July 26, 2012
To the Editor: I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, who lost her 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. She had an inspiring, accomplished career and is an icon in our nation’s history. Tragically, for those who have been touched by pancreatic cancer, 17-months is an exception, as 74 percent of patients die within the first year of diagnosis. Perhaps what is worse is that pancreatic cancer is one of the few cancers for which the relative five year survival rate, of just six percent, has not improved substantially in over 40 years since the passage of the National Cancer Act. I lost my father to pancreatic cancer 10 years ago. As someone who regularly went for physicals, my …
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Fans of the comic hero turned out Friday to see the summer blockbuster on its opening day, but the tragedy in Colorado was still on the minds of some.
The tragedy in Colorado wasn't stopping Batman fans from checking out 'The Dark Knight Rises' at the AMC Dine-In Theatres at Menlo Park Mall Friday afternoon. Despite the frightening events at a midnight screening in Aurora, Colorado - where a gunman opened fire in a crowded theater, killing twelve moviegoers and injuring scores more - fans of the Caped Crusaider had little concern about seeing the movie. "None at all," said one woman when asked about whether the incident in Colorado worried her when heading out to the theater today. "Crazy things are always happening out there," she added before dashing through the rain to her car. About half of those queried were unaware of the massacre at the movie screening late last night. “Yeah, it…
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Housing advocates and municipalities try to prevent the state from taking their funds.
The battle between the Christie administration and the Fair Share Housing Center continues. This time, the two sides are going to court Friday over as much as $200 million in local affordable housing trust funds. So far, the Appellate Division of Superior Court has been kind to the Cherry Hill-based housing advocates, but this case could be a different story. To help balance the budget, Gov. Chris Christie recommended the state use the trust fund money. The administration appears to be within its legal right to do so, as the law creating the funds—and the developer fees that municipalities levy to subsidize them—specified municipalities had to “commit to spend” the money within four years. The clock strikes midnight on July 17. But as …
Thursday, June 28, 2012
In a complicated decision, the justices upheld most of the health care reform legislation popularly known as Obamacare.
- OPINION
-
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Do you agree with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Thursday upholding most of President Obama's signature health care reform legislation? By a 5-4 vote, the justices upheld most of the act, although the opinion is a complicated one. The court upheld the requirement that every American purchase health insurance or else pay a penalty, as a tax decision and upheld it on those grounds, in an opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts. "Our precedent demonstrates that Congress has the power to impose the exaction in Section 5000 under the taxing power, and that Section 5000 need not be read to do more than impose a tax," Roberts wrote in one of the key sentences from the opinion. Click here to read the full text of the opinion. Vote in our …
Monday, June 18, 2012
Swedish researchers say teens who use cell phones and computers the most suffer from depression. What do you think?
The more teens use cell phones and computers, the more likely they are to suffer from depression. So say a group of Swedish researchers who came out with a study they say demonstrates a link between these electronic gizmos and depression in young people. Sara Thomée from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg oversaw a study that gave questionnaires to 4,100 young adults from ages 20 to 24. The team also interviewed 32 heavy users of information and communication technology. They determined that the 'extreme use of cell phones and computers' may be linked to stress, sleep disorders and depressive symptoms. They say that there were problems with insomnia and concentration in heavy users of the technology. What do you think…
Devilsfan
10:52 pm on Monday, December 17, 2012
And I'm Santa Claus more ›