Monday, February 25, 2013
100 days until GOP primary election
The June 4 primary election is 100 days away. We now have two announced Republican mayor-council tickets, so Patch thought this an excellent time to take a snapshot of where the electorate's mind is now. The first ticket to announce was that of current Councilman Paul Carifi Jr., who threw his hat in the ring and later was joined on a slate by Township Council candidates Robert J. Peluso and Dr. Louis Valori. Together, the three say they will provide leadership with a plan. Late last week, Mayor James Barberio made his re-election run official, announcing his theme of "Moving Parsippany Forward," and his running mates, present Council Vice President Vincent Ferrara and challenger Milin Shah. Keeping in mind that a lot can happen in three …
Friday, February 22, 2013
Patch wants to know your thoughts.
This is the equivalent of Super Bowl weekend for cinephiles. It's Academy Awards weekend. This weekend, some will scramble to catch the nominated films and performances so far missed. Others will prepare to host—or dress to the nines for—an Oscar party. And many will spar with friends and loved ones over which nominees they think will walk away Sunday night with the golden man: Will it be Anne Hathaway or Sally Field? Jennifer Lawrence or Quvenzhané Wallis? Christoph Waltz or Robert DeNiro? Adele or Claude-Michel Schönberg? The one thing we suspect most people can agree on—other than that Daniel Day Lewis is a lock—is that "Argo" director Ben Affleck was robbed. So, before you move on to your pre-Oscar activities—we know, our stylist is …
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
The U.S. Postal Service announced it will end Saturday mail delivery by Aug. 1. How will it affect you?
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Wednesday, February 6
Calling the six-days-per-week mail delivery business model “no longer sustainable,” the U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday it will eliminate Saturday delivery of mail by Aug. 1. The plan to change delivery from six days a week to five would only affect first-class mail. Packages, mail-order medicines, priority and express mail would still be delivered on Saturdays, and local post offices will remain open for business Saturdays. According to the U.S. Postal Service, the reasons are continued economic struggles and the increasing use of the Internet for communications and bill paying by consumers. The U.S. Postal Service is also the only federal agency required to pre-fund health benefits for retirees, and those costs are escalating …
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Patch wants to know your thoughts on this year's big game.
The National Football League season comes to its official close for the 2012-13 season with what many call the biggest day of the yearSuper Bowl Sunday. The contest features the Purple Birds of Mobtown, aka, the Baltimore Ravens (home team of the editor) taking on the stallions of the Golden Gate City, the San Francisco 49ers. Oddsmakers give the edge to the Bay Area team. As of late Friday, bettors were giving the 49ers a 3.5 point advantage. While many are focusing on the rivalry between brothers John and Jim Harbaugh, the respective head coaches for Baltimore and San Francisco, others are giving attention to the controversy over retiring Raven Ray Lewis, who's been accused of using performance enhancing drugs. Will that become a …
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Patch wants to know your opinion.
The proposal before the Parsippany Planning Board to change the zoning of 26.6 acres of Waterview Plaza to allow a mixed-use development including retailers (among them Whole Foods Market) and a townhouse community has elicited strong reactions from the township. Some residents are all for the plan, citing the need for a natural foods grocer and for any food retailer at all in northwest Parsippany. And many oppose the plan, citing environmental, traffic and quality of life issues. We'll survey our readers on that question on another day. What interests us today is how Parsippany feels about other municipalities getting involved in the matter. On Monday, the Mountain Lakes Borough Council heard a report from its Environmental Commission …
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Patch wants to know what you think on this timely issue.
On Monday, the Boy Scouts of America took a dramatic step. Just seven months after reaffirming its long-standing policy to exclude gay men and boys from participation in the organization, the group is re-thinking the rule. Fox News reported that the organization is considering giving individual Scout groups, many of them backed by churches and civic organizations, the power to decide whether to continue to ban gays or to allow them to become members. The move comes in the face of an increasingly tolerant society: A growing number of U.S. parents are keeping or pulling their sons out of a group they see as discriminatory. Public schools and entities with nondiscrimination policies have pulled support for the 113-year-old organization. There…
Monday, January 28, 2013
Governor announced Monday his plan to increase minimum wage by $1 over three years.
After vetoing a Democratic Party-backed minimum wage bill Monday, Gov. Chris Christie announced his own plan to increase the state’s minimum wage by $1 over three years while restoring a 5 percent cut he made in 2011 to the state's Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor. Christie's plan is an alternative to the Democratic minimum-wage measure that would have raised the state’s minimum wage by $1.25 to $8.50 per hour in one fell swoop. The blue approach also would have linked automatic yearly increases to the Consumer Price Index, an idea the governor rejected. Senate President Steve Sweeney has said that in the event of a Christie veto, Democrats would try to pass a constitutional amendment. The governor's plan amounts to a smaller…
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Parity between the genders in warfare is coming to the U.S. military.
According to senior U.S. Department of Defense officials in Washington D.C., Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is lifting the 1994 ban on allowing women to serve in combat. The move, announced Wednesday, covers allowing female soldiers to serve in ground combat units and even in elite commando squads. This is great news for those advocating equality in the nation's armed forces, but not so much for those who believe in traditional gender roles. Which got Patch thinking: Parsippany is a mix of old-school beliefs and modern memes. Women serve in important roles in area businesses and at Town Hall. Yet the township still holds the distinction of having the only New Jersey Sons of Italy chapter that bars women from membership. So what do you think, …
Monday, January 21, 2013
The 44th President of the United States speaks to the nation on the holiday celebrating the slain civil rights leader's birth.
Parsippany kids will be in school Monday to make up for a day lost to Superstorm Sandy, but make no mistake: It is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday. And the red letter day coincides with another historic occasion: the second inauguration of someone many say embodies the civil rights leader's famous dream, President Barack Obama. As we move into the president's second and final term in office, are you feeling hopeful for the nation? Or are you an Obama opponent who envisions a bumpy four years? Parsippany Patch wants to know what you think: Please take the poll! And in the comment, please tell us which issues are the most vital in your opinion.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Patch wants to know what Parsippany residents feel about the contentious issue surrounding public safety and Second Amendment rights.
President Barack Obama launched a major national gun-control effort Wednesday, instituting a number of executive orders and a call for the U.S. Congress to approve an assault weapons ban, the prohibition of magazines that hold more than 10 bullets and background checks for all gun buyers. The president also agreed with the National Rifle Association's call for increasing the number of armed guards in schools. The move comes as a reaction to prevent mass shootings like the recent school shooting in Newtown, Conn., in which an allegedly mentally ill man killed 20 first graders and six staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Of course, there is opposition to the president's ideas. The NRA said that as the nation considers how to protect …
Alexis Betancourt
2:44 pm on Sunday, March 24, 2013
you just got one Nelson and I am voting Democrats. more ›