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IT major <keyword id="28721" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cognizant">Cognizant</keyword> has asked its employees in India to <keyword id="123591" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Work-from-home">work from home</keyword> twice in a week, so that it can manage space within its office. In an email to employees, the <keyword id="256189" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Teaneck">Teaneck</keyword>, <keyword id="9753" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="New-Jersey">New Jersey</keyword> based company, has given employees in corporate functions the flexibility to work from home for two days in a week. Fun Fact: the Teaneck has more than one third of its workforce in India. 
 "Those people in <keyword id="3654252" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="support-functions">support functions</keyword> or those who are not client-facing come within this category and that this will make space for business associates and employees with client-facing roles", a senior employee of Cognizant told ET. 
 
However, according to an employee, the decision is still awaiting approval from the top management and this could be revoked in future. On the other hand the company told ET, "The option has been broadened for associates working in corporate functions at all locations. The programme is not mandatory and employees are free to elect themselves for the programme based on their personal and professional needs." 
The company has also announced that it will reimburse a fixed amount of broadband expenses for the employees who opt for this. It has been confirmed by the employ that Rs 1,500 monthly internet allowance will be given to all employees who take the option. 
 "Most <keyword id="54038" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="engineers">engineers</keyword> in Cognizant work in shifts. Employees in support functions need not be in office to get work done. If these people stay at home, more coders can be accommodated. Almost 90% of a building in Chennai is occupied by corporate function employees and this move can make space for more core business roles," another employee in Chennai told ET. 
 
The employees opting for this will be expected to apply for workstations on the Cognizant portal for the days they do come in to work. The employees will be provided a workstation in any of the offices within the city. 
 
"This is good and bad. The bad side is, there is no dedicated tablework station for me anymore," one of the support engineers at Cognizant said to ET.

Cognizant allows work from home twice a week.

Money can buy anything, anywhere. This proved to be true when <keyword id="126105" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Cognizant-Technology-Solutions">Cognizant Technology Solutions</keyword> spent about Rs 17 crore ($2.7 million) last year trying to influence lawmakers in the US, where lobbying is institutionalized, to agree to its points over the country's new immigration rules. The amount of money was considerably higher than its top three Indian IT rivals – <keyword id="10862" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Wipro">Wipro</keyword>, TCS and <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> - put together. 
 According to filings with the US Lobbying Act Disclosure Database, Wipro spent about $460,000 on lobbying in the US, and <keyword id="6357585" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Tata-Consultancy-Services">Tata Consultancy Services</keyword> (TCS), India's largest software exporter, about $80,000, while Infosys did not even feature among the top lobbyists. 
 But what was the need for lobbying? Indian IT firms were under tremendous pressure last year against certain immigration proposals that threatened to significantly increase their cost of doing business in the US. Eventually, these provisions were struck or watered down in the final version of the landmark immigration reform that US President <keyword id="15962" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Barack-Obama">Barack Obama</keyword> unveiled in November. 
 
According to an Economic Times report, the need for lobbying also increased because of outcry in the US against outsourcing of jobs to cheaper, third-world destinations such as India. 
 Further, Teaneck, New Jersey-based <keyword id="28721" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Cognizant">Cognizant</keyword>, which has most of its 2.17 lakh employees in India, has typically spent more than its Indian peers on exerting influence among US lawmakers. 
 
In 2013, Cognizant spent $2.07 million on trying to influence US lawmakers, while Infosys spent less than $5,000. But later, Infosys was slapped with a $35-million fine by the US government in a case related to visa misuse. 
 
So far this year, Cognizant has spent about $180,000 on lobbying in the US, compared to about $20,000 each by TCS and Wipro, according to data available on Lobbying Disclosure website. 
 
Lobbying is institutionalised in the US where large offshore companies such as TCS and Infosys constantly strive for the support of lawmakers, but they are required to disclose how much they spend on such efforts. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Just to persuade US lawmakers, Cognizant spent $2.7mn last year

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Adidas' messy breakup with Ye is the latest in a series of complications for sneaker resellers.</li><li>Sneaker resellers have felt the effects of the end of the stimulus check and the rise of inflation.</li></ul>The last few years have seen the spectacular rise and the incredible fall of the sneaker reseller, a side hustle that flourished during the height of the pandemic. Adidas' messy breakup with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, was the latest in a series of complications to befall this enterprising group. Over the past year, sneaker resellers have felt the knock-on effects of the end of the stimulus check, the rise of inflation, an increase in sneaker production, a loss of confidence in the industry, and a crackdown on bots — software that makes it nearly effortless for resellers to nab a large volume of shoes. When resellers lost the e-commerce site Yeezy Supply after Adidas ended its relationship with the brand, it was the last straw for many resellers. The site is known in the sneaker-reselling space as one of the last remaining "bottable" sites. "After the Yeezy announcement, a handful of people have come to me and said, 'I can't do this anymore; it's not worth it," David "Kari" Daniels, a sneaker-content creator on YouTube, said. <h2>Sneaker resellers saw a bot crackdown </h2>While not as lucrative as Nike in the aftermarket, it was easier to buy Yeezys in bulk on Yeezy Supply using bots. These are the software applications that speed up the online-checkout process and help shoppers nab more product. Though the profit from each sale was slim, it was worthwhile for resellers who could buy large volumes. The loss of Yeezy sales then combined with Nike's crackdown on bots. <div type="image" title="Adidas cut ties with Ye in 2022." height="1800" width="2400" msid="97280762" hostid="261" sizebytes="59272"></div>Taking direct aim at resellers, Nike updated its <a href="https://agreementservice.svs.nike.com/us/en_us/rest/agreement?agreementType=termsOfSale&amp;uxId=com.nike.commerce.nikedotcom.web&amp;country=US&amp;language=en&amp;requestType=redirect" target="_blank" rel="noopener">terms of sales</a> in October, warning that it reserved the right to cancel sales "placed with automated ordering software" as well as purchases "for the purpose of resale." Nike later revealed that bot attacks can make up between about 10% and 50% of all entries on its SNKRS app. Every month, Nike stops as many as 12 billion bots trying to game SNKRS launches globally and actively identifies accounts showing bot activity during every launch. Daniels said the decline in demand for sneakers has especially hurt resellers who depend on quick flips — reselling the shoes immediately after buying them — to sustain their businesses. "They don't have the financial resources to hold product for long enough to see the market rebound, so it's not worth buying to flip right now," Daniels said. The May demise of Zadeh Kicks, a resale business the Department of Justice is currently <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-or/pr/zadeh-kicks-owner-and-chief-financial-officer-charged-85-million-wire-fraud-and-bank" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigating</a> for wire and bank fraud, took an added toll on resellers' bank accounts. Federal prosecutors estimate the business ripped off more than $70 million in undelivered sneakers from customers. "Millions and millions of dollars were lost, and the people hurting the most are the consumers and resellers who will never see their money again," Daniels said. Nike also undermined consumer confidence in the resale industry in May when the company filed a suit against StockX, partly claiming StockX was selling counterfeit shoes. Indicating it was stepping back from guaranteeing the legitimacy of products sold on its platform, in November, StockX <a href="https://twitter.com/stockx/status/1590883295931543554?s=20&amp;t=Ghd8RzdP6i8G5_tMvyWn6Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">changed the language</a> on products sold from "verified authentic" to "StockX authentic." Mike Packer, the owner of the boutique-sneaker store Packer Shoes in Teaneck, New Jersey, said that while the hardcore resellers are still there, the casual resellers have dwindled, and it's getting harder for brands and retailers to level the playing field for manual buyers. "You live by the bot, you die by the bot. It's not the brands' or the retailers' job to make sure they make money," Packer said. <h2>Sneakers aren't selling </h2>One of the biggest signs of a more-challenging resale market is shoes sitting, a reference to when launch-day sneakers are still available in multiple sizes days after a release. "During the pandemic, Air Jordan 1 was a guaranteed seller. Buy it at retail, and whatever you pay, it will sell," Michelangelo Falcon, the owner of Equvalence, a sneaker-consignment shop in Encino, California, said. But that's not the case anymore. "The other day, I saw an AJ1 yellow toe, a shoe that, in three years, will be worth $700, and it's sitting on Nike.com." <div type="image" title="One of the biggest signs of a more challenging resale market is shoes sitting." height="3618" width="4823" msid="97280764" hostid="261" sizebytes="2065262"></div>Falcon said peak sales were during May 2020 when stores in California reopened after lockdowns. While a lack of inventory challenged his store at the time, customers spent stimulus and unemployment checks freely. Now, the tables have turned, with sellers looking to offload inventory while buyers pull back. To Falcon, the first quarter of 2022 is "when the COVID bubble began to pop," adding that traffic to his store has declined by 20% since then. The drop-off has been starker on eBay's site, where Chris Burns, a sneaker analyst and the founder of Arch-USA, tracked Black Friday sales. Using the key word "sneakers," Burns found a decline of 31.6% on all athletic shoes, including Jordans, versus the prior year, with the average selling price down by 16.2%. <h2>Companies that rely on sneaker resale need to diversify </h2>As the number of customers willing to pay a high premium for sneakers continues to decline, it's forced companies to adjust their business models. StockX has expanded offerings beyond shoes and apparel to include collectibles, electronics, and trading cards. In the middle of 2021, StockX began advertising products selling "below retail" and now prominently features a tab on each category page showing items selling at a discounted price. GOAT Group, which sells both used and new sneakers and clothing, recently bought the resale platform Grailed, bolstering its apparel and accessory offerings. Meanwhile, late last year, eBay brought back seller fees for shoes listed for more than $150, a reversal from the no-fee policy the site announced in December 2019. "If the big resell platforms like StockX and GOAT are here five years from now, it will be by acquiring new revenue streams, not by doing exactly what they're doing now," Daniels said. "Sneaker-resale companies are going to have to figure out how to reach new customers and create new revenue streams." In Falcon's case, he and his business partner recently launched the shoe-cleaning brand QUIQ and Boba N Tings, a streetwear-themed bubble-tea shop where customers can also buy collectibles. He plans to cast an even wider net to capture a bigger customer base in the future. "We always targeted the regular consumer, not the sneaker community. I'm working to expand my team to accommodate the online customer, walk-in customer, and sneaker customer," Falcon said.

It's a terrible time to be a sneaker reseller

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Back to school rivals national holidays in terms of celebration, gifting and other purchases.</li><li>"I see a lot of girls wearing Lululemon — over $100 for leggings that they will outgrow. It's about the name fixation,'' one woman said.</li></ul>When police in River Edge, N.J. saw two shadowy figures rustling on the grounds of a local elementary school well after midnight, they cautiously approached the pair they believed to be intruding. On closer inspection they were middle-aged women standing on ladders, trying to secure something to the building's entrance. "Hey lady, it's 2 a.m.! What are you doing?'' shouted one of the officers.The startled women quickly explained they were constructing a huge arch of brightly colored balloons to welcome the children <a href="https://www.insider.com/back-to-school-supplies-order-in-bulk-2023-8">returning to classes</a> later that day. "All the schools begin on the same day and they need their balloons by 7:30 a.m. when the first buses roll in,'' explained Debby Levi, owner of Inflated Creations, who was providing similar felicitations for children from Teaneck to Livingston. "We have to start at this hour so they will look fresh!''A Long Island high school went one step further, personalizing its balloons with little bulldogs and logos, at the request of the parents association. "They spent about $600,'' said Farrah Edelstein, owner of Pop of the Party in Roslyn, who also provided welcoming yard signs.<a href="https://www.insider.com/how-mom-of-3-kids-survives-first-weeks-of-school-2023-8">Back to school</a> has become quite an occasion, rivaling national holidays in terms of celebration, gifting and other purchases. Instagram is full of photos, some professionally taken, portraying fashionably decked out youngsters en route to their initial day of classes, and parents are finding that these kids have become quite label conscious, requiring a litany of new items. <h2>Back to school photos have become 'insane,' one parent said</h2>"It's insane,'' said Jodi Schachter, who lives in Boynton Beach, Florida and has three children, aged 8, 11, and 13. "The whole thing is about posing on social media and letting everybody know your kids are at school. I feel like a bad mom if I don't do it, because that's what everyone else does. A friend of mine took sidewalk chalk, drew balloons all over the ground to make it look like her child was being pulled in the air and had the pictures taken from a drone above.''Schachter feels that the show is more for the benefit of the parents than their offspring."I'm not one of the crazy ones, but some people are absolutely crazy, and 90 percent of the times their kids look miserable.''She couldn't entirely avoid the madness, though."This is the first year my 11-year-old doesn't need a uniform, so we went on a crazy shopping spree. It's all about fashion for middle school. We went to five different stores and she got to pick out what she liked, but we just got her a JanSport backpack because we are a little less fancy than others in our area.'' The average <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=778450de699d1edf3a4e86489790a1ea699c91030c01bf4fe5747981230b21b7&amp;postID=650866c645a4d8ef0136046b&amp;postSlug=back-to-school-over-the-top-photo-shoots-glam-appointments-2023-9&amp;site=in&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jansport.com%2Fshop%2Fen%2Fjansport-us%2Fall-backpacks%3Futm_campaign%3DG_JanSport_Brand_Backpacks%26utm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_content%3Djansport%2520backpack%26utm_medium%3DPPC%26utm_id%3Dgo_cmp-144997801_adg-6651016441_ad-658367454919_kwd-51709621_dev-c_ext-_prd-_sig-CjwKCAjw6p-oBhAYEiwAgg2PgqFpmhNWZxHz874TK_7qCAG1rCWMjKiL0jfPd_r-_VOyp1aua1_vDBoCxaAQAvD_BwE%26radscid%3D144997801%26gad%3D1%26gclid%3DCjwKCAjw6p-oBhAYEiwAgg2PgqFpmhNWZxHz874TK_7qCAG1rCWMjKiL0jfPd_r-_VOyp1aua1_vDBoCxaAQAvD_BwE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JanSport</a> backpack can range from $29.40 to $150, according to its website.<div type="image" title="Group of multiracial teenage college students ready to go back to school standing against blue background wall" height="3335" width="6240" msid="103766910" hostid="261" sizebytes="1428416"></div><h2>It's not just photos. Going back to school shopping has become a designer sport. </h2>Parents struggle between wanting their children to be accepted and not coddling them."In general kids have to get the best name brand to be cool,'' observed 49-year-old Alison W., who lives in Riverdale, New Jersey and has two teen-aged children 13 and 15. She prefers not to share her last name for privacy concerns."I want my kids to appreciate value and this is wasteful because they are rough on things and outgrow them. I bought my daughter Air Jordans because everyone else had them, but they were over $200 and she wore them once," Alison continued. "I see a lot of girls wearing Lululemon — over $100 for leggings that they will outgrow. It's about the name fixation.''For Schachter's 13-year-old son the products were Nike, Psycho Bunny and Under Armour."He is very label sensitive and the Nikes he had weren't good enough; so we had to buy him Jordan Ones," she said. "We wanted him to fit in so we got him whatever he wanted, but we got the sneakers discounted at the outlet store. He's a little bit spoiled, but not spoiled rotten.''Riverdale mom Chana Gotel said the roles have reversed a bit and children are often setting the ground rules."I'm guilty of giving in to my kids and letting them dictate what we buy them, and all my friends do the same thing,'' she said. "My son will only get a Sprayground backpack, and every year it's a new one. You have to get it right away or it gets sold out, so he has three different ones.'' According to its website, the <a href="https://www.sprayground.com/collections/backpacks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">average Sprayground backpack</a> features kid-friendly designs such as the Pink Panther, Spongebob and Dragon Ball Z, and costs approximately $65 to $120. Morgan, who pens the blog Mama in Monolos, lives in Boca Raton, Florida with her two daughters, aged 6 and 4, and is feeling the pressure to perform on social media. She prefers not to use her full name to protect her family's privacy."<a href="https://www.insider.com/khloe-kardashian-calls-her-30s-the-worst-decade-ever-2023-7">Khloe Kardashian</a> has an entire set up with balloons, and that made the standard high this year,'' she sighed. "Every year I fail at this because I am not one of the moms that holds up a sign or bulletin board.'' She does use her blog's platform for her girls to express their sartorial preferences. "I am fashion oriented and my girls are too,'' she said. "My older daughter has new hot pink Nikes and her outfit was a statement. I let them express themselves that way, which is more important to me than the balloons, signs and elaborate cork boards some of my friends have.''Many brands are seeing an uptick from the engagement with clothing and cosmetics. <a href="https://about.hm.com/news/general-news-2023/make-an-entrance-with-h-m-s-back-to-school-fashion-.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">H&amp;M launched a collab</a> with former Lucky editor-in-chief Eva Chen targeted to the back to school set, with a large event held in New York City's Herald Square just after Labor Day, and its coveted bucket hat sold out in nearly all sizes within 24 hours, while Curan Mehra, founder and CEO of Hard Candy noted, "We've seen our Glosstopia Lip Oils pick up by 11% since mid August when schools opened, which is a new time for us to see a bump in sales driven by Gen Z customers."<h2>Back to school also comes with a glam squad</h2>Salon visits are also part of the prep for day one at school, even for tweens. Emily Reichart, who lives in Westfield, New Jersey, works at a non-profit and tries to keep a reasonable balance for her 12-year-old daughter, whose friends went for professional blow outs ahead of the first day of school. "We don't subscribe to the craziness, but I also want her to fit in, so we did her hair at home the night before,'' she said. "We also got her a North Face backpack, rather than a more expensive brand and she was fine with it.''Still, North Face backpacks can range in price from $75 to $135. Westport mother of four, life coach, and author of "<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/If-Its-Not-Right-Go-Left/Kristen-Glosserman/9781951412173" target="_blank" rel="noopener">If It's Not Right, Go Left</a>" Kristen Glosserman went for the trendier Stoney Clover backpack, which escalates in price as you customize it with decals and patches with prices ranging from $135 to $258. "They can get so expensive, so we added my daughter's initials rather than her full name, which saved a bit,'' she said. But she defends all the celebrating on behalf of moms. "There is such an intense demand on parents, and now we reclaim those 6 to 8 hours during the day, so that's why we are celebrating!''Fashionable purchases extend beyond just clothing to locker decor, including carpeting, fake plants and mini chandeliers. "It's a whole business that's new to me,'' said Reichart. "At first my daughter wanted locker wallpaper and pictures, but she wound up with a mirror and a few magnets. When I was a kid you would go to the mall, pick up a couple of outfits and maybe you got some crayons and a sharpener. I don't think my parents even took a picture of me.''

Parents say back to school preparations have become 'insane' — from photo shoots to custom backpacks

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>The American Dream megamall <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-dream-megamall-opening-day-nickelodeon-universe-photos-2019-10">opened to the public on Friday</a> in East Rutherford, New Jersey.</li><li>The <a href="https://www.americandream.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3 million-square-foot center</a> has a theme park, ice rink, water park, and indoor ski center in addition to over 450 shops. It is one of the largest malls in North America.</li><li>Only the Nickelodeon Universe theme park and ice-skating rink were open to the public on opening day, in addition to some pop-up activities for Halloween.</li><li>I went to opening day of the megamall and was surprised to find that very few people showed up, despite the fact that the New Jersey Transit added <a href="https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/08/29/nj-transit-to-run-express-buses-from-nyc-secaucus-to-new-american-dream-meadowlands/">express bus services</a> meant for transportation to and from the mall.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>After over 20 years in the making, one of the largest malls in the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-dream-megamall-opening-day-nickelodeon-universe-photos-2019-10">US opened in New Jersey on Friday</a>.American Dream was first conceived in 1996 and has gone through various stages of development leading up to its highly anticipated opening. The project was <a href="https://patch.com/new-jersey/ridgewood/american-dream-meadowlands-opening-date-pushed-back-gov-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">delayed</a> multiple times and went through different owners in its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-does-american-dream-mall-open-timeline-2019-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 20-year evolution</a>. The first phase of the complex opened on Friday. Friends and family of some mall owners and employees were invited to experience the Nickelodeon Universe theme park on opening day. Though tickets to the theme park <a href="https://www.americandream.com/venue/nickelodeon-universe/tickets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sold out</a> before opening day, the public was invited to explore the unfinished complex and to partake in various pop-up Halloween-themed activities and an ice-skating rink in the mall.The opening of the mall was expected to cause some traffic issues in the area. To help alleviate this, the New Jersey Transit added an <a href="https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/08/29/nj-transit-to-run-express-buses-from-nyc-secaucus-to-new-american-dream-meadowlands/">express bus services</a> to transport guests to and from the mall. The New York Waterway is also running a <a href="https://www.nywaterway.com/AmericanDream.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ferry service</a> to American Dream from Manhattan with dedicated shuttles to help travelers complete their journey. Shoppers also have the option to park their own cars in one of the center's <a href="https://patch.com/new-jersey/mahwah/american-dream-reveals-megamalls-parking-rates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">33,000</a> parking spots for varying rates. I took the New Jersey express bus line to American Dream on opening day and found it almost entirely empty. When I got to the mall, it was devoid of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mall-of-america-opened-1992-vintage-photos-2019-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">large crowds that characterized</a> Mall of America when it first opened in 1992. In general, the atmosphere of the mall opening felt rushed."[It is] nothing like I expected," said Yvonne Hicks, 57, who came from Teaneck, New Jersey on opening day and was unimpressed with the ill-prepared atmosphere in the mall. She said that the wheelchair accessibility center was closed when she arrived, so it was difficult for her to maneuver around the massive complex. I noticed a few attendants walking around with wheelchairs later in the day, but I was surprised to see so many boxes and construction zones in the mall. However, the Nickelodeon Universe theme park was in excellent shape and seemed like it would do its job in acting as an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-dream-begins-opening-why-megamall-could-survive-retail-apocalpyse-2019-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anchor for foot traffic</a> in the complex. Here's how I got to American Dream from Manhattan on opening day and what I saw.

I traveled to the American Dream megamall on opening day and it was an unexpected breeze

<keyword id="126105" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cognizant-Technology-Solutions">Cognizant Technology Solutions</keyword>, headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey has decided to postpone salary hikes and promotions by three months, citing visa curbs and IT stress. Even though <keyword id="28721" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cognizant">Cognizant</keyword> employees are told details about their promotions by June every year, they were not expecting any promotions this time around, and hence the email has come as a surprise. Cognizant’s chief people officer <keyword id="4708017" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jim-Lennox">Jim Lennox</keyword> has sent an email to all employees, in which has mentioned that salary hikes and promotions will be effective from October 1 this year. It’s only been a few weeks that Cognizant came under the radar when a number of its employees alleged 'forced' termination, leading to IT unions petitioning against the company before labour departments in several states.

No salary hikes or promotions for three months, says Cognizant

New York, Apr 29 (AP) Haunting images of an empty Times Square and the daily accounting of hundreds of fatalities in New York City have reinforced the idea of the coronavirus as an urban contagion.That may obscure an equally sobering truth: Many of the city's suburbs have been hit just as hard. In some, there have been more fatalities per capita than in super-dense Manhattan.The virus's rampage through the New York metro region, from the well-to-do towns along Connecticut's coastline to the bedroom communities of northern New Jersey and Long Island, offers a counterweight to the notion of the suburbs, with their plentiful open spaces, as safe havens."You expect to see it spread more rapidly in densely populated areas like cities, but it does that anywhere the virus is introduced and where people are in contact with other people," said Dr. Stephen Morse, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York. "All it needs is fertile soil because it spreads quite well, unfortunately." The first sustained outbreak to be detected in the New York metropolitan area occurred in the suburb of New Rochelle, where an attorney who had attended large gatherings at a local synagogue was the first to test positive.Another cluster sprang up 5 miles west of the city in Teaneck, New Jersey. The first New Jersey resident to die, 69-year-old horse racing veteran John Brennan, lived in northern New Jersey and worked at a racetrack in Yonkers, a New York suburb.According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, Rockland County, New York, has reported roughly 3,500 positive cases per 100,000 residents, nearly triple the rate in Manhattan and more than double the rate in Brooklyn. Westchester County, which includes New Rochelle, has a rate of nearly 2,900 cases per 100,000 residents.If the five New Jersey counties closest to New York were a country, they would have recorded the 12th most cases in the world, more than 59,000 through Tuesday.At Hudson Regional Hospital in Secaucus, New Jersey, just west of Manhattan, the volume of patients had quadrupled by early April, forcing the emergency room to divert patients several times, hospital CEO Dr. Nizar Kifaieh said, though the numbers have decreased recently.Dr. Tanaya Bhowmick, an infectious disease physician and assistant professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, said her patients who have underlying immune issues have been taking precautions. But she recently saw a group of youths playing basketball in her suburban neighborhood."There might be the perception that they're a little more safe here, which obviously isn't true," she said.Tracking the virus's path can yield some surprises. The first several people to test positive for the coronavirus in Connecticut actually had a strain that was linked to the outbreak in Washington state, said Nathan Grubaugh, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. He is leading a study with other researchers that is using genomic testing to chart the spread of the virus across the U.S. and into Connecticut.After those first cases, data showed Connecticut residents were testing positive for a virus similar to the strains in New York, which have been linked to those in Europe, Grubaugh said.It wasn't surprising to Stamford Mayor David Martin that his city of about 130,000 people would be one of the hardest hit in the state.Downtown Stamford is less than 10 miles from the New York state line and less than an hour from Manhattan by train. Nearly 1,800 Stamford residents have tested positive for the coronavirus, by far the highest total among the state's 169 cities and towns."The reality is that ... in normal times we have 30,000 people get on or get off the train at the Stamford train station and a big chunk of those people are traveling to or from New York City," Martin said. "With a wide diversity of socioeconomic status that are basically right here next to the New York epicenter, it has been a struggle for us." Commuting patterns can partly explain the virus's spread in the New York region. Subway ridership in the city tops 5 million on an average weekday, and according to a recent study by the city's planning commission, about 1 million people travel into New York each day from the surrounding counties - and a quarter-million go in the opposite direction - many on public transportation that is routinely overcrowded.The picture is more complicated, though. An Associated Press study of COVID-19 cases by zip code in New York City has found, for example, more cases per capita in Staten Island, the least congested of the five boroughs and the one not served by the city's subway system, than in some of the more densely populated areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.Bergen County Executive James Tedesco, whose county has the highest number of cases in New Jersey, said officials were initially able to track the virus's spread along the most heavily used bus and train lines. (AP) MRJ

COVID-19 showing suburbs are just as vulnerable as cities

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">NBC 4</div></div></div>TEANECK, N.J. (AP) - Police say a high school senior class prank gone awry has led to the arrests of at least 60 students in northern New Jersey.
Officers responded to a burglar alarm at Teaneck High School around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.
Police Sgt. John Garland tells WNBC-TV (<a href="http://bit.ly/1u858kx">http://bit.ly/1u858kx</a> ) officers found urine in the hallways, petroleum jelly on doorknobs, desks flipped over and balloons throughout the building.
Garland says about 45 of the students are juveniles.
Police are contacting the students' parents. Garland says the students could face burglary and criminal mischief charges.
The principal tells the TV station the school will open.
<div class="nc_footer">
Copyright (2014) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
</div>

60 Students Arrested After Breaking Into New Jersey High School And Trashing It

For the first time in 14 years, US-based <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=cognizant&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Cognizant Technology Solutions</a> could not beat <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=infosys&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Infosys</a> and posted its slowest quarterly revenue growth. 
 <keyword id="28721" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Cognizant">Cognizant</keyword> also cut the upper end of their full-year revenue guidance and forecasted revenues in the range of $13.65 billion to $14 billion. 
 
For the March quarter, Cognizant registered a net profit of $441.2 million, compared to $382.9 million in the year-ago period. 
 
For the June quarter, the company forecast revenues in the range of $3.34 billion to $3.40 billion. 
 
New Jersey-based Cognizant Teaneck said that it was hurt by slow spending from top healthcare customers. 
 
"As anticipated, during the first quarter we saw softness in our healthcare segment due to M&amp;A activity, as well as softness in our banking segment due to financial market volatility," said Gordon Coburn, president at Cognizant, adding, “As we move into the second quarter, we are quite pleased with our momentum with new and existing clients, which we expect to drive sequential revenue growth in the second quarter of $140 to $200 million.” 
 Meanwhile, Cognizant also failed to trump <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> in growth rates for the first time since 2002-03, indicating that under <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=vishal+sikka&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Vishal Sikka</a>, Infosys is on track.

First time in 14 yrs, Cognizant posts slowest quarter due to volatile markets, slow spending

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image">Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images</div></div>Saturday's New York Post asked "Was Bridgegate a fight over judges?" running with an idea Rachel Maddow introduced to the cable-viewing masses on Thursday evening. The alternate theory suggests that the closing of lanes on the George Washington Bridge may not have been an act of political retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, but against Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg instead. 
Since he has been in office, the issue of New Jersey Supreme Court has been a contentious one for Christie. In 2010, he declined to reappoint a sitting justice, spurning State Senate Democrats who retaliated by rejecting all of Christie's later nominees. On August 12, 2013, Christie chose not to nominate a justice he had personally endorsed because "I was not going to let her loose to the animals," ("the animals" being Christie-speak for Senate Dems, in this case). The following day, Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's now-fired deputy chief of staff, sent the smoking gun email to David Wildstein, the now-resigned Port Authority Director of Interstate Capital Projects: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." 
Rachel Maddow (and the Post) meets the logical fallacy: you know, the one that says, if event A happens, then event B happens, so event A must have caused event B. 
Weinberg has long been a Christie foe. In 2009, she was Jon Corzine's running mate. Christie asked the press to "please take the bat out on her" in 2011. The alternate theory is that high ranking Christie staffers closed the GWB lanes to retaliate against Weinberg because of the Senate Democrats' general refusal to cooperate with Christie's wishes for the State Supreme Court.
Are you making a connection here? 
No? Me neither. 
First, Weinberg only became Senate Majority Leader in 2012, after Senator Barbara Buono, Christie's gubernatorial opponent, was ousted by Democratic leadership. It's not like she's been running the show since Christie assumed office. She's probably not even running the show now. 
Second, Senator Loretta Weinberg is, as you may be able to guess from her title, a State Senator. That means she represents a Legislative District, not a town. Weinberg represents LD 37 which is comprised of 13 different towns, including, yes, Fort Lee. But Weinberg doesn't live there (she lives in Teaneck, which is not even close to Fort Lee), nor is her office there (it's also in Teaneck). In Weinberg's last election, she beat her opponent by nearly 15,000 votes, and she took Fort Lee by a full 1195 votes. If Weinberg were to lose Fort Lee, it is more than likely that she would still get elected. But were Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich to lose Fort Lee, he definitely would not get to continue to be Mayor of Fort Lee. Duh. 
Third, so far, no one has uncovered anything in the thousands of Bridgegate documents released last week that suggests this was about Weinberg. There are no references to Legislative District 37. No one seems to be trying to mess with Teaneck. What have been found, however, are lots of references to Mark Sokolich and Fort Lee. Resigned Port Authority executive Bill Baroni repeatedly refers to Sokolich, who is Croatian, as "the Serbian." David Wildstein, the other resigned Port Authority executive called him a "little Serbian." Bill Stepien, Christie's now-fired campaign manager and top adviser, calls Sokolich an "idiot." Nobody gave Weinberg any fun nicknames!
Fourth, Sokolich sent an email on September 12 to Baroni, informing him that "members of the public have indicated to me that the Port Authority Police Officers are advising commuters in response to their complaints that this recent traffic debacle is the result of a decision that I, as the Mayor, recently made." It is possible that higher-ups in the Port Authority ordered police officers to inform Fort Lee residents that this was Sokolich's fault. In which case, how again does this negatively impact Weinberg? Why wouldn't the Port Authority Police Officers have told Fort Lee residents that the traffic was the result of a decision made by her? It is also possible that police officers arrived at the answer themselves that yeah, the mayor of a town would probably have to sign off on something that would impact his residents so severely. In which case, why bother to go to such lengths to ruin Weinberg if you're not even going to make sure her constituents get the message that they should be mad at her? 
Finally, there is a question of how many conspiracies could anybody run at once? Certainly, people in the Christie administration could have been, and obviously have been, dumb enough to jeopardize the governor by screwing up the GWB and putting it all down on paper. Or, they could have been smart enough to screw up the GWB in order to retaliate against a politician (Weinberg) without mentioning her or making it clear to anybody that she was being punished. But it defies logic and credibility to suggest that they could have done both. 
Stop trying to make the Loretta Weinberg theory happen. It's not going to happen.
The above guest post <a href="http://olivianuzzi.tumblr.com/post/73104972399/debunking-the-alternate-bridgegate-theory">previously appeared at the author's blog</a>. Read more from Olivia Nuzzi <a href="http://olivianuzzi.tumblr.com/">here</a>.

Five Problems With Rachel Maddow's Alternative Theory For Bridgegate

CHENNAI: The Teaneck, New Jersey-based <keyword id="28721" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cognizant">Cognizant</keyword> on Wednesday said its quarterly revenues for April-June period rose to $2.52 billion, in line with <keyword id="108560" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Analyst">analyst</keyword> expectations, up 16.5% from a year-ago period and 3.9% sequentially, joining the $10 billion a year run-rate club. GAAP net income was up 23.8% at $372 million and 6.6% sequentially. The company lowered its guidance for the remaining period, sending its stock prices crashing. 
 Cognizant, which employs more than three-fourths of its employees in India, said its growth could slow down than previous forecast due to weakness at some clients and delays in order booking. Cognizant shares fell 16% to $42.19 in <keyword id="6357328" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="NASDAQ">NASDAQ</keyword> in early trades, after declining as much as 17% for the biggest intra-day drop since May 2012. The stock had declined 1% this year through Tuesday. "Clients aren't spending as much as we expected on projects as we were anticipating," Gordon Coburn, president of Cognizant, said on the second-quarter earnings <keyword id="105062" type="EVENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Conference-Call">conference call</keyword>. 
 
The company cut its revenue growth forecast for the year to at least 14% from earlier 16.5%, slowest ever in its 20 year history. Its latest full-year guidance could result in revenues of at least $10.1 billion, achieving a significant milestone. Analysts were expecting full-year revenue of $10.34 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Cognizant also forecast July-September quarter revenues to range between $2.55 billion and $2.58 billion, again lower than analyst estimates of nearly $2.66 billion. 
 "Due to weakness at certain clients and longer than anticipated sales cycles for certain large integrated deals, we are adopting a more conservative stance for the remainder of the year," Francisco D'Souza, <keyword id="5645" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="CEO">CEO</keyword> of Cognizant, said in a statement. 
 
It said that it has signed three transformational engagements totalling $3.5 billion in contract value, including a letter of intent with Health Net for a seven-year deal. The deal is expected to represent approximately $2.7 billion in total contract value, the largest in Cognizant's history, a company statement said. 
 
Operating margins were at 21%, higher than the company's targeted 19-20% range. This, however, lags its comparable Indian peers who have higher operating margins. For example: TCS's margins are 26.1% while that of Infosys are 25.1%. Revenues from North America rose 15%, accounting for about 77% of all revenues. The EU region contributed to 20.4% of revenues. 
 
Consulting and technology services contributed to 52% of revenues and grew 6.2% sequentially while outsourcing services 48% of revenues and grew 1.5% sequentially. "As expected, overall pricing was stable during the quarter, said Karen McLoughlin, CFO, Cognizant 
 
The company said it added 8800 persons (net), its highest since Q3 2011, in a quarter where its comparable peers recruited fewer people. "Around 34% of gross additions for the quarter were direct college hires, while 64% were lateral hires of experienced professionals. We ended the quarter with approximately 187,400 employees globally. Annualized attrition levels at Cognizant was 16.9% during the quarter-including BPO and trainees-down by almost 200 basis points from the year ago period. 
 
Cognizant also said it expanded its stock repurchase programme from $1.5 billion to $2 billion.

Cognizant Marches Into $10 Billion Revenue Club

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"></div></div><a href="https://twitter.com/DLevineBooks">David Levine</a> is the author of "<a href="http://www.ifyougiveadonkeythewhitehouse.com/">If You Give A Donkey The White House</a>."
Of the few things in life that are certain, one is that the budget sent by a Democratic president to a Republican Congress is dead on arrival.
It has become an American tradition. Especially in the current political climate, where Obama has managed to build more ill will on Capitol Hill than anyone in recent memory, the likelihood that the Republicans will summarily bin his latest spending requests is much closer to none than slim. We have all seen this movie before.
Yet we are watching it again. And not for the last time, for the very simple reason that our federal government has completely lost its way, expanding incessantly, and believing itself entitled to recklessly spend the hard earned money of the people it represents.
In the real world, when a businessman makes a spending decision, he does so with thoughts of return on investment. He needs to expend his resources in order to run and grow his business, but his goal is making money. Spending is necessary only as long as it generates results. Sometimes he will incur debt or accept a short term deficit. But at some point, he needs to see value for what he spends. If he cannot turn a profit, his children do not get dinner. It's actually quite simple. When an employee turns out to be useless, he gets fired. When an advertising campaign proves ineffective, it is done away with.
In the topsy-turvy world of government, the focus is always on spending money. The complete disregard for return on investment is mind-boggling. If the President of the United States is unable to cogently justify how he spent the last half trillion dollars of which Congress put him in charge, he should not be entitled to repeat the process.
And if the Republican controlled Congress wants to appear levelheaded and well-intentioned rather than petty and obstructionist, all it needs to do is call Obama's bluff. If, as word on the street is correct, he wants to increase spending by about fifty billion dollars, Congress should simply ask that he find fifty billion dollars to cut somewhere else, and grant him his wish.
Of course, going through how each of the 3.9 trillion dollars the president asked for last year could take a while, so let's focus on one, small, fifty billion dollar segment where our executive branch of government has shined in its ineffectiveness, where there has been absolutely no return on investment - the Department of State. Why not board it up for next fiscal year or turn it into a museum?
Is there anyone who has kept track of how many times John Kerry has traveled to the Middle East and at what cost? He does not exactly travel alone. In addition to an army of security, he always takes a team of undersecretaries and their assistants and under-assistants and assistant undersecretaries and so forth. And they are neither flying coach nor buying their tickets on Priceline. And what has the American taxpayer received for funding these high profile adventures?
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>
Has Kerry achieved anything? Anywhere? The Israel -Palestine two state solution will always be nothing more than a pipe dream, Iraq remains on the brink, Yemen is in a state of anarchy, Syria is a failed state that is now a practice battleground for radicals, Egypt is ruled by a dictator who collects a billion dollars of American aid annually, and negotiations with Iran about their nuclear program will undoubtedly continue to stall. And has anything been accomplished elsewhere? Is Putin any more predisposed to us? Are the Islamists retreating in Nigeria? Did the State Department do anything useful or productive with the fifty billion dollars it got last year? 
These questions of course will be neither asked nor answered. Obama will never apologize for choosing such a thoroughly feckless man to spearhead our foreign affairs, the State Department will get its funding, Kerry and his brood of buffoons will continue to rack up miles while accomplishing nothing, and American hegemony will continue to diminish. The shame of it is that this should not cost us fifty billion dollars. At the very least, we should be able to watch the world blow itself up at no charge, and leave this money in the care of the American taxpayer to save, spend or fritter as he sees fit.
So sit back on the sofa, get a tub of popcorn and a fountain soda, and get ready to watch the annual federal film fest where the President fights with Congress as to how best squander American capital. It may not be as much fun as fireworks on the Fourth of July, but at least it's a tradition.
<div>David E. Levine was educated at Columbia University, graduating in 1993 with a BA in History. He grew up in Los Angeles, CA and currently resides in Teaneck, NJ with his wife and four children. If You Give a Donkey the White House is available for purchase at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/You-Give-Donkey-White-House/product-reviews/1457530279" target="_blank" title="http://www.amazon.com/You-Give-Donkey-White-House/product-reviews/1457530279">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/if-you-give-a-donkey-the-white-house-david-e-levine/1120004386?ean=9781457530272" target="_blank" title="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/if-you-give-a-donkey-the-white-house-david-e-levine/1120004386?ean=9781457530272">Barnes and Noble</a>, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ve3hoAEACAAJ&amp;dq=if+you+give+a+donkey+the+white+house&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=oPx_VKTFCYOfgwT5jYTIDA&amp;ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA" target="_blank" title="http://books.google.com/books?id=ve3hoAEACAAJ&amp;dq=if+you+give+a+donkey+the+white+house&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=oPx_VKTFCYOfgwT5jYTIDA&amp;ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA">Google Books</a>, and <a href="http://dogearpublishing.net/wordpress/index.php/2014/07/if-you-give-a-donkey-the-white-house-by-david-e-levine/" target="_blank" title="http://dogearpublishing.net/wordpress/index.php/2014/07/if-you-give-a-donkey-the-white-house-by-david-e-levine/">Dog Ear Publishing.</a></div>
<div></div>
<div> </div>

You Searched For "Teaneck" and got 12 results

Cognizant allows work from home twice a week.

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60 Students Arrested After Breaking Into New Jersey High School And Trashing It

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Five Problems With Rachel Maddow's Alternative Theory For Bridgegate

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Cognizant Marches Into $10 Billion Revenue Club

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