The Morning Briefing - December 16, 2014
*The Morning Briefing will run its final issue of 2014 on Thursday, returning Monday, January 5. Happy Holidays to all!!
CRANFORD – A local non-profit atheist organization is making its name heard in Arkansas, paying for a digital billboard that tells people in the Bible Belt to skip Christmas. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the Cranford-based American Atheists paid for an Interstate 49 ad showing a young girl telling Santa all she wants for the holidays is to skip church because she is too old for fairytales. A local church has run a counter-ad on the same billboard, inviting people with questions to visit Grace Church in Alma, Arkansas.
ON THE ROADS – As you now drop $14 to cross the George Washington Bridge at rush hour, you can be reassured the Port Authority is not wasting a nickel of your hard-earned money. Or you can throw your coffee at the windshield in a fit of rage, after learning the agency spent nearly $200 million in the first nine months of 2014 in overtime. NJTV reports if this keeps up, the agency will spend more on OT this year than on planned improvements to its infrastructure. Lawmakers are aghast, as usual, as this is not a new story. But nothing ever seems to change.
TRENTON – It seems the Democrats and Republicans always have their own perspective on the state’s finances. The party in power always shows good, controlled, inspirational fiscal leadership. The opposing power shows half-asleep, bumbling, unchecked, reckless spending. Assembly Budget Chair Gary Schaer says this practice helps no one and is suggesting a three-member joint advisory board to provide some clarity in the haze.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL – This was the picture perfect year for incumbents to run in New Jersey, as the state had one of the lowest voter turn-outs in the United States and the lowest on record for a year a U.S. Senate race topped the New Jersey ballot, Gannett reports. In fact, voter turn-out was worse than any country in the free world, except for Gambia, Haiti, Nigeria and Gabon. It is too quick to cry “Apathy!” But it’s likely a lot of pessimism, as many New Jerseyans apparently don’t think who is running the ship makes a big difference.
EDGEWATER – Mayor James Delaney has abruptly resigned with a three-sentence letter to the town clerk, after eight years of service, the Record reports. The letter was dropped off just a couple of hours before the council meeting. Some may think there may be more to this story.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
NEW YORK – As much as you think your dog would look fantastic with a tattoo, New Your lawmakers say you are one sick person and are now banning the practice. The legislation – probably the easiest that Gov. Andrew Cuomo ever signed – bans New Yorkers from tattooing their pets or doing some sort of body piercing. The law takes effect within 120 days, giving all the wackos just a short window to make some final “fashion statements” with their inked and pierced pets.
IN THE MEDIA
It wasn’t long ago the New Jersey press had a full staff of photographers, who could lurk outside court buildings to snap photos of perp walks – or at the very least – dig up an old file photo. But now njadvancemediapoweredbythestarledgerwhateveritscalled.com is simply running photos of U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman for virtually any story involving juicy federal crimes. In just a few hours Monday, NJ.com ran Fishman’s mug with a story about MS-13, an indictment of a Newark Watershed employee and a guilty plea of a Livingston man who fleeced investors. If you didn’t take time to read the articles, it would seem this well-dressed, middle-aged man is a criminal mastermind.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 2011 that a study of chimpanzees showed that earlier studies of chimpanzees are “scientifically unjustified,” prompting a moratorium on studies until new studies prove otherwise.