The Morning Briefing - March 23, 2015
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – It seemed such a layup for a disgraced celebrity seeking redemption. Glad to see NBC anchor Brian Williams has taken the bait, attending a fundraiser at his Catholic high school, desperate for the cash to stay open. Williams donated $50,000 to Mater Dei Prep and showed up with his wife at the event Saturday, as school supporters close in on their goal to raise $1 million by June. Since February, $962,000 has been raised, the Asbury Park Press notes, a laudable achievement.
DOWN THE CORNER – Your local Starbucks barista has stopped writing “Race Together” on your coffee cup, after the mega-chain received widespread complaints about its racial inequality campaign. Starbucks, of course, is saying all the back-pedaling on the “Race Together” campaign was planned, adding it was “just the catalyst” for a larger conversation, and not opportunistic and inappropriate, following national stories of cops killing black men. Gotta admire the PR spin from Starbucks, which adds, “Nothing is changing. It's all part of the cadence of the timeline we originally planned,” adding “We're leaning into it hard.” Great. Now, how about “leaning into” a campaign to refill the half & half?
EAST RUTHERFORD – When the Izod Center opened in July 1981, it was a grand celebration with Bruce Springsteen. When it closed last night, it was a gaggle of elephants, tigers, horses and dogs, with animal rights protesters yelling at Ringling Bros. from behind a metal fence, near a parking garage. And, with no real acknowledgement of the end of the brief era, the arena is shuttered. It was born, it saw the Devils win the Stanley Cup and it will be forever remembered as the answer to a trivia question. And we move on, in the constant search for bigger and better.
ON THE ROADS – New Jersey is Number 1 yet again, but we are not talking about property taxes, or home prices or pension liability. Or the amount needed to fix our roads and bridges. Or what it would cost to build a tunnel into Manhattan, or what it would cost to turn Atlantic City into the resort everyone envisions. We are talking about auto insurance, with New Jersey topping the national list for the third year in a row, with our average policies of $1,220 per car, NJ.com reports. Why? More cars + crappy roads = more accidents.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
TOKYO – Women will swoon – or perhaps just their stomachs will growl – when they get a whiff of a new cologne – brought to you by the studmuffins at Burger King. The fast-food chain is selling a limited-time-only fragrance in which you – yes, you – could smell like a Whopper, AP reports. The “Flame Grill” fragrance will only be sold in Japan, where people will apparently buy anything. This love potion costs the equivalent of $40 and comes with a free Whopper, which, we figure you can also slather all over if you want the more “authentic” scent of cooked meat. Friendly suggestion: don’t go camping.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1992 that baseball’s newest expansion team – the Florida Marlins – began selling tickets. A few weeks later, someone bought one.
WORD OF THE DAY
Collop – noun
Definition: A slice of meat or fold of flab.
Example: “Darling, with your new Burger King cologne, you smell like delicious, flame-broiled collop. Take me, now!”