The Morning Briefing - May 8, 2015
**The Morning Briefing is off to the spring conferences, returning Tuesday, May 26
ATLANTIC CITY - "Roses are red, violets are blue, no one will pay for poetry, and that is bad." Quality poetry - like the previous sentence - will not be recited in Atlantic City this summer because the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority is refusing to pay for it. Three lawmakers called it the "height of absurdity" to spend limited money on poetry as a way to attract people to a farmers market, the Press of AC reports. The CRDA informs the newspaper that "poetry is not a bad thing," but someone else should pay for it, with four casinos shuttered last year and three others in bankruptcy.
TRENTON - Some state officials are pushing for cheerleading to be an official interscholastic sport in New Jersey, with a bill that now goes before the full Senate. The legislation puts in place a number of safety measures, guidelines for participation and tournaments between squads from different schools. We say "Rah, Rah!" to all this, except just one question: Who will cheer for the cheerleaders?
NEWARK - The moment the Japanese businessman realized he had left his $100,000 diamond-encrusted watch at a Newark Liberty Airport checkpoint, he was thinking "sayonara." There was no way he could get off the international flight, and then try to convince the humorless TSA that the specially designed Cartier watch was his. But, as the AP reports, he will somehow be getting it back. One of his colleagues picked it up for him yesterday, after security officials went through the videotapes and found him wearing the watch before going through security.
PATERSON - The talk around the water cooler this morning is how a mom could possibly have twins with two different fathers. It seems everything we learned in seventh-grade health class has been thrown out the window following a Passaic County judge's decision that a father is only required to pay child support for one of the twins. A DNA test shows he is almost certainly not the dad of the other baby. Further Morning Briefing investigation has learned if a woman has sex with two men in the same menstrual cycle, it is possible for eggs to be fertilized separately by each man. This should all be interesting fodder for awkward holiday dinners with Dad and Rob.
IN THE MEDIA
NEWARK - New Jersey Advance Media's Naomi Nix, who was thrust into the middle of the Newark mayoral election last year after David Giambusso left for Capital New York, is herself leaving the online arm of The Star-Ledger for a job at a web startup to report on national education issues. Covering the state's largest city is a plum reporting assignment, but it usually takes a solid year to figure out Newark's internecine politics, famously factious electorate and best public spots to meet sources for a private conversation. (Tip for future reporter: It's not the outdoor dining area of 27Mix during the lunch rush.)
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
DENVER - Four years ago, on July 4, a Denver man put his dog in the backyard and headed out to the fireworks show. When he returned, she had vanished. Year after year, he wondered what happened to that yapping Shih Tzu. Somehow, Lilly was just discovered a thousand miles away, wandering the streets of Elgin, Illinois. She had a severe infection, was suffering from exposure and, medically speaking, was a mess. Yesterday was the tearful reunion in Denver, as the man repeatedly asked, "Where have you been, Lilly? Where have you been?" So far, she isn't saying.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1994 that resident grouch Andy Rooney made his 500th commentary for "60 Minutes." Assume he wasn't happy about something.
WORD OF THE DAY
Hoosegow - noun
Definition: A jail or prison
Example: "I just got out of the hoosegow. Goin' for a drink."