The Morning Briefing - July 24, 2015
TRENTON – Ever wonder why a business like Dave & Buster’s is not in New Jersey? You need to look back at a 1959 law that for some reason bans a bar from also operating amusement games. No clue why this law exists, and some lawmakers are now eager to repeal it, the Record reports. Lawmakers say the state is sacrificing thousands of jobs and millions in revenue. We’re sure there is a very valid reason for the law. It’s just that no one is alive anymore to recall.
MOUNT HOLLY – There’s yet another case of volunteer emergency responders ripping off the department. This time, it is a father-and-son duo arrested for using the first aid squad’s debit cards to take nearly $30,000 to cover their own expenses, the Burlington County Times reports. Squad members at the Springfield Township Emergency Medical Services agency became curious as to where all the friggin’ money was going and we assume it didn’t take long to crack the case. The dad was the squad treasurer, and there was $27,840 on his debit card. Authorities say junior took the balance. Both face charges of theft by deception.
READINGTON – Dang, you know the summer is flying by when it is time, yet again, for the annual festival of ballooning at Solberg Airport. The weekend’s events begin at 6 p.m. tonight with Acting Gov. Kim Guadagno stopping by, right before the first balloon is inflated for a full weekend of events. Try to get out there in this perfect weather: It is New Jersey tapping you on the shoulder and saying, “Hey, summer ain’t forever, pal.”
ON THE RAILS – It has been a frustrating week for Manhattan-bound commuters. On one hand, the weather has been perfect, so no one wants to trudge into the city. And there have been all these maddening power problems at NJ Transit and Amtrak because of the 80-year-old overhead wires that no one can afford to upgrade. And NJ.com reports that trains were delayed this morning by up to 30 minutes. Augh! It was a bad sign when the 4:17 a.m. train out of New York was stuck in the station and then the 5:13 a.m. was cancelled. Time to trade the wingtips for flip-flops.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
HARTFORD, CT. — Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson are under fire this morning in the Nutmeg State. The NAACP has convinced Connecticut Democrats to scratch the two presidents' names off its annual fundraising dinner after 67 years -- both for supporting slavery and Jackson for his role the 1838 “Trail of Tears” removal of the Cherokee nation from its land. The decision drew harsh criticism from historians who say it's a “politically correct overstep” that may prompt Democrats elsewhere to take similar actions. The chairman of Connecticut's Democratic Party said African Americans and Native Americans are a major constituency for Democrats — but bespectacled, dusty historians? Not so much.
IN THE MEDIA
JERSEY CITY – After five decades with the Jersey Journal, Auggie Torres will be leaving the struggling tabloid on September 4, as a round of layoffs hit the paper this week. Torres has been the face of the Jersey Journal, a prominent political columnist with a great Rolodex of contacts. This is huge hit for those remaining Journal fans who only bought the paper to read what Torres had to write. “Let’s not make this a wake,” Torres writes on Facebook.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1978 that fiery Yankees manager Billy Martin quit the job, saying “one is a born liar and the other a convicted one,” referring to superstar Reggie Jackson and owner George Steinbrenner.
WORD OF THE DAY
Agastopia – noun
Definition: Admiring a particular part of someone’s body.
Example: “I have an acute case of agastopia when I daydream about Shirley’s left elbow.”