The Morning Briefing - November 20, 2015
ATLANTIC CITY – Stockton University officials are calling it premature jubilation, as announcement of a $121 million campus in Atlantic City is a wee bit early. The plan, talked up yesterday at the League of Municipalities, will feature a satellite campus, a new South Jersey Gas headquarters and an 886-space parking garage, to open in late 2018. But then school officials dashed out a quick statement, saying the school is still “in the process of lining up the financial partners” and, oh, the university president is unavailable for follow-up interviews.
TRENTON – While Gov. Chris Christie has spent October in New Hampshire and elsewhere, it will be interesting to hear how he takes credit for the latest jobs report on the campaign circuit. Apparently, under the governor’s hard work, diligence and focus in New Jersey, the state gained 16,100 jobs in October and saw its unemployment rate continue to drop. The state's unemployment rate is now 5.4 percent, which isn’t bad. So, thank you, Governor Christie, for your laser focus.
NEW BRUNSWICK – Yeah, your kids may be damn weird. But, sorry, you can’t take them for an exorcism. We point to an appeals court yesterday that stripped parental rights after a mom took the kiddies to a priest for an exorcism while dad was serving time in the slammer. Mom said she has been fighting the urges to hand her two cherubs to the devil. A judge found that mom has done little to deal with her hallucinations, while dad isn’t doing anything to help his drug problem. Thank you, Your Honor.
EWING – Unclear how former Rutgers superstar Carli Lloyd is involved with auto insurance, but the soccer great will be joining executives with NJM Insurance this afternoon as the company announces its annual dividends to 434,000 policyholders, equal to about $125 apiece. We may be jumping to conclusions, but this sounds like a paid appearance by an athlete to gin up press for the routine operations of an insurance company.
PRINCETON – Now, this is cool. Just in time for Thanksgiving, folk singer Arlo Guthrie will be performing tonight at Princeton University to mark the 50th anniversary of the time he dumped trash on Thanksgiving Day in Stockbridge, Mass. - Thursday, Nov. 25, 1965 - prompting a littering citation. That somehow prompted a U.S. Army draft officer to bounce Guthrie from the Vietnam War. The story is spelled out in Guthrie’s signature 18-minute hit song, "Alice's Restaurant," which, in our opinion, everyone should enjoy each Thanksgiving.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
LANCASTER, PA. – Folks are a bit jittery these days, so no surprise that police were called to a Lancaster office building on reports that someone had brought in a machine gun. Cops conducted a floor-by-floor search, only to discover the weapon was simply a photographer and her tripod. Relieved, everyone was all smiles.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1789 that New Jersey proved to be a trendsetter, being the first state to sign the Bill of Rights.
WORD OF THE DAY
Homeostasis (ho-mee-oh-STA-sis) — noun
Definition: A state of psychological equilibrium obtained when tension or a drive has been reduced or eliminated.
Example: As I sip this cup of coffee and type these words, I am experiencing some lovely homeostasis.