The Morning Briefing - December 8, 2015
BELMAR – For shore towns, it’s all about drawing the big crowds, right? Well, no, if you happen to be Belmar and the home of a very, very popular seafood festival. Last June, the event created so much buzz that borough officials needed to close down the roads leading into the town. The Asbury Park Press says Belmar will be throwing some water on the festival by moving it back to May 14-15 with an unadvertised night on May 13 (Shhh). Also, to further dim the excitement, there will be no more fireworks and minimal marketing. Perhaps Belmar should also require attendees to swim down from Bradley Beach.
IN THE WOODS – Hunters are loaded for bear. We’re in the midst of a six-day black bear hunt aimed at pruning the state's estimated 3,500-bruin population by 20 percent, or 700 bears. The Elmer Fudds have never killed so many bears in past years and are eager for the challenge. The Record says the state is optimistic after 8,200 bear permits were issued and 216 bears were gunned down Monday. For the first time, it’s fair game to stalk bear in all or most of Hunterdon, Passaic, Morris, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties, and parts of Bergen and Mercer counties. (Beware of flying bullets.) The massive hunt is drawing fire from animal rights groups who aren't being “vewy, vewy quiet” about the need for more humane ways to control the bear population.
ATLANTIC CITY – When business is slow, the death knell is often to raise prices on your remaining customers. But the South Jersey Transportation Authority – gasping from the lower ridership on the Atlantic City Expressway – may have to gamble with higher tolls. The Press of Atlantic City reports a credit agency is calling for a toll increase to cover lost revenue – ideally a 50 percent jump in 2019. But number-crunchers are not marketers, and Atlantic City needs any enticement possible to keep the customers coming.
MADISON – Y'know the thrill of finding $20 in last winter's coat? Now, imagine that your find is utterly priceless. That's how a Drew University graduate student told The New York Times he felt when he discovered a 1611 first-edition King James Bible in a long-forgotten box on a dusty university library shelf. There are fewer than 200 known copies of this Bible. The one at Drew is rarer than most because of a typo in the Book of Ruth. Drew has a wealth of rare books and manuscripts, but no one knew this gem existed. It's now on display until Feb. 22 in Drew's “Uncovered Treasures” exhibit, if you are really, really into Bibles.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL – Hoosiers in Vigo County, IN are saying “Who the dang is Chris Christie?” Most voters in this blue-collar western Indiana county of 108,000 people are, for now, smitten with America’s nutcase Donald J. Trump. That's important, Politico says, because Vigo County is one of the nation's most accurate Presidential bellwethers. Since 1888, these voters have had the uncanny ability to pick the next president. They blew it only twice: In 1908, they went for Williams Jennings Bryan over William Howard Taft; and in 1952, for Adlai Stevenson, not Dwight Eisenhower. But you probably already knew that.
IN THE MEDIA
ON AIR – If Walter Cronkite were alive, he’d probably be writing ad copy for a social media start-up in Silicon Valley. Because Cronkite was way too classy to be in the cable news business, which appears to be going insane in its 24-hour punditry. Fox News suspended two of its on-air commentators yesterday for going way over the top. Ralph Peters, a Fox News analyst and retired Army officer, called the President “such a total (synonym for cat), it's stunning” on Fox Business Monday. Not to be outdone, Stacey Dash, a contributor on the Fox talk show "Outnumbered," then said the President “could give a sh#t” about terrorism.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1984 that a Virginia jury found Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt innocent of libeling Reverend Jerry Falwell with a fake liquor ad. It was famously called, “Jerry Falwell Talks about His First Time” and let’s just say the salty content is only suitable for Fox News. And it’s obvious why the jury awarded $200,000 to Falwell for “emotional distress.”
WORD OF THE DAY
Foofaraw (FOO-fah-ro) — noun
Definition: Unnecessary things added for ornamentation
Example: Did you see all that foofaraw on Mort’s Christmas tree?