The Morning Briefing - December 17, 2015
BRIDGEGATE - Any New Jersey taxpayer who realizes $8 million has been blown (to date) on legal fees for Gov. Chris Christie's taxpayer-funded investigation may be a bit annoyed. They may be even a bit more annoyed that a federal judge yesterday tore into the lawyers hired by the state, claiming they intentionally scrapped interview notes because of a parallel legislative investigation and intense media scrutiny, the Record reports. The judge wrote the New York law firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher broke from their typical note-taking approach "to ensure that contemporaneous notes of the witness interviews and draft summaries would not be preserved." She added: "The taxpayers of the State of New Jersey paid [Gibson Dunn] millions of dollars to conduct a transparent and thorough investigation. What they got instead was opacity and gamesmanship. They deserve better."
TRENTON - You have to admit; the Democrats are dogged. The Assembly is back in Trenton this morning, trying yet again to override Gov. Chris Christie's veto of legislation on guns and mental health. It's a tough trick, as the Assembly needs some more Republicans to turn their back on the governor. The bill would seem to have obvious support: requiring people seeking to clear a mental health record in order to buy a firearm to first notify law enforcement. But this is an issue of "gun control," something that heats up Republican Presidential politics.
BEACH HAVEN - The show must go on - if someone can spare $3.5 million. That's where bidding begins tomorrow when the historic Surflight Theatre goes on the auction block, the Asbury Park Press reports. The Surflight survived Superstorm Sandy, yet is now drowning in its own debt. An LBI institution for 62 years, the 450-seat theater is widely known as a summer stock venue and home for the Show Place Ice Cream Parlor, where the wait staff sang and danced while serving up overpriced scoops. Just two blocks from the ocean, there's no guarantee a salivating developer won't turn this prime real estate into a mega condo complex - forever removing a bit of charm from LBI.
CAMDEN - It's no surprise that a Lawnside woman is now facing criminal charges, after she left her two kids in a running SUV as she ran into a liquor store. She made national news last week, when a carjacker jumped in her running vehicle and drove off with her kiddies in the back. He slammed the SUV into another car and flipped it; amazingly the kids are ok.
CARNEYS POINT - Getting kicked out of Salem Community College seems perfectly appropriate for one student who threatened to harm his classmates last night and prompted a school-wide lock-down. When every school in America is a bit, let's say, jittery, at this point, it is amazing that someone would do something so stupid. Police took over the campus for two hours last night and brought the student in for questioning, with classes dismissed at 7:45 p.m. Community colleges are a great access point for higher education, but we can all agree this morning that not every kid is "college material."
NEW BRUNSWICK - RU thirsty? RU you in the mood for a soda? RU a Pepsi drinker? If so, "Go Scarlet," as the soda company has its first batch of specially-designed soda cans commemorating Rutgers University's 250th anniversary hitting stores this week, Rutgers Today announced. Pepsi is cranking out 4 million of these specialty cans with the dates "1766-2016" on a bright red shield and the slogan: "Revolutionary for 250 Years." RU going to buy one?
MOUNT LAUREL - Remember that great Facebook story in July of a waitress who picked up the breakfast tab for two firefighters at the Route 130 diner in Delran? Today, firefighters and a mobility company will be returning the favor, providing a fully wheelchair accessible van to help her paralyzed father.
SUSSEX COUNTY - The state's latest bear hunt has been getting plenty of attention, as hunters are not killing as much wildlife as the state would like. There were 17 more black bears that met the cold, hard bullet yesterday, bringing the total kill count to 489. In an effort to bag these bears, the state expanded the area in which hunters could hunt, and then added four more days to the hunt, which ends after sunset on Saturday. Uh, here's our hope the state meets its goal? Maybe the state needs Donald Trump's sons, both of whom could likely carpet bomb a forest.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL - Former Gov. Christie Whitman is speaking out against her fellow Republicans, saying her party is being taken over by ideological zealots and suggested the best thing may be for the Republicans to "go down to flaming defeat." She said: "Part of me wants to say, 'Let's take the most conservative candidate we can get, let's go down to flaming defeat and then maybe people will figure out that people are really in the middle'." She also couldn't help but compare Donald Trump with "some of the worst dictators in history." Whitman even dropped the H word.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
IN YOUR WALLET - Wells Fargo wins the prize for being the first major bank to increase its prime lending rate after the fed's rate hike. According to Investment News, it took the bank just 12 minutes after the fed announcement to bump its prime rate to 3.5% from 3.25%. No word yet on whether Wells Fargo will make any changes to the 0.06% it is paying on its savings accounts.
ENCINITAS, Calif. - It's always good to make lists to keep tasks straight - unless you happen to be a criminal on a spree. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports two suspects on probation were found in a car on Tuesday with stolen packages. Things went from bad to worse when authorities discovered a "to-do" list with these words, "Steal mail and shoplift." The car also featured five stolen packages, drugs, methamphetamine, heroin, a gun and stolen mail addressed to 13 people. New list: "do prison laundry, stay out of the showers and don't try the meatloaf."
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Happy Birthday to the one-way traffic sign, launched on this day in 1791 in New York. Perhaps there was a back-up of horses and carts - one of America's first traffic jams.
WORD OF THE DAY
Anglewitch - noun
Definition: An ugly, little worm, often used as fish bait.
Example: Perhaps Christie Whitman can also refer to Donald Trump as an anglewitch?