The Morning Briefing - January 16, 2015

The Morning Briefing will not publish Monday, January 19, marking Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

DES MOINES, Iowa — Local pig farmers get to salute their hero today, and perhaps get a chance to touch his pinstriped suit, as Gov. Chris Christie descends on the state to attend an inauguration for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad. Christie is known on each and every pig farm for bravely rejecting a mercy law that would have allowed pregnant pigs to live in larger crates in New Jersey. There are only a few thousand pigs in New Jersey – not a real deal here - but Iowa raises more than 20 million hogs annually. And Christie sure loves Iowa – and any other early primary state. The governor will take another victory lap next Saturday, returning to his pig farmer fan base for a conference of like-minded conservatives.

STATEWIDE – We can’t help it. No matter what study comes out about New Jersey, baseless or not, we are compelled to write about it – just like the real working media. The latest study is from something called “ValuePenguin.com,” reporting the safest towns in the state in 2015. Without any premise of accuracy, here we go: The safest small town is New Hanover Township in Burlington County, the medium-sized safe town is Bernards and the largest safe town (with more than 45,000 residents) is Parsippany-Troy Hills. See where your town stacks up in this informal, inconsistent and likely inane list. Click here.

STATEWIDE – 2014 was a banner year in the number of cleanups for the New Jersey Clean Communities Council, reporting 760 projects across the state that removed 1,930 tons of debris from waterways, beaches, greenways and roads. The council was hoping to coordinate 350 cleanups, to celebrate the 350th birthday of the state, but with various organizations pitching in, the number grew to 760 cleanups. That includes 18,181 volunteers who collected 11,310 large bags of litter and 34 tons of recyclables across 131 miles in 2014. In addition, volunteers were able to collect 8,300 tires dumped on public property. (And these are stats that are actually correct.)

EAST RUTHERFORD – As Bruce Springsteen says: “Down here it’s just winners and losers and don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line.” The losers are certainly the businesses around the Izod Center in the Meadowlands, which is closing at the end of the month, a direct hit on all those bars and restaurants on Route 17 and Route 3. And the winners must be all those businesses cropping up around the Prudential Center in Newark, which will now be home to all the concerts, shows, circuses, expos and tractor pulls the Izod Center once hosted.

ATLANTIC CITY – And speaking of Springsteen’s “Atlantic City,” Mayor Don Guardian is offering a rosy view of the future of the city. Even with four casinos shuttered, 8,000 employees laid off and Caesars announcing bankruptcy, Guardian notes the silver lining: "At least we are not Detroit." The Press of AC reports the mayor is eagerly looking forward to the city’s next chapter, with casinos turned into condos, a water park at the Revel, a Ferris wheel on the Steel Pier, and Stockton College taking over the Showboat. He also promises an "outrageous entertainment feature" at the former Atlantic Club. With casino revenue slashed in half over the past decade, you had to admire the mayor’s enthusiasm.

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

OSLO – If you accept a job, you gotta do it. That is the message of Norway officials, who fined a hitman the equivalent of $1,300 for not killing a 17-year-old youth. Reuters reports the contract killer took 40,000 crowns, but authorities believe he had no plans to actually do the deed. The so-called killer was charged with defrauding his potential client, accepted guilt and paid a fine. Again, we are sourcing all of this to Reuters and an Oslo newspaper called Varden, as it seems so unbelievable. 

NEW YORK – It is mid-January, with only a couple more shopping weeks until Groundhog Day on February 2. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says he has absolutely no plans to handle a groundhog. You may remember the disaster from last year, when de Blasio, in one of his first tasks as mayor, dropped the groundhog at the annual Staten Island Zoo Groundhog Day ceremony. It died six weeks later. An autopsy revealed the groundhog died of internal injuries, but no one could directly link the cause to the mayor’s butterfingers. Other drama was also revealed, such as the fact the groundhog that died was not the famous “Chuck” from the zoo, but a female stand-in named Charlotte. It all prompted Twitter jokes about a #Groundhoghazi cover-up, with some calling for de Blasio's impeachment.  Anyway, as the New York Post reports, Chuck will be safely kept behind plexiglass for this year’s ceremony, to the mayor’s relief.

IN THE MEDIA

TRENTON – There is still some chatter about Gov. Chris Christie’s “State of the State” address from Tuesday, with NJSpotlight conducting an informal reader poll that found 57 percent agree with this statement: “Once again, Chris Christie tried to spin his message with half-truths, misinformation, and the power of his personality. It’s getting harder for him to do it, though, given all of New Jersey’s looming crises. He should have used the opportunity to change the conversation by proposing something new, because he will have to face the music at some point. You can only kick the can down the road for so long. And now he’s taking center stage.”

Meanwhile, 3 percent of poll respondents agreed with this statement: “I thought he did a good job. He was right to remind everyone of all his accomplishments and that he is holding down costs. Any new initiative deserves its own focus, and I expect we’ll be hearing about some soon.” (The 3 percent must have been Iowa pig farmers.)

Read more here.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

It was this day in 2013 that shrinking revenue forced Canada's Cirque du Soleil to cut loose 400 employees. Hope they weren’t hanging too high.