The Morning Briefing - February 9, 2015
SAYREVILLE – Borough school officials think they can raise up to $1 million for selling ad space, including on school buses, to the likes of hospitals, universities and others, NJ.com reports. It makes perfect sense. Before going back to taxpayers with hat in hand, claiming “gosh, there’s just nothing more we can do,” Sayreville school officials can point to the back of the school bus, and the image of the smiling local orthodontist, valued at a cool $10,000.
ATLANTIC CITY – Someone offers you a Ferrari for just 10 bucks, yet you quibble about tire wear. That’s our analogy for the piddling issues surrounding the potential sale of the $2.4 billion Revel, and the buyer who can steal the place for just $95.4 million. Glenn Straub is still threatening to walk away from this sweetheart deal, prompting a federal judge to hopefully settle matters today. The buyer is dealing with silly issues, such as a utility company demanding payment for all the heat, electricity and water the casino has consumed, as well as the lease for a popular nightclub that wants to remain. Such nonsense would be quickly resolved if there were other legitimate bidders clamoring to buy the place. Where’s a Saudi prince when you need one?
STATEWIDE – With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, now is the time to give your special girl what she’s always dreamed of: a bottle of limited edition Big Mac special sauce. Now, before you think this gift seems a little, well chintzy, McDonald’s says that bottle can cost you $18,000. There are 200 bottles up on eBay today, with proceeds benefiting Ronald McDonald charities. It’s a pretty pricey gift, when you think it’s just a concoction of pickle relish, mustard, distilled vinegar, onion, garlic and salted egg yolks. Or, as some special sauce detractors note, Russian dressing.
PARK RIDGE – It looks as if the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack, NY needs to post signs urging shoppers to use the escalators, as opposed to getting drunk, hopping over the rails and plunging 20 feet to the first floor. A Park Ridge man did just that yesterday, injuring his leg and being sent to the hospital, LoHud.com reports. Cops, likely scanning the stupidity statutes, ultimately charged the guy with reckless endangerment. (eBay notes you can drink all you want, but won’t break any bones, by shopping online.)
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
KINGSLEY, Mich. – Taking bored and drunk to the nth degree, a Michigan man admitted dialing “911” more than 100 times in just a month. The Traverse City Record-Eagle says the guy was busted in his mobile home Thursday night. Cops confiscated six phones used to call 911 since January, as well as a hand-held police scanner. The caller typically did not say anything to dispatchers but upped the ante as of late with some heavy breathing. On the last call, when busted, he finally spoke: telling 911 he was hurt and needed help. True, he does need help.
IN THE MEDIA
NEW YORK – The career of Brian Williams is circling the drain, with word he is taking a break from the NBC anchor slot and won’t be appearing on the Letterman show Thursday, as scheduled. Although Williams, a Middletown, NJ native, is still adored by many viewers, how can he remain the lead journalist for NBC after “misremembering” if his helicopter was shot down in Iraq. Unfortunately, anchormen are nagged with “credibility” as a top job requirement, along with great hair, teeth and wardrobe.
NEW YORK – When art and cultural historians reflect one day on February 9, 2015 – assessing the vast intellect of our advanced and progressive society – we can all be proud they will learn the top grossing film in America is “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.”
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 2012 that Eastman Kodak Co. reports it will no longer make digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames to save money, leaving desperate company officials to deem camera film as the technology of the future. Future art and cultural historians may disagree.