The Morning Briefing - February 24, 2016
NEW BRUNSWICK - Assume many on the Rutgers University campus are howling after President Robert L. Barchi got handed a $97,000 performance bonus and a guaranteed full-year's pay - more than $676,260 - beyond the end of his contract next year. And, while the howlers are howling, they can also howl over the new football coach, Chris Ash, raking in $2 million a year. Sure, these are extraordinary numbers. But Rutgers is a big-time university, and these numbers jive with other big-time schools in other states where the per capita income is considerably less than New Jersey. (See Ohio, Alabama and Texas.) Perhaps the howlers should aspire to become university presidents and/or football coaches.
NORTH JERSEY - The good people of the 5th Congressional District - for some maddening reason - continue to re-elect Rep. Scott Garrett, no matter how much of a wing nut he has become. But good to see PNC Bank drawing the line, now refusing to give any more campaign cash to the state's arch-conservative member of Congress. Why? Because Garrett refuses to support the House Republicans, who back gay candidates. The congressman is proving yet again he is way out of whack with New Jersey's sensibilities. But the glaring fact matters little when voters return him to Congress every two years to vote like an unenlightened 1920s-era politician from the backwaters of the bayou.
NEWARK - The on-again, off-again plan to ticket and tow Uber drivers in Newark appears back on, with Mayor Ras Baraka saying the drivers better stay away from Penn Station and Newark airport. Baraka also says the state Legislature must hold Uber accountable to the same standards as taxi companies - which likely includes the hundreds of thousands of dollars in licenses paid to host cities. Uber plans to dig in, of course, as the whole ride-share phenomenon hinges on bringing Newark to its knees. A spokesman for Uber tells Politico: "We do not know why the City of Newark has flip-flopped and decided to once again target Uber despite the fact that more than two thousand of the city's residents depend on the app to make ends meet." This one ain't over.
PATERSON - With a bitter re-election battle brewing, a city councilman is suing four fellow council members, saying he was "exposed to hatred, contempt, ridicule" and falsely accused as a "racist against African Americans." Councilman Julio Tavarez's lawsuit says council colleagues had no right to take a "no confidence" vote against him for remarks he supposedly made about four Black councilmen to a Spanish-language radio station in December 2014. Tavarez's ally, Councilman Andre Sayegh, told the Paterson Press he would still like to "resolve the situation without litigation. We're up to our ears in lawsuits."
EAST BRUNSWICK - Maybe it's payback for all those Thanksgiving feasts. Wild turkeys have struck once again. This time a troublesome gaggle made a ruckus in the backyard of a township home, loudly pecking at its sliding glass doors. The plucky homeowner told N.J. Advance Media he chased them away, but not before they "pooped all over the (deck) and dirtied up the back door." Last week, a Hillsdale letter carrier took refuge in his vehicle after he ran afoul of some agitated wild turkeys. Perhaps a nice veggie burger for the fourth Thursday of November?
EDISON - Run, Brendan, run! And that's just what 17-year-old Brendan O'Brien did on Tuesday, trekking 15 miles from Edison's Wardlaw-Hartridge School, where he is a senior, to his home in Sayreville. Brendan's mission was to raise awareness about the mistreatment of veterans and to raise over $5,000 for the Travis Manion Foundation, a Pennsylvania-based veterans' support group, the Home News Tribune reported. Mayor Tom Lankey, a proud Wardlaw-Hartridge grad, joined the throng of well-wishers who gathered to send Brendan his way for the 2-hour, 18-minute run to his home where he was met by his parents, Cliff and Linda O'Brien, and members of Sayreville's VFW Post 4699 and American Legion Post 211.
IN THE MEDIA
ROSELLE PARK - We've never heard of an online newspaper called the Roselle Park News, but are thrilled to see it is doing some scrappy investigative reporting. The news site filed an OPRA request, proving that the Robert Gordon School principal had a relative enrolled in the school from out of town, but no one had paid the student's tuition for five months. Once the Roselle Park News submitted the OPRA request on January 29, two tuition checks were quickly deposited and presented to the local news outlet. If you need to read absolutely every single juicy detail of this investigation, visit the Roselle Park News here and join in the celebration of the big scoop.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
POWNAL, Maine - A Maine woman has gone a wee bit off the beaten path to secure herself a life-saving kidney. WABI-TV reports that women was so desperate for an organ that she posted signs along the side of the road and advertised from her car. At least 50 people reached out to her, prompting two matches and a surgery set for next week. A Bangor waitress is providing the gift, after reading about the woman's plight on Facebook.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Let's just assume it was not New Jersey that passed the first gas tax on this day in 1919 to pay for much-needed roadwork. Actually, it was Oregon, willing to slap on a penny a gallon to cover its costs.
WORD OF THE DAY
Bauble - (BAU-ble) - noun
Definition: A showy, usually super cheap, ornament or trinket
Example: It has been nearly two weeks since Valentine's Day and my wife is still not talking to me after what is now infamously described as the "Bauble Incident."