The Morning Briefing - March 3, 2016
PATERSON - You'd think a guy living across the street from a prominent drug treatment facility, wearing an ankle bracelet because he's on probation, would be on the straight and narrow. But, alas, no, reports the Paterson Press. He was busted Tuesday night with nearly 1,900 packets of heroin. It wasn't tough for narcotics detectives to identify the guy, as they saw him pacing back in forth on a street corner, talking into a cell phone, and acting like the dictionary definition of a drug dealer. The case became even more obvious when a black Range Rover pulled up and an item was exchanged. (Hmmm.) Cops jumped all over this, finding 1,841 glassines of heroin and $3,407 in cash at the (alleged) dealer's house, ironically across the street from the "Straight and Narrow" drug rehab on Straight Street. (Yes, really.)
NEWARK - Uber appears to have found a friend in its war with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Politico reports that Newark police have not been slapping tickets and towing Uber drivers at Newark Liberty Airport, even though Baraka has vowed to make it happen. Why? Because it looks like the Port Authority cops are telling the Newark cops to back off. Newark P.D. confirms no Uber cars have been towed at the airport, seemingly stymied by the Port Authority. Has Uber won this one?
NOT IN TRENTON - There were many suggestions yesterday about what was going through the mind of Gov. Chris Christie as he stood behind Donald Trump on his Super Tuesday election night victory press conference at Mar-a-Lago, with the Washington Post poetically writing that Christie looked as if he had seen a "ghost and the ghost made him watch Mufasa die again." We couldn't help but think Christie looked a bit like Dina McGreevey standing behind her man after he announced to the world that he was a "Gay American" and would resign as governor of New Jersey. Or Hillary Clinton standing by her man when he denied having "sexual relations with that woman." Who would have thought the tough-talking governor full of machismo could play the role of the good wife so well?
HEADING TO JERSEY - Tax-cheating New Jersey bodegas might run out of Marlboros and Newports this week. Police stopped a speeding SUV on Interstate 95 in Baltimore, apparently delivering 20,000 packs of untaxed cigarettes, worth $133,000, to the Garden State from North Carolina. WMAR-TV News says if those cigarettes had made it to shady convenience stores, it would have meant $41,000 in lost tax revenue. And we all know that Jersey needs the money. The 32-year-old driver was charged with illegal possession of 30 boxes of untaxed and unstamped cigarettes, and is jailed on $75,000 bail.
ATLANTIC CITY - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is throwing his weight and his money bags into the debate over North Jersey casinos, threatening to stop his $100 million plan to salvage Trump Taj Mahal if state officials allow two casinos just outside NYC. Icahn says the competition would destroy Atlantic City gaming. As the guy who owns the Tropicana, and is now saddled with the bankrupt Taj Mahal, expect Icahn to get more cutthroat, if possible, as state officials dare to move forward.
MORRISTOWN - The stage seems set for another rancorous Republican primary over three Morris County Freeholder seats. On one side of June's battle are penny-pinching incumbents Douglas Cabana, Thomas Mastrangelo and Freeholder Director Kathy DeFillippo, who haven't raised taxes for several years and say they are bent on slicing the county's $60 million debt. On the other side are self-described reformers, Randolph Mayor Roman Hirniak, Parsippany Council President Louis Valori and Morris Plains lawyer Peter J. King. They have already gone on the offensive, telling the Daily Record some current freeholders are divisive; motivated by "vendettas;" and fiscally reckless. Hang on, it's only March.
BARNEGAT - Revolutionary War buffs rejoice! Taxpayers, well, maybe not so much. Ocean County freeholders are borrowing $2.2 million to spruce up Cedar Bridge Tavern, site of one of the Revolution's final skirmishes in 1782, the Asbury Park Press says. The county-owned tavern, off Route 72, is to be restored, and an outdoor classroom and caretaker's cottage built. Only 300 or so school kids annually visit, mostly to see re-enactors recreate what's known as the "Affair at Cedar Bridge," when a rogue band of British Loyalists called "Pine Robbers" ambushed colonial militiamen. If these pricey upgrades don't significantly boost tourism, perhaps it will be renamed the "Boondoggle at Barnegat."
IN THE MEDIA
ISELIN - For the past two years, if you wanted to read a negative story about Gov. Chris Christie, look no further than whatever issue of The Star-Ledger may be sitting around. So, it was surprising to see the Ledger was not the first newspaper to call for the governor's resignation. Rather, today's Ledger followed the call from Gannett, who made national news yesterday by running the editorial in six of its New Jersey newspapers. For the Ledger to make headlines on this, perhaps it should call for the governor's public flogging on the Statehouse steps, or, better yet. demanding that Sen. Loretta Weinberg whack him with a bat at the base of the GWB.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - It's tougher than ever to get an air-tight deduction from the IRS. So, it really made perfect sense for a Missouri man to advertise on Craigslist for the identities of children he could claim as dependents. The U.S. attorney's office doesn't agree, displeased the 37-year-old taxpayer wrote on Craigslist: "If you have some kids you aren't claiming, I will pay you $750 each to claim them on my income tax." The taxpayer is accused of filing in February 2015 false returns for 2012, 2013 and 2014, listing three fake dependents. Perhaps when he is released from prison, he can score some real offspring.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was on this day in 1903 that the United States imposed a $2-a-head tax on immigrants. Welcome to America, little girl.
WORD OF THE DAY
Hoi polloi (hoi-pah-LOI) - noun
Definition: The common people; the yearning masses.
Example: The Presidential candidate announced plans to place a $2-a-head tax on the hoi polloi to fund his campaign.