The Morning Briefing - March 4, 2016
ON THE RAILS - With an NJ Transit strike that could smack the area as soon as next Sunday, the Port Authority is gearing up for the absolute worst. It sent out a statement yesterday telling 65,000 commuters to imagine life without trains, in which there's gridlock at the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, PATH rail stations, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the George Washington Bridge and Staten Island bridges. To ease a little bit of the agony, the Port Authority plans to cross-honor NJ Transit rail tickets on PATH trains as capacity allows, and are suggesting people just work from home. Translation: Go on spring break.
TRENTON - So now that Gov. Chris Christie insists he's back at work and refocused, does Jersey still want him? Christie's approval rating is now at a toilet-gurgling 27-percent. Yet Christie soldiers on, yesterday brushing aside calls for his resignation from seven newspapers and some Republican rumblings. Other folks, however, seem less willing to give Christie a stay-or-go option. The Princeton Planet, for example, has posted a digestible "how to recall an elected official" guide online. And, to get Christie's recall ball rolling, an Essex County teacher created an online recall petition that's gained hundreds of new signatures in the past few days alone. It was at 3,819 and counting this morning. But, again, if Christie can just focus on New Jersey, it gives the media and the public something else to talk about.
TRENTON - Sure, feel free to sign as many recall petitions as you want. But, as the cool, collected minds at the Asbury Park Press note, it's not that easy to bounce a politician from office. There have only been three gubernatorial recall elections. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker survived one four years ago. In 2003, California voters were able to bounce Gov. Gray Davis, giving us The Terminator. And there was 1921, when Gov. Lynn Frazier of North Dakota got the boot. In summary, we have Christie for two more years.
ASBURY PARK - In yet more recall news, well-liked Councilman Jesse "Coach K" Kendle seems to be the easiest politician to recall for three residents upset that condos, hotels and new businesses are springing up on the city's east side, while the west side gets neglected. Kendle - a popular former football and basketball coach in many Monmouth County schools - isn't more blameworthy than other council members, the Asbury Park Press reports. But the trio is targeting him, now gathering 2,175 recall petition signatures. The trio includes one of Kendle's 2014 election opponents and Mabin Womble, campaign manager for the losing slate. Womble insists there's no political intrigue: "I just thought (Kendle) was most vulnerable."
ATLANTIC CITY - Following the colossal mess of Stockton University attempting to buy the shuttered Showboat casino, a state senator wants the state Legislature to have oversight whenever a public college tries to buy property outside a five-mile radius of its campus. Sen. Paul Sarlo, a North Jersey guy, says the Showboat bill ensures accountability and more checks in the system. Stockton bought the Showboat in December 2014, but then was forced to unload it in January because of a covenant requiring it remain a casino hotel.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA - He's no Doogie Howser, M.D. That's why a Florida teenager, arrested three times for impersonating a doctor, must now undergo a court-ordered psych evaluation. The 18-year-old was arrested this week after he made house calls to an ailing 86-year-old woman. After the teenager shipped her off in an ambulance for hospital medical tests, police told The Sun-Sentinel, he spent $34,504 from her checking account to pay off his car loan and credit cards. The teen was arrested in February for running a fake walk-in clinic for several months, when he give physicals to patients, including an undercover cop. And in 2015, he was taken into custody (but not charged) for doing checkups and consulting on a woman's gynecological exam at a hospital outpatient facility. At his arraignment Wednesday, his lawyer argued: "He's really just a child," and compared the teen's "entrepreneurial spirit" to that of Donald Trump and Bill Gates. Although he faces a litany of criminal charges, the judge allowed his "supervised release," but sternly ordered the teen not to practice medicine. How about law?
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1913 that the U.S. Department of Labor was created. It ultimately became a great way to create new government jobs, now with 17,450 personnel and a $105 billion budget.
WORD OF THE DAY
Quidnunc (KWID-nungk) - noun
Definition: A busybody; a nosy person.
Example: Who was that quidnunc asking all those off-message questions at the governor's press conference yesterday?