The Morning Briefing - March 7, 2016
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL - When it comes to Presidential politics, we're relieved to see that New Jersey is not swept up in Trump-mania. Although The Donald does have some fair support in the state - with 36 percent of the electorate at this moment willing to vote for him over the Democratic challenger. Fairleigh Dickinson pollsters asked New Jersey voters how best to describe Trump. Leading descriptors include: "arrogant," "idiot," "good," "bad," "obnoxious," and "ass." (Gotta love Jersey.) Hillary Clinton fared a little better, described as "liar," "dishonest," "experienced," "strong," and "good."
HOBOKEN - You organize a St. Patrick's Day bar crawl. You advertise it to revelers, and you host it in Hoboken, where any bar is within short stumbling distance. So, no surprise the Hoboken cops were not thrilled with you, if you were behind Saturday's big party, with cops issuing tickets for public drunkenness, public urination and anything else involved with drinking cheap beer from plastic cups, as hundreds wobble to and fro. NJ.com says the Hoboken police chief was "disturbed" by the annual Lepre-Con bar crawl, questioning why his cops and residents have to deal with all the drunks so bar crawl promoters can make a tidy profit.
PARAMUS - Her crimes are no longer a secret. For allegedly stealing bunches of lingerie - strictly from Victoria's Secret stores - a Pennsylvania woman has been busted a few times since August. Police say she repeatedly hit Victoria's Secret at Paramus Mall, Garden State Plaza and Willowbrook Mall. Each time, however, she was released without bail, racking up warrants and not showing up in court. The Record reports that Paramus police nabbed her again last week in another Victoria's Secret heist. This time, cops aren't messing around. She's being held in Bergen County's jail on $75,000 bail on nine theft counts for swiping a grand total of $24,000 worth of women's skivvies.
NEWARK - Since withdrawing from the presidential campaign, Gov. Chris Christie has slowly been reacquainting himself with the state of New Jersey, spending quite a bit of time at Newark schools. This morning, he is visiting a charter school in Newark - North Star Academy's Alexander Street School. North Star has had tremendous success turning the former district school around since it took it over two years ago. No doubt, the governor will want to tout the impressive gains as an achievement of his administration's commitment to charter schools.
IN THE SKY - It's a story for the birds. The nonprofit Conserve Wildlife Foundation tells the Record that it spotted 31 new Osprey nests in New Jersey's waterfront communities over the past 12 months, and now estimates the state's population of these huge fish-eating hawks at nearly 600 pair, up from 50 in the 1970s. This same wildlife group announced in January the Garden State now has 161 pairs of nesting Bald Eagles, up from a single nest in the 1980s. Traffic, diners, high taxes and, now, wildlife.
ON THE AIR - It seems U.S. Sen. Cory Booker knows more about old sports jerseys than almost anyone. Booker made a live weekend appearance on the NPR-WBEZ Chicago news quiz "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me." Booker played a game that radio host Peter Sagal called "New Jersey? I prefer Old Jersey!" And he won, correctly answering two questions loosely related to old sports jerseys, including how Colt 45 beer really got its name and the real reason why there's an 18 mph speed limit on the Ole Miss campus. Check out the king of trivia here.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL - Saturday Night Live had to wait nearly a week to do a parody about Donald Trump's Super Tuesday press conference, with a ghost-like Chris Christie standing behind him and taking all the insults. SNL held absolutely nothing back, even having the Trump character saying, "Everyone love me, I even got this fat piece of crap behind me now," referring to a pale, stunned and obedient Christie character over high right shoulder. Watch it here.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
EMBDEN, Maine - Town leaders are on their last nerve, tired of spending hundreds of dollars every year to replace stolen street signs on Katie's Crotch Road. No one remembers how the four-mile-long road got its unusual name, reports the Morning Sentinel, but town leaders want it changed. After all, signs for Katie's Crotch Road are among the most stolen road signs in America. Board of Selectman Chairman Charles Taylor says thefts occur so frequently "you would think every dorm room in the state of Maine should have one by now." Town leaders tried once before in 2012 to get the street renamed, but the 950 residents in this 43-square-mile town gave the proposal an emphatic "no."
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
There were cold leftovers on the table for Cincinnati Mayor Leopold Markbreit on this day in 1908, after he announced before the city council that, "Women are not physically fit to operate automobiles."
WORD OF THE DAY
Corpulent - (KOR-pyah-lent) - adjective
Definition: excessively fat.
Example: With his six-pie-a-day habit, Bob was a content and corpulent fellow.