The Morning Briefing - March 14, 2016
ON THE RAILS – Everyone's knows by now the NJ Transit strike was averted giving commuters even more reason to throw back mugs of green beer this week. They will toast to no fare hikes for 15 months. Increases are likely after July 2017. Contract details? All hush-hush for now. Gov. Chris Christie is finally all smiles, and confident that 11 labor unions will ratify the accord. Those unions wanted a 17% pay raise over 6½ years; NJ Transit offered 10.4% over 7½ years. The final raises? Still, all hush-hush. But, the Wall Street Journal says NJ Transit may have agreed to 21% pay increases over 8½ years in return for higher employee health insurance co-pays; and retroactive pay raises for recent transit workers. For perspective: The current maximum base-pay and overtime for train conductors: $184,530; for engineers: $174,778. So, uh, what's in your wallet?
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL – Gov. Chris Christie appears to be on the stump for Trump today, as he tries to gently escape the state and see if anyone notices. PolitickerNJ notes an email last night from the governor’s office shows no schedule for Christie today and directs nosy reporters to the Trump campaign. So, even though newspapers and politicians have called for the governor to resign if he is remains laser focused on national politics, it doesn’t really seen to matter until, perhaps, the moment The Donald sews up the GOP nomination.
BERNARDS TWP. – Real concerns or real Islamophobia? That's what a federal judge will decide after the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge filed a lawsuit when this town's planning board rejected plans for a mosque and Islamic center. Denials came after 39 excruciating public hearings stretched over four years, The New York Times reports. “We bent over backwards to satisfy every demand made of us, no matter how unreasonable,” said ISBR leader Mohammad Ali Chaudry, also the town's former mayor. Officials and residents groused about everything from the mosque's appearance to potential noise and traffic. The Islamic Society claims the town ignored federal law that protects houses of worship from unreasonable land use rules, and it has trampled freedom of religion. Where’s Benjamin Franklin when you really need him?
FORT LEE – Perhaps beating tolls is only for Bond … James Bond. Police nabbed yet another trucker using a “Bond-style” wire-pulley-hinge device to repeatedly flip his rig's front license plate out-of-sight, trying to cheat the GWB out of $126, N.J. Advance Media reports. Cops periodically nab cagey truckers who use similar slick devices to beat tolls on highways, tunnels and bridges. The most elaborate, however, was a Queens N.Y. trucker arrested last year, who installed a $2,000 hydraulic gizmo that flipped over his truck's entire front bumper to beat tolls. Q would have been proud.
EDISON – A brand new James Monroe Elementary School is likely to reopen this fall for more than 450 youngsters displaced by a devastating March 2014 fire, the Home News Tribune reports. Built at a cost of $19.6 million, the gleaming new school is larger than its predecessor; it has two stories, more classrooms, a separate gymnasium and cafeteria, air conditioning and fire suppression system. If the new building is not done by August, Superintendent Richard O'Malley says the district would have to spend $1.8 million to continue leasing classroom space from the Diocese of Metuchen for another year. Perhaps there will be a need for divine intervention.
TRENTON – It seemed the perfect solution to the property tax crisis in 2011: Just prevent towns from raising taxes by more than two percent. Easy enough, right? But five years later, the Record notes that 60 percent of the towns in the state exceeded the spending cap. The official tally - 334 of the state’s 565 municipalities — is the highest number exceeding the cap since the reforms were passed. Tax increases are still less than in the past, but one must ponder if the two percent cap is the long-term winner, or just a short victory lap.
EDISON — We vote for freeholders each November, but – quite frankly – it's unclear what they do. Debunk the myths at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Pines Manor in Edison, where the Middlesex County Regional Chamber of Commerce hosts “Meet the Freeholders” with Middlesex County Freeholder Director Ron Rios and Freeholders Kenny Armwood and H. James Polos. They're supposed to talk about why county government is so crucial in your life, although they may just suggest you call your local DPW for spring clean-ups info. Register at www.mcrcc.org.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — One of Florida's top bureaucrats is being torn from his office because of the 10 pounds of bat poop discovered in the ceiling above his desk. The messy discovery was made Thursday in the humble offices of Ken Lawson, secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. “Holy bat stench,” cried the landlord, as the state has evacuated his property and he prepares for less-than-sunny letters from the Sunshine State.
SANTA ANA, CA. – A criminal lawyer didn't mount a particularly vigorous defense when he was beat up by a District Attorney's investigator last week in a courthouse hallway. Witnesses told police the pummeled James Crawford, Esq. – who ended up with a bloodied face, black eye and fractured cheek – didn't land a blow on the detective who allegedly called him “sleazy,” repeatedly punched him, and slammed his head into a wooden bench, the Orange County Register reports. His passive ways also kept Crawford from being arrested. Police think a recent court victory Crawford scored against the DA's office triggered the scuffle. The state Attorney General – already investigating the DA's office for other misdeeds – is now looking into this tussle too. Could make for a screenplay; Hollywood will be watching.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1914 that Henry Ford announced he had a new way to build cars, decreasing the total time from 12 ½ hours to just 93 minutes.
WORD OF THE DAY
Olecranon (oh-LEK-rah-non) — noun
Definition: The point of the elbow.
Example: Don’t you dare stick your olecranon at me, boy.