The Morning Briefing - March 24, 2016
**The Morning Briefing is on Spring Break Next Week, Returning Monday, April 4**
STATEWIDE - Don't get any respect at work? Shooed away from the pencil sharpener? Can't master a Keurig? For instant respect, we've got an idea that would let you run a multi-million dollar operation, oversee hundreds, and even lay off people more accomplished than you. How? Run for school board. Chances are you would win. Last year, 805 school board candidates ran unopposed in New Jersey; no one even bothered to run for another 130 open seats, reports The 74, an education news website. The New Jersey School Boards Association says one explanation could be that 90 percent of school districts switched to November elections, putting candidate-filing deadlines in July when most people think about beach houses not schoolhouses. Now's your big chance to prove everyone wrong, like your boss, your co-workers, even your mom.
ON THE RAILS - News that Amtrak and the Port Authority are kicking in $70 million for engineering work for new Hudson Rail tunnels is being hailed as a great step. But it also shows how far we really need to go with a project that is expected to cost $20 billion and not be in service until 2030. Nothing ever seems to cost what it is originally expected to cost, and timetables for such long-term projects are always so fuzzy. So, yes, a big "yay!" on the $70 million, but, gee, there's so far to go, as we somehow have two more decades with our two, 106-year-old tunnels that are bruised, battered and begging for retirement.
BRICK - Rude insults reputedly made to and about a church just got costly. Officials aren't admitting to any misbehavior, of course, but the Town Council approved a $237,500 settlement with New Beginnings Christian Fellowship on Tuesday, Patch.com says. This ends a lawsuit the church filed in 2013 after the zoning board twice denied it approvals to renovate its worship center. The lawsuit accused the town of bias after the zoning board's then-chairman called the church's attorney ignorant; blocked a church driveway during services and tried to direct traffic. The lawsuit also alleged a then-councilman publicly stated church members "could all be pedophiles" and "we are going to bury you." Mayor John Ducey says Brick's insurance will cover the payout, not taxpayers. So, uh, good news?
BERKELEY - An Ocean County juvenile jail guard may face some jail time herself. The 35-year-old officer was arrested in a Route 9 Walgreens parking lot Tuesday with heroin ready for sale, Patch reports. There was also heroin, cocaine, digital scales and cash in her Bayville home, cops say. The woman - who has worked with at-risk kids since 2012 - faces a host of drug possession and distribution charges. Held on $125,000 bail, she's a shining example of what not to do. Young inmates say, "Thank you, Ms. Jail Guard, for today's important lesson."
JACKSON – Six Flags just got a green light to mow down 15,000 trees as part of a bizarre “Going Green” effort. The planning board approved the amusement park’s plan to build a 21-megawatt solar farm, over the concerns of people who just don't understand why a forest must be destroyed when Six Flags has 100 acres of parking lots to put its solar canopies. Six Flags scaled back its plan, following public outcry. It originally planned to cut down thousands more trees to “go green.” Again, we don’t really get this, but we assume it has something to with money.
NEW BRUNSWICK – Next time Steven Spielberg considers New Jersey for a movie shoot, we hope he doesn’t read this story. A small-time Toms River actor, playing a bit part in a gangster movie, is looking at 5 years in state lockup. Huh? It’s because police officers noticed him hold a disabled prop gun during a film shoot in Woodbridge. And actor Carlo Bellario did not have a state gun permit. Bellario is now dealing with the state’s gun law, which required him to have a gun permit although he was just being filmed in a car chase scene. Bellario isn’t agreeing to a plea deal, which would have put him in jail for just a few months. “Robert De Niro doesn't ask Marty Scorsese if he has gun permits. We're actors. That's for the production company to worry about,” Bellario tells the AP. Good plot for a movie, by the way.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
HAZLETON, PA. - This city's new mayor is cleaning up the town - beginning with his office. Since Jeff Cusat took office in January, he repainted the mayor's office, then his assistant's office. He also spent $5,000 out-of-pocket for the paint and supplies, a carpet-cleaning machine, his own office furniture, toaster oven and a fridge that he stocked with snacks for city hall workers, the Standard-Speaker reports. And he used $800 from his own nonprofit to buy paint for city hall hallways. Just wait until the mayor gets around to the DPW garage, where you might find him waxing and buffing all of the city's ride-on lawn mowers.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
New Jersey was home to even more history on this day in 1900, when the Carnegie Steel Corp. was founded here. It seemed a fair divide of stock: Andrew Carnegie took 86,379 shares, and the second guy on the totem pole, George E. McCague, was given 442 shares. Others were handed much, much less. Thank you, Mr. Carnegie, sir.
WORD OF THE DAY
Somnolent - (SAHM-nuh-lunt) - adjective
Definition: Likely to induce sleep; sleepy
Example: "Unlike other somnolent freeholder boards, those Cumberland County freeholders sure know how to pack 'em in."