The Morning Briefing - May 11, 2016
NEWARK - "No, officer, I'm not drunk. I only had three Americas." That's the phrase cops will be hearing across our highways beginning Memorial Day weekend, as Anheuser-Busch has renamed "Budweiser" as "America" between now and Election Day, Reuters reports. The company - headquartered in Belgium - wants everyone to grab a nice, cold America and celebrate our freedom. So, you can, uh, salute our great nation by chugging, and then puking, America from May 23 to Nov. 8. What a tribute.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRIAL - New Jersey has hit a Clinton trifecta this week. Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton descends on the Garden State at 11 a.m. with a two-hour rally at Camden County College's Blackwood campus. Daughter Chelsea stumps for mom in Essex and Middlesex counties on Friday, the same day that her dad, former President Bill Clinton, talks up his wife's plan to raise wages for American workers at rallies in Mercer and Passaic counties. Get ready for a huge dose of Hillary - on your TV, social media, billboards and banging around your head as you try to sleep - as the June 7 primary election looms.
EDISON - It's game on in Middlesex County tomorrow night, as four politicians go to the mats to fight for the 18th District Assembly vacancy. Some 300 Democratic committee members from the district's seven towns convene at 6 p.m. at Middlesex County College's Performing Arts Center to make their choice after an hour of the usual glad-handing, back-biting and promise-making. Seeking the seat are Edison Council members Robert Karabinchak and Sapana Shah, Highland Park Councilwoman Elsie Foster-Dublin, and former South River Councilman Matthew Vaughn. The vacancy came after Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan was sworn into the state Senate on Monday to replace Peter J. Barnes 3rd, now a Superior Court judge.
LOWER ALLOWAYS CREEK - They've got the power and now PSE&G also has a coveted federal permit. Yet PSE&G Power says a new Salem County nuclear reactor isn't on its drawing board. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the company a permit last week for a new reactor near the company's two existing facilities, Salem and Hope Creek. PSE&G applied for it in 2010 when electricity prices were higher, but a spokesman says the economics "don't make sense right now." That's fine; the permit is good for 20 years.
TRENTON - You'd think a down-and-out city like Trenton would really appreciate small business. But there is no question that Trenton would be happy to permanently shut down NJ Weedman's restaurant, called "The Joint." NJ Weedman - the state's most well-known and outspoken pothead - was out in front of his restaurant yesterday, holding a sign that read "We-R-Open. F--- the Police." When cops rolled by, he repeatedly yelled, "Get out of my face." This local restaurateur has been trying to drum up business after cops raided The Joint two weeks ago, making arrests and shutting the business for a few days because of health code violations.
IN THE MEDIA
LYNN, Mass. - You can't always get what you want. But that is not stopping a local newspaper publisher from trying to get the Rolling Stones to perform in the city - 50 years after a thunderstorm cut the show short, prompting a rampage. The publisher of the Daily Item wants the band to finish the set it started on June 24, 1966. Fans went nuts when the concert was cut short, breaking the barriers at Manning Bowl stadium. Tear gas was used and the Rolling Stones vowed they would never, ever return to this city about 10 miles north of Boston. The publisher wants to roll out the red carpet, even offering to pick up the band from the airport and crash at his house, maybe out on the couch on the porch. No word yet from the band.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1997 when computers finally showed their permanent superiority over us dumb humans, as "Deep Blue," the chess-playing supercomputer, defeated Garry Kasparov, who was the absolute best player we had.
WORD OF THE DAY
Soliloquy - noun
Definition: The act of talking to oneself, no matter who may be hearing
Example: As I stood on line at Starbucks this morning, I had a lovely soliloquy about the 28 different types of milk products now sold to lighten a cup of coffee.
WEATHER IN A WORD
70!