The Morning Briefing - June 9, 2016
CLIFTON – By a slim vote, the city council decided to proudly fly the gay pride flag over City Hall, with Mayor Jim Anzaldi breaking the 3-3 tie last night after much debate. Interesting predicament for local officials. Saying yes meant the rainbow flag gets raised at a June 25th ceremony and the story is done. Saying no? Well, CNN and every other national news crew would camp on the mayor’s front lawn, waving microphones, as members of Congress filibuster for the rights of all. Meanwhile, Donald Trump would chopper into Teterboro to blame them Mexicans; Bernie Sanders would proclaim such things never happen in a socialist society; and Hillary Clinton would be scouting the best Philadelphia backdrop for her acceptance speech at July's Democratic National Convention.
HACKETTSTOWN – Mars Chocolate is mixing it up with the Swedish courts, which have banned the Hackettstown-based company from selling m&ms, at least not with the customary lower-case letters. Why? Because Kraft Foods happens to sell chocolate-covered peanuts under the Marabou brand with a single “m” on the packaging. Apparently, Kraft owns the full rights to the “m” in Sweden, prompting the courts to order Mars to produce its candy only with upper-case M&Ms. Mars, in response, says it must now "assess the next steps for our beloved brand in Sweden." Maybe Mars can call them n&ns.
READINGTON TOWNSHIP – The Hunderdon County GOP chair is saying “whoops” after some campaign fliers he placed on parked cars baked into the windshields. The chair, Patrick Torpey, told NJ.com that he removed any of the stuck fliers he could find at train stations in Readington Township and High Bridge. Some of the fliers, which promoted Rep. Leonard Lance in Tuesday’s primary, became sticky when the sun came out and cooked them. One motorist – let’s assume a Democrat – filed a complaint, but police quickly decided this was not a case of vandalism. Meanwhile, many won’t soon forget the congressman’s name; his name a constant reminder on their windshield. Message received!
PATERSON – Curbside trash collection is just too darn expensive. Even if it could generate new cash, Mayor Jose “Joey” Torres says there's no way his city is getting into the garbage business. So, Paterson will just keep paying $3 million-plus to private haulers. Torres tells the Paterson Press his city just can't afford new sanitation trucks, or salaries for more laborers, or higher workers comp costs, or bigger insurance bills. The mayor's decision shocked City Council President William McKoy, who suggested in-house garbage collection and snow plowing back in 2014. McKoy says Paterson might make money by selling those services to nearby towns. Torres promised to hire a consultant to look into McKoy's idea, but no consultant ever got hired. That was just too expensive too.
MONTGOMERY – It’s fine for a sixth grader to get five detentions for telling a fellow student who doesn’t eat meat that "vegetarians are idiots" and that "he should eat meat because he'd be smarter and have bigger brains." The Courier News says state education officials are upholding the district’s decision, following an incident that happened – get this – back in October 2014. School officials immediately cried harassment and bullying. The 11-year-old’s parents argued that insulting a vegetarian doesn’t meet the legal requirement for bullying, prompting this case to move up the legal ladder. A judge, as well as the state, after exhaustive study, says “yes, it’s bullying.” Meanwhile, the two kids involved likely have zero recollection this conversation ever took place in the school cafeteria.
SECAUCUS – Just because you're appointed, doesn't mean you can serve. That's the odd predicament Mayor Mike Gonnelli finds himself in since Gov. Chris Christie put him on the N.J. Sports and Exposition Authority in March. “I'm in limbo,” the mayor tells The Record. The hangup is a sticky thing called “ethics.” The state Ethics Commission ruled that Gonnelli must disqualify himself from any issues involving Secaucus or any of the 13 other Meadowlands area towns. Why? It would be an apparent conflict of interest; Gonnelli is treasurer of the Hackensack Meadowlands Municipal Committee, a group of Meadowlands-area mayors. So, Gonnelli has been a no-show at sports authority meetings. Sometimes, ethics are a real drag.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – As kids are glued to their screens, this story just seemed a matter of time: A California high school senior decided not to ask a girl to the prom. Rather, he brought his true love: his favorite video game. The teen brought “Super Smash Brothers Melee,” after – surprise, surprise – he found himself without a real, living, breathing date, New York Magazine reports. “It felt right. It was the heat of the moment,” he said, adding, "I'm not, like, a total loser.” Yep; sure. The after-party should be a real scorcher.
HARRISBURG, PA – Gender discrimination or twin sister rivalry? Guess that's what the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must figure out. Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane's twin sister, Ellen Granahan, herself a chief deputy attorney general, says her $88,500 salary is substantially lower than those for men doing her same job, only not as well, in her sister's administration. Apparently unable to settle this squabble over coffee and croissants at Sunday brunch, Granahan has filed an EEOC complaint alleging wage and gender discrimination against her sister's office, the Allentown Morning Call reports. Fireworks are a sure thing at this family's Fourth of July barbecue.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 2011 that six women in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were arrested for driving a car in an empty parking lot. Apparently, women aren’t allowed to drive cars on the road, or even off the road, as it “undermines social values.”
Here’s some more stuff woman can’t do in Saudi Arabia:
- Enter a Starbucks
- Wear makeup
- Go someplace without a chaperone
- Swim
- Interact with men
- Compete in sports
- Try on clothes when shopping
- Own a Barbie
- Enter a cemetery
- Read fashion magazines
WORD OF THE DAY
Nescience – (NESH-ee-unss) – noun
Definition: Lack of knowledge
Example: I attribute the candidate’s foreign policy position to his acute bout of nescience.
WEATHER IN A WORD
Glorious.