The Morning Briefing - August 10, 2016
WAYNE – A risqué charity golf outing with booze and strippers is raising an uproar after NBC News caught some raunchy action at Passaic County-owned Preakness Valley Golf Course. Hidden cameras show boozing golfers getting lap dances, groping strippers and perhaps scoring a hole in one. This, um, “golf” all visible from busy nearby residential streets. Sunrise Gentleman's Club of Paterson sponsored the July golf outing featuring as caddies “30 sexy entertainers” for $195 a pop with discounts for cops or firefighters. Money raised was supposed to benefit the Paterson PBA, the Dallas police and Orlando nightclub shooting victims. County Administrator Anthony DeNova says this wasn't the first time the strip club held a golf outing at Preakness, but “it's going to be the last time.” And we're just hearing about this now?
NEW BRUNSWICK – Tennis isn't this Rutgers coach's only racket. That's why Benjamin Bucca, one of this city's prominent attorneys, is trading one indoor court for another. Bucca has left his 23-year part-time Rutgers post to become a Superior Court judge in Middlesex County's criminal division. He's been head coach for Rutgers women's tennis for the last 13 years, but he's served longer in a host of public posts from assistant city attorney and municipal prosecutor to attorney for land use boards in New Brunswick, Highland Park and South Brunswick. Bucca tells N.J. Advance Media he will miss coaching more than zoning hearings: “There are so many positive, fun things you can do as a coach.” Some advice: Lawyers can be overruled on objection, you can’t just yell “Fault!”
IN THE CLASSROOM – Why clutter kids' brains with a bunch of scientific facts? Welcome to Next Generation Science Standards, making science fun and easier by helping kids grasp just the big-picture stuff. About 150 New Jersey teachers spent time at Raritan Valley Community College this summer learning to teach next-gen science, embraced in 16 states, says N.J. Advance Media. Think Jonas Salk needed to know that water boils at 212°F? Nah. So, when “science lite” hits classrooms in 2017-18, kids may not need to remember the Earth's circumference is 24,901 miles. But they’ll sure know that Flash can always beat Superman in a race around the globe.
ATLANTIC CITY – Yet another hit. A federal appeals court just dealt one more bad hand to New Jersey, putting the kibosh on efforts to allow sports betting, a coveted monopoly enjoyed only in Delaware and Nevada. A majority of the court echoed the concerns of professional sports leagues and stymied efforts of the casino lobby in a surprisingly dull decision that fell mostly along party lines (not a single Republican-appointed judge sided with New Jersey). The state vows to appeal, but even Sen. Raymond Lesniak says odds are a long shot. Whatever the outcome, let’s fight the good fight. Inc. reports Americans spend over $400 billion a year on illegal sports betting, courtesy of a benevolent mafia, again proving those immortal words of philosopher Edmund Burke: “Gambling is a principle inherent in human nature.” New Jersey needs to cash in.
ON THE ROADS – For those still keeping track, the statewide freeze on transportation projects has dragged into August. And now, Senate President Steve Sweeney projects this stalemate will likely drag past the November elections. Why? Gov. Chris Christie and the Democratic leadership are in a full-fledged staring contest, daring each other to blink. It’s all about the proposed gas tax and trying to figure a way to fund the broke Transportation Trust Fund. So, as construction trucks sit on the side of the road and rust, Sweeney says, workers are losing millions of dollars in wages and some contractors are wondering if they will be driven out of business. Meanwhile, the governor is demanding tax fairness and, of course, blaming the Democrats for dropping the ball. Eager to see who blinks first.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
GREEN BAY, WI. – Hair-raising reports of a terrifying clown prowling the streets at night are piling up with police. Dubbed “Gags” on social media, this scary clown has been caught on street cameras wearing a dirty costume and sinister face paint and holding four black balloons, WGBA-TV reports. Cops wouldn't mind chatting with “Gags,” but they say clowning around in public, even in a macabre costume, isn't a crime. Since 2012, ghoulish clowns – like sadistic Pennywise from Stephen King's “IT” – have mysteriously popped up in a dozen cities from Florida to California. Why can’t our clowns just be, er, normal?
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
You don’t exactly need a degree in science to excel at professional baseball. But you need to actually follow that little list known as the batting order, which the A’s failed to do in the third inning against the White Sox in 1989.
WORD OF THE DAY
Coulrophobia [cool-row-FOH-bee-uh] – noun
Definition: A morbid, irrational fear of clowns.
Example: Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs has such an acute case of coulrophobia that he insists on a strict “No Clown Clause” in all his performance contracts. (This is actually true.)
WEATHER IN A WORD
Steamy.