The Morning Briefing - September 8, 2016
TRENTON – Back from summer break, state lawmakers are finally getting to those really pressing issues – like what to do with ugly fruit and vegetables. Assembly Republicans Parker Space and Gail Phoebus say that bruised apples, misshapen tomatoes, curled-up cucumbers and other unsightly produce is still nutritious, usable food although it never makes it to those discerning shoppers at Whole Foods. Space says baby-cut carrots, likely in your kid’s lunch box today, were invented decades ago as a productive use for full-size carrots that were too ugly for market. Now, lawmakers say it is time to use all those gross fruits and veggies, perhaps in salads at school cafeterias, or in soups and smoothies. Because ugly things need love too.
PHILLIPSBURG – So, what does a $127 million high school look like? Visit the sprawling, gleaming, 326,000-square-foot Phillipsburg High School, opening this week. There’s a 2,400-seat gym, an 8,900-square-foot auxiliary gym, a food court-style cafeteria, pottery/ceramics labs, and an endless number of classrooms. There’s also a greenhouse for agriculture and horticulture classes, an Industrial Technology wing for computer-aided design and drafting and a TV/radio studio. There’s even a team of 30 students being trained as guides, so their classmates can figure out how to navigate the place, and find their way out at the dismissal bell.
FORKED RIVER – More dead fish to report at the shore. Following all the dead fish bubbling up in Keansburg and Keyport, state officials say they discovered about 500 peanut bunker fish washed up in Stouts Creek in Forked River. These piles of dead fish – which make the display case at your local Shop-Rite look downright paltry – are the victims of warm ocean water. The fish are getting jammed in these little coves and run out of oxygen. All is normal, state official say, but local residents think it stinks.
ATLANTIC CITY – It is Miss America time yet again. For the dozens of people who follow the preliminary part of the pageant, we have an update: Tonight is the final night, with Miss District of Columbia and Miss Maryland leading the pack in the swimsuit competition. This woefully outdated annual event concludes Sunday, when the 2017 Miss America is crowned in front of a “national audience” on ABC, with the expected average age of viewers to be about 95. The good news: This hoopla brings some post-Labor Day tourism to Atlantic City, and reminds everyone that the seaside resort has a deep tradition.
NEW BRUNSWICK – Living in New Jersey can often be one big crapshoot. So maybe it's not too astonishing our state university has its very own Center for Gambling Studies. And no, it (supposedly) doesn't teaching anyone to count cards, win at baccarat or beat roulette wheels. The Rutgers' center, part of its School of Social Work, does actual studies of the gaming industry, the most recent one showing that online gambling is on the rise in the Garden State. While most online gamblers are young men ages 25-34, the real high-rollers are women, many who make big-money wagers on three-to-six online casino sites daily. Center director Lia Nower tells Rutgers Today the amount of female gamblers was surprising. “We definitely want to know more about this group.” Ladies, place your bets.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
Welcome to National Ampersand Day! Feel free to celebrate & do other stuff.
WOODBURY, Conn. – “WTF!” That’s what some neighbors are shouting in historic little Woodbury, after one of their neighbors planted three large wooden letters on his lawn that spell out “WTF.” WFSB-TV says the phrase “Woodbury Wastes Taxpayer Funds” is written on the letters, located on Main Street, in the center of town. Neighbors say: “WTF? This WTF is really offensive! WTF!” This isn’t the first time the resident has rankled his neighbors. His previous sign attacked local politician William Butterly, saying “Butterly utterly utterly disappointing.” WTF?
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was on this day in 1966 that TV viewers climbed aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise “to boldly go where no man has gone before” as NBC aired Star Trek's very first episode “Man Trap.” The campy series launched the most successful science-fiction franchises of the past 50 years; it's credited with inspiring flip-phones, MRI, nerds and novelty lunch boxes.
WORD OF THE DAY
Will-o'-the-wisp (will-uh-thug-WISP) – noun
Definition: a misleading or elusive goal
Example: I have the hopes of blowing off work for Happy Hour, but, alas, it’s just a will-o’-the-wisp.
WEATHER IN A WORD
Steambath