The Morning Briefing - September 22, 2016
ELIZABETH – With the city nationally known for the moment for radical terrorism, let’s drastically switch the focus. The city is also known for a pepperoni pizza that is among the Top 5 in the nation, reports The Daily Meal. That gooey god is courtesy of Santillo’s Brick Oven Pizza, a bakery that began making pizza in 1950. Reports The Daily Meal: “The secret, if there is one? The low-arch oven, which allows for "infinite'' variations in temperature, taste and texture. There's no seating; take your pizza to a nearby "approved'' bar, or home.” Interesting to see how the press covers this accolade. Perhaps, reports Fox News, “Just 1.4 miles from the home of a radical, bomb-wielding terrorist – a six-minute drive – is the best darn pepperoni pizza you can get in New Jersey.”
NORTH JERSEY – If you live up here, you have the golden chance to rally behind efforts to allow casinos in places like the Meadowlands or Jersey City. A big vote is set for the Nov. 8 election. But, according to current polls, it looks as if the measure is going down in flames. The latest Rutgers Eagleton poll shows 58 percent of registered voters oppose a ballot amendment to allow two casinos to open in northern New Jersey. Perhaps many recognize that such a plan would be great for the north, but would pretty much decimate a gasping Atlantic City, which has already lost four casinos.
STATEWIDE – It is a stat that is ready-made for a press release: New Jersey is primed to open 100,000 new businesses this year. And last year, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno touts, New Jersey opened a record 97,835 businesses. Always the skeptics, we wonder if people are starting their own businesses because they can’t get a decent job working for someone else. In any case, as Guadagno does a round of high-fives, the National Federation of Independent Business tells NJ 101.5 that, yes, there are more start-ups, but “increased regulations and taxes have across the board discouraged entrepreneurship.” What downers.
NEWARK – Needy families who deliver babies at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center will now be able to receive a free, safe crib to ensure safe sleep. Keeping Babies Safe (KBS), a non-profit in Warren, will be joining hospital officials today, as well as state lawmakers including a very pregnant Sen. Teresa Ruiz, to outline the program. Often, when families don’t have safe cribs, the infants sleep in old, unsafe, hand-me-down cribs or maybe even a drawer. A limited number of new cribs will be available, based on KBS funding, as the hospital serves as its conduit to Newark families who desperately need them. All hope it is an ongoing program.
ROSELLE – What are your plans this Sunday night? If you're like Assemblyman Jamel Holley, you'll be watching the season finale of “Power,” a crime drama on Starz. But instead of sitting on your couch, with a second bowl of Cheetos, join Holley and his special guest Rotimi, a Maplewood native who is a regular on the show, at a season finale event in Roselle, along with some other local leaders. Tickets are $100; the event is at Central Park on St. Georges Avenue. It is fun to watch the next generation of elected leaders raise money. Say goodbye, finally, to the rubber chicken.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
HANOVER, N.H. – Just in time for the leaves to turn color, you can capture the greatest tourist destination at Dartmouth College. Beginning today, the so-called “corpse flower” is set to bloom at the school’s Life Sciences Greenhouse. Crowds are already amassing to experience a flower that smells like the mix of decaying roadkill in a microwave set on “defrost,” hot urine on a NYC subway track and a Johnny On the Spot after a Jets tailgate. Dartmouth has extended greenhouse hours this week and has a webcam streaming live images — showing visitors trying to sniff without vomiting.
Happy No Car Day. Enjoy the walk.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1975 that the World Football League folds. No one notices.
WORD OF THE DAY
Loll [LAHL] – verb
Definition: to recline, lean, or move in a lax, lazy, or indolent manner
Example: “As I struggled to follow the meeting, my head lolled hopelessly from side to side."
WEATHER IN A WORD
Beauty