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The Morning Briefing - October 18, 2016

STATEWIDE – The battle to bring casino gambling to North Jersey is costing someone a fortune. Politico reports that both sides have thrown at least $21 million into the battle, demonstrating the enormous amount of money at stake. Those flyers filling your mailbox every day, and all those ads that dominate your TV, all don’t come cheap. Pundits agree the ballot question on November 8 – asking voters if casinos should open in North Jersey – is likely going down in flames, protecting AC for the moment. A fun fact: That amount spent is nearly four times what was thrown at a 1976 ballot question that asked voters if casino gambling should be allowed in Atlantic City.

BACKWOODS – Interested to see the hunter being hunted. Social media has been skewering a bow hunter accused of killing the famous “Pedals the bipedal bear.” The hunter complains that people have been threatening to kill him and his family, rape his wife and sister, burn down his house and business and perhaps challenge him to a duel, NJ.com says. But, state officials say he is not the hunter who mowed down our beloved Pedals. So, the manhunt continues.

BARNEGAT – Watching “The Young and the Restless” apparently wasn’t what this town’s former business administrator was doing all day, while supposedly recuperating from surgery last year. Instead, David Breeden was busy lining up better municipal jobs in Cocoa Beach and Fort Myers, Florida, the Asbury Park Press reports. Now, Breeden is suing Barnegat for retaliation, claiming local officials stalked him and discovered what he was really doing. They then, apparently, messed up his chances for work in the Sunshine State. Before the Township Committee could remove him from his $171,700 post, Breeden took early retirement in May. And, now, perhaps, it’s finally time to catch up on the soaps.

AT THE POLLS – An unprecedented 5.7 million New Jerseyans are now eligible to vote. More will probably scramble to register before today’s deadline. The latest state tally shows nearly 200,000 more registered voters than in the 2012 presidential election, including more than 2 million Democrats, 1.2 million Republicans and 2.4 million unaffiliated voters. State officials tell the Record that the high volume is fueled by lively registration drives and the state Motor Vehicle Commission’s streamlined process. We also suspect that Soprano State voters might be wildly eager to cast ballots in what one presidential nominee calls the “most rigged election ever.” Want in on the big Nov. 8 “conspiracy?” Click here or call 1-877-NJVOTER. Today.

IN THE CLASSROOM – Well, here is a good excuse the next time local officials raise your taxes: The state’s high schools had the second-best graduation rate in the U.S. in 2014-15, losing just to those people in Iowa who apparently have only one high school for the entire state. New Jersey schools achieved nearly a 90 percent graduation rate, showing successes beyond the leafy suburbs.

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

LANCASTER, PA. – Stealing a $4.49 bottle of Advil is putting a local man in the slammer for four months. Sounds strict? Not when you take into account that this has been the 12th time this guy has been convicted of shoplifting. There was little humor from a Lancaster County judge and jury, who think he is a menace to chain pharmacies. Total debt to society: four months in county prison, five months on house arrest, 14 months on parole and three years on probation. He’s going to really need that Advil.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

It was this day in 1873 that Rutgers got together with Princeton, Columbia and Yale to try to nail down the rules in this whole football thing. For example, should the teams have coaches? The first game, as we all know, was Nov. 6, 1869 in New Brunswick between the Rutgers Queensmen and the Princeton Tigers.

WORD OF THE DAY

Jacquerie [zhah-kuh-REE] – noun

Definition: A peasant revolt

Example: In the upcoming election, will we burn down the manorial high-rises, hotels and golf courses of the feudal overlord in this modern-day version of an American jacquerie?

WEATHER IN A WORD

Summer?