The Jaffe Briefing - October 2, 2017
OUR TAKE ON THE NEWS IN NEW JERSEY
STATEWIDE - Don't expect a huge spending spree in January, when the state's minimum hourly wage is expected to surge a whopping 16 cents. If this was, say, 1960, there would probably be celebration in the streets. But, when you factor in today's taxes, and the rising cost of everything, the new $8.60 an hour rate is, well, kinda, paltry. Minimum wage increases every year are based on the Consumer Price Index. If the index doesn't go up, minimum wage doesn't either. Meanwhile, in liberal circles, there is still broad hope that New Jersey will somehow, someday, hit $15 per hour. At this rate, perhaps sometime next century.
TRENTON - Uh, "congrats" to Carmen Cincotti, for winning the third-annual pork roll eating contest. The 24-year-old competitive eater from Mays Landing sucked down 40 pork rolls - the same number as he consumed last year - to clinch the top spot in this artery-clogging endeavor, courtesy of the Trenton Thunder. The competition wasn't even close, as the runner-up was only able to jam down 33 pork rolls in this 12-person contest at Arm & Hammer Park. Hard to digest.
KENILWORTH - Now, officially, there is a trade show for everything in New Jersey. More than 400 people hit a trade show of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, featuring a keynote from Sen. Nick Scutari, with widespread expectation of legalized marijuana in the state. So, Galloping Hill Golf Course hosted tables of bongs, child-proof packaging and hemp products, as this growing market mushrooms into what could be the second-biggest marijuana market in the United States. With these very excited people, "up in smoke" is a truly great thing.
HILLSIDE - Even for professional beekeepers, this is a bit of a sting: an estimated 30,000 bees were found hiding in the walls of a Morris Place house over the weekend. According to a guy known as "Mickey the Beekeeper," this group of aggressive, no-nonsense bees had made nearly 40 pounds of honey in those walls. And this group is also attributable to the 30 stings on Mickey's equipment, as he worked to clear them out with a special vacuum, before removing the honeycomb. NJ 101.5 reports Mickey took a bunch of bees to a church in Roselle Park that had lost a hive, with the hopes they will calm the heck down, produce tons of honey and get along nicely with church-goers.
BROOKLYN - For anyone who likes watching explosions (and... really, who doesn't?) but wasn't crazy enough to drive to Brooklyn at 3 am on a Sunday, there were plenty of videographers on hand to document the fall of the main span of the old Kosciuszko Bridge, which came down in an epic controlled explosion this weekend to cheers from a crowd of a few hundred. No doubt, plenty of them had spent more than one afternoon frustrated stuck in traffic on 278 and were pleased to finally have their sweet, sweet revenge. More video here.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
LEBANON, Ohio - Police aren't monkeying around in this quiet little town, as they are searching for a bunch of monkeys on the loose. No, not the 1960s campy band. But the real ones, apparently hanging and swinging like crazy from local trees. Resident tell WLWT-TV that these monkeys were probably someone's pets at some point and somehow got loose. It has been a few weeks since one was photographed in Lebanon, but they can still be heard on the suburban streets.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 2011 that more than 700 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested for swarming the Brooklyn Bridge and shutting down a lane of traffic, attempting to draw attention to all those unscrupulous fat cats in the financial world and their run-away profits. The Dow Jones closed that day at 10,655.30. This morning, six years later, it opened at 22,405.09.
WORD OF THE DAY
Farceur: [fahr-SUHR] - noun
Definition: A joker
Example: I wish I didn't have to hear the snide remarks from the farceurs at the back of this room.
WEATHER IN A WORD
Glorious