The Jaffe Briefing - December 12, 2017
OUR TAKE ON THE NEWS IN NEW JERSEY
TRENTON - With a large bucket of popcorn, let's all sit back and watch the war of words between Gov. Chris Christie and his successor, Phil Murphy. Christie - who has been telling us for years the state has no money - now thinks things are pretty darn peachy, based on his strong, conservative stewardship. Christie says the state budget has "only" $229 million in "budget lapses" - only in New Jersey is this apparently good news. Murphy, about to inherit a big, unfathomable mess, thinks that number is $854 million, a startling difference of, oh say, a half-billion or so. Even if these guys agree to split the difference, taxpayers must ponder: So, um, who is paying for all these "lapses"?
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL - Even after months of news coverage, and steady appearances at his corruption trial in Newark, it seems like Sen. Bob Menendez will be cruising to re-election next year. FiveThirtyEight has crunched the numbers showing the 2018 election cycle will be strong for Democrats, especially in Blue states like New Jersey. The site, in its analysis, thinks any blue-blooded Democrat has a 20-point edge in the Senate race, giving pause to Republicans weighing the chances of an upset. The tantalizing question: Will another Democrat dare primary our senior senator?
MAHWAH - Town officials can't seem to keep themselves out of the news. Amid a heated fight with the Orthodox Jewish community, trying to install a religious boundary known as an eruv, a native American tribe is wondering why they are being blocked from their own practices, in this seemingly town-wide pushback against culture. Members of the Ramapough Lenape Nation are protesting a judge's ruling that says the tribe violated local zoning laws when it put up tepees on public land, also slapping them with $13,000 in fines, WABC-TVreports. The ruling, however, curiously left out anything about Mahwah's founding fathers violating any local law when establishing a town on tribal land.
NORTH PLAINFIELD - Sometimes, it's unreal to watch taxpayer money slip away. Like, why did the North Plainfield schools have to fire an employee for "job abandonment" when she was recuperating from emergency gall bladder surgery? It seems taxpayers should be relieved that the settlement was only $35,000. School officials claim they did not renew her contract because her attendance "needed improvement" and figured she just abandoned her job, as the district did not receive a doctor's note prior to emergency surgery, NJ.comreports. The employee sees it differently, of course. And so does Attorney General Christopher Porrino, announcing the settlement.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
EDMOND, Okla. - Well, mystery solved. Now an Oklahoma couple knows where all the baby's pacifiers have been disappearing, after grandma caught the family dog stealing one off the counter. Based on further inspection - in the office of the local veterinarian - it was discovered that "Dovey" had somehow collected 21 stolen pacifiers, all of lodged in her stomach. Made sense, as Dovey wasn't eating recently and seemed to often throw up, KFOR-TV reports. Surgeons went in to remove all the pacifiers and then offered this reminder: Dogs will eat ANYTHING.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1982 that $9.8 million in cash was stolen from a money transport car in New York City, yet we haven't seen a movie about it.
WORD OF THE DAY
Wanderjahr - [VAHN-dur-yahr] - noun
Definition: A period of travel, typically a year, following graduation from school and before beginning work
Example: How many parents are silently praying their kids don't decide to take a wanderjahr and finally get real jobs?
WEATHER IN A WORD
Transitioning