The Jaffe Briefing - June 26, 2020
TRENTON – It is the big moment many parents have been waiting for, and potentially dreading, as Gov. Phil Murphy is set to discuss his plans for the 2020-21 school year today. His guidance will affect 1.4 million students across 2,500 public school districts who need to know if they should be preparing their school buildings to combat COVID 19 or focus on creating a much more effective virtual education curriculum (or both.) This guidance won’t be easy: New Jersey school districts are rich and poor, urban and rural, new and old and, well, competent and semi-competent. Murphy is vowing to have clear standards, with the high hopes that a magical, flexible, one-size-fits-all policy can somehow appease this very diverse state, with parents who simply can no longer afford to stay home with their kids, as opposed to going to work. Moreover, these kids need to desperately catch up, as no one believes mom and dad have the ability to be effective educators yet again.
STATEWIDE – Now, all you need is the delivered pizza. State health officials are finally giving the green light to marijuana dispensaries to provide home delivery. It is a smart way to keep people away from the lines at the dispensaries in this era of coronavirus. And, let’s admit, a delivery service is pretty darn convenient for those who need to catch a buzz and don’t want to miss the fight scene in Rocky II. As marijuana is still a cash-only business in New Jersey, all deliveries will be done with cars equipped with GPS and a lockbox, NJ.com reports. Expect business to be brisk; there are now about 78,000 people in the state with medical marijuana cards. Say, is it too soon to brand it Budhub?
LAKE HOPATCONG – A pro-Trump boat parade may be the next great naval battle, of sorts, on this four-square-mile lake that straddles Sussex and Morris counties. More than 600 pro-Trump boaters plan to set sail in tomorrow’s parade that Sussex County GOP Chair Jerry Scanlan organized. He’s got an armada of boaters decorating their pleasure crafts with American flags and pro-Trump gear. The Daily Record says two local brothers, Noah and Matthew Steinbaum, have now organized an opposition rally, calling it: “No Hat on Our Lake,” to sink this Republican fleet’s fun. Matthew says: “We want to tell this behemoth they won’t go unopposed. We’re going to be right there, chanting our messages.” They're putting protesters on shore and anti-Trump boaters in the water. And we thought people go up to this lake to relax.
BRIEFING BREATHER
The average American works 24,000 hours in his/her lifetime just to pay their taxes.
TRENTON – When they’re not casting a cold eye on the sorry state of New Jersey’s finances, Wall Street credit rating agencies have time to examine smaller fish — like school districts in the Garden State. NJ Spotlight reports that S&P Global has performed a financial checkup on our school districts for the next time they ask to borrow. If you expected a knee-knocker, prepare for a pleasant surprise. While the Murphy administration and lawmakers likely will go for flat funding for schools in the upcoming budget, given the realities of the COVID-19 economy — and that will “weaken” districts’ borrowing powers — the Wall Streeters still think the districts merit “generally high ratings.” In fact, most districts earn an A+. Maybe they could teach state lawmakers something about the ABCs of public finance.
MORRIS TOWNSHIP – As New Jersey careens toward the July 7 primary, the issue of mail-in ballots will be the story. There are just so many unforeseen problems that come from relying on people to correctly fill out the forms and then expecting the post office to deliver them all, with 100% accuracy. Case in point: Last weekend, a post office truck went up in flames in Morris Township with the mail that was supposed to go to 91 addresses on six streets, NJ.com reports. Assume mail-in ballots were en route. And that is why the county clerk then dispatched an “urgent notice” to voters, asking them to call the office if they never received a vote-by-mail ballot for the primary. Stuff happens, like this. And stuff will continue to happen, which – believe us – will ultimately end up in litigation after the votes are counted via this clunky, first-of-its-kind system in New Jersey.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
ODESSA, FL. – So, who is the father of five goats? That’s the big question here, as one neighbor is suing another, demanding a paternity test for the goats she bought in December. One neighbor is demanding in court that her neighbor either refund the $900 spent on the alleged Nigerian dwarf goats or provide a DNA sample from the goats’ purported father to prove they aren’t worthless goat mutts. Apparently, the American Dairy Goat Association requires 40 hair follicles from the papa goat to prove lineage. He’s nowhere to be found, apparently, so the goats remain unregistered – whatever that means in goat world. Both sides head to court next month, with the plaintiff representing herself, as some judge now has to deal with this.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1992 that NYC’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority decided that New Yorkers don’t need to see any more cigarette ads on the subways, banning them as of Jan. 1, 1993.
WORD OF THE DAY
Lissome – [LISS-um] – adjective
Definition: Characterized by easy flexibility and grace
Example: I’m a real lissome figure on the Peloton.
WIT OF THE DAY
“Racism is not getting worse, it’s getting filmed.”
-Will Smith
TODAY'S TRUMPSIM
“How Trump Is Making Black America Great Again, The Untold Story Of Black Advancement in the Era of Trump. By Horace Cooper A great new book!”
- Donald J. Trump
WEATHER IN A WORD
Beach
THE NEW 60
A Jaffe Briefing Exclusive
by Andy Landorf & John Colquhoun
