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The Jaffe Briefing - August 19, 2021

STATEWIDE – We’re told to kill those spotted lantern butterflies that seem to be everywhere these days, destroying our vegetation and trees. But getting rid of them is not so easy, as NJ.com learned. First, these invasive bugs are quick. Don’t expect just a swift stomp. Figure you have at least four attempted stomps to get a little bugger, as your friends laugh. And they will. NJ.com offers other suggestions, too, such as scraping away the bug’s brown, scab-like eggs in winter, setting sticky traps on trees, squirting ‘em with bug spray and injecting trees with chemicals, after checking with your friendly, local arborist. This is not a light, easy problem – evident in the fact the state budgeted $500,000 this year for top-secret, covert missions to snuff out the bugs, as well as plenty of quality public education messages. Like this.

NEW BRUNSWICK – It’s apparently illegal, even unconstitutional to save lives at risk from a global pandemic. That, at least, is the argument from an activist group suing Rutgers University on behalf of 18 students who refuse to take the “experimental” COVID-19 vaccine. Sigh. A group called “Children’s Health Defense” seems to be suing anyone involved with Rutgers, from the president, to the board of governors to likely the Scarlet Knight mascot, claiming the university’s vaccination requirement for all students “violates the right to informed consent and to refuse unwanted medical treatment guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.” RU is dismissing the arguments, TAPInto New Brunswick says, claiming the law supports the policy. And, as tens of thousands of students are about to descend on New Brunswick with full anticipation of enjoying a college experience akin to a partying petri dish, this vaccine is needed more than ever. 

PHILLIPSBURG – There’s a fun little mess among government officials, with the council president criminally charged with abusing Warren County’s 911 system. Ok, here we go: Council President Frank McVey is looking at 18 months in prison, after he called 911 on Friday to ask police to do a welfare check on the mayor and police chief after he hadn’t heard from them in 12 hours. McVey, up for re-election in November, started this up with a OPRA request on Friday, with this message for town officials: “Somebody give me an answer and respect the $0.35 an hour that I’m getting for this job. If I don’t receive correspondence by 6 p.m., I will be calling 911 asking for an officer to come to my house and to give me an answer on this inquiry.” Apparently, no answer was forthcoming, so he called 911 at 6 p.m., requesting cops. McVey later explained to NJ.com that his bizarre actions were perfectly in line with his job, noting there was an excessive heat warning on Friday, and he was just checking in on the mayor and police chief. Because he cares.

BRIEFING BREATHER

Ketchup leaves the bottle at a rate of 25 miles a year.

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL – Perhaps Gov. Phil Murphy should stay in Italy, instead of whisking home this afternoon from his posh villa north of Rome. Murphy, who turned 64 on Monday, is enjoying a double-digit lead in the polls over GOP re-election challenger Jack Ciattarelli. Moreover, Murphy has a particularly strong lead in Central Jersey, an area of the state that Republicans must win if they hope to have a shot. The Monmouth University poll shows the governor has a “decided edge” on the top issue of the moment: pandemic response. Murphy has also remained strong on such popular voter issues as taxes and the economy. Let’s sum it up here: Murphy is sitting pretty at 52% support; Ciattarelli languishes at 36%.

EDISON – It no longer matters if you ever return that library book or pay parking tickets – at least if you happen to be a student at Middlesex College. In what would seem an enormous act of benevolence, the school is forgiving $1.8 million in debt that 2,300 students amassed during the pandemic. How lovely, but the bean counters at Middlesex are quick to note federal emergency funding is covering the bill. Students – if they plan to return to campus this fall or not – now have a clean slate. Other community colleges have done the exact same thing through the American Rescue Plan except, perhaps, they didn’t send out a press release to gin up coverage. Clearly, a lost opportunity.

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

GILLETTE, Wyo. — A local guy who called the police to ask why he hasn’t been arrested has been arrested. The 62-year-old man called the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office recently, saying he couldn’t figure out why no one bothered to arrest him after claiming cops raided his house the previous day. After all, he explained to police, he is a big-time meth user and he should really, truly be arrested. After making the call, the man then went for a drive and was pulled over, the Gillette News Record reports. The guy told cops – yet again – that he is a big-time meth user and was on a 1-½ day binge. This time, police arrested him.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Not everybody can be a Major League pitcher, except for third baseman Wade Boggs, who on this day in 1997 threw a scoreless inning for the Yankees.

WORD OF THE DAY

Undulant – [UN-juh-lunt] – adjective

Definition: The rise and fall of waves

Example: When I doodle during a boring meeting, I envision I am creating undulant environments that drench the eye in excitement.

WIT OF THE DAY

“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” 

– Mason Cooley

BIDEN BLURB

“I have 'Parents' magazine in my home.”

-Joe Biden

WEATHER IN A WORD

Steamy