The Jaffe Briefing - February 22, 2022
DOWN THE SHORE – This summer, as you head to the boardwalk for artery-clogging funnel cake, will there be anyone to fry it? NJ.com says beach towns are justifiably worried about a potential shortage of international workers, who traditionally flock to the Jersey Shore for little pay, long hours, and the chance to serve your kid a double heaping of custard. The big question: Will the summer visa program generate enough workers to serve our booming tourism industry? With less foreign workers and many Americans still enjoying the “Great Resignation,” will restaurants and bars need to close early, despite the lines of cash-waving tourists? Great Adventure, for example, needs 4,000 workers, while Morey’s Piers takes about 550 workers from the visa program. This may be your big chance to run a Ferris wheel for 14 consecutive hours.
MONTCLAIR – It will be getting messy in Montclair, as all this legislative redistricting is now showing some potential victims. Montclair finds itself in the newly-configured 27th Legislative District, which means Sens. Nia Gill and Richard Codey may be battling in a very ugly Democratic primary next year. Both are well known and beloved among their constituents. Gill, who actually lives in Montclair, has been in the Senate since 2002, and served in the Assembly for eight years prior. Codey, of Roseland, is a local celebrity of sorts, having served as the acting governor, having a sports arena in West Orange named after him, and having served for half a century in the Legislature. The name recognition for both of them is off the charts, prompting Democrats to battle Democrats in what had been very comfortable legislative seats in Essex County for many, many years.
NEW BRUNSWICK – It’s called the Scarlet Guarantee, the latest type of financial aid at Rutgers. And for families who earn less than $100,000 a year, it could be a godsend to earn a four-year degree. TAPInto New Brunswick reports that if a family can show less than $65,000 in income, the kids could go to school tuition-free, and without fees, beginning this fall. And then there are deep discounts for others, affecting a total of 7,600 students who attend school at the New Brunswick/Piscataway campuses. We’re talking a savings of upwards of $16,000 a year, although all students, no matter what, are still on the hook for room, board and books. If this program doesn’t jack up the number of applications from high school seniors, unclear what will.
BRIEFING BREATHER
At room temperature, an apple will ripen 6-10 times faster than in the refrigerator.
STATEWIDE – Money talks. And no one knows that better than the IRS, bracing for yet another tax season with limited staff and countless unprocessed returns from the 2020 tax year. The phones will be ringing off the hook, as taxpayers will certainly have questions. But for those with money, there is an advantage. The AP reports about a “line-jumping service” in which some accounting firms pay upwards of $5,000 a year to get their staff in front of a live, breathing IRS worker much quicker that the poor shlubs who sit and stew for hours and hours. Is it fair? Of course not. No taxpayer should have to pay a private company just to get the government to pick up the damn phone. Sen. Bob Menendez, among many members of Congress, want these companies investigated, as they use a barrage of robocalls to continually sneak into the que.
Fun Fact: Because of chronic staffing shortages and piles of work, IRS agents only answered 11% of the 282 million phone calls received last year.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
ST. JOSEPH, MN – You can never have too many tats. That’s at least the thinking of a local woman turning 100, who rewarded herself with another tattoo. Sure, there was plenty of warning that a tattoo is a lifetime commitment, and that she will have to live with it for, uh… never mind. The Michigan mom of seven started getting tattoos when she turned 80, The Herald-Palladium reports, and has gotten one for every new decade she has graced the planet. Her first tattoo was a vision of Mother Earth, her second was seven stars representing her kids and she now proudly has “NY NY 1922” tattooed on her left arm, indicating where and when she was born, marking her centennial on March 2. And what text will she add at 110? “I’m still here,” she says, with a laugh.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1993 that Gary Coleman successfully sues his parents for $1.28 million for “high fees.” Mr. Drummond: not pleased.
WORD OF THE DAY
Habeas Corpus – [HAY-bee-us-KOR-pus] – noun
Definition: A writ entitling detainees convicted in state courts to appeal to federal courts if they believe their rights were violated at trial or during sentencing.
Example: I’ve forgotten my high school civics class, so I needed to once again Google “habeas corpus.”
WIT OF THE DAY
“Football is a game designed to keep coal miners off the streets.”
- Jimmy Breslin
BIDEN BLURB
“Hell, I might be president now if it weren't for the fact I said I had an uncle who was a coal miner.”
- Joe Biden (in 2004)
WEATHER IN A WORD
Spritzing