The Jaffe Briefing - May 18, 2022
TRENTON – What? We all put a lot of faith in U.S. News & World Report rankings, especially when it comes to deciding where our precious cherubs go to college. So, with that, plenty of eyebrows are being raised over the latest “Best Places to Live in the United States.” The Garden State had only one town among the 150 top towns: Trenton. What? Yep, Trenton comes in at 89th, Patch reports, despite the fact the same publication ranked Trenton the nation's 20th most dangerous place and 24th most expensive place. And the best place to live, at least according to U.S. News, would be Huntsville, Alabama, knocking out Boulder, Colorado. Of course, now, we don’t trust any of this. The apparent methodology factors in the job market, value, quality of life, desirability and net migration ratings. Any true determination of "best places to live" is subjective, of course. Obviously.
TRENTON – Assemblywoman Beth Sawyer, on the Republican team that famously took down Senate President Steve Sweeney, now wants to scrub his name away for good, Politico reports. She wants to get rid of “Senator Stephen M. Sweeney Way” in Harrison Township and the “Stephen M. Sweeney Center for Special Services” at Rowan College of South Jersey as part of legislation that bars any living current or former public official from having a public building named after him or her. That would include the Codey arena in West Orange, the Bollwage parking garage in Elizabeth and the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, if his name wasn’t already removed. Sawyer adds: “Our Legislature should not be disgracing the institution by using taxpayer money to plaster names of politicians on public buildings which gives them an unfair advantage when running for re-election, higher office, or to regain a seat they lost.” Maybe this should be called the “Sweeney, who?” bill.
BRIEFING BREATHER
A giraffe can go longer without water than a camel.
NEWARK – Move over Hollywood? Ok, sorry for that huge stretch. But Newark – often the home to period flicks like “The Many Saints of Newark” – is taking a big step forward in the movie biz. TAPInto Newark, the only publication covering the state’s largest city on a daily basis, is reporting that a $125 million film and television studio will open in two years on the site of former Seth Boyden housing project in the South Ward, mercifully demolished this winter. The 300,000-square-foot operation, to be anchored by Lionsgate Studio, will bring in 600 jobs to get things started. The studio will be able to produce three movies at one time, spurring more than $800 million in economic activity. So, roll em!
STATEWIDE – It’s safe to say: 2022 has been pretty awful so far. When we welcomed the new year on an unseasonably warm New Year’s Eve, no one could have fathomed that Gov. Phil Murphy would declare a state of emergency related to baby formula. Yet, that’s what happened last night, as the chronic baby formula shortage has become a top priority on the governor’s desk, in an effort to prevent price gouging. Under the order, retailers would be barred from raising formula prices by more than 10%, News 12 New Jersey reports. It will be up to the state Division of Consumer Affairs to investigate any price gouging, with the hope that any names of convicted individuals are widely released to the public for proper tar and feathering.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – Naked men on a beer can? Absolutely. A federal judge says North Carolina regulators were absolutely wrong in rejecting a beer label that featured a silhouette of a naked man standing next to a campfire. Flying Dog Brewery took the issue to the courts, saying the North Carolina Alcohol Beverage Control Commission violated the brewery’s First Amendment rights by rejecting the label for its Freezin’ Season Winter Ale. The commission thought the label was in “bad taste.” So Flying Dog sued in a glorious defense of the First Amendment.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 2014 that Switzerland voters rejected a plan to raise the minimum wage to $25 an hour, which would have certainly raised the price of cheese fondue.
WORD OF THE DAY
Nonpareil – [nahn-puh-REL] – adjective
Definition: Having no equal
Example: Sitting through a five-hour planning board meeting in rural New Jersey is nonpareil.
WIT OF THE DAY
“Make a sex tape, upload it, get on a reality show, release a perfume, retire. That's the new American dream.”
-Natasha Leggero
BIDEN BLURB
“American democracy is not a reality show. It's not a reality show. It's reality itself. And the reality is that we are a great country.”
-Joe Biden
WEATHER IN A WORD
Pleasant