Happy Friday people. Stay dry. If you don’t know it’s raining, DM us and we’ll send us someone to let you out of the basement.
In realer news:
Ryan Hutchins devotes the first graphs of today’s NJ PlayBook to the war between Phil Murphy and Steve Sweeney, who are fighting over something. Something important. I don’t know what. But Sweeney thinks Murphy’s “Millionaire’s Tax” is unaffordable. Sweeney also wants to give gobs of money–$300 million? $3 billion?–to PSE&G, whose executives are millionaires. The thing about South Jersey Democrats is they’re actually Republicans.
Elsewhere in politics, Senator Cory Booker is worried that New Jersey’s young people don’t want to live in New Jersey when they grow up. True fact: Cory Booker introduced me to soy milk in the Pierson College dining hall in 1996.
Elsewhere in Millennial Understanders, AC Mayor Frank Gilliam has grown a beard to appeal to the Stockton students starting class in a few short months. Watch this space for our interview with the mayor where we talk about Bader Field, marijuana reform, boarding houses, immigration, etc.
Elsewhere in people I went to school with, Margate firefighter Mike Sher admitted to making more than $1.7 million in the prescription fraud case rippling across Atlantic County.
Elsewhere in criminality, ICE agents in New Jersey arrested 1,271 human persons who had no criminal histories in the 2017 fiscal year, up from 571 the year prior, as a direct result of policies set forth by President Trump, who surrounds himself with actual felons.
Elsewhere in Our America, New Jersey school kids are regularly put through “active-shooter” drills, and, per Adam Clark at NJ.com, “Parents are often told nothing about the details.”
F*#$ trusting the Process. Involve yourself in it.
Elsewhere across your magnificent region:
NJ Transit slapped with fine for failing to meet deadlines for speed control system–WASHINGTON -- The Federal Railroad Administration on Thursday fined New Jersey Transit for missing a key deadline for installing an automatic speed control system. Amtrak was fined for failing to file its progress report on time. www.nj.com
Expanding gun background checks wins support of these 2 N.J. Republicans–Two New Jersey Republicans have signed onto Democratic-led legislation that would require background checks for all gun purchases and help states improve the database used to screen potential buyers. www.nj.com
Labor leaders to help retire Lesniak debt–Mullen, Sweeney and Norcross will headline a fundraising event. newjerseyglobe.com
Dr. Walter A. Brower, Academic Scholar And Pinelands Hero, Remembered–WOODLAND—You can take the man out of the Pine Barrens, but you can't take the Pine Barrens out of the man. pinebarrenstribune.com
100 to lose jobs at DuPont chemical site in South Jersey–DuPont says it will cease some of its chemical manufacturing at the Chambers Works site in Deepwater, meaning the loss of about 100 jobs in Salem County. www.nj.com
PLAN WOULD MAKE MEDICAID ‘ENCOUNTER’ DATA MORE WIDELY AVAILABLE–New Jersey citizens and policymakers would be able to access "de-identified" healthcare data related to nearly two million residents under a new proposal designed to help improve decision making about personal care and public health programs. www.njspotlight.com