Hi Gang, Happy Friday. Have a good weekend–the last one before that Super Bowl thing happens. Speaking of which, have you met Hank Flynn dressed as Bill Belichick? Just one man, making a difference.
Bill Belichick is so successful, and yet so crabby… why? I walk a mile in his shoes… through Center City. Tonight #HanksTake @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/NDtxI0RwAK
— hank flynn (@HankFox29) January 26, 2018
In realer news…
Indonesian Christians
ICE agents in North Jersey arrested two Indonesian Christians and prompted another guy to take sanctuary at his church, Matt Katz reports. He says a priest at the church said the first two men were arrested after dropping their kids off at school. Indonesian Christians face persecution in Muslim-majority Indonesia, so deporting them was not a priority, though the story also notes that Harry Pangemanan (who recently won an award for Sandy relief efforts and has been in the U.S. at least 25 years) was also in the church “for an 11-month stretch during the Obama administration.”
Millennial Understanders
The New Jersey Business & Industry Association issued a report on attracting and retaining Millennials in the Garden State, and the valuable NJ Spotlight reports that, after studying the subject over the past year, their recommendations ranged from improving college affordability to “just doing a better job of promoting the different well-paying career opportunities that exist here.” That sounds about right.
Have That Removed
Stockton students pursuing masters degrees in social work launched a petition to have classes moved from the Carnegie Center in Atlantic City to the main campus in Galloway, and if you thought for a second that social workers in-training were maybe concerned with gentrification (Full disclosure: I kind of did!) fret not because diddums and a wide assortment of partially informed family members say it’s because Atlantic City is unsafe.
This may be a bad sign for Stockton, which is opening a new campus this coming fall, though Carnegie Center is on MLK and Pacific in the heart of the Needle Tourism District, while the new Gateway “Margaritaville” Campus is down on Albany Avenue and the beach. But the petition might be a worse sign for the city’s current inhabitants.
For one thing, the syntax and spelling of some of these grad students is shocking. For another, a lot of them are pretty comfortable calling Atlantic City “filthy” “crime ridden” “crime infested” etc., saying it has a “sense of society-underbelly” etc. and should be “cleaned up.” Wait till the business students show up!
At last check the petition only had 135 supporters (865 short of its goal). But I’m beginning to think I don’t understand Millennials at all…
Local Boy Delays Constitutional Crisis
Former Our Lady Star of the Sea student Don McGahn is on the front page of the New York Times today, credited with talking President Donald Trump down off the cliff after he (Donald) ordered him (Don) to fire Robert Swan Mueller III, who is a Republican.
According to the Times, McGahn threatened to quit last June after Trump ordered him to remove Mueller as special counsel investigating Russian election interference but backed off after McGahn threatened to quit instead. McGahn then told White House colleagues Trump doesn’t have the sand to fire Mueller himself, or something like that. Burn!
“Don McGahn is a central figure in this that the American public may not appreciate,” the New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt said.
By “this” I think Schmidt means the impending Constitutional crisis.
Wawa Delivery
As you may know if you read this space the convenience store Wawa is rolling out a delivery service (available right now only out of Cherry Hill) and Bill Duhart at NJ.com bravely ordered a honey-roasted turkey hoagie with “fixings” then documented his experience for the benefit of readers.
It’s a real emotional roller-coaster, let me tell you. First, the “hoagie” arrives 10 minutes ahead of schedule. But there are problems with the fixings so he dials the help desk. In Act III, the protagonist questions whether a modernist ethos of pleasure and self-realization undercuts the moral basis of Western culture. In the end, Grandpa Pig tells Peppa Danny Dog’s uncle is not really a pirate. Wait, maybe my kids changed the channel.
I’ll show myself out…
Landmark Diner In The Pines In The Process Of Being Sold–The iconic and popular Red Lion Diner, a.k.a. Kanaitzi, Inc., located where Routes 70 and 206 intersect in Southampton Township, is in the process of being sold. pinebarrenstribune.com
Cappelluti says goodbye Linwood, hello Brigantine–The school district is poised for some changes as Michelle Cappelluti ends her run here as the interim superintendent and Brian Pruitt takes over. www.shorenewstoday.com
N.J. leads the nation in foreclosures–New Jersey once again claimed the infamous honor of leading the nation in foreclosures in 2017. But that's largely because foreclosures take longer to play out in New Jersey, and there are signs things are definitely improving. www.nj.com
Lottery ticket sales plummeted last year, breaking a seven-year winning streak–New Jersey's lottery lost more than $100 million in ticket sales last year, ending a streak of record sales that began before its core operations were privatized in a controversial deal pushed through by former Republican Gov. Chris Christie. www.northjersey.com
N.J. agency that funds Miss America knew back in October that Dick Clark had severed ties with the pageant–The New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority knew last October — two months before the disclosure of vulgar emails that led to a shakeup of the Miss America Organization — that Dick Clark Productions had severed its ties with the pageant, newly released correspondence reveals. www.philly.com
N.J.’s wine biz aging well–New Jersey's wine industry is aging nicely, according to a new study released Wednesday that compared numbers from 2011 to 2016. www.nj.com