Meet the ORC!
Wayne Parry at the Associated Press is reporting Glenn Straub has at last sold the Revel to Bruce Deifik, which should not surprise you if you’ve been reading this space. But Parry talked to Deifik who said the deal was “finalized” Thursday during the blizzard at a price of $200 million.
Straub bought the Revel for $82 million in April 2015. Meaning he’s been futzing around with it for going on three years now, to no apparent purpose. Other than this $118 million payday. Millionaires: They’re just like you and me.
Parry says Deifik plans (hopes?) to have a “sports book facility” pending the outcome of the Supreme Court case and will rename the property the Ocean Resort Casino, which as the Due For a Win guys point out, spells ORC. Granted they tried to rename it TEN once and that has officially failed. Maybe this one won’t take either. In the meantime, here’s to you, ORC!
The Orc, eh? pic.twitter.com/aBnVidJ8ZK
— Due For A Win (@dueforawin) January 8, 2018
Your Taxes are Charitable Contributions?
State lawmakers have floated a plan that would let homeowners continue to deduct their property taxes from their federal tax bill, despite the $10,000 cap imposed by the GOP tax legislation signed last month. Under the plan, local governments could create funds that would allow homeowners “to pay their property taxes by making a charitable contribution,” Politico’s Ryan Hutchins reports. Then you write off the tax payment as a charitable deduction or something.
Josh Gottheimer is the Bergen County Dem. behind the idea, and he says it exists in 22 other states and has IRS backing. Steve Sweeney seems kind of behind it, as does the state League of Municipalities, though the national policy group the Tax Foundation thinks these kind of programs “unlikely to succeed.”
Anyway, is it wise to train people to think of their taxes as “charitable donations?” What happens if you’re not feeling charitable one year? What if I want donations to my website to become mandatory? Asking for a friend.
Net Neutrality Fight
Jeff Van Drew–who looks like the bad guy from Terminator II, no?–called on Phil Murphy to sue to block the FCC’s repeal of Net Neutrality raising two interesting questions: Where are the rest of our local lawmakers and why haven’t those laggards followed suit?
Eighty-three percent of voters supported keeping the internet as we knew it, according to this one innovative poll that turned out not to mean much.
Reached for comment by the Press of AC, Chris Brown said he likes net neutrality but didn’t exactly man up and say he’s on board with a lawsuit. C’mon Chris. You can do it!
Cold Snap
We got a boatload of snow Thursday and it created a ton of problems across the region, including the twelve (12) broken water mains the Municipal Utilities Authority was dealing with in Atlantic City. Bruce Ward told the Press of AC that three breaks in a week was “huge.” Nobody can remember anything like twelve.
Meanwhile, a visibly freezing Mayor Gilliam gave a press conference at Bader Field and said the DOT was helping with snow removal. Jeffree Fauntleroy, often the best-dressed politician in the room, looked a little less cold in his yellow zippy thing but still: It was cold. Thanks to all our first-responders and emergency personnel and selfless Non-Governmental Personnel for stepping up and helping the community.
Taking people displaced by the fire to various places around the city at the direction of Public Safety officials. Everyone seems to be in good spirits @AtlanticCity911 pic.twitter.com/rIEGdtOUbo
— Jitney Guy (@JitneyGuy) January 5, 2018
Opioid Prescription Stats
The Asbury Park Press says prescriptions for opioids increased in Atlantic County between 2010 and 2015 even as they fell nationwide. Six NJ counties–all in South Jersey–ranked in the top 30% nationally.
Seagull Classic Returns
Who remembers the Seagull Classic? I do. I loved those ads on Channel 2 back in the 80s. Boo Pergament and Father Lyons helped found the basketball tournament. Anyhow, it’s back. And GloryDays has coverage, including the excellent tidbit that Holy Spirit guard Drew Gallagher may have lost his breakfast on 10 different occasions during the final game! Seems hard to believe they’d keep running him out there. Anyhoo. Hope you’re feeling better, Drew. He still put up 23.
For more of the news around South Jersey, do see below:
‘The New Jim Crow,’ a popular book on mass incarceration, banned in two N.J. prisons–“The New Jim Crow,” a book on the racial disparities in America’s criminal justice system that overwhelmingly disadvantage African-Americans, is banned in at least two New Jersey state prisons. whyy.org
REPEAL AND REPLACE TAKES ITS TOLL: NJ ACA ENROLLMENT DIPS IN 2018–Reports show 20,000 fewer New Jersey residents signed up for health insurance coverage for 2018 through the federal Affordable Care Act marketplace, something advocates warned might happen given the Trump administration’s lack of support for the program. www.njspotlight.com
See how your town scores on income inequality–There are multi-million dollar McMansions and blue-collar families just trying to make ends meet. Across New Jersey, the gap between the rich and the poor continues to get wider. www.nj.com
‘I’m scared I’m going to be frozen:’ The homeless try to escape the cold–The night before temperatures dipped into the single digits, Lisa F. turned on her propane heater and tucked herself into three sleeping bags. www.nj.com