| | | | |  | | By Matt Friedman | Good Wednesday morning! I know you’ve heard this one before: New Jersey is seeking to lure a major league sports team to its side of the river. Only this time, it’s the Delaware River. The state, according to ROI-NJ, is dangling hundreds of millions in tax incentives and other goodies to get the NBA's 76ers, who already have a practice facility in Camden thanks to earlier massive tax breaks, to build at the site of the former Riverfront State Prison in Camden. It’s hard to shake the feeling that the most likely outcome will be the team using New Jersey’s proposal to stir fear in Philadelphia’s civic leaders amid the fight over their proposed arena in Center City, gaining whatever leverage they can from it. New Jersey leaders would know that, but don’t have anything to lose. Giving huge tax breaks to a stadium is always going to lead to some controversy. Especially for Gov. Phil Murphy, who went from hiring investigators who exposed how tax credits were designed to aid a political boss in Camden to designing his own generous tax incentive programs. Also, this wouldn't be the Sixers' first tax break. TIPS? FEEDBACK? Email me at mfriedman@politico.com. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The reality is we are running out of time to reach an agreement that will allow the 76ers to open our new home in time for the 2031-32 NBA season. As a result, we must take all potential options seriously, including this one.” — a 76ers spokesperson on New Jersey’s offer WHERE’S MURPHY? No public schedule |  | WHAT TRENTON MADE | |
TO SEE BRIEFS, YOU HAVE TO TIP THE JUDGES FOR A PRIVATE SHOW — “Appeals courts to expand public access by livestreaming hearings and posting briefs online,” by New Jersey Monitor’s Nikita Biryukov: “New Jersey’s judiciary will begin livestreaming appellate hearings and publicly posting briefs filed in such cases in a pro-transparency turn enabled by new technologies, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner announced Tuesday. The intermediate court will begin broadcasting oral arguments Monday and will be required to post complaints, responses, and reply briefs online five days ahead of such hearings unless the briefs are sealed or otherwise confidential. ‘An engaged and informed citizenry improves public trust in the courts and strengthens our justice system as a whole. And as technology evolves, it affords greater opportunities to expand public access to the courts,’ Rabner said in a statement.”
TURBULENT TIMES — “Supply chain issue forces offshore wind developer to hit pause on N.J. project,” by NJ Advance Media’s Steven Rodas: “Instead of offshore wind turbines on New Jersey’s horizon, the state is once again seeing challenges in helping the industry prosper here. The latest comes from one of the two project developers that in January got the go-ahead to install blades on our coast. … It is the largest state-approved project so far, and would be among the furthest away from the coast. However, the timelines set at the start of the year could now be in some doubt. ‘In light of industry-wide shifts in market conditions, Leading Light Wind submitted a motion for a stay of order to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, requesting additional time to continue ongoing discussions with the BPU and supply chain partners,’ Wes Jacobs, Leading Light Wind’s project director and vice president of offshore wind development at Invenergy, told NJ Advance Media in a statement Tuesday. The company said it needs time to obtain the turbines it needs.” WHEEZER FANS REJOICE — “Atlantic City casino ruling shows that public safety in NJ can go up in smoke,” by The Record’s Charles Stile: “Perhaps they were obvious back in the 1970s — the era of wide lapels and gamblers with cigarettes dangling rakishly from the corners of their mouths when the public consciousness had not been rattled yet by the dangers of secondhand smoke. The world has moved on. That logic, embraced by the court, also ignores changes in public attitudes toward indoor smoking — people now dislike it, including, presumably, the gamblers at the Parx casino just outside of Philadelphia, which has been smoke-free for several years. It hasn’t hurt the casino's bottom line. And it did not measurably stop gamblers from coming to Atlantic City when smoking was banned during a 16-month stretch of the COVID pandemic.” —“Besides her Senate seat, Pou’s committee chair, leadership post and Judiciary seat are up for grabs” — “New Jersey districts still face teacher shortages as new school year begins” —“A brief electoral history of Ed Durr” | | BIDEN TIME | |
SENATORIAL CURTISY — “Which NJ Senate candidate is the real agent of change? Curtis Bashaw? Andy Kim?” by The Record’s Charles Stile: “The two major party candidates for New Jersey's open U.S. Senate seat will try to convince voters that they are the credible torchbearer of change. Republican challenger Curtis Bashaw is campaigning on his resume as a hotelier and developer from Cape May who converted a boarded-up hotel into a seaside landmark and created jobs in the process. It’s just the kind of ingenuity and imagination that Congress could use at this perilous moment of political paralysis, he argues. ‘We need more outsiders and businesspeople in Washington, not career politicians,’ the 63-year-old first-time candidate said in a recent television appearance. The outsider as change agent who can shake up D.C. — a familiar trope of former President Donald Trump's during his 2016 campaign — is meant as a dig and contrast to Rep. Andy Kim, the Democratic nominee, who was a foreign service officer and national security official for former President Barack Obama. Bashaw’s inference is that Kim is a swamp creature of Washington, even though his service included stints as an adviser to top generals in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. And Kim didn’t launch his first race for Congress until 2017— hardly a longtime creature of the cozy D.C. cloakroom.”
BEDLAMINSTER — “Putting the Trump rioters on hold,” by InsiderNJ’s Fred Snowflack: “Looks like the rioters who stormed the Capitol are going to have to wait a bit longer to be honored. A much-discussed and often-criticized fundraiser to support ‘all Jan 6 defendants’ had been scheduled for Sept. 5 at Trump National. Now it’s been postponed. The organization promoting the event – Stand in the Gap – had promised quite the evening … Not all observers were enthused by the prospect of honoring Jan. 6 defendants. OneNJ7 is a grassroots organization dedicated to progressive ideas and defeating Rep. Thomas H. Kean Jr. His congressional district includes Trump National.” WE'RE NOT SENDING OUR BEST — “N.J. man who wore company jacket inside Capitol on Jan. 6 pleads guilty,” by Kevin Shea for NJ.com: “An Ocean County man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to illegally being inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Robert Coppotelli, of Toms River, pleaded guilty to two of the four charges he faced, being disorderly and disruptive in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, federal court records show. He’s scheduled to be sentenced in early December. … Authorities tracked down Coppotelli as a Jan. 6 protester by the jacket he wore in the Capitol, which read, ‘Coppotelli Heavy Equipment Sales & Services, Inc.’” NEWARK MAKES — “N.J. factory working overtime to meet demand for viral Harris-Walz camo hats,” by NJ Advance Medai’s Jackie Roman: “Employees of a Newark-based factory are working 60-hour weeks to fill backorders of a viral camouflage hat sold by campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. The camouflage hat embroidered with orange “Harris-Walz” text goes for $40 on official campaign store website and is sold out until Sept. 30, according to the seller. Demand for the hat made by Unionwear in Essex County started skyrocketing earlier this month after Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. … Trump’s original ‘Make America Great Again’ hat in 2016 was also big business for Unionwear, with demand overwhelming the supply, according to a company press release.” —“Secretary Of State rejects bid to remove RFK Jr. from N.J. ballot” | | LOCAL | |
VIRTUAL INSANITY — “School district turns to virtual teachers for hard-to-fill high school positions, Jersey City superintendent says,” by The Jersey Journal’s Joshua Rosario: “Hard-to-fill positions and a national teacher shortage have pushed Jersey City to rely on more remote teachers to fill some high school classrooms, the superintendent said. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become harder for school districts to retain teachers, who have moved to better-paying districts or left the field. Meanwhile, fewer students are entering the teaching field every year. Superintendent Norma Fernandez said the district will use remote teachers through an online program called Edmentum to help fill the gap in the city’s high schools. She said a substitute teacher or a paraprofessional will be in the classroom while a remote teacher teaches the students live.”
TICKETMASTER PUT IN CHARGE OF SCHOOL LUNCH — “Parents are paying crazy ‘junk’ fees for kids to eat school lunch, report says,” by NJ Advance Media’s Tina Kelley: “It’s that season again, time to set up electronic payments for student meal accounts — and feel like you’re getting mugged for your lunch money. As the popularity of convenient online payments grows, so do the “junk” fees families incur when paying for school lunches and activities like field trips and dances. Many schools in New Jersey and around the country no longer accept cash from students paying for lunch in school cafeterias. Instead, families are required to pay into online accounts that deduct money for each meal eaten. However, loading money into the accounts using a credit card or bank transfer often comes with mandatory fees. These ‘convenience’ ees — charged every time money is put in students’ accounts — often hit the people on tight budgets the hardest.” HARVARD ON THE BOULEVARD — “Bayonne mayor has ‘out of the box’ merger plan to save cash-strapped NJ state college,” by NJ ADvance Media’s Joshua Rosario: “The mayor of Bayonne is offering an “out of the box” solution to save cash-strapped New Jersey City University from becoming a satellite campus for another state university — merge instead with Hudson County’s locally operated community college. The merger would create what Davis calls a first-in-the-state ‘Community University.’ State and local elected officials, as well as insiders, say the plan is rife with legal logistical and financial pitfalls. The 100-year-old institution has spent the past two years clawing out of a financial emergency after revealing a $22.7 million operating deficit.” —“NJCU provides update on hacking: ‘We internally mobilized to contain the incident’” PICKLE TECH — “NJ buying former pickle factory site to expand Paterson's P-Tech,” by The Paterson Press’ Joe Malinconico: “In an attempt to expand P-Tech High School, the state is buying an Ellison Street property where a pickle factory burned down more than 17 months ago. The goal is to add a gymnasium and cafeteria to P-Tech, officials said. At present, P-Tech’s 200 students must walk across Memorial Drive, a heavily traveled street, for gym and lunch at Passaic County Community College. The Paterson Board of Education last month voted to give its support to the planned purchase of the former Pickle King property by the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, the state agency that builds education facilities in low-income cities.” —“Passaic High School will be demolished, rebuilt. Students will be split up. See full plan” —“[Trenton] police sergeant repeatedly exposed himself to us in gym, 2 female officers say” —“Two years after Englewood shooting, Bernard Placide’s family still awaits police reforms” —“[Jackson] district is going to make you pay for after-school buses” —“'I am that luckiest guy': Hazlet rallies for youth coach with ALS who gave them so much” —“[Middlesex County] park will be covered with 14 artificial turf sports fields under new plan” —“Grants allow big savings on electric school buses. So why has NJ been slow to adopt?” | | EVERYTHING ELSE | |
HOBBS AND THE SOCIAL CONTRACT— “Rutgers needs to come clean on the Patrick Hobbs mess — and that starts at the top,” by NJ Advance Media’s Steve Politi: “Turns out, the athletic director who often talked about writing the ‘greatest chapter’ in Rutgers sports history really was penning a cheap Harlequin novel with one of his subordinates. Patrick Hobbs was under investigation for an “inappropriate, consensual relationship” when he abruptly resigned on Aug. 16, a source told NJ Advance Media. Hobbs isn’t the first high-profile figure to nuke his career with an affair, but given he was tasked with restoring the reputation of the athletic department when he arrived in 2015, the level of recklessness and arrogance is still astounding … This episode raises uncomfortable questions for the high-level university officials like president Jonathan Holloway who had hoped — naively, of course — that this entire affair would disappear as quickly as Hobbs did. Start with this one: Why was Rutgers so vehement in its insistence that Hobbs had stepped away for health reasons when an investigation was underway? Was the university so desperate to protect itself from potential litigation that it misled the community about the circumstances that led Hobbs, one of its highest-paid employees, to leave his job? … Here’s the problem: No one around the athletics department believed that for a minute. When allegations about a toxic environment inside the gymnastics program became public a week and a half later, it didn’t take long to connect the dots.”
—“Rutgers calls for investigation into its gymnastics program” SUSSEXLESS COUNTY — “The bunnies never did replace the cows. Why the Playboy Club in Vernon failed,” by The Record’s David Zimmer: “The Playboy Club Hotel was a domino that never quite fell into place. Built in the early 1970s in Vernon Township, the hotel complex was meant to transform a valley once packed with dairy cows into the top resort and convention center on the East Coast. It did not go as planned. Without a casino, like the highly profitable one at the Playboy Club in London, the resort hotel never achieved the success company founder Hugh Hefner envisioned. After rebranding the hotel as a family-friendly resort, Hefner cut the fraying cord. Playboy Enterprises Inc. officials announced a sale in 1981. The property continued its steady decline. The neglected site was sold earlier this year to an affiliate of Lockwood Hotels, a real estate investment and development company based in Florida that owns several other hotels.” R.I.P. — “She started in Asbury Park before covering some of the biggest trial stories ever” —“There still isn’t as much traffic on major N.J. highways as there was before COVID” —“Six Flags Great Adventure to ban unchaperoned kids under 16 at night”
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