The Morning Briefing February 16, 2012

WESTFIELD - Local elected officials hate it when residents are successful at appealing their property taxes; it drains money from town coffers and forces town officials to find the money elsewhere. Yet a Westfield councilman - who also happens to be a tax attorney - is holding a seminar tonight in town to teach local residents how to "understand their options" when it comes to filing appeals. The councilman/attorney, who even has a newspaper ad in this week's local weekly about the seminar, will be dispensing advice tonight at Weichert Realtors from 7-8 p.m. Oddly, the invite doesn't mention the guest speaker serves on the Westfield council. Is this a conflict? Naaah.

NEWARK - Gov. Chris Christie continues to be hammered for his decision to order flags at half-staff to honor Whitney Houston. Federal guidelines say the flag should only be at half-staff "upon the death of principal figures of the U.S. Government." There appears to be no mention in the code concerning an individual who earned millions by singing "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."

EAST RUTHERFORD - The next classic smack-down is coming to New Jersey, and it has nothing to do with the Governor. But Christie will be at the grand announcement at 11 a.m. today, when state sports authority officials discuss "WrestleMania," coming to the Meadowlands next year. Last year's fake wrestling event in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta drew a crowd of 71,617 and generated millions in revenue for the region, NJBiz reported.

UNION - The Kean University teacher's union is breathing fire this morning, after the school's governing body voted to support embattled University President Dawood Farahi. While the union has been complaining about what they consider Farahi's fascist dictatorship over the years, the teachers thought they finally nailed him - it was discovered his credentials were falsified on some documents. But, the Star-Ledger reports, the board thought these findings were immaterial to Farahi's success as president. Case closed.

SCOTCH PLAINS & FANWOOD - The towns have shared the same school district for years, now they are taking the state-mandated steps to examine the benefits of a full merger. Petition-gathering residents from both towns are the first in the state to use 2006 legislation that allows regular folks to call for a municipal consolidation study - without requiring the blessing of local politicians. This is a game-changer in towns where entrenched mayors and councils have fought to protect their fiefdoms for years.

TRENTON - The Governor has big plans to construct 20 schools in some of the poorest communities in New Jersey, through the School Development Authority. Just eight of those schools, he said, would cost a whopping $675 million. There is no question these schools are needed, but one is quick to remember the debacle in the early 2000s when an aggressive school construction plan was launched, millions were wasted on consultants, political cronies and land acquisition, and there was not much to show for it.

TRENTON - It seems Christie won't be following in the footsteps of Washington State Gov. Chris Gregoire, who signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage on Monday. New Jersey's state Assembly is scheduled to vote on the marriage bill today, which will likely go nowhere because Democrats don't have a supermajority in either house to override the Governor.

CAMDEN - Hopefully, acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf is armed with a bottle of Advil, as he meets this morning in Trenton with Mayor Dana Redd to "discuss deficiencies" in the city's struggling school district, where 88 percent of the schools are among the lowest performing in New Jersey. The Courier Post suspects a major talking point will be the mayor's lack of support for the schools superintendent, Bessie LeFra Young. The school board is expected to call for a "no confidence" vote on Young at its meeting Tuesday.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Die-hard Devils fans are celebrating this morning, yet no one knows why. Here is the reason: It was this day, in 1985, that the Devils scored the fastest hat trick in NHL history - in an unimaginable 42 seconds.