When will the regular NFL referees return?
Pro football, now in its third regular-season weekend, continues to rely on college referees and apparently will do so for the foreseeable future. Fans, coaches and players are complaining about the replacement refs, but NFL officials indicated late last week that the league and the NFL Referees Association are still far from a deal. The league locked the refs out in June after their contract expired and talks failed to produce a new one.
How many people watched the Republican and Democratic conventions?
About 65 million American households tuned in for at least one of the presidential nominees’ conventions, down from 73 million four years ago, final Nielsen ratings show. The biggest draw for the television audience at either convention was Vice President Biden. Nearly 44 million people, or 14.7 percent of viewers, watched Biden’s speech. That topped the 13.7 percent who tuned in for Obama or the 12.5 percent who watched Romney.
Why don’t New Jersey drivers smile?
State residents were told in January by the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission not to smile broadly when they are having their driver license picture taken. The state said big smiles distort the driver’s face and defeat the facial recognition software that New Jersey uses to combat driver license fraud. So far, more than 1 million unsmiling New Jersey residents have complied with the new law.
