Marking one of the first actions for the legislative task force, the participants of the Senate Select Committee on Economic Growth were announced Wednesday, with Sen. Bob Smith named chair.

The feature of the 2017 federal tax cuts could be a massive boom for cities, but they need to be done in a way that they do not gentrify the city and push out longtime residents, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said Tuesday at the Forbes Opportunity Zone Summit in Newark. “This whole concept of equitable development is constantly something that mayors have been struggling with all over the nation."

The state Legislature’s top elected official has shot down the motion, calling it “problematic” and saying it would enhance the black market in New Jersey.

Following the news Monday that the Senate was cancelling plans to hold a vote on the measures this week, the lower house of the state Legislature is now set to vote on just a measure to expand the New Jersey's medical marijuana program.

South Jersey power broker George Norcross, along with his insurance company Conner Strong & Buckelew, The Michaels Organization, Cooper University Health Care and Parker McCay filed the suit against the governor, his administration and the task force over its work in recent weeks.

The first measure, Assembly Bill 4814, is worded in a way that the levy would essentially apply only to AirBnB properties while the second measure, Assembly Bill 4520, excludes rentals in Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties from the tax.

A decade ago, “If I told people what was coming [to Newark], they would not have believed me,” U.S. Sen. Cory Booker said speaking at the Forbes Opportunity Zone Summit Tuesday morning in Newark. “This is what happens when you create uncommon coalitions, they create uncommon results.”

Under Assembly Bill 5343, introduced by Assembly Budget Chair Eliana Pintor-Marin, the state would extend Grow New Jersey and the Economic Redevelopment and Growth gap financing programs through 2020 in an effort to let "cooler heads prevail" during budget discussions.

It is not immediately clear why the session was cancelled. The soonest Senate session is May 30.

Lawmakers are planning to combine a bill that would expunge low-level cannabis criminal offenses with another that would decriminalize possession of up to two ounces of marijuana.

After legislative leadership called it quits last week on a recreational cannabis bill, lawmakers are set to vote on a series of bills to expand the state’s medical program and to establish a process of expungement for low-level cannabis offenses.

The attorney for South Jersey power broker George Norcross sent letters to the homes of Gov. Phil Murphy and his administration demanding they preserve documents related to the controversial tax break program they are investigating, a move which could signal a lawsuit in the near future. In response, Jim Walden, counsel for Murphy’s Tax Break Task Force, lambasted the move ...