Officials estimate the initiative has enabled nonprofits to use the previous $14 million of grants to buy over 3.5 million meals from more than 350 pandemic-hit restaurants across the state during some of the worst times of the COVID-19 pandemic for its neediest residents.

There's still no update out of Trenton as to what's to become of the soon-to-be expiring job benefits expansion. So far, the state has paid out a combined $33 billion in both federal and state programs, while half a million New Jerseyans currently depend on the aid.

“Because actual consumption in Fiscal Year 2021 was so closely in line with our projections made last August, coupled with the fact that consumption in the current fiscal year is projected to be above last fiscal year’s levels, our analysis of the formula dictates an 8.3 cent decrease this coming October,” State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio said.

Yet to be announced is when applications to run businesses - including dispensaries, grow facilities, manufacturing and processing facilities, delivery operations, and wholesalers - can be submitted for consideration.

To be eligible for funding through the program, organizations must demonstrate that they comply with the regulatory requirements outlined by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the department’s requirements in the Request for Applications.

Wesley McWhite III will lead the Cannabis Regulatory Commission’s office in charge of establishing and administering practices and procedures to bring socially and economically disadvantaged New Jerseyans into the state's medical and adult use cannabis industries.

After an hour of delays attributed to technical difficulties, the group convened in a public meeting in front of nearly 1,000 New Jerseyans to lay out the groundwork paving the way for the state's adult use industry, which included the prioritization of social equity, diversely owned and impact zone businesses; easing access to the market for entrepreneurs; working with municipal partners; and laying a foundation of safety.

Under the plan, three bays in the state could be closed during major storms and barriers at two additional ones would be created to cut them in half during major weather events.

The number of “contacts” - ranging from sit-down meetings to mass emails - made between lawmakers and special interest groups numbered 16,415, with the largest percentage - 12%, or 2,033 - related to the pandemic.

A spokesperson for Gov. Phil Murphy’s office said that the rates for employers were set into law when Murphy approved a bill in January to space out payments, “making any contribution of federal funds irrelevant in the current fiscal year.”

“Welcome to New Jersey elections, where a large chunk of the electorate does not tune in until mid-October,” Patrick Murray, who heads the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said of results released on Aug. 18 . “That means Ciattarelli still has to be introduced to most voters.”

Under an expansion and revival of the Urban Enterprise Zone program, first established in 1983, the state will set aside $42.5 million through the end of June 2022 for grants, tax breaks, revolving loans and other support for businesses that open in some of the state’s most impoverished communities.