The main spending bills were passed by their respective budget committees with little time for public review, drawing the scorn of Republican lawmakers and good government advocates.  In the case of the Assembly version, it was approved just 11 minutes after the full text was released to the public.

The aid is meant to hold companies over as they navigate the latest pandemic reopenings and set their sights on recovery. The NJEDA is overseeing the funding, which you can pre-register to apply for through June 30.

“Internet gaming has for years been, and remains, an essential industry here, one the Department of Justice viewed since 2011 as perfectly legal until its baseless backtracking in 2018,” said New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.

Formally called “New Jersey Pay It Forward,” the initiative aims to prepare New Jerseyans for careers and jobs coming out of the 15-month COVID-19 pandemic.

Should the measure be approved, the state would continue its control of most major functions of the struggling seaside resort town’s government operations for a total nine years.

Legislators want to add another $505 million in pension payments for the 2022 Fiscal Year on top of the $6.4 billion the governor already proposed. That would make this year’s spending plan the first time since the 1990s that the staff has met its full yearly pension obligation.

Included: $500 rebates to more than 760,000 New Jersey families, which will carry a price tag of roughly $319 million, according to the governor's office.

A new Fairleigh Dickinson University poll finds that 48% of New Jersey voters would pick the incumbent, while 33% said they would select former Assemblyman Jack Ciatterelli for the state's highest office. That’s amid a slide of Gov. Phil Murphy's overall approval into lukewarm territory as the state moves away from the pandemic that lifted his ratings last year.

A bill sponsored by one of the state’s most influential lawmakers would overhaul New Jersey’s workplace discrimination and sexual harassment laws. Labor rights organizations and women’s rights groups say the proposal includes much-needed reform to clamp down on these practices as they run rampant in the workplace.

When NJBIZ last checked in on the state of showbiz in the Garden State in October few producers were willing to talk about what they were up to. Film and television production all but shut down during the pandemic, with few exceptions for projects that imposed strict standards for social distancing, mask usage and sanitization. But now, with New Jersey reopening, industry insiders are more forthcoming.

Hitting Gov. Phil Murphy's self-imposed goal two weeks early, as of June 18 a total of 4,748,031 people in the Garden State were inoculated against the virus--or roughly 70% of the adult population, according to state health data.

The offices of U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez and Cory Booker said RWJBarnabas Health is slated to get $26.3 million from FEMA, while Hackensack Meridian Health will receive $11.5 million.