Just ahead of Monday’s Assembly voting session, Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) called on Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-East Orange) to post a trio of bills he said would further the Legislature’s ongoing tax reform efforts.Bramnick referenced a Star-Ledger analysis showing property taxes last year increased by the smallest amount in two decades. He ...
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Government
Colleges aim to clear planning hurdles as they await bond funding
At William Paterson University, though, the $750 million bond issue came at a time when administrators already were planning a facility expansion.President Kathleen Waldron said when she arrived at WPU in 2010, she took a “lay of the land” survey of what the school needed, which led to a master plan being created in 2012 ...
Read More »Power 100 cover Iwo Jima meets LBI
Creating the NJBIZ Power 100 list is a long and laborious process. One of the fun parts of the process is deciding how to depict the list on the cover of NJBIZ. When Managing Editor Joe St. Arney and I began kicking around ideas many weeks ago, we knew superstorm Sandy needed to be part ...
Read More »High court begins consideration of executive order to banish COAH
In June 2011, Christie placed state affordable housing policy under executive control by transferring COAH’s functions to the Department of Community Affairs. Once that executive order took effect, the Fair Share Housing Center immediately appealed it, and in March 2012, the Appellate Division decided Christie’s reorganization plan violated state law, reinstating COAH’s authority over municipalities’ ...
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Cooper Health System will pay 12.6 million to settle kickback allegations
The investigation was spurred by a whistle-blower’s federal lawsuit claiming Cooper engaged in improper consulting and compensation arrangements with the local physicians who served on its Heart Institute’s advisory board. The multiyear, joint federal and state probe examined how those doctors were compensated and what services they provided to Cooper in return.Allegations that Cooper had ...
Read More »Sandy grant helps hire 500 for storm cleanup
Labor and Workforce Commissioner Harold J. Wirths made the announcement during a visit to Hillsborough, one of the communities utilizing grant-funded workers. Some 22 people are working in Hunterdon and Somerset counties, the state said.“The day after the storm hit, my staff went to work to secure this National Emergency Grant with the goal of ...
Read More »SBA loan volume surges 23 percent in NJ for quarter
Al Titone, SBA New Jersey district director, said the quarter extended the growth trend from the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2012, which at $605 million was the third-highest year on record for SBA lending to New Jersey businesses.More than 90 banks and other lenders make SBA loans to New Jersey businesses, with repayment partially ...
Read More »On a small business ‘listening tour,’ Sweeney declares Jersey Shore open for business
“New Jersey’s economy has been stuck, with unemployment remaining nearly unchanged over the last few years,” Sweeney said in a statement. “We have worked on various bills in the Legislature, but we can always do more.”The start of Sweeney’s travels trails Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno’s “Open for Business” tour, which kicked off on Jan. 7 ...
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Choose New Jersey ad campaign launched at inauguration
“We want people to know that … New Jersey is a state that stands strong in the face of adversity,” Choose New Jersey Inc. President and CEO Tracye McDaniel said in prepared remarks. “Home to 21 Fortune 500 companies, 17 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies and countless other financial, technology and manufacturing firms, we ...
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Newark taps Lesniak law firm in Prudential case
But the influential lawmaker is dismissing concerns about a possible conflict of interest.On Wednesday night, the Newark Municipal Council was slated to approve a year-long contract with Weiner Lesniak after a bidding process that received 13 proposals, according to council documents. In a separate memo dated Jan. 16, the city’s corporation counsel notes that Newark ...
Read More »Innovators, business leaders discuss how to reduce energy costs in N.J.
“This is not just about the environment, it is also about the economy—we need to keep driving down the cost, and energy is a huge cost factor. We need to come together in New Jersey, where we have very strong companies, very strong organizations,” said Hofmann at the event held at Murray Hill-based Bells Labs, ...
Read More »EDA approves loan program with TD Bank
The board had a relatively light agenda for its first meeting of 2013, following a busy 2012 that saw the agency provide $591 million in financing to 222 projects, creating some 4,600 jobs, according to initial estimates. In new business, the board approved the creation of the “TD Bank New Jersey Advantage Program,” in partnership ...
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