Under the White House policy, part of a six-point plan to control the pandemic, companies would be required to provide paid sick time to recover from side effects of the COVID-19 shot, and employees that do not get inoculated would face weekly testing.

For the next two weeks, state residents that suffered the loss of a vehicle can text NJIDARIDE to 898-211 to request a ride. Those without access to a smartphone can dial 2-1-1, the hotline for the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, from any phone line.

The newly sworn-in governor of the Empire State, who is interested in the “shortest timetable we can follow," says collected proceeds will be used to finance sorely needed major upgrades to New York City’s sprawling subway system.

This is the first in a massive wave of financial assistance for businesses as they rebound from Ida, which dumped record levels of rain across the Garden State last week.

Enterprises and nonprofits in six counties - Bergen, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Passaic and Somerset - can borrow up to $2 million in low-interest loans that owners can use to pay for storm-damaged property and machinery, equipment, inventory, and any other physical damage they suffered.

Businesses with up to 50 employees that can demonstrate physical damage suffered from the storm can receive grants of between $1,000 and $5,000 from the NJEDA.

The Garden State's employment level declined 6.3% since 2019, according to Pew Charitable Trusts, placing it ahead of only Rhode Island, California, Hawaii and Nevada.

According to the governor, continuing the payments would have cost the state $314 million per week and up to $1 billion each month.

The interim assistance will provide grants up to $5,000 to storm-impacted businesses/nonprofits with up to 50 employees.

The increases are meant to refill the state’s unemployment trust fund, which was drained over the last year-and-a-half amid record-high joblessness and business closures stemming from the pandemic.

“New York City’s proposed congestion tax would endanger the economic recovery of the New York metropolitan region, add[ing] further expense to the already sky-high cost of commuting into New York City,” U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer wrote.

To continue to pay would cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars: $314 million a week, and up to $1 billion a month.