President Joe Biden the legislation providing an additional 30 days for the U.S. Small Business Administration to process pending applications.

If confirmed, Julien Xavier Neals, county counsel and acting county administrator for Bergen County, and Judge Zahid Quraishi, a United States Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey since 2019, will fill two of the state’s six district court vacancies, second only to California’s and declared a “judicial emergency.”

Eligibility expanded to food production, distribution and agriculture workers; any remaining eldercare staff; warehousing and logistics; clergy; judicial workers; postal and shipping workers; elections personnel; hospitality; medical supply chain, and social services support staff.

The move comes as the state is experiencing an increase in the availability of COVID-19 vaccine doses and eligibility to get a shot, despite the simultaneous uptick in new cases and total hospitalizations stemming from several highly contagious variants of the virus.

Helmets to Hardhats, or H2H, is a national nonprofit program to help reserve, retired, and transitioning active-duty military members connect with career-training opportunities in construction trades.

"...New Jersey is now eligible to receive millions of dollars in additional federal funding to help our state continue responding and recovering from the impacts of this pandemic,” said Sen. Bob Menendez.

The measures would give a greater degree of flexibility to the owners of bars, restaurants, distilleries and other eateries, especially as the widely popular outdoor dining options witnessed over the summer remain useless amid the cold winter weather.

The data marks potential good news for a job market that flattened between December and February, which made up the worst months of the COVID-19 second wave. New Jersey’s unemployment rate was 7.7% in December, 7.9% in January and 7.8% in February, according to state data.

Aspects of tourism in the state, like domestic travel, will bounce back quicker and could see signs of opening up much sooner.

The matter of how the Biden administration will restrict states from using corporate tax breaks if they receive federal COVID-relief aid will be contentious for the federal government as it hashes out the regulations implementing the law.

This week, the state got over 10,000 doses of the J&J shot, according to New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli, followed by an expected 51,700 doses next week.

“The American Rescue Plan is for the American people, not the banks and credit unions,” the governor said at a March 24 COVID-19 press conference in Trenton. “We want our residents to put those funds to use as they deem necessary.”