The New Jersey Economic Development Authority is rolling out another program to help small businesses. The authority’s board voted to create the Main Street Micro Business Loan program, which will provide up to $50,000 for businesses with 10 or fewer full-time employees. Nonprofits and home-based businesses can also apply for 10-year loans with a low-interest rate if certain requirements are met. Meantime, the EDA also finalized rules for its Aspire tax-credit program, which aims to support mixed-use, transit-oriented developments in the state.
New Jersey businesses owned by veterans are facing challenges and are in need of help. Among other things, the head of the New Jersey State Veterans Chamber of Commerce, Col. Jeff Cantor says businesses aren’t getting enough access to state contracts.
Elsewhere, lawsuits over Johnson & Johnson’s talc products will now be heard in New Jersey; a U.S. bankruptcy judge in North Carolina ruled the cases must be heard in New Jersey, where Johnson & Johnson is based. The company was trying to get the cases heard in North Carolina because of favorable legal precedent there. A Johnson & Johnson unit faces thousands of lawsuits from customers who claim they developed cancer from asbestos in talc products, which the company has denied. According to Reuters, Johnson & Johnson has paid $3.5 billion in settlements and verdicts in talc cases, although it has prevailed in some of them.
