NJ Transit is getting nearly $2.7 billion in federal pandemic relief funds after the governors of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut reached an agreement on how to divide $14 billion in COVID-19 transit aid, following months of negotiations. New York is getting the lion’s share of the funding — close to $11 billion. New Jersey had been seeking about a $1 billion more than it received, according to reports. The funding will allow transit agencies to cover revenues losses that occurred from ridership declines during the pandemic.
There’s a lot of work to be done in the state and the lame-duck Legislature only has a few weeks left, but on Monday lawmakers began considering dozens of bills, some of which landed on Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk for signing. One of the bills he signed would provide more money for job training at a time when companies in the state are struggling to fill open positions. The legislation would provide $3 million to the New Jersey Community College Consortium for a basic skills training program. The New Jersey Business & Industry Association says this comes at a critical time when workforce development is needed.
How to address climate change and reduce carbon emissions is the key theme of the UN’s Convention on Climate Change, or COP26, and one New Jersey executive is part of the conversation. Ralph Izzo, CEO of Public Service Enterprise Group, is one of just a handful of U.S. utility CEOs attending the conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Izzo says one way PSEG is addressing climate change is by reducing emissions from its power plants and investing in renewable energy sources.
The latest on the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate that an appeals court temporarily blocked: The Biden administration on Monday evening asked the court to lift the order that prevents the law from moving forward, claiming lives will be lost without it. Meantime, the administration is urging businesses to move forward and make sure their workers are getting vaccinated, regardless of what’s happening in the courts.
It was a rough start Tuesday morning for thousands of businesses after a widespread outage in Comcast internet service affected parts of New Jersey. Service also went down in Chicago, and in the San Francisco area Monday night.
