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The Mount Laurel Doctrine and the quest for affordable housing

Jul 31, 2024
Journalist Roshan Abraham tells the story of a New Jersey resident who fought City Hall to get 70,000 units eventually built.
Since 1980, 70,000 units of affordable housing have been built in New Jersey, thanks in part to Ethel Lawrence.
Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

New Jersey offers residents incentives to sue New York

Apr 25, 2024
The move centers around taxes paid by New Jersey residents whose jobs are in New York and had to pay taxes there.
New Jersey residents who succeed in suing over income taxes paid to New York would be allowed to keep half of the tax dollars they recover, according to a new state law.
Leonardo Munoz/AFP via Getty Images

What's the deal with "Seinfeld" laws?

Feb 2, 2024
New Jersey’s new telemarketer law isn’t the only example of lawyers taking inspiration from the TV sitcom that aired in the 1990s. 
A 1992 episode of “Seinfeld” called “The Pitch,” above, helped inspire a new law in New Jersey.
Seinfeld YouTube channel

Tax breaks promised jobs in New Jersey's poorest city — they mostly didn't deliver

Mar 27, 2023
The city of Camden was supposed to bring jobs from some of America's biggest companies. So far, that's mostly gone unfulfilled.
Children look out at homes in Camden, New Jersey. Many companies that benefit from state-level tax breaks employ barely any of the city's residents.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

American Dream mall rises as retail struggles

Oct 21, 2019
Can an indoor amusement park and ski hill hold off the death spiral that's dragging other malls under?
Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Atlantic City benefits from early wager on legal sports betting

Jul 29, 2019
Total gaming revenue at Atlantic City’s casinos is up about 20% on last year, but the city is now starting competition from neighboring states.
Bruce DeFino came from Long Island to place sports bets in Atlantic City.
Miles Bryan

Fixing infrastructure: short-term pain, long-term gain

Aug 20, 2018
Crucial upgrades to the busy Route 495 bridge leading to the Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey will snarl traffic.
Cars drive toward the Lincoln Tunnel on July 30 in New York City.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Short-term rentals spur businesses around new services for visitors

Apr 2, 2018
As more and more vacationers book private residences for trips, using sites like Airbnb or HomeAway, there’s no front desk to call when they need something. So online concierge services and other support businesses are springing up in response. The New Jersey-based concierge service Stock the House, for example, provides somebody who will do grocery […]

New leaders want to add their states to carbon trading program

Nov 9, 2017
As the United Nations climate change talks continue in Germany, the U.S. could see an increase in commitments to the cause — from states, not federal programs. The governors-elect of Virginia and New Jersey want to add their states to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The cap-and-trade program includes nine states already, and the addition […]

U.S. is locked in to an aging highway system

Jun 15, 2015
Even after rehab, New Jersey's Pulaski Skyway will be functionally obsolete.