By Andrew Kitchenman
February 17, 2012 04:06 PM
New Jersey is considering its first statewide higher education bond issue in nearly a quarter century, prompting hopes from contractors and college executives alike.
A bond issue is supported by state Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney (D-West Deptford), who supports both an initial bond and the creation of a revolving loan pool to provide continuous financing to higher education.
“Our economy was humming and our pharmaceutical corporations were expanding” after the 1988 bond issue, Sweeney said. “The lack of investment over the years has seen industries like the pharmaceutical industry expanding in other states, rather than expanding here.”
By Jared Kaltwasser
February 17, 2012 04:25 PM
Caren Franzini had just completed her MBA when she found herself being interviewed for a job by a hot-shot investment banker — and she was getting annoyed.
The young banker kept peppering the Wharton School grad with the same question: Why did she want to work for the firm?
"I finally said, you know what, you're asking me a question, and obviously I'm not giving you the answer you want," she said.
So the banker answered it himself: "For the money," he said. "That's why you want to work here."
By Joshua Burd
February 17, 2012 04:36 PM
The state’s Urban Transit Hub tax credit program has reached a crossroads, and in September, the Economic Development Authority will decide whether to shift more of its credits to a swelling pipeline of residential projects that for now have been sidelined.
Until then, the agency says it will be gauging the demand from commercial builders and developers of offshore wind power, who each have until January to apply for the lucrative incentive program. Such planning efforts could be made irrelevant, though, by a bill that would add another $1 billion to the program’s bank.
By Jared Kaltwasser
February 17, 2012 04:43 PM
Back before the big-buttoned Jitterbug became a hit, Serge Loncar had his own idea to make a senior-centric cell phone.
He’d worked in product development at Johnson & Johnson before leaving to work for tech startups, including a firm that made a disposable hearing aid.
“I had worked for this aging population for three-and-a-half years,” he said. “What was missing, in my mind, was a mobile phone designed for seniors.”
Potential investors, however, weren’t so enthused. After a year of failing to raise the capital needed to make the expensive product, Loncar realized, “I had to do something I could afford to do on my own,” he said. “That’s why I went to SMS — text messaging — because it was the simplest technology out there.”
By NJBIZ Staff February 17, 2012 01:12 PM
Insurer unsure on N.J.
Word on the street is that AmeriHealth New Jersey is trying to get out of the Garden State market by selling its state license, according to two sources connected to the health insurance world.
By Andrew Kitchenman
February 17, 2012 01:44 PM
Lobbying was escalating last week over the fate of an effort to force online retailers to collect sales taxes in New Jersey, as well as discussions over whether Amazon.com could delay collecting the taxes in exchange for bringing jobs, according to sources that are following the talks.
February 20, 2012 04:04 PM
By NJBIZ Staff February 17, 2012 01:19 PM
FACE TIME: SHREWD
Each week in Face Time, NJBIZ editors approximate Chris Christie’s mood and facial expressions based on the news.
Ahead of voting, he declared the gay marriage bill would be DOA on his desk, though he'd accept the results of a referendum, even if it went against his coda. He also nominated a gay man to fill a Supreme Court opening. Democrats just can't figure out how to trap this guy.
By Andrew Kitchenman
February 10, 2012 03:31 PM
When Dale F. Florio talks about the group he has assembled at Princeton Public Affairs Group over the past 25 years, he uses the word "team."
His firm employs at least four former college basketball players, as well as former collegiate baseball and football players in addition to Florio himself, who ran college track and coaches West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North's boys' basketball team.
The mindset of teamwork and competitiveness has carried forward to Princeton Public Affairs, which has strung together a legislative win-loss record that is the envy of Trenton as it celebrates its 25th anniversary this month.
By Melinda Caliendo
February 10, 2012 03:46 PM
What began as a trickle of mergers and partnerships has become a flood for New Jersey’s hospitals, which are increasingly exploring partnerships as a way to fend off the fiscal pressures of a new and changing health care landscape.
“Throughout the state and the country, you’re seeing consolidation in the industry,” said Robert Garrett, president and CEO of Hackensack University Medical Center. “There was almost a frenzy that started after health care reform was passed two years ago, and that frenzy has continued and accelerated. I think standalone hospitals that traditionally had no interest in joining a system or network are now rethinking those positions, because they’re wondering can they survive on their own in the future.”
