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2/10/22 Nearly $6 a Gallon? This Could Be the Most Expensive Gas in NJ AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gas last week in New Jersey was $3.44, up three cents from a week ago. Drivers were paying an average of $2.57 a gallon a year ago at this time. But $3.44 a gallon is a steal compared to what motorists are paying at the Exxon station on Routes 202/206 in Bedminster, not far from the Trump National Golf Club and the regional Somerset Airport. According to gasbuddy.com the price for a gallon of midgrade gasoline is $5.79 and it's ten cents higher for premium. Diesel costs $4.39 a gallon. 2/11/22 White House Releases $5 Billion Plan for EV Charging Infrastructure The Biden Administration has released its plan to fund electric vehicle charging infrastructure, focusing on interstate highways first, and then rural areas at a later date, reports the Wall Street Journal. The administration said the goal of the plan is to give Americans the ability to access public EV charging as easily as it is to find a gas station. The administration will award nearly $5 billion over five years to states so they can build EV chargers along highway corridors. The money was part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill that was passed last November and will be distributed among all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, with the biggest allocations to California, Florida and Texas. 2/11/22 Supply Chain Snarls Hit Disposable Cups and Lids America's crimpled supply chain has a new victim-disposable cups and lids, reports the Wall Street Journal. These to-go items are imported from overseas and are stuck in ports, plus American paper mills are dealing with labor shortages. Additionally, the extreme cold that hit Texas last year suspended resin production, and the U.S. still hasn't caught up. . . One way to combat the shortage is to sell branded, reusable cups that carry a drink discount. Consumers were hesitant to use reusable cups during the pandemic, and some businesses refused to refill them, but now they are an option again. Plastic cups are also in short supply, with the Plastics Industry Association saying labor troubles have hampered plastics plants. Shortages of both labor and inputs have pushed prices for plastic packaging products 24% higher from a year ago, federal data show. The industry forecasts a 3.1% increase in the output of plastic products, including cups. 2/14/22 Ten Years in NJ Property Taxes: Rising, But Kept (Somewhat) In Check It was around this time a decade ago that New Jersey was just starting to see the effects of a brand-new cap on local property-tax increases. Already known for having high property taxes, increases had been topping 5% annually, on average, for roughly a decade. In response, state officials agreed to a 2% annual limit across New Jersey. After the cap was in effect for its first full year, the state reported in early 2012 that the annual growth rate for the average property-tax bill had nearly been cut in half. . . The 2% cap on annual levy hikes replaced a weaker, 4% limit in place up until that point. Importantly, local governments could only go over the new, lower ceiling under more limited circumstances, or only if voters approved. A similar limit on salary increases won through arbitration by local police and firefighters was also put in place around the same time. Looking back, these bipartisan policy changes and others roughly a decade ago appear to have been a major turning point for property owners across the state. 2/15/22 NJ Gas Prices Shot Up On Valentine's Day: Here's How Much Gas prices continue to rise across the nation. In the Garden State, they recently brought some unwelcomed Valentine's Day news, according to AAA, which tracks gas prices nationwide. New Jersey gas prices averaged $3.59 per gallon Monday - 9 cents more than last week, 22 cents higher than a month ago and 93 cents more than Valentine's Day in 2021. The national average price for a gallon of gas rose four cents this week to $3.48. Although filling up has gotten pricier in New Jersey, the state is still faring slightly better than neighbors New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, according to AAA. 2/15/22 What a Russian Invasion of Ukraine Would Mean For the Global Economy Russia announced a partial pullback in Ukraine today, but the crisis is far from over. Why it matters: If there was a Russian invasion, there would not only be geopolitical shockwaves and human tragedy, but it also could upend markets and strain the global economy. The largest country on earth by land mass, Russia is a commodities giant, ranking as a top producer of natural gas, oil, nickel, palladium, copper, coal, potash, wheat and more. Disruptions to Russian exports - either at Russian President Vladimir Putin's say-so or due to sanctions - would drive up commodity costs, adding to global inflationary pressures and supply chain disarray. Russia is the largest supplier of natural gas and crude to the European Union. 2/15/22 The Kitchen of the Future Won't Be Cooking With Gas Having already reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by phasing out dirty heating oil and adding renewable energy largely without federal help, dozens of local governments are voting to drive down their carbon footprints by banning natural gas hookups in new buildings altogether. And it's dividing Democrats and putting the party at odds with key allies. . . Commercial and residential buildings represent 13 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, making them critical vehicles for reining in climate change even if new rules don't address existing structures. But just as the campaign to force developers to swear off natural gas has started to gain its footing, it's beginning to feel its political limits: There is no federal building energy code, and while climate activists have found success in deep-blue cities like New York, Seattle and San Francisco, they've struggled with statewide adoption. 2/16/22 New York, New Jersey Delay Unemployment-Loan Payback in Hit to Businesses New York, New Jersey and several other U.S. states are delaying repayment of $40 billion in federal pandemic unemployment loans, saddling businesses with higher payroll costs instead. Ten states that took advances from the federal government when Covid-related job losses soared, including California and Illinois, are now piling up interest of $327.8 million and counting. The delays are burdening businesses and employees with greater unemployment costs that will continue long after the pandemic is over. It's not that states like New Jersey don't have the cash. An influx of stimulus funds and a surge in tax receipts as the economy rebounds are helping pad state budgets. Almost half of all U.S. states have expanded their taxable wage bases since 2020. Roughly $90 billion of states' Covid aid remains unallocated as of November, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. But some states say they've used the money on more immediate Covid-related expenses and other priorities. |
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