NJN News; Wednesday May 29, 2002

the poems ingenue is made possible by ptsd and she is serving customers strengthening the business community and investing in new jersey's future first union serve in the financial needs of individuals and businesses from connecticut to florida writes i'm communication solutions designed for the people and businesses of new jersey a rising blue cross blue shield of new jersey making a health care worker in new jersey's

businesses and individuals the new jersey education association people who care about your experience and geraldine archives the administration unveils its corporate business tax plan's expected to bring in eight hundred million dollars it's another message oblique budget news from the state treasurer to lawmakers as commuters crunch receives more trains and cars will soon receive the rides there's a light the new jersey's us senate contest has two candidates go on the offensive and toxic mold because of the doors of a south jersey elementary school nj and use for wednesday may twenty ninth after months of anticipation in trenton and a new jersey's business community and the greedy administration unveiled its plan to raise more money from the corporate business tax state treasurer john mccormick told legislators the additional eight hundred million dollars

represents taxes that should have been collected but warrant michael aaron has more we're here today because we have to be here we have no insurance business taxes broken the treasurer told the senate budget and appropriations committees of corporate business taxes taking in less and less even as the economy improved and that's because of creative accounting maneuvers multistate companies have found ways to hide profits by setting up subsidiaries in other states rock your and as they export profits the treasurer said they import costs deductions and write offs example and large corporations that collectively earned two billion dollars in new jersey and should have paid one hundred seventy seven million in taxes here instead each found a way to pay the minimum two hundred dollars that much change that it will change representative doesn't complex changes in corporate taxes among the highlights charging companies the larger of their corporate business tax

or a new alternative minimum tax or assessment based on the gross receipts or growth properties not to exceed five million dollars expanding the reach of the ctbt to any income derived from new jersey sources in the exclusions for investment firms savings alongs and real estate investment trusts and charging a one hundred fifty are processing fee partnerships and limited liability corporations while simultaneously taxing any partner who lives out of state i think it's important for assault understand that the cdc has been crying out for reform for a number of years you know to produce phrase cry out for reform you would think were we were a tax haven with the treasurer and democratic legislators portrayed as the closing of loopholes and dismantling of tax shelters republican said look more like a tax hike on business one that could be in new jersey's newfound or as a good

home for major corporations i'm told by a major pharmaceutical company that they're three quarters of a billion dollar new operations center it's being proposed perhaps an interesting perhaps in pennsylvania perhaps another location will now not come to new jersey mccormick disputed that saying the state's roads schools and location are more important factors we believe that the corporate tax structure of the state is far down a list of reasons why a company chooses to come or not to come to the state senator kenny will introduce the bill tomorrow republican committee co chair robert mccullough made the surprise announcement will join many as prime co sponsor business lobbyists said that will give republicans a better chance to amend the bill white orange and whose trial and later on rich young will have reaction from the business community the corporate tax is just the

latest in a series of plans to help plug a record state budget gap today the treasurer and top legislative researchers delivered still more fiscal bad news to the senate budget and appropriations committee state house correspondent jim harper has the story it is your view that we must spend approach to prostitution it with the police about the state's budget crisis seems finally to have come to that the government finishing up the current fiscal year next month it down to its last dollar bill instead of the five hundred million dollars it had carrot on a circus plus and wily administration will scrape together a hundred million dollars or less than one percent of the total budget to carry over into the next fiscal year it's only getting their buy rating the unemployment trust fund for a hundred twenty five million dollars at this point it's sort of us is gone we need the ufo and to essentially restore the reasonable balance getting into physical threats such as the shape of tax revenues have fallen off drastically over the past year

especially being contacts or the states take has dropped to levels going back three years they dropped their is largely responsible for state officials having to come up with another five hundred and eighty nine million dollars for the current fiscal year while forcing the administration to cut revenue projections by six hundred million dollars for the next fiscal year beginning july first the nonpartisan office of legislative services says the more than one billion dollar turnabout resulted from a combination of overly rosy projections for the current fiscal year and the downturn in the economy when you get these kinds of a major shifts occurring there is no historical baseline to look at an answer to a question about the coming fiscal year's budget from the democratic committee co chairmen the state treasurer says the administration is reworking that budget to dig for cuts governor said some cotton i think the governor says a lot of cutting we will go through this budget with a fine tooth comb in every possible area that could be caught between now and june

thirtieth will be cut as i day and news reported last night that really is putting his own new initiatives on the chopping block mccormack said the administration would cut in half the thirty six million dollars earmarked for reading mentors for kids and cancer research mccormick said he delivered to lawmakers other recommended cuts in a couple weeks in the area of six hundred million dollars republican lawmakers say the mcgreevey administration has to consider making more cuts in the next fiscal year's budget than they appear ready to make i would suggest at least a billion dollars and i think that the urban school districts should be funded at the state average and not at the level of the most affluent suburban districts the urban districts are in line for aid increases of approximately two hundred fifty million dollars but mccormick told lawmakers the governor has ruled out cuts in school or municipal aid he's also ruled our cuts in property tax rebate checks for increases in sales or income taxes mccormick scheduled to appear before the assembly budget committee tomorrow

jim harper and day and news the statehouse new jersey transit plans to add new rail cars to relieve overcrowding to and from new york city with the path train line to the world trade center shut down since september eleventh the system has seen a thirty percent increase in ridership zachary fake reports morning rush to your has always been since september eleven or more people are relying on the northeast corridor in other engagements lines to take them into manhattan has sold seeds of the top five we lost a lot of nasty on the bathrooms with the roads being more contests of all the restrictions that were just waiting intensively training the very minimum recognizing the problem governor mcgreevey along with nj transit officials plan to add new service over the next four months six thousand seats will be added to the system on weekdays and

seventy three hundred seats on the weekends the first increase in weekend service in six years in september to more trains would be added on weekday mornings and another two trains during the evening rush we understand says the aftermath of nine eleven that upwards of four thousand people are standing in new jersey transit cars on a daily basis that is on marble according to mcgreevey the plan is to cut the number of people standing down to no more than two thousand in june he says that can be achieved by adding four more cars to the amtrak proper train and by allowing nj transit monthly and weekly classes to be recognized and certain amtrak trains governor says the seed shortage should be solved within four months into a transit officials say the provincial come at no additional cost to commuters transit also plans to purchase two injured thirty one at a high level cars without increasing capacity by twenty thousand however it will rely on a cash infusion from the port authority a two hundred and fifty million dollars for that purchase the port authority board is expected to meet

tomorrow and make the allocations or should be here by two thousand and five separate think nj nj with less than a week before election day the battle for the republican nomination for us senate remains quiet but today two candidates came to like diane allen and doug forrester went on the offensive it recipe know has the story two of the three republican senatorial candidates were vying for attention today is this man doug forrester focused on the man they hope to topple senator robert torricelli forester took issue with torricelli is admitting he used a poor judgment in his dealings with david chang a move that sparked a federal probe into his campaign finance practices but ended without charges django was sent to prison for illegal contributions you said gee for one of the first times in my life my question my judgment that happen to believe that they're all closed the reasons why the torso which a question of judgment state senator from

burlington county focused on her opponent forester going into the town where he served as mayor twenty years ago to criticize his record there the garcia's record is one of tax and taxing untaxed and when doug forrester was mayor here in this county increased taxes and more than three hundred percent claimed that forced her supporters came to dispute and forester says diane out he's not telling the truth when she says she's never raise taxes you increase spending is by billions of dollars and you increase the borrowing will buy billions of dollars of that translate into increased taxes barstow has contributed three million dollars of his own finances to his campaign diana allen by contrast has raised just over half a million city has picked up the endorsement of two major south jersey papers but she admits lack of money is an issue that has hurt her visibility my resources are limited on raising money the old fashioned way some of my checks or as little as ten dollars when i'm

accepting the second option and i'm trying to get the message out the third candidate state senator john matthiesen from gloucester county has also struggled to win statewide recognition all three plan to step up their media blitz over the next week including new tv's adrian city no nj and news still ahead in our science and technology reporter look at an area and electronics that's been generating more interest and applications if you have a comment called one hundred years we've lost our email average injury and often works better is bear's be organic electronics technology that seemed little more than a

research curiosity not too long ago attracted more than researchers to adventure workshop at princeton university science and technology correspondent patrick reagan was there from researchers to venture capitalists participants in the organic electronics workshop seemed energized by the vision of a fledgling industry comparable in potential at least to be integrated circuit business among the possible future products flexible computer displays solar cells virtually painted onto windows and floor sized electronic sensors ultimately researchers said these might be mass produced by process is similar to those used to print newspapers magazines and cattle it's the starting point is a new set of building blocks not semiconductor crystals but carbon based monitors polymers and biological molecules more numbers are single organic units which are deposited wanted toy

palmer's are strings of these units and there the basis of plastics a very tough and biological molecules are molecules which are synthesized in biological systems such as plants and animals several speakers expressed concern that this radical departure electronics which has like the silicon industry groups in new jersey should not go west this is one of those times and places where the opportunities for a ride and new jersey has a way hasn't as opportunity versus opportunity of capturing destroying feel the new mission of prosperity new jersey is to marry the business and education communities to create twenty first century jobs so we have the pieces in place to make something big happened for new jersey the central question this workshop revolved around was how to grow an organic electronics industry here in new jersey already the proceedings were danced with results from new jersey labs including

research toward solar energy technology that would take a page from nature's own design if we can learn from nature and in fact uses simplified a synthetic complexes in devices we could realize extremely high efficiency photovoltaic conversion price of solar cells but that's still a long way away nearer term projects range from elements of the future of manufacturing processes to electronics that could be woven into clothing kits were so it was forty fifty years ago news crews congress is considering new legislation to help increase security at ports a forum today focused on how businesses would deal with the delays and expansive the proposal deseret taylor reports supporters of them maritime transportation anti terrorism act of two thousand to praise the legislation as an important step toward increasing security at us ports

the bill also will go well for in the neighborhood of seventy five to eighty million dollars a year for the next three years for security measures but magliano says legislation alone won't be enough to secure our borders so he and other guest speakers at today's formal on port security called on business owners to do their part to be vigilant at the screening of their employees and also patient with anticipated police and shipping out of the thousands of containers to come in to new jersey ports daily us customs officials say only about two percent of physically inspected government officials and the private sector agree that increased security is needed there is a price to pay because with greater inspection rates will likely come to increase delays and costs affecting both businesses and consumers increased these two percent reid examination two are far greater number yes there were certainly be delays but there's certainly within the context of three percent we can address the compliance issues of that and bring in the border security issues well does this mean it's going to trickle down to consumer

officials agreed better technology will help expedite inspection times but implementing that will take time and money in the short term the coast guard officials say current security measures are reaping positive results we have more women and more inspectors out in the terminals under four and we we know that we've had result as far as the maritime transportation anti terrorism act house is expected to vote on that bill next week deseret taylor nj and news new york rich is here now with a preview of business or story coming up what business groups have to say about the corporate business tax and its priority mail worth the extra money the findings of one report when we come back the well

ralph bass be business news not a great deal of optimism from the business community today on the governor's plan nor were all the state's corporate business tax and general business groups say the plan outlined today is better than they expected still they believe it could pose big challenges and sends a negative message to businesses operating near new jersey the new jersey business and industry association held a stop the business tax meeting this morning just hours after learning details of them agree the administration plan to overhaul the corporate business tax and jb i a vice president armory says his organization is glad the governor soften the way the

assessment will be calculated still they remain concerned about the overall impact on business that clearly moving in the right direction but there are still issues with this with this legislation would just sop up the polls and we really need to hear from our members are in the lettuce know quickly what the impact is on them business organization said corporations are not opposed to paying their fair share however many are questioning the timing of the changes nationally and in new jersey businesses are trying to recover from a recession a recovery has been so far a week it has received a more now the retail industry is the second largest in one sector in our economy and the fifth economy cutbacks because we're operating on very small law james poses to translate into jobs we didn't see that happen when we see our economy pushed further down because we make some ill advised decisions here economic

downturn has had an impact on the retail industry and consumer confidence has been limping back and so any time you increase taxes on corporations they must make decisions about how they're going to address those those tax increases many small business owners are pleased the governor's plan will give them a break even so the national federation of independent businesses say changing the c beachy will have some business is re evaluating plans frankly there are a lot more than twenty thousand small businesses in the state that will be affected by this and so there's going to be some very negative overtones about this proposal business organizations say they're now sending their member companies tax formulas or tax calculators to say exactly how they'll be affected they're expecting to start getting real figures and from corporations tomorrow and they expect to have more to say than other news you may want to think twice before pay more for priority mail the wall street journal reports the latest post office figures show the typical party moshe bit now takes more than a half day longer than first class delivery is the problem for artie no cost at least three and a half

dollars a first class letter cost as little as thirty four cents a journal says party mail on average now takes more than two and a half days to arrive postal officials are blaming new security measures requiring cargo on passenger planes to be screened for explosives more problems for it into the world's biggest phone companies sell its credit rating downgraded today to just two notches above junk bond status moody's investors service says the phone companies facing a weekend revenue well look the downgrade will likely raise borrowing costs for the company at and he's already battered started a fifty two week low today it lost more than three percent down to just about twelve dollars a share on wall street today stocks lost more ground amid new questions about accounting and some weaker alex today the tech sector was the big loser and the nasdaq was off nearly two percent at the close the dow industrials fell fifty points to nine thousand nine twenty three among a broad markets the amex's up a fraction as the last twenty seven points as the p five hundred effect nearly seven in the credit market the tenure noticeable in thirty seconds it sealed fallen to five

point awake percent rupert thanks rich when nj and use continues toxic mold shuts down a south jersey school details when we come back to this it's been toxic mold has forced nearly five hundred elementary school students in roebling burlington county to finish up the school year at the district's high school school officials say they closed the school to protect teachers and students can say john reports

as a viewer to see him lordstown sibyl morial high school elementary students being ushered to separate classrooms in the school's gym some four hundred and seventy students from worldly elementary school were relocated to the high school and middle school due to a toxic mold the size of a quarter the forced officials to close the school officials say the morgue was discovered in the ceiling tile and cleaned up by work crews when the clean up clean disturb some paint an additional location of mold was down then in order to be proactive to protect the safety of students and staff the board decided to relocate all the students to our campus europe the middle of high school there were people getting sick mom there were some complaints of some people not feeling well but i can't give you any details in terms of any specific scent of illness was a reaction to the closing was a mix there and people i talk to that there have been not very pleased that other people did not please this was a

situation for the school district where i think no matter what course of action was taken care of the people who would be opposed to it people who we support i thought that they handled it pretty well the way it was caught and they set everything up right away they have very short notice but not everyone was pleased with the new arrivals like to see you why don't you think they should be decided for exams and assets came in and just as school officials say there is a silver lining to the shutdown it's that it happened at the end of the school year the owner is beautiful and they're year on june seventeen can say john and jay a new sports town to burlington county that's the news on a regional average in all that spirit and daniel thanks for joining us it's been thinking has

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