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New Jersey

“Work Trends RU” Podcast with Jimmy Green and Jackie Burke

Listen to the latest episode of the Heldrich Center’s Work Trends RU podcast, featuring featuring Aaron Fichtner, Ph.D., President of the New Jersey Council of County Colleges. Dr. Fichtner discusses the role New Jersey’s 18 community colleges play in expanding access to higher education, developing a skilled workforce, and meeting the evolving needs of students, employers, and local communities.

Princeton Democrats Take a Close Look at 17 Candidates Hoping to Succeed Bonnie Watson Coleman – and the Winner Is . . .

Elections and ballet reform advocate Julia Sass Rubin, associate dean of Academic Programs at the Bloustein School, Rutgers University, noted that “tonight’s forum in terms of the health of democracy was very exciting. It is incredible that we have 17 candidates. We do not know yet if each candidate will get the number of petition signers to qualify for a position on the ballot, but still the interest is awesome,”

State Planning Commission Adopts NJ State Plan, Needs Assessments

The New Jersey State Planning Commission has adopted an updated State Plan, along with a new Impact Assessment and Infrastructure Needs Assessment, marking the first comprehensive update since 2001. The Plan will guide coordinated state and local decision-making on land use, transportation, housing, infrastructure, and climate adaptation.

Saks Fifth Avenue to close American Dream store. Here’s why

All three are in “strong affluent market areas,” said James Hughes, a professor of urban planning and policy development at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

“So all locations have high market potential for repurposing — demonstrated strong consumer purchasing power,” Hughes wrote in an email.

A zombie mall is gasping in North Jersey, hit by a ‘perfect storm’

Urban centers like Newark and Jersey City, as well as downtowns like Ridgewood and Westfield, rebounded in the past decade and drew back dollars that had gone to malls, Hughes said.

By themselves, any one of those factors could have caused malls to struggle, other than the top-tier ones in New Jersey like Garden State Plaza and American Dream…

“Sort of the perfect storm hit,” Hughes said of Livingston Mall.

New Jersey Target Zero Commission Adopts Action Plan

On Monday, December 15, 2025, the New Jersey Target Zero Commission officially adopted the first New Jersey Target Zero Action Plan, reaching a major milestone in the State’s goal to eliminate all roadway fatalities and serious injuries in the state by 2040. The New Jersey Target Zero Action Plan is now publicly accessible via the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Target Zero Webpage.

Could 17-year-old voters swing a congressional seat in NJ? Here’s how

“New Jersey is a state whose politics are controlled by political machines, and they like to know who’s going to vote,” Julia Sass Rubin said. “And the primary is the most important election in New Jersey, because we don’t have very competitive general elections for the most part.”

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