$40M tax break to drugmaker accused of pushing opioids

NJ Gives $40M Tax Break To Pharma Co. Accused Of Pushing Opioids

Eric Kiefer reports for the Bloomfield Patch

An international pharmaceutical company will receive a $40 million, performance-based tax break to move its U.S. headquarters from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, despite multiple lawsuits accusing it of contributing to the national opioid crisis.

Last week, Gov. Phil Murphy announced that Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, the North American arm of Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd., will relocate its U.S. headquarters from North Wales, Pennsylvania to Parsippany-Troy Hills, bringing “more than 1,000 high-wage jobs to New Jersey.”

The governor’s press statement about the relocation didn’t mention that Teva USA was named alongside several other drug manufacturers in a 2017 lawsuit launched by the City of Newark, which accused the company – and 10 of its peers – of “hiding behind the scene as the connection/supplier to local drug dealers.”

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) approved $39.9 million in performance-based tax credits for the Teva relocation through the Grow New Jersey (Grow NJ) program at its June 2018 board meeting.
It’s estimated that the project will have a net benefit to the state of $247.4 million over a 20-year period, the EDA stated. (Read more about the company’s relocation plans and their tax break below)
“The presence of global life sciences companies like Teva Pharmaceuticals is critical to New Jersey’s ability to strengthen a thriving innovation ecosystem,” Gov. Phil Murphy said. “We are thrilled to expand our welcome to Teva, and its more than 1,000 employees, in the Garden State – the place to be for the world’s most competitive life sciences companies.”
Spokespeople for Murphy declined to comment for this article, deferring to the EDA’s statement on the pending litigation (read more below).
Teva Pharmaceuticals has nearly 550 generic medicines available. Currently, one in seven generic prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. is filled with a Teva generic product, according to the company’s website.
‘DECEPTIVELY MARKETING OPIOIDS’: A CITY’S LAWSUIT
In October 2017, officials with the City of Newark announced that the municipality launched a lawsuit against 11 opioid manufacturers, including Teva USA.
Named alongside Teva were other corporations including Purdue Pharma L.P., Purdue Pharma Inc., the Purdue Frederick Company; Cephalon Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc., and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.

$40M tax break to drugmaker accused of pushing opioids Read More »

A power plant in NJ’s Highlands? On a pure trout stream?

DEP gives exemption to a proposed development in Highlands but also deems project inconsistent with water-quality regulations

























Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

A proposal to build a power plant on the Musconetcong River has obtained an exemption from Highlands rules but faces a bigger hurdle in complying with state water quality regulations.

The state Department of Environmental Protection approved the Highlands exemption for the Phoenix Energy Center to redevelop a 25-acre property along the river in Holland Township.
At the same time, however, the DEP found the project is inconsistent with the Upper Delaware Water Quality Management Plan, a verdict that means the agency cannot issue any permits for the plant until the applicant applies and amends the areawide plan.
The applicant, Abatis Advisors, is seeking to build a 663-megawatt power plant on the site of a former paper mill on the Musconetcong, one of the few rivers in the state classified as a Category 1 (C1) stream, the designation given to the most pristine waterways.
The project is located in the Highlands Preservation Area, but the state agency ruled it qualified for an exemption under the Highlands regulations governing redevelopment of former sites where building already has occurred.

A power plant in NJ’s Highlands? On a pure trout stream? Read More »

Controversial landlord sells 118 buildings for $327.8M

Adrienne Romero reports for the Jersey Journal:

A real estate management company that has drawn harsh criticism from tenants in Jersey City has sold more than 100 buildings in Hudson County for more than $325 million to four different investors.

The sale of 118 buildings owned by Trendy Management, formerly Riverside Management, was completed in six separate packages. With a total of 2,137 units, the portfolio’s official sale price was $327.8 million.
In March 2017 the Clifton-based mega-landlord was hit with more than 100 violations at Jersey City buildings. The company was also hit with dozens of violations in 2015 after residents trying to escape a fire at 500 Garfield Ave. fell through the rotting fire escape.
The buildings in the portfolio are located throughout Jersey City, West New York, North Bergen, Guttenberg, and Union City.
The largest of the six packages involved 67 buildings sold for $190.65 million — with 993 units in 47 buildings in West New York, 175 units in 12 buildings in Jersey City, 76 units in six buildings in North Bergen and 28 units in two buildings in Guttenberg. This package averaged $150,000 per unit.
Meanwhile, the second largest package averaged a $165,000 per-unit price, selling for $97 million. This included 35 buildings, consisting of 588 units, throughout Jersey City’s Journal Square and Heights neighborhoods.

Controversial landlord sells 118 buildings for $327.8M Read More »

Another thing to like about millennials: They’re into bees

Beekeeper Sam Torres checks on his apiary at Glen Foerd in Philadelphia. Photo: David Maialetti















Bethany Ao reports for Philly.com:

Every few days, Sam Torres heads to Glen Foerd in Northeast Philadelphia to check his beehives. He gets there about 8 a.m. because bees get up with the sun, and goes through the hives carefully to make sure his “girls” — beehives are a bona fide matriarchy at 85 to 90 percent female — are doing just fine. Smoker in hand, Torres looks at how many cells the bees have capped with wax, meaning that they’ve filled them with honey, and observes the larvae that will eventually grow into worker bees that clean and forage for the hive.

During one of these checks on a sunny Friday morning, Torres glanced up at the clear blue skies as he popped open one of the six hives he keeps at Glen Foerd. The beekeeper also works as the gardener at the estate, and in exchange he’s allowed to keep hives on the property. Each of the hives has 30,000 to 50,000 bees, producing 65 to 70 pounds of honey a year, on average.

“I don’t usually wear a beekeeping suit anymore,” said Torres, who has been beekeeping for five years after taking a class on it at Temple University. “Only when the bees get anxious because there’s a barometric pressure drop, which means that rain is coming. Rain means that they can’t work, and they basically exist just to work.”

Torres, 27, sells his honey and provides beekeeping consulting services under the name Keystone Colonies. He is part of a growing group in the Philadelphia beekeeping community: millennials. According to Michael Gonzales, a board member of the Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild, the organization has recently experienced an influx of younger, tattooed and smartphone-wielding members. Although there are no regulations prohibiting beekeeping in Philadelphia, apiaries must be registered with the Department of Agriculture.



Another thing to like about millennials: They’re into bees Read More »

Is NJ ready to pull a ‘Brexit’ from the PJM energy grid?



























Board of Public Utilities president unhappy with ‘lip service’ and decisions that lead to NJ customers paying more for electricity

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

Is New Jersey pulling out of the PJM Interconnection, the regional operator of the nation’s largest power grid?
“We’re looking at a number of options and that is one of them,’’ said Board of Public Utilities president Joseph Fiordaliso, who first raised the issue last week at a conference of state utility commissioners in Hershey, Pa.
Fiordaliso, as well as other BPU commissioners, have long been frustrated with certain PJM decisions, actions which he believes have boosted what customers in New Jersey end up paying on their electric bills.
PJM oversees a transmission system for 13 states and the District of Columbia. In that role, it has presided over a huge modernization of the system amid a rapid transformation of the energy sector. Its decisions have riled states beyond New Jersey as it seeks to maintain the reliability of a system serving 65 million customers.
New Jersey has taken issue with many of PJM’s decisions, often ending up on the losing end. Most recently, the state was unhappy with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision to side with PJM and others on the allocation of the costs of a $1.2 transmission upgrade.
“Sometimes, PJM just gives us lip service,’’ said Fiordaliso, citing the FERC decision that he said unfairly saddled New Jersey ratepayers with the costs of the project.

Short end of stick for NJ ratepayers

Fiordaliso, who said his biggest beef with PJM is a lack of communication, argued the grid operator fails to take into account the effect its decisions are going to have on New Jersey ratepayers.
“We don’t want our ratepayers unjustly penalized,’’ the BPU president said. His agency also has opposed initiatives by PJM dealing with the grid operator’s capacity auction, which is designed to ensure reliability by making sure suppliers hold enough power in reserve to meet times of peak demand.
Susan Buehler, chief communications officer, said PJM “certainly values’’ New Jersey as well as its relationship with the state. As far as costs go, Buehler said wholesale electric rates have fallen by 40 percent to the lowest they have been since 2008.
“We sometimes make important decisions about reliability, and sometimes it is not exactly what a state wants us to do,’’ she said.

Is NJ ready to pull a ‘Brexit’ from the PJM energy grid? Read More »

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