A look at the huge tax deal Kushner company got to save a N.J. mall

*The Kushner Companies is investing more than $500 million ito create the new Monmouth Square — an open-air destination with a mix of stores, restaurants, apartments and medical office space.*

By Jackie Roman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

One of New Jersey’s largest malls is getting a massive makeover thanks to one of the state’s biggest real estate developers.

Kushner Companies, run by the prominent family with ties to President-elect Donald Trump, negotiated a huge tax break that allows the company to avoid paying regular local property taxes in exchange for redeveloping Monmouth Mall. The 65-year-old shopping destination is the largest taxed property in Eatontown.

Kushner Companies is one of the state’s most high-profile real estate firms. It was founded by the family of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Records show the lots included in the tax break brought in $5 million in total net property taxes for the borough in 2022, the year before the deal was brokered. That included about $4.7 million from the Kushner-owned portion of the property, with the remainder coming from a portion owned by Macy’s.

Under a PILOT agreement — or a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal — Kushner companies paid Eatontown $4.5 million in 2023 between taxes and other payments, according to town officials. The company will pay another $4.5 million this year and $4.3 million next year, officials said. The annual payments will drop to $4.1 million in 2026 and $3.8 million in 2027, under the agreement.

Kushner executives said the 30-year tax break is necessary to ensure the plan to transform the mall is financially feasible and mutually beneficial.

Read the full story here

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Media and world leaders recall former president Jimmy Carter

Former President Jimmy Carter – Damon Winter/The New York Times

Remembering Jimmy Carter

By Ian Prasad Philbrick and Lauren Jackson in the New York Times’ The Morning

We’re devoting today’s newsletter to Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, who died yesterday at age 100 at his home in Plains, Ga.

Carter lived to be the oldest former president in American history, and the only one to reach 100. He rose from Georgia farmland to the presidency in 1976, elected on a promise of healing the country after Watergate and the Vietnam War. He served only one term and left office with dismal approval ratings. Ronald Reagan defeated him in 1980 during a period of high inflation and a hostage crisis in Iran. Carter was the only Democrat to occupy the White House between 1969 and 1993.

During his long post-presidency, Carter’s reputation improved. He received praise for his humanitarian work and diplomacy, sometimes on behalf of his successors. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Carter grew up with no electricity or running water. He taught Sunday school in Plains and was married to his wife, Rosalynn, for more than 77 years — longer than any other presidential couple. Theirs was one of America’s great love stories: They spent most of their adult lives in a simple house in Plains, where they returned after leaving Washington and weathered the pandemic together. Rosalynn died there last year at age 96.

Carter also had a long goodbye, spending the final 22 months of his life in hospice care. During that time, he voted for Kamala Harris, watched Atlanta Braves games, traveled 164 miles to attend Rosalynn’s service in Atlanta and celebrated his 100th birthday with his family. When Carter appeared in public, he looked frail and reclined in a wheelchair, a blanket covering his legs.

The Times has much more about his life, including:

Carter’s obituary

“With his peanut farmer’s blue jeans, his broad, toothy grin and his promise never to tell a lie, Mr. Carter was a self-professed outsider intent on reforming a broken Washington in an era of lost faith in government,” The Times’s Peter Baker and Roy Reed wrote in his obituary.

“While his presidency was remembered more for its failures than for its successes, his post-presidency was seen by many as a model for future chief executives.”

Read Carter’s obituary here.

See photos from Carter’s life, including his rise from Navy submariner to Georgia governor.

Read the full story here

Associated Press story reporting President Carter’s death at 100

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Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States, dies at 100

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Carter, a small-town peanut farmer, U.S. Navy veteran, and Georgia governor from 1971 to 1975, was the first president from the Deep South since 1837, and the only Democrat elected president between Lyndon B. Johnson’s and Bill Clinton’s terms in the White House.

By BILL BARROW Associated Press

The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023, spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said.

“Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said in posting about his death on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family.

Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s.

“My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said.

Read the full story

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Republicans vying to become next NJ governor: Who’s ‘most MAGA’

The four front-runners for the GOP nomination for governor are, clockwise from top, Sen. Jon Bramnick, former Sen. Ed Durr, radio host Bill Spadea, and former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli. (Photos of governor’s office by Dana DiFilippo; Bramnick and Spadea by Hal Brown; Durr and Ciattarelli by Amanda Brown)

By Dana DiFilippo – NJ Monitor, December 27, 2024

Eight Republicans are angling to become New Jersey’s next governor, with most taking their campaign cues from President-elect Donald Trump’s performance at the polls in November.

Trump lost New Jersey, but just barely, and he did so well that some Republicans hope New Jersey has tiptoed into swing-state territory. That has driven most of those hoping to win June’s GOP primary to fight over “who’s most MAGA,” with the lone exception being Sen. Jon Bramnick, an anti-Trump moderate, said Jeanette Hoffman, a Republican strategist.

“We already know what message they’re relying on, and it’s Trump. It’s a MAGA message,” Hoffman said. “There was a huge enthusiasm in the Republican base for President Trump in November.”

That campaign message could change next year as voters see what Trump does on illegal immigration, tariffs, foreign leaders, and more, and much depends on what Trump’s approval ratings look like, she conceded. But the GOP gubernatorial candidates have several other things going for them, Hoffman said.

They’ve increasingly embraced early voting and vote-by-mail, she said. And while Democrats still outnumber Republicans by about 900,000 statewide, GOP voter registrations in New Jersey climbed by about 180,000 during the Biden administration, compared to a Democratic gain over the same period of only about 5,500 voters, state data shows.

Read the full story here

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Two GOP lawmakers seen as favorites to be next U.S. Attorney in NJ

Republican State Sens. Mike Testa and Doug Steinhart are both Trump loyalists

By David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News

For such an important position, getting picked as the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey is a lot more about whom you know than what you know, and the closer you are to the president-elect’s inner circle, the better your chances are.

That could explain why the two names most frequently mentioned to succeed outgoing U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger are Republican state Sens. Mike Testa and Doug Steinhart, both allies of President-elect Trump.

“They are both loyalists to Trump and will be very close to the Trump administration,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics.

“You’re talking about people who have both been his campaign chair in New Jersey, so as close as anybody has been to him. On the other hand, they are both politicians who are well regarded by Democrats as well.”

What is the significance of the appointment?

Read the full story here

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Enormous sinkhole swallows portion of highway I-80 in NJ

Can you imagine speeding along when this happened?

Part of Interstate 80 remained closed in New Jersey on Thursday, December 26 2024, after a sinkhole opened up on the shoulder of the roadway. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Enormous sinkhole swallows portion of highway I-80 in NJ Read More »

A look at the huge tax deal Kushner company got to save a N.J. mall

Media and world leaders recall former president Jimmy Carter

Remembering Jimmy Carter

Carter’s obituary

Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States, dies at 100

Carter, a small-town peanut farmer, U.S. Navy veteran, and Georgia governor from 1971 to 1975, was the first president from the Deep South since 1837, and the only Democrat elected president between Lyndon B. Johnson’s and Bill Clinton’s terms in the White House.

Republicans vying to become next NJ governor: Who’s ‘most MAGA’

Two GOP lawmakers seen as favorites to be next U.S. Attorney in NJ

Enormous sinkhole swallows portion of highway I-80 in NJ

Can you imagine speeding along when this happened?

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