NEW JERSEY

Raritan Valley Community College is at the center of a region’s workforce development aspirations in the life sciences.

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If Opportunity Zone designations were extended to rural persistent poverty census tracts, Mississippi’s OZ tally would increase by 127%.

Photo: Getty Images

Recent studies of Opportunity Zones from public policy think tank Economic Innovation Group include two November 2022 papers with positive evidence from recent IRS records and from building permit records. A more recent analysis examines how the Small Business Jobs Act would impact OZs by, among other provisions, extending OZ designation to any rural persistent poverty census tract nationwide. Such designations would increase the number of OZs dramatically in Mississippi (127%), New Mexico (92%), Kentucky (85%) and West Virginia (84%), among others.

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Unit 4 (left) and Unit 3 (right) at Plant Vogtle, photographed in June.

Photo courtesy of Georgia Power

Monday, July 31, saw Georgia Power declare that Plant Vogtle Unit 3 (right in the photo above) located in the bird dog capital of Waynesboro, Georgia, had entered commercial operation. Vogtle Unit 3 is the first newly constructed nuclear unit in the U.S. in over 30 years and can power an estimated 500,000 homes and businesses. “Once all four units are online,” Georgia Power stated, “the Plant Vogtle site will be the largest generator of clean energy in the nation and support continued growth in Georgia as more industries, businesses and families come to the state.” The nuclear power plant expansion there has been in the works for a long time: When Managing Editor Adam Bruns visited 16 years ago the locations for the two new units were marked by orange safety cones.