The ball has dropped. The new year is here. Resolutions have been made, and hardly any have been broken so far. We’re all back to work, for full, five-day weeks. Life is back to normal.
You may be in “settle-down” mode following the holidays, but there is so much to look forward to in 2014. To wit:
• Cold weather…and lots of snow? OK, so maybe this isn’t your cup of tea, but the kids in the community are sure to get fired up about this. The new year rang in with blisteringly cold, winter weather. Will there be more in store? If so, how will it affect traffic, business, school and our mood?
• Speaking of weather potentially disrupting our lives…the Super Bowl is coming to New Jersey next month! The Farmers Almanac is predicting pretty lousy weather for the Sunday, Feb. 2 game. Wonder if the NFL will regret its decision to host the game in a cold-weather city with a non-enclosed field?
• Online gambling will be in full force. At the end of November 2013, online gambling was rolled out to New Jerseyans, with casinos offering everything from online slots to craps to poker. Registered accounts eclipsed the 125,000 mark at the end of December, with numbers rising sharply each week. How high will it go? How successful will it be for the casinos? What impact will it have on our economy?
• President Obama’s health-care law is in (relatively) full effect. Some line items are still to be phased in, but major initiatives such as the public health-care exchange are here. The time has come for the real assessments to begin.
• New Jersey’s minimum wage increased by $1 to $8.25 per hour on Jan. 1. Some think it’ll help workers; others think it will hurt business. What will come of it?
As is the case each year, local issues such as school and municipal budgets and elections will be hot topics. And, as always, we’ll be right there along for the ride, keeping you informed on every tidbit of information.
Here’s to a prosperous 2014!
