NJ Spotlight News: March 8, 2024

for NJ Spotlight news provided by the members of the New Jersey Education Association making public schools great for every child and RWJ Barnabas Health let's be healthy together tonight on NJ Spotlight news arise in bias incidents here in New Jersey but most troubling says the Attorney General is the Surge and crimes taking place in our schools right now in New Jersey the place that's the most likely location for a bias crime or a bias in to be reported is our schools plus President Biden delivers a fiery State of the Union how his themes on the economy Reproductive Rights and immigration are playing here in the Garden State New Jersey is in my opinion like taxed enough I think we should do everything we can to fight for lower taxes and more affordability I think a lot of it is the tax credits that are key as he talked about also in the running once banned from the White House the Prospect Park mayor launches a challenge to longtime congressman Bill pascrell while bill is making decisions from the comfort of his offices in DC and patteron he has lost touch with the people of his district and Boardwalk makeovers the state approves $100 million to repair and rebuild over a dozen iconic boardwalks along our Shores the fact that these these boardwalks will be built in a more resilient way I think it's going to mean a lot for generations to come NJ Spotlight news begins right [Music] now from NJ PBS Studios this is NJ Spotlight news with bana vosi good evening and thanks for joining us this Friday night I'm Joanna gagas in for Banna vosi bias incidents and hate crimes continue to rise in New Jersey and this might surprise you the place they're most likely to be reported are Arcada 12 schools those are some of the preliminary findings in a report from the State Attorney General's office that also finds bias incidents jumped 22% last year compared to the previous year that would make 2023 the eighth year in a row that reported incidents of bias have increased simply because of a person's race religion sexuality or gender expression Banna V sat down with attorney general Matt platkin as part of our exploring hate series to ask who's being targeted what's behind this Surge and what the state is doing about it attorney general platkin uh thanks for coming on the show your report finds that bias incidents are continuing to rise but which groups specifically are being targeted uh thanks Brian unfortunately we're seeing a rise in bias and hate across virtually every demographic group uh we know that the groups with the highest number of bias incidents reported were against the black community and for religious base against the the Jewish Community but literally every group is seeing a rise in bias and hate and I know both as a chief law enforcement officer and as a resident of the state that too many people across our state are living in fear right now simply because of who they are how they look where they're from what language they speak or who they love what factors if any uh is your office able to point to to attribute to this increase well I think there are several reasons and we cite them in the report the first and this is a good thing we've worked really hard in New Jersey under this Administration to increase our Outreach to communities training and to reform our systems of reporting so that people know when they report and we' made it easier for them to do so that we take it seriously and we respond to each and every single report and that's something that everybody in the public should understand there is no piece of information that's too small to report but we also know that bias is on the rise and we're seeing a number of contributing factors whether that's social media or political leaders who are condoning or inciting bias acts certainly since October uh the attacks in Israel and the subsequent conflict have resulted in increased biased activity against Jewish and Muslim residents and we know there are many other factors but bias absolutely is on the rise and that concerns me I think a lot of times we picture these events happening strictly in the public but in fact the report points out that uh the bulk of these incidents are happening in K through 12 schools can you give us some examples sure so I think it's important for everyone to understand right now in New Jersey the place that's the most likely location for a biased crime or a bias incident to be reported is our schools and as a parent and certainly as as our chief law enforcement officer that's alarming to me so we've seen a whole range of bias incidents come in for our schools everything from slurs or bullying certainly social media to potentially more serious or violent acts uh and we take each and every one of those seriously but we also need our schools to take it seriously we've issued guidance to our K through 12 and institutions of higher education uh and I've advised them that while this isn't something I'm looking to do if they fail to create a safe environment for our kids if kids can't go to school saf and learn safely and not be targeted because of who they are then that school has potentially violated both state and federal law so they have a legal obligation to provide that safe environment so beyond the guidelines and ensuring that that they follow them what else is the state doing to combat it and I'm thinking about districts like where in Ocean County where Adriana kush's family of course has accused the District of not following up on complaints of bullying not following up on uh complaints of of other hate crimes that have happened um what is the state doing specifically to combat this uh so we've done and are doing a number of things including targeted trainings for uh officials and community members throughout the state uh we work closely with a number of Partners to identify places that need that extra touch to make sure they understand what their obligations are and also that community members understand how to report incidents again it's very unlikely almost impossible that the first time somebody engages in a bias act that's violent it's their first time ever doing something with bias uh uh involved so what we need to do is ensure that people that people trust us enough to provide that information regardless of how severe they may view the conduct so that we can intervene provide resources provide training sometimes provide mediation to help resolve incidents before they escalate attorney general Matt plen on the office latest Vice incident report attorney general thanks so much thank you for having me President Biden last night delivering what many are calling an electric State of the Union Address some saying it was more of a political stump speech laying out his case for a second term not mincing words about the current GOP front runner and former president although never mentioning Trump by name calling him only my predecessor accusing him of espousing resentment revenge and retribution and for putting the freedoms of the American people in Jeopardy both here and abroad the president poking fun at his own age saying I know I may not look like it but I've been around a while but saying things are more clear for him than ever before and that he won't lead America with ancient ideas all of New Jersey's Congressional Delegation were present to hear his priorities like immigration reform securing abortion rights and of course Aid to Israel and Ukraine senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan has all the reaction here in the state the state of our Union is strong and getting stronger an animated Joe Biden Came Out Swinging in a fiery and pointedly political State of the Union speech that doubled as a launch for his reelection campaign the president declared freedom and democracy under attack both at home and abroad asking Congress to send desperately needed Aid to Ukraine without saying Donald Trump's name Biden called him out for engaging with Russian President Vladimir Putin a former Republican president tells Putin quote do whatever the hell you want that's a quote a former president actually said that bowing down to a Russian leader I think it's outrageous it's dangerous and it's unacceptable Biden referred to the Republican presumptive Presidential nominee as my predecessor more than a dozen times and he called the January 6 Insurrection quote a dagger to the throat of American democracy despite loud booze from Republicans here's the simple truth you can't love your country only when you win the president's performance during the hour plus speech stood in sharp contrast to critics depiction of an 81-year-old president two week shambling and unfocused to serve when he got passionate about whatever issue when he engaged directly with the Republicans who were trying to Heckle him um those were the moments where I think you saw the quote unquote strin or at least that freshness and energy New Jersey's Republican members didn't respond to our requests for comment Democrats genuinely applauded so it was really exciting and then you know he just laid out a vision to our country that quite frankly reminded us of who we are as a nation the president listed economic priorities including a $2,000 cap on prescription drugs for folks with Private health insurance $400 a month in mortgage assistance for for people struggling to firsttime buy or upgrade homes and a 25% tax on America's wealthiest that might be a Hard Sell New Jersey is in my opinion like taxed enough I think we should do everything we can to fight for lower taxes and more affordability I think a lot of it is the tax credits that are key as he talked about addressing the divisive Israel Hamas War Biden promised to build a seap port in Gaza to expedite humanitarian Aid to work for a six week ceasefire and bring hostages home a message welcomed by Congressman Josh gimer who hosted a tanify family whose son is still held captive by Hamas and it's it's very important that we get Aiden there and uh as well as Crush Hamas right I mean this is a this is a very complicated Mission but I think we have a responsibility to hold Israel more accountable now to what seems to be an overreaction to what happened on October the 7th you're devastating a whole city that's wrong the president demanded a ban on assault weapons and called on Congress to safeguard IVF and abortion rights under siege since the Supreme Court overturned roie Wade and he warned the justices sitting before him women wield electoral power as long as Republicans continue to attack the freedoms of women Across the Nation it's going to continue to be front and center Republican often heckled the president especially Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor green on immigration Biden noted a bipartisan Bill to beef up Board of protections had been scuttled by Trump but in the GOP response Alabama Senator Katie Britt blame the president we know that President Biden didn't just create this border crisis he invited it with 94 executive actions in a highly emotional speech from her kitchen in brit a trump supporter called Biden a permanent politician one thing was quite clear though President Biden just doesn't get it he's out of touch last night's speech certainly set the stage for a rematch I'm Brenda Flanigan NJ Spotlight news first lady Tammy Murphy gained some momentum last night in her bid to replace indicted US senator Bob Menendez beating her Contender Congressman Andy Kim for the Somerset County Line by a 2 to1 margin that's her second County Convention win to Kim's 5 but this one was done by a show of hands instead of the standard secret ballot a process that Kim criticizes saying it put pressure on delegates to publicly support Murphy even after he says they promised him the votes meanwhile a Democratic Congressional primary is heating up in District 9 Prospect Park mayor Muhammad kyula announced yesterday he'll challenge longtime Congressman Bill pascrell pascrell has faced growing backlash from Palestinian Americans for refusing to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza Melissa Rose Cooper has more on that race and what it could mean for the Ninth District while bill is making decisions from the comfort of his offices in DC and patteron he has lost touch with the people of his district strong words from Prospect Park mayor muhamad Kula as he announces he's challenging Congressman Bill Pascal for his seat in the ninth congressional district the mayor criticized Congressman pasc for initially refusing to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and for now only calling for a conditional ceasefire based on the release of hostages and flow of humanitarian Aid the mayor says it's proof congressman pascarel is no longer fit to represent his constituents many who are Muslim in 2003 I sponsored the resolution in process Park against the war on Iraq and I was attacked on it Bill supported the authorization to go to war which he says he regrets later a war that killed over 1 million Iraqis and destabilized the entire region and set it on fire by allowing the Iranian regime to stick its hands in the Affairs of neighboring countries now Bill refuses to call for an immediate ceasefire which could have saved over 30,000 lives anybody who is at this point going to fight for Palestinian Liberation and peace for Palestinians and and for Palestinian life has has our vote you surari applauds killa's decision to run for Congress while she admits her family has joined many others from New Jersey's Palestinian community in supporting pascarel over the years she says his stance on the war has caused them to lose faith we say a ceasefire yesterday could have prevented the victim of today but Cilla has faced some controversy last year he was disinvited from a White House Event because of his inclusion on an FBI watch list which he was later removed from however Dina Sida Med Communications manager for the Council on American Islamic relations says he's a prominent leader in the community and calls the watch list a microcosm of the American Muslim experience we see Muslims uh being added to these sort of watch list without du process without um even an ability to reasonably or to to Really contest their you know their their placement on these sort of watch list because you're not given a reason why uh sometimes you're removed uh secretly and you're also not told why you were removed or why you were added in the first place a spokesperson for Congressman pasc responding to killa's announcement saying saying congressman pascarel is eager to run for re-election against any Challenger and has broad record of supporting the American economy defending Women's Health freedom and protecting American democracy he has always had a good relationship with the mayor including being the first in line to demand an explanation from the Secret Service when the mayor was banned entry to the White House this is not a a fight against the Democratic party establishment we have many friends and allies there this is strictly a movement against a member of Congress who abandoned his constituents voters will get to select their choice for the ninth congressional seat when they head to the polls in the June primary for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper in our Spotlight on Business Report tonight some of the Jersey Shore's most iconic boardwalks are getting a makeover thanks to $100 million in funding from the state 18 Seaside towns will get anywhere from half a million up to 20 million to repair and rebuild what governor Murphy's called their wooden main streets Ted Goldberg visited two of those towns to see just how they'll put that money to use down the shore everything's all right maybe a little better now after a $100 million in federal funds will help 18 short towns build up their boardwalks we're going to redo any of the sort of old decking you see on the boardwalk railings that are sort of wobbly we're going to redo those and do handicap uh better handicap accessible ramps Asbury Park got $20 million tied with Atlantic City for the most given to any one city most of those funds are going to fix up the convention hall complex while the Breezeway is open the convention hall and Paramount Theater have been closed for a few years now it's probably the most iconic building I would argue on the East Coast um clearly a building that people want to see revitalized along with sort of Asbury Park coming back Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn says the Paramount needs to fix its roof while convention hall has deeper structural problems that will require much more money she says the Paramount is much closer to opening and could be huge for raspbury Robinson alhouse is going to get a ton of reservations that night uh low dive is going to get a ton of reservations that night the candy store people are going to stop it and get candy so the effect of these shows isn't just oh like the paramounts open and and 2,000 people came to see a show those 2,000 people then bought a towel bought a book it's an incredible infusion of funding into the state of New Jersey Samuel viatin works for the State's Department of Community Affairs which decided the communities receiving funds from the American Rescue plan he says 33 communities applied for funds and the state prioritized lowincome communities vast majority are not receiving what they' requested part of what we're going through with each of the grantees right now is to recope the project to tell us how they're going to use the money so if they requested 80 million and they've received 20 million what components of their proposal are they intending to fund with that 20 million part of the rationale for where the money went was helping New Jersey short towns become more resilient in the face of climate change and stronger storms the frequency of weather events um has continued to to grow um and so the the the fact that these these boardwalks will be built in a more resilient way I think it's going to mean a lot for generations to come we designed a more resilient uh Boardwalk than what we had that same design is still in place and we're going to expand that while this is being referred to as a pier and it is a pier it is an extension of this design so it will be more resilient than what we had in the past in Long Branch a little more than $3 million is going to be spent to build a pier near Pier Village as far as we know the first Pier on the Atlantic ocean was right here in Long Branch right in this location uh my understanding was in 1898 uh 1828 and that lasted for State until until I think about 1854 Mayor John palone says the new pier will be about 500 ft smaller than the 800 footer that burned down in 1987 but it will be ADA Compliant the whole idea you know with the pier is again an amenity for visitors and residents um as well as we want to go beyond the break of the water so people can appreciate the ocean views and also fishermen could um catch larger fish the boardwalk preservation fund was signed into La last summer helping short towns rebuild and be more resilient in the future in Mammoth County I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news the job market saw a boost in February US Labor adding 275,000 jobs healthc care seeing the biggest gains some good news for what was a volatile week on Wall Street here's a look at how the markets [Music] closed breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among black women in the US not because black women are more likely to develop cancer but it's more likely to be detected at a later stage according to experts but here in Newark the numbers are staggeringly worse black women are diagnosed with Advanced Breast Cancer about twice the national average so to combat this University Hospital is rolling out a mobile mamography van to screen women where they are Raven Santana has [Music] more meet the new mobile mamography bus that's rolling out hope and life-saving mammograms across Essex County so by having the mobile van what we're able to do is to go to where people congregate where people associate and where people feel comfortable Ed gimenez is the president and chief executive officer of University Hospital the hospital partnered with the healthc Care Foundation of New Jersey and the con dwire Breast Cancer Foundation to invest $1.2 million into the mamography bus it will deliver preventative health care services to women through Essex County where the rates of late stage breast cancer are among the highest in the state women women that get screening mammograms some portion of them will have what is called what are called findings of people who have findings roughly 6% will have very Advanced Breast Cancer so 6% may sound like a small number may sound like a big number that's the national number for the people we screen that are the residents of the city of Newark we're having an 11% finding of severe disease nearly double to combat these troubling statistics the bus will bring Care on the road to more than 4,000 residents a year and the new vehicle is equipped with state-ofthe-art technology including private exam rooms and even a registration area we anticipate that our flow time for patient should really not be more than 30 to 40 minutes that's by getting here completing their check-in and going through their procedure we should be able to do at least 25 mammograms on the bus and with that our bus is about 45 ft long 13 ft high and about 13 ft wide um so we do take some space on the bus you have of course the typical registration area you come in you can check in um um we do have an exam a full examination room that a doctor can conduct any examination Valencia mapona is the mobile health manager for University Hospital she stresses that no matter what your situation is no one will be turned away we do take insurance and in terms of women who are uninsured or underinsured we do have the safe program that if you meet eligibility that will cover you and then the third TR of it if you don't meet the eligibility to that have no insurance we still have a robust charity C system that we will have women apply to mapona says early detection really is the difference between life and death for black women white women are diagnosed with breast cancer at a higher number but black women die of breast cancer at a higher number that's a problem we have a very unique population in Newark it also has a very high population of Nigerian descent now this is important because this particular population has a much higher rate of aggressive breast cancers than any other group in the world these women come into the emergency room in their 30s with breast cancer that is already stage four save the woman save the family it's so true and I would add to that save the society himz says the bus will now be a staple for the hospital he says the immediate goal is to screen as many women as possible in turn spreading breast cancer education awareness and support to populations that need it the most for NJ Spotlight news I'm Raven Santana that's going to do it for us tonight but before you go make sure you tune in to NJ business beat with Raven Santana this weekend she takes a deeper dive into the governor's $56 billion budget from the perspective of the business community and she talks with State leaders about the prop osed corporate Transit fee and the money going toward the Murphy administration's climate and affordable housing goals watch it Saturday at 5:00 p.m. and Sunday morning at 9:30 on NJ PBS I'm Joanna gagas for the entire NJ Spotlight news team thanks for being with us enjoy the weekend and we'll be back here on Monday njm Insurance Group serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years and by the pscg foundation funding for exploring hate is provided by Charlotte and David AER Support also is provided by the tiger Baron foundation ncy and Morris W offen and Josh West our future relies on more than clean energy our future relies on empowered communities the health and safety of our families and neighbors of our schools and streets the PS Foundation is committed to sustainability equity and economic empowerment investing in Parks helping towns go green supporting Civic centers scholarships and Workforce Development that strengthen our community