Tonight on NJ PBS news.

As the nation's immigration crackdown continues to spark controversy and legal action around our state.

Tonight we speak with the new Jersey congresswoman at the center of the lates storm, Congresswoman Anna Maria.

Joining us for a candid conversation about the fate of that Roxbury facility and the ongoing fight to push back against ice after multiple high profile immigration headlines in recent days.

And as cases of measle surge around America, new Jersey finds itself in the middle of a regional outbreak.

As our neighbors New York and Pennsylvania contend with their own significant outbreaks, how much longer can cases here in Jersey stay low?

Tonight, our conversation with the state healt commissioner to get the latest and after recent reporting, revealed the highly questionable ways that opioid settlement money was spent by new Jersey towns and counties.

We speak with a leading substance abuse prevention activist.

To find out what went wrong, who and what got left behind, and why, some of that money designed to combat addiction instead went toward bouncy houses, concerts, even ice cream.

No news starts now.

This is NJ PBS news with Rob Nelson.

Tonight we begin with the new Jersey congresswoman at the center of the state' latest immigration controversy.

This week, Congresswoman Anna Maria released emails revealing that Ice was indeed using a Roxbury warehouse parking lot to process detainees, a move that critics say violates a federal court order.

He took office back in Apri after winning a special election to fill the 11th district seat formerly held by now governor Mike Sherrill.

She's currently up for reelection next month for a full two year term.

And, of course, continues to be a vocal critic of President Trump' ongoing immigration crackdown.

The congresswoman is joining us now.

Thanks so much for being here.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And and I would say I am a vocal critic of the overreach of this administration and the danger it puts every single American, irrespective of your immigration status.

You should be concerned abou a government that is failing to be transparent and accountable to the American people.

Well, full disclosure for a second.

I live in your district, so we'll talk this intervie up to constituent services.

But, but yes, let's let's start with immigration.

I'm just fascinate and kind of watching this story unfold the last few days that it's been rumored for months that they were indeed using Roxbury for something.

And activists have been swarming the place and documenting things.

The AG here in Jersey launched an investigation.

So how did it come into the news cycle that this letter you put out is what finally confirmed what many had long suspected?

Well, so as as you note, there have Ice has escalated their violent and chaotic tactics across the state, including my district.

I've heard repeatedly from members of the community that they suspected that this facility was being utilized, even though there was a court order barrin the use as a detention center.

As we all know, the governor has weighed in.

The municipality has weighed in.

The constituents living i that community have weighed in, and they really do not want the chaos, the noise, the the added traffic tha a detention center will bring.

In addition, members of the new Jersey congressional delegation have have routinely been conducting oversight visi at visits at detention centers.

And we've grown concerned about the use of warehouses that are not equipped to house human beings.

So in the midst of all of that, we have my office has been reaching out to DHS to Ice, requesting oversight visits.

We heard that this facility was in use, and we made a point to ask whether or not they were individuals, were being processed, detained, or even temporarily held.

And lo and behold, when asked a direct question and when we asked for an oversight visit, they finally disclosed that they in fact, had been using this facility post court order issue, deterring them from doing so.

Well, it just seems strange that it would take months to confirm something that people were seeing with their with their own eyes but that's that's where we are.

So let me just kind of get to the idea of, of, of where we are now.

The spokesman for the governor has pretty much said that Jersey has now been informed that Ice will no longer even use the parking lot.

Is that what you're hearing and do you believe them?

That is what we've been told.

But again, this administratio has proven time and time again that they will fail to be transparent and accountable to the American people.

That's why I've taken the position that I have on ice, saying that we need to abolish it and replace it with a fair and transparent immigration system that does not put people at risk, irrespective of immigration status.

The truth is, we have a rogue agenc that has a recruitment problem and accountability problem, a transparency problem, and apparently now a problem with being forthright and truthful.

It is necessary for the American people to have accountability or to be able to hold our government accountable.

We do not want the chaos.

We do not want the violence.

We do not want shootings in our streets.

Yes, we want to protect our borders.

Yes, we want to hav a transparent and fair process.

But what we have right no is actually breaking more laws than upholding them.

And let's be honest, if if this was a violation of the court order, and I know it gets into the weeds that we were using the parking lot and not the not the inside of it, and that, okay, so I'll let a court sort all of that out.

But at the end of the day, the Trump White House just objectively follows some court orders and ignores others on a wide range of issues.

So at the end of the day, if they're found to have violated a court order.

Do you have confidence that the behavior will stop because this white House signals sometimes it doesn't always care what the person in the blac robe has to say about matters.

Look, no I want to speak to every single, every single American watching this and listening to this.

It is our duty to hold our government accountable.

Our government should be accountable and transparent to the American people, which it serves.

Every single government representative has a duty to uphold the law, to ensure that we are following court orders, and that we are able to give account to every single action to the American people again, which we serve.

I am not surprised that this this administration continues to cherry pick which laws to follow and which laws to not because it's part of their M.O., but Congress has a dut to ensure to the American people that our government is functioning, and that it functions with integrity.

And real quick in 20s I just am curious for the folks in Roxbury who live near, in or near that community.

20s is we're out of time.

What's next?

Oh well, what's legally next is that this court order has to be upheld.

Our our governor is going to be paying close attentio to ensure that that our laws are and our court orders are being followed.

I'm encouraging yet again, community leaders to stay involved.

I'm grateful to those who sounded the alarm, reached out to my office, and I'm glad that together we're able to hold our own government accountable.

Congresswoman Anna Maria, thank you so much for joining us here at NJ PBS news.

We appreciate the conversation and invitation to come back as as news develops.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

America is in the midst of one of the worst measles outbreaks this country has seen in decades.

Thankfully, though, the case count here in Jersey remains low.

But our state is closely watching a regional outbreak with both New York State and Pennsylvani seeing a serious climb in cases.

What can be don to make sure our state doesn't face the same crisis?

And what exactly is driving the resurgence of this potentially deadly virus?

We got some answers this week from new Jersey Health Commissioner Doctor Raynard Washington, who joined us in our NJ PBS news studio.

Let me just ask the the kind of the no brainer question, how can so much measles be around us in our neighboring states of New York and Pennsylvania?

And it would seem almost inevitable some of that gets here.

But yet we've only had two confirmed cases so far this year.

What's holding this back from us?

Yeah, well I think the most effective tool we have in our fight against measles is vaccination.

And our vaccination rates across the state, while they have been slowly declining over recent years, they do still remain really high.

They were not at the 95% threshold that we would like, but certainly they are highe than many of our partner states.

So it's important, though, that that we all recognize that viruses don't don't respect state boundaries though.

So we are an international hub and people are traveling back and forth from Pennsylvania and New York, across our state lines every day.

And so there is certainly a real probabilit that we will see some spillover from those two outbreaks here in our state.

How concerned are you about what's happening in in the region?

Yeah, I mean, we're always concerned, right?

So public health i in the business of prevention.

And so we try to think ahead and get ahead of of what might be coming our way.

And so in this case obviousl we have somewhat of a warning.

And so we're working to get messages out right no and ensure that our local health departments who are on the front lines, are responding to potential exposure in our communities, are prepared and have the resources they need, making sure our health care systems are also prepared to look for measles cases, because we haven't seen measles routinely in quite some time.

Got to make sure all of our doctors are looking and testing forward as well.

All right.

And look for 1000 cases I believe, nationally.

We haven't seen that in decades.

The fact that we're even here discussing measles outbreaks in 2026 seems a little bit odd.

In the national picture of all this.

There's a lot of there' certainly more anti-vax chatter in our national conversation than there used to be.

Is this the downstream effect of that?

Sure.

We know that that the vaccination coverage across our state and across the country has been declining in recent years.

It's at least in part due to the overwhelming amount of misinformation that our residents are exposed to and conflicting information where people just simply can't figure out what to believe.

And so we continue to try to meet people where they are and have conversations and just make sure folks know, hey, the MMR vaccine, for example, has been around for more than 50 years.

It is one of the most effective vaccines we have available to us.

It's demonstrated to be safe.

It's highly effective.

If you look at the outbreak happening across the country, the vast majority more than 95% of the cases are individuals who are not up to date on vaccine.

So it's clear the vaccines are working.

We just got to make sure we want to make it as easy as possible for our families to keep their families up to date.

Encourage residents to check the children's vaccination status, and also make sure we answer folks questions and meet them when.

They are.

And there is a proposal on the table now to pretty much triple the budget for the state vaccination program, I think from 1 million bucks to $3 million.

Are you confident that that proposal will succeed, and that if those dollars get in hand, then what?

Yeah, very prou governor was able to get those additional investments into the for 27 budget.

So we do have an additional $2 million in Department of Health for this fiscal year to help us make vaccines more readily available.

It's that we use that funding in part to support our Stay Well Learn roll campaign, which really emphasize this back to school season, to make sure all of our kids were able to get vaccines on site at their schools and community libraries and mobile units.

Again just trying to make it as easy as possible for our families to get vaccinated.

And I'm looking at these measles numbers nationally and in our area.

And now we're flu season as well, in case these two thing collide, God forbid, is Jersey ready?

We are doing our best to be ready.

As I said earlier, I got my flu shot yesterday.

I encourage all of our resident as a respiratory viral season.

Flu and Covid vaccines are available.

RSV vaccines are available.

These are some of our best tools to help us lower not just the incidence of these illnesses, but the morbidity, the number of people who need to use hospitals for care.

And it's really important that we we all sort of take our own responsibility in this and look out for not just ourselves, but our neighbors and our family members.

It is it is critically important.

And as I said, these these tools are our best chance at keeping New Jerseyans healthy.

And so we need everybod to help us in that.

Absolutely.

I read in one of your press releases here that in terms of the kindergarten community here in new Jersey I have two young boys at home.

So these kind of stats stick out to me.

We're not at the 95% threshold for kindergartners in new Jersey, in the schools or germ factories on a on a good day.

So when I read that I saw I thought, well has had always been the case.

Is that part of this new trend we're seeing?

And how nervous are yo that kindergartners in the state are not at that 95% vaccination rate?

Yeah.

Again we know that 95% threshold is is is the best level to kee our state as safe as possible.

So in our schools we're working to get back up to that level.

We were there at one point.

We're not there now, which is why we really are emphasizing, especially during these back to school seasons, tha this is not just about the kids getting vaccines, it's about keeping them healthy so that they can stay in school and learn.

As you said we already know kids are missing school, often for jus regular reasons of being sick.

They cause parents to miss work as well.

We're trying to do everything we can to keep everybody in school and at work.

And so again, I would jus encourage families to to check we have a docket app that makes it very easy to check your vaccine records.

And we're continuing to watch this as closely as possible here.

And do you talk to your counterparts in those other states in Pennsylvania and New York?

And are you hearing things from them that make you feel better about New Jersey's ability to maybe escape thi to the extent they're seeing it?

Yeah.

Well, I'll say two things.

One, yeah, I talked to my colleagues across the country twice a week, actually.

So we are fortunate in new Jersey to be a part of the Northeast Public Health Collaborative, which was really brought about to to bring together the states in our region to ensure that we are as a, as a region, working hard to protect our families.

As I said earlier, viruses and bacteria don't understand state boundaries.

And so we're only as safe as th our closest neighboring state.

And so the North Northeast Public Health Collaborative allows us, we communicate on a weekly basis with each other to stay in contact.

It's also important to note that this experience is different across our state.

Some counties and communities have much lower vaccination rates than others.

And so.

You mentioned to a difference betwee the eastern part of new Jersey and the western part of new Jersey.

Talk a little bit about that for we.

Let you go.

Yeah.

Some of our counties on the, on the, on the eastern part of the state are particularly in the, in the shore have lower vaccination coverage rates.

And so we are really focused on those areas to make sure that our families have access to vaccines, to make sure they have information, and to make sure that thos providers in those communities are one, looking out for infectious illnesses like measles and polio and whipping cough, but also making sure that they're equipped to be able to answer some of those questions that folks come in with as they're hesitant.

And also, with the shore counties have lower vaccination rates.

That's kind of, you know, scare in the sense those are prime tourist hubs, of course, in our state.

You know, we're just coming out of summer season.

Everyone goes down the shore in this state.

So that I would imagine that's a particular concern if the counties in that regio with a lot of public interaction there, that the rates are lower than you'd like to see.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So so we're focused and we're going to continue the Department of Health to support our communities.

As I said, our local health departments are really on the front lines of this.

They are there in those communities talking to folks over day.

And I'm so glad to have them as great partners for the work we're doing.

All right, let's hope all tha measles mess stays at a jersey.

That's our goal there.

Trying to keep measles order jersey.

We're trying to keep music to Jersey.

But if you know let's let's see what the next few months may bring.

But standing invitation to come back and update us all if, if things go left as the game and as they say.

All right.

That time now for the roundabout.

Our quick look at headlines from all across the state tonight, new Jersey has approved a nearly $500 million deal for a new elementary school in Newark.

The plan calls for the school district to lease the building from a private developer for 30 years, with payments starting at about 11 million bucks a year.

The deal has drawn criticism, though, from Republicans who questioned the cost for just one school and the developer's political connections.

Supporters say the school, which would be named a riverfront Elementary, is needed to ease overcrowding in the city's East Ward, where some school buildings date back to the 1800s.

Now, this news comes as the district faces intense scrutin after a recent audit suggested the system has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars.

Some of those findings actuall have led to criminal referrals.

State leaders and the Newark school board must still finalize the deal.

A central Jersey lawmaker is now pushing for all school kids to get free breakfast.

This week, Assembly Speaker Craig announced he is spearheading a bill that would require all public school systems in Jersey to provide free breakfast to students, regardless of family income.

Says he's pushing the bill because universal access to breakfast would remove all barriers to kids getting the food they need, including families who are eligible right now for free meals.

But don't take them to avoid the stigma.

We'll keep you posted if that bill gains any traction in Trenton.

Also important news tonight for parents out there worried about how much screen time their kids are getting.

Starting next fall, all preschoolers in Jersey will be allowed a maximum of 15 minutes of screen time during school.

State education leaders just revised their standards to make the change, tweaking the old standard, which allowed up to an hour of screen time of day.

Experts said that prior rule was simply too much time for young kids.

Programs funded by the state have until 2028 to make the switch, but schools can start implementing the change right now.

And a new report out this week is listing the country's most expensive zip codes.

And can you guess how many are right here in the Garden State?

Yep.

Seven towns in Jersey cracked the top 100.

Here they are.

Stone Harbor, Avalon, deal, Short Hills, Rumson, and Cape May point.

All making it into the ranking.

This according to the research company Property Shark.

Now the rankings based on the average selling price of homes in the area.

Only one town in new Jersey took a top 20 spot that was alpine, the easternmost town in the state, coming in at number 15 on the list.

The median sales price of homes.

That area is 4.3 million bucks.

America' most expensive ZIP code 94027, which is Atherton, California.

And that is your roundabout on this Thursday night.

Well, through the year 2038, state and local governments are expected to receive $1.1 billion in settlement money to resolve lawsuits against drug manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies all of that money connected to the devastating toll of America's opioid addiction crisis.

Well, recent reporting, though, details how new Jersey counties and towns spent their $60 million share during the last fiscal year.

And many of those expenditures are raising eyebrows to say the least, with critics saying the spending dishonors the victims of our country's ongoing drug crisis.

Joining us now is Morgan Thompson, CEO of Prevention Links.

That's a new Jersey based on profit dedicated to substanc abuse prevention and addiction recovery.

Morgan, thank you so much for being here.

I read the report.

Let me just read it to you, because I read this and literally sat my living room and went, you got to be kidding me.

This is what this is what it says.

State, county municipal officials got more than $60 million.

This is reporting in the new Jersey monitor.

$60 million in opioid settlemen funds over the past year, meant to be spent to repair harms caused by the deadly overdose crisis.

Instead, it funded concerts, inflatable bounce houses, deejays, dirt bik demonstrations, police canines, ice cream, movie nights bicycles and gym gear for cops, graduation parties, Cate college prep programs, vehicle reps, attorneys fees, pet sitting, fishing, summer camps and meals, according to the release of those documents.

As someone who is deeply in this field and has their own personal story when it comes to addiction, when you hear that.

What's your reaction?

It's hugely disappointing.

These dollars are so limited.

It sounds like a lot of money but the truth is, for the damage that has been caused by the opioid crisis, it's really just a drop in the bucket of the funding that's needed to really address the harm that's been caused to individuals, families and communities.

And so for any of that funding to be used, even if these are isolated cases, not for the most impactful evidence based programs that we know work is hugely disappointing and deeply concerning.

And have you heard from from in your line of work, have you heard from people you know who have been impacted by this crisis or were themselves who saw some of these headlines and went, you got to be.

You got to be kidding me here.

And is there is there an outrage or an anger or a shock in that community?

Absolutely.

And I think most painfully, those families who have lost a loved one to the opioid crisis, to, you know, overdoses fueled by pharmaceuticals, that's what this money was for, was to remediate those harms.

And so it's especially painful and devastating for those families to read these headlines and to know that what they hoped was going to be a solution and to avoid other families having to experience what they experienced, that this is still going to go on because we're not using these funds the right way.

And how would you describe kind of the state of play or where things stand in our state when it comes to the addiction crisis or things getting better, or are we still in the throes of this?

So things are getting better.

We have seen a substantial decline in overdose deaths.

Still far too many.

One is too many.

We're still seeing more than 1300 deaths annually here in the Garden State.

It's far less than several years ago when it was more than 3000 deaths each year.

So what we're doin is working in terms of overdose prevention, dissemination of naloxone and other strategies t prevent and respond to overdose.

I do wonder, though, if we're doing enough for those who have been revived with naloxone, for those who are, you know, given a second chance and able to pursue a life and recovery if they really have all the supports they need.

I'm someone who's living in long term recovery for more than 17 years.

And the reason I've been able to do that is because I had access to evidence based treatment and long term recovery support services for the first several years of my recovery.

It's not a 30 day fix.

People need multiple years of really, you know, intensive support.

And that doesn't mean being i a treatment program for years.

It means having places in the community to be able to go for help, being able to get employment, being able to be stably housed.

We take these things for granted, you know, when we haven't been through those challenges that someone within addiction faces.

So then, based on your work in your own life story.

If I gave you $60 millio and said, make the opioid crisis in Jersey better, help lives and get people into recovery, where would you have spent the money?

Well, I think that the investments made by the state with their share of the opioi settlement have been very sound.

Huge investments in harm reduction services to keep people alive.

Huge investments in community based recovery supports, which have taken what was a very small network of a patchwork of peer support services to every county, having you know, every day of the week, having access to a full menu of community based recovery supports.

That means everything for someon in the early stages of recovery to have a place to go, to be safe, to be among people who understand the journey and to receive that non-clinical therapist is helpful.

Treatment is helpful, but someone who's walked that path, someone who can be there alongside them and help them learn to live life in the community is what's really needed.

And we've seen those investments made, but not to the extent we need and not the long term commitment.

We can't have these services go away when opioid settlement funds run out.

We should point out that there are legislative efforts and discussions underway about, you know, reining in and setting rule for how this money gets spent.

I think people would se these headlines and kind of go a little late to that party, new Jersey.

But and we don't have an prohibitions in place just yet.

So what would your advice be to the folks in Trenton about how to make sure these dollars get used in the wa that you think would work best?

So, I mean, there's a lot of, I think, hesitation to take the steps that are needed.

I don't know why exactly but something needs to be done.

There needs to be accountability around those handful of municipalities and maybe counties that haven't spent the funds and optimal ways.

But we can also look to those municipalities and counties that have done an excellent job with their funds, who have made great investments that are aligned with the the state's investments and aligned with the state strategic plan that was put forth.

So I think more collaboration, more partnership.

But ultimately, there has to be some accountability.

And real quick in 10s, if someone's watching this tonight who's struggling with addiction or know someone who is.

What is your best advice?

Website phone number?

Your your your 22nd?

Pitch to them about how to get help ASAP.

Find your local recovery community center.

They'll be able to navigate you to the appropriate support.

It might be treatment, but it might not be.

Your family might need services.

It's a one stop shop in every county that's going to help you get connected to the right support.

That's reassuring to know and glad to hear the numbers are not great, bu going down from where we were, thanks to the work that you're doing and putting yourself and your story out there.

So thank you for that and for your time today.

We appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

And if you want more information about how your area is using its opioid settlement money, you can check out this website nj.gov.

Opioid funds.

That i going to do it for us tonight.

Thank you so much for joining us here at NJ PBS news.

Have a good night.

Jersey.