(upbeat music) - From NJ PBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vannozzi.

- Hello and thanks for joining us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gaggis.

Brianna Vannozzi is off.

Coming up in the broadcast, a possible cancer cluster in Keyport has residents demanding answers about a former landfill.

Plus, Newark teens can vote in their school board elections, so why were some 16 and 17 year olds turned away at the polls this week?

And later, Assemblywoman Katie Brennan joins us to talk about her legislative priorities on health care, affordable housing, and ICE.

But first, do you ever wonder where your taxes go and how the state actually spends them?

Well, today, Governor Mikey Sherrill and members of her administration announced the launch of the New Jersey Report Card.

It's an interactive public website that lets you see exactly where your tax dollars go, how much goes to funding schools, pension and health benefits, or state property tax relief programs and agencies like NJ Transit.

You can find it at reportcard.nj.gov And the site will be updated throughout the budget process.

But if you go on today, you can see exactly how the governor's proposed $60.7 billion has been budgeted.

Now, Sheryl said this morning this is one way to fulfill the executive order she signed on Inauguration Day, setting a standard that "state government will be transparent and accountable for every New Jerseyan."

Here's more of what she had to say.

This is your government.

You should be able to see what it's doing with your money.

And what the services that you're paying for are delivering.

So we're making sure that government works for you.

And this report card is just one of the steps we're taking to make sure that it does.

One of the largest drug busts in New Jersey history just went down in Clifton.

Nangal Solorzano was found with 40 kilograms of fentanyl, 52 kilograms of methamphetamine, and more than 2 kilograms of crack cocaine, which is called cocaine base.

He's been charged with trafficking the narcotics out of a residential apartment complex in Clifton.

He's also been charged with several firearms offenses after law enforcement found an AK-47 with a large-capacity magazine, a 12-gauge shotgun, a stolen handgun, and a variety of ammunition in his garages and vehicles.

Solorzano is facing two counts of possession with intent to distribute, and each count carries a possible life in prison sentence and a maximum fine of $10 million.

The investigation was a joint effort across New Jersey and New York agencies, including the DEA, and the charges are brought by the new U.S.

attorney for New Jersey, Robert Fraser.

Coming up, we talk with Congressman Frank Pallone about his calls for an investigation after reports of dozens of concentrated cancer cases in Keyport.

That's next.

Major funding for NJ Spotlight News is provided in part by NJM Insurance Group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

A local resident has documented 41 cases of cancer in the borough of Keyport.

28 of them are on or around a single street.

That's according to a recent report by NJ.com that's highlighting a suspected cancer cluster.

The street is located near the Aero Marine facility which closed in 1979 and is the site of a former landfill.

Well Keyport residents are demanding answers and they're joined by Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone who's calling on state and federal officials to investigate the site.

He joins us now to discuss.

Congressman great to have you on the show with us.

Thanks for taking a few minutes.

You're joining.

You are demanding that both the federal and state governments step in immediately and investigate this possible cancer cluster that we're seeing in Keyport.

What would you like to see as immediate action.

Well it's a nightmare for anybody who has cancer doesn't know what's causing it because then it becomes difficult to treat it right so right now actually my staff are meeting with the both state and health state and federal health departments and the state and federal environmental departments but what we were asking is that they do a comprehensive health study in other words screening and looking at all the documents and medical records of the people who have cancer to determine ultimately if it's linked to this landfill and to the toxic waste from this place that manufactured the sea plants.

Yeah this place this was I believe the Aero Marine plane and motor company.

And there are you talked about some of the toxins.

I just want to talk about what's been found.

Benzene PCBs heavy metals and methane gas.

There's been contaminated groundwater that's been observed and all of those substances have been identified.

If the DEP and we know that these are not fast moving types of investigations but if it is determined that there is some type of impact on residents, what should the immediate action be?

What should that look like?

Well, I mean, obviously people would then be able to decide how they were going to improve their health situation, right?

Because, you know, if you have cancer, you don't know the cause of it.

It's hard for the doctor to know how to treat it.

So there's that.

I mean, most of them are probably being treated in some fashion.

But it's important to know the cause from a health point of view.

But then beyond that, we want this site cleaned up.

We want this toxic waste, if it's--to be honest, whether it's impacting these residents or not, it has to be cleaned up.

It probably has to be taken away.

Probably containment is not sufficient.

And the company who owns the property has been fined like $900,000.

They haven't paid the money.

They haven't even put up a fence, Joanna.

So they've been totally irresponsible.

So this has to be a comprehensive health assessment, a mitigation and clean-up, a remediation of the site, and also prevent it, as you say, from getting into the groundwater or into the bay.

The bay is right next door.

I mean, the beach on the bay is probably like 100 feet away or 100 yards away maybe from the landfill and the toxic waste site.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection did issue a statement saying that they recently received correspondence from the New York, New Jersey Baykeeper that they've begun initial discussions to determine next steps.

Basically, those, yeah, those discussions actually going on as we speak with my staff and the two state and federal health and environmental departments.

So we will keep an eye on that.

Of course, things don't usually move quickly there, but the fact that they're meeting already, hopefully good news for folks to get some answers.

Earlier this month, I know that you met with some reproductive health advocates.

You are pushing back on a federal probe.

I want to set the context for this.

The Trump administration in March said that it was going to be probing New Jersey's law passed in 2022 that requires health insurers to cover abortion.

Now they say that this potentially violates federal law that protects employees and insurers from having to cover abortion if it violates their beliefs.

You push back on that.

What's your resistance to that probe?

Well the problem is that the Trump administration and the president himself keep saying that even though Roe v. Wade which guaranteed a right to abortion has been overturned by the Supreme Court that it's going to be up to the states to decide if they want to protect abortion rights.

And New Jersey clearly does.

And I'm glad that they do.

And now I think what's really happening is that the Trump administration is trying to prohibit abortion even in states that are allowing it.

And that's what this is all about.

This is -- this idea that we need data, it's just -- he -- the president wants a national abortion ban.

And he is totally contradicting what he said previously, which is it's up to the states.

He doesn't want to leave it up to the states.

He wants to ban it nationally.

Yeah.

He has asked New Jersey to turn over its abortion-related data to the federal government.

But does New Jersey run the risk right now of violating a federal law that allows employers or employees to deny this care if it violates their beliefs?

There isn't a single insurance company in our state that is not willing to cover abortions.

So this is a false narrative, not on your part, but on the part of the Trump administration.

Nobody is saying that insurance companies, you know, shouldn't or are not willing to cover abortion.

It's always, obviously, up to the woman if she wants to have an abortion.

It's up to the doctor if he doesn't want to perform an abortion.

But the idea that insurance companies would not cover abortion, that's a way of eliminating abortion care.

Because who's going to be able to have an abortion if their insurance doesn't cover it?

Let's switch gears again.

I know that you've been vocal in your criticism of the war and all of the activity that's happened in the Middle East.

We see activity ramping up again overseas.

First, given where we are right now, what would you like to see from the administration in terms of how it's handling either diplomacy with Iran or how they're handling the Strait of Hormuz and the activity there?

I say end the war now, Joanna.

The president is, you know, goes back and forth, back and forth.

You know, he set forth these goals of eliminating nuclear potential in Iran, change of regime.

None of that is happening.

And you know, I think he's very equivocal about what he really wants to do.

And my answer is, look, this war should be over.

Oil prices keep going up, fertilizer prices.

Americans are hurting and we're accomplishing absolutely nothing.

And I just think that he he has no idea what to do.

He has no plan.

We should just get out of there.

Where do you stand right now in terms of the U.S.

support of Israel?

Do you believe that there should be additional guardrails in terms of how and when we are either providing military support or more money to Israel?

I Israel is our ally.

I believe we should support our ally and we should continue to provide them with their ability to defend themselves.

And if that you know that means that they need certain weapons and help from the United States and we should provide it.

One of the things that really disappoints me about the Trump administration is that they just keep eliminating most efforts to help our allies, whether it's NATO, whether it's Japan, Korea.

And that's not a good thing to do.

We need to continue to support our allies, and we should work in tandem with them in terms of what we're doing.

So, no, I don't support cutting off aid to Israel.

You were on the House floor with newly elected, newly sworn in Congresswoman Annalia Mejia.

There's a new face there, and that new face is coming because we have Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman will be retiring.

I'm just curious how you see the makeup of New Jersey's congressional delegation shaping up.

Your thoughts about the addition of Congresswoman Annalita Mejia.

Well, I don't want to see Congressman Bonnie Watson Coleman leave because she's great.

But Annalita Mejia, you know, she is succeeding our governor.

And so we need a new congresswoman.

And she's great.

You know, she really set a goal, really, of creating a lot of enthusiasm and getting more people involved, particularly young people in elections.

She's a progressive.

I like her a lot.

And she's going to be a great addition, or she is a great addition, to our House delegation.

All right, we have to leave it there.

Congressman Frank Pallone, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you.

Take care, Joanna.

The Newark school board election took place this past Tuesday.

As usual, voter turnout was pretty low.

All of the projected winners were backed by Newark Mayor Raz Baraka for the second year in a row, meaning the full school board now is part of his slate.

Two years ago, Newark became the first city in New Jersey to lower the voting age for school board elections.

But according to reports, many 16 and 17-year-olds had trouble casting their ballots this week.

Here to talk about what happened in this election is Jesse Gomez, reporter for Chalkbeat Newark.

Jesse, good to have you with us.

Thanks for having me, Joanna.

Lots of teens.

I want to start with the teen portion of this.

Many teens were met with confusion at the polling sites.

Can you just tell us some of what you heard in terms of how they were greeted or turned away in some cases.

Yeah.

So on Tuesday the Newark school board election took place.

I visited different polling locations and I met with teens who told me that when they actually went to go vote they encountered jammed machines when they were trying to scan their ballots and they even encountered a poll worker who didn't even know that 16 year olds were allowed to vote.

Other teens said that they had to be moved around to different polling sites.

So just lots of confusion that honestly makes it just harder for them to vote.

And you know they've been on the ground since the city lowered the voting age to 16.

And they're trying to vote.

But these obstacles have made it difficult for them to engage in their newly gained right.

There is actually a coalition of kids that you wrote about that have been out there trying to get more of their peers to vote trying to engage them in this civic duty.

But they were met with some resistance from members of the existing board.

What can you tell us about that.

Yeah.

So this coalition they're called the Youth Power Action Coalition convened by the GEM Project which is another youth organization in Newark who is trying to boost civic engagement among teens.

They actually created proposals and presented it to the board in November and they wanted to create more oversight over policies around student mental health and the school infrastructure.

They came back to the board in February after months of urging the board to work with them and talking to the board about their own proposals.

But again in February they were rejected by the school board and really no explanation as to why.

I'm curious if there was some resistance from this group of young people to any of the candidates who were put forward who won part of the Newark mayor's slate.

Well, in terms of opposition, I mean, these teams were really just trying to understand what the candidates, you know, were running for, why they were running, and really also just understand the basics of what a school board does, right?

So there really are a lot of hurdles that these teams have told me, you know, even in just being able to vote, right?

So last week, or a couple weeks ago, actually, I was at a youth summit that this coalition had organized to really engage their peers about what it means to be civically engaged in Newark and really what it means to vote in a school board election.

Right?

Like, historically, we know that across the state, school board election turnout is low.

And so these teens had a really massive task in not only educating themselves about, you know, who the candidates are, what a school board does, but also educating the rest of the Newark 16 and 17-year-olds.

I want to ask you more broadly now about the Newark School Board.

We've seen and we've had Republicans on this show questioning some of the spending that's come out of the district.

In particular, there's this call for an investigation into $287 million in COVID relief funds.

At the same time, the superintendent is facing criticism over hosting yet another lavish birthday party.

Some say he has every right to do that.

Others say it's in poor taste.

Did you hear any of the candidates on this slate on this mayor's slate talking about accountability affordability oversight of the Newark School Board finances.

Yeah, well, to kind of, you know, backtrack a little bit, in Newark, there really were only two school board debates, right?

One hosted by this teen youth coalition and another one hosted by the Newark NAACP.

At both of those, we heard very few comments about, you know, transparency.

There were some candidates not on the mayoral slate who did want to see more transparency on the school board and in district decisions.

>> I think it's important to note that we did hear from other candidates, also not on the mayoral slate, that they wanted to just include more of that community input on these bigger decisions that the district is managing and handling.

Now, when it comes to the actual mayoral slate who is currently leading in the school board election, we haven't really seen exact platforms or, you know, policies or plans that they really want to tweak.

They've mentioned things like more broadly, right, like plans to expand mental health policies and support students in that sort of vein.

But we really haven't heard of nitty-gritty plans at all.

I should say we had Superintendent Roger León on, and he says he stands behind all of the spending decisions that have been made by the board overall, including the COVID relief funds.

I do have to ask you, there's this deal, I know you've looked at it too, that would lease a building at the cost of $500 million to the district.

We asked the superintendent about this as well.

The building is owned by a funder, a sponsor, a campaign sponsor of the mayor.

His name is Scott Fields.

When the mayor was asked about it, he said, "This has nothing to do with me.

I have no part of the decision-making of the Newark School Board."

But interesting that for yet another year the folks who were backed by him have won.

Is there true independence here?

Are these candidates really independent of mayoral influence in your mind as you see it?

Well, I think that's a really important question, and that's a question that I've asked many in the community as well.

I mean, the community has been clear that they want to see more transparency, that they want to be included in district decisions.

I mean, they fought for local control after being under the state's operation for 25 years.

And I think at the end of the day, there is a very strong need for the community to be more involved in whatever the district decides to do.

Right.

And so when it comes to, you know, is this is the mayor's influence on the school board real?

I mean, that's yet to be determined with this new school board.

Right.

And I but I do think that the calls from the community are very clear that something needs to change.

All right.

Jesse Gomez reporter for Chalkbeat Newark.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Thanks for having me.

New Jersey has more than a handful of freshman legislators this session.

One of them in particular started her term in Trenton ready to take on a number of the issues she ran on from health care to affordable housing, even going after ice.

She's Assemblywoman Katie Brennan from the She's already put forward many bills on these issues and she joins us now as part of our Under the Dome series.

Welcome Assemblyman, great to have you.

Thank you, thanks for having me.

I want to start with what's happening in Jersey City, part of your district, where there's the potential closure.

It was closed, and now potential reopening I guess, of Heights University Hospital.

First, what do you make of what's happened so far?

We're going to get into what happened with the hearing, but what do you make of the closure, and now they're saying that potentially the hospital could reopen?

Well, we lost a 150-year-old hospital because HRH broke the law.

And now Jersey City and the surrounding area are really in a dire strait.

We are so well behind what we should have for basic, safe operating levels in terms of emergency room beds and essential services.

So that's the situation and that is why emotions are so high about the closure of this hospital.

HRH is Hudson Regional Health.

It's the owner of the facility that came in just a short time ago and took it over.

It used to be Christ Hospital.

There was a public hearing scheduled with the Department of Health to look at the closure.

HRH requested a temporary restraining order.

They were given it.

And so there was this moment I saw that you were on social media kind of talking to the crowd that was about to be enraged.

You said you were going to hold the hearing in place of D.O.H.

One what do you make of that temporary restraining order.

And two what did you hear from the public.

HRH is the only hospital system that has ever not followed the law in New Jersey.

So hospitals are highly regulated.

And when they're shutting down there's a reason there's a process.

And it is to make sure that the communities are not left where we are today in Jersey City.

And as part of that process they go through a certificate of need.

They apply to the state and there's this hearing that is held.

They did not do that.

They with almost no warning fired hundreds of people.

They then threatened and ultimately closed an emergency room in 48 hours.

So we were finally about to have that hearing.

They filed a restraining order.

And it's kind of on a technicality.

They said well because we're already closed we can't have this hearing about being closed.

And they were and they were granted that temporary restraining order.

And so truly moments before the Department of Health's meeting was about to begin.

We learned about this.

The department was escorted out of the building and I and some of my colleagues said OK look we've got just a ton of folks here that are deeply concerned and we want to hear from them anyway.

Though it was not the official hearing.

What We have one third of the number of beds of even a similar size place like Newark, but we have more people in the city during the day.

We have, we are considered a healthcare desert now.

And so there's the emotional ties of I was born here, my mother died here, whatever it is.

But there's also just the absolute kind of panic about what does this mean when it takes so long to get across the city or to leave the city to get healthcare services.

Just that lack of emergency service.

What do you see?

What would you see as success in this case?

Is it HRH continuing that service?

I think that we've all lost a lot of faith in them operating it, but we wanted the services to stay open while we figured out what was next.

Okay, if you don't think that this is viable, and there's a lot of reasons why it's not, namely the role of private equity buying up the land, renting it to themselves, jacking up prices, that's something we have to stop.

I think while we figure out a long-term plan of whether it's a micro-hospital, ER, whether it's some kind of regional collaboration, while we get services back to the city, we do need something in place.

Let's switch gears.

You're also pretty prolific here in terms of some legislation addressing housing, rent control in particular.

You want to establish the rent control ombudsman under the DCA, Department of Community Affairs.

You appropriated your bill, would appropriate $4 million for that.

What do you see as missing in this space and what type of oversight is needed?

We have a housing crisis, not just in Jersey City, not just in Hoboken, not just in New Jersey, but nationwide.

And renters are bearing the brunt of that.

More than half of all New Jersey renters are considered cost burden, which means they're paying more than 30% of their income toward housing.

And right now, we have bad actors that are violating the law, that are taking advantage of rent control loopholes, and the burden is on the renter instead of the bad actor.

And so when something happens, you have renters that are becoming full-time detectives, trying to prove their case and get back the money that they are owed.

So the ombudsman would really take the onus off of municipalities that oftentimes don't have the capacity, don't have the in-house staffing, to really enforce the laws that are on the books.

And words on paper aren't any good if they're not being acted upon.

I want to look at a package of bills that you recently introduced addressing ICE.

There was an acronym here.

I'll read what they are.

Fight Unlawful Conduct and Keep Individuals and Communities Empowered.

Short version, FICE.

Assemblyman Brian Bergen filed an ethics complaint against you.

He says this violates the legislative code of ethics.

- Do you, now that this has happened, I'm curious, do you think that this demonstrates a lack of decorum that's beneath your seat?

- Well first, as much as I want to take credit for the name, I can't, all credit goes to my Senator Raj Mukerji for coming up with that.

But I think that Assemblyman Bergen, he's awfully worried about one word instead of unlawful masked agents that are coming in and terrorizing our communities.

From my vantage point, I have a community that is absolutely terrified.

And every day they see children come home for their parents being gone, neighbors where entire buildings have disappeared, and they want to see their legislators taking action.

And I think that's where we need to be concerned.

Finally, you are-- I don't know if it's finally.

As a new legislator, I know you have talked about transparency, and I just want to ask your thoughts about the budget process and how it plays out here in the state.

Very often, deals are made in the 11th hour.

Would you like to see changes made there?

I would.

And Assemblyman Ball, who is my seatmate, and I have introduced some measures to make the process more transparent.

I think that that -- people want receipts.

They want -- it's a vital part of trusting your government and understanding, okay, this is what I pay for and this is what I get.

And it helps us engage with our community, it helps us be more effective.

When I worked in New York for Governor Kathy Hochul for a couple years, she'd introduce the budget, it'd all be up online, you'd have both houses mark it up like track changes, and the public could be a part of that process, and I think that that creates a lot more trust in our government.

This is happening at a time when we just saw the governor release this report card for the budget and where the money goes.

Do you think that this administration is open to those types of changes?

It seems so.

I'm really encouraged by the budget report card and the work that Governor Sherrill is doing to increase transparency and I'd love to keep working with her on that.

Alright, we have to leave it there.

Assemblywoman Katie Brennan, thank you so much for coming in to talk to us.

Thank you.

Under the Dome is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gaggis.

For the entire team here at NJ Spotlight News, thanks for being with us.

We'll see you back here tomorrow.

New Jersey Education Association, making public schools great for every child.

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