- Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, life-threatening riptide warnings have been issued for the Jersey Shore as Hurricane Erin barrels up the East Coast.

Plus, the HABA saga continues.

After oral arguments on Friday, a Pennsylvania judge will decide the fate of acting U.S. Attorney Alina HABA.

- So there's a very clear argument, and one that I think the judge also took seriously, that clearly, congressional intent is that these people have limits on their tenure.

- Also, one woman's story of abuse shines a light on the stigmas that exist for domestic violence victims, especially when their alleged abuser is a member of law enforcement.

And searching for energy options.

With rising utility costs, the state is putting all ideas on the table to get more power on the grid to meet the demand.

NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

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

- Good evening, and thanks for joining us on this Monday night.

I'm Brianna Vanozzi.

We begin with a few of today's top stories.

First, people are being warned to stay out of the water at the Jersey Shore this week, as Hurricane Aaron intensifies on its path up the East Coast, turning up life-threatening rip currents and surf along the Atlantic.

Now, the storm itself is forecast to stay offshore, but has the potential to cause severe beach erosion and flooding for nearby communities.

The National Weather Service issued a high rip current risk today, lasting through Tuesday evening, but it'll likely be extended as the week goes on.

Aaron is the first of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, and it's a powerful storm, with sustained winds reaching 160 miles per hour over the weekend, as Aaron reached Category 5 status.

Aaron has weakened slightly since then, but is forecast to remain a major hurricane through Wednesday.

The biggest threat will be along the Outer Banks in North Carolina, where tropical storm conditions are expected there midweek.

Meanwhile, coastal flood advisories are in effect for Atlantic, Cape May, and Southeastern Burlington counties through tonight.

Governor Murphy today urged beachgoers to swim only at places along the shore with lifeguards on duty.

And after over a week of dealing with a boil water advisory, roughly 77,000 Patterson residents now have access to clean water.

According to the Passaic Valley Water Commission, the city successfully repaired a 30-inch water main break Sunday night, enabling portions of Patterson and Prospect Park to return to normal service.

But thousands of residents in both Halden and North Halden are still waiting for the all-clear from the Manchester Utilities Authority, which operates their systems, and it estimates that service will be restored this evening, but they're putting restrictions in place to conserve water for now.

Meanwhile, crews are turning their focus on connecting a 24-inch pipeline at the Great Falls with the goal of having it placed into service tonight.

Once that's done, the system will return to normal operating conditions, and the rest of the boil water advisories will slowly be lifted.

The water main break occurred August 8th near the historic Hinchcliffe Stadium and impacted service for about 200,000 residents total.

Patterson Mayor Andre Seya believes recent earthquakes in New Jersey may be to blame, but authorities haven't confirmed a direct cause.

Funding for NJ Spotlight News, provided by the members of the New Jersey Education Association.

Making public schools great for every child.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let's be healthy together.

New Jersey Realtors, the voice of real estate in New Jersey.

More information is online at njrealtor.com.

And Orested, committed to delivering clean, reliable, American-made energy.

The controversy over Alina Haba's role leading New Jersey's U.S. Attorney's Office may finally come to a head this week, after a federal judge in Pennsylvania said he'll rule as early as Wednesday whether Haba was appointed legally.

Her appointment by the Trump administration is being challenged by attorneys for a pair of criminal defendants, arguing legal maneuvers used by the White House to keep Haba in power after her temporary term expired were unlawful.

The legal fight has thrown some of New Jersey's federal cases into chaos, with judges delaying trials, and defense attorneys asking for dismissals.

Politico NJ reporter Matt Friedman was in the courtroom on Friday for what turned into hours of tedious arguments, and joins us for the latest.

Matt, it's good to see you.

I mean, you've been following this case closely.

Can you just walk us through how Alina Haba, who's best known as President Trump's former personal attorney, landed in this role, and how this case wound up before a Pennsylvania federal judge?

- It really was kind of a shock when the president announced that Alina Haba would become the interim attorney for New Jersey, effective immediately.

Those two words, effective immediately, have a sort of relevance in this case, because there's a bit of a dispute over exactly what day she became interim US attorney.

But she was his personal attorney, actually by most accounts had not done a very good job.

I mean, she had been sanctioned by judges, she had lost some cases with them.

I mean, she had been heavily sanctioned by judges.

And in New Jersey, she was really known for a controversy involving an employee at Bedminster who was suing for sexual harassment, and alleged Alina Haba befriended her and convinced her to sign an illegal non-disclosure agreement and accept a sum of like $15,000 in order not to sue.

She later settled that lawsuit.

So it was kind of a shock.

Doug Steinhardt had initially been the choice, the state senator had initially been the choice for US attorney in New Jersey.

And he dropped out with uncertainty over whether he could be confirmed to the role.

It's clear that Alina Haba has almost no chance of confirmation, but what the Trump administration is currently doing are legal maneuvers to try to keep her in the role basically indefinitely without confirmation from the Senate.

- So what was your sense sitting in that courtroom about any skepticism this judge, Judge Brand, might have had about these legal maneuvers that you're referencing?

- So it could be hard at times whether he's asking the question as devil's advocate or expressing his own opinion as to the merits of an argument.

So with that caveat in there, it was very hard to read how he felt about designating Haba as acting US attorney after her role as interim US attorney expired.

And they did that through a maneuver by firing the first assistant US attorney, a widely respected person who Haba had actually appointed to that role and placing Haba in there so she would automatically assume the US attorney acting US attorney position.

That acting US attorney position has a further time limit on it of 210 days.

Now, I had a hard time reading where the judge came down on that maneuver, but where he seemed by his questioning and also a previous opinion he had written a couple weeks ago, he seemed especially skeptical of another argument from the Trump administration, which is that, which is that Alina Haba has been appointed special attorney and that-- - Why does that distinction matter?

Yeah.

- Because there's no timeline on this, there's no time limit on a special attorney.

So they're basically saying she can be in charge of the office, even if her title isn't technically acting US attorney, once that time expires for an unlimited amount of time.

And this is what the judge really seemed skeptical of based on his line of questioning.

He was basically saying, if that's the case and you can have someone in there effectively permanently without Senate confirmation, then what's the point of the law that even limits them?

Or what's the point of even appointing one of confirmation?

And I think what really speaks to that is there was a law passed in 2006, it was an update to the Patriot Act that did make interim US attorneys permanent.

That law following a US attorney scandal, if you're old like me, you might remember this scandal in 2006, where there was a lot of questions about politicization of US attorneys, Congress actually went back and reinstated the 120 day limit on interim US attorney appointments.

And so there's a very clear argument and one that I think the judge also took seriously that clearly congressional intent is that these people have limits on their tenure.

The judge, however, said he's a textualist.

And so even if he agrees that the congressional intent is in there, he's reading the law for what it is.

And so this is where it gets very complicated.

- Yeah, I found that quote striking as well.

Where does it go from here?

I know Judge Brand said he might issue ruling as early as Wednesday, but also he seemed to indicate that the government will appeal right away.

So is this the end?

- Either side will appeal.

This is definitely not the end.

Whoever loses this will appeal.

And after it goes through the appellate court, most lawyers I've talked to think this winds up at the Supreme Court, 'cause it really is in a lot of ways an unprecedented situation.

And I think it's worth noting that, what really struck me about this hearing was the Trump administration claiming it was the judges who had created a constitutional crisis.

Because as I said, 120 days runs up.

The law says that the judges can decide who the interim US attorney will be until someone is confirmed by the role.

That is what the law very clearly says.

No dispute about that.

The Trump administration is arguing that by exercising their power under that law to appoint Desiree Grace, again, very respective veteran of that office, to the interim position instead of HABA, that they've created a constitutional crisis.

The law literally says they can do it.

What's not clearly in the law, and we'll see if it's legal or not, is the maneuvering the Trump administration is doing.

- Yeah, and we should note that's why the case was not heard in New Jersey and was in Pennsylvania.

Matt Friedman, thanks so much for your great reporting.

Thanks for coming on the show to share it with us.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you, Brianna.

- Tonight, we're taking a deeper look at some of the hurdles facing domestic violence survivors who try to seek help through the lens of a woman going through a divorce from a Toms River police officer, who says she's repeatedly experienced domestic violence and requested restraining orders multiple times with no success.

She reached out to NJ Spotlight News when she saw the story of New Jersey State Police Lieutenant Ricardo Santos, who authorities say killed his ex-girlfriend Laurence Semanchik and the man she'd been dating before taking his own life earlier this month.

Semanchik's family says she feared for her safety and tried unsuccessfully to get help from local police.

Both incidents are calling into question how authorities handle domestic violence allegation when it involves a member in blue.

Senior Correspondent Brenda Flanagan is with me now for more.

Brenda.

- Hey, Brianna, not long after we reported the Semanchik murder case, NJ Spotlight News got an unsolicited email from Shonda Tomorrow stating she's a victim of domestic violence in the process of divorcing a Toms River police officer, Victor Tomorrow.

Shonda Tomorrow's 48 with two daughters and claims her estranged husband allegedly subjected them to psychological and economic abuse while they shared the marital home in the Ocean County community of Beachwood.

She said he made her fearful by allegedly locking up shared resources and monopolizing economic assets.

And she also alleges her estranged husband's been shielded by law enforcement because of his employment as a police officer in Toms River.

It wasn't until Shonda and her daughters received help from a domestic violence advocacy group that they were able to move out.

She says that's when the alleged abuse finally stopped.

By then she'd made numerous reports with the local Beachwood Police Department and filed nine requests for a restraining order, nine.

She says all were turned down.

She asked to tell her story.

- We decided that he was gonna stay in the basement.

He was gonna stay in the bedroom until the divorce was final.

And then that's where it pretty much started.

He, when we first moved back, he changed the code to the garage so we couldn't get in.

He removed my access to the cable and then he removed the access to the internet.

He's got this wooden fortress that he built around the internet router and changed the password.

So now we don't have access.

He has a digital safe on the wall just to hide the family TV remote.

It's just, it's sickening.

Like that, this is what is going behind this guy's closed doors.

It's really disturbing.

It was alarming behavior.

You know, every time I would go to work and I come back, there would be something new.

One day my daughters called me and said, hey mom, he's putting a padlock and secondary lock on the laundry room door.

We can't do the laundry anymore.

He removed me and my mother from the Verizon marital account.

He closed out our joint bank accounts.

He cashed out our stocks.

And all of this time, my attorney's sending letters like saying, you know, your client keeps canceling things, closing things out and it's got to stop.

And it just kept continuing.

And, you know, my attorney referred it as childish behavior.

I did each time something was taken away, like resources were taken away, you know, maybe police reports.

They basically were protecting their brother in blue.

Like they just didn't seem to really take my, or validate my concerns.

- At that point, how did you feel?

- I was upset.

Like I was nervous.

I was in fear.

We slept with pushing our nightstands in front of the doors because even when I was reporting these incidents, the Beachwood Police Department wasn't forwarding these complaints to Tom Zur.

And when I questioned Beachwood as to why nobody contacts his PD, they say that they have a small department and it's a performance deficiency, that they had to retrain them.

What needs to be done when a law enforcement officer is involved in domestic violence.

And they go through training twice a year.

They have training twice a year on domestic violence, four hour blocks.

They know what they're supposed to do.

But again, they're just trying to protect him all the long, me and my daughters have to be mentally and physically exhausted by his actions.

I was really forced to move out because I couldn't take this anymore.

Like I was just in fear for my safety.

I didn't know what the next plan was.

Nobody was contacting me.

My reports or my complaints from the municipal court judge decided that they were sufficient enough to be indictable crimes.

They forwarded up to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office just sent me a generic letter.

No name, no number saying we're not pursuing this.

Like no advocate, no resources.

And basically the judge, I told him about the history prior to that, 'cause he asked.

And the judge basically ended the phone call was, "Ma'am, you are not in fear.

"You're inconvenienced and get yourself a cell phone, "get yourself some internet "and get yourself an attorney and call it a day."

- What did you think at that point?

- I was, I left crying because it was just trying to be validated, trying for somebody to understand what you're going through, trying to protect your children at the same time, trying to do the right thing.

And nobody listens to you.

And this was like the ninth time.

(sniffling) You feel helpless.

You wanna give up.

So I had no choice.

I had to leave.

I had to leave.

I was not sleeping.

I was in fear.

He was still carrying a gun.

And Jackson PD was the only police department that's forwarded that report to Tom's River.

And I still never received a call, never.

- What do you want?

- I want accountability.

I wanna be validated.

And I know there's other victims out there that are probably going through the same thing, either past, present.

I know, I know that somebody else read those articles and said, "Me too."

And I think that it comes down to is we have these laws, but nobody's enforcing them.

- Brianna, we did reach out to the police departments involved in this case and to Shonda's estranged husband, Victor, tomorrow.

Both he and his attorney refused to comment on pending legal matters since the divorce litigation continues.

Beachwood Police Chief Daniel Altman stated, "We recognize the gravity of all matters "involving domestic violence.

"Out of respect for the privacy and safety "of those involved, we cannot release specific details "on this case.

"We can confirm, however, that any time a person "who meets the classification "of a domestic violence victim contacts our department "and requests to apply for a restraining order, "they are provided that opportunity, "and that was no different in this case."

Now, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office stated, "To suggest that the Beachwood Police Department "and the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office "failed to properly investigate these allegations "is simply untrue.

"It should be noted that our investigation into this matter "was also reviewed by the Attorney General's Office.

"With regard to whether a restraining order "should have been issued in this case, "the Prosecutor's Office has absolutely no involvement "in that process.

"The decision to grant or deny a temporary "or final restraining order "lies exclusively with the courts."

Now, we did not hear back from the Toms River Police Department.

Bree.

- Brenda, what strikes me about that was the statement there that they need to meet the classification of being a domestic abuse survivor or victim.

Was there anything being done to maybe broaden what that includes?

Because what this woman is saying certainly would constitute as abuse, if not physical abuse.

- Absolutely.

There is clarification that possibly might be provided.

Ora Dunn's a Republican assemblywoman from the 25th District, and she's pushing a bill that would redefine domestic violence to include psychological and economic abuse.

She's hoping that more specific instructions would give judges clear legal direction to grant alleged victims requests for restraining orders based on actions that cause fear or serious alarm or distress that has a substantial adverse impact on a person's daily activities.

Bree.

- That's a really powerful, really emotional story, Brenda.

Thanks so much.

- Thank you, Bree.

- In our Spotlight on Business report tonight, rising electric bills are hitting wallets hard across the Garden State this summer, grabbing headlines and putting pressure on state leaders to take action.

At the heart of the problem is soaring demand for electricity across the region, driven largely by the rise of AI data centers and not enough electric supply to keep up.

Well, a special hearing of state lawmakers last week tried to find solutions for that problem while also pursuing New Jersey's clean energy goals.

Ted Goldberg reports.

- This is, I think, a challenging but exciting time in the energy world.

- As energy costs keep climbing, Board of Public Utilities President Christine Gulsadovi placed the blame mostly on higher demand while speaking at a joint meeting from the Senate and Assembly Environment Committees.

- The primary driver is data centers and the development, our data centers, and the development of AI.

In fact, PJM notes that 30 of the 32 gigawatts of anticipated new load in the PJM region by 2030 is driven by data centers.

- We are seeing enormous amount of load growth across the entire PJM footprint that we have not seen since the 1970s.

- It took less than 15 minutes for Assemblyman Jerry Scharfenberger to ask the million dollar question.

- With electric bills set to rise as a result of the state auction, what actions are you taking so that the next auction does not result in these drastic increases?

- Bringing more fast resources online is the best way to address the rising prices.

- Gulsadovi said the answer to rising prices is a mix.

She explained that solar gets on the grid faster than fossil fuels, while not wanting to phase out fossil fuels at the same time.

- We are not looking to retire natural gas generation at a time when we need capacity.

If the cost of clean energy is less expensive and it comes online more quickly, then that should really be our focus.

- There's also nuclear.

Leaders on both sides of the aisle have called for more nuclear power and adding small module reactors, or SMRs, technology that could be the future of the shuttered Oyster Creek nuclear plant in Ocean County.

- We invested nearly $2 billion in the nuclear plants in South Jersey to keep them running and generating electricity.

This administration did not shut down the Oyster Creek plant.

The decision to close that plant was spurred by economic and infrastructure issues during the previous administration.

- Lacey officials are ready with open arms to facilitate, whether it's the SMR or gas power, whatever we can do to get something there to help increase our generating capacity.

- We need to develop nuclear power in the state.

Nuclear power that will be all manufactured right here in the state.

The designs were developed in the state.

- Gul Sadovi said Oyster Creek is too far along in the decommissioning process to be brought back online like it used to be and blamed the Trump administration for helping to halt offshore wind.

- In a resource-constrained environment, reliable offshore wind projects could save PJM and New Jersey rate payers billions of dollars.

The federal administration's actions are hindering our ability to bring new clean energy resources online.

- That doesn't mean the ocean has been phased out entirely.

One of the panels that addressed the committees explained that New Jersey's waves could be a perpetual source of clean energy.

- Wave energy is not like solar and wind.

It's 24 hours around the clock.

The waves don't stop.

Rhode Island, Texas, Florida, others are moving much faster by providing clear test sites and streamlined opportunities for marine tech companies like ourselves.

New Jersey has a real opportunity to flourish in the sector.

- New Jersey has about 140 miles of shoreline.

And while all current wind projects are on hold, those shorelines could possibly be worth a second look.

In Point Pleasant, I'm Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

- Support for "The Business Report" is provided by the Newark Alliance Presents the 2025 Halsey Fest, featuring the vibrancy of Newark's Arts and Education District and Halsey Street.

Halsey, a neighborhood built on hustle and heart.

The 2025 Halsey Fest schedule is available at halseynwk.com.

- That's gonna do it for us tonight.

But a reminder, you can always download our podcast wherever you listen and watch us anytime by subscribing to the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

Plus, you can follow us on Instagram and Blue Sky to stay up to date on all the state's big headlines.

I'm Brianna Vanosi.

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

Have a great evening.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

- NJM Insurance Group has been serving New Jersey businesses for over a century.

As part of the Garden State, we help companies keep their vehicles on the road, employees on the job, and projects on track.

Working to protect employees from illness and injury, to keep goods and services moving across the state.

We're proud to be part of New Jersey.

NJM, we've got New Jersey covered.

- Whatever your cancer journey, there's one place in New Jersey where our discoveries become your care.

You'll have access to advanced treatments, including clinical trials, thanks to our renowned scientists and multidisciplinary teams at New Jersey's only NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, the one world-class cancer program that's close to home.

RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute.

Let's beat cancer together.

(upbeat music)