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

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

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

Tonight a few stories we're digging into later in the broadcast.

NJ Decides 2025, a political analysis of the governor's race.

Is there an unlikely path for Jack Ciattarelli to victory?

Plus a crowded field in the Jersey City mayor's race.

Who's breaking through?

Also a cure for chronic absenteeism.

What's Newark's secret?

But first, a few of today's top headlines.

The fight over whether Alina Haba can or can't remain in her position as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey is heading back to court.

The Trump administration is appealing a Pennsylvania federal judge's recent decision that Haba has been serving unlawfully as the state's top prosecutor since July 1st and can't continue to serve.

But because the judge expected this appeal, he stayed his decision, allowing HABA to remain in office for now, while the case goes to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

The president's former personal attorney hasn't gone quietly, though.

HABA was on Fox News over the weekend, criticizing the U.S. Senate tradition known as "blue slips," which allows senators to block judicial and U.S. attorney nominees in their home states from advancing, calling out New Jersey's U.S. senators Cory Booker and Dandi Kim, who haven't supported her nomination.

Then President Trump on Monday threatened to end the 100-year-old practice, but it's unclear exactly how.

Also tonight, another water main break in Paterson as repair work continues.

The Passaic Valley Water Commission says crews restored water service to customers Monday afternoon in the Riverside section of the city after a 42-inch water break from the day before at North First and Arch Streets.

This is separate from the Hinchcliffe Stadium break that happened back on August 8th that affected hundreds of thousands of residents.

When the water main gave way in Paterson over the weekend, some 18,000 customers in Riverside and Fairlawn were left without water.

Now that half of the problem is fixed, attention has turned to getting water flowing again in Fairlawn, where a boil water advisory remains in effect.

A boil advisory is also still in place for Haldon, North Haldon, Prospect Park, and some other areas of Paterson.

All of it underscores the difficulty of dealing with a nearly 140-year-old water infrastructure which needs hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrades that'll take years to complete.

And in our Spotlight on Business report tonight, the Borough of Paramus is taking on the state's largest mall, suing the owners of American Dream in the Meadowlands over its decision to stay open on Sundays in spite of Bergen County's blue laws, which date back to the 1700s and restrict shopping for non-essential items on Sundays.

Nearly every other store in the county, including its two other malls, are closed to shoppers on that day.

According to The Suit, the mall's 120 stores are not only open, but American Dream publicly advertises that they're in operation on Sundays.

Premise officials are also suing the county, the borough of Rutherford where the mall physically sits, and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which owns and leases the property to the mall.

A spokesperson for the mall called the lawsuit a political stunt.

American Dream's owners have argued that because it sits on state-owned land, the property isn't bound by blue laws, even though they vowed to follow them before the mall was officially open.

Support for The Business Report is provided by Riverview Jazz, presenting the Jersey City Latin Jazz Festival, September 5th through 6th.

Event details, including performance schedules and location, are online at jerseycitylatinjazzfestival.com.

And coming up, NJ decides 2025.

Can Mikey Sherrill hold off a red surge?

A political analysis of the governor's race shows that despite Congresswoman Mikey Sherrill's slight lead in the polls, there is a path for Jack Ciatarelli through an unlikely voting block.

- 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.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and by the PSCG Foundation.

Well with early voting now just weeks away, the battle to be New Jersey's next governor could be closer than some expect.

And Democrats may be facing an urgent warning sign.

A new Politico analysis reveals that Democratic nominee Mikey Sherrill, who's the front runner according to polls, underperformed in urban areas that leaned toward Donald Trump in 2024.

Now Republican Jack Ciattarelli is eyeing those same voters in his bid to flip the seat red.

Politico reporter Madison Fernandez joins us to unpack what's driving this shift and what could be the deciding factor come November.

- Madison, thanks so much for coming on the show.

Based off the data that you analyzed, how real is the threat of New Jersey flipping red for the gubernatorial election this year and how much of it hinges on the votes of black and brown people here?

- So the reality is Republicans are going to have an uphill climb this year.

When you just look at the voter registration data, Democrats have a big advantage and also with President Trump in the White House.

There's a bit of a different dynamic here.

But when we looked at the primary data, we saw that in urban areas and areas with large black and Hispanic populations, Mikey Sherrill, the Democratic nominee, she had a lower share of the vote in the primary.

And, you know, primary and general elections are very different, but it's the best example of the data we have at this time to get a sense of how the electorate was feeling just a couple of months ago and as we head into November.

So I think when you look at how Republicans did in 2021 when Jack Ciudadele ran and came three points away from defeating incumbent Governor Phil Murphy, and he did really well in the suburbs and exurbs.

And then when you look at 2024, when President Trump made gains in New Jersey, in some of these black and Hispanic heavy areas, if Cittarelli is able to combine those two performances, he might just be able to close that gap.

Also, when you consider he's not running against an incumbent this time.

- So, I mean, as you mentioned, there were a lot of lessons that Cittarelli learned or had to learn from that 2021 election.

Is he changing his strategy this time?

And does that mean that Mikey Sherrill is playing catch up?

- So his campaign told me that he's spending a lot more time and resources in these black and Hispanic communities.

You know, he's campaigning there, he's having a presence, but Mikey Sherrill's campaign and Democrats will argue that he could show up to these places but his policies aren't really aligned with the priorities of these communities.

And they point to the fact that he's allied with President Trump.

You know, Democrats argue to me that it's almost disqualifying that he aligns himself with the president because they'll say these voters, even if they did vote for the president Trump last year, they're going to start to realize that he didn't follow through on his promises with the economy and everything like that.

You know, uh, Shirley's campaign pushes back on that and they say, President Trump has done great things for the economy.

So it's interesting that both campaigns are using this economy focused message to appeal to these black and Hispanic communities.

Yeah.

And I mean, I guess, is that really the linchpin here?

Is that what's resonating in these places that were, you know, typically considered safe for a Democratic candidate?

Yeah.

I think both Democrats and Republicans agree that that economic and affordability messaging is really what helped President Trump make gains in these communities last year.

So generally, in a way, is trying to use that same strategy to eke out a win this year.

But again, Democrats are convinced that their message is a bit more salient.

But I do think that Mikey Sherrill does run into some possible struggles here, because Jack keeps trying to tie her to Phil Murphy.

So she really is trying to differentiate herself with some of her policies, specifically about the economy.

Yeah, I mean, that was always going to be her uphill battle, right?

It was not being framed.

As a Murphy 2.0, I wonder, though, what the data maybe suggests, because turnout in New Jersey is historically low in off-year elections.

Could even a modest gain in Republican voters tip the scales here?

Republicans are working overtime to increase their voter registration, and I think when we're talking specifically about black and Hispanic voters, these voters don't necessarily have the highest turnout rates, especially when you're talking about an off-year election.

So I think that they definitely can make a difference, but the difficult thing here is no one really knows what turnout is going to look like this year.

I think Democrats are really relying on a big anti-Trump sentiment to turn out a lot of voters, but really it's hard to tell in an off-year election.

I want to ask you just about internal polling, which comes with all kinds of caveats, but among black and Hispanic voters, both in some of the polls that we've seen from places like the Eagleton Institute, Stockton, elsewhere, she still has a strong showing among those voters.

So is that misleading?

Is this a big overreaction?

What are we, if anything, to take from this?

So I think that it's not a question of if Cheryl is going to lose the black or Hispanic vote.

You know, Democrats have had a strong standing with these communities for a very long time.

And we've seen decreases in that.

But I don't think we're at a point where it's necessarily going to flip.

I think what we really need to be looking at is the margins.

How much can Chittorilly chip away and make that margin smaller?

The thing is, Sheryl is going to win these voters, but can he make enough gains in these communities to again close what might be a very tight race?

I mean, that's where I'm sort of looking.

Yeah, and is it the start of a longer term realignment in blue states or places like New Jersey?

Exactly.

And this is a thing that Democrats all across the country are keeping in mind, especially as we go into the midterms next year.

All right.

Madison Fernandez from Politico.

Madison, thanks so much for sharing your reporting.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Meanwhile, the race for Jersey City's next mayor is also quickly heating up as the campaigns head into the fall stretch, with the field getting a lot more crowded and competitive.

As of last week's filing deadline, seven candidates are officially in the mix to replace outgoing Mayor Steve Fulop.

Each is building their war chest and defining their platforms, but there's still plenty of time for surprises as the campaign shapes up to be one of the most unpredictable in recent memory, and dozens more candidates are also now certified to run in other city races.

Our senior political correspondent David Cruz is in the studio with me now to help break it all down.

So David, we should note this is the first time in over a decade that Mayor Fulop's name is not going to be on the ballot.

Who is?

Well, it's an interesting point and the Fulop's absence creates this vacuum that has attracted a lot of candidates.

I'll give you the seven candidates for mayor just to name them all.

Not all of them are going to be competitive but you have Jim McGreevy, the former governor, Bill O'Day, who is a county commissioner, James Solomon, who is a city councilman in Jersey City now, Joyce Waterman, who is the president of the city council, and then Musab Ali, who used to be a board of ed member, Kalki Jane Rose, and Christina Freeman, who are two virtual unknowns.

But it gives you an idea of how many people are now interested in it.

But those top three, McGreevy, O'Day, and Solomon, are the ones who are mostly going to be competitive.

We had a chance this week to talk to Solomon and O'Day about what the issues are in the race.

And they talked about affordability, which is always something, tax, local taxes, which is the other thing, and crime, which is always an issue in Jersey City.

But the thing that's driving the candidates and the politics of this has a lot to do with how much money has come into this race.

Four million dollars is the war chest that Jim McGreevy has.

And the others are gonna need to raise at least a million dollars.

So we talked to O'Day about that, and this is what he had to say.

Should it cost $4 million to run for mayor of Jersey City?

Hell no.

Hell no.

And we can't let somebody buy an election.

They buy every billboard in town.

I mean, it's, you know, and where's the money coming from?

And why are so many people putting money in?

I don't think they're putting it in as the goodness of their heart, right?

What are their motives?

If you level the playing field on money, I'm not sure he comes in third.

But we'll have enough money and I think other candidates will have enough money.

And then once we get in a runoff, assuming there's a runoff, then I think the playing field gets level.

Yes, it's a lot of money.

It's a lot of money on self-promotion.

You know, right now, behind us, we're giving out backpacks to kids.

We do that every year.

This is the 21st year we do it.

We take a lot of the dollars we raised both through the nonprofit that I started many years ago-I didn't start it when I decided I wanted to run for mayor-as well as through even my election funds and put it back into the community and things like backpacks, and this year we have haircuts, too.

So I think that's a huge difference when you look at the different candidates who's been giving back to this community their entire life, who suddenly decided to not only just promote themselves, but give a little back while promoting themselves just because they want to be the man.

And I think that's a huge, huge difference.

And I believe the voters that know me know that.

And as we let the rest of the voters know it, I think we're going to be in great shape if not to win on the first ballot, be the leader going into a run.

And that's the narrative that's been forming around McGreevy by the other candidates who recognize that he's got not only the millions of dollars, but also the support of all of the organization.

Yeah, everybody's been lining up behind him.

And the city and the county.

Solomon is also-- he was expected to be a candidate a lot earlier.

But when McGreevy jumped in and O'Day jumped in, I think it gave him pause.

Because I think he expected to be the successor like that.

So he's in the race.

And he's got a little bit of ground to gain.

But he also talked about not only the money that's in this race that's mostly going to McGreevy, but also the idea of a runoff, which has become part of the strategy for all of these candidates.

Let's hear from Solomon.

Should it take $4 million to run for mayor of Jersey City?

It should not.

It's why we've proposed one of the best anti-corruption plans in the country for our race here for Jersey City mayor.

One of which, one of the components of which is a public financing plan.

We've seen in New York City what public financing can do.

One donation, a dollar donated is returned sixfold.

And we think that's the right thing for Jersey City to reduce the power of money in politics.

And right now, you know, money has flown into the Jersey City mayor's race in a way that I think is concerning.

You know, what we're proud of in our race is, you know, we have over 1,500 Jersey City donors and volunteers, by far the most of any campaign.

We are funded by the community.

Our primary opponent, the former governor, he's received $4 million for his race, the vast majority of which, over 90 percent, has come from outside of Jersey City.

It's come from Donald Trump's biggest donors.

It's come from directly from the Kushner family.

It's come from real estate developers with major business in Jersey City, all of which, I think, is concerning to and should be concerning to any voter.

Our plan is to win.

So, you know, obviously we think a runoff is a likely, but not guaranteed outcome.

So, you know, if we think we can win in November, we're going to push and try to do that and get above 50%.

But we think we are the campaign by far best equipped to win in a runoff.

We've got that core support, over 1,500 donors and volunteers.

No other campaign has even half that.

And in a runoff, that type of grassroots organic energy is what makes the difference.

So we think we're equipped to win that runoff, but you know, we're just going to keep fighting and working hard every day.

So Dems fighting words, as we like to say, in terms of how they're looking at this.

It kind of reminds me a little bit of back when an unknown Phil Murphy got into the race with Steve Fullop and Steve Sweeney, who then dropped out.

But the money was just too insurmountable.

Is that a scenario we could see here?

Or are we too far in it?

I think there's two ways to think of that.

The money could be insurmountable.

He is flooding the city with flyers and billboards and all of that stuff.

But he's been doing that for months now.

And I don't know how much attention has been paid to the last four months of Jim McGreevy overkill.

But money's still money.

And four million usually beats one million.

It sure does.

Very quickly, I want to ask you about the City Council seats and other municipal seats, because we have dozens of people.

What's the what here?

Why is everybody so excited about this?

Well, I mean, again, this really, in my opinion, is going to be a defining election for Jersey City, because we've had these past 10, 12 years of boom in the city, and the predictions for the economy are a little shakier now.

So we have 15 people running for at-large, three at-large seats.

You know, it's five per ward, and then 30 running for the ward seats.

There are six of those.

We could see a totally different city council than we experience now, although most of them are running again.

There's just so many candidates and again, so much money because even though you don't have four million, anybody can create a 501c4 and get money from any developer, right, who wants to do a project in your city.

And they don't have to claim it until way after.

Still a lot of time though for them to make up that ground.

David Cruz, thanks so much for coming in to sit down.

While the state's largest school district is reporting real progress in tackling a longstanding challenge - chronic absenteeism.

After years of struggling with high numbers of Newark students missing school regularly, new data shows a sharp drop in absentee rates across the district.

As Raven Santana reports, school officials are crediting a mix of new programs for driving the turnaround.

Three years ago, Newark schools were struggling with students attendance.

A student is considered chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of the school year.

That's about 18 days out of 180.

The average daily attendance was relatively low.

It was in the late 80 in terms of percent.

And our chronic absenteeism was around 29%.

Typically the state chronic absenteeism is somewhere around 18%.

Since then Newark has seen dramatic improvement.

Chronic absenteeism fell from 18.1% two years ago to 14.9% last year.

And this school year the district reports the number dropped again to just over 10% while overall attendance climbed above 95%.

The following year we were able to cut that in half to 13% and recently we are in the most recent year set 10.4%.

District leaders say the progress isn't by chance it's the result of intentional changes in policy and practice.

The original policy in the district which the board unanimously voted to change was that you wait four days before you actually make contact with parents about why their children were late.

And so the policy change says on the first absence we call the parent, "Hey, how are you?

Your child's not in school.

What's going on?"

That personal approach is paying off.

Last year 44 of Newark's 64 schools had attendance rates above 95 percent with all schools surpassing 90 percent.

"It's a really really good sign of some strong attendance numbers that are indicative of why the chronic absenteeism rate is so low."

Officials say stronger attendance is directly linked to better academic results.

"Students who come to school do far better than students who are absent.

So it's having a profound impact.

Our graduation rate is at the highest it's ever been.

Student achievement both in English language arts and in mathematics has increased.

We're almost at a point where we'll be able to say that all grades have actually recovered from meaning that they have increased student achievement beyond pre-pandemic numbers.

And for families balancing responsibilities outside of school, Newark has built in more flexibility.

If parents have to make adjustments because they have personal responsibilities, a child to go to the doctor, child has to do these other things.

They have someone assigned to them, not just through their attendance counselor, but also through our Give Me Five campaign where they have a staff member that's basically kind of an advocate for them.

District leaders say that systematic, community-driven approach is key to sustaining progress.

It's a systematic approach in what we're doing here to be very intentional about the results that we are now seeing.

Every parent realizes deep down that school is important but I think that there are barriers to attendance from many children in New Jersey and parents don't know where to turn to to help their children kind of cross those barriers and in order to be able to learn and I think that's the issue.

But while Newark's numbers are improving, advocates say chronic absenteeism remains a challenge statewide.

Working with community providers who are assisting the family, I think that schools have to do a better job of communicating to parents what are the attendance rules, what's the consequences, what I'm saying.

What's the consequences of being absent for more than 10 days without having an excuse?

That's truancy.

Or what's the consequence of being absent for more than 18 days?

What does it mean even to be absent regardless of the consequence to the child's education?

I think parents need to understand that there's a big misconception about having excused absences.

Peckman says the goal now is to build on Newark's progress and expand it across the state so that every child has the support to show up and succeed.

Frangie Spotlight News on Raven Santana.

Finally, tonight we're not called the Garden State for nothing and Rutgers is unveiling a sweet new tomato that's been nearly a decade in the making.

Meet the Scarlet Sunrise, a sweet golden grape tomato with a reddish blush color and a big burst of Jersey flavor.

It was bred the old school way, no shortcuts, just science and a whole lot of patience with a flavor researchers say was worth the wait.

You can try the Scarlet Sunrise for yourself and decide tomorrow at Rutgers' annual tomato tasting being held at the Snyder Research Farm in Pittstown.

That's where NJ Spotlight News will be to give you our take on this Jersey-born beauty.

That's gonna do it for us tonight, but a reminder, you can download our podcast wherever you listen and watch us anytime by subscribing to the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

And if you want to help support the programming public media brings you and keep stations like this one thriving, head to njspotlightnews.org/donate.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

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

Have a great night.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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