>> From NJ PBS studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vannozzi.

>> Hello and thanks for joining us tonight.

>> Hello and welcome.

A few stories we'll get into later in the broadcast.

As the funding starts flowing for the gateway tunnel project, president trump calls the project a boondoggle and promises to once again withhold it.

And we get the latest from Washington over the partial government shutdown after a deal failed to fund the department of homeland security.

And later, social media and youth mental health.

We talk with one New Jersey lawmaker pushing a bill to strengthen online protections.

But first, a few of our top headlines.

NJ Transit commutes were expected to be slower this morning because Amtrak has begun shifting service from the old Portal North Bridge to the new one.

But unexpectedly, NJ Transit had to cancel about 27 trains on Sunday across several lines.

Officials offered an apology to riders, telling them the cancelled trains were the result of engineers not showing up to work.

That's because their collective bargaining agreements give them 48 hours to accept their new work assignments once a change is made.

Well, that left several trains without operators on Sunday.

But delays are expected to continue throughout the month as the service lines are switched on the bridge.

NJ Transit CEO Chris Kulory says they're cutting back from 48 trains an hour to just 18 and that some lines will be diverted including the Midtown Direct, Morristown, Gladstone and Montclair-Booton lines that are being diverted to Hoboken.

They're urging customers to check schedules before heading out, to leave extra time for travel and asking anyone who can to please work from home during this transition period.

A group of students could be seen sprinting away from their bus stop in South Jersey last week after they saw ICE officers conducting an enforcement action.

The incident was caught on a ring doorbell where, according to their school, a group of fourth and fifth grade Lindenwald students could be seen running through a parking lot.

Now, in a statement, ICE says it was conducting a targeted enforcement action to arrest a, quote, "criminal illegal alien" that they say has a criminal history of aggravated assault, but that officers left without completing the arrest.

The incident led to outcry from the community as more than 100 people turned out to protest in Lindenwald on Friday.

Organizers said they rallied in support of the town's Latino community.

And U.S.

Senator Andy Kim and Congressman Donald Norcross expressed outrage at the video.

Meanwhile, in Union City, two men were arrested outside of a church on Sunday.

One has been issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge, and the other who had no legal status to remain in the country, according to an ICE spokesperson, who said they were not targeting the church.

But Congressman Rob Menendez, who represents the district, has said he's working with community members to learn more about what happened.

Civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson has died at the age of 84.

His family released a statement today saying he died peacefully in his home.

Jackson worked alongside Reverend Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

and until his death, at which time Jackson helped to carry the torch forward in the fight for black equality, civil rights and social justice.

Jackson came from the Jim Crow deep south and went on to run for president twice in 1984 and 1988.

He later endorsed Barack Obama in his run for president.

In 1990, Jackson came to New Jersey to support the family of Philip Pinnell, who was shot in the back and killed by police.

Jackson pushed for the case to be heard by a state grand jury.

It was one of the many times he participated in social causes in New Jersey.

Today, many national and state leaders, including President Trump and Governor Sherrill, paid tribute to his life.

>> In a recent tweet, lieutenant governor Dale Caldwell posted a picture of his dad with Reverend Jackson that was taken right after they were arrested together in New York City for protesting a business that wouldn't promote black managers.

Caldwell writing, if you go to jail for the right reasons, you come out smiling.

Coming up, we get a reaction from New Jersey officials and workers on the president's latest threats to withhold funds on the Gateway Project.

That's next.

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It's been a flurry of confusion since Friday over the Gateway Tunnel funding.

The Trump administration announced late Friday that it would comply with a court order and release a portion of the funds.

Since then, more than $100 million was released, which is about half of what the ruling required, and just a fraction of the overall $16 billion project costs.

That ruling, a result of New Jersey and New York suing the administration.

But on Monday, President Trump cast new doubts on the future of the project, calling it a boondoggle that would be, quote, "financially catastrophic for the region."

That's led to strong reaction from governors of both states.

Raven Santana has the latest.

-What should be one of the busiest construction zones in the region is still largely silent, even as some federal funding to the Gateway Tunnel project is beginning to flow.

Our organization on both sides of the river probably suffered about 70 or 75 direct layoffs.

Work on the $16 billion Gateway Tunnel project, a critical rail link between New Jersey and New York, has been thrown off into uncertainty by a high-stakes political and legal fight over federal funding.

Right now on the Tunnelie Avenue, you have one TBM that is essentially in about 95 different parts that has to be assembled.

The other TBM is waiting in Germany, waiting to be shipped.

So the work that's happening in New Jersey, in my opinion, is the most critical work.

President Donald Trump renewed his opposition this week, posting to Truth Social, saying, "I am opposed to the future boondoggle known as Gateway in New York, New Jersey, because it will cost many billions of dollars more than projected or anticipated."

It's the latest in a series of attacks from the president.

In October, his administration froze funding to allegedly review DEI practices in the project's construction contracts.

New Jersey and New York then filed a lawsuit claiming the freeze was for political retribution.

On Friday, a federal judge ordered the feds to release $205 million, and about half of that has been paid out as of today.

But the latest comments from the president are creating new uncertainty around the project's future.

It's his way of just, you know, in my opinion, walking away from the battlefield defeated, right?

But wanting to, you know, lay down the gauntlet that federal government would not be responsible for a so-called overrun.

The pause earlier this month forced construction to halt at multiple sites, leaving roughly a thousand workers without jobs overnight.

Michael Hellstrom represents members of the Laborers International Union of North America, many of whom were working on the project when funding ran out.

The Hudson River Tunnels are 115 years old.

They flooded during Superstorm Cindy.

They move slightly every day with the tide because they're kind of in the muck.

It's absolutely vital that we build gateway so that we don't lose the capacity and lose the connectivity we have today.

Tom Wright, President and CEO of the Regional Plan Association, an independent non-profit research group, says the stakes go far beyond construction jobs.

Once we build Gateway, we can then repair the existing tunnels and bring them up to a state of good repair and then double capacity under the Hudson River.

The more it gets delayed, the more likely it is that we will have an economic disaster on our hands.

And the delays could also lead to increased costs for the project, the very thing the president says he opposes.

He estimated conservatively that a six-month delay in the project would be anywhere from $720 million to $1.34 billion in additional costs to the project.

And Wright cautions that the latest legal victory may not guarantee long-term stability.

The thing is that that doesn't mean that six, nine, twelve months from now we won't be back in this situation again.

New Jersey leaders are pushing back forcefully.

Governor Sherrill called out the president's comments saying Donald Trump's ridiculous political rhetoric is just another effort to get out of paying what the federal government owes to the most urgent infrastructure project in the country.

We won't let him.

We'll keep taking him to court and we'll keep winning until the gateway tunnel's entire funding is once again secured.

Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport echoed the message pledging, "Make no mistake, we'll keep fighting for this critical project for our workers and for all New Jerseyans."

For now, workers who remain laid off as of today and labor leaders are watching closely, hoping crews get back on the job before delays drive up costs or disrupt one of the region's busiest rail links.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.

The Department of Homeland Security is on its fourth day without a funding agreement, and lawmakers don't seem any closer to reaching a deal.

In fact, members aren't even in Washington right now.

So what does it mean, and what happens next?

Our Washington, D.C.

correspondent Ben Hulak joins us now to explain.

Ben, great to talk to you.

We know that lawmakers left Washington without a deal on how to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

So first let's talk about what happened with the negotiations.

What went wrong.

There really was no there was no clear path to any sort of deal.

And that became pretty apparent last week.

Democrats want barely to the eyes of many immigration advocates modest overhauls changes to DHS.

They want things like the requirement that DHS officers immigration officers in particular identify themselves when they're interacting with the public take down their masks when they're doing immigration enforcement enforcement.

Sweeps efforts and comply with judicial warrants and also not racially profiled people who are walking by passersby.

And those are all non-starters for most Republicans here on the Hill.

And that's why the funny lapse in a nutshell has happened.

Ben some some Republicans say look we've already compromised.

They said they would add body cameras.

They said they would agree to various de-escalation measures and some other things.

They're not willing to go any further.

So then what happens.

We know that the deadline was last Thursday.

What happens now that they didn't reach a deal.

This is where we're in what's known as a partial government shutdown.

This is sort of a funky government shutdown.

Now it's not at all like what happened in the fall which was across the board spending freeze where agencies programs staff were really halted.

This is this is peculiar because DHS 90 percent of staff at DHS cannot take a day off in a shutdown like this.

They are required to work without pay.

So for example folks working security lines in TSA at the airport they have to report to work.

Coast Guard has to report to work.

People who work in law enforcement or national security posts which is a lot of TSA have to report to work.

FEMA to write.

We know emergency response.

That's right.

And also from the large Republican bill.

The Trump administration calls it the one big beautiful bill folks might have heard that term.

In that bill Republicans funded DHS for many years on out.

So there are things that are shut down are TSA which is often this pressure point during shutdowns.

But it's not the real arms of immigration enforcement that Democrats want to change.

So there's sort of we're really at an impasse because the.

The pressure has yet to build to the public and everything else the government funds is running.

It's sort of an odd as I said peculiar situation.

Let me ask you this Ben.

We've seen these pressure points as you call them pain points where certain workers are going without pay.

It does end up being TSA that very often ends these shutdowns.

But we seem to stretch it each time we go into these disagreements for longer and longer each time.

You know hitting these record points.

How long was last shutdown.

And do you think we'll see this play out perhaps longer given the fact like you said that so much of this department is already funded.

The shutdown in the fall was 43 days and the House effectively sidelined itself.

Mike the Speaker Mike Johnson kept House Republicans where they hold the majority here out of Washington for weeks on end.

And really ultimately what led to a breakthrough was yes in part that public pressure.

TSA folks folks maybe at home are sick of me saying this.

It is often the one breakthrough point.

The acting head.

This is sort of a grim grim picture to paint.

But the acting head of TSA told House members in testimony before Congress last week that that her staff are still recovering from the government shutdown in the fall.

People are sleeping in their cars in airport parking lots.

They're donating blood and plasma.

They're picking up second jobs just to get by.

So this is this is a workforce that's been battered a lot in the first year or plus year plus of the Trump administration.

The government shut down in the fall.

The current shutdown and then across the board.

Remember back to last spring across the board layoffs and reductions in force from the Elon Musk pseudo government agency known as Doge.

So so really been they've been battered a lot in recent months.

I want to switch gears in the time that we have left to talk about the Save America Act which is a bill that's made its way through the House of Representatives that would make some drastic reforms to voting policies.

What can you tell us about what that bill does.

The bill would require nationwide that people prove they are U.S.

citizens.

And this is in many ways a search of a problem that does not exist.

This is a Republican led bill to to eliminate widespread voting fraud.

But widespread voting fraud in America is not real.

That is not a thing.

This has been repeatedly debunked.

It was debunked in the first Trump administration when Trump himself set up a task force to pursue this topic.

And it's it's been done.

Debunked again by study after study.

Let's talk about Ben.

What what things would change in this bill.

And specifically I want to look at in one part the impact on female voters in America who are married.

Right.

So this is really could come down to a really massive paperwork problem.

And if you are a married woman and you've changed your name and it differs from the name on your birth certificate you could have a serious headache on your hands if you want to vote.

What would you have to bring to prove that you are eligible.

You would have to line up both names and that would be you to have to be required to bring more forms of identification.

And that is that is the sort of issue that sounds on its face.

Yes Americans voting in American elections sounds logical which is what we heard Congressman Jeff Andrews say.

He said why would anyone vote against this.

This is just proving that it's Americans voting in American elections who wouldn't be for that.

That's right.

But as is Americans are the people who are voting in American elections.

And I would hasten to add under federal law it is a crime to vote as a non U.S.

citizen in U.S.

elections.

It is already in statute.

This would also allow ICE to seize voter rolls.

Yes.

Yes.

This is a slightly.

This is not as detailed in the bill as I would wish it were to give a good explanation to viewers about what this might mean.

But yes there is language that will allow DHS to seize voter rolls of various states.

This almost certainly will not become law.

I should I should.

Where does it stand in the Senate.

It is likely dead on arrival in the Senate.

There simply are not enough votes to overcome the Senate filibuster.

And some Republicans who are concerned about it.

Yes.

There are also Republicans.

Yes.

Who are concerned about it.

Lisa Murkowski in particular from Alaska a state that is reliant on mail in voting and mail in ballots.

This would make it extremely hard in a rural massive state like Alaska to vote by mail.

Tom Tillis has also he's an outgoing senator from North Carolina who's not running again and has been a fairly outspoken critic of the White House.

He has had his own problems with this bill and alone Democrats would be would have the votes to block this.

This is the latest variety of a bill that has been changed amended tweaked in recent Congress.

It has passed Republican houses.

It has died in the Senate.

All right.

Ben you're like we have to leave it there.

Our Washington D.C.

correspondent.

Thanks a lot.

My pleasure.

Governor Cheryl has said that protecting kids online is one of her key priorities.

Well one Democratic Assemblywoman Andrea Katz has the same goal.

Katz has a package of three bills targeting social media companies and the way they interact with kids.

She's here with us now to talk about the bills as well as some other legislation she sponsored as part of our Under the Dome series.

Assemblywoman, thank you so much for taking time to talk with us.

We want to talk about this package of bills, but I want to start with the first one, the New Jersey Kids Code Act.

What does it do?

It's going to help protect our kids online.

We know that social media can give a lot of benefits to our kids, to our communities in general, but social media companies are making a lot of money off of our kids, much to the detriment of our kids.

Our kids are complaining or are telling us that their mental health isn't okay right now, and it's up to us to listen, and this bill starts doing that.

So one of the ways I know it does that, you say it'll strengthen privacy safeguards, and one of those things is really these default protections for minors.

What does that mean?

So the highest security standards are going to be applied to known minors.

So let's just talk about what a known minor is.

These social media companies know how old these kids are when they create their accounts.

Even if the kids say, "Hey, I'm older than you think I am," through all the data that these companies collect, they know how old these kids are when they are creating their accounts.

So when we have a known minor on a social media platform, their account is going to be automatically defaulted to the highest security levels.

And it's not going to be just as easy as flipping one little switch and turning that off.

It's going to be a lot more complex if that's what somebody tries to do.

But every minor on social media, every known minor is going to be held to the highest security standards.

I mean, listen, I'm the mom of a 10 and a 12 year old and they're savvy.

They know how to get around certain safeguards, right?

They can put in a different birth date.

But you're saying given the data that these companies are already collecting, they should be able to deduce who is kind of faking it and who's not?

Absolutely, absolutely.

They know all of this data that they collect on you and me and our kids.

They know how old our kids are when they create those accounts.

And so you want to see the highest limits in terms of what content these kids are able to access.

And on top of that, your bill looks to publish an independent audit detailing its design features.

This is something we've heard a lot about in terms of algorithms.

Can you explain what you're looking for in those audits?

We want to make sure that our kids are not having to scroll endlessly all night long, that they're not being delivered content that is inappropriate for them.

We need these companies to do what they can do.

We know that they can do this.

We know that they have the tools necessary to protect our kids, and we need to make sure that they're doing that.

What companies would this apply to?

The larger social media companies that we all know and use every single day.

Social media companies like Facebook, Instagram, it's all going to be, this is all going to pertain to them.

I have to tell you, my kids are not allowed to have social media.

They say I'm the worst mom in the world.

But they can access so much of that content through YouTube.

And YouTube is a site that teachers use and it's very hard to limit access to that site.

Would you include YouTube in this?

We would consider it depending on a couple factors, yeah.

So, absolutely.

We need to look at everybody and where this content is coming from.

You have another bill that would require black box warnings.

What would that look like?

How would those appear?

What would they do?

Well, again, we know what social media is doing.

You as a mom know.

I know as a mom.

But sometimes we need to be reminded.

And so those black box warnings are going to remind us, share with us that this is harmful to your mental health.

It's a reminder of the things we already know as we're scrolling through all of that content.

Sometimes everybody needs that little reminder.

You had a bill in the last legislative session that would prohibit social media platforms from promoting or pushing content to kids dealing with eating disorders.

That bill made it pretty far, but it ended up being pocket vetoed by Governor Murphy, meaning he took no action and so the bill died at the end of the session.

Why first of all do you believe the governor didn't sign that?

I don't know.

And I asked him.

And he didn't really give me a very clear answer.

So I'm not sure why he didn't sign it.

But I did have that conversation with him.

And I let him know my frustrations.

Obviously Governor Sherrill has said during the campaign and at the start of her term now as governor that she was going to make protecting kids online a major priority.

Have you talked to her administration about these bills and about that eating disorder bill that didn't pass?

Excuse me, that didn't get signed.

Absolutely.

I actually just talked to her today.

This is something that's important to her.

I'm talking with her team later.

We're going to work out the details and I'm hoping that we get this to her desk very quickly.

Have you talked to folks on the other side of the aisle?

Is there bipartisan support for this type of legislation?

Are you getting any pushback anywhere?

Well, I don't think the social media companies are terribly excited, but that's okay.

I'm here to protect the kids, and that's my job, right?

So that's okay.

They can be upset about it all that they want to be.

It doesn't change the fact that we still need to do this.

I hope that there is bipartisan support.

Protecting our kids is not a partisan issue.

Making sure that our kids are safe is not a partisan issue.

So I do hope that there will be support across the aisle.

And then just finally, given all that you've learned about social media, what is your message to parents who many want to protect their kids, many are still unaware of the harms that exist out there in the world?

It's when your kids access social media and they find their ways around it, it doesn't make you a bad mom by letting your kids have access to this.

It's up to us as, as government, as these companies, it's up to these companies to make sure that they are being good citizens, good, um, good citizens to our kids, making sure that our data is safe.

So we're here to be helpful.

Um, we know that our kids are struggling, that sleep deprivation is considered torture.

Suicide is the top-- is the top three, um, causes of death in our adolescents.

Their mental health is struggling, and we're here to help.

We're here to take steps to make sure that kids are okay.

Um, and we're just here to help our kids.

All right, we got to leave it there, but thank you so much.

Assemblywoman Andrea Katz in the 8th District.

Appreciate you talking to us today.

Thank you so much.

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 Gagas for the entire team here at NJ Spotlight News.

Thanks for being with us and we will see you right back here tomorrow.

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