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

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

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

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

Fear and anxiety in communities across the state as ICE activity intensifies.

We'll take a look at the latest efforts from lawmakers to protect immigrant rights.

And Governor Murphy delivered his final State of the State address on Tuesday.

But how did it land?

Our panel of strategists weigh in.

Plus, what's up ahead for Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill?

Then later, we hear from one of the most prominent and progressive new members of the legislature, Assemblywoman Katie Brennan, on her plans for Hudson County.

First though, a few of today's top headlines.

Plans for a massive higher ed merger are taking shape after Governor Murphy this week signed legislation clearing the path for Kean University to absorb New Jersey City University, transferring all academic programs, facilities and assets along with committing 25 million dollars to help with the transition.

Officials set a July 1st date as the target to get needed approvals for the merger from accreditors and the US Department of Education.

Once the merger is complete every NJCU student will become a Kean student and the Jersey City campus will live on as Kean Jersey City.

The move is designed to keep NJCU's doors open.

The 99 year old university has struggled financially for years and was placed under a state monitor in 2023.

Credit agencies appear to have a favorable view of the deal.

Moody's already upgraded NJCU's outlook citing the merger which will be among the largest ever in the state.

Also tonight, New Jersey regulators have issued the final state permit needed for a controversial natural gas pipeline project.

The Department of Environmental Protection has approved an air quality permit for a Williams-Transco compressor station tied to the Northeast Supply Enhancement, or NESI, pipeline.

The permit clears the way for construction of that station.

It's a 32,000 horsepower gas-fired facility planned for Franklin Township in Somerset County.

But the broader NESI project also includes new pipeline segments in Old Bridge and a 23-mile underwater line beneath the Raritan Bay and New York Harbor.

State and federal water permits were approved late last year following years of earlier rejections.

Williams-Transco says the project will help deliver reliable natural gas supplies to New York during peak demand.

But environmental groups argue the compressor station will worsen air quality here and increase toxic emissions, despite promised air monitoring requirements.

including the Sierra Club are vowing to continue legal challenges as construction moves closer.

And coming up as ICE enforcement intensifies, residents and state leaders wrestle with the consequences.

We'll look at the latest efforts from Trenton to protect immigrant rights.

That's next.

Major funding for NJ Spotlight News is provided in part by NJM Insurance Group.

>> The NJM Insurance Group is a nonprofit organization serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

>> Communities across the state say they're on edge tonight amid ramped up ice activity in their towns.

Federal immigration agents have reportedly conducted raids in Warren Township, Somerset County, Red Bank, Newark, and Morristown where multiple operations led to a group of people being taken into custody, including a high school student and in one case, the father of a six-year-old girl who was reportedly left who was reportedly left alone on the street crying for her dad following his detainment.

Residents and advocates have been holding protests in the wake of the operations, demanding an end to ICE activity in their neighborhoods while calling on lawmakers to step in.

The Senate and Assembly did just that on Monday, passing a trio of immigrant protection bills during the final day of the lame duck voting session.

Those bills now sit on the governor's desk where he can either sign them or do nothing and face a pocket veto.

In other words, the bills die.

For the latest on that, I'm joined by our senior correspondent, Brenda Flanagan.

Bren?

Yeah, hey, Bri, you're right.

The debate rages over ICE targets and tactics.

As more New Jersey towns find they're dealing with unannounced raids, terrified residents and angry protests.

They're looking to Trenton lawmakers for guidance.

Governor Murphy, in his final state of the state speech, sought to reassure residents his administration still staunchly opposes the president launching ICE to enforce mass deportations.

Our fundamental rights are never up for debate in New Jersey.

And to all of our immigrant families, allow me to say the following.

I can only imagine how harrowing the past year has been.

But rest assured, New Jersey is your home.

We have always supported you and we always will.

Hearing that, immigrant advocates say they believe Murphy will sign a trio of controversial bills, I guess you could call them anti-ICE measures, that Democrats pushed through the lame duck legislature on Monday.

The three bills codify New Jersey's immigrant trust directive, limiting local law enforcement assistance to ICE agents, restricts sharing information on residents immigration status, and designates safe spaces like schools, hospitals, courthouses, and places of worship that would be off limits to ICE enforcement.

The bill's sponsor explains.

They are picking up anyone who appears remotely other and threatening anyone who tries to speak up.

As the Trump administration continues to weaponize ICE, these bills set boundaries and offer crucial protections.

Now advocates cheered but remain aware the word sanctuary could draw political reprisals.

They call the measures critical to public safety.

And we are very clear that these bills together do not constitute a sanctuary status.

We are making it very, very clear for New Jersey residents about where and how ICE enforcement can take place so that people can very confidently navigate through life every day as a New Jersey resident.

We respond with well these are protections that our community needs and it's all about saving as much families as we can.

We know they're coming right with Trump even if you try to like cave in he will continue to push and push and push so that's why it's like we have to put up that fight because even if we don't he's still going to come.

Now Alex Mendoza works with El Pueblo Unido volunteers around Atlantic City.

They document ICE agents' activity, but they can't prevent arrests.

ICE seized a 17-year-old student's mom last July and swiftly deported her within two weeks, she told New Jersey lawmakers.

The speed of this process left no room for fairness, no opportunity for due process, and no consideration for the child left behind.

Overnight, my life changed.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And neighborhood fears have spiked even higher after the Trump administration defended an ICE agent who recently shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mom and U.S.

citizen in Minneapolis.

It's why folks panicked last Sunday in Morristown, when ICE detained a high school senior at a local laundromat.

As advocates hurriedly launched a GoFundMe to hire lawyers for Juan Daniel Mendoza, the mayor on Facebook urged calm.

I will be meeting with some of our Latino leaders later today to discuss next steps and try to stay calm, community stay calm, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and the people that were caught up in this sweep.

So stay focused, stay alert.

We see some agents are not as scared of using force and how the administration has protected them, which could encourage some agents continue to do this.

So it's dangerous for everyone.

It's dangerous for the officers who are conducting these raids.

It's dangerous for the community members.

But the other side of the aisle takes a very different view.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told us the New Jersey legislature should focus on protecting law-abiding citizens, not the criminal illegal aliens who kill them.

She was referring to Raul Luna Perez, a Mexican immigrant with prior DUIs.

He's been charged with manslaughter and vehicular homicide in a deadly car crash that killed a Lakewood mom and her 11-year-old daughter.

Assembly Republicans referred to that case when they argued against the immigrant protection bills.

And I'll cut right to the chase.

Every illegal alien in this state needs to go home.

And the majority of New Jerseyans want them to.

This bill ties the hands of law enforcement and prohibits communication between local county, state, and federal branches.

This is also another legislative attempt to further entrench the costly status of New Jersey as a sanctuary state.

To think New Jersey can stall the federal government is to ignore reality.

With the passage of the recent Big Beautiful Bill, ICE's budget has increased by 300 percent, a budget larger than the FBI and double that of the Coast Guard.

They spend more in a single week than the New Jersey State Police do an entire year.

They now have the resources and they will use them.

But Republicans fail to stop the bills.

Meanwhile, Governor Murphy leaves office January 20th.

As of this taping, he has not yet signed the bills into law.

If he doesn't, they'd have to go through the legislature again and on to Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill's desk.

Governor-elect Sherrill would not comment on the trio of anti-ICE bills, but showed some support for the Immigrant Trust Directive.

After Renee Good was shot in Minneapolis, Sherrill posted a stinging condemnation, noting, I know as a former prosecutor and military veteran that sending armed, masked agents into communities to drive a political agenda does not make us safer, but it instead creates a culture of fear, distrust and resentment.

New Jersey stands against this assault on our Constitution and our values.

All New Jersey residents will be closely watching how the new governor approaches this issue.

Brianna?

Yeah, that's been a question for some time.

I wonder though, Bren, the Senate President, Nick Scuteri, said in passing these bills and posting them even, that he did have concern that this could make New Jersey a target of the federal government, which you alluded to.

And as I understand, they are ramping up pressure on so-called sanctuary jurisdictions.

The president has said just this week that come February 1st, they are going to be withholding federal funding for sanctuary states.

New Jersey has four cities that are, according to the Department of Justice, sanctuary cities.

So that could put us in the line of fire, Brianna.

Yeah, it certainly could.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan for us.

Brenda, thank you, as always.

Thank you, Brie.

Well, Governor Murphy took his final victory on Tuesday, delivering a farewell State of the State address after eight years in office.

He declared New Jersey stronger and fairer, pointing to progressive policy wins like fiscal stability and his handling of crises like COVID.

While critics point out the state is more expensive and divided than ever.

But the speech also marked a handoff moment as Mikie Sherrill prepares to take office and there is plenty of work ahead.

Joining me to break it all down and to look at what's to come is Republican Strategist Chris Russell and Democratic Strategist Dan Bryan.

Welcome to you both.

It's good to see you.

Dan, I'll start with you first because you were with the governor from the beginning and you're now, as you clarified for me, the senior advisor for the Sherrill transition team.

How did the speech land for you?

I'm guessing that the stronger and fairer slogan in your mind still holds eight years later.

Yeah.

Listen I'm not an objective source here but I think it's pretty fascinating and independent of the politics.

I think a lot of people can agree with this.

Over a decade the governor's had the same kind of organizing principle to what he wanted to do and then did as governor which is stronger and fairer stronger meaning stronger economy and you know a better fiscal responsibility in the state higher surplus credit rating upgrades and then fairer his whole fairer agenda right which is higher minimum wage which paid sick leave paid earn league equal pay for equal work he had massive agendas on both sides of that ledger he accomplished the vast majority of it and I think he took a very well-earned victory lap yesterday.

Chris did the over too many unresolved issues?

Of course, but that's that's to be expected.

That's his job, right?

This is his farewell address.

So I don't think anyone's surprised by that.

I think the issue for most New Jerseyans, though, is the definition of stronger and fairer for whom, like you had noted, we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the entire country.

we have the highest property taxes.

we are continually one of the worst places to do business.

so while he might talk about stronger and fairer, the reality is New Jersey is one of the weaker places in terms of affordability, in terms of economic opportunity and competitiveness in the entire country.

those are objective facts.

speeches like this are for someone to paint a picture on their way out the door, which is totally understandable, but they do fly in the face of reality.

Well, and Dan, I mean, Republicans warn of this structural deficit, record spending.

The governor points to $6.8 billion in surplus in planting seeds for industries like AI and the film and movie industry, improved credit ratings.

What's the reality?

Is the reality what people feel on the ground in terms of affordability, like Chris says, or is it the long-term fiscal picture?

Yeah, listen, you're going to see arguments on both sides.

I think that the argument I would make is the following.

This is the first governor in 70-plus years not to be rebuked on his way out the door, right?

So the first time a party has held the governor's office for three terms.

He is still popular.

There are a few polls that showed him unpopular, but they also had a tied gubernatorial race.

So I think we can throw them out the window.

And this is a governor who inherited a $400 million surplus, is leaving behind almost a $7 billion surplus, nine credit rating upgrades, which is unheard of, fully funded the pension system without slashing benefits for workers, fully funded schools, which is a massive driver of property taxes in the state.

So I mean, listen, we could go on for a half hour on all of his accomplishments.

else, as he likes to say, he did what he said he would do.

He ran with 52 core campaign promises in 2017, accomplished 50 of them.

And I think that's pretty fantastic.

You mentioned inheritance in one way, shape or another.

So I'm going to stay with you.

The governor called Mikie Sherrill a superhero waiting in the wings.

What is she going to inherit politically, Dan, especially as the first Democrat to follow another Democrat in office in many decades?

Sure, listen, every state has its challenges.

She talked a lot about NJ Transit in her campaign, and the governor was very forthright yesterday and said that the work has begun on NJ Transit, but it's going to continue into the next gubernatorial term.

So she's got some work to do there.

It is not easy, you know, budget after budget in these last four years.

The governor's fully funded education and the pension system, and it's kind of taken for granted at this point, but that's not easy, right?

So continuing those fiscal responsibilities and stability in this state is incredibly difficult.

The governor's provided that leadership and now the state's going to look to Governor-Elect Sherrill to provide the same.

Chris, I want to ask you the same, what she'll inherit, but also given the fact that Democrats now hold their largest majority in the Assembly since the 1970s, and the room or maybe expectations that puts on Mikie Sherrill, what does she inherit and what are Republicans looking to get done?

Well, I think one thing she inherits is she inherits the reality of this is not about rhetoric anymore, it's about results.

I mean, political campaigns are about rhetoric oftentimes, and governing is about results.

So, you know, if you see what happened in the final days here of the legislature's lame duck session, Democrats have no intention of doing things like cutting taxes or reining in spending.

It was a free-for-all of spending and waste and gluttony, really, on taxpayers' money over the past few days.

The question, Will, she ran on affordability.

She liked to talk about it.

The question is now, can she deliver it?

And with the larger majorities, there's going to be no excuse.

I mean, should that affordability not be delivered, there's only one person, one party to blame here.

So I think there's a lot of pressure that comes with this next couple of months, a couple of years, her first budget address coming up.

How is she going to make New Jersey more affordable in reality, not in rhetoric?

Dan, do you want to respond to that?

Chris is mentioning or referring to rather some of the legislation that was pushed through in lame duck among it, $300 million for renovations at the Peru Center just across the street from where we are here in Newark, $128 million in other extra spending.

How does the party rebuke that when these things are done in the dead of night without any public discourse?

Listen, as we can make all the proxies arguments that we want, I think if you're talking about the substance arguments, the Prudential Center has been an unbelievable economic driver for for Newark and for the state.

A lot of these projects that are happening throughout the state are badly needed, are good for the community, and that money is being well spent.

And, like, listen, you know, processes can always be better.

A lot of what happens at the end of legislation sometimes, of legislative session sometimes, is things are rushed.

It's just kind of inherent of the nature of a lame duck session.

So ultimately what's going to have to be provided here is that the money is going to be distributed to a place where it is being well spent and there is a benefit for community, for the state, for ratables in the state.

I'm sure there are many charities who are not on that list who would dispute that.

But let me ask you, we mentioned the legislature, lots of new members sworn in yesterday as well.

12 new Democratic members.

There were calls from leaders on both sides for more bipartisan cooperation.

Chris, do you expect anything to change?

Are there some bridges here where folks will be able to work together?

We've got a lot of really progressive new members as well.

No, I don't.

To be candid, I don't think you're going to see much bipartisanship because they don't need to be bipartisan at this point.

I think in terms of what goes forward, Republicans should dig in their heels and fight for their principles and their policies and not seek common ground on things that they don't believe in.

And so I think right now the onus is on Democrats to deliver on what they said.

There'll be another election.

Obviously, there's one this year, but not a state election.

Another election in 2027.

Democrats again have to deliver on what they've said they would do, which is make our state more affordable.

And right now, Republicans should certainly find places of agreement if they can.

But I don't think now's the time to compromise your principles, particularly when they have all the control.

While calling for that, Assemblyman DeMayo used that opportunity to also blast Democrats.

So again, we will see what type of bipartisanship comes out of it.

That's all the time we have, though.

Chris Dan, thank you, as always.

Thank you.

Thanks, guys.

Of all the 12 new Assembly members sworn into office in Trenton on Tuesday, one of the most prominent and progressive is Katie Brennan of Hudson County, a housing policy expert who worked as a volunteer for Governor Murphy's first gubernatorial campaign and later took on the administration over the handling of her sexual assault accusations against another member of the campaign.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis spoke with Brennan at the statehouse just after she was sworn in as part of our ongoing Under the Dome series.

I'm curious, you are someone who folks are looking at as someone who might come in and shake things up around here.

What are your priorities as you begin your first term?

My priorities are to the people of Hoboken and Jersey City.

If you knock on a door, it can be a multi-million dollar brownstone, it could be Section 8 housing, and they are going to tell you two things.

That they're worried about being afforded to stay and live in Hudson County, and also that they want their transit systems better.

And then after that, there's a lot about schools.

I just found out today that I got on the education committee, which was one of the ones I requested.

And I requested that for several reasons.

One, school funding formula is really complicated, and it impacts Jersey City, and it impacts more rural areas in New Jersey.

But that actually gives me hope, because it means when there's such a broad swath of people it's not working for, then we can find kind of common effort in changing it.

And also things like the cost of childcare and all of that, I think that committee has some role in and that is another huge item that I hear every day of again, how are you gonna afford to live in Hoboken or Jersey City?

And you want to stay, but you can't afford 50 grand in childcare, right?

And so my goals really are to make things more affordable.

And it's also really important to me that we can open government up and show how it works and transparency and help people connect and show their power in making government.

I have to ask you this with Democrats fully in control of the Assembly, the Senate and the Governor's office.

We see a process that plays out continually where just dozens and dozens of bills are voted on in the 11th hour of the lame duck session.

There have been efforts to make government less transparent under this legislature.

Do you see yourself in a fight within your own party to try to make government more transparent?

I am so thrilled that incoming Governor Sherrill has already talked about how important transparency is to her, especially around the budget process.

And so I do think that that is a place that I am cautiously optimistic that we can make some changes.

People want receipts.

They want to know.

It's expensive to live here anywhere.

There's a huge loss of money from the federal government.

And so we have to be really deliberate on what we spend our money on.

And then we have to be able to communicate that to people.

And look, like I told people every day, I hope that you and thousands of your neighbors hire me for this job.

And then I work for you.

Nobody else.

I am beholden to only the voter.

And if I don't do a good job, then you can vote me out in two years.

And that's how we need to operate.

What other committees are you on?

Housing which I'm thrilled about.

My whole professional career has been in housing and that's one that it's it's renters.

It's homeowners It's building new housing.

It's making housing affordable.

And I think that I have hopefully the right combination of kind of wonky insight on sometimes things aren't super flashy, but they're really effective and and then I'm also on consumer affairs, which is is newer to me But I am really excited to kind of protect the people of New Jersey and and get to work on it Are there any bills in particular that you hope you?

Get passed or push over the finish line by the end of your I know it's right We're right at the beginning But looking at the end of your term is there any piece of legislation that you know you're going to work towards passing here in New Jersey?

Yes, there's a whole bunch of housing legislation I want to do.

I want to get some money into the PATH system.

I want to change the school funding formula.

And well, those are just for starters.

Those are all behemoths.

Yeah, those are those the priorities.

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

And finally tonight, hockey is officially back in the capital city.

After months of anticipation and a community naming contest, Trenton's new professional hockey team has a name, the Trenton Ironhawks.

Their new identity was revealed Tuesday at the Cure Insurance Arena, chosen from more than 2,000 fan submissions.

Team officials say Ironhawks reflects Trenton's industrial roots and the strength they want to see on the ice.

The team will debut in the 2026-27 season with 36 home games.

Grab your tickets and we'll see you on the ice.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

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

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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