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>> A new poll out today gives us a glimpse into who is leading the Democratic pack for governor.

Plus he is just getting started.

Breaking down President Trump's first joint address to Congress and how to break the partisan divide.

>> I think you either saw -- because it was so partisan or if you are not behind Trump, then you saw false claims, saw distractions.

>> Also it may not help with New Jersey transit delays or cancellations but if you do get stuck on the tracks, you will have a better view.

>> We want to address an issue that our customers have talked about, complained about a lot, which is the cloudy Windows.

>> And hard to believe it was five years ago when the first COVID case was confirmed in New Jersey.

The peak may be over but the virus still lingers.

>> For some people it has never gone away.

There is long COVID.

Some people whose lives have been forever changed.

>> "NJ Spotlight News" begins now.

♪ >> From NJPBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Briana Vannozzi.

Briana: we begin with a few of today's top headlines.

New Jersey Democrats appear to have a favorite in the race to be the next governor.

A new University poll finds Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is the most well-liked and well-known candidate among the six Democrats vying for the spot.

With Jersey City Mayor and Congresswoman Mikey Cheryl not far behind.

The poll did not ask respondents who they would vote for but showed that Baraka is pulling the best while Cheryl has the most support from party moderates.

Especially after Cheryl recently won endorsements in several county party conventions.

The poll director says the answers from prospective voters means the race is shaping up differently than expected.

>> One of the candidates expected to be challenging, Josh Gottheimer just isn't showing up.

We are not seeing name recognition or favorability and he was thought to be the other person that was going to be challenging Cheryl for that position.

-- people would tell you he is going to be going up with advertising very soon and he expects name recognition to go up.

Briana: Also tonight, you will have more time to go to the polls when the primary election rolls around in June.

Governor Murphy signed a new law expanding early in person voting from three days to six during non-election years.

That means early polls will open to the public one week before election day up through the Sunday before the election.

New Jersey voters embraced the early option in 2024.

More than 1.2 million residents cast machine ballots ahead of election day in November, a record turnout and way up compared to just a year before.

The law does not change the state's nine-day early voting for general elections and also calls for $6 million in state funds to go toward making the expansion possible,, leaving the door open for treasury to appropriate more if local and county governments need it.

New Jersey transit is speeding up efforts to replace cloudy Windows on multilevel railcars that make it nearly impossible to see where you are during a commute.

The agency announced each of the cars in service will get nuclear windows within the next three years, instead of the six to eight years first projected.

The head of New Jersey transit says it is a big part of improving customer experience for a riders -- for riders.

Customer service reps were on-site at certain transit stations across the state along with efforts to make digital messaging more effective.

Riders have been complaining about the foggy windows for a couple of years now, saying they have missed stops if conductors did not make announcements.

The rail agency says the windows go through wear and tear from dust, exposure and other elements that cause scratches.

The plan is to replace 15,000 of them on more than 400 cars ahead of schedule.

President Trump delivered a state of the union style speech Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress.

The first big address of his second term in office where he made no apologies for the speed with which his administration has worked to overhaul the federal government and doubled down on his agenda including the tariffs that hit some of the United States' biggest trade partners this week, asking Americans to be patient with what will likely be a rise of everyday goods prices but it will be good in the long run.

The president took a number of victory laps on immigration policies and illegal border crossings but the speech did not outline any new proposals.

It sounded like the addresses he made on the campaign trail, narrowing in on culture war issues, attacking his opponents, airing old grievances with President Biden and boasting about his November election win.

From the very beginning it was clear this speech would be different than those made before, not just in context but the partisan divide within the chamber and the dramatic response from Democrats.

For more I am joined by the director of the Institute for New Jersey politics.

Good to talk to you.

This speech, different for a lot of reasons, but not even four minutes into it, we saw a representative from Texas being escorted out of the chamber, the heckling, the paddles being held up by Democrats.

It was clear from the outset they were not here for what the president had to say.

Micah: And I don't think it necessarily reflected well on the Democrats in the chamber, that they were all over the map.

They really need to figure out and drill down on a couple of messages.

They were very scattered with those paddles and the signs they were holding up.

I don't think that it quite articulated the painted sharp opposition that they think they wanted it to.

By contrast, the senator from Michigan who gave the response to the speech.

She was very sharp.

She said look, Americans want change.

That was why they elected Trump.

The question is whether or not it's going to be chaotic change or more orderly change.

I thought it was more focused and something Americans can sink their teeth into whether they agree with it or not.

Briana: It was an organized thought at least in terms of the response.

One of the things that stuck out to me was probably the single strongest issue that President Trump campaigned on was inflation and the cost of your groceries.

The lack of mention last night shocked me.

I thought there would be more.

Micah: Exactly.

He has turned around the little bit of the message.

There is going to be some pain but it's going to be short-lived.

A very different message than what we heard on the campaign trail, very different than the promises that were made to change things on day one to bring this under control.

That is almost gone.

That rhetoric is nowhere to be found.

It has been replaced by other things that quite frankly are designed to distract from what is going on with the economy and inflation.

Briana: Trump made note that they are just getting started, presumably referring to a lot of the cuts, the overhauls, especially with the DOGE department that Elon Musk heads up.

What choice did Democrats have, I suppose, other than -- you said it was a fractured response but clearly they have very little power.

The administration is just getting started.

What options do they have here, other than dramatic shows of frustration?

Reporter: I think -- Micah: I think you highlighted the best card with your last question, it is the economy.

That is the one that has shown to make a difference voters and move voters.

It is the one that voters are concerned with.

They are less wrapped up in day-to-day cuts in the federal government.

A lot of the cuts are inside baseball.

It's how the economy is affecting Americans that I think a loyal opposition has to get behind and drill behind and stay focused on.

It is almost like -- Trump wants to distract you from the economy so Democrats are not going to let you be distracted.

Briana: And in fact they did note that in the response.

We are here to help cut government but we need to do it in an orderly way.

What else stood out to you or surprised you?

Micah: I think like you said, this was the most partisan state of the union speech and the longest we have seen.

I think you either saw a victory lap because it was so partisan.

You saw details of the 100s executive orders -- 100 executive orders.

Or, if you were not behind Trump, then you saw false claims, you saw distractions, you saw the dramatic impact of tariffs, the rush to pay for billionaires and causing chaos.

Briana: It was remarkable seeing that chamber so divided.

Thanks so much for coming on.

Micah: Thank you.

Briana: As the White House doubles down on immigration enforcement, one New Jersey lawmaker is floating an idea to support local police departments that help federal agents to catch and deport undocumented immigrants.

The bill would give the department $7,000 per deportation they aid in.

It is in contrast to another legislative effort that stalled in Trenton, offering migrants protection and support from state and local agencies without the fear of being deported.

A senior political correspondent reports both proposals signify just how split lawmakers remain on the immigration issue.

>> We are here today because the criminalization has leveled up, because the raids are happening in our communities and they are being affected psychologically, economically and in every possible way.

Reporter: Immigrants and immigrant rights activists -- advocates find themselves not only fighting exec at of orders and policy directives that have ramped -- that have resulted in ramped up ICE raids but also anti-immigrant sentiment that has struck fear in the community.

Since the January raid in Newark, ICE has announced they will reopen Delaney Hall as a 1000 bed immigrant detention center in Newark.

The state legislature has failed to even consider the immigrant trust act, ITA, for a vote.

That Bill would codify a directive from the state Attorney General that limits cooperation between local and federal institutions.

>> We have to have the people that are in power read the ITA, be part of this process because Delaney Hall is not opening just because Trump started.

This is happening because politicians have done nothing in the past year and it's making us angry now.

>> The state of New Jersey is incentivizing people to break the law and specifically because of the amount of benefits we are giving out, to seek out places like New Jersey.

Reporter: Democrats may be sitting on their hands but at least one Republican lawmaker says he wants to provide a cash incentive to local police departments to apprehend and help deport undocumented individuals.

$7,000, which they call a reimbursement would go to departments that participate in the program.

>> I would anticipate there being close coordination with ICE, ICE letting local law enforcement know where they believe there are illegal immigrants that need to be apprehended and then local enforcement acting as a supplement, as an arm of ICE.

Reporter: They would use state money, specifically from programs that provide services to undocumented individuals and families to pay the local departments.

He doesn't see the shift to immigration enforcement as antithetical to local policing.

Many of his colleagues, including Jessica Ramirez from Jersey City, dismissed his bill.

>> It's pretty ridiculous, I have to tell you.

What a terrible bill.

There are so many things wrong with it.

Let's start with there is going to be a total erosion of community trust.

There were going to be issues of resource diversion.

Let's talk about the legal and financial risks.

How can you tell that someone is undocumented?

It's going to be looking at the color of their skin, and whether you speak Spanish or not.

Reporter: Opposition to the bill notwithstanding, polling shows that the president's hard-line immigration actions are popular with voters.

At a House oversight committee hearing today, big city mayors including Mayor Adams of New York faced rhetoric that reflected that.

>> The mayors here today each lead so-called sanctuary cities and let's be clear.

These policies only create sanctuary for criminals.

Sanctuary policies violate federal immigration law by protecting criminal aliens at the expense of the American people.

Reporter: Advocates are doing what they can to counter that narrative but are finding that their allies in the Democratic Party can do very little to help them, as they try to overcome -- that finds them still on their political heels.

Briana: This month marks the five year anniversary of the Covid pandemic in New Jersey, when a 32-year-old man from Fort Lee was diagnosed with the virus and little was known about how the disease spread or how much of a risk it posed.

The first death would come just 10 days later.

For many now, the pandemic may feel like a distant memory with flu and other respiratory viruses taking center stage.

But the virus which continues to mutate isn't gone and its effect on New Jersey and the world are still very clearly being felt.

For a look back at where we started and where we are now, I am joined by health care writer Lilo Stanton.

It is hard in some respects to believe this was five years ago when that first case was reported and I guess the question everyone wants to know, is COVID still a threat or how much of a threat is it five years later?

Lilo: It is still a threat, and it is significantly lower than it was five years ago.

However, one thing we did not mention in this piece is for some people, it has never gone away.

There is long COVID.

There are people whose lives have been forever changed by it, whether they lost someone or someone in their life was forever changed.

I think the impact is still really big for some people.

There was a poll done that showed for three quarters of the people, it had an impact but they are also largely over it and have moved on.

When you look at the data as far as infections and we got trained in the public of looking at this data, the flu is a much bigger threat.

I think eight times as many people are going to the emergency room at the end of February than there were from COVID.

We are in very different times.

Briana: When you look back at that data which you went through very thoroughly in your piece, what was the turning point?

Lilo: I think there were several.

Credit really goes to Colleen O'Day who not just did these graphics for this story, but her graphics, I know readers and viewers depended on some of this stuff from us and I also just want to say as a reporter, I depended on it because her graphics laid it out in a way that enabled you to get that story.

I would say there were several turning points.

When we started to do the crackdowns in New Jersey.

These were controversial executive orders.

Hair salons, no one got their hair cut out.

Restaurants, bars, it goes on.

Events, parks.

That was a turning point.

Vaccines was another turning point.

Omicron was a third turning point because that one just showed us the scope of an ever-changing virus is really hard to imagine.

The damage can be severe.

Briana: Where does that leave us now?

Lilo: I think we are in a much more -- a better place with the data.

One of the other stories I'm working on looks at, are we better prepared and what did we learn?

We learned a lot of things clinically and systems wise.

New Jersey as a state did a fair amount of work to figure out its own governmental response, what was good, but was not good and some of those plans are very useful in the future.

However, everyone tells me there are still gaps in what we know, public funding, funding for public health is extremely limited.

It is going in the wrong direction, you could argue if you are doing that work and depend on network.

-- depend on that work.

We have a very unstable situation at the federal level and what that means in terms of disease control is the numbers aren't necessarily updated regularly enough.

Sometimes they are two or three weeks late, sometimes it is much more.

Funding is a big question.

Policy decisions.

Will you have support if you are a governor and you decide you have to close schools again?

Nobody wants that but maybe it is your least worst option.

Those are the things that are hard to tell, even what is going on at the federal level, but what happen if we had another pandemic.

H5N1 is not an immediate risk to the human public.

We have people in the state that have already lost cats.

People have lost birds.

It is a virus, it evolves, we should keep that in the back of our minds.

Briana: Of course you can read all of this and more on our website, njspotlightnews.org.

Thanks so much for coming on.

Tonight the battle is on for a budget proposal to hike taxes on in person and online betting.

It would raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the state at a time when finances are tight and federal funding could be shrinking but casino groups argue higher taxes would force job losses and potential closures.

Raven Santana spoke with two lawmakers about what the state stands to gain by raising taxes and the potential impact in Atlantic City's economy.

>> All of our legislative leaders in both houses have talked about affordability in New Jersey.

I don't think it makes sense for the state, especially after we've heard all the talk about affordability.

Reporter: He says a proposal to increase taxes on gambling and online sports betting wouldn't just hurt the industry but Atlantic City specifically.

>> The reason why we have lower tax rates in Atlantic City is because it spurs investment.

When they pay lower taxes to the state, it allows them to invest in their properties and we have seen a significant investment in some of the servers and things necessary for online gaming.

This would hamper that.

Reporter: Right now the tax on sports betting sits at 13% and the online casino tax rate is 15%.

In his budget proposal, Governor Murphy seeks to raise both taxes to 25%.

The plan is projected to generate an additional $400 million in revenue for the state casino revenue fund and the budget general fund.

>> At the end of the day, this isn't going to cost a citizen anything.

Only if you win do you pay taxes on your earnings.

But this is coming off of what is being continued to be a problem.

Reporter: A similar bill introduced last April which sought to raise the tax rate to 30% has remained untouched in committee.

The senator says New Jersey is due to raise their taxes.

>> Go back to 2018, it hasn't changed since then.

What is that, seven years at this point?

Looking at our number of the percentage, compared to Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania for sports gaming is 36%.

For online gambling, it's 54%.

New York is 30% for sports and 37% as it relates to online gaming.

We are way below any of the states in our area.

>> Right now, in person gaming in the casinos in New Jersey and across the country is relatively flat and New Jersey is actually down slightly.

The Internet gaming in sports betting, they are the highest growth industries.

The Atlantic City casinos are counting on that revenue to compete with the looming New York casinos on the horizon.

Reporter: President of the Casino Association of New Jersey issued the following statement opposing the Murphy administration proposal to raise online gaming taxes.

The proposed tax will threaten the stability of Atlantic City's gaming and tourism industry as well as the industry's workforce.

He argues higher taxes will force players back to be legal betting, saying a consumer shift back to the unwritten ticket -- unregulated operators will not only increase untaxed wagering but also result in individuals playing an unregulated environment does not offer protections.

>> The industry wants to say that the extra taxes, they will have to tweak the odds in some way and it will send gamblers to the illegal market.

That is nonsense.

90% of the kids that gamble today wouldn't know where to find a bookie.

>> Atlantic City is still facing challenges from a tourism and brick and mortar perspective.

The city needs some assistance and the one thing going well has been online gaming and sports betting and this is not the time when we have New York gaming on the horizon, to add any additional burdens or taxes to the industry.

Reporter: Lawmakers now have a June 30 deadline to pass a budget.

Briana: That's going to do it for us tonight.

A reminder you can download our podcast wherever you listen and watch us anytime I subscribing to the "NJ Spotlight News" YouTube channel.

You can follow us on Instagram and blue sky to stay up-to-date on all of the state headlines.

For the entire team at "NJ Spotlight News," have a great night.

We will see you back here tomorrow.

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>> Have some water.

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What do you see?

I see myself.

I became a teacher to give my students what I wanted when I came to this country.

The opportunity to learn, to dream, to achieve.

A chance to belong and to be an American.

My name is Julia, and I'm proud to be an NJEA member.

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