♪♪ >> From NJ PBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Brianna Vannozzi.

>> Hello, and thanks for joining us.

I'm Joanna Gagas.

Coming up, Memorial Day is this weekend.

We'll get you the latest from AAA and what you need to know if you're flying or driving.

Plus, Brianna Vannozzi spoke with one advocacy group pushing for more funding for child care in the state.

We'll bring you that conversation.

But first, the District 12 Congressional Primary Race is heating up.

I recently talked with one of the candidates, Dr.

Brad Cohen.

That's next.

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.

We're less than two weeks out from primary day here in New Jersey.

There are several hotly contested congressional races going on, but the most crowded field is in CD12, the district of Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who's retiring at the end of this term.

We've spoken to many of the Democratic candidates vying to take her place, and we're joined right now by one of them, Dr.

Brad Cohen, a practicing OB/GYN and the mayor of East Brunswick.

Dr.

Cohen, thank you so much for talking with us today.

There are about a dozen folks still in this race in CD12.

It is a very crowded field.

You have said that you're the most qualified in addition to being a mayor and a practicing medical You also served on the East Brunswick Board of Education.

Explain how you believe this experience suits you to be a congressional representative.

Well, I think as in anything, when you're hiring somebody for a position, resume matters.

What people have done in the past and how you can prove that you're qualified often rests on what you've done in the past to prove it.

As a physician for 30 years now in practice, board of education member, and mayor now my 10th year, those experiences that you gain really give you the background dealing in real life issues that are the same, but only on a larger scale in a place like Congress, where the levers of government are very difficult to move.

And we all know that local government is a great starting place to learn how to move those levers.

They do not get easier as you move up.

And having the experience in Congress right now that is as dysfunctional as it is, I think having somebody that has the experience to get results matters right now more than any time in the past.

As a medical professional you say that you'd like to see universal health care.

First what would you like that model to look like and do you think that that's possible with the makeup of the Congress as we have it right now?

Well I do think it's possible mostly because economics often tends to drive things.

The system itself is on a death spiral.

Most health care plans have to be able to provide coverage at decent cost with a fair amount of choice and a fair amount of coverage.

And in every instance our system is costing more.

The coverage in order to even afford a lot of plans means that people have to often end up getting less coverage than they had in the past and their choice is being limited.

And after all of that, our outcomes compared to other major industrialized countries is really at the bottom.

So I think that we're at a point now where most people agree that the system is rapidly moving to being on life support.

I spend 20% of my day on the phone talking to insurance companies and arguing for patients to get the care that they deserve.

I didn't go to medical school for that.

So the system is rapidly running out of steam and we're in a position now where I think that it's entirely possible and necessary that we get something that's a more fair system that's based on outcomes and science and the ability to make sure that everybody has access to care that's affordable.

This should not be that difficult.

When it comes to access to care as an OB/GYN, you're also a staunch supporter of women's reproductive rights.

Another question there, is that something that you believe could be possible?

Obviously, there are midterms coming up and Congress could change.

Do you think that's something that could perhaps be law that's passed?

Well, I don't only think that it could, I think it should.

As a practicing gynecologist, it's unfathomable to me that at this point in my career, women have less rights than when I started 30 years ago.

Unconscionable.

And we have people, myself and people that are even older than me, who've spent their entire lifetime trying to secure these rights that have been taken away from women.

And it's embarrassing that we have to fight this again, but we do and we will.

And I think there is a will right now to make sure that we're not seeing people revert back to the types of things that we saw as medical residents and young practitioners when women took matters into their own hands and this is already starting to happen in this country.

We just cannot let that happen.

So I think that it is entirely possible and we should.

Let me jump in here because I want to make sure we get to an important topic.

Obviously international policy is going to be a huge part of the job.

You're one of the only candidates in the CD12 primary race who fully supports funding Israel.

It's something that your predecessor, if you were to be elected, sitting Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, has been critical of.

She actually has been critical of your position.

Explain your position and why.

Well, firstly, I think it's possible to hold two thoughts.

You could support a country who's been a tried and proven ally of the United States for ever since its inception, for decades, continues to be, is the only democracy in the Middle East, and at the same time, not necessarily agree with everything that its leaders do, and that its government does.

That's what we could do in democracy.

in this country, I hold the same opinion.

I don't necessarily agree with everything that Donald Trump does or the Republican Congress, but that I'm still a loyal and American citizen that's patriotic and cares about my country very deeply.

You can hold those two thoughts.

Do you believe the president was right to engage in this conflict with Iran?

And do you believe it can have a successful outcome where we actually limit their nuclear capabilities?

That's a two-part question, I know.

Yeah.

Well, first, I think it is an illegal war because Congress has a constitutional role that's been completely overlooked, and that is that is the body that's supposed to be responsible for declaring war.

And what we're dealing with right now is a president that has not completely explained to the country, to Congress, or to anyone, what our actual strategy is.

Is it elimination of nuclear weapons?

Is it regime change?

Is it just removal of missiles?

Is it sinking a Navy?

So there has been no strategy and goal given to the country.

We don't know what and how we define success and we don't know how we get out.

And that's been the prescription for our failing in other conflicts throughout the world.

That's why we have different branches of government and Congress needs to take its role and responsibility in making sure that it overlooks what's going on right now.

So that is my position on where we stand with this war.

Is it winnable?

Which was your second question.

I think the way that we get out of it at this point has to go back to relying on diplomacy, something that the president does often not like to do, and working with our allies and making sure that we live in a world where we understand that we're part of a global and interconnected world.

And we do need to have allies in the entire European continent and all throughout the world.

And to do it alone, again, is a prescription for failure.

The way out, I believe very strongly, has to be through diplomacy.

-All right, and as a reminder to our audience, the primary election is on June 2nd, less than two weeks away.

Dr.

Brad Cohen, Mayor of East Brunswick and Congressional candidate in CD12, thank you for your time today.

-Thank you very much.

-Well, child care has long been one of the biggest financial pressures facing families in New Jersey, in some cases costing more than rent or college tuition.

Advocates say the system is unaffordable for parents and unsustainable for providers.

Now, a group called the Child Care for All NJ campaign is pushing for broader subsidies, higher wages for caregivers, and new taxes on the wealthy to help pay for it all.

Joining us now as part of our Under the Dome series is Yarrow William Cole, the Work Justice Program Director for New Jersey Citizen Action, to talk about their proposal and who should bear the cost.

Yarrow, welcome.

Thanks so much for your time.

How severe is the child care affordability problem in New Jersey?

What are families facing?

-Yes, well, working families are facing an affordability crisis across the board and child care does actually make up one of the biggest price tags for majority of working families with young children.

Families pay on average between 16% to 20%, even 30% of their income on child care and that depends on if they have one child, two children, so the costs are pretty high, especially when folks are actually having to place their child in a child care center.

Those costs are astronomical, more than a mortgage, more than rent.

So it does push a lot of parents, a lot of caregivers into a situation where they don't have a choice, where they are forced to stay home, where they're forced to call in other family members, grandparents, to help juggle the caregiving needs that they have.

And it really does dampen the economic activity of workers in New Jersey.

I mean, we do have a workforce crisis.

We need folks that want to work, that need to work, be able to do so and without accessible affordable child care, they just can't do that.

And that really does prevent them from contributing to the economy.

And then of course, I know that.

No, go ahead.

No, I was just going to add this idea that without child care, it really undergirds all the economy.

And so child care does make all work possible.

Yeah, you all, the coalition there had a rally recently, I know, at the State House to draw attention to this part of a national movement, the Day Without Child Care movement.

What are you calling on from state lawmakers?

Because Governor Sherrill's current budget proposal does include $18 million to reopen those applications that were frozen, the Child Care Assistance Program.

How much are you looking for the state to kick in here?

Yeah, so the Child Care Assistance Program was actually frozen for a total of nine months.

It just recently fully reopened.

So we are calling for additional investments.

And yes, the administration, Sherrill administration, has proposed 18 million additional funds to really cover more child care slots in that CCAP program.

But we are concerned that that is not enough for various reasons.

One of those being that we need to make sure that there's enough funds to not only keep the program open and not, you know, risking the chance of it freezing as we know the demand is going to increase.

Right now, parents are confused because the program was frozen.

They weren't even able to, there's no waitlist.

So they maybe received a communication that the program is open that they didn't know.

They didn't check their email.

They didn't get that call.

And so maybe it's a slower uptake now that the program has reopened.

And so as more and more parents are trying to come into that program who are eligible, we want to make sure it stays fully functional.

We also want to make sure that there are no co-pays, that the co-pays aren't increasing.

The other thing is we want to make sure there's enough funds in the CCAP program so that the family child care providers, in-home providers are able to negotiate higher rates of pay.

They are actually among the lowest child care providers in terms of what they receive and pay because they also have overhead costs.

They're sort of like independent contractors in a sense.

They have a contract with the state that needs to be renegotiated so that they can receive higher rates.

So that's a key workforce that we need to make sure is able to be paid better as well as receive benefits.

And that is part of the CCAP fund.

And then there's other aspects of the CCAP program that if it's not fully funded, it could risk continuing to sort of deteriorate and the way in which payments are processed and how, you know, the providers can be better paid is at risk.

The NJBIA actually just recently put out an analysis with the group Moms First that found New Jersey businesses lose more than $2 billion a year due to childcare disruptions.

But those groups are proposing that employers actually take on some of this burden by offering stipends, subsidies, actually working with childcare providers to get childcare slots for their employees.

I wonder if that might be more of a palatable approach than the additional taxing on some of these corporations, given that there are a lot of legislative proposals on the table right now to raise those taxes, and the wealthy, those corporations already face some of the highest in the nation.

Well, child care is public infrastructure.

Without it, again, our economy can't run, workers can't go to work.

And so we really do need public investment, and we do need those dollars to go to directly to families that need that support.

We need the money to also go directly to providers, child-based providers, as well as in-home family child providers.

And so if employers are providing an additional benefit, if they are providing options for their workers to be able to leave their children with a center that they're collaborating with or setting up their own center, that's great.

But that does mean that that tends to benefit those that work in higher earning jobs.

These are usually larger corporations that are able to do this.

And so that isn't really a solution.

We don't want the funds to go to corporations.

We want really this to be considered public infrastructure that we're investing in through public dollars.

The majority of folks that I think were recently polled in an Eagleton poll did indicate that that's something that they support, they see the value in child care as something that needs public investment.

Very quickly, as far as that public investment, Pre-K has expanded under Governor Murphy's watch and now under Governor Sherrill.

Do you see that as part of the solution or is it really the infant and toddler care that causes the biggest pressure points?

Yeah, I mean it does absolutely.

Infant and toddler care is hard to access.

There's long waiting lists.

I know there's parents that have told us stories of them not being able to go back to work after they take their leave because they still don't have a slot.

So that is definitely a high pressure point.

There's just not enough options for the younger children, the babies and the toddlers, and it is very costly.

Of course, child care and investments, you know, in the in the zero to three are where we're focused.

But looking at the pre-k expansion is of course an important step forward.

And we're grateful for the state of New Jersey really advancing that.

That is important, but we're focused on this sort of gap right now that many working families are struggling with.

- Yara William Cole is with New Jersey Citizen Action.

Thank you so much for your time.

- Thank you.

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

-Many travelers are preparing to hit the roads or the skies this Memorial Day weekend.

Even with gas prices hitting an average of $4.52 in New Jersey this weekend, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey estimates about 5.6 million people will travel by car or plane in the tri-state area.

For more on what you can expect, I'm joined right now by Robert Sinclair from AAA Northeast.

Robert, great to have you with us.

We know that the projections from the Port Authority are millions of folks traveling.

What is AAA predicting in terms of New Jerseyans traveling this Memorial Day weekend?

Well, as far as those total travelers, we count just over 1 million will be traveling.

1.05 million will be traveling from New Jersey.

956,000 of those will be driving and 24,000 will be flying.

Now that flying number might not jive with what the Port Authority is putting out because we measure only leisure travelers and leisure domestic travelers and we only count the round trip as one trip so each time people go through security the TSA regiments usually they count those trips and they're counting business and international and all of that so the air numbers might not work out but total in New Jersey just over a million people will be traveling.

Big picture.

How does this compare to years past to last year?

Well, we're in record setting territory.

We're at 45 million 200,000 more compared to last year.

Number of those driving will be 39.1 million.

That's also a record.

And by air highest all time 3.66 million according to the way we measure things.

But while we are higher than last year, last year compared to 2024 was 1.04 million higher than last year.

And we're higher.

So we're up very, very modestly.

And I think that might be a concession to what we're seeing as far as gasoline prices are concerned.

Airfares are lower according to AAA booking data.

Hotels are lower.

International airfares are lower.

Rental cars are higher compared to last year.

But most of the travel metrics are lower compared to a year ago.

And that's using AAA data.

We are one of the largest leisure travel agencies in the country.

And I think that despite airfares going up recently because of the high jet fuel costs, that a lot of people who made their bookings for this holiday weekend did it before we saw the war in Iran and even before the prices started going up in March and April.

Yeah, so let's put all that into context.

I believe we're at a four year high for gas prices.

Is that correct?

Yeah, since since June of 2022 when we're over five dollars a gallon.

Whether or not we'll hit that price again remains to be seen, but at 452 nearby for New Jersey and for national prices, it's pretty high, but not close to the all-time high of over $5 a gallon back in June of 2022.

Back then it was the Russian invasion of Ukraine that caused the problem.

We all know what's happening this year.

the conflict in Iran, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and really impacting all of the oil that comes out of that region.

And yet, in spite of this four-year high, we see, I think your number was 960,000-some-odd folks still taking to their cars.

It doesn't seem to be a deterrent.

No, but we've seen in years gone by that when we've had high gasoline prices or bad inflation and those kind of things, people still travel.

Americans get the fewest number of vacation days of any workers in the industrialized world.

So when we get a freebie like this, we take advantage of it.

What might change is the distance that we're traveling or the scope of the activities at our destinations.

Back in 2022, the concept of the staycation came into being, and it might be that some people are going to be doing that, which is why we don't see as robust an increase year over year in the number of those travelers.

Or for those who are traveling, they might be just traveling shorter distances and burning less gasoline in the process.

I think that's going to be the concessions that we see to these higher gasoline prices.

- Hope this makes sense, Robert, because you said that right now airline tickets are actually down, but we have in the past seen a correlation between inflated gas prices and inflated airline tickets, yes?

Yeah, well, the fuel that airlines burn is kerosene-based.

It all comes from crude oil, which is where gasoline comes from, and the price of crude oil is hovering around $100 a barrel.

It was $68 a barrel the day before the conflict started.

So it is that global price of crude oil that affects the price of gasoline and the price of jet fuel, which makes driving and flying go up.

Now, having said that, the United States is the number one crude oil producer on earth, upwards of 12 or 13 million barrels per day.

And in fact, we are now exporting a significant amount of crude oil, nearly 1 million barrels a day, to make up for the shortfall from the Middle East.

Prior to the conflict, we were producing around, globally, 100 to 106 million barrels per day.

And because of the damage to the infrastructure that's happened in the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz being blocked, upwards of 8 to 10 million barrels of production per day has been shut in, as the term is used in the industry.

It's lost.

So there is going to be still continued demand for crude oil products, but we have that much less now available, and that makes the price of crude oil go up, and along with it, everything that we make from crude oil, including jet fuel and gasoline.

Yeah.

Switching gears a little bit, we're also seeing that there's a surge in people choosing cruises as an option.

I have to ask you, you know, some might hear the word cruise and think Hantavirus, just for starters.

Is that a real concern?

I don't think for the domestic cruise industry that we're seeing here.

Cruising, yes, last year was upwards of $24 million.

We're anticipating $25 to $25.5 million to cruise out of the United States this year.

Cruising is very popular, particularly in a bad economy.

It's pay one price up front.

You know exactly what it's going to cost you, and you don't have to spend any more, and that makes it very popular.

Also, you can cruise from domestic ports on the East Coast, the Gulf Coast, or the West Coast.

And in our area, you can go to Brooklyn, you can go to the West Side of Manhattan or in New Jersey, catch a cruise ship, drive right up, park in the parking lot, ascend the gangplank, somebody sticks a drink in your hand and the party starts.

So cruising has become a very, very popular option and they're doing everything they can to control the spread of the Hantavirus.

As far as I've heard, that has been contained over there, but now we're talking about Ebola and the steps that governments worldwide are taking to try and control that.

But so far we don't seem to have any problems as far as affecting domestic cruises with either of those pathogens.

Yeah, well you sold me with "put the drink in the hand."

You had me right there.

Just a few seconds left.

If folks are taking to their cars, as so many are, what are the, if their plans are flexible, what are the best days to head out and to head back?

Just a short time left to answer that question.

Well, Friday and Thursday afternoons after 2 p.m.

is going to be very difficult.

You can travel outside.

Those times you'll probably have a good time.

Sunday all day will be a good day to travel.

And Monday, return day in the afternoon going into the evening, expect a lot of traffic.

And folks should be prepared for a lot of company out on the roads.

We're anticipating 350,000 breakdowns, flat tires, dead batteries, the top items we're getting calls for nationwide.

So check your tires before you hit the road.

Make sure your battery is in good shape so you don't get wind up by the side of the road, which can be certainly inconvenient, but also dangerous.

For sure.

Great advice as always.

Robert St.

Clair, Senior Manager of Public Affairs at AAA.

Thank you and happy Memorial Day weekend to you.

Thanks very much for having me.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gaggis for the whole team here at NJ Spotlight News.

Thanks for being with us.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

New Jersey Education Association, making public schools great for every child and RWJBarnabas Health.

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