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

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

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

A changing of the guard in Trenton.

We take a look at the top issues on Governor-elect Mikey Sherrill's list and how she plans to tackle them in Trenton.

Then, the state of the New Jersey GOP after shocking losses on election night.

Are Republicans reframing their messaging?

We talk with State Senator John Bramnick about his party's agenda going forward.

And later, as we mark Veterans Day this week, we shine a light on one organization providing support to those who bravely serve our country.

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

A late-night deal in the Senate has opened a path to ending the federal government shutdown after eight Democrats joined with Republicans to advance a stopgap measure.

That would allow the government to reopen temporarily until January 30th and provide back pay to federal workers.

But the bill doesn't extend the health care subsidies that Democrats have been fighting to keep.

Instead, it hinges on a promise of a future vote on them.

The subsidies expire January 1st and will lead to significant spikes in premiums.

Both the Senate and House still need to vote on the bill and that could take several days.

Now New Jersey's U.S.

Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim, who were not part of the Block of Eight, railed against the proposal, arguing it doesn't deliver meaningful relief to the public.

Meanwhile, the shutdown, which is the longest in U.S.

history, continues to have a major impact on air travel.

Frustrated travelers are once again facing delays and cancellations at Newark Airport today, where nearly a thousand flights were disrupted on Sunday, leaving people stranded for hours.

It's part of a government-mandated flight cut due to staffing shortages among air traffic controllers who are continuing to work without pay.

Air traffic is scheduled to be scaled back 10 percent by the end of this week.

And the latest actions by the federal government are causing confusion for people who rely on food assistance, or SNAP, as the back-and-forth over the weekend about the program amid the ongoing shutdown continued into today.

Now on Friday, the state announced it had paid New Jersey residents their full monthly SNAP benefits after a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the USDA to make the funding available.

In New Jersey, some 820,000 beneficiaries got a total of about $160 million in nutrition benefits in their accounts.

But just a day later, the U.S.

Supreme Court then blocked the lower court ruling.

And the USDA demanded states undo those payments, threatening to revoke benefits even after residents had already started using the money in their accounts to buy food.

Well, today, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin joined with other state AGs in requesting a judge in Massachusetts to block the Trump administration's directive to claw back those full SNAP benefits.

That request was granted, but it doesn't end there.

The Trump administration is once again asking the nation's highest court to intervene.

And a major beach replenishment project for the Wildwoods has collapsed after years of planning because two towns refused to share their sand.

The plan, led by the Army Corps of Engineers, would have moved the sand from the wide beaches of Wildwood and Wildwood Crest to rebuild the badly eroded shoreline in North Wildwood.

But both communities pulled their support, saying the project risked damaging their dunes and changing natural wave patterns.

The State Department of Environmental Protection has officially suspended the project and says those federal funds will be redirected elsewhere.

DEP Commissioner Sean LaTourette called it an impasse after years of costly work and failed negotiations.

North Wildwoods Mayor is blasting the decision and is threatening legal action.

But officials in Wildwood Crest argue the plan wasn't sustainable and could have caused new problems to existing dunes.

It's another setback though for the shore, which this year didn't receive new federal funding for beach replenishment projects.

Coming up, as Governor-elect Mikey Sherrill readies her Day One agenda, what's chief among her priorities?

We'll take a look next.

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- Well, this week begins a changing of the guard in Trenton as Governor Murphy wraps up his to-do list before leaving office in just a couple of months.

And he's got a number of priorities he hopes to get through.

Among them, granting his fourth round of clemency actions today, announcing 19 commutations and 29 pardons, bringing the total to 217 people granted clemency under the administration.

Meanwhile, Governor-elect Mikey Sherrill is preparing to take the reins, outlining her own early agenda, even as questions remain about where she stands on key issues.

Senior Correspondent Joanna Gagis reports as part I spoke to Governor Murphy about really staffing up and his advice was, you know, just get really great people into each position.

In her first act as Governor-elect, Mikey Sherrill says she's taken advice from Governor Murphy on how to build out her transition team and staff her Cabinet as she prepares to take office.

She's also building relationships with the legislative leadership.

We'll continue to have conversations and we have some meetings set up in the coming days with the majority and minority leaders.

Working with the legislature to enact her priorities will be one of the first areas where Sherrill will need to find early success.

Says former Senate President Steve Sweeney, he knows a thing or two about it, working with Governors on both sides of the aisle.

Obviously there's a feeling out process, you know, regardless of rural Democrats or not.

I think she's a team builder and she's going to bring everybody together.

So I would set my expectations on realistic things that I know that I can get done.

Get that working, you know, together part going, flowing, and then start tackling some of the bigger things that actually take time.

start with singles and d runs for later.

Cheryl's of those earliest goals w 100 days in office.

I'm g of emergency on day one a cost.

Uh, and then really work on the kids online s we are going to take on t join the tariff lawsuit v states are engaged in to push back on the tariff program that Trump is running that's really harming our economy here and then get to work on the state budget as well because that's coming up very quickly.

That budget will determine how and in what ways Sheryl can address many of the affordability issues she campaigned on, from affordable housing initiatives to lowering the cost of groceries, taking on the state's beleaguered NJ transit system and a struggling state health care plan.

and she'll need to do it while balancing a nearly 1.5 billion dollar structural gap, according to budget documents.

Rider University's Mike Erasmussen says these early days of governance actually provide a great deal of opportunity.

"I think she will want to be as aggressive as she can be, recognizing that this is a honeymoon period.

This is a period in which you can get a lot done when everybody is trying to work with the new governor.

bite off however much you want to bite off too much you'll have to manage what what she really needs to one major support from the has focused on immigrants New Jersey.

Many took to calling for passage of th which would expand and co state's current immigrant trust directive that limits how state and local police can cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

Pass ITA now!

On the campaign trail, Cheryl was vague about her support of the immigrant trust directive.

Patricia Campos Medina, who helped advise Cheryl's campaign, says she's confident in Cheryl's commitment to the issue.

My kids, you're a promise all of New Jersey and in the year C Latino community was that she will enforce the constitutional rights and protect the constitutional rights of everyone.

She will review the Immigrant Trust right directive and then she will decide what is the appropriate steps to take.

And I will I think we should let her come into the administration those key conversations w and with the legislation right steps to take.

Sher to fight any federal cuts project and to consolidate to help drive down propert me during the primary and that she's not going to s issues.

And so I think she Whether she comes out swinging is what everyone's waiting to see.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Joanna Gagis.

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Meanwhile, the state's Republican Party is regrouping after last Tuesday's bruising election.

The GOP lost ground in longtime Republican strongholds and party leadership changes are already underway.

State Senator John Bramnick, who ran for governor himself, has been outspoken about the party's direction and its ties to President Trump.

He joins me in studio now to talk about the path forward in this political landscape.

Senator, always good to talk to you.

So, no secret, obviously, Republicans expected to make big gains.

Instead, not only did they lose the top of the ticket, but also five seats in the Assembly, including your running mates in your district.

What on earth happened on Tuesday?

Well, this was a reaction to the last election.

Every election is a reaction to the election before.

So, in this case, this was a Democrat's opportunity to come out and voice their objection with Donald Trump and, to some degree, Jack Ciattarelli.

But mostly, this was the first time that Democrats had a choice, a chance to speak back.

More a national referendum, less about Jack as a candidate?

I mean, of course, you were opponents.

Both.

But mostly, this is a shot across the bow at the Republican Party.

It's a Republican brand.

Most people don't know the ins and outs and the specific policies of candidates, but they know whether you're Republican or Democrat.

And in this case, the Democrats are smart enough to put up somebody who looked like a moderate.

Whether she is or isn't, we don't know.

But the most important thing here is Jack went out and goes, "I'm 100% Trump and I'm MAGA."

Well, first of all, there are things that Donald Trump does that may be good and some not so good.

So voters don't want you to be 100% anything.

And I tried to say it during the primary.

They want you to be New Jersey.

If it's good for New Jersey, I'll support it.

But if you want to go out and say I'm 100 percent Trump 100 percent of the time, you're going to lose.

And it's not a good brand for the Republican Party.

Everybody's afraid to say anything.

Oh, you can't say anything against Donald Trump.

If he does something good, say it's good.

And if it's bad, say it's bad.

That used to be a respectable thing, though, no, if you were willing to stand up to the standard bearer.

Now you're a traitor.

So if I say something that I didn't like all the pardons that were on January 6 people go, oh my God, you're a Democrat.

I am.

I thought we're the party of law and order.

Now if he closes the border I go like this.

That's good.

That to me was what we used to call common sense.

So if the Republicans simply want to go, oh, we're not conservative enough because some people are saying that we're not conservative enough.

You're not.

Every Republican candidate who won over the last 25 years were the moderates, right?

Christie Whitman, Tom Kane Jr.

Even Chris Christie ran against Steve Lonegan.

So all of a sudden now, the state is probably just as much Democrat or just more Democrat.

And they're still now they're going, we got to get more right wing.

Really?

Which I guess could be said the same for Democrats.

No, since Mikey Sherrill won her primary against a Ross Barak or Steve Fulop, considered the progressives.

We're not going to get into that, but picked a winner.

But your point, I like Ross.

I like all those.

But this year, the voters said, you know something, we want to win.

That was my hat when I ran.

You know, vote for Bramnick if you want to win.

How much did the events at the federal level, gateway tunnel funding being terminated, the shutdown, the back and forth over SNAP, the fact that the first round of SNAP benefits to be withheld happened just days before the election, how much did that play in?

Because there's been a lot of scuttle, and I'm sure that you've heard, that the president was supposed to or maybe not supposed to make note of that on the tele-rallies that he held for Cittarelli in the days up to the election, saying, you know, if Jack gets in, I'll release this funding.

He didn't say that.

How much did all of that factor in here?

Probably had some play, but most of it was a reaction, because basically Donald Trump had been Donald Trump since he got inaugurated in January.

So this might have added some fuel to the fire, but the Democrats were poised to strike whether that existed or not.

I mean, you wouldn't lose by 12 or 13 points because of the tunnel issue or the snap issue.

It may add a point or two.

Doesn't help, for sure.

Oh, that's for sure.

The state GOP, the chair, Glenn Paulson, executive director, Kate Gibbs, both stepping down, maybe not surprising, but who should be leading the party in this moment?

Who would you like to see?

Well, I'd like to see someone who reflects everyone in the party and somebody who can win.

So somebody who respects moderates, respects conservatives and is respected by the electorate.

Because that's what I just said.

Who wins in the Republican Party?

But if you keep trying to be MAGA, if that's your goal and you want to get more and more conservative, it's going to go from 12 or 13 points to 16 points.

Who's left in the party to do that?

Oh, there's a lot.

No, there's a lot of people.

I don't think they're drafting me yet.

Might take a while for them to realize that moderate Republican is probably a good path.

But Laura Ali's the chair of the chairs, right?

Actually, I saw a name, Matt Gould, who was my campaign chairman.

I'll take anybody who is not going to be simply in one lane.

I mean, people don't want that.

Let's stay on that same note.

Assemblyman DeMaio was duly named again the leader of the of the minority.

He's had a little bit of a tough road in these last several years with with seats lost.

What is the party need to do at the legislative level to gain some credibility back.

And is he the right person for the job.

Of course a position you held as minority.

John DeMaio is a great guy and I don't blame John DeMaio at all for the loss of assembly people.

I go right back to the national brand of the Republicans in a state that is mostly Democratic.

If we're going to win, we have to show we are not simply national Republicans.

John DeMaio could not fix that as one individual as the assembly leader.

These were numbers that reflected a real hidden concern about the direction of the Republican Party.

And that's why they came out of my district, 21, and blew the doors off Michelle Mazzucato and Nancy Munoz.

And it's really sad.

Great people.

But guess what?

You got caught up in a windstorm, an anti-Republican windstorm.

And until we stand up and say we're New Jersey Republicans, that windstorm's going to blow some other people over.

Nancy Munoz, of course, who held the seat for 16 and a half years.

Very quickly, the governor-elect has reportedly been meeting with GOP leadership.

Where are some issues that you could see you all working on early in her term and where there might be some common ground?

Utility rates.

She said she's going to freeze them.

I hope she can.

Obviously, taxes, no question about it.

I think they realize that you can't do these wind turbines off the in the ocean, that you're going to have to start finding other sources of energy unless you're going to see utility prices go up again.

There's a lot of common ground and common ground.

And I think that she appears to be open minded to that.

And I'm just very happy that it's over because I'm tired of this us versus them stuff.

Why can't we compromise?

Why can't we work together?

That's like a dirty word today.

And I'll tell you something.

I am not going to I'm not going to change my attitude as to let's work together.

Senator John Bramnick, always good to talk to you.

Thanks for coming in.

- Well, as we look to commemorate Veterans Day this week, one New Jersey-based program is celebrating a remarkable milestone.

One million connections made with veterans, service members, and their families.

Vets for Warriors, a 24/7 peer support network at Rutgers, has become a lifeline for those navigating the challenges of military and post-service life.

I recently spoke with retired Major General Mark Graham.

He's the Executive Director of the program about the work and how it's saving lives.

Major Graham first of all thanks for giving us some of your time.

I mean one million connections.

That is significant in the work that you're doing.

What does that mean for you and for the folks that you've been able to help.

Well, thanks, Brianna.

I appreciate it.

Thank you for having us on and highlighting this significant milestone for Vets4Warriors.

Our program offers peer support 24 hours a day nationwide to service members, veterans, or families.

We hire peers and train them and they answer the calls live within 30 seconds.

And we never close.

We've been around for almost 14 years and 1 million connections is a humbling milestone.

But it says a lot that veterans, their families and service members are willing to reach out for support.

We answer calls, talk to those calling, no matter what they're calling about.

And then we follow up with them as long as they'd like to ensure we've got them connected to the right resources.

Sometimes it's talking to a peer multiple times and it's all areas of conflict and all services.

What type of challenges are they calling in with.

What are you most frequently hearing.

Typically we hear the top two or three would be anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, some financial issues and resource issues, different times depending on what's going on around the world or the country.

But those are the main ones.

And those are all kind of connected if you will.

I mean it's never one reason.

They give us one reason.

But typically once a peer starts speaking with them and listening to what's going on there's more than one thing going on so that's why we want to make sure we support them in all the different ways we can to get them to a better place to improve well-being and to get them to where they're thriving again.

Well yeah and I wonder just about the program model I mean you speak with peers right what's unique about having a veteran speak with another veteran as opposed to say a social worker or someone else who might be on the other end of a crisis hotline.

You know we know that the challenges are unique to this set of of our population.

Yeah.

Great question.

We we do connect individuals.

We do work with them if they're in crisis.

We have licensed clinicians on our team as well.

They don't answer the calls.

The key is the calls are answered by veterans.

So a veteran's going to open up more.

Normally we'll open up more and talk is a confidential line so they can feel very free to open up and speak to the other veteran.

And our peers can share their story as much or little as they like based on the conversation.

And so I I think the key there is talking to a peer and finding out it's OK.

It's important to seek help if you're struggling to get some help and care.

And then we'll follow up and say hey how's that going.

Is it going well.

And normally normally it is.

And if not we'll say well let's connect you to another another clinic clinical service or another organization that's going to meet the need that you're looking for.

You know don't don't stop at one door.

Let's go through as many doors as we need to get you to the right place.

There is long been and I don't have to tell you this but there's long been stigma around those who seek help for for mental health.

Talking about mental health particularly in the military the service the law enforcement communities.

Has any of that major started to decline.

Are we seeing any shift there or is there still a lot of that secrecy around it or a feeling that it needs to stay suppressed.

Have programs like this helped move that conversation.

Absolutely we have.

And you know for years I've been people have been asking are we making a difference in the stigma and I've said I think we're making a difference but it's hard to it's hard to know.

I think 1 million connections clearly shows we're making a difference.

There's a lot of organizations out there they're doing wonderful work.

We're one of those organizations that help.

We're the only national program that answers calls live 24 hours a day by veterans that we're aware of.

And I think it's important it's a very collaborative organization.

We work with a lot of different folks around the country.

Donors have continued to support the work we're doing.

And so I do think the stigma has come down.

I think a million connections clearly shows that there's less stigma now than there was years ago.

Even five years ago, but certainly 10 years ago.

And this is open.

Correct me if I'm wrong to folks who are very well into their post service life.

Right.

I mean if you served and it's been decades you can still call.

Can you tell people how they can get in touch and what kind of resources they might be able to be connected with?

Yes.

855.

I'm sorry 855.

It's up on the screen 8388255.

Call anytime.

No matter what era of service you served.

Whether it's Vietnam Korean War even or beyond current Iraq Afghanistan and current military operations.

You can call us whether you're in the United States or whether you're deployed or somewhere else overseas.

You can call that number or go to our Web site which is listed on the screen and do a live chat with a peer that way.

And that often works.

We connect with different resources around the country, organizations we work with, and then resources we come across and we check and make sure.

And then once we've talked to someone, we ask them, how did that go, so that we're making sure the resources we provide them are the ones that are making a difference for them.

Is there a message that you want the public to know, or even veterans who may be considering or might say, I can handle this on my own, I don't need outside support?

That's a normal case.

We tend to say we can do it ourselves.

But you know, being alone is not a good place to be.

Don't go through this alone.

There's help out there.

There's support out there.

Let's get upstream before it gets to the point of crisis, before you get to the point where they're shutting off your electricity.

Reach out and talk to us.

Let us help connect you.

Let's work together, just like you did in the military as part of a team.

Just reach out.

Call us.

Talk to us.

Don't do this alone.

Don't work through it.

Whatever you're going through, we can support you.

No matter what you're going through, Well said.

Major General Mark Graham, thank you so much for your time.

We appreciate it.

Well, thank you so much, ma'am.

I appreciate the opportunity.

Finally tonight, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman today announced she will not seek re-election in 2026, marking the end of a groundbreaking five-decade career in public service.

Watson-Coleman made history in 2015 as the first African-American woman elected to represent New Jersey in Congress after having served for years in the state assembly and as the chair of the Democratic State Committee.

Throughout her career, Watson-Coleman has been known as a leading progressive.

She was among the first members in the House to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and tackled policies involving criminal justice and health equity.

Her colleagues from across the nation today praised her as a trailblazer and a mentor.

The Congresswoman says her decision came after a lot of reflection, adding she will continue to serve her constituents through the end of her term before passing the torch to her successor.

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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