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

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

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

Tonight, a few stories we're digging into later in the broadcast.

Concerns over free speech suppression are taking center stage.

We'll tell you why some experts are sounding the alarm.

And later, making the grades up.

We talk with two reporters about their investigation into the reality behind one school district's graduation rates.

And finally, looking to snag some World Cup tickets, we'll tell you how FIFA's pricing system could affect your chances.

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

Even more money is pouring into the governor's race.

The Democratic National Committee has announced it's doubling down, spending an additional $1.5 million to help elect Democrat Mikie Sherrill, bringing their total spending on this election to $3 million.

That's the most the DNC has ever spent in New Jersey in an off-year election cycle.

Now, the DNC says it will spend that money on hiring more organizers to talk to voters in Jersey, including expanding outreach to constituencies they say they lost ground with in the presidential election, including Black, Latino and Asian-American voters.

Polls show Sherrill has a modest lead over Republican Jack Ciatarelli, but he's well within striking distance, and a super PAC tied to the Republican Governors Association says it's launching a $1 million ad blitz for him.

It all comes less than two months before Election Day, and ahead of mail-in voting ballots, those go out Saturday.

The candidates will face off this Sunday in the first of two public debates.

A new proposal would force airlines to start paying cash to travelers for delays and cancellations.

Congressman Josh Gottheimer on Monday introduced a new bill that would compensate passengers when their flight is delayed or cancelled for reasons within the airline's control.

That includes things like mechanical issues and staffing, but not weather delays.

It's called the Enhancing Transparency from Airlines Act or ETA.

Travelers would get 200 bucks if their flight is delayed more than three hours and up to 500 for delays over five hours.

The idea isn't new.

A similar rule was set to take effect under the Biden administration in 2024, but that was killed earlier this month.

According to national data, flight cancellations were up 29% in July compared to last year, and Newark Airport had more than 150 delays during this Labor Day weekend alone.

Gottheimer points to similar protections already in place in the EU that have been shown to help reduce delays.

And there's a new texting scam targeting New Jersey residents claiming to be from the state Treasury's division of taxation.

Now the message looks convincing enough, telling recipients that their tax refund claim has been processed and approved.

But then it asks for your personal and bank account information to process that payment.

It's similar to other tech scams that have been reported impersonating agents from E-ZPass and Motor Vehicle.

Don't be fooled though, officials say the state will never ask for that type of personal information via text.

Instead, they're urging anyone who receives the messages to block the sender and immediately report them to New Jersey's Cybersecurity and Communications Unit.

The scam comes as residents are eagerly awaiting their Anchor property tax rebates.

Those are not refunds, which by the way, those will come by mail or directly deposit to your account.

And coming up, the future of free speech.

We look at what experts and lawmakers are saying about efforts to stifle dissent and whether it's part of a broader, more troubling trend.

Funding for NJ Spotlight News provided by the members of the New Jersey Education Association, making public schools great for every child.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let's be healthy together.

And Orsted, committed to delivering clean, reliable, American-made energy.

- Earlier this month, federal agents moved to clear out a decades-old peace vigil just steps from the White House that was considered one of the longest-running political protests in American history.

Free speech experts say that action at Lafayette Square may have seemed like a small event, but it's become a flashpoint in a larger conversation about efforts to suppress dissent, from firing public officials to targeting critics with federal investigations.

And it comes as the rhetoric over free speech has only heated up recently in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination.

Our Washington DC correspondent Ben Hulak joins us now for a deeper look.

Ben, it's good to talk to you as always.

I wanna start with this vigil that you wrote about.

What was the symbolic importance of that?

And why did the administration justify dismantling it, which we should say came from efforts led by New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew?

- I'll start with the symbolic importance.

This was a tent in the simplest terms, surrounded, skirted with some flags.

Really, this was built first in the 1980s, early 1980s, as an anti-war and anti-nuclear war, in particular protests, and it had continued on since.

So this survived Republican, Democratic administrations, snowstorms, blizzards, hail, a pandemic, and it was, it was, as you say, torn down recently after Congressman Jeff Andrew wrote a letter to the Interior Department.

The administration didn't really give a specific answer on that other than to say it was a public hazard.

And I think the backdrop here of the recently deployed National Guard troops to Washington, DC is really important.

So this was part of a broader push from the administration to, in their eyes, clean up the city.

I should also quickly highlight crime in the city is at a 30-year low, and that's according to FBI figures.

So it's -- a flash point is a good word.

This is one data point in a broader attempt to suppress dissent.

But I guess also I know Jeff Andrew had said that it was sort of an encampment that these folks were not protesting.

They had become a fixture there.

But I want to move on to the broader discussion here because experts pointed out to you that having a public protest like that right in front of the Capitol was really at the core of American democracy.

actions that have been taken.

What do free speech experts have to say about what may be a pattern or perhaps is something that's been done by previous administrations as well?

Right.

The point here that a lot of experts said to me, these are legal scholars, First Amendment attorneys, civil rights experts.

They, many of them, have mentioned the fact that this is directly opposed to the White House.

And it's a simple but core tenet that echoes throughout what it means to be an American, which is that you can dissent, you can criticize people in power, and you can do it from, yes, just across the street from where the president lives.

That's something that has long been protected across administrations of different parties.

And it really is fundamentally unusual when you look at the broader global landscape.

The First Amendment is distinct.

Nations do not really have this, if you cast your eyes overseas.

People are worried.

And in a word, free speech experts, people who study autocracy are concerned in this moment.

And there is a broader pattern, as you say, of sidelining critics in this administration.

Just two weeks ago, Congresswoman Lamonica McIver, who represents New Jersey's 10th District, that's Newark at its core, was nearly censured on the House floor and only avoided being censured by about five votes.

So it doesn't take too long to make a tally of ways this administration is going after its critics.

Are there other more recent precedent for this in our history?

I'm thinking about even maybe less recent, but some of the protests that have happened on college campuses, pro-Palestinian protests, and beyond that, for this kind of government pushback against public acts like this.

This is this happened just this month at the campus removed the encampment.

But no, you don't need to look back far.

I think the student led protests on college campuses like Rutgers or Columbia University there across the Hudson River are really apt comparisons.

You can of course look this was a national case.

You can look to the Turkish graduate students at Tufts University in Massachusetts who was grabbed by ICE agents several months ago early in the Trump administration.

And that was -- she had written a critical piece in, I think, the college newspaper, a local newspaper there in Massachusetts.

So, they're -- one by one, you can look at these events in a vacuum, and they tell a particular story about a particular moment in a particular place about a particular person.

But you expand them all out, and you get a serious pattern.

By the same token, though, I have to imagine on the Hill there are a lot of concerns about violence and safety, given to what happened with Charlie Kirk, who, of course, was very big on free speech and very big on sharing political views.

This was -- we don't know exact motive yet, but it seems anyway, from investigators, someone who disagreed with those.

What's being said there?

Right.

The sentiment here, there was a vigil last night on the outside of the Capitol for Mr.

Kirk, and that was attended by Republicans.

The sentiment here, really, Congress is not quite processing what has happened.

Members get threats to their person, to their families, to their offices on a near daily basis.

So I talked with Congressman McIver and Congressman Robin Endes actually yesterday, and I've talked with members for a while now about this issue.

This is not really a one-off.

Members have been worried for years, and they all tell me it's gotten much worse.

So they're still really in a processing mode after the Kirk killing, and perhaps Congress will do something to make members more secure.

There's some money in the works, potentially, but this really does cross party lines.

This is not a red or blue issue.

And I think people forget that lawmakers are humans and they cannot afford, there is no security entourage that comes with being a member of Congress.

You are on your own.

- All right, you can read Ben's story about this and all of his reporting on our website, njspotlightnews.org.

Ben, thank you so much.

- My pleasure.

- Well, for years now, Asbury Park School District has pointed to its soaring graduation rates as proof of a successful turnaround.

The public school district went from less than half of students earning a diploma to more than 80% in just a few short years.

But an investigation by the Asbury Park Press found a different reality, a system designed to make failing nearly impossible with students promoted despite chronic absenteeism and little academic progress.

Joining me now are two of the journalists behind the investigation, Charles Day and Frank Scandal.

And I should note that your colleague Amanda Oglesby worked on this investigation as well.

Welcome to you both.

Thanks so much for coming on.

Charles, let me start with you.

Basically, what did you uncover here?

Well, about the beginning of the year in January, a lot of lawsuits came across and I was just covering my beat in Asbury Park, the school district.

And in the three years I've been at the press, I kept hearing the name Repollet over and over again, kind of as the, the, the catalyst for the issues going on now.

So when we started looking into what everyone on the ground was saying from administrators to parents, that's when we uncovered what we found to be the 64th floor.

Initially, I was looking for anybody in the school district to just tout their accomplishments because coming from a family full of school teachers and educators, a 20% jump in anything, the teachers won't shut up about it and they'll be proud of it.

But I wasn't able to find that.

I found spotlight videos, man on the street interviews, interviewing students from back then, but I didn't find anyone in the administration touting that 20% jump.

What I ended up finding was Dr.

Repollet speaking in Trenton about the 64th floor and how that was equity to all the students.

And it kind of just kept snowballing from there.

And we should know Dr.

Repollet was the, Lamont Repollet was the superintendent who then went on to be the education commissioner for New Jersey and is of course now the president of Kean University.

But yeah, what was the policy quickly and how did it help to boost those graduation rates?

Well, from what we could find and what we uncovered in the story, it only helped to boost the graduation rates.

The 64th floor essentially was just have what it sounds like.

65 is passing, 64 is not, and that became the floor.

Now, it is normal within school districts to have like a 50 or 55 floor.

Essentially, so if a kid fails early in the year, he's not doomed for that year.

The 64th floor made it so no matter what, they have a 64, they can do nothing all year, show up in June and pass one test or do extra credit stuff as you alluded to earlier, and then have a passing grade, which is, you know, not, you know, just rubber stamping children through the door.

Rubber stamping children through graduation.

- Frank, one of the more surprising findings was that students were earning credit for tasks like babysitting, doing laundry, other household chores.

How did those types of activities qualify as academic work, at least in the school's eyes?

- I think just asking the question answers the question.

I mean, nobody would really think it does, but it's a whole credit retrieval system.

It's not unheard of.

When I worked in Westchester, there was a similar system in New Rochelle.

So, you know, it's a company in Pennsylvania.

They pay for it.

There's thousands of dollars.

Most people would say, you know, doing laundry or babysitting would not really constitute, you know, tutoring or learning the subject matter as well.

And as you can see, the grades did not get any better.

The test scores did not get any better.

So while you're graduating another 35 points worth of kids, they're not coming out with any more measurable success.

So therein lies the, you know, when reporters Amanda and Charles and I started talking about this story, that's where the investigation went.

After all those lawsuits that we mentioned, that Charles mentioned and we wrote about, that triggered the whole, let's look into this, it just doesn't make sense.

Were there any signs, Frank, from parents, students within the district that maybe you all spoke with that there was an understanding that the diplomas students were getting might not reflect real preparedness?

Yeah, well, that was what Charles and Amanda uncovered when they interviewed the teachers and board members and, you know, people from the outside.

They said this doesn't this is not good for the kids.

And that's what they talked about is this is about the kids.

And our job is to prepare them.

And there was a lot of people in the school system that felt this was not going to help the kids.

You had an administration that had a policy that Charles and Amanda dug into, but you had people on the ground, teachers, parents, who said, "What did this really mean?

We have a diploma, but what does it really mean?

Did we fail the kids?"

And I think our story speaks for itself there.

What type of oversight, if any, Charles, was there for this or is there now at this point?

Well, first, I also want to add that a lot of the parents we spoke to this year were in some of these graduating classes from the last 10 years.

So they are the people that knew that these extra credit courses weren't doing anything for them.

And as far as what it is now, I don't believe the 64th floor is still in place.

The current administration is acting superintendent Mark Truppino.

And from what we could find, the 64th floor kind of started falling out with the previous superintendent, Dr.

Adams.

But we kind of got mixed comments on that.

But as of right now, the 64th floor is not in place anymore.

I couldn't really get a straight answer on if there is a floor in place, but no one really defended it.

The closest that we got to anyone defending it as a policy was Felicia Simmons of the Westside Community Center, a former board member who was in the story, just pointing out that maybe for a short amount of time that this could have really been something good and worth helping and building something, but this wasn't supposed to be what it became, you know, for years.

So that's the closest to a defense that we heard.

You also reported about the, I think you called it the revolving door of superintendents that have been at the district.

These lawsuits that you mentioned at the top of our discussion here.

Is there a sense that a lot of this or most of it stems from some of these policies.

Well it's a tree kind of like a coaching tree if you are a sports fan right.

That if you think the coach is good you keep hiring from that coaching tree from Parcels, Bill Belichick.

This is similar in the sense that it was Repollet, and then it was Adams.

So they all were building off the previous one.

Now the current superintendent Mark Chupino is kind of the first one to break that coaching tree in the last decade.

Frank, let me end with you.

What type of response, if any, have you all been able to get from the governor's administration, the Murphy administration, or the previous superintendent, Lamont Repollet?

Well, Dr.

Repollet would not speak with us.

We reached out to him.

We realized that he was going to be the person we wanted to talk to.

He said, "Talk about this policy."

He already did it in a legislative hearing, so we're not sure why he wouldn't speak to us about it now.

In terms of Murphy, Governor Murphy's office, they gave us a statement that essentially skirted the direct issue, but talked about, you know, they thought he was the right person for the -- to lead the New York -- you know, to the New Jersey Education Commission, and then, obviously, he went on to it.

So some unsatisfactory comments, I would say, from those corners.

But the reporting that Charles and Amanda did got lots of response from the community.

And we're waiting to see if anything happens after that.

So Charles covers the community very well.

Obviously, Amanda's education.

So this was a great team to dig into it.

And they work well together.

Thank you both.

Frank Scandale, Charles Day, and to your colleague Amanda, thanks so much for sharing your work with us, for coming on the show.

Thank you.

In our Spotlight on Business report tonight, excitement is building for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but so is the frustration over tickets.

This week, FIFA opened the first round of access to get a seat to the tournament, but not to everyone.

And even the folks included aren't guaranteed to get a ticket.

That's on top of the controversial pricing system being used that critics say locks out average fans in favor of those with deep pockets.

That could become a larger issue when New Jersey hosts the finals at MetLife Stadium.

Raven Santana reports.

Tickets for the 2026 FIFA World Cup are technically on sale as of last week, but not quite.

What opened on September 10th was just the first phase, a pre-sale lottery exclusive to Visa card holders.

Fans who got in didn't buy tickets.

They applied for a chance to buy them starting in October.

You are spending at least $300 to $400 for one ticket.

Up to $1600 to $2500 for the better seats.

And while FIFA insists the system is fair, fans online are venting about digital waiting rooms, error messages, and a ticketing process that feels anything but transparent.

Will they be $60 tickets?

Of course, because they have to justify that they did sell some at the price that was listed.

Who gets them and where they are located?

And in what venue?

That's a different story.

Adding to the frustration, FIFA's plan to use what it calls variable pricing better known as dynamic pricing means prices will rise or drop depending on demand.

Use of dynamic pricing in the World Cup is, you know, completely logical, right?

Because we have this sort of capacity constrained event that has some uncertainty around how many people are going to want to watch a game, who's going to want to watch what games, etc.

Right.

So because of that uncertainty, having a pricing strategy that sort of adjusts to that demand is completely logical, right?

What that means though is there's going to be some of these really great games that are in high demand, which as we get closer to the games and we figure out who's playing are going to be very expensive.

And when it comes to the biggest games like the final that will be played at MetLife Stadium on July 19th, 2026, consultant Gus Penaranda says don't expect average fans in the stands.

The only millionaires are going to be at the final match.

The only children that you're going to see, the only people that are locals or whatever are going to be those that are connected to, work with, or are part of the major sponsors.

The biggest one, Coca-Cola.

In the past, discounted tickets have been set aside for locals, but FIFA has not announced any plans to do so this year.

And while Mexico is capping the amount resellers can charge for tickets, the U.S.

isn't imposing limits.

As resale sites heat up, consumer advocates warn that fans desperate for tickets could become prime targets for scammers.

You'll see tickets on resale markets go way up in price, but we're also expecting to see scammers come out of the woodwork trying to take advantage of the desperate fans.

John Braille, Vice President of Public Policy at the National Consumer League, says the safest play is to buy only from trusted resalers.

What I would encourage consumers to avoid are unregulated marketplaces, the Facebook marketplaces, Craigslist, the offshore resale websites, the guy standing outside the stadium.

FIFA says 1.5 million people entered the presale draw with the most demand coming from fans in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Around 1 million tickets are in play in the first presale phase.

FIFA says the cheapest tickets will start at $60.

But with social media already buzzing about sky-high cost, backlash is coming.

Once getting, hey, I got my ti cost 60 bucks.

It cost me my ticket.

Then you're go a backlash and unlike Tay FIFA controls the stadium until september 19th to a pre sale draw.

Winners wi the first purchasing wind on October 1st.

And this is just the first of at least four sales phases before kickoff next June.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.

Support for the Business Report is provided by the Newark Alliance presents the 2025 Halsey Fest featuring the vibrancy of Newark's Arts and Education District and Halsey Street, Halsey, a neighborhood built on hustle and heart.

The 2025 Halsey Fest schedule is available at HalseyNWK.com.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

But a reminder, you can download our podcast wherever you listen and watch us anytime by subscribing to the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

Plus, you can always follow us on Instagram and Blue Sky to stay up to date on all the state's big headlines.

And with election day just around the corner, be sure to check out our annual voter guide to get up to speed on the candidates and races on the ballot this year.

Just head to NJDecides 2025 tab on our home page.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

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

Have a great night.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

NJM Insurance Group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and by the PSCG Foundation.

[music]