Tonight on NJPBS News, our one-on-one interview with Governor Mikey Sherrill.

Nine months into her term, we get the governor's thoughts on her affordability agenda, also protecting the coast after last week's blockbuster nor'easter, the future of Delaney Hall, and election security here in Jersey, just weeks before the midterms.

Also tonight, an in-depth look at recent problems with data centers across the state after two high-profile incidents.

Why residents and lawmakers are now pushing back against the centers as more and more come online, all thanks to the explosion of AI.

Plus, an inside look at the new NJPBS as we begin a new chapter right now in the history of New Jersey public media.

We'll tell you who we are, what our mission is, and our promise to you, the viewers.

From Montclair State University, you're watching NJPBS News with Rob Nelson.

Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the new NJPBS News.

I'm Rob Nelson.

On behalf of our entire staff, we're honored that you're watching tonight.

We're going to have a lot more later about our new operation here, but as always, the news comes first.

And we start tonight with our one-on-one interview with Governor Mikey Sherrill.

I had the chance to sit down with the governor yesterday right here at Montclair State for a wide-ranging discussion.

Our talk comes amid a new poll out today from Rutgers-Eagleton that shows the governor is holding steady with an approval rating of 44%.

In fact, 67% approve of the way she's handled the Caldwell scandal.

Nearly nine months into her term, the state's first Democratic female governor has had quite the September, leading the state through last week's nor'easter, now the recovery, plus her lieutenant governor's resignation and the search for who comes next.

From her public battles against the Trump White House to affordability and immigration, there was certainly no shortage of topics.

Here now, part one of our interview.

Let's jump right in because you've had quite the September.

Yes.

Let's start, though, with storm recovery.

You were in Bringantine yesterday.

You had a chance firsthand to see the damage from that weekend nor'easter.

Now that you've seen it, and obviously not your first storm, what is your assessment right now of how sufficient current efforts are to protect those beaches, protect those communities, and our shoreline, which is really one of the identifying features of our state here.

Again and again, we are seeing these massive storm events.

That's the bad news.

The good news is building those resilient features into our towns is going to be more and more necessary as we build in a durable way to meet the storms, to keep homeowners safe, to keep people safe, but able to withstand these new weather events.

And in terms of federal aid, you said yesterday it's on the table.

We know that there was trouble getting that $84 million after the blizzard in February.

We know that you and President Trump are best friends.

So I'm just wondering if you think this will be any different.

Will you make the request and do you expect the Trump White House and FEMA to respond differently than they did from the winter storm?

We are going to be asking for federal aid from every grant program that's available.

And I think we will be successful in some.

But in some, I do worry that the president is going to politicize it.

So we wouldn't have all the benefits of the work we've done over the years to make New Jersey a better and better place to live if we acceded to everything Trump wanted to do.

And I'm certainly not going to do that.

My job is to protect the people of New Jersey, drive innovation and opportunity.

Let me shift gears to a different topic that's obviously been made a lot of news here in Jersey.

That's the situation with the lieutenant governor.

Critics have said about how all that was handled, that your administration was not as transparent as it should have been, that those 18 days where you were out of state and he was in charge while the investigation was ongoing, that perhaps there were some missed or ignored red flags.

I'm just wondering if you have any regrets about how it was handled and will the vetting process for Caldwell's successor be any different?

I think if people read the report, they'll be impressed with how thorough and efficient that investigation was.

And as a former federal prosecutor, it was really important to me that if someone comes forward with a claim in my organization that I'm running, that that is heard, that we investigate that.

But at the same time, that we wait until the investigation is over.

We get all the facts before we make claims against anyone else.

That's exactly what we did.

And I think you'll see that from the investigation.

It was independent.

It was done very effectively by a former attorney general of the state.

In fact, an attorney general under Chris Christie, because we really did want people to see that this was an independent investigation.

And there were, as people can see who read it, there were some very concerning claims made in that and findings substantiated.

And I'll tell you, I had committed to people that I was not going to accept the status quo.

And we know the status quo in Trenton for too long has been to look the other way at wrongdoing, to make political calculations based on, you know, cover-ups and stuff versus actually taking charge and making sure this state and Trenton are responsive to the people that we serve.

And so I had said it wasn't going to be a business as usual.

This is the kind of administration I'm running.

And I'm very proud of it.

So no regrets.

You would do the exact same way again.

I certainly think making sure that we run an independent investigation, that we don't target anyone unfairly, but at the same time that complaints are heard and vetted and we get to the bottom of it.

You know, that is the way you run a professional organization without creating a sense that people don't have a fair hearing.

We are making sure that we are driving effective change and that we are serving the people of New Jersey.

Do you regret picking him?

We, you know, I think we did a thorough vetting process.

This, you know, this wasn't apparent.

Unfortunately, some of the papers started, it seems, when he became lieutenant governor.

He did do, I think, really focused on driving the business, you know, being responsive to the business community and to the black agenda here in New Jersey.

I think those are really important things that I intend to carry on.

But certainly I can't have anyone in the organization who is ignoring ethics rules routinely after multiple trainings, who is harassing people that report to him.

That's just not acceptable.

What's the most important quality you're looking for in his replacement?

We've hired hundreds of people.

We are on the cutting edge.

Some say the bleeding edge of innovation here in serving people.

I want somebody who knows deep down that all of our problems are solvable and that it is on us in government, in Trenton, to solve those problems for the people of New Jersey and to drive opportunity for everyone.

That's the kind of culture, that's the kind of government I'm running.

Is there a short list yet for lieutenant governor?

You have 45 days, but will it come sooner than that?

We have already started the process and we have some really, I think, great options here in New Jersey.

All right.

Affordability.

Probably the dominant political narrative in the country, centerpiece of your campaign.

I know it's complicated and nothing in politics happens quickly.

But can you specifically name something in New Jersey that is cheaper today than when you took office?

So your power bill.

We had, for example, a charge on the power bill here in New Jersey to induce power companies to join the regional grid, PJM.

That happened years ago.

They're on it.

They were induced.

There was no reason to keep forcing rate payers to pay that cost.

So we took it off of your power bills.

We have gone above and beyond in all areas of affordability.

And by now, an independent organization said we, because of the moves we've made in energy, we will be saving rate payers over a billion dollars a year.

Will they feel it?

They will feel it.

They will feel it because we have approved 18 new battery storage and solar projects in the state.

That will drive down community solar.

We now have some of the best rules in the nation.

We've moved forward very quickly.

So we're seeing community solar built out, which really can drive down costs in a community.

And in two or three years, I mean, obviously things take time.

But in two or three years, what are the one or two metrics you will look at most closely to say my affordability agenda worked and people feel it?

What's your ultimate number?

What should we judge the success of that part of your agenda by?

I want to increase power generation.

And I want to see that power go up.

More power will drive down costs for people.

I want to see more homes built.

Right now we know we need 350,000 homes.

We just had our housing conference yesterday.

So I want to see more homes built.

And I also want to see the agenda that New Jersey puts on the federal government to stop the bleeding there in health care.

As someone who moved back to Jersey a little over a year ago, it was a joy to open that property tax bill.

And I forgot.

Oh, yeah.

As someone who grew up here, I remember.

Yes.

Property taxes are famously high here.

Highest in the country by some metrics.

You pumped in about $4 billion in your latest budget into property tax relief.

Here's my structural tough government question that I always wonder about.

I don't think this is easy, but I think it's important.

Is there anything that can be done to lower the actual taxes as opposed to just giving people money to afford such a high bill?

Yes.

I think there is probably not going to be a statement that you start with, is there anything that can be done that I am not going to answer yes to?

All right.

Because there is always something that can be done.

And I think this mindset of, oh, it's too hard.

It's, you know, it's been going on for years.

There's nothing to do is simply not the case.

So one of the key drivers of property taxes, and the reasons I think, one of the reasons people have seen them as so, you know, gone up so much recently, is the state health benefits plan.

We have just seen a plan that is not run well.

It is, we are now seeing a situation where, because it is so poorly run, the people, the towns that can afford to do so are buying health care on the private market.

Driving up the costs of those behind.

Leaving sicker people that have been left behind.

And that is going up and up and up for towns.

And that's actually, towns are paying for a lot of that with teachers and their educators.

So we really need to address the state health benefits plan.

We've been at the table all summer.

Yes, we did put some money into it to stabilize it in the near term because these costs keep going up for working people.

But we are at the table now for long-term fixes to the plan.

When I say things have been kicked down the road because they're hard to do, this is probably one of the key things I'm talking about.

Do you believe property taxes in Jersey could actually go down?

Yes.

That would take massive structural reform?

Yes.

And is that something you're going to actively pursue?

Just because something takes massive structural reform doesn't mean we shouldn't do it, right?

No, absolutely.

You know, I mean, this is the thing.

Yes.

Yeah, we're doing it right now.

Okay.

We're actually bringing everyone together.

So whether it is, you know, unions or hospital systems or pharmaceutical benefit managers, hospital, I said insurance companies.

I mean, we are bringing everyone to the table because we are determined to fix this system.

It's not easy.

There are costs that are going to be associated with it.

But yes, I think we can drive costs down because of the fixes we are going to make to that.

Same thing with power generation.

Same thing with homes as we build up the housing we need.

I mean, we basically had canvassed all of the Department of Transportation's property and determined we could build 20,000 new homes.

And that's an issue that you announced this week, and that's huge.

That's huge.

That's the supply issue, right?

And because it's on the DOT's property, they will pay, you know, there will be a rental cost that paid to the DOT to help have a source of funding for our railroad so that we can, over time, make sure we're keeping up the tracks.

I mean, as every commuter knows, it's gotten worse and worse and worse in Superstorm Sandy.

So that has a benefit.

We've also then said to every other organization in the state, what kind of land are you holding on to and what does that look like?

So we canvassed the rest of it.

We found another ability to build another 20,000 properties.

We've also put a tax auction out for people to buy tax incentives that have not been used so that we can put millions more into our home building program.

So it's hard.

It's complicated.

It's totally doable.

That was part one of my interview with Governor Sherrill.

Coming up tomorrow night in part two, we will ask the governor whether she still intends to close Delaney Hall.

And we'll also get an update on election security from the governor just weeks before the midterms, following, of course, New Jersey's own voting scandal.

We will also get the governor's thoughts on the highly competitive race in the state's 7th district and what she feels that race could say about the political mood of the country.

Well, two high profile incidents in recent weeks have once again stirred up a whole lot of debate about data centers here in New Jersey and really around the country.

Some of those centers have been around for decades, but more and more are now coming online because they are literally the engines that help power AI.

And as that technology only continues to explode, lawmakers and residents are worried about the environmental impact of the centers, what AI could mean for the American workforce, and if government regulations can even keep pace with all of it.

The fight over data centers in New Jersey is heating up.

We're against data centers overall.

Data one in Vineland, the state's largest data center, fined a record $1.07 million in September for air pollution violations after running 62 unpermitted generators.

Those generators first revealed to the public after thermal drone captured by floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom back in August.

And about a little over a week earlier in Secaucus, 5,000 gallons of diesel leaking from the Equinix data center, adding even more fuel to the growing backlash.

$1 million to a company that is a billion-dollar company to begin with is pennies to them.

Data centers aren't new, but with artificial intelligence technology exploding around the world, some of these facilities are upgrading and adapting to power AI, and new ones are coming online for that, too.

The state is home to more than 30 data centers, according to state DEP records, with about three under construction.

And that's why these recent incidents in Jersey are generating headlines, backlash, and political action.

We need stronger legislation for this, the moratorium so that we can collect more information about the harms of these data centers.

NJPBS combed through dozens of local ordinances and found more than 50 municipalities with partial or full bans on data centers, most raising questions about the strain on the power grid and effects on air quality.

Concerns that members of the Union County Residents Alliance Coalition have as they continue to battle the 250-megawatt CoreWeave data center in Kenilworth.

The biggest issue is the environmental and health risk to all life, whether it be human or wildlife.

CoreWeave's latest project is on the former Merck campus.

The 392,000-square-foot facility has a price tag of close to $1.8 billion, and it's expected to create 143 jobs, getting a $250 million tax incentive under the Murphy Administration for AI Development last year, a program since scrapped by state lawmakers.

A similar fight happening in Middlesex County.

Residents recently packed a state public comment meeting on the construction of a new data center in South Brunswick that would use 12 diesel-fired emergency generators.

It's 2026.

We're supposed to be off of fossil fuels by 2050.

Why are we building more fossil fuel infrastructure?

Though this facility is not specified as an AI data center, resident concerns remain.

This pollution is going to affect all of us, so we cannot allow this.

Governor Sherrill has announced a slate of guardrails on data centers, many of them focused on energy use and making sure that they pay their fair share, as well as produce strong local jobs.

We don't have to choose between innovation and accountability, and we won't.

Today, we're giving power back to communities and making sure data centers work for us instead of the other way around.

And on the steps of the statehouse annex, a prominent labor voice with the New Jersey state AFL-CIO says people don't understand the critical role these centers play in our increasingly digital life.

We need to have them to compete and to power our cell phones, to move our medical records.

A lot of people don't understand the importance of data centers and how long they have been around.

The union president embraces the new AI frontier, but wants rules to protect workers so that AI isn't used to monitor, hire, fire, and make other employment decisions.

He's supporting the Fair Act, a proposed state law that would regulate that.

But are designing them systems.

They're really not concerned about the workers and the workers' families.

They're concerned about the bottom line.

The bottom line is AI is here.

The question is, is legislation keeping up with it?

Of course, we'll continue digging deeper into this story.

Reporting in Trenton, Asha McKenzie, NJPBS.

All right, thank you, Asha.

And with that, it's time for the roundabout.

Our look at other news making headlines all across New Jersey tonight.

A beloved South Jersey amusement park will soon be on the auction block.

Clementine Park and Splash World has been in attraction in Camden County for 119 years, but its current owners announced last month they would be putting the park up for sale.

The virtual auction will now be held from October 19th to the 21st with an asking price of $1.5 million.

That site opened back in 1907 as a trolley park, but then evolved into a full-scale amusement and water park.

Before a two-year shutdown back in 2019, it had been the longest continuously operating amusement park in America.

We'll see what comes next.

And some big real estate news coming out of Newark this week.

Prudential Financial has announced it is selling two of its three buildings in downtown Newark and consolidating its global headquarters at its Prudential Tower that's on Broad Street.

Those buildings have been Newark landmarks for years, and officials are emphasizing the company, though, has no plans to leave the city.

They say the consolidation will take a few years and there is no immediate impact for employees.

Well, thanks to NJ.com, we now know a lot more about the salaries for public school superintendents around New Jersey.

The website did some digging through the State Education Department's database and found that at least five New Jersey superintendents earned more than $300,000 last school year.

They also found that more than 80 other superintendents earned more than $250,000.

Here's the top five.

You can see that Bergen County Vocational Technical School District Superintendent.

He comes in first.

A salary of just over $346,000, followed by Jersey City, Newark, Union City, and Patterson.

Also making the list, and this is really interesting, it's a single charter school, the Maria L. Varisco Rogers Charter School in Newark, where the leader of that one school made nearly $328,000.

Well, the school and its leaders have faced scrutiny over their salaries after reporting showed that the school's top leaders spent much of their time in Florida and were only occasionally here in Jersey.

Well, since then, state lawmakers have tightened several oversight laws.

A little bit of sports news tonight.

The Yankees easily swept the Red Sox to advance to the American League Division Series.

And in just a few hours, the Phillies will look to do the same to their NL East rival, the Atlanta Braves.

That deciding game kicks off at 8 o'clock tonight.

And if baseball is not your thing, relax, because hockey is back.

The Devils kick off their season tonight at Prudential with puck drop at 7 p.m.

against the winless Flyers.

And that is tonight's roundabout.

We wanted to end tonight's newscast by giving you a little more insight into how this latest iteration of NJPBS came to be.

The people who work here, the type of journalism we will deliver, and our connection to Montclair State that will help produce the next generation of journalists.

There are so many important stories that we will tell on this broadcast and also so many places across Jersey that deserve and will get our attention.

We are really excited to get started.

But first, a look at how tonight came to be.

For more than half a century, New Jersey's public television system has informed, educated, and served the great people of this state.

Tonight, that proud history moves forward and an entirely new chapter begins.

Our viewers should expect journalism that respects their intelligence, that values their time, and that truly reflects the deep and rich diversity across the entire state.

Earlier this year, the state selected Montclair State University to operate New Jersey's four public TV stations.

And in the last few months, our newsroom was born, right here on the ground floor of the university's College of Communication and Media.

We were at a moment where it seemed entirely possible that New Jersey could be the only state in the country without a public television station.

And if you run a world-class College of Communication and Media, that's simply not tenable.

So, from our perspective, it was mission-based, and we absolutely wanted to be a part of that solution.

Today, more than 20 experienced journalists and newsroom professionals call this space home.

They are reporters, producers, and digital journalists, all here with one purpose, to serve communities across all 21 counties, elevate voices that too often go unheard, and deliver quality coverage from every corner of the Garden State.

I'm Asha McKenzie, and I'm looking forward to showing you how decisions here in Trenton affect not just Central Jersey, but communities far beyond the Capitol.

I'm Scott Minshull, and I look forward to bringing South Jersey voices and stories to viewers across the state.

I'm Sean Sullivan, and I'm looking forward to bringing you North Jersey stories that you won't find anywhere else.

NJPBS News also brings together the award-winning journalist of NJ Spotlight News.

Its watchdog reporting team has covered state politics and policies for nearly 20 years.

We have reporters who have expertise in these topics, who have been covering it for decades, literally, and that provides something that I think is of real value to our readers and to our viewers.

Also critical to our mission is the Center for Cooperative Media.

It's a group housed here at Montclair State that supports and connects hundreds of news organizations across New Jersey.

Collaborating with those outlets will expand our reach and help us produce journalism with statewide depth.

My major is journalism and digital media.

And because this professional newsroom is based on a university campus, it will help prepare the journalists of the future.

Through hands-on coursework and internships, students from across the state will have the chance to learn from professionals doing the work, building a stronger pathway from the classroom to careers in media.

At the heart of all of this, though, is the same mission that has defined public media for decades.

Thoughtful, meaningful news coverage, a commitment to community, the pursuit of truth and accountability, and an unwavering sense of public service.

Everybody who works at NJPBS lives here and wants the same news that you want.

So in addition to that, we're going to be going out into community asking for opinions, asking for thoughts.

So it's going to be news and information that's tailored to exactly what the community members want.

So no matter where you get your news on TV, your laptop, your phone, through social media or streaming, we here at NJPBS News promise to meet you where you are, to do our job with passion and purpose and editorial independence.

And of course, with just a little Jersey attitude along the way.

Our journey is just starting tonight and we are very much a work in progress.

But before we go, thank you, not just for watching, not just for your time tonight, but also for the chance to earn your trust every night.

We will see you right back here tomorrow.

Until then, have a good night, Jersey.

We'll see you next time.

Bye.