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♪ BRIANA: Tonight on NJ Spotlight news, Ciattarelli for governor.

Will the third time be the term customer in the former assemblyman, who narrowly lost to Governor Murphy, makes his long-awaited announcement for 2025.

>> are very hungry, but with unwavering determination and boundless energy declare my , candidacy to be your next governor.

Tiers BRIANA: Plus, how will he match up against an already crowded field of gubernatorial hopefuls?

>> If we wind up with another plumber next year the doesn't have the line, then this is really going to be the voters' choice and we will get a full range of options.

BRIANA: also, school cuts.

Education advocates descend on the state Capitol is more than 140 school districts face a decrease in funding.

And brace yourself for a summer fare hike.

New Jersey transit unanimously approved a 15% increase.

>> this fare hike effectively faces the greatest burden on those who depend on public transit the most.

>> our future cannot be car dependent.

It is unsustainable.

It is unfair.

BRIANA: NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

♪ Announcer: From NJPBS studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Briana Vannozzi.

♪ BRIANA: Good evening and thanks for joining us this Wednesday night.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

Jack Ciattarelli is running for governor again.

Officially launching his third campaign bid for the state's highest office, making good on his promise to get back in the race after nearly unseating Governor Phil Murphy in the 2021 election, coming within just three points of the road.

Ciattarelli made the announcement in Freehold last night, vowing that if elected, he will lower business and property taxes and overhaul the public school curriculum.

The 60 year old has a lengthy career in public office with the Raritan Borough Council, the Somerset County Board of commissioners, before the assembly where he represented the 16th district for seven years.

So his announcement comes as no surprise, but it offers serious competition to moderate GOP Senator Jon Bramnick who has already tossed his hat in the ring.

And as senior political correspondent David Cruise reports, comes with an unpredictable factor -- Donald Trump.

>> A very humbly, but with unwavering determination and boundless energy declare my candidacy to be your next governor.

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] Reporter: in front of the packed room in freehold last night, Jack Chiarelli launched his third campaign for governor, fine-tuning a message that he hopes will strike a middle ground with entrées to moderates and a pinch of red meat to conservatives, promising to be -- >> A candidate who understands that campaigns are won by addition, not subtraction or division.

A candidate who can unite our party.

Not one who calls moderate Republicans RINOs were trump supporters crazIES.

A candidate who can convince Democrats to support our ideas.

Reporter: While at the same time calling on -- >> People who want to empower parents and improve education for our children and people want to revitalize our cities.

Keep our neighborhoods safe.

People who want to secure the border and ban sanctuary cities and us becoming a sanctuary state.

[APPLAUSE] Reporter: Republican leaders in New Jersey say their party is energized, with more registered Republicans than ever and the standard beer at the top of the ticket this year that has them unified enough to have Ciattarelli go from: The Former President charlatan unfit for office, to proclaiming yesterday -- >> I think the country was better off doing Donald Trump's for years than Joe Biden's for years.

>> I am not a political pundit, but Donald Trump's not winning New Jersey.

So the people running against me are out there trying to be more Trump than the other person.

Well, knock yourself out because you get into the general election, they are going to smoke you.

Reporter: Senator Jon Bramnick, the first Republican candidate in the race has staked out the never Trumper Lane, he says.

Even if Trump's policies are more in line with the GOP, everything else about him is bad for the country.

He says Ciattarelli will eventually have to explain himself to voters beyond the party's base.

>> Because you're never going to explain why you went to a stop the steel rally.

Why you supported somebody who, in my judgment, inspired a riot, and says that all criminals who beat police officers up our hostages.

Is that the party of law and order?

I don't think so.

Reporter: Democrats in New Jersey still think Trump is a political gift.

But this is a state that likes to switch it up sometimes.

Tom Kane, Sr. and Chris Christie both followed two-term Democratic administrations.

Republican Assemblyman Brian Bergen was at the Ciattarelli event yesterday, but he is uncommitted at the moment.

He says Republican candidates are best served by being consistent in their messaging about trump either way.

Is it easier for Republicans in New Jersey in 2025 if Trump's wins or if he loses?

>> It is hard to say.

I would probably say probably if he wins, it will be easier.

Because,, I like trump I think trump is a good president.

He has a lot of flaws as does every president, but he is an effective president so if trump can deliver a really good, tangible policies, then that takes away some of the anti-Trump rhetoric that is out there that is really devastating to the Republican party now.

Reporter: It's a complicated relationship.

A recent poll has Trumpâ trailing President Joe Biden but just single digits in New Jersey, which suggests trump may not be as potent a weapon for Democrats: 2025.

For now though, proximity to trump remains the leading issue for Republicans.

I am David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.

BRIANA: And be sure to join David tomorrow on ChatBox where he will go one-on-one with Jack Ciattarelli underway this race is different from the others and with other third run is indeed the charm.

That is Thursday at 6:00 p.m. on our NJ Spotlight News Youtube channel.

Now that Ciattarelli has firmly planted his flag in the gubernatorial race, he joins a crowded field.

We mentioned Republican Jon Bramnick, who is so far Ciattarelli's biggest competitor in the primary, but also Democrats Steve Fulop, Ras Baraka and Steve Sweeney.

That list is only expected to grow, making it a much different playing field than the election four years ago.

So, does a center-right candidate like Ciattarelli have a clear path forward?

I asked Micah Rasmussen director , of the Rebovitch Institute for New Jersey politics at Rikers University.

Good to have you, as always, especially on a day like this.

This has become an increasingly wide and field.

What do you make so far of the cost of candidates we have?

Guest: It's a very full field on the Republican side and the Democrat side.

Voters are going to have a lot of choices and if we wind up with another primary next year that doesn't have the line, this really is going to be the voters' choice and they will get a full range of options.

Jack Ciattarelli seems to be carving out a center-right positions.

But you will have candidates to the right of him, and candidates to the left of him.

You will have a full range of options.

BRIANA: Does not having the line heard a candidate like Ciattarelli more?

He is someone who picked up all 21 Republican Party organization endorsements in the last race in 2021.

Guest: It's a great question.

I think it will be strong enough given his statewide name recognition that he will do well either under a line system over that one.

He will rise to the top of the pack just because people know a lot about him, this is his third run for governor statewide.

I think he will do well and either rules.

But he probably has the most to lose given he has those relationships with every county organization and has maintained them he has really gone around the state in the last two and a half years of the four years before that.

BRIANA: I have seen since he announcement and we have been talking about, that he has been the sort of candidate that hasn't gone away, for lack of a better word.

He has a lot more at stake when you look at it through that lens.

How does he differentiate himself from something like Jon Bramnick who I am guessing is, the two are going to be compared the most?

Guest: Even last night during his announcement, he tried to draw some parallels, he said that Bram Nick works to fit closely with Democrats.

He also said -- all but said this is a guy who voted for Matt Plotkin as Attorney General, voted to confirm him.

That is really a message for the more ride members of the party.

Guest: yes, he will try to make himself a little bit to the right of Bram he will gon forick BRIANA: What does he need to do with his messaging?

Guest: Well, he has endorsed Trumpâ so you will have a Never-Trumper in the race.

You will have Bram Nick who says this is not the direction for New Jersey Republicans.

And then we will have Ciattarelli who has said I am supporting him.

I am throwing myself in with him so a lot of it depends on who wins this presidential race.

If it's Trump, there's almost certainly going to be New Jersey becomes almost to the first midterm state, the first state where we have the earliest midterm election.

BRIANA: Interesting way to put it.

OK.

So if we look at these candidates as a whole and we know that the pendulum tends to swing from Democrat to Republican after Murphy having served 8 years, what is the path forward then for someone like Ciattarelli?

You said he has got to the sort of differentiate himself.

But folks in New Jersey like moderates.

Guest: They do.

And you heard some of that last night.

He tried to speak to property taxes that.

Sounded a lot like the Democrats' platform for 2023 which didn't go so well for Republicans last year.

He also had a little bit of tilting at the windmills, not like he is Don Quixote and he was back in the parental right stuff.

That cycle didn't go well for Republicans.

He will have to make a more compelling case for why that would be different than what we had last year in districts it didn't go so well for Republicans.

It will be even more of an uphill climb to around statewide on these kinds of issues.

BRIANA: Sure.

And we will remind everyone this is still more than a year away, in 2025.

Micah, appreciate it.

There is another twist in the federal corruption trial of U.S.

Senator Bob Menendez.

It now faces a possible delay.

The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to the judge presiding over the case stating persecutors agreed with a recent request by his wife Nadine Menendez to delay the trial which was slated to start May 6, by at least two months.

This after her lawyers asked for an adjournment because she was recently diagnosed with a serious medical condition.

Lawyers are not disclosing details about, the condition but said it would require surgery and possibly significant follow-up and recovery treatment.

In a letter to the judge, U.S. prosecutors ruled they called back to "take seriously the unexpected medical development," calling for a status conference on June 4 to check in on her health, but also denied the request for an indefinite adjournment.

The delay will also impact her husband's trial.

It's not the first time the embattled senator has asked for a postponement since being indicted for a bribery scheme last September.

Is now up to a judge to decide if the trial will be postponed until later this summer.

Police are investigating vandalism at an Islamic center at Rutgers University as a possible bias crying.

The center for Islamic life shared images today are social media of shattered windows, smashed religious artwork from a broken TV's, and a torn Palestinian flag.

The break-in occurred last night during an event for Eid, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Governor Murphy and the attorney general confirming there is a criminal investigation underway and saying there's no tolerance for acts of hate against the Muslim community.

Leaders at the center say the vandalism was fueled by Islamophobia toward Rutgers' Muslim population.

It comes as tensions are rising over the war in Gaza, and calls from some student organizations for the university to divest its endowment from Israeli companies and cut ties with Tel Aviv University.

State educational leaders were in the hot seat today, testifying at the Statehouse before the assembly budget committee as lawmakers grapple with balancing a budget that on the one hand, increases state aid by nearly a billion dollars, but also cuts funding to more than 100 districts.

As Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis reports, several legislators are proposing fixes to their problems in their own districts, but it is unclear if any of them offer a permanent fix.

>> With this milestone comes an infusion of $900 million in K-12 and a preschool for an increase of $124 million.

Reporter: the acting education!

addressed the Assembly Budget Committee and a hearing today to explain Governor Murphy's proposed education budget that finalizes a seven year phase-in the school funding formula.

>> this additional funding will bring over toward -- total K-12 formula eight to nearly $11.7 billion.

And our total funding for preschool will surpass $1.2 billion.

This direct support to our schools now exceeds 24% of the entire state budget.

Reporter: The plan will once again fully fund the state pension system, allocates $4.5 million to literacy programs, $800,000 for afterschool programs for at-risk students, nearly $2 million for AP and college credit courses, and $15 million to expand mental health services for schools.

But foremost on their minds to do with the funding formula that has increased funding to 460 districts, but left 140 of the road facing budget cuts.

>> Do you think property value is a proper way to gauge a local property tax's ability to pay for funding of schools?

>> Property taxes are a vital part of funding our schools, it is of the three components -- local property taxes, state support and federal support.

Reporter: The commissioner explaining that the costs of educating a student also concluded into the formula along with the community ability to pay, and declining enrollment, something they say is part of the explanation for some of the districts losing funding.

But some are losing double digit percentages a year-over-year.

>> My district is losing over 800,000, which is at believe 18%.

I got from their school board, they are down only 20 kids from last year.

I am trying to understand how we got to this point where they are stewing down the barrel of an 18% reduction.

>> Looking at the school community and the cost associated with running schools for the number of students that have these types of needs.

The other side is OK so, how do we share the cost between the state and local peace?

Reporter: That is a question several lawmakers are trying to answer.

A number of bills have been proposed that up a stopgap funding to those districts facing cuts.

One proposed by Democrats appropriates nearly $71.5 million that districts can apply for.

Another bill would restore $200 million in funding to losing districts.

And a companion bill from Republicans would limit the cut it district could face to more than 1% of the year prior.

But it boils down to this question from Assemblyman virus.

>> Where are we doing this?

What are we having to do supplemental bills?

Where are we having to extend these deadlines?

You guys propose the budget.

S it2 is a piece of it, but you could also add other stuff to figure out how to fund these districts.

>> If the legislature were to choose to move forward with those, we would obviously work to implement those.

This is the school funding formula that we have on, the books it is a statutory pro formula.

And we're covering it out and for the first time ever, fully funding it.

Reporter:.

Reporter: Even though this proposed budget has fully funded the formula we could end up seeing a patchwork of funding models going to seven districts leaving this process for them as uncertain as it has ever been.

Joanna Gagis, NJ Spotlight News.

BRIANA: For the first time ever, the environmental protection agency set new rules to keep toxic "forever chemicals" out of drinking water.

The regulations target six chemicals that are part of the larger PFAS family substances commonly used in the range of products because they repel water and they are fire resistant.

But those same properties mean that those chemicals can take several years to breakdown in the environment, making them toxic to people.

PFAS have been linked to cancers, birth defects and other health effects and their contamination is widespread.

The new rules surpass existing state standards.

Water systems will have to invest in new treatment technologies to deal with PFAS.

The EPA also announced a new $1 billion investment in water infrastructure nationwide to help.

And a raft of lawsuits are trying to force chemical companies that use PFAS to pay up.

Just last week, chemical giant 3M agreed to a $10 billion settlement that will pay for drinking water investments around the country.

In our Spotlight on Business Report, the cost to ride the rails is officially going up in .

In a unanimous vote, New Jersey transit's Board of Directors approved a 15% fare hike.

It is the first increase in nearly a decade.

The new prices go into effect July 1 and will get a 3% annual bump every summer after that.

The move is intended to help New Jersey transit close a more than $100 million budget gap in the upcoming fiscal year.

As Ted Goldberg reports, opponents made one final led to the board today, but their protests fell short.

>> This vote pains me very, very much.

Reporter: It also paves anybody who ride NJ Transit who will not have to pay 15% more starting in July.

Before voting unanimously to raise prices, board members explain durable?

>> The alternative to filling that budget gap is cutting services, and I think cutting services really does a disservice to working families in New Jersey.

>> In terms of job losses, it will be devastating to our fellow citizens who work very hard for this agency.

>> Where we are planning for historic events like the road cap and working to build ridership back to pre-pandemic levels it has never been more important to ensure we have predictable funding for the short-term and long-term needs for all of the services and consumers.

Reporter: Pavlik, was also unanimous.

>> It's not right.

It is unconscionable.

Reporter: Hoboken layout Ravi Bhalla is also running for Congress, was among those who stopped by airing their grievances.

>> When you have higher increases, you get more people driving cars.

You get higher carbon emissions.

And you increase the problems we are already facing with the climate crisis.

So, how is this good policy?

Reporter: People like him criticized the board's boat and went so far is to question the board's independence.

>> they say the board of New Jersey transit is nothing more than a rubber-stamp the governor's policy.

>> If that's the case, resign or at least know that you are not an independent board, you are just here doing somebody else's business, not the public's.

>> People have asked us if we are rubber-stamp for the governor.

I will not speak for anybody else here, but for myself, I will tell you, I am not.

>> It is not a yes just as a rubber-stamp.

It is I guess considering all the factors that you discussed and you heard my colleagues.

Reporter: Before the vote, activists hoped a last-minute rally could sway the boots.

>> No fare hike!

[chanting] Reporter: People completed the Fare hike is it equitable and doesn't address NJ Transit's long-term financial problems.

NJ Transit has argued higher prices go a long way to stabilizing their finances.

>> This Fare hike, while presented as a partial solution to address the agencies financial challenges, places the greatest burden on those who depend on public transit the most.

>> Our future cannot be car dependent.

It's unsustainable.

It is unfair.

>> New Jersey transit knew that this fiscal cliff was coming for years.

They should have been planning on large conglomerates and large corporations that will be able to be taxed and a fee given to them.

Reporter: Governor Murphy has proposed a Corporate transit fee for New Jersey's biggest businesses that could generate more than $800 billion for NJ Transit.

Murphy says that is not a permanent solution, it is just to help NJ Transit get back on its feet.

Protesters and NJ Transit were members did agree, they want state lawmakers to get involved.

>> In our state lawmakers have failed to adequately fund NJ Transit for years and now transit riders will suffer because of it.

>> At a time when we should be encouraging more people to take public transit, a double-digit fare increase is not only punitive, but shortsighted.

>> I would encourage the legislature and governor to find additional funding to ensure that in the future, transit does not have to cut services.

Reporter: This is the first period increase in nine years but under the approved plan, prices will increase 3% each year and less changes are made.

In Newark, Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

BRIANA: On Wall Street, stocks plummeted today after a key inflation report showed an unexpected uptick in consumer prices last month.

CPI was up 4.4 percent in March I of economist's -- in March, ahead of economist's predictions.

Here is how the markets closed.

♪ That will do it for us tonight.

But don't forget to download the NJ Spotlight News podcast so you can visit any.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

The entire NJ Spotlight News team, thanks for being with us.

Have a great evening.

We will see you back here tomorrow night.

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Making public schools break for every child.

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Let's be healthy together.

And, New Jersey realtors.

The voice of real estate in New Jersey.

More information is online at njrealtor.com.

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