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Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, day five of the Patterson water crisis and utility crews reach a critical step in the repair of the water main break, giving hope that relief is in sight.

24 hours ago, crews were working feverishly to isolate the leak.

And now, a day later, we can report that they have isolated the leak.

Repairs are underway.

Plus, the Trump administration has officially taken over Atlantic City's troubled public housing system.

Also, a pair of New Jersey Democrats hear the complaints from their constituents and pledge to take on Trump.

People are working every day, but they cannot afford, they have to decide between health care and prescriptions versus paying their rent and groceries.

I mean, rent is high as hell.

Once again, these are things that this administration does not know about, or they just honestly don't give a damn.

And the surging popularity of e-bikes, especially for teenagers and children, is raising new safety concerns on Jersey streets.

They're essentially motorcycles.

And then they're riding on the roads and then they're quick zipping onto the sidewalks or cutting cars off or knocking down pedestrians.

NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

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

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

I'm Raven Santana, in for Brianna Vanozzi.

We begin with a few of today's top stories.

First, Patterson and three surrounding towns remain under a boil water advisory for a fifth day as repairs continue on a massive water main break.

But relief may be in sight.

The Passaic Valley Water Commission announced late yesterday that its crews had managed to isolate the lake, a critical step that allowed the rest of the water system to recharge and water pressure to be restored.

Utility officials estimate the 140-year-old water main was gushing between 10 and 15 million gallons of water daily after it broke on Friday.

Patterson, Prospect Park, Hildon, and North Hildon all remain under a boil water advisory as the repair work continues.

And until thorough testing confirms the water is safe to drink, relief stations have been opened across all four communities to hand out bottled water, as well as mobile shower units and portable toilets.

Patterson Fire Department officials said dozens of departments from across the state, some from as far as Cape May County, have sent water tender trucks to help with fire protection in the city.

PVWC Executive Director Jim Muller, speaking at a press conference this morning, welcomed the return of water pressure, but cautioned there's still much work to be done.

We did isolate the leak and significantly isolated it.

There's still some water coming out, but the system is starting to recover.

So we're getting reports and we're seeing on our own gauges that pressure is starting to come up in parts of the system.

The west side of Passaic River, the Hillcrest area, Redwood, is problematic.

It's a higher elevation, so that's slower.

Yesterday, those areas had zero pressure.

Today, they do have some pressure, but we still are, as the mayor said, we're still encouraging people to conserve water.

If you do get water back, understood, you want to flush your toilets and that kind of thing, but you want to conserve as well because not everybody has that, and it does take time.

After years of alleged mismanagement and corruption, the Atlantic City Housing Authority has officially been taken over by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, otherwise known as HUD.

The department initially sent out a letter to the housing authority on July 22nd, declaring it in substantial default, pointing to longstanding issues like heat outages, mold, and pest infestations, especially at Stanley Homes Village, where, as NJ Spotlight News has reported, residents have sued over the poor conditions.

But last week, the housing authority fired back on those claims in their response, saying they had made many improvements to lift the agency out of the troubled category, but HUD officials say it wasn't enough.

Congressman Jeff Van Drew, who has advocated for the takeover since 2023, issued a statement dubbing it a victory, saying, "We are sending a clear message that every American deserves safe and dignified housing."

Residents have expressed hope that the takeover will result in improved living conditions.

Private prison profits are surging as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement, aiming to deport a million people this year.

GeoGroup and CoreCivic, the two industries' biggest players, report double-digit revenue jumps fueled by new ICE contracts, including at Newark's Delaney Hall.

This as the number of people in immigration detention facilities hits record highs.

To discuss more on the crackdown and this business boom and what this means for the state, I'm joined by our Washington, D.C., correspondent Ben Hulak.

Hi, Ben.

Thanks for joining me.

Absolutely.

Happy to talk.

Ben, these detention centers have long been a flashpoint in cities like Newark over immigration policies, but now financial analysts are calling them a fantastic growth opportunity.

How big are the potential profits?

Well, really massive, I would say.

I talked with a lawyer yesterday who's watched immigration detention policy and politics play out in New Jersey for years now, and in her eyes, this is not a once in a lifetime, but certainly this is an unprecedented moment.

And at the back of the industry is $170 billion worth of funding that Congress has just approved for new ICE detention facilities, recruitment, and that is buoying this whole massive wave for the private prison industry in New Jersey and beyond.

To your point, there is an ecstatic sentiment around this industry from financial analysts, and it's really a massive financial growth opportunity.

I mean, how lucrative are these contracts, Ben?

It's a bit hard to tell contract to contract, but I think the key thing to understand here is that the industry is heavily reliant on government contracts.

So for Delaney Hall, for example, that's the Newark site, one of the two ICE detention facilities in New Jersey.

That is a $60 million profit, likely in the first year, and the overall contract goes out 15 years.

It's $1.2 billion.

So we're talking that's B money, not million with an M. It's just massive.

And this industry, of course, has been around for years under the Obama administration.

The Obama administration deported, I think, 400,000 undocumented people.

The second Trump administration is, of course, targeting one million in the first year.

So to meet that target, there is massive money behind it, and it is an industry that's really just thrilled with what's going on now.

Well, Ben, we saw new data out from ICE this week showing that the majority of detainees in New Jersey are listed as non-criminal, including nearly 90 percent of those at Delaney Hall.

So how does that fit in here with the Trump administration's goals?

Right.

I'm thinking of a quote Tom Homan, who is known as the borders are for the administration, said back in January.

He said that people will be collateral damage.

There will be collateral arrests of people who are effectively innocent because in his eyes, this is just a price worth paying.

So this bears out.

This is a broad national pattern.

And actually, before we started talking, I looked up some research from the track group out of Syracuse University.

This is a group that sifts through public data, files open records requests and collates all sorts of numbers.

As of late July, 71 percent of all people detained by ICE nationwide do not have a criminal record.

And beyond that, if they do have a criminal record, there's another portion.

It is a mild offense, something like a traffic ticket or a misdemeanor.

It's not.

Yes, that's a trend in New Jersey, but this is playing out nationwide.

Well, Ben, the private operators are also looking to profit by expanding their reach, right, by using military sites to hold detainees.

Now, can you tell us what your reporting shows about that?

Yeah, so I've been asking around and doing a little digging about potential the potential use of joint base.

McGuire, Dix Lakehurst down in South Jersey as a site.

Geo Group is one of the companies I've been covering, along with many of the reporters.

And then the other operator is CoreCivic.

Those are the two large private prison industry giants.

Really, they're looking at military options.

They're also looking to expand their business through transportation.

So that's ground and air transportation, moving detainees.

And then there's another growth opportunity in their eyes here, which is tracking people who are not held within within brick and mortar walls in places like Delaney Hall or the Elizabeth Detention Center.

But tracking people with GPS monitors, that's another lucrative opportunity for them here.

And the money flowing, I just can't underscore this enough.

The 170 billion is a one time chunk of money on top of regular congressional appropriations.

So this is a huge windfall already for the administrate for these industry groups, I should say.

And this money from the federal government hasn't really started to flow yet.

So they're at the top of this crest and you know what for the right.

That's that's a great point, Ben, because we know that there has been pushback.

Right.

So will the pushback really quick?

Will the pushback from those against the expansion of these detention centers impact their growth in the future?

It certainly it certainly could.

And certain states have, like New Jersey, taken legislative steps to block the expansion of ICE detention facilities.

Of course, the Third Circuit recently, maybe three or four weeks ago, struck down that state policy that will allow the expansion of detention facilities.

But really, the the lucrative opportunities here are not in the Northeast.

They are in Texas, Louisiana, much of the South, where the state legislatures are friendlier.

And it's often easier to hide folks away out of sight from big cities.

Of course, this place called Alligator Alcatraz in Florida has gotten a ton of attention.

There's also a site in Indiana that the administration is sort of darkly calling the Speedway Slammer.

That is, of course, a reference to stock car racing in Indiana.

The tentacles of this industry are continuing to spread out throughout this year.

And none of this really should come as a surprise.

This is what Mr. Trump campaigned on, what his allies in Congress have voted for.

And it's really out in the open, sort of plain to watch and predictable in a sense.

This is what we saw coming.

Excellent reporting.

Thank you for joining me.

And to see more of Ben's reporting, you can go to NJSpotlightNews.org.

Thanks.

And in Jersey City last night, Democrats LaMonica McIver and Rob Menendez took direct aim at the Trump administration's stepped up ICE raids.

Also, warning of health care cuts and political redistricting, they say could silence voters.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has more on how the two also shared stories from constituents caught in the middle as they push back on what they call a deliberate strategy by the Trump administration to divide and intimidate.

Elections have consequences, and this is where we are at.

Democrat LaMonica McIver shared a stage with congressional colleague Rob Menendez talking about the Trump administration's impact on New Jersey.

They discussed folks fearing health care cutbacks and communities here terrified by ICE immigration raids.

Menendez called it a deliberate Republican strategy.

And that to me is one of the most challenging things about this administration.

The cruelty, the bully pulpit, the flubber zone strategy is meant to get people to disengage.

People are being put against the wall in many different places and spaces, and so that is going to have a result, you know.

And so I do think things are going to get worse.

Back in May, both representatives tangled with immigration officers as they attempted to tour the thousand-bed Delaney Hall detention center in Newark.

McIvers pleaded not guilty to federal assault charges.

During this so-called constituent dialogue in Jersey City, they noted New Jersey's diverse population and four cities with sanctuary status will make immigrants here ongoing targets.

We get calls every day, both of our offices, about how students have now been told, you got to get out, you got 48 hours to leave here.

Schools not even notified.

And these are sometimes students who are like studying to be doctors, they have specialties.

The Democrats noted more than 90 percent of detainees at Delaney Hall do not have criminal records and warned ICE is ramping up activity, deploying agents wearing masks.

I think Monica and I are on numerous pieces of legislation where ICE officials would have to identify themselves and not wear masks.

I mean, that should just be a baseline thing that we have to use.

A few dozen folks signed up to attend this chat.

During summer recess, as members of Congress conduct town halls in home districts across the U.S., Republicans have sometimes struggled, defending ICE raids as a legitimate crackdown on undocumented individuals and explaining billions in federal aid cuts to Medicaid and SNAP as necessary to control fraud and abuse.

In a high cost state like New Jersey.

There's something called the working poor in America where people are working every day, but they cannot afford.

They have to decide between health care and prescriptions versus paying their rent and groceries.

I mean, rent is high as hell.

Once again, this is these are things that this administration does not know about.

You know, they just honestly don't give a damn.

Republicans in Washington wield a trifecta controlling House, Senate and the Oval Office.

But with looming midterm elections next November, the president's pushing red states like Texas and Florida to redraw their congressional districts, a highly unusual mid-decade maneuver that could create more GOP seats.

It's here to death.

It should be because people are going to try to vote them out.

And because they're so scared, what are they doing now?

Cheating, going in and redistricting.

Texas, first up.

Florida, we heard September.

You know, Missouri, they're up and coming.

This is what they're doing to stack it so that they can have majority again because they know they're in trouble come 2026.

But both reps acknowledge it would be tough under New Jersey's constitution to launch an immediate redistricting initiative, despite Governor Murphy's tough talk about fighting back.

Each state has its own process for redistricting.

Republican states have made it very easy for their state legislatures to redistrict at different moments in time.

I think it's going to be difficult for New Jersey to do.

I don't envision New Jersey doing it.

But right now, there needs to be a complete mobilization effort in Texas and Florida, any state that they're thinking about redistricting.

They are trying to usurp the right of their citizens right from having fair districts.

For now, the Democrats have always attacked Trump, but their larger challenge remains trying to refocus and reinvigorate their scattered constituencies.

I'm Brenda Flanagan and Jay Spotlight News.

In our spotlight on Business Report tonight, new details are emerging about hundreds of millions of dollars in last minute spending added to New Jersey's new state budget.

Majority Democrats tacked the items in just before passing the nearly fifty nine billion dollar plan in late June.

Around the same time, they approved more than six hundred million dollars in tax hikes now hitting residents statewide.

And as our budget and finance writer John Reitmeyer reports, legislators on Friday quietly posted the sponsors names on the state website, though some details are still missing.

One of the most noteworthy at the end of June, a change in budget language was written into the spending bill by the majority party, resulting in forty five million dollars from New Jersey's opioid legal settlement funding going to just four hospitals.

The sponsors of or sponsor of this language change was left blank.

There is also a complaint that we're hearing from Republicans who are upset with the way this process plays out, that legislative rules suggest that lawmakers should be providing explanations or justifications for the added spending that they're sponsoring.

So if you're asking for more money for a ballpark in your district or to replace water mains, you should be explaining exactly why state lawmakers need to be picking up the tab for such a project with justification of how the money would be used.

As long as you're one of those taxpayers who doesn't get hit too hard by the new tax hikes that were just enacted as part of the new state budget, you might be very happy with the way things have played out.

At the same time, there are people who would be living in other towns who may be getting hit with tax hikes who live in a legislative district that didn't benefit at all from some of this last minute spending.

And those people would probably look at this a different way because they're adding more money in terms of taxes paid into the state budget, and they're not really getting any of the dividends because these types of projects that get funded at the end of June through the majority party's budget, perhaps none of that spending is occurring in their legislative district.

And so they're paying more in taxes and they're not seeing the benefit of some of these projects being carried out where they live, which again eases the local tax burden by shifting it on to state taxpayers.

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.

There's a growing concern over e-bike safety in New Jersey after a string of serious accidents this summer, including the death of a 14 year old from Egg Harbor Township last month.

Lawmakers are now considering new legislation to address the issue, while police are reminding riders, especially teens, that e-bikes must follow the same rules of the road as bicycles and that helmets can save lives.

CEO correspondent Joanna Gaggis has more.

We have children basically on motorcycles and granted they may not be moving at 50, 60 miles per hour, but the damage that can occur at moving 25 to 30 miles per hour can be just as significant and life altering.

If you've been outside at all this summer, you've probably seen e-bikes zipping around the streets or sidewalks.

More and more, they're being driven by kids, some as young as 11 or 12 years old.

We had a juvenile riding a bike on one of our streets and crashed into a motor vehicle.

He was going at a high rate of speed.

That e-bike crash in Westfield last Friday resulted in the child being taken to a trauma center.

But in mid-July, a 14 year old in Summers Point died in an e-bike crash.

And this one's hard to watch, but Montvale police released video of an e-bike colliding with a car a few weeks ago to help raise awareness about these types of incidents that have become all too common across the state.

We've seen an increase already this summer as compared to last year.

We're on track to double or triple the number of injuries that we've taken care of as a result of e-bike and e-scooter use.

They're essentially motorcycles.

And then they're riding on the roads and then they're quick zipping onto the sidewalks or cutting cars off or knocking down pedestrians.

Westfield passed an ordinance banning e-bikes from town parks to protect kids and others inside the park.

Towns across New Jersey have passed similar bans, but maybe an unintended consequence.

It is pushing the bikes out into the street.

We're seeing now is that kids are riding these bikes on main roads, on busy roads, and they don't realize that they're treated as a motor vehicle.

And unfortunately, because many of these kids don't have licenses yet, they're not able to drive a motor vehicle, but they're riding these motorized bikes that are classified as motor vehicles.

It's kind of this double-edged sword.

Plus, Westfield Rescue Squad President Callie Campbell says they've seen cases where the kids alter their e-bikes to hit speeds closer to 40 miles an hour.

After learning about the teen's death in his district, Republican Senator Vince Palastina proposed legislation to require all e-bike riders take a safety course before operating a Class 1 or Class 2 e-bike, especially because most of them have never even learned the rules of the road.

All the basics, you know, starting, stopping, understanding how to view hazards, similar to what you go through with driver's training, you know, where are the hazards, how do you comply with stop signs, how does your interaction with vehicular traffic go and crosswalks, I mean, all of that has to be part of what goes into this.

And of course, all the safety measures that you should have on your body, including a helmet.

Do you think that there should be a consideration for an age requirement to be on an e-bike?

I think that's definitely something that we need to look at.

Certainly, younger people should not be on these vehicles.

They're going way too fast and they're just not able to fully embrace how important it is to operate them in a safe manner.

We're really putting too much pressure on children to make these safe decisions when mentally they're just not developed enough yet to be making those decisions.

Dr. Kelly Willman has seen way too many life-altering severe brain injuries because young people were riding without helmets.

But she has a word of caution for parents who think they can just hand their kid a helmet and send them out the door.

That's really just protecting the head and the brain.

We still see cervical spine injuries, broken necks that can result in significant paralysis or even quadriparesis where all four extremities are involved.

A lot of these patients also suffer from blunt injury to their chest and to their abdomen.

So we can see injuries to the spleen, injuries to the liver.

These can result in life-threatening bleeding intra-abdominally.

Campbell would like to see the law require every e-bike to be registered with the state, no different than a motorcycle.

This would allow police to track who's breaking the rules and require more accountability for parents before they send their kids out onto the road.

In Westfield, I'm Joanna Gagis, NJ Spotlight News.

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 follow us on Instagram and Blue Sky to stay up to date on all the state's big headlines.

I'm Raven Santana.

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

Have a great evening and we'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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