>> Major funding for NJ Spotlight News provided by the members of NJM insurance group.

Horizon Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

And by the PSEG foundation.

>> Replacing Bill pass while -- passed well.

The latest candidate to try to will the seat left empty by the converse -- the Congressman's death.

You police use of force guidelines.

>> We provide the tools and resources they need to do their job.

We don't ask them to be everything all at once.

We can resolve these incidents safely, peacefully.

>> Free ride on New Jersey transit as the Murphy administration tries to make good with commuters.

>> I'm real happy but at the end of the day, it should have been longer because we pay all this money for buses and trains and we only get a week >>.

>>A growing need for more English teachers and educators in Newark to offset the rising number of bilingual kids.

>> A huge jump in school -- Spanish-speaking has outpaced the staffing we have.

>> NJ Spotlight News begins now.

♪ >> From NJPBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi.

>> Thanks for joining us.

We began with a few key stories.

Democrats are quickly lining up to replace late Democratic Congressman Bill Pascrell.

The Patterson Mayor is the latest to throw his name in the ring, joining contenders and State Senator Nelly Poe, potentially the frontrunner, earning the backing of Democratic leaders in parts of all three counties in the ninth District.

Poe will compete against two legislative partners.

Democrats didn't have much time to make their intentions for the seats known.

Pascrell's death gave the party eight days to find a candidate.

The election will be held this Thursday and there is time for other congressional hopefuls to jump in.

Either way, the seat will remain vacant until a winner from the general election is sworn in next year.

Another big story, the fight over cannabis use and cops in Jersey City.

According to the New Jersey monitor, Jersey City could face daily $100 fines up to $20,000 max if the administration doesn't reinstate three officers who were fired for off-duty marijuana use.

The Civil Service Commission overturned the 2023 termination of the officers.

The deadline for the city to rehire them or face penalties go into effect this Saturday.

This as an attorney for one of the officers filed a wrongful termination lawsuit last week in Hudson County Superior Court, accusing the mayor of using their jobs as a political gimmick to get more attention for his 2025 gubernatorial bid.

Jersey City officials fired or suspended multiple cops for using recreational cannabis off-duty, arguing the officers are violating federal law and can't carry a firearm or ammunition.

So far, they have lost the battle.

An update on another controversial issue facing law enforcement.

The Attorney General, Matt Plotkin, is changing the use of force policy, setting new guidelines for health police respond to mental health calls.

This, weeks after the fatal police shooting of a woman who was barricaded in her apartment amid a mental health crisis.

The family of the 25-year-old, Victoria Lee, called 911 and repeatedly asked police not come or enter the home.

The state says the directive is intended to slow and stabilize encounters between police and barricaded people with changes slated to take effect as early as this October.

While -- what is in the policy?

Attorney General Matt Plotkin is with me now.

Thanks for coming on to talk about this.

As you put it, this is the first statewide policy of its kind and I'm wondering in light of some of the recent events, Victoria Lee, the 25-year-old woman from Fort Lee, did that have anything to do with the timing of putting out this new directive?

>> Thank you for having me.

I first announced that we were going to create this policy in 2023 when I took over the Patterson Police Department.

It is not in reaction to any one incident.

What is clear from our work overseeing fatal police encounter investigations and in our work with Arrive Together, where we have a first in the country statewide alternative response to mental health crises, if we provide officers the tools and resources they need to do their jobs, we don't ask them to do everything and be everything all at once.

We can resolve these incidents safely, peacefully, getting people to help they need without injury to the civilian involved, or the officer.

Briana: Which has been a problem, police officers say they were asked to do too much.

Is it a backdoor way of getting more municipalities to participate with Arrive Together ?

As it stands right now, it is still a voluntary program.

>> Arrive Together, as of the end of last year, became the first program in the country to be operational in every county in the state.

We are serving over half the state's population.

A little over two years ago, we started our first pilot program so we are now over 50% of the states population has some form of alternative crisis response program.

We require and rely on the participation of our municipalities to be involved in Arrive.

We don't have the authority to mandate the do that.

There are resource limitations in each community so when we expand Arrive, we tailor the program to resources in the community and what the community wants to see from the alternative response program.

The program is a little different.

It works through the county prosecutors.

It is an expansion of Arrive but the goal focuses on the limited substance -- subset of instances.

When a barricaded individual is suffering from a mental health episode, we know these are incidents that are likely to result in force and tragically come in injury to a civilian or officer.

Briana: How will the state ensure that these towns will have access to these mental health resources and also be able to provide the right type of training?

It looks like the mental health professionals will need to train at least quarterly with the police departments.

How will you ensure this mandate is carried out come that towns can do it?

>> Every county already has a Arrive program.

We have agreements in place in every county.

We put together resources, and I'm grateful to the governor and legislators that have supported that.

To scale up mental health resources, if it weren't for the expansion of Arrive, the policy, which is the first statewide policy of its kind in the country incorporating mental health professionals into the barricaded crisis response, if it weren't for the fact that we scaled up Arrive, we couldn't implement the program.

We will rely on existing resources that we have put in place and we are putting new dollars to bear to bring new mental health partnerships onto the table so we can bring a holistic response to a moment of crisis.

Briana: When you talk about ramping up Arrive, there is funding there because of that, that towns can tap into?

>> Yes.

We have funding, the legislature has appropriated funding for Arrive Together and we are raising that to implement the policy through the County prosecutor's office.

Make no mistake, this policy, created with the input of law enforcement professionals and mental health providers and advocates, this policy will save lives.

Briana: Let me take through some of the other items in the directive, which includes having officers wait before breaking down a barricade, to wait until crisis negotiators are on the scene to bring less lethal weapons like tasers, as an example.

And to immediately involve superiors, a supervisor on the scene.

If these were in place, these specific guidelines, do you think lives like Victoria Lee and others would have been saved?

>> I can't comment on any particular case that we are currently investigating and will present to the grand jury, but we have seen in New Jersey and across the country, New Jersey is not alone.

When we ask law enforcement to do everything, when we don't put proper structures and resources in place, we don't achieve the outcomes in every instance that we hope we would.

We have seen through the expansion of Arrive many instances where we have had a barricaded individual suffering from a mental health episode and thanks to the partnership with mental health providers and the training and thanks to the work of law enforcement in those situations, we have been able to resolve this peacefully.

We believe by putting best practices into my directive and setting statewide policy for how to respond, a limited subset of police interactions, we can resolve these safely and peacefully and get people to help they need and ultimately, save lives.

Briana: Prior to 2020, it had been about a decade before use of force updated.

Since you have taken office, you have made quite a few changes.

Is this something you are looking to reform even further?

>> In 2020, thanks to the office of public integrity and accountability, our department and the state underwent the first comprehensive review of our use of force policy in nearly two decades.

The policy is used as a model across the country.

We are constantly working on listening to law enforcement, community stakeholders, mental health dividers, other advocates and if we can move it in a way that is clear, that law enforcement can be trained on, that sets clear guidelines for them, we will do so.

Our goal is not to keep constantly tinkering with it, but when we see a way to improve policies that makes law enforcement do their job better and keep officers safer, that is what we will do.

Briana: Is there a world in which law enforcement doesn't arrive to these situations?

We know that has been one of the items that have come up during these protests, that it should be left to community groups, trained community groups and out of the hands of law enforcement.

>> We are already doing that in some situations.

We are implementing the community crisis response team legislation that was passed this year and we are doing that in tandem with Arrive Together, the first office of its kind in the country called the office of community alternative response, dedicated to alternative responses.

We are doing it in cities like Patterson and Newark, training dispatchers to identify calls that don't require a law enforcement response.

But we have a shortage of mental health providers in the country.

There will still be calls that involve potentially armed or dangerous individuals that require some component of law enforcement response.

You will never get a social worker or mental health provider showing up on a scene when a person is armed with a gun, by themselves.

You will not find providers to do that.

Nor would it be safe, frankly, to let them do that.

In those limited calls that still require a law enforcement response, we want to make sure the rules of the road are set in a way that enacts best practices, incorporates mental health and community response teams, which are in the policy as well, directly into the response that gives family members a roll and make sure we take a holistic approach that can resolve these situations peacefully.

If the question is, are we open to nonlaw enforcement response to a certain subset of calls?

Absolutely and we are implementing that as we speak.

Briana: Attorney General, thanks.

We appreciate it.

For the first time in months, there is a new development in the pending bribery and corruption trial for Nadine Menendez, wife of now former U.S.

Senator Bob Menendez.

As first reported by North Jersey.com, a pretrial conference has been scheduled for December at the request of prosecutors who are eager to move the trial along.

It was postponed indefinitely after Nadine Menendez was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She was charged with her husband and three New Jersey businessmen with being part of a massive bribery scheme, but faces just 15 of the 18 charges her codependence reached -- received.

They were tried in July.

Prosecutors are asking for medical reports and to review discovery during the December meeting.

The judge has not set a firm trial date, but told prosecutors and the defense team to keep their calendars open for this January and February.

It has been a summer to forget for New Jersey transit and its riders.

A fair hike combined with severe delays and disruptions.

The rail agency is hoping to make it up to commuters with a free week of service starting today, but it comes at a cost.

A loss of about $19 million in ticket sales, with no details on how New Jersey transit plans to recover from the financial hit.

Ted Goldberg spoke to passengers taking advantage of the fare holiday about the free ride.

>> The dawn of a weeklong fare holiday for transit riders has drawn rave reviews.

>> It is great.

Especially today, the day I choose to go.

>> I was going to go to the airport.

Since I found out it is free, let's make a day of it and we will have quality time to spend.

>> We figured it out last week varied we didn't believe it.

>> It is good.

I didn't know it was free.

>> I was real happy but at the end of the day, it should have been longer because we pay all this money for buses and trains and we only got a week.

His good.

>> Free for riders at a price tag of $19 million for NJ transit.

>> Got to run.

There is my bus.

>> That is less than 1% of the operating budget for the year but it is a nice chunk of change for passengers.

>> I'm a low income student so being able to save the money is great.

>> I had the opportunity to take the train at the end of June and it was severely delayed due to problems.

So I think it is good compensation.

>> $19 million is a lot of money anyway you slice it, but in terms of the overall budget for NJ transit, I feel confident they will be able to make it up.

>> Is works with the regional plan Association.

She says NJ transit will have to get creative to make up the deficit.

The agency previously said it would look for offsets to do that.

>> There is not a lot of wiggle room in the operating budget.

He saw that with the state budgeting process, in which we saw a full-court press to get meaningful sustained funding for the agency.

>> This comes at a time when NJ transit could use some goodwill.

The summer saw a 15% fair hike and issues from aging infrastructure.

>> I have had many issues with NJ transit over the years, stuck in tunnels, stuck at Metropark.

>> I feel bad for commuters.

I think it was the summer from hell.

>> Michelle leads the business and industry Association.

She says the fare holiday is the state looking for good PR as New Jersey's biggest businesses pay corporate transit fee of two point 5%.

>> We heard when we grow our next 1000 jobs they will be outside New Jersey.

We heard companies looking to bring newer operations into New Jersey as part of an existing company here, those were revenue-generating positions that they will be paying taxes on.

>> Commuters enjoying the ride's told me what kind of fixes they would like to see in the future.

>> Some of the gaps are too long.

30, 40 minutes especially on the weekends.

That is too long of a gap to wait for transportation.

>> A lot of times there have been issues.

We haven't gotten proper announcements.

That is a big issue.

You find out through social media or by some other means, another writer saying we have major issues.

>> Passengers are encouraging people to try a bus or train this week.

>> Wherever you can, do everything you can.

Go places.

It should be two weeks.

>> Transit officials said they are searching for offsets to cover the lost revenue but they didn't answer our questions today about what that might look like.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Ted Gould.

Briana: In spotlight on business, from free rides to flip -- free tuition.

Eligible students will be able to attend Rider University at no cost if they meet certain academic and financial requirements.

The university in Lawrenceville says the program is part of an effort to help students find more affordable pathways to higher education.

To qualify, students need to live in New Jersey and have a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

They need to reside in a household with a gross income of $50,000 or less and received both Pell Grant and full tag or tuition aid grants.

It is available for incoming first-year and transfer undergraduate students.

There is a program that enables students to get free books.

At nearly $40,000 per year, the free tuition is nothing to sneeze at but it comes on the heels of writer's decision to cut 31 jobs in an effort to save money.

The university blame this on the nationwide problems with processing financial aid and other fiscal issues.

Turning to Wall Street, trading was choppy today, leaving stocks mixed.

Here is how the markets closed.

When Newark kids had to school next week, students learning English as a second language will make up more than quarter of the district.

An increase over last year, and a trend on par with public schools across the country.

Our Senior correspondent for boards that it is an indicator of the state largest will district needs more teachers that -- teachers and services to make -- meet the demand.

>> A huge chunk of school is Spanish-speaking and that has outpaced the staffing we have.

>> Teachers preparing to start the school year are gearing up for the challenges that come with a growing population of English-language learners coming into the district.

Something Alexander has experienced while teaching at Barringer high school.

>> It is becoming more Latino.

There is a large immigrant population there.

Our population has swelled.

Our school has been overcapacity every year I have been there and an increasing proportion of that student body is primarily Spanish speakers.

>> The largest growth of English-language learners happened between 2022-2020 three of the Board of Education member's zeroed in on how to respond to the issue during the last school year.

We had an increase of 2000 students from one year to the next that is an incredible jump in terms of programming necessary to support those students.

In terms of requiring those students to test, that means they need several kinds of accommodations in order to be able to access the test content.

Ask since the district has worked to launch a new bilingual program at the Malcolm X Chavez high school in the South word to spread students across the district.

This bilingual teacher at Barringer says classrooms are critical for teacher and student success.

>> The average classroom his may be around 20-25 students.

By New Jersey law, it should be 26 in general education but a lot of times, bilingual classrooms, because there are so few staff and so many students, classrooms can be up to 30 or more.

Some teachers have over 35.

Which for any classroom is way too many kids.

>> Patterson is dealing with a similar increase in ESL students.

>> We have seen an increase in English-language learners coming from everywhere.

So typically, we would get folks from South and Central America and the Caribbean.

We are now getting more of an influx of Southeast Asian and some European English-language learners.

The district is doing everything it can to try to keep up.

>> Patterson is expanding the new commerce schools and classrooms, hiring 11 new teachers to meet the demand.

>> We are seeing the growth across grade levels.

The district is responding in various ways.

In one case they moved a lot of English language learners into one school so there is a newcomer school and we have newcomer classes, both at the K-eight and high school levels.

The staff had to be moved with them.

>> He wants to see more incentives to get teachers certified as bilingual, something he was offered in Newark, and better incentives when teachers have to take additional classes to shrink class sizes.

>> I would love to take a sixth period class.

That alleviates the load.

But because it is an extra class, you are doing extra work.

>> He says pay increases would go a long way for teachers who want to do more to help the population of struggling students.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Joanna Gagis.

Briana: That will do it for us tonight but before you go, a reminder to download the NJ's podcast -- NJ Spotlight News podcast.

For our entire team, thanks for being with us.

Have a great night.

We will see you back here tomorrow.

>> New Jersey education Association, making public school grade for every child.

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♪