Trump appears in a D.C. federal court room pleading not guilty on 2020 election felony charges.

His arrest and indictment sparking protests while the nation and New Jersey witnessed the rise in homegrown extremists since his presidency and about January 6 insurrection.

Also, Lottery fever.

Lottery revenues are helping bolster state pension funds as residents try their luck at winning record-breaking jackpots.

>> 5% annual returns.

It can be a win-win for everyone.

Briana: Underrepresented in politics.

A new report finds a lack of black women holding political office in the state and across the country.

>> I believe a democracy without black women is not a democracy at all.

NJ Spotlight News starts right now.

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

More information is online.

>> This is NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi.

Briana: we begin with breaking news tonight.

Former President Donald Trump was arrested and has plead not guilty on four felony charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Trump today appeared in a Washington DC courthouse, traveling from his golf called to be arraigned.

He was indicted signing -- Diane criminal charges -- on criminal charges.

Among the charges conspiracy to defraud the you and to obstruct an official proceeding, a charge that has already been successfully brought against other Capitol rioters.

The indictment says the former President was determined to remain in power after losing in 20 and to orchestrate a plot to overturn the results with the help of six unindicted co-conspirators leading up to January 6.

Trump is calling the charges politically motivated.

Following the arraignment, he will return to Bedminster for a fundraiser tonight.

His previous indictments led to the biggest fundraising days in his campaign.

The January 6 attacks were an example of the tangled web of far right and white racially motivated extremists.

Analysis of domestic terror show they have become more lethal and pose a greater threat to society since Donald Trump became president.

New Jersey's office of Homeland security says the threat matches that of homegrown violent extremists, individuals inspired by foreign terrorist organizations in becoming radicalized.

Data identified nearly a quarter of arrests for those extremists between 2019 and happened in New Jersey.

For more, I am joined by the director of New Jersey's office of Homeland security.

It is good to get a chance to talk to you.

I am interested to know about the factors contributing to these homegrown violent extremists.

Who specifically they are targeting.

>> Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak about this.

Homegrown violent extremists, I need to differentiate.

They are people who were self radicalized by foreign terrorist organizations.

These are individuals who see things online for the most part and have decided for themselves that this ideology works for them.

They are very committed to their cause, whether it is racist or Al Qaeda.

-- ISIS or Al Qaeda.

They are very different from some of the other extremists we deal with.

A lot of times the people they target our law enforcement, religious communities and places where there are mass gatherings.

They are here to stay.

Though we have seen an decrease in the last few years.

Briana: Your office has been putting out snapshots, a small synopsis of what you are up against.

>> In November, a homegrown violent extremists pledged his allegiance to Isis, he put out a manifesto wanting to harm and kill Jews.

She also -- he did also blended ideology.

He also supported it.

Briana: How difficult is it for you to track?

>> I would say we continue to use the lot of the same type of tools we do along with our federal and state partners to track people.

During the Covid, a lot of things had gone online and with that has been the radicalization piece.

That is why it is important for people to -- see something, say something.

Briana: What is the tipping point for someone who has an interest and when they actually become radicalized?

>> As long as they do not take any action to commit violence, that is where we stepped in, we are trying to prevent people from taking violence.

They have to show an action that they are getting ready to commit violence, such as starting to purchase weapons.

A lot of times what happens is for people who are getting ready to attack is something called leakage.

A lot of times, they have had time and plan this out.

They put out like a manifesto or perhaps they say something on social media that somebody sees and it is disturbing.

If someone sees something that looks like violence, Bettis when they need to -- that is when they need to contact their local law office.

Briana: This week marked the deadline for candidates seeking to run for local school boards across the state.

He used to be a relatively sleepy affair but has become an epicenter of culture war issues.

Such as things like book bands and parental and gay rights.

A movement spurred by the pandemic and motivated largely by anger.

Brenda Flanagan takes a closer look.

Reporter: School board meetings can now claim grounds they were in the culture wars.

It has transformed school board elections from local contests into full-blown campaigns by special interest groups.

>> anger turns out votes and so you have national groups taking their national issues and making them local issues.

Reporter: This woman heads districts for democracy, a political action committee that focuses on censorship.

It is dedicated to promoting school board candidates who will defend diversity and equity and help them raise funds.

>> You need money.

You need money for lawn signs, mailings.

That means you have to fund raise.

It can get expensive.

Reporter: She believes politicized pandemic anger morphed into a more general attack.

It is certainly where this woman got involved.

She is now with New Jersey project.

>> 62% win rate.

We did really well.

It is mostly word-of-mouth.

Everybody thinks we have all this money flowing in, but it is just a lot of social media and parents working.

Reporter: She expects to more than doubled the number of school board candidates who will benefit from her group support this all.

They support the parental rights movement, which opposes the state's policy supporting queer and trans students without touting them to parents.

>> We would of course advocate for mental health services.

We just advocate the parents should be involved in the process.

Reporter: Moms for liberty selects like-minded school board prospects to promote.

They do not funnel cash to candidates, but.

>> We have them answer the question near and we will interview them and award been an endorsement and we will certainly post them on our top website.

Reporter: They will get a full count of their candidates soon and will endorse in September.

>> We have chapters in sucks six County and Bergen County.

-- Sussex County and Bergen County.

Reporter: This man is back in a slate of candidates across South Jersey.

>> They know we are onto something and hopefully it will be the beginning.

I wish them luck in November.

Once they win, it is the beginning of a long battle.

Reporter: It is a movement pushing now into the state Board of Education meetings.

>> We cannot afford to have those by the skin of the teeth passages of legislation.

It is incumbent on the governor to replace people if necessary.

Reporter: That would no doubt prompt more protests.

Briana: A recent decision by the states Board of Public Utilities has become the latest hot button issue in Trenton.

It is a program that will incentivize homeowners to switch from using fossil fuels to electric.

A step that will move New Jersey toward a clean energy economy.

But critics are calling it an overreach.

Reporter: The Board of Public Utilities is going forward with the plan to encourage people to heat their homes using electricity instead of fossil fuels.

>> We are establishing benchmarks upfront.

Use the competitive markets to achieve those standards.

Reporter: After putting out the new framework last week, the BPU hosted a conference to take advice and hear concerns about New Jersey's plans, which have gotten praise from environmental groups.

>> Climate pollutants from our buildings are the second biggest source of climate pollution in the state.

We cannot avoid our buildings.

Reporter: The BPU president has heard people complain that the government will ban gas stoves.

He says the BPU is working on incentivizing homeowners and landowners to go electric rather than punish those who do not.

>> It is creating hysteria that somebody will come in and say we are going to take your gas stove away from you.

That is not going to happen.

Reporter: State senators have criticized the new framework, saying it could lead to an outright ban.

>> I know him to be an honorable man.

But he will not be here eight years from now at the BPU.

Reporter: Everybody is supportive of incentive type of programs, however 90 to 95% of the time they turn into mandates.

Reporter: Senators have introduced bills protecting the right to own a gas stove in New Jersey.

They said the governor's administration should have consulted with the legislature rather than change in energy standard on its own.

>> The administration [INDISCERNIBLE] >> We think this should be a legislative issue, not a regulatory issue.

People should have a right to their gas stoves.

Reporter: The state needs to give us cost analysis.

Cost is the biggest question with these programs.

>> I am all for 100% renewable resources.

We just need to do it responsibly.

I do not want to see any working class family in urban areas all of a sudden because of these things that keep happening have to pay out-of-pocket.

>> We make this a seamless customer experience at the end.

If someone wants to put in a heat pump and is handed a 100,000 bill from about local utility.

Reporter: The BPU continues to work out how to convince people to heat their homes with electricity.

Briana: Lottery fever is I an all-time high in New Jersey.

Thanks to those giant jackpots and mega millions.

According to records, it is resulted in record sales, raking in more than $3.7 billion this past fiscal year.

That means the portion --.

I am joined by John Reitmeyer.

Obviously, people buying lottery tickets is good for the state in a number of ways.

Talk to us about the pension system.

>> The pension fund, since the law was changed in 2017, a big portion of lottery proceeds fund pension funds in New Jersey.

When the lottery proceeds are doing well and people are buying lottery tickets, that is also good for the pension fund.

More than $1 billion was just contributed during the fiscal year to help support what taxpayers contribute and what workers themselves contribute toward their pensions.

It is a bad spot for the state itself.

The pension fund for a number of years was underfunded.

Under change that was implemented when Chris Christie was governor, his administration are never fully funded the state contribution, but it did make a policy change which puts money into the pension fund from the lottery system on a monthly basis.

The pension fund last year got 5% annual returns.

It can be a win-win for everyone , including lottery winners.

Briana: Let me shift gears.

This is just the amount of scams.

So you get that money if you are lucky enough and then there is a lot of people looking to separate you from it.

>> If you win the lottery, the lottery does not reach out to you.

They do not know that you won.

If somebody is calling you to check in on you, the lottery is not going to do that.

Be wary of that.

Do not give your information over the phone to anyone.

If you have just won the lottery, you may hear from a lot of people.

Financial advisors, just be wary.

Briana: I know when there is a big mega millions, offices like to get together and buy tickets as a pool.

Are there rules we should be following?

>> There are definitely some best practices the state lottery has put out.

One of them is to be organized, keep track of who is in the pool, who is paid up and current .

Pick a leader, have somebody to be in charge and make copies or take photos of all the tickets you buy.

More importantly, keep your tickets in a secure place.

It is great to have a photo, but you need the ticket.

Those are some of the best practices.

Briana: I nominate you to be the leader of our next gathering.

Thank you.

Briana: Turning to Wall Street.

Here is how trading numbers closed today.

The death of lieutenant governor Shalala for this week is bringing into sharp focus the underrepresentation of black women in politics.

A new national report finds although there have been gains across all levels of office, disparities process.

The fight to get a seat at the table is still an uphill battle.

Melissa Rose Cooper spoke with organizations working to elevate more women of color to positions of leadership.

>> I believe black women in leadership actually bring a mindset that focuses on making sure we can have a fair democracy.

I believe a democracy without black women is not a democracy.

Reporter: That is why the CEO of social justice advocacy group project reading -- ready is hoping to help black women succeed by getting more women elected to office.

>> Often times we have the ears of those leaders but we are not making the decisions as those leaders.

I think it is time to rip the veil completely.

Reporter: According to a report, less than 6% of black women hold offices in Congress, state wide and state legislatures despite making up nearly 8% of the population.

>> We look at the starkest areas of representation, statewide offices like a governor or U.S. Senate, some of those barriers are related to electability biases of those who are the gatekeepers.

Those who say I do not know if a black woman can win statewide.

Reporter: But Kelly says the report is proof that black women can win and bring different coalitions of voters to the table.

Last year, black women won big city mayoral elections in California and Nevada.

Kamala Harris became the first black woman to be sworn in as vice president in 2021.

>> We have seen more black women running for high level office, where there are these really persistent gaps.

There are no black women currently serving in the U.S. Senate.

We hope we close that gap.

The same is true for governor.

We had a record number of women running for governor.

They were not successful, but we are getting closer hopefully to the point where we hopefully elect a black woman governor in the United States.

Reporter: The assembly woman believes it is closer to reality here in New Jersey thanks to the late lieutenant governor Shalala Burke who was the first black woman to serve in the position.

>> Part of her legacy is that she is a profound public servant.

Who fights for her community.

She stood up when people would try to knock her down.

She broke that glass ceiling.

She brought so many people up after her.

Reporter: As more black women enter politics, more will be inspired to do the same.

The key is to continue the conversation without fear in order to make a path for future generations and prove how much representation truly matters.

Briana: State and U.S. flags will fly at half staff at New Jersey to honor the life of lieutenant governor Shalala Burr, who died unexpectedly at the age of 71 after a brief hospitalization for an undisclosed medical condition.

Olive was the first black woman to serve as the states assembly speaker, then the first day New Jersey history to be elected to statewide office.

Governor Murphy was on a family vacation in Italy when he got the news.

He cut that overseas trip short and return home today, reportedly meeting privately with olive's family to pay his respects.

He has 45 days to name a new lieutenant governor, a requirement of the state constitution.

The family is asking for privacy during this time.

That is going to do it for us tonight.

A reminder to download Bout NJ Spotlight News podcast so you can listen anytime.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

Thanks for being with us.

Have a great evening.

We will see you here tomorrow.