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>> Tonight on "NJ Spotlight News ," as the war in Gaza passes 300 days in the Palestinian death toll mounts, voters look to Vice President Harris and where she stands on the conflict.

>> While Harris has called for a cease-fire as well as not -- is acknowledged the scale of suffering in Gaza, actions are louder than words.

We need policy changes, not empty words.

>> Plus, one-on-one with representative Josh Gottheimer who wants to make sure America's allegiance to Israel is not lost in all the controversy.

Rep. Gottheimer: This has been an attack on the U.S. as well as our key ally.

Let's not lose sight of that.

>> Also, transit troubles.

>> Three hours in 90 degree weather.

It does not seem like they care about our health and safety.

>> A power outage leaves commuters stranded in a hot tunnel under the Hudson.

They want answers from Amtrak.

And hidden spending.

More than $600 million was added in the final stages of the budget process, yet no details to how we got to a record level budget.

>> Also, we don't know if lawmakers who sponsored these items had any conflicts.

>> "NJ Spotlight News" begins now.

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

>> Hello and thanks for joining us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gagis in for Briana Vannozzi.

Tensions in the Middle East continue to rise over the weekend, impacting a narrowing presidential race in the U.S.. Hezbollah claimed credit for a drone attack this morning which wounded two Israeli soldiers.

The attack in response to Israel's killing of a Hamas leader in Iran and Hezbollah leader in Lebanon.

There are growing concerns it could turn into an all-out war.

The U.S. moved more military presence into Israel.

Israel continued attacks on Hamas in Gaza over the weekend, killing several civilians in the strikes.

The war continues to be a major political issue in the states, with calls for pro-Palestinian supporters to end the strikes in Gaza which have claimed the lives of nearly 40,000 people.

Vice President Harris address to their concerns during her meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu she told him she would not be silent about the suffering in Gaza.

With a just hours before she selects a nominee for Vice President, some pro-Palestinian supporters are critical of one of her likely top choices, Josh Shapiro, who has been supportive of Israel.

David Cruz takes a closer look at the impact of this war and Harris' take could have on the election.

David: For the photo op after the meeting between Vice President Harris and pre-minister Netanyahu, the U.S. and Israeli flags served as the backdrop.

A symbol of the lasting partnership between the two countries.

For the vice president's remarks afterwards, it was U.S. flags only.

VP Harris: I said it many times, but it bears repeating.

Israel has a right to defend itself, and how it does so matters.

David: Like every president and presidential hopeful before, Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has had to walk a rhetorical tight rope on the latest Middle East war where the atrocities mount and battlefields and political pressures here in an election year mount.

VP Harris: What has happened in Gaza the past nine months is devastating.

The images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time.

We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies.

We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering.

And I will not be silent.

David: a Palestinian-American activist applauded Joe Biden's exit from the race and says he welcomes what he is hearing from Harris.

>> Even an acknowledgment of the current facts.

She said some of these Palestinians have been displaced two, three or even four times.

That is my family.

She is a different generation of Democrat.

Biden represents a different age.

Vice President Harris seems like she is taking on the mantle, understanding more of what the pulse is of the Democratic Party right now.

David: an uncommitted delegate from the Justice for Palestine permanent cease-fire now delegation.

He too welcomed Biden's exit from the race, but says he needs to hear more from Harris before he commits to her.

>> While Harris has called for a cease-fire as well as acknowledged the scale of suffering in Gaza, actions are louder than words.

We need policy changes, not empty words.

Harris has the opportunity and chance to shift from Biden to garner firm support of the Democratic base.

David: He had until the end of business today to make a decision.

Meanwhile Palestinian's like this attorney battle feelings of guilt, knowing she can be here for her children, while other mothers simply cannot.

>> My son is home sick so I get to be home with him to comfort him.

How is a child, who might not have a single surviving relative going to receive any comfort when they are lying in the hospital bed, completely covered and casts, because there are burns on 80% of their body?

David: Acknowledgment of Harris of conditions on the ground is one thing.

Action that would change those conditions is quite another.

It takes a president and a Congress in consensus on how to stop the fighting.

Uncommitted delegates say they want to meet with Harris during the convention to hear her call for a permanent cease-fire and an arms embargo.

To get her on the record at least before they can believe, let alone mobilize, on her behalf.

I'm David Cruz, "NJ Spotlight News."

Joanna: Amidst the pro-Palestinian advocacy these several months, some Democrats remain staunch in support of Israel.

New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer is one of them.

He posted a letter on X last Thursday noting that 300th day since October 7 attack on Israel and the hostages still in captivity, and mentioned the influence of Iran over protests.

He joins me to discuss those concerns and what he believes America's response should be.

Congressman, great to have you with us tonight review wrote that letter commemorating the 300th day since the attack.

What is your call for the U.S. and its response and support of Israel right now?

Rep. Gottheimer: As you said, it is unthinkable how many days it has gone on.

Especially for the American hostage families I spoke to over the weekend.

One of them, the Alexander family, lives in New Jersey.

Still no word after nine months about their loved one.

You can't imagine what they are going through.

What we said to the Director of National intelligence after her comments that Iran has potentially been involved, has been involved in potentially involved deeply in the disinformation in the U.S., spewing false information, potentially involved on college campuses and other places across the country.

You have terrorist ties and influence in our country potentially.

I asked for more details among the intelligence committee, the house.

I asked for Congress to be briefed on these issues.

Where have Iranian proxies been involved in the U.S., what money has been used in our communities and college campuses to support terrorist activity?

That is what I would like to know more about.

Joanna: That issue has created division in your party.

Many progressives want to see the U.S. alter or end its support of Israel.

Is there any evidence to prove that Iranian influence has given momentum to that movement?

Rep. Gottheimer: I think the Iranian influence and influence of terrorists is something to protect of U.S. we must follow through on.

All Americans should understand that.

The Foreign Minister of Hezbollah, a terrorist proxy, a terrorist wing of Iran, said the real enemy here is not Israel, but the ultimate goal is the U.S. That is there real enemy.

Democracy, the West, our values, that is what is on the line and why it is critically important the United States understands the full involvement of Iran in our country and disinformation.

I don't believe anybody, and I hope no one in our country would want terrorists to influence and attack our homeland.

Joanna: What should the Harris message B as she is campaigning for president?

I know when she met with Netanyahu a couple weeks ago she said she would not forget about or ignore the suffering of those in Gaza.

He was critical of her saying that saying it is indicating to Iran and others that there is daylight between the U.S. and Israel.

Was she wrong for those statements?

What should her message be?

Rep. Gottheimer: I don't think anyone should ever ignore the suffering of any innocent person.

Frankly, as you know, Hamas has used innocent Palestinians as human shields as part of their effort, which is disgusting and appalling.

We should all pray for the families of those who lost lives and loved ones.

But Hamas on October 7 attacked Israel.

Iran has attacked Israel.

It was the worst massacre on October 7 since the Holocaust, killing babies, ripping babies out of wombs, and seniors and burning children and babies alive.

The most unthinkable acts.

Hamas created this attack and this war.

I think the vice president said, let's always think about those who lost lives.

I think she was also very clear in saying, we need to stand with our key ally, Israel, which is key to national security and our fight against terror.

Remember, the who fee Houthis, Hezbollah, others attack the West.

Houthis fire missiles at our ships come our service members.

Iranian terrorist proxies in Iraq and Afghanistan have attacked our service members.

This has been an attack on the U.S. as on our key ally.

We must not lose sight of that.

I know the vice president, when elected president and is our commander-in-chief, will do anything to protect the U.S. and our fight against terror and stand closely by our key allies.

Joanna: Thank you for your perspective tonight.

Rep. Gottheimer: Thanks for having me.

Joanna: The hits keep coming for NJ transit riders.

Last week in New Jersey train lost power and stranded customers in a tunnel without air-conditioning for three hours.

It left Penn State Station around 7:00 p.m. and due to an Amtrak power disruption, lost power under the tunnel.

Commuters experienced panic attacks and medical issues as they waited on a stifling hot train for hours before being told, back to New York.

She was on the train that night.

>> That experience was traumatic.

I saw a lot of people having panic attacks.

Thankfully I was not one of them.

I think the CEO's and powers above need to look into why this is happening and how to fix this because it seems they don't care about their patrons or customers based on that experience I had for three hours in 90 degree weather.

It does not seem like they care about our health and safety.

Joanna: A Congressman called it a complete failure and is asking Amtrak to prioritize infrastructure improvements from its federal funding, and for NJ transit to improve communication with passengers who are stranded or delayed.

NJ transit told us they are still investigating the incident and keeping passengers on board the train was the safest option available.

In our spotlight on business report, New Jersey has an approved budget for the 2025 fiscal year, but the details are still unknown.

What is known is that $600 million was added in the final days of negotiations, pushing the total to a record $56.7 billion.

Lawmakers have not revealed where those dollars are local -- allocated and who is benefiting.

A reporter has been pressing lawmakers for details and joins me now.

What do we know and what don't we know about the $600 million added that got us to a historic $56.7 billion?

John: We know the grand total and could probably guess who the sponsors are, but we don't have the documentation submitted by lawmakers when there is this flurry of activity at the end of June where the total size of the budget tends to grow.

We don't usually see it go down at the end.

We know from the budget there were hundreds of additional line items put in Napa end of June -- put in at the end of June.

We don't know what argument was made to get funding for these law -- line items.

We don't know if lawmakers who sponsored these items had any conflicts.

Do they work with somebody at an outlet that got increased funding?

Do they have family ties?

They are supposed to fill out a disclosure made public.

That is one thing we don't have.

Joanna: What does state law or require in terms of the timing of those disclosures and when lawmakers present the details?

John: The state constitution sets a deadline for when the budget has to be enacted and signed into law.

Disclosures are part of legislative rules, but there is a history to these rules.

They were created in response to corruption scandals in the mid-2000's, where we had lawmakers go to jail over corruption that involved the state budget.

Joanna: The Senate budget committee chair at the time?

John: Yes, he was an example.

They wrote these rules and followed a different process right after.

It seems as the years have gone by, lawmakers have gotten away from following this procedure as strict as they may have at the beginning.

Now we are not getting B's until months after the budget comes out -- getting these months after the budget comes out.

Joanna: Republicans have called for more disclosure.

What would they like to see, and it does this need to be a legislative response?

John: This is a time honored tradition in Trenton.

Democrats, since the majority, have inserted a lot of last-minute spending.

Republicans, in the minority, would like to see these things disclosed before the budget is adopted so lawmakers when voting on the budget can see the explanation for the added items.

Maybe they agree with it, but do not have the opportunity now, because it comes out after the budget is enacted.

I don't want to speak for the Republicans, but I know they have been calling for disclosure at a time.

Joanna: Are there details you can share about those pet projects approved?

John: We know the items themselves and are waiting on sponsors.

Some examples, there is funding for parks, funding for soup kitchens, food banks, ballparks got funding.

Hundreds of items.

Some ranging from several hundred thousand dollars up to the millions.

We have a good sampling of the and they make it to the budget bill.

Joanna: County colleges.

John: Lawmakers constitutionally do right the budget bill.

It is within their rights to add things they think may be our priorities.

It is the disclosure and transparency of the process that has gotten away from practices almost two decades ago.

Now we are finding this stuff out well after the fact.

It gives lawmakers no opportunity to look at those justifications and see if anyone has a conflict of interest in real time when voting on the budget.

Joanna: In an election year, immigration and its impact on our economy are top of mind for many voters, especially as Republican nominees criticized the Biden Administration's handling of the border crisis.

A new report on taxation finds the immigrant community contributes more than $1 billion in state and local taxes each year in New Jersey alone.

Raven Santana spoke to the co-author of the study as well as immigrant advocates about the findings.

>> A system which is not investing in them.

Raven: According to a new report, nearly 430,000 undocumented immigrants contributed$1.3 billion in local and state taxes.

The report from a think tank found more than 1/3 of the tax dollars paid by undocumented immigrants go to state programs and benefits they are barred from accessing.

>> My parents are undocumented immigrants.

They file taxes every year and pay taxes.

They have no benefit.

They are not eligible for any federal program, but they are paying taxes into it.

Raven: Not being able to access these benefits is a reality he knows firsthand.

The advocacy manager for immigrant justice says this is personal to him as he has not just watched his parents deal with hardships.

He says he is experience them, too.

>> I am a DACA recipients.

I pay federal and state taxes but am an for any federal program.

I don't think I will ever see those contributions in the future for me.

>> Undocumented immigrants pay taxes, they help contribute via income and payroll taxes to our social safety net programs that they are barred from using like Social Security, to which they contributed billions.

Medicare, $6.4 billion.

Unemployment insurance, $1.8 billion.

Raven: The senior state policy analyst atITEP and co-author of the study says the data is a reminder undocumented immigrants are vital to communities.

>> In this report we model a scenario where undocumented immigrants are given permanent legal status or work authorization.

We do see they are already contributing a lot.

We sue those -- we see those increase even more.

>> That pales in comparison to what our report found.

Over $7 billion in expenses that each illegal immigrant combined to the New Jersey budget is affected.

Raven: This assemblyman called the numbers in the study questionable at best.

He released his own findings and report which found nearly one in 10 residents entered the country illegally and received roughly $8,000 in taxpayer-funded benefits.

>> The more benefits we give out, the more people will come here illegally, the more people that will die crossing deserts and rivers to get here illegally.

If you want to fix the problem, you can look at legal immigration.

You can look at making the process a little easier.

You can make it take a little less time.

And you can do it the right way so people start off their relationship properly in the U.S.

If your first act coming to the U.S. is to break our laws, obviously you don't have respect for our laws.

Raven: He says he wants to stop funding calls for deportation.

Meanwhile advocates hope to use ITEP's data to support legislation to allow undocumented immigrants access to state benefits.

Joanna: Turning to Wall Street, the markets saw a global selloff over fears of a slowing U.S. economy.

At one point the S&P and NASDAQ's lighting by 3% and the Dow tumbling 1000 points.

Sharp declines across the board leading to fears of recession and some saying the Fed waited too long to lower interest rates.

Some economists caution now is not the time to panic and the economy is still strong.

Here is where the numbers ended today.

♪ Joanna: A follow-up to a story we brought you a week ago.

The unidentified material found on the beach in Keyport tested positive for elevated levels of arsenic, in addition to the lead found in the first round of testing when it was first discovered.

The Department of environmental protection noted, those lead levels are below the standards for direct contact.

Signs have been posted around the rock like material warning families not to touch them and wash their hands if they come into contact with them.

A Congressman says the DEP is working with the Department of Health to find out where it came from.

Before you go, remember to download the "NJ Spotlight News" podcast to listen to us anytime.

I'm Joanna Gagis.

For the entire team, thanks for being with us, have a great night, and we will see you tomorrow.

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