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Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, the fight over sanctuary cities ramps up as immigration policy takes center stage in the New Jersey governor's race.

Also, 988 Services.

We look at the impact of recent cuts to the crisis hotline for LGBTQ+ youth.

Even with all of this, it's been an extremely difficult time for young people.

We've seen from the Trevor Project that rise in anxiety, stress, suicidal ideation in many cases.

Also, gig workers' rights.

Lawmakers are proposing changes to compensation and benefits for contract workers, leaving many freelancers fuming.

You're threatening to wipe out our incomes and careers, and you're admitting you'll create no new jobs for us.

And community outreach.

How Camden is striving to improve interactions between the public and police.

It's a different approach.

It's a softer approach.

It shows them that we're here to help them.

We're not here to rest our way out.

We're here to help them.

We know they have families.

That's somebody's wife, somebody's mom.

So we just try to get them back on the right path.

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 Wednesday night.

I'm Brianna Vanozzi.

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

First, there are growing calls for accountability in the wake of a tragic double homicide that allegedly involved a state police lieutenant who previously served on Governor Murphy's security detail.

Now, authorities say 33-year-old veterinarian Lauren Semenchuk and her boyfriend Tyler Webb were found shot to death in her Franklin Township home over the weekend.

Victims of what prosecutors say was a double murder allegedly carried out by Semenchuk's ex-boyfriend, state police lieutenant Ricardo Jorge Santos, who later died by suicide and was found in his car.

Semenchuk's family is now asking whether law enforcement failed her when she asked for help.

According to the family, Semenchuk had reported disturbing behavior by Santos, like stalking, harassment, and vandalism to Franklin Township police back in May while seeking a restraining order, but was never able to speak to an officer and didn't receive a follow-up.

The Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office is investigating.

A spokesperson for the governor and attorney general's office didn't return our request for comment, but previously said in a statement the governor was "shocked and devastated by this horrific tragedy."

A GoFundMe page has been set up to support Lauren Semenchuk's family.

Also tonight, scathing allegations against Howell Township officials where a whistleblower lawsuit claims elected leaders there pushed illegal and discriminatory housing policies.

Former Township manager Joseph Clark alleges the mayor, John Leggio, and council members tried to require renters to prove U.S. citizenship or face eviction.

According to court documents, the officials proposed revoking certificates of occupancy for undocumented immigrants and even suggested racial profiling tactics like checking renters' recycling bins for Modelo beer bottles.

The lawsuit also claims the mayor tried to pull housing approvals based on arrests, sending text messages about cross-referencing names of locals arrested with rental records.

Joe Clark and others who objected allege they were retaliated against and their work environment became "unbearably hostile."

Clark says he was forced to resign in July.

The lawsuit accuses the town of discrimination, retaliation, and violating whistleblower protections.

And Howell Township officials didn't return our request for a comment.

And a $54 million plan to bolster five miles of the Jersey coastline is now hanging by a thread.

Federal officials are warning that funding for the long-awaited beach replenishment and dune project across Five Mile Island, home to the Wildwoods and part of Lower Township, may be pulled if local leaders can't reach an agreement by the end of September.

The beach replenishment plan was launched after Superstorm Sandy would bring 2 million cubic yards of sand to the area, but unity among the towns involved has been hard to find.

North Wildwood and Lower Township are backing the project, citing severe erosion in those areas, but Wildwood and Wildwood Crest have raised concerns about the project's impact on tourism, beach width, and dune height.

Now, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, this is the last section of developed ocean coastline in New Jersey that hasn't had dune construction post-Sandy.

Now supporters are scrambling to salvage the deal.

With that one, they say coastal protections for some of the state's most vulnerable beaches could be lost, along with the funding to build them.

Well, as we reported yesterday, an updated list from the Department of Justice puts four New Jersey cities at risk of even more litigation over their sanctuary status and their "lack of cooperation" with the Trump administration's immigration policies.

Those exact policies are now in the spotlight in the upcoming governor's race, with Republican Jack Ciattarelli criticizing his opponent, Democrat Mikey Sherrill, for her alleged support of the immigrant trust directive, which he says prevents local law enforcement from working with federal immigration agents.

And political correspondent David Cruz has more on what each candidate is and isn't saying about immigration reform.

Even before the days of the 1988 infamous Willie Horton political ad, campaigns have been turning tragedy into political opportunity.

Both parties are well-versed, but the latest tragedy that has been sucked into the political maelstrom is the case of Raul Luna Perez, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who police say is responsible for a crash that killed a mother and her daughter.

Republicans across the country have jumped on the man's status, and not surprisingly, it's become a part of the campaign for governor here in New Jersey.

This tweet from Republican Jack Ciattarelli, "Because of New Jersey's immigrant trust directive, which my opponent Mikey Sherrill supports, the man wasn't turned over by local police."

Luna Perez's record includes multiple arrests, including two DUIs, but the state attorney general's office said the man was released over the objections of prosecutors.

"To be clear," reads the statement from the attorney general's office, "Nothing in the immigrant trust directive would have prevented New Jersey law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials to deport this defendant."

And that's basically correct.

Crimes like DUI and vehicular homicide are exactly the kind of offenses that force cooperation between immigration officials and local police.

Yet the Department of Justice has four New Jersey towns, Hoboken, Patterson, Newark, and Jersey City, on its radar as sanctuary cities, saying that they interfere with federal efforts.

Ciattarelli says he'll erase the immigrant trust directive on day one.

His running mate, Norris County Sheriff Jim Gannon, was clear about where Republicans stand today.

We will repeal the dangerous, dangerous sanctuary state and restore cooperation between the immigration authorities, known as ICE, and law enforcement officers throughout our state.

That's our commitment.

Back in 2017, though, he warned against the very thing that appears to be happening here.

I don't like when people politicize it because it's not appropriate at all.

You know, not appropriate at all.

This is real life stuff.

Meanwhile, the Sherrill campaign has laid low on the issue.

They did not return our calls for this story.

Sherrill has said in the past that those who want to see the immigrant trust directive made into law should be careful what they wish for.

What we have here is a court-tested order, and we know that any legislation right now opens this up to attacks in our court system.

The concern around talking points that codifying the Immigrant Trust Act would somehow put a target on the state's back does not feel like it jives with the moment.

One, because ICE raids continue in this state.

Even with our low profile for not having codified the Immigrant Trust Act, we are a target of the Trump administration.

And whether it's fair politics or not to bring attention to something tragic that happens to make your political point, the Republicans have seized on this one, here and across the country.

For New Jersey Democrats at the moment, the best defense against the GOP narrative appears to be no defense at all.

I'm David Cruz.

NJ Spotlight News.

In our Spotlight on Business report tonight, fierce pushback over independent contractor rules.

A proposed change to who and what constitutes independent work by the state's Department of Labor has critics speaking out.

Business groups and gig workers say the changes threaten flexibility, income, and access that freelancers and others have come to rely on, while supporters say the new rules will safeguard the rights and benefits of employees who've been wrongly classified.

Senior Correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports on this final day for public input.

You're threatening to wipe out our incomes and careers, and you're admitting you'll create no new jobs for us.

Kim Cavens, a freelance writer in Califon, who's among many of the state's 1.7 million independent contractors, alarmed by the Department of Labor's proposed new rule codifying wage and employment law enforcement.

It'd impact a wide range of gig workers, and it sparked a firestorm of controversy.

At a public hearing, one Rutgers analyst described its intent.

To enforce the law and not play whack-a-mole with employers trying to skirt their employment obligations by hiding behind regulatory uncertainty.

The proposed rule clarifies a three-pronged test used to classify workers as either independent or as employees of a company that would then also have to pay them benefits.

The department targets companies that dodge employment laws.

Construction worker Diego Vissero alleges he suffered employer abuse.

We are forced to work in unsafe conditions.

We are constantly facing pressure to work faster and harder without breaks.

We work many hours and don't receive overtime pay or even full pay.

Unscrupulous developers and contractors too often force construction employment into the underground economy.

Costing the public lost payroll taxes and cutting workers' costs from essential benefits like health care, workers' compensation, Social Security, and unemployment insurance.

Most unions and workers' rights groups support the proposed rule, noting it prevents wage theft and creates a level playing field, discouraging companies that cut corners to save money.

A Teamster rep said cheating hurts Jersey's trucking industry.

Companies that play by the rules, which are often Teamster companies, are often driven out of business because of this unfair competition.

Despite that, many oppose the proposed rule, especially independent contractors who drive their own cars and trucks.

They fear it would designate their vehicles as a place of business, forcing them to become regular company employees deprived of flexibility and independence.

DOL proposes that a truck is where the company's business occurs.

That's simply wrong.

The business place of the trucking industry are the highways, thoroughfares, and turnpikes of America.

He said making them W-2 employees would drive up prices.

For app-driven gig workers, it's a serious concern.

For example, more than 200,000 Jersey residents drove for DoorDash last year, most working about five hours a week, a company rep said.

No employer will hire employees, let alone 200,000 employees, just to put in five hours a week.

That shows how dashing fulfills a need that's different from employment.

New Jersey's Labor Commissioner maintains this rule proposal is a critical step in providing clear, reliable guidance to employers to help them comply with the law and prevent the illegal misclassification of employees, and that it doesn't change established law.

But business groups disagree.

If it's not broke, don't fix it.

This is something that we have been operating under for several years, and we want to make sure that we're providing transparent and fair legal practices in New Jersey.

And this would contravene that by making it more confusing and more difficult.

It disproportionately and negatively affects women, immigrants, people of color, and the politically powerless.

The department's proposal stems from Governor Murphy's Labor Task Force recommendations five years ago.

A growing number of Trenton lawmakers on both sides of the aisle now say they're opposed after hearing from frantic constituents, and they criticize the Labor Department's rollout.

I have a big problem with that.

Now, there's also the possibility that it really is an attempt to destroy the gig economy.

Then we're really going to have a battle on our hands, because that should not be happening here in the last few months of an administration.

Absolutely no call for that.

The public comment period on the proposed rule ends today, and the Department of Labor can enact the rule with or without changes.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

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.

In Camden, a new approach to public safety is showing promise.

Since it launched in 2020, the Camden Village Initiative pairs police officers with social workers to respond to emergency calls using both enforcement and support, aiming to connect residents in crisis with resources for housing, addiction, and mental health services.

And early results suggest it's working.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis went out with a team to see their work in action today.

Hey, Jo, good to see you.

So what did you find?

Hey, Brianna, we got to see firsthand what it looks like when this team of police officers and social workers connect with the folks in Camden in need.

Sometimes it's a matter of taking calls or walk-ins that come into the station, but at various times throughout the week, they go out into the places where people are most likely to be, those struggling with homelessness, addiction, joblessness, and other concerns.

And today we got to see just how impactful that outreach can be.

What type of services can we assist you with today?

Any food assistance or clothing assistance?

They go out in teams.

Social workers from the Center for Family Service paired with Camden County officers, a new partnership that launched in 2024 as part of Camden's Village Initiative.

Not every encounter leads to service connections.

This gentleman refused everything but the handouts offered by the team.

This is a wound kit, and these are a hygiene kit with refreshments, okay?

All right, this is for you, Mr. Moore.

We always engage, even if it's the third, second time, third time.

Our goal is that they eventually say, yes, I'm done with this, I need help, and we transport them right away.

And while it's rare that someone says yes to immediate transport for services on the first encounter, sometimes outreach meets desperation with perfect timing.

She said, yeah, I'm homeless, I'm on the street, so I said, we got Center for Family Service here, we could help you, and I said, we could actually help you immediately.

And she said, yes, can you please help me?

We are setting up an immediate transport to our navigation hub on Benson Street that will be able to set up substance use treatment for her.

So they'll review, see what beds are available in the county, and then set up a transport to get her over there.

This is why we do it, right?

We come out here, and not everyone is always at that stage of readiness, but we were very fortunate that when we engaged this individual that she consented to treatment and consented to immediate transport.

So I'm grateful that we were able to coordinate that today.

I had a smile on my face because it's a big challenge to do immediate transport.

They usually say they do want the help, and then they kind of forget about it.

We still go out and engage.

We keep engaging until they obviously just say they're sick and tired of it and come out.

But that was immediate.

That was the first time I engaged with her.

And once she said, yeah, I want to go now, I just put a smile on my face.

Addiction and homelessness often go hand in hand here.

The point in time count released in July showed almost 760 individuals were homeless in the city on any given day, a third of them for more than a year.

Whether that's unhoused population, whether that's our missing runaway youth or at-risk youth, we try to assist families as a whole when we engage and try to assist as best as we can.

What are you seeing in terms of the impact in the community because you have this partnership?

I believe it has been beneficial.

A lot more individuals are aware of what we can offer, the available resources.

We have different trainings.

We look at things in a different lens, and I believe we work best as a group.

Sometimes there are calls that officers respond to that are more in the realm of social service needs such as mental health or substance-related, and we can try to assist with the de-escalation process, whereas police can work on the safety concerns.

It's a different approach.

It's a softer approach.

It shows them that we're here to help them.

We're not here to rest our way out.

We're here to help them.

We know they have families.

That's somebody's wife, somebody's mom, so we just try to get them back on the right path.

And a promising statistic.

Camden's seen a 37 percent drop in fatal overdoses in the first six months of 2025 compared to the same time last year, according to the county.

A signal to this team that their consistency and care is actually saving lives.

In Camden, I'm Joanna Gagas, NJ Spotlight News.

Well, the end of a crucial support system for LGBTQ+ youth has mental health advocates sounding the alarm and stepping up.

After the federal government last month officially ended the specialized "Press 3" option on the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, removing access to counselors trained to support LGBTQ young people at a time when mental health issues are on the rise in the community.

According to a national survey by the Trevor Project, nearly 40 percent of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide last year.

Now, nonprofits around the state are racing to fill the void left without that hotline.

Our mental health writer, Bobbi Breyer, joins us now for more on what that response looks like and the impact of the rollback.

Bobbi, good to see you, as always.

So let me just start with how these nonprofits are reacting, and more importantly, how are they filling this gap in care?

Right, you know, right now when we look at the 988 data coming out of the federal government, about 1.5 million LGBTQ callers were calling that hotline between September of 2022 until May of this year.

And so when you have a number in a specialized service taken away like that, you're going to really need immediate mental health care to fill that void.

When you look at what nonprofits are doing right now, they've been doing specific skills workshops, essentially that would be able to teach LGBTQ young people coping techniques so they could deal with stress and anxiety on their own.

There's different breathing and grounding techniques.

One's called the 5-4-3-2-1 method.

Essentially it allows for a young person to identify the five things around them and use their senses to essentially ground them in the present moment.

As we know, stress and anxiety often have somebody looking forward into the future or back towards the past.

It allows a young person to essentially reset, a quick mental reset, so that they can come back to the present moment.

That's just one example of kind of what we're seeing right now.

Yeah, what did these nonprofits, these groups that really support this community, tell you about what the effect has been of cutting this hotline off for this particular group?

They've essentially said that this is unfortunately the latest in a round of what they've called attacks on the LGBTQ community since the Trump administration has taken office.

They've said that they were prepared for this cut.

Of course, SAMHSA announced on June 17th, that a month later, that the cut would be coming.

So they were adding programming, they were adding mental health clinicians to essentially address this issue.

But they said even with all of this, it's been an extremely difficult time for young people.

We've seen from the Trevor Project that rise in anxiety, stress, suicidal ideation in many cases.

And so they're trying their best to address this issue.

And one thing they've stressed to me again and again is the importance of community to get out of isolation if a young person is feeling that way.

And they've really tried to respond that way, especially in these summer months with some of those community events.

Why are they seeing such a rise, especially in these last couple of years, at least from what the data shows us?

The data and a lot of the rhetoric that we've seen politically around many times anti-transgender policies, as well as what people have called direct attacks on LGBTQ populations, have essentially led to this rise in anxiety and stress.

It's one that has been around, of course, since the Trump administration, but is one that has kind of gotten worse since we've seen a string of executive orders, as well as some policy that would directly impact that population in those communities.

So the more that we see that, the rise, that's really correlated with the rise in stress and anxiety.

What was the federal government's reasoning for cutting this off?

I mean, SAMHSA, as you reported, says that anyone who calls the number is still going to get access to skilled counselors who are culturally competent and can deal with a number of mental health crises.

Why, then, is it needed, and why did they decide to roll it back?

Right.

You know, exactly.

They've said that they wanted to focus-- they took this option away so that they could focus on all callers.

They've said that people could still--anybody who calls, including LGBTQ young people, can get the services that they need.

On the surface, advocates have said that sounds fine.

That's something that--it sounds like everybody's getting help.

That's good.

When you take a closer look at it, though, when you take an option like this away, essentially it allows for people with lived experience, people who have gone through similar life experiences, similar needs, not being able to connect with an LGBTQ young person who may need that support.

So while this is now universal support, anybody could get help when they call the line, advocates have really said this is important, that individualized attention and that level of care is there, and we're just not seeing that anymore with this number.

So it's the shared lived experience, the empathy.

Exactly.

That really goes a long way.

All right, you can read all of Bobby's reporting on this story and more for mental health reporting on our website, njspotlightnews.org.

Bobby, thanks, as always, for coming in.

Thanks, Brianna.

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

I'm Brianna Vanosi.

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

Have a great evening.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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