>> Funding for "NJ Spotlight News" provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

Learn more at RWJBH.org.

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

>> Hello, and thanks for joining us.

I'm Joanna Gagas.

For bringing you a special NJ Spotlight News edition of Reporters Roundtable, where I'll have a roundup of the top political stories of the week with the help of a panel of local journalists.

Reporter's Roundtable starts right now.

Well, the summer is still in full swing and even though legislators are on vacation, there's still plenty happening in Trenton and around New Jersey.

Another person has died while in ICE custody at Delaney Hall and lawmakers are still reeling from the fallout of the voter registration errors at the Motor Vehicle Commission.

Hi everyone, I'm Joanna Gaggis.

This is Reporters Roundtable.

We've got a panel of journalists here with us to help break down everything that's happened in the last week of New Jersey news.

Let's see who's on our panel today.

First up, our very own Julie O'Connor, urban education writer with NJ Spotlight News, backed by popular demand, Joey Fox, reporter with Politico NJ, and joining me for the first time on this show is Terrence McDonald, editor for New Jersey Monitor.

Well, a man died while he was detained at Delaney Hall in Newark.

His name Edwin Giovanni Lopez Cornejo.

He'd been in the country 20 years.

He came here as a child.

His brother says he had a work permit and he had a 12 year old daughter.

Terrence I want to start with you.

What more do we know about the details surrounding his death.

Not many.

We know that he died on Saturday.

I believe the story from ISIS he died at University Hospital.

His mother who spoke to one of my reporters Sophie and yet Tom Munoz said that she has not heard from Geo Group or ICE.

I believe ICE disputes that.

And we know that his family and his supporters want Governor Sherrill and the Attorney General to investigate his death and they want medical records out of GeoGroup and/or ICE.

I know his mom said that he was on diabetes medication, also medication for blood pressure and seizures.

She believes he was denied medication while he was there.

We did reach out to ICE for comment and they told us that he received proper medical care while in ICE detention.

But this is not the first death at Delaney Hall.

In fact, there have been multiple.

We heard from Congressman Rob Menendez earlier in the week who said that there was a man who died but was released from ICE custody so that his death wasn't reported by ICE.

Terrence, have you heard anything to verify that or perhaps dispute that?

No, we have not.

I have not heard back from ICE on our questions about that.

The problem is there's really no other information other than a sort of vague date.

There's no name and so it's difficult to track that down but we're trying to.

We see reported that there have been at least 24 deaths for people in ICE custody this year.

I believe the number is 33 for 2025.

Joey, we had Congresswoman LaMonica McIver on the show this week.

She and other leaders, including Governor Sherrill, continue to call for the closure of Delaney Hall.

Those calls obviously have fallen on deaf ears in the Trump administration.

There's no interest at all in closing Delaney Hall or any of the immigration detention centers.

In fact, they are looking to open more.

Do deaths like this put any type of pressure, as far as you can see, on the administration to reform, to make reforms, or perhaps even to close any facilities?

I mean, I certainly think it sort of bolsters the case that a lot of Democratic officeholders have made, which is that these places are, you know, contrary to being somehow important to the Trump administration and important to keeping Americans safe, are instead places where people go to disappear and die.

That's sort of what Democrats are saying, and any time that somebody actually does die in one of these, that obviously bolsters that.

And I think the fact that this, the most recent death of Edwin Lopez Cornejo, the fact that he was, you know, not a violent criminal, not any of these things that the Trump administration says everybody they're detaining is, probably lends even more credence to that.

But the question is, you know, does the fact that people are now believing that these centers are, you know, not sort of what they were led to believe, maybe, does that actually put any political pressure on a Trump administration that has not shown particular interest in voting.

That kind of pressure in the past I can't say.

Well this is where the issue of voters come in right.

How much do you see this issue being central in the midterm elections.

Do you see voters caring enough about this to be something that creates a swell for Democrats or push for perhaps a blue wave that they're hoping for?

I do think voters care about this.

I think that a lot of the voters who are most engaged on this are people who would never really consider voting for a Republican in the first place, so I'm not sure how much effect it has on that front, but I do think that you know immigration is clearly one of the issues that propelled Donald Trump into the White House in 2024 and the more that it becomes sort of an albatross for Republicans rather than a campaign benefit, then that's something that Democrats can certainly use.

I think that the fact that one of the proposed detention centers is in a Republican congressman's district, in Tompkins Jr.

's district in Roxbury, will only sort of add fuel to that fire as well.

Yeah, we may get back around to those, the different races that are happening in the midterms.

Let's see how timing goes.

But Julie, when we talk about the midterms, we've seen consistently education issues be front and center in the last several elections, in particular here in New Jersey, but it's been a national issue, especially conversations around parental rights.

Are you hearing that as we head into this midterm election?

Yes, I think that will continue to be a key issue.

You know, I think we'll also see debates again over school choice, school vouchers, also folks who talk about protecting public schools, dealing how to best deal with teacher shortages.

I think also the issue of federal oversight of education is going to be a big one.

The latest on that is that the Trump administration is throwing out the rule book for a pre-K program for low-income families called Head Start.

Basically, when it comes to safety rules, when it comes to learning and health rules, they would prefer to kick that back to the states, including even dismantling a longstanding regulation that kids brush their teeth after every meal.

So apparently, you know, that's controversial.

And I think that, you know, in many ways, federal oversight of education will be continued to be a big issue.

How much of that do you expect to be here in New Jersey?

I think it will affect New Jersey as well.

I mean, we have Head Start pre-K programs in New Jersey, and they are federally regulated.

So it remains to be seen what will happen with those centers, you know, and will the state step in and is there anything that can be done?

You know, we'll find out.

Let's stay on education for a minute because there's a new change in New Jersey that could impact spring break, but it might not.

What can you tell us, Julie, about this new guidance from the Department of Education?

It basically says that districts should consider the state's recommendation when it comes to scheduling their spring break.

And, you know, if they decide to have spring break all at the same time, there are pros and cons to that.

You know, some folks might say, "Well, I'm a teacher and my kids go to school in a different district, and now, you know, we can all go on vacation together, and that's great.

Other people might complain about, you know, a potential child care crunch.

If you have everybody taking spring break at the same time, maybe there will be a scramble to sign up for camps or, you know, daycare.

You know, it's already hard enough, you know, when you are scheduling your kids summer camp as early as February looking at YMCA's.

So we'll see if that becomes an issue.

Yeah, that's for sure a challenge.

But to be clear, there's guidance that schools or districts should take break on the same week, but no requirement, right?

Right.

So it's still up to the districts.

That home rule is very strong in the state of New Jersey and we know districts tend to like to do things their way.

So we'll be watching to see if that actually does have an impact at all.

Terrence, there is the possibility that when the legislature returns, they end up taking up some bills to really address what's happened with voter security and integrity in New Jersey.

And Governor Sherrill has left the door open possibly for some significant changes.

What can you tell us.

Well Governor Sherrill said last week when asked by a voter who called into News 12 whether she would support voter I.D.

she said she has no problem with voter I.D.

She does not support the voter I.D.

issue bill to save America Act that's currently being built by Congress.

But she says she has no problem with voter I.D.

I don't know that the Democratic legislative leaders have responded to it to that at all.

They didn't respond to us.

So I and they're the ones who decide what moves in the legislature.

And some Republicans did tell us that they were happy that she left the door open to voter I.D.

And that they want to see it move forward because of that.

But they don't really have any power in the legislature to move things forward.

And I don't know if the Senate president or the Assembly speaker will want to do that.

- Yeah, and that's the key right there.

This has to be moved by legislative leadership.

I did speak to Senator Andy Kim recently about this.

I asked him if he would support any type of change that would require voter ID.

He said, yes, but it can't be onerous.

And he said, maybe it's even something as far as proof of address with your name from a bill that came to your house, but not necessarily requiring an ID, which many progressive groups, advocacy groups have called a voter suppression tactic.

We know that.

But there are other bills, and there's one in particular, Terrence, that was sponsored by Senator Beach and Senator Corrado that would make changes to the registration process.

I'm curious if you see that as a smaller bite at the apple that could maybe move through.

It's possible that could move forward if that's if that's bipartisan.

The Democrats depending on how this issue is looking in the fall Democrats may want to Democrats in the legislature may want to say we did we fix this or we did something to fix this issue so that they can sort of declare it over and done with.

But it really I think depends on what the atmosphere like in September and whether folks have moved on from that issue or not.

Yeah, Joey, I'm sure it's an issue that Democrats want to move on quickly from, but there are still calls for hearings.

And in fact, we know Congressman Van Drew has said he intends to hold hearings in the House.

Do you have any more information as far as what he's planning there?

We don't really.

I mean, after he said that, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary and House Administration committees sort of joined that call, basically.

I don't think that they officially said that they'd hold hearings, but they're asking for documents.

They're asking for stuff.

They're interested in this issue.

So clearly, this is something that Congress is out for August, and I cannot imagine them bringing anything back just for this or within this month.

But again, once September rolls around, I can see stuff happening.

I could see maybe subpoenas going out if Sheryl doesn't sort of hand over what Republicans are looking for.

The big X factor here also is that we have no idea what the timeline for the state's independent review of this is, and a lot of Democrats have said, we don't really wanna take any action until we see the results of that review.

So there's a lot sort of pending with that, and I think once that comes out, we should have a lot more answers.

We just don't know what the timeline for that is or even what answers we're going to necessarily be getting.

Yeah, and that review is being headed by CSG, which is a law firm that is owned and one of the partners is former New Jersey Attorney General Jeff Chiesa.

He certainly has gotten a lot of bipartisan support in terms of people thinking that it'll be a fair review of what's happened.

But there are still calls for legislative committees with subpoena power.

Joey, any indication that Governor Sherrill would authorize that or that the legislative leadership would hold hearings on this?

- I mean, that's something the Republicans are calling for.

Again, I think that that's something, legislative Democrats have said, we don't really wanna touch this until we see what the independent review has to say, because we don't wanna be taking action prematurely that ends up going against whatever it is they find or what they recommend.

So I think you might end up having a little bit of a two-pronged approach here, where if this review is still going on in September and October, then you might have it be a little bit quiet on the state front, because everybody is waiting for that.

Republicans can't force the issue on their own.

But in Washington, stuff is escalating.

There may be subpoenas, there may be hearings.

So you could be kind of seeing a split screen on that there.

How much do you see this playing into the midterms?

I'll open this up to everybody.

How much do you see this issue carrying on as something really significant that lends itself to real traction in the midterms?

I've been skeptical of it having a huge impact.

I think that this is something that now Republicans can say look what we were saying all along was right.

So that sort of that blunts one avenue of you know Democratic criticism of Republicans and it allows for Republicans to sort of claim a little bit of a victory lap.

But I just don't know how many voters were basing their votes on anything even remotely approaching this issue to begin with.

It's not something that the people in New Jersey's top swing districts are talking about, like the candidates themselves.

And it's just, it's not an issue that has clearly driven voter preference.

Yeah.

Julie, you recently wrote about a really heartbreaking and disturbing story, personal narrative about alleged abuse happening inside a special education classroom.

This is a really important issue, one that a lot of folks care deeply about, but are split on.

Can you just help us understand what the issue is when it comes to special education classrooms and having cameras in them?

This is a debate even among families of special education kids.

Do we want to have cameras in the classroom to protect both students and staff and to provide an objective record of what goes on in that classroom?

I spoke with several mothers from Newark to Atlantic City to Elizabeth, and these are parents of very vulnerable children, nonverbal children with autism.

And the stories they told were heartbreaking.

One child was coming home with unexplained injuries for years.

This is in Newark, and the mother just couldn't get any answers from the district.

Another child from Elizabeth wandered somehow out of a school van and halted highway traffic on Route 78.

And the mother says the only way she found out what happened, which was that aides just did not properly strap him in as required, was because she sought footage from the school van's camera.

And another mother talked about her child escaping from the classroom unnoticed a couple of times, even though she had a one-on-one aide and there were many adults in the classroom.

So for this reason, these parents and other advocates are calling for cameras, you know, at least in special ed rooms, you know, maybe even throughout the school, but it remains controversial.

A lot of people have privacy issues.

They question whether the footage will be misused.

So I think we'll see a debate on that again in the fall.

Senator Shirley Turner plans to introduce a bill yet again that would require these cameras in special education rooms throughout New Jersey.

So we'll see how far it gets this time.

We know that New Jersey has one of the most powerful teachers unions.

Where do they stand on this issue?

Have they weighed in?

The New Jersey's largest teachers union was fairly non-committal.

I mean they did express sort of some vague privacy concerns about the bill.

The last time that the bill was proposed it really went nowhere.

But that was not so much because of opposition as just sort of a failure of gaining the momentum with advocates and parents and you know having an assembly sponsor that was able to stick with it.

So we'll see.

I mean in other states we have seen opposition from teachers unions.

They've argued that you know maybe this footage will be used to in routine teacher evaluations.

They don't like that idea.

We've seen also parents worried that the footage will wind up somehow on social media or that their child's meltdown will be used you know against the child as part of a permanent record.

You know but I did speak with experts who say that that has not happened in other states for the past decade that have had these cameras.

Yeah interesting.

We'll see what happens when the legislature comes back if that bill has any traction.

Terrence we've got some news about Governor Murphy.

Haven't really seen or heard much from him since he left office except he's now commissioned a painting.

What's happening there?

Yes, this was a great story by one of Joey's colleagues, Dan Hahn at Politico, that who got records showing that the cost of Murphy's portrait, his official portrait in the State House is going to be, I think it was $135,000, which is a record.

Potentially that's inflation.

Potentially it's because Dan Hahn wrote that the artist involved is sort of world renowned and has painted a lot of very high profile figures.

So I don't know when that painting is happening.

I don't know what the timeline is, but I guess we'll see in the next couple of years.

- I think the comparison, the closest comparison is Governor Christie's painting that was commissioned for somewhere in the $85,000 range.

Is that right, Joey?

- Yeah, that's right.

And I think Dan did the calculations and adjusted for inflation.

That lands in like the 110,000 range in today's dollars versus Murphy's 135,000.

And what Dan also noted is that the Christie portrait, I mean, Christie was just, became such an easy punching bag late in his tenure that, you know, that made national headlines.

The Washington Post was writing whole articles about Governor Chris Christie's portrait.

And now we've got one from Governor Murphy that's even more expensive, but he's just, he's has not become a national figure in the same way.

So I doubt we're going to get the same kind of uproar.

I get why we did paintings of governors in the 1800s, but I think maybe we can maybe just start taking photos of them.

I mean, this is so glamorous.

I mean, just sort of like the foyer to the governor's office and being surrounded by these lovely paintings of all the governors.

But like, I think it's kind of cool, but it's also how many people are actually going to be able to experience that.

I mean, this is like governor staff and journalists and maybe not many other people.

So I don't know if it's a great point.

There's there's something very reverent about walking in and seeing all the governors, but isn't there a better process and governors are able to commission these after they leave, right when there's no more accountability.

So sure, 180, 130,000, whatever the number is, why not?

Yeah, interesting to see if there will be any potential pushback or legislation that comes out of this.

Maybe someone will want to rein in the spending, maybe not.

Julie, I want to pull you in here because there was a story that we've been following here at NJ Spotlight News of Shore investigates this journalist Ben Shore trying to take on the Cherry Hill School District.

You know you've had to submit OPR requests and try to get information from school districts.

They hit him with a slap lawsuit.

What happened there?

This lawsuit's been resolved.

Can you tell us what the implications are here for journalists?

Well, I mean, I think the message is pretty clear.

Submitting one or two public records requests a month is not harassment, you know, it's journalism.

And in this case, I believe the local school board is now going to have to pay the legal fees for this defendant who they sued.

So, you know, again, it sends a clear message that, you know, free speech wins here and you can't bully journalists for asking questions.

This came after the state passed some real restrictions on OPRA and how OPRA requests and when OPRA requests can be filed.

Do you see this as maybe a turning point to indicate that these anti-SLAPP laws in New Jersey are strong enough to withstand even some of the changes that came from the OPRA changes?

I'm not sure.

I mean, I certainly think it's encouraging, but, you know, the Oprah changes really put some new restrictions that, you know, on this whole process that journalists are still grappling with today.

So I think to a certain extent, you know, it's just it's not going to change sort of the day to day of what journalists cope with when trying to get, you know, information that, you know, records that are called public records for a reason because they're public.

But, you know, it's good to see the issue come to the forefront and to see a win for free speech.

Yeah.

Joey, Congressman Tom Kaine Jr.

getting some heat because while he was away from Congress for about four months, he was dealing with a mental health issue.

Stock trading was still happening.

What can you tell us?

Yeah, so he says that he said this since he joined Congress, that he has no involvement in any of his stock trades and that it's all handled by independent investors without without his input.

And, you know, I don't think anybody is necessarily doubting that that is true.

He could have set up a system that would have formalized that.

But for a couple of sort of arcane reasons, he did not do that.

But Democrats are saying, you know, that still doesn't absolve him from like this is still his money.

This is still him profiting off of this.

And why is it that when he wasn't able to do anything else publicly for that four month stretch where he was absent from Congress, why is why are there still stock trading disclosures going out with his signature on them?

So I think that both sides genuinely have pretty fair points to make here.

And it's going to clearly be a campaign issue in November.

I mean, Democrats are really signaling that they're going to run hard on this.

I think in part because this is a way of reminding voters about the odd situation of his disappearance without sort of making fun of him or making light of the fact that it was in fact for depression and that it's for an issue that touches a lot of voters personally.

Yeah, is this the only way they can come at him without seeming insensitive or perhaps throwing themselves into the fire?

I think it's maybe the most frictionless way.

There was another Democratic group that is airing an ad now that sort of attacks Kane for voting against a paid sick leave policy when he was in the legislature.

So that was sort of another angle of you know how come Tom Kane Jr.

got four months of paid sick leave in Congress but he voted against that same thing for New Jersey families.

So that's another sort of attempted attack line.

I haven't seen that one as frequently so I do think that they see the stock trades.

I mean just people are people don't like congressional stock trading in general and polls that it just pulls horribly.

They all want it to be banned.

Everybody thinks that Congress is just corrupt and in it for itself.

And this is sort of adding adding a new angle to that.

Let me just quickly switch gears and ask to lighten the mood a little bit.

Who's got a great summer story that they've loved to cover.

Julie tell us your favorite summer story.

Well recently I went to a laundromat in the South Ward of Newark and I got to listen to a bunch of kids read stories that they had written themselves.

And this was part of a program called Bedtime Stories.

It's run by a former teacher who lives in Newark.

And it was just really inspiring to see.

And I encourage folks to check it out.

- That's beautiful.

Terrence, what do you got?

- Mine's not quite as inspiring, but I will say that earlier this year, there was a minor controversy in the legislature because some Democrats wanted to pass a resolution making the hazelnut the state's like official nut.

And some folks like Assemblyman Brian Bergen, a Republican who hates those kinds of things, went off about how, you know, that was illustrative of how stupid the legislature is and they waste time on dumb things.

But one of the reporters I work with, Dana DeFilippo, sort of did a deep dive into this just to talk to some farmers and some agriculture experts who said there really is this effort to try to make hazelnut like a really important product of New Jersey's agriculture in a way that the Jersey tomato is.

And so it might still be stupid to call it the state's official nut via proclamation of the New Jersey legislature, but there is a serious effort to get New Jersey known for hazelnuts.

- We all remember the great kimchi day war of 2023 when the legislature could not stop debating whether to make a kimchi day.

- All right, I love that.

We do have to leave it there.

I'm sorry to close, but Julie, Joey, Terrence, thank you all so much.

Great conversation.

- Great, thanks.

- You can follow me on Instagram @joannagaggismj and go ahead and scan that QR code right there on your screen to see more episodes of Roundtable.

That's going to do it for us.

I'm Joanna Gaggis.

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

Have a great weekend.

NJM Insurance Group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

[Music]