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(upbeat music) From NJ PBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vannozzi.

Good evening and Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

Tonight, a special edition of NJ Spotlight News.

We're looking back at some of the unique stories we've reported over the past year.

Stories of organizations, communities, neighborhoods, even small groups of students who are making a difference.

First up, New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection for helping to bring back the bald eagle population to our state.

In 1970, bald eagles were nearly eradicated from New Jersey, leaving a single recorded nest in the Garden State due to decades of habitat loss and the use of DDT, that's an agricultural pesticide, banned in 1972 for harming wildlife.

Through careful management of nests, new state laws protecting habitats, and a little help from our neighbors up north, the population of bald eagles in the state is rebounding.

Ted Goldberg has the story.

Bald eagles are really important, I think, to the citizens of New Jersey.

When it comes to spotting bald eagles in the wild, it's a game of luck, not skill.

It also used to be much, much harder.

We were down to a single nesting pair through the '70s and '80s.

Kathy Clark is the chief of the Endangered and Non-Game Species Program for the State Department of Environmental Protection.

She says bald eagles nearly went extinct in New Jersey because of a few factors.

The biggest one was the longtime use of a toxic chemical that wasn't banned nationwide until 1972.

DDT is just one of those insidious chemicals that is very long-lived in the environment.

It was used especially heavily in New Jersey and probably South Jersey to control mosquitoes.

DDT damaged the eagles' reproductive systems and is still frequently found in the wild.

Every time they attempted to nest, the eggshells would crack and the nest would fail.

Wildlife biologist Larry Niles used to work for the DEP.

We would take one and there would be still two in the nest.

That area of Canada was unaffected by DDT, so those birds were naturally productive.

It might be surprising to hear that an American symbol is booming back thanks to Canada.

The way state workers dealt with the eagles was also a little unexpected.

I would climb the nest and take out the real eggs, put in a fake egg so that the bird would keep incubating.

Eventually, the female died, was replaced by a young female who was not contaminated.

Banning DDT and transplanting new eagles helped, and so did cutting back on development throughout the Garden State.

The land use regulatory program within the state developed really serious rules about protecting the habitat that bald eagles were using as we were identifying new nests.

These efforts have led the DEP to request removing bald eagles from the state's endangered species list 17 years after they left the federal list.

They would skip the threatened list too and join the list of species of special concern.

These are species we need to keep an eye on because they could backslide.

Hopefully, we can do work like habitat management that will keep them in a good space.

The DEP will try to finalize its list later this year.

Until then, bald eagles will continue flying around Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area, free to chow down on any turtles unlucky enough to cross their path.

In Atlantic County, I'm Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

Well, from bald eagles to recycling oyster shells, another win for the state DEP for their attempt to also turn culinary trash into environmental treasure.

Eleven restaurants around Atlantic City, including more than half of the city's casinos, are giving their leftover shells to the Marine Resources Administration, who in turn are using those shells to help bolster the local reefs that help grow the oyster population within the Mullica River and Great Bay.

As we reported back in July, more than 100 tons of recycled shells were collected and planted along the shoreline.

There's something satisfying, right, about emptying the barge and having, what, well over 100 tons of oyster being put right back into the water body.

The DEP is using recycled shells to boost the oyster population in the Mullica River.

Shellacking this pile of shells is satisfying to watch, and Commissioner Sean LaTourette says the river is a better place for them than the trash.

Rather than take that waste shell, deposit it in a landfill, right, we only have 14 remaining operating landfills in the state of New Jersey, right, so we're avoiding that waste product, right, which in turn helps to reduce our carbon emissions.

Eleven restaurants around Atlantic City are contributing leftover shells, including more than half of AC's casinos.

The hope is to give oysters better conditions to grow and reap the benefits they provide.

Helping to purify the water that is flowing through the river or estuary itself.

In addition to that, they help oyster reef will help to reduce erosion.

Providing tons of fish habitat space, filtering our waters, keeping them a little bit cleaner, and, you know, creating fishing opportunities too for folks to be able to fish over these reefs, so there's a lot of opportunity there.

But you can't just toss your leftovers in the water and call yourself an environmentalist.

Before the shells are placed, they have to sit in the sun for six months to get nice and clean.

That makes it easier for baby oysters to settle in two weeks after they're born.

Clean shell provides the substrate they need, so a lot of times if you have shell that's existing on the reef, it degrades over time or gets silted over, may get encrusted by other organisms, and leaving less available real estate for oysters to inhabit.

The program has been around for five years, and early returns look promising.

These are the results, so we see a bunch of juvenile oysters inhabiting that shell, and that's why we're out here again today to do it again.

If you're wondering how many shells have been saved up, the answer is a lot.

Last year we did 40 tons at docks, and about half that at knife and fork.

The DEP planted 150 tons of shells last year, and they expect the program to ramp up now that a million-dollar grant from NOAA is coming later this summer.

Local businesses say the program is easy enough to follow, just separate shells from the rest of the garbage.

It's a great way to give back to--we sell a lot of oysters, and we want to make sure that there's a lot of oysters to go around.

So it's working, and it's nice to get the shell out of our landfills and back into helping the program.

I actually volunteered to be part of a food-based program within MGM where we're constantly looking for better reasons and better sourcing for sustainability.

So we actually are in the process of calculating how much food we produce versus how much we put out to really try to calculate and put less food in the trash.

The only way to support this program now is to eat at these restaurants, but that will change.

Public garbage cans for collecting shells should become available in the future.

Anyone hoping to turn culinary trash into environmental treasure.

On the Mullica River, I'm Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

Students in Princeton are bringing a little Guatemalan culture to their community through the use of AI.

The group of wannabe scientists came up with an AI-powered robot designed to help people learn Mam, a Mayan language that is in danger of disappearing.

And to help preserve the endangered language, the students designed and built a stuffed animal robot named Che'w that can speak and even converse in Mam.

They won a national competition sponsored by Samsung back in May.

Here's their story.

Meet Che'w.

Hi, Che'w.

[speaking in Mam] A raccoon-looking robot helping to keep a language alive.

Nobody has done ever this, like, and it's really, really fantastic and cool because it's going to help to preserve my language.

Che'w is a robot that communicates in Mam, a language spoken by half a million people indigenous to Guatemala and thousands of people in America.

It was developed by Princeton high school students alongside Mam-speaking students from other schools statewide.

[speaking in Mam] When I call my grandma in Guatemala, she only speaks Mam.

She feels really happy that I'm able to share my culture with a lot of people.

These students developed two models of Che'w, one that uses a push button to repeat a handful of Mam phrases and an AI version that can respond to speech with those phrases.

Both of them were part of a national research competition in Washington, D.C.

I got really nervous because there was a lot of people in front of me.

It was like teaching people my culture and my people, my country, and my language is part of my identity.

This was just incredibly ambitious, and there were so many moments, it was like, are we going to be able to pull it off?

But then it finally came together in the end.

Che'w was one of three winners among high schoolers, bringing $100,000 in prize money to Princeton high school.

Science teacher Mark Eastburn says these robots originally were going to be used as therapy aids for children, before taking a turn into linguistics and AI.

AI is just like another tool that we can use.

Our team sees this as more of a tool to, in our case, help preserve indigenous languages.

Fewer than a million people speak Mam worldwide, and there aren't many resources online about it.

To help Che'w build its vocabulary, students have reached out to people they know in Guatemala to speak in Mam, purposefully pursuing people with different voice pitches.

It eliminates the possibility of, oh, the model doesn't recognize this word because it's at a different pitch, but even though it's the same word.

We've been in contact with several villages who can give us audio recordings of just simple greetings or sentences that can train our acoustic model in the artificial intelligence landscape.

The code took a few months to write.

That is a lot of code.

Like any AI project, Che'w is still learning, and the students here are proud of what they've learned and accomplished.

I think just getting the robotics working in the short time we had and also the AI portion of it, because we use some complicated server stuff with the AI, so that's also hard, and I'm proud of that working.

I want to teach other people that it's important to stay with that language because it's part of your identity and it shows who you are.

We wanted to make this sustainable, right?

And so part of that is making sure we use recycled materials.

And so our idea was that we would use recycled materials in Cajola and they could send it over to us.

Cajola is a town in Guatemala supplying the furry exteriors for Che'w.

Students hope his friendly face can help make Mom more widespread.

Some of the people think that speaking "Mam" is like something you should be embarrassed about, which I don't know why they think that way, but I feel like this is going to change their minds.

[speaking in Mam] Princeton students are in the process of getting a patent for Che'w, and the push-button version could be available for sale as soon as this summer.

In Princeton, I'm Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

[♪♪] So do you live in a small space and just don't have enough room to store things?

Well, Hoboken Public Library has the answer.

They're adapting and serving their community with what they call their "Library of Things."

It's not just books you can check out, but VHS players, who has one of those, Bluetooth headphones, or even a power washer.

Since we brought this story in February, more and more libraries are taking their lead and expanding their collections beyond books.

Take a look.

We have a power washer.

Who would have thought you could borrow a power washer from a public library?

The Hoboken Public Library has books, but you probably knew that.

Their other stuff might surprise you.

We have everything from an OG Sega Genesis video game to one of our very popular items, an electric knife sharpener.

Their Library of Things has all sorts of inventory that might come in handy, like a stud finder or a cornhole set.

If you live in a very small apartment in Hoboken, you don't have the space, well, we'll store it for you.

If you're wondering why a wet/dry vacuum is here too, Director Jenny Poo says libraries need to adapt to the people who go there, and it might be easier to check something out and use it for two weeks than it would be to buy it and store it.

We're always finding new ways to serve the community.

This falls squarely in our mission to serve the needs of the community in what I think is a creative, unusual, and delightful way.

A Library of Things can also serve as a trial run for people who want to invest in older technologies.

They don't want to buy a $70 record player, so they're like, let me just try it out and see if I actually want to listen to this on vinyl or not, or I just want to keep it as a pretty decoration in my apartment.

People have old tapes they want to be able to play, and a lot of people don't have a VHS player anymore, so why not borrow from the library?

And if you're more interested in non-Earth activities, a few libraries can hook you up with a telescope.

I have been able to see Jupiter and the rings around Saturn, so I've been able to see the moon, the craters on the moon, so you'd be surprised.

I think urban stargazing is becoming a thing.

The telescope is really popular because oftentimes folks want to test something out before they purchase it.

A couple of counties over in Morristown, Assistant Director Mary Lynn Becza also helps people check out Wi-Fi hotspots and snowshoes.

We like to surprise people here at the library, and it's just a great conversation starter for us.

It's a great way to get people excited about visiting a library.

Their library of things covers all seasons.

Our most commonly borrowed item is our metal detector, which people like to take to the beach.

It sometimes comes back with sand.

And they cater to anyone who likes to play with bubbles, play pickleball, or parse out if their home is haunted.

All of you ghost hunters out there, the EMF meter is really a fun thing to borrow.

We have a huge jigsaw puzzle lending collection, and we are cataloging board games.

Cherry Hills Library of Things includes a seed library for aspiring horticulturists and American Girl dolls.

It's always, always for me about making your public library relevant.

Director Laverne Mann says they have more than 20 musical instruments, allowing folks to find new passions for free.

[playing the trombone] They and their grandson played them horribly, but did they have the best time together?

They sure did.

It's kind of thrilling to see their faces light up and say, "I haven't touched a mandolin in years.

I can't wait to check it out."

There's no cost to access these libraries of things.

You just have to ask your local library for a card, and you can start stargazing, gardening, or ghost hunting, if that's your thing.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Ted Goldberg.

[playing the piano] Off a busy highway two miles from the George Washington Bridge and nestled inside Overpeck County Park, more than 100 horses, ponies, and even donkeys are at home in what's called A Stable Life, which is the Oregon County's first equine emotional wellness center.

The stable brings together horses and humans to find connection and create a safe environment for those who may have experienced trauma in their lives.

As Raven Santana reports, sometimes no words ever have to be exchanged.

Off a busy highway just two miles away from the George Washington Bridge and nestled inside Overpeck County Park, you'll find more than 100 horses, ponies, and even donkeys here at Bergen County's first equine emotional wellness center, A Stable Life.

A stable life brings together horses and humans to establish the connection in a very nonjudgmental, safe environment.

So the wellness center is--it's total.

It's a very holistic approach.

The majority of my clients are women who have experienced trauma.

I also work with veterans with PTSD.

Anna Gassib is the founder of A Stable Life, which is the first equine wellness center in Bergen County.

The center offers support to individuals who are dealing with trauma, anxiety, isolation, grief, domestic violence, and addiction.

Gassib says the equine therapy program uses horses to facilitate growth and healing.

I had a client who said, "Well, my English isn't that good."

I said, "You know what?

Horses don't speak English at all.

It's okay.

They don't speak English either.

Let's do this."

Well, therapy sessions range about an hour, and they can be done in group sessions or one-on-one, and that involves everything from riding a horse or to just standing by one and feeding it.

So you might have an issue that's showing--that's on the surface today that requires something different, that requires you to sit in a stall and just meditate and cry, and that's okay.

So there are horses that I know, because I know the horses, there are horses that I know that will be, like, okay with that.

Gassib says she currently has about 40 clients in total, many of which have been referred to by a number of agencies she works with, including the Bergen Family Center and the Covenant House of Newark.

Almost all the agencies offer funding for individuals to receive treatment.

The reason why I came here, I was referred here, it started with the domestic violence with an ex-boyfriend.

Working here with Anna, she really helped me, you know, try to work on myself and who I really am, minus the alcohol, minus drugs, minus the abuse from boyfriends.

Kathy Clyne has been receiving treatment at the Wellness Center for about four months and says it's been a game-changer for her.

And with the group, they usually have a group of miniature horses, they come to you, and we're kind of in the barn, and we're all sitting in a circle, and then you'll have the miniature horses just kind of roam around you, kind of fill you out, feel how you're feeling today, what's your zone, like, you know, good mood and a bad mood.

Klein is not alone.

Dori Bortniker, who is dealing with very different challenges, says the treatment has given her a new purpose and confidence in life.

I didn't realize to the level that how much it teaches you about yourself, about--it's about the world.

You see what you are living and how you're living your own life.

Gassib encourages those who are struggling with mental wellness to try the therapy, especially if traditional therapy has been unsuccessful.

You don't have to be tied to someone's couch or a chair for a year or years to come.

You can have your 8 weeks, 10 weeks, and have a beautiful life.

There are alternatives.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.

[♪♪] And finally tonight, back in February, nearly 400 athletes competed in the New Jersey Winter Special Olympics.

The Mountain Creek community in Vernon comes together each year to organize the event.

The athletes showed off their skills in alpine and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and even speed skating.

Those competing are awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals, but participation medals are handed out too, so everyone is a winner.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has this story.

Three, two, one, go.

You got this, Jake!

Stay low, yeah!

Fourth grader Jake Karim conquered the giant slalom slope for intermediate skiers while his coach cheered.

We're super excited to be here.

Union City teacher Christian Sosa is a volunteer at Special Olympics New Jersey's Winter Games.

Some 90 athletes with intellectual disabilities spent two days competing here on the slopes at Mountain Creek Resort in Vernon.

38 students from Union City participated, and Sosa helped Jake train.

He says falling is okay.

If you don't fall, then you're like here, then you're not trying.

It has been an amazing experience.

We went from day one into a practice of barely being able to get his boots on to now taking this hill pretty much like a pro.

We were super proud yesterday because one of our students was chosen to light the torch.

[cheering] Lighting the torch kicked off this year's Winter Games, and venues across Sussex County were almost 400 athletes vied for medals in skiing, skating, snowshoeing, and more.

They vary widely in age and ability.

Everybody gets encouragement and support, says CEO and President Heather Anderson.

And I think that it allows our athletes, whether you're 8 years old or 55 years old, to accomplish life through the success of sport and working on abilities.

And it's a very positive experience for them.

They're competitors.

Go Sam!

Woo-hoo!

We do it because it's fun for Sam, and we enjoy it.

We've been skiing our whole lives.

Steve and Lee-Ellen Pisauro brought their son Sam to compete.

He won a medal, but also to socialize.

He can communicate with other kids his own age and his own disabilities, and it's great.

It is a lot of tears and tons of goosebumps for all of us.

Back in 1969, New Jersey sent just a handful of athletes to the Eastern Regional Special Olympics held at the University of Maryland.

They had very little in the way of training or equipment.

Things have changed.

It's just flourished and grown over the years through the kindness of volunteers, coaches, sponsors, law enforcement.

So yeah, I mean, today we're celebrating the success of 55 years in the making, but the success of our athletes and what they show, what they can accomplish, and focus on ability and not disability.

The organization rolls year-round with more than 20,000 athletes competing in every season funded by an $11 million budget, all of it donated.

Ceremonies awarding gold, silver, bronze, and participation medals make sure everyone's included.

[music] Jake sat patiently and watched the athletes honored with music and medals, and then they called his name.

He solemnly took his place on the podium.

Number 19 with the JVD bronze medal is Jake Karim.

[applause] I didn't necessarily expect a medal because honestly it's more about the experience, but the fact that he got one is just the icing on the cake for us.

We don't have to really care about it.

We care about if we have fun stuff.

Did you have fun?

Yes.

And he later scored a gold medal.

Jake says he'll be back next year.

In Vernon, I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

[music] That's going to do it for us on this Christmas night.

We hope you enjoyed this look back at some of the organizations and communities that we discovered who are truly making a difference in so many ways in our state.

A reminder, you can download and listen to this special wherever you get your podcasts.

From all of us here at NJ Spotlight News, we wish you a safe and very Merry Christmas.

I'm Brianna Vanosi.

Have a great holiday.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow night.

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