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

- Good evening and thanks for joining us on this Monday.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

Tonight a few stories we'll get into later in the broadcast.

Black Friday sales hit a new record this year, but is Main Street feeling the same love?

We'll tell you why nearly half of small business owners say this holiday season could determine whether they make it to the next.

Then, is 100% clean energy the path to lower utility bills?

It's one of many reasons environmental advocates say they're urging lawmakers to pass a clean energy bill now.

And later, film crews are pouring into New Jersey, boosting sales for local shops.

But are the incentives to get them here worth the cost?

We'll take a closer look.

First, though, a few of today's top headlines.

In a major blow to the Trump administration, a federal appeals court panel unanimously ruled today that Alina Haba is serving unlawfully as the U.S.

attorney for New Jersey, upholding a lower court ruling that she's disqualified from being in the job and that her appointment violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.

Haba, a former personal attorney to President Trump, had been installed as acting U.S.

attorney after her interim 120-day stint expired.

Today's ruling found the Trump administration attempted to bypass the Senate confirmation process by keeping Haba in the role in an acting capacity indefinitely.

And also said the U.S.

Attorney General can't delegate powers of U.S.

Attorney to her.

In a statement, U.S.

Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim said the decision vindicates their concerns about the process and asked the administration to work with them to identify a qualified replacement.

The case could end up before the Supreme Court.

Legal experts say that's the DOJ's only option to keep HABA on the job.

The ruling is also likely to have consequences for other Trump appointees and could open the floodgates for defendants here in New Jersey seeking to get their cases before HABA thrown out on the grounds that she didn't have the authority to bring them in the first place.

Also in Trenton, a controversial push is underway to strip away powers from one of the state's key government watchdogs.

A bill introduced just before the Thanksgiving holiday got a fast-tracked hearing this morning.

It would remove investigatory powers from the Office of the State Comptroller and give them instead to the State Commission of Investigation, or the SCI.

It would also give the SCI oversight of prosecutors and law enforcement, and the ability to conduct electronic surveillance, including wiretapping.

Senate President Nick Scottari, who sponsored the bill, defended it today, saying the SCI should be the top oversight agency in the state, and questioned the overall number of oversight bodies, arguing the move is all about efficiency.

But critics today argued there's no need to strip investigatory powers from one agency to give them to another.

Acting Comptroller Kevin Walsh today said he believes the bill is retribution for the work he's done, including going after powerful and well-connected individuals.

The bill did pass after the Senate passed its first bill, which passed in the Senate on July 9th.

The bill passed out of committee, but ahead of the hearing, Walsh was joined by Senator Andy Kim and Attorney General Matt Plotkin, who tied the effort to the bill to the Senate.

The bill also tied the effort in New Jersey to the Trump administration's goals of gutting transparency and said there's a crisis of confidence in government, both in New Jersey and in D.C.

Does anybody in New Jersey seriously believe that we have too much oversight, that there is too much anti-corruption work being done?

I can tell you I have not heard that from a single person outside of maybe the people who will be in this room.

And so what we are here today is basically to say don't kill an agency that's doing its job.

And I will be the first to admit, and Kevin knows this, it's an agency that has held my office accountable.

And jury selection in the criminal trial of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small will officially get underway on Tuesday.

According to a court spokesperson, proceedings were slated to begin this morning, but got pushed back due to a change in the judge's schedule.

Small is accused of abusing his teenage daughter, facing charges of endangering the welfare of a child, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, and witness tampering, to which the mayor has pleaded not guilty.

Last year, Small's daughter told officials at Atlantic City High School she was being physically and mentally abused at home.

Investigators say her boyfriend provided photos of injuries and recordings from several alleged incidents.

In one, prosecutors accuse Mayor Small of hitting his daughter in the head with a broom hard enough to knock her unconscious and threatening to throw her down the stairs.

They also say he later urged his daughter to change her story to law enforcement.

Small's wife, Superintendent of Atlantic City Schools Laquetta Small, is facing a separate trial in January and the high school's principal, Constance Days Chapman, remains suspended and charged for allegedly not reporting the teen's claim to Child Protective Services.

Coming up, this weekend's holiday sales brought in big spending online, so what's driving uncertainty for mom and pop shops?

That's next.

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Well, Black Friday delivered another record year online for retailers, with U.S.

consumers spending $11.8 billion in just one day.

That's a jump of more than 9 percent from last year, according to retail groups.

But while digital checkout lines were buzzing, many small business owners entered the holiday season with real uncertainty due to shifting policies at the federal level and their effect on Main Street.

Raven Santana takes a look at how local shops are trying to hold their ground in what some experts say could be a make or break moment.

So it was really like a big year of planning, thinking ahead and just being aware, you know, planning for the worst, but like hoping for the best.

Black Friday may have launched the holiday shopping season with record breaking online sales, but for thousands of small business owners like Chris Brinkowski of Tons of Toys in Madison, the next few weeks are more than busy.

They're critical.

the toy industry is probab affected industry as far But you're ordering in bu like the number one way t to order heavy to gain any you possibly can when it's off of your your order or that's really the only wa it out.

A national survey from nonprofit Main Street America found nearly 45% of all small business owners reported a drop in net profit this fall, blaming inflation, new tariffs and shifting consumer habits.

According to the report, confidence levels among small businesses are now near a record low heading into the holidays.

Just becomes a real struggle to compete with what else is out there and to drive the local people into your store.

Eileen Keene is the state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Keene says for many mom and pop stores, a large portion of their annual sales happen between Thanksgiving and New Year's, which is why Small Business Saturday, created in 2010, has become a lifeline, reminding shoppers to look local before clicking online.

It's totally a make or break because for over 65% of businesses, December is their month for their overall calendar year in terms of turning a profit and to where they stand.

Many stores, that becomes doomsday because once the new year approaches and by February, they're saying, well, this just isn't this idea is just not going to work where we've set up this business.

So certainly it is crucial to get to get folks out and for the spending to pick up and to continue right up every week for the next three weeks.

Spending habits are changing a CNBC Survey Monkey poll found nearly 80 percent of Americans believe things cost more this year and four and 10 plan to spend less their biggest cuts buying fewer gifts for others.

And that's tough news for shops that depend on holiday foot traffic.

It's it's definitely the most stressful time of year.

But we know if we put in the work all year long people will show up for us.

Our customers are still showing up but maybe they don't spend as much you know you know per trip or each kid.

You know they'll pull back a little bit in here.

They can come in.

They can see it touch it feel it.

No the size the shape you know like is it going to be good for my son or my daughter.

So they just know it's going to be the perfect toy.

And you wrap as well.

We wrap for free all year long.

But obviously for the holidays.

It's like the biggest thing.

Yes.

In some communities.

It's the stores that are decorating Main Street right.

It in my town.

There's a salon a pet store bakery.

And they're all out there decorating and making things look beautiful and everything costs money.

For local businesses, this isn't just holiday cheer, it's economic survival.

And whether shoppers choose a handmade candle, a toy for their kids, or dinner at a neighborhood restaurant, every swipe, every sale, and every small purchase counts.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.

Well, environmental advocates are ramping up pressure to pass what's known as the Energy Leadership Act before the end of the lame duck session.

The bill would commit the state to 100 percent clean electricity by 2035.

A shift supporters say would lower energy costs create jobs and fight climate change at a time when families are struggling with rising utility bills.

Opponents though warn the transition could be expensive up front and tough to implement on an already strained electric grid.

Anjali Ramos Poussot is the director of the state's Sierra Club chapter and was at a press conference earlier today at the statehouse urging lawmakers to post the bill.

And she joins us now for the latest.

Anjali good to see you.

Why now.

Why is the emphasis on getting this done during lame duck.

Yes that's an excellent question.

Well there isn't a most pressing and urgent time that right now.

And the reason for that is because New Jersey as well as many states across the region are currently experiencing incredible high electric bills and that is because of what is happening with the upcoming of data centers across the region as well as here in New Jersey.

And there has been a boost for the man of electricity and our electric bills unfortunately have skyrocketed.

This started this June and we have seen through data and lots of analysis and studies that have been conducted for New Jersey as well as for the rest of the nation that truly clean energy is the way that we can save money.

Clean energy opposite to what you've heard from opponents have actually reached price neutrality.

So basically it is now cheaper to generate clean energy with solar, with battery storage, with offshore wind than it is to build a natural gas power plant, for example, because you need to continue to sustain the operations of that power plant with more fuel and fuel in order to be burned and in order to generate that electricity.

Whereas if you have a solar farm or an offshore wind project or a battery storage facility that basically just runs by itself, it doesn't require more fuel.

So there's a lot of supply chain economic dynamics that really have positioned us in the point that we're in right now, which is that New Jersey needs to generate more electricity.

There is no question there.

And how do you do it?

That is a decision that lawmakers need to decide for the remaining of this session that's happening right now, right?

We have an end of the session with Governor Murphy leaving his office during his second term.

And they need to decide how is New Jersey going to generate this electricity?

Are we going to continue to move into the trajectory of the status quo, which is natural gas and even coal power generation?

Or are we going to go with the cheaper, faster, cleaner and healthier version, which is clean energy generation?

Yeah, I mean, you had recently wrote an op-ed with Ed Potasnik about the fact that about all of this, but the least of which is that there are a lot of projects, many that you just mentioned, that are waiting.

They're waiting to get onto the grid.

What needs to happen?

What do lawmakers do?

What would this bill do that might bring these into the pipeline and into the grid at a faster pace?

Yes.

Well, there's definitely a lot of solutions that need to happen, right?

This bill, S.

237 and Assembly version 1480, just creates a solution and a path for more clean energy generation.

A lot more needs to happen on the PJM side of the equation, which really requires governors to really step in, to continue to step in, and pressure our grid operator to really interconnect those clean energy projects, because many of them are here in New Jersey and they're being stuck.

So really just pushing our grid operator while at the same time really bringing those projects to the forefront, right, starting the planning process, starting the permitting process, and really setting up New Jersey for a trajectory of success so that when the unclogging happens, which has started to happen, that's very good news, we are ready for success, right?

We have set ourselves for success and take advantage of the moment that we're in.

And the reality is that New Jersey is the most expensive state in the entire region for PJM, right?

Our land is more expensive.

Our property taxes are more expensive.

Our labor is more expensive.

So we are suffering from an affordability crisis a little bit harder than the rest of the region.

- How do you respond then?

- Yeah, how do you respond then, Anjali, to concerns that the upfront build-out of a lot of this would cause ratepayers to see higher bills in the short term?

- Well, the thing is that, yes, the upfront costs might be larger, you know, an offshore wind farm compared to a natural gas power plant, but this reaches price neutrality pretty quickly.

These investments are in the long term, right?

Like, all of these investments, particularly early utility infrastructure, it goes back to ratepayers, and it takes years and years and years for all of us to pay for those expansions and those improvements.

So, really, this is a long-term game.

And when you look at the economics and the finances in the long term, you, it's pretty obvious that the answer is clean energy generation because you end up actually saving money.

There have been a lot of analysis that look at by 2030, that's just five years or less than that, right?

We're about to start 2026.

By 2030, families per household here in New Jersey can save hundreds of dollars if we just simply go into the direction of setting New Jersey into a path of clean energy generation.

Because the reality is that we need to put projects on the ground as quick as possible.

So when you compare, for example, a solar farm versus a natural gas power plant, it takes you about five to six years to build a natural gas power plant versus a solar farm that might take you one to two years.

And in addition to that, there is a shortage for the turbines that burn the natural gas on an international level.

So those five to six years might take even longer.

So you're really not fixing the problem on a short-term basis.

That is why in terms of financing, in terms of time, and in terms of putting those electrons to run into the grid, clean energy is the solution.

All right.

Anjali Ramos-Bussard, thank you so much for your time.

Good to talk to you and thanks for your insight.

Thank you.

New Jersey is seeing a surge in TV and film production across the state, and the ripple effects are being felt far beyond the sets.

Small businesses from sandwich shops to catering companies say they're seeing big returns, now that dozens of towns are officially certified as film ready, attracting more productions and of course customers.

But the boom also comes with a price tag.

The state is offering generous tax incentives to lure Hollywood here, and critics are questioning whether taxpayers are really getting their money's worth.

Our budget and finance writer John Reitmeyer joins us now to dig into all of it.

- John, great reporting here.

So how significant really is this growth?

How do we measure it?

What are the numbers showing us?

- Thank you, and it's great to be with you.

It's hundreds of millions of dollars in spending that's occurring in New Jersey on these film productions that if we didn't have this film industry taking root here in New Jersey again, presumably this is activity that would be happening in another state or some other location.

And so it has just set a record last year for total amount of money spent by film productions in New Jersey over $800 million.

And the trend line is moving up and pretty much everywhere you turn it feels like in the state there's a film production happening and you might get stuck in traffic or you might see your neighbors posting selfies with celebrities.

It just seems like this is a thing that's become rather ubiquitous in the state right now.

It really does.

I wonder though and if we have the numbers how much the state is spending to create as the governor had called it the Hollywood of the East and how do they sort of you know make the argument that that level of investment is needed.

So that's the harder figure to put our finger on at the moment because what happens is as these productions occur the film production companies generate tax liabilities.

And so when they go to pay their taxes these tax breaks that the state awards for the film industry, that's when they can go and say, hey, we would be giving you this amount of money, but because we get this tax break, we're actually going to be sending the treasury a lesser amount of money.

The argument for the tax breaks is that it creates what's considered a net overall benefit for the state, even as some of that revenue is forgone, the logic is that again that these productions would be happening in some other place.

So we're capturing a percentage of something rather than zero of nothing.

Okay, that's a fair way to put it.

Who overall though benefits when a production comes to town?

Is it the mom and pop shops and the state?

How does it sort of work?

So due to the way that the tax breaks themselves are written into law, there are requirements to work with New Jersey based businesses.

And so I was able to talk to for this story some business owners who are seeing impacts from the film productions when they come into a community.

In one case it was a sandwich shop in Cranford.

Loves to be fed.

So we know that to be true here.

So I also talked to a catering company.

That is generating a lot of businesses from exactly that feeding cruise.

And so if you talk to the owners of these types of businesses, they're very happy to see the state get involved in incentivizing film productions.

Because in the case of the local sandwich shop, the owner told me business is picking up 20 to 30% during a period of film production.

And the catering company is getting that I spoke with is getting a lot of referrals word of mouth.

And so if film production is coming into New Jersey and you are one of the top performing catering companies, you're likely going to get business that you might not have otherwise from the wedding or the other types of businesses that caterers rely on.

Maybe there's a downtime.

And so this is definitely lifting up those businesses.

Is the industry John those set up to grow in a sustained way or these you know one off boost.

Unless as you say you're a great catering company and word travels that you're the one to call.

Is this a sustained growth.

And so that was one of the big things I was trying to look at also is this sort of a sugar high.

The businesses will last as long as the state incentivizes this particular industry.

I think that's still an open question although we do see big studios like Netflix and 1888 studios coming in and signing long-term leases to operate in New Jersey.

And so that is something that will be more than just, you know, the latest Adam Sandler movie comes in and films for a few weeks and then moves to some other location when the tax incentive is more lucrative in that location.

In this case, I think geographically, because we're close to New York City and New Jersey and there's an already established industry with New York City, that we are seeing maybe the signs of something.

And if you speak to people who work at the state who are in this area, they will definitely tell you that this has long-term roots.

Yeah, and I mean, I guess that leads to my other question, which is, is it just the tax incentives that are bringing this work here, or is there more to it?

I mean, there is a lot to offer here, if we do say so ourselves.

Yeah, so it's been described to me as sort of a door opener that you sort of have to have tax breaks to be in the business, to be in the game itself.

But what New Jersey does bring to the table, and I'm not an expert in film productions, but in terms of the diversity of the types of landscapes and backgrounds that New Jersey offers between mountains and beaches and suburbs and cities.

And if you've watched some of the movies in recent years, whether it says this was filmed in Patterson or Newark, there are locations for those who know what they're looking for where they will definitely recognize some of the street corners or landscapes that are appearing in movies.

And so the one thing New Jersey does have, you can drive to all of these different locations if you need a mountain scene.

Within an hour and a half, maybe you're at a beach scene.

So it definitely is something that New Jersey brings to the table beyond just the tax breaks.

What about the concerns that taxpayers maybe are taking on the risk, productions take the rewards very quickly in the little bit of time we have left?

So I said that 800, more than 800 million number.

You know, New Jersey has a GDP that's in the hundreds of billions.

And so the critics and people who have looked into this even academically will tell you that the is this a real needle mover and the state essentially picks which industries to subsidize and then others have to just go it without tax breaks and how much of this activity because of our geographic location, because of all those the set diversity would happen organically without having to offer tax incentives and I think that's a fair part of this debate to have publicly.

Alright John Reitmeier you can find all of his reporting on our website mjspotlightnews.org John thanks as always.

You're welcome.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

But a reminder you can download our podcast wherever you listen and watch us any time 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 Vannozzi for the entire team at NJ Spotlight News.

Thanks for being with us.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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