>> Major funding for NJ Spotlight news in part by NJM insurance group and by the PNC foundation.

>> Tonight on NJ Spotlight News.

Despite calls for his resignation, Israel's Prime Minister digs in after three hostages were killed by Israeli soldiers.

>> Israel is claiming they will fight until the very end.

The United States is targeting for more surgical strikes.

>> Plus, RWJ nurses in New Brunswick officially agree to a new contract.

After nearly four months on the picket line.

Congressman Frank Pallone announcing a new bill to combat sudden cardiac arrest in kids especially among student athletes.

>> The hope is more individuals would be diagnosed and treated.

>> And decreasing violent crime in Jersey City.

Mayor Fulop telling his efforts to keep deadly violence at bay.

>> We are moving in the right direction.

We are resting the people doing this.

There are less shootings and homicides and shots fired in those committees.

>> NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

♪ >> From NJPBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News.

>> Good evening and thanks for joining us on this Monday night.

Just this weekend, three Israeli hostages were mistakenly killed by their own country's what Terry despite one of them waving a white flag when confronted by the Israeli soldiers.

The killing sparked outrage across the globe forcing U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to travel to the region to put public pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to be more precise and outlined their strategic objectives in Gaza.

Looking at the civilian toll it is taking.

In addition to the three hostages, 1200 Israelis have been killed and more than 18,000 Palestinians since the conflict began.

Many Israelis are questioning what is taking place and the war tactics being used.

And are now calling on Netanyahu to resign.

For the and more, I am joined by associate Professor of politics at Rutgers University Camden Michael Boyle who is an expert on terrorism, U.S. national security policy and Middle East politics thanks for joining me.

But start with the headlines for the weekend.

Three Israeli hostages were mistakenly killed while one was holding a white flag.

This horrific act has no doubt altered the perspective of the conflict matter what side you are on.

What was your reaction to this moment?

>> I think it raises a couple of different political consequences.

My first reaction was this is going to increase pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu.

There is already been a movement from Israel suggesting the government needs to do more to prioritize the release of hostages as opposed to fighting the war in Gaza.

A sense that maybe Netanyahu is not doing as much as he should.

This is going to raise questions about the rules of engagement the IDF is operating within Kaiser.

What we know about this incident is three hostages came out, they waved a white flag, they removed their shirts to make sure everyone knew there was no explosive on them.

They had spoken in preview call for surrender.

The idea they were killed is going to raise more questions about, what are the rules for engagement?

What are they doing to rescue hostages?

Are they being as careful as they?

Should be it is going to place pressure on Netanyahu to release more hostages and whether Israel's campaign is as precise as they say it is.

>> On the topic of raising questions, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is in Israel meeting with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding he more clearly defined his or objectives and dashes were objectives and milestones.

The Prime Minister is vowing to fight until the end.

What does the next stage of this conflict look like and is there any chance of a real Cease Fire?

>> There is a possibility of a cease-fire if the pressure over the hostages grows over Netanyahu and we know the CIA director is negotiating via Qatar with Hamas for another short-term Cease Fire that would release more hostages.

There is a possibility of a Cease Fire on the horizon.

I think at core what we are seeing with Secretary Austen coming to see the Israeli government is a difference over what this war should look like and with the day after should look like.

Right now Israel is claiming they will fight until the very end.

United States is targeting for a targeted operation.

But less main infantry fighting.

The second question is who controls Gaza the day afterwards.

The U.S. has made it clear the Palestinian Authority is the only actor in town the U.S. could back that would govern Gaza afterwards.

Over the weekend Benjamin Netanyahu said we will never let that happen.

Right now I see between the United States and Israel a parting of the ways of use.

I'm not sure that is going to resolve without a competition.

>> There are calls from Israelis for Netanyahu to step down saying enough is enough.

So will he?

>> I don't think so.

Netanyahu is the great political survivor of Israel.

He has been at the top of Israeli politics for 20 years.

The idea he is going to give up is not the case.

You can read about what he is doing recently is about his own political survival.

And who might even block a Palestinian state on the grounds they don't want another terrorist attack to happen again as part of his electoral strategy.

He plays to the right by saying I'm the guy who can stop this from happening again.

I'm the guy who will define international pressure.

That is part of what is going on at the moment.

That Yahoo!

making that play and it is looking like he is playing politics with the hostages and playing politics with the war.

>> Thank you so much for joining me.

>> Thank you for having me.

>> No amendment will be made to the state's paid sick and family leave program some advocates claim will leave behind more than one million New Jersey workers.

The decision comes as protesters rallied at the state house urging lawmakers to revise a bill for the final vote.

Some of those desired revisions by advocates included extending protection that will cover these additional workers who they say will be left behind from accessing job protected paid leave.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis is at the state house with the latest.

>> A bill before the assembly Appropriations Committee today would expand the requirements for employers to provide paid leave to their employees.

Current state law only requires an employer with 30 employees or more provide extended paid leave.

This bill would move the number down to five employees.

It brought pushback from the is this community as well as advocates who want to see the workers rights expanded to everyone in the state.

>> Paid leave is a critical component of ensuring our workforce can work.

To make sure family members can balance the needs of caring for loved ones.

>> 13 states have paid family leave.

All of those states have job protection at varying degrees based upon the size of the employer.

As mentioned, we have job protection only for workers that are employed by business with only 30 employees.

Imagine for a moment paying for a benefit every worker pays for but they are afraid to use out of fear of retribution from their employer.

>> We support the bill only with amendments paired the amendments are critical because without them, we leave a million workers behind.

Those workers are disproportionately women workers.

They are lower income workers, more precarious workers that need job protection so they can be able to afford to take their paid leave benefits when they need and they are can Tribbett into small payroll taxes.

>> The New Jersey and is in his industry says this creates an onerous burden on small businesses in the state.

>> If you have an plays on payroll, they would have to hire temporary workers, train employees and keep them on payroll while the employee is out on leave.

With a business as small as five employees, this could be unduly burdensome and difficult to do business in New Jersey.

I would like to note the legislature recently passed a bill called temporary workers Bill of Rights which would actually make it more difficult to hire temporary workers in New Jersey.

>> That perspective when shared by several Republican members of the committee.

>> This bill will apply specifically to small business.

Actually micro business.

You're going to this program 170,000 we are not currently -- that are not currently in the program should >> Taking care of a child, taken care of a loved one, those are good reasons to want to take leave.

For the mom-and-pop florist shop that only has three employees and cannot afford to have somebody out for 12 weeks, for another small employer who has six employees and cannot afford to lose their bookkeeper for 12 weeks, they have pressures too.

.

When you say it is fundamentally unjust for someone not to be able to take those benefits, you are not taking into account what is fundamental fair for the people employing the employees.

>> The bill has to make its way through the Senate in this lame-duck session.

>> Jersey City claims it is winning the war on crime.

That is according to Mayor Steven Fulop.

Today touting the city's accomplishment alongside public safety officials and the state Attorney General announcing the mind and mental decreases in violent crime for 2023 including the lowest homicide rate in the city's history.

That is not just at a state level.

It is on a national one as the city's homicide rate is amongst the lowest of largest 100 cities in the United States.

Still there is just one more problem as our senior political correspondent reports.

The data is not available to the public.

>> This is supposed to be Jersey City Mayor Steve Philip's public safety week.

The mayor will wear his candidates hat to outline his Public Safety ideas to voters.

Today he was the mayor reporting to residents about the city's crime rate which he says is down starting with homicides.

>> A steady trend downward from the mid-20's to this year.

It is -- unfortunately we had a Homicide this weekend.

That number is actually 10.

It still represents the lowest homicide rate the city has ever seen since records have been kept.

>> Despite minor statistical upticks in robberies and aggravated assaults, the mayor says his administration's multi prong to approach of enforcement, detective work and partnerships are getting results.

That is something U.S. attorney Phil Salinger was on hand to re iterate.

>> Every Homicide is a tragedy.

But these are hard earned reductions and all of us as well as our partners who are not here today, the drug enforcement administration, alcohol tobacco firearms and many other federal agencies are working very hard.

>> Officials here or actually much more excited than the U.S. attorney's understated delivery might suggest.

This is great news says the mayor but this is also an administration that has played a bit of hot potato with statistics, keeping them off local sites and saying they report them to the state which is supposed to post them on state sites.

What those numbers have not been updated since 2020.

Officials admit you are going to have to take their word for it.

>> We post at the end of the year and repost all of our other data as the state requests.

.

I don't know what the information is you want on a weekly basis.

We think we provide the information like we do everything else where people can see what is happening from year-to-year.

I will go back to what I said.

Crime does not decrease in a straight line.

It goes up and down week by week.

We think this gives you the best picture overall.

>> The public cannot vet the information the city reports to the state.

>> No, they can't vet it because those reports, there is a lot of confidential information like victims names, juveniles.

We cannot post everything.

We never have.

Neither has anyone else.

The only thing I'm going to add to that is I have stood up when crime was up.

If anyone was insinuating I am making crime go down, I have stood up here when crime was up in almost every category and I have explained why.

I have been here for 11 years.

I am waiting for the first person to produce a crime that was not reported correctly, recorded correctly and sent to the state and federal government.

I'm confident with these numbers.

>> Crime stats are complicated.

One victim of crime represents everyone in a community and when the victim is an 18-year-old like the one who was killed last week, statistics no matter how encouraging they look on paper do not tell the whole story.

I'm David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.

>> After walking off the job in August and forcing a strike that lasted four months, nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick have officially agreed on a new three-year contract.

The hospital and United Steelworkers 4200 announced they reached a new contract late Friday.

The nurses had been fighting for better salaries, health benefits and sick time but the sticking point had been patient nurse staffing ratios.

The new Deal outlined staffing standards and offers a more collaborative process for nurses and hospital administrators to address staffing issues and concerns moving forward.

The hospital admitted the strike had significant economic consequences forcing them to shell out more than $120 million for replacement nurses.

In addition to better staffing ratios, the nurses were able to increase salaries and cap insurance costs.

An estimated 2000 young people under the age of 25 die each year of sudden cardiac arrest.

That is according to the Centers for Disease Control and prevention.

Now a Jersey lawmaker wants to combat the deadly condition through legislation.

Congressman Frank alone the announcement today at Edison high school where one of the school's football stars tragically died from sudden cardiac arrest in 2009 during track and field practice.

>> Cardio up at myopathy -- cardiomyopathy is real.

>> For families who lost children to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, there stories have common themes.

>> All of the physicals, everything that was required as a football player.

>> He just had a physical two weeks before.

We were joking with the doctor I never see John.

Your aches, flu, whatever.

>> Unfortunately, Giller physicals missed any sign of this deadly heart condition -- regular physicals missed any sign of this deadly heart condition.

>> Suddenly, tragically, collapsed and died.

>> John was playing basketball with his friends at our parish in Chatham, New Jersey when he collapsed.

And unfortunately, efforts to revive him or unsuccessful.

>> The families of the team Sharad and John Taylor Babbitt hope no one else has to suffer like they have so they are backing Frank Pallone and his bill that would require leaders and health groups to coordinate efforts to teach the public about hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and ways to treat it and prevent it.

>> Had they done an EKG, there would have been some abnormal signs.

>> There was an AED in the gym what it was on top of the coat rack in a box and no one knew where that was.

>> Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to coordinate with the Centers for Disease Control and national patient advocacy health professional organizations to develop educational materials and resources on cardio but myopathy for public awareness.

This includes the symptoms, risk assessment, training and life-saving procedures and implementing a cardiac emergency response plan in the schools.

>> Frank Pallone announced the bill at Edison high school where Sharad passed away in 2009.

The gym still has a mural honoring his life.

>> What we are talking about today from early impacts younger people and a lack of awareness about this disease or condition we are discussing today.

And so if we can do more in those categories in terms of awareness, education and response, we can prevent a lot of things from happening.

>> Alone has been trying to -- Frank Pallone has been trying to pass bills like this for more than a decade and simply create awareness.

>> The hope is more individuals would be diagnosed and treated.

>> I think it is a great initiative that is going to save lives.

If one students life is saved, every dollar will be worth it.

>> According to Franklin, this bill is similar to previous versions of a bill that he introduced into past congresses but could not get enacted into law.

He says the only difference is this time around are minor and technical and they are designed to help the bill get through a divided Congress.

♪ >> In our spotlight on business report, Governor Murphy and Princeton University in collaboration with the New Jersey economic development Authority announced plans to establish in artificial intelligence hub in New Jersey.

The initiative paid for through state and private funding hopes to bring together AI researchers, leaders and start ups to advance research and development, promote an up-and-coming workforce and collaborate with New Jersey's many colleges and universities.

It is all part of Governor Murphy's commitment to make New Jersey a leader in AI.

In October the governor signed and the order to create an AI task force.

Princeton will host a one-of-a-kind conference to kick off this initiative in April 2024.

Turning to Wall Street, here is how the markets closed today.

♪ New Jersey is still drying out tonight after being drenched by a coastal storm that delivered flooding, heavy rains and strong winds early Monday morning.

The storm knocked out power for nearly 50,000 people statewide with Monmouth County and the Skyland's region experiencing the most outages.

Utility crews were working throughout the day to restore power.

Morning commutes were a mess as flooding closed roads statewide and half of NJ transit rail lines experiencing delays.

At least one school district canceled classes because of the flooding.

It was an exceptionally wet storm for December fueled by unseasonably warm air and ocean temperatures.

Most of the state got at least three inches of rain with some areas seeing even more.

A rain gauge at the Charlotte Sprague reservoir in Morris County registered nearly five and a half inches.

In an effort to make sure no child goes hungry, the Trenton school district is opening up its second food pantry.

The goal of the expansion is to support local families through resources currently offered through the community-based program versus Street friends.

In our continuing series, hunger in New Jersey, Melissa Rose Cooper has more on the program which helps address food insecurity and nutrition concerns for schoolchildren and their families.

>> One of the goals of the school is to meet academic needs of our students.

But that becomes increasingly difficult if we are unable to meet our students basic needs.

>> Basic needs like making sure students have something to eat.

A challenge that the principle of Trenton's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. middle school once to a eradicate.

He is joining leaders to celebrate the opening of this food pantry and resource Center as part of a partnership with the organization Mercer Street friends which aims to provide necessary services to students and their families.

>> Mercer Street friends has been able to provide access to counseling service, create attendance initiatives for our students and parents and provide weekend food for all of our students.

>> The pantry at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. middle school is the second one to open.

The first opening just minutes away inside Gregory Elementary back in September.

>> There is no better expression in my view of the community school movement than a food pantry and a family resource Center.

This is what we do.

We try to remove barriers to learning so that the wonderful staff, leadership and teachers right here at MLK can do their jobs and teach our children.

>> We are so thankful for our partnership with Orchard Street friends.

And -- with Mercer Street friends.

And really the start of a movement to eradicate the thought, the feeling and the words of I am hungry from any student.

So this is a start of great work that has been in the making and is already in one school and we are hoping to continue it but we as a community need to be collaborative to make sure there is never any child in the city of Trenton that needs to utter the words I am hungry.

>> Local leaders applauding the pantry on the positive impact it will have for students.

>> Knowing our children don't have the concern of whether or they're going to have food or not.

Knowing their minds can be fed in the school but they can get nourishment to take back home, it is a challenging situation you don't know whether or not you're going to have enough to eat.

This hopes to take away one of those barriers.

We have a lot of food deserts.

Folks don't realize it.

There are pockets we have.

Knowing that the Mercer Street friends recognizes that and not just talking about it but they are doing something about it makes a difference.

>> This is only the beginning.

We have a goal to become a true community school.

Students that walk our halls today will become the leaders outside of these walls tomorrow.

We wanted to help them and their families in any way possible.

This pantry will stand as a symbol of compassion, unity and commitment to helping one another in Trenton.

>> Mercer Street friends is planning to open a third pantry next year and eventually each one will be available for students and the entire community.

>> That is going to do it for us tonight but don't forget to download the NJ Spotlight News podcast so you can listen anytime.

For the entire NJ Spotlight News team, thanks for being with us and we will see you right back here tomorrow night.

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♪