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From NJ PBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi.

- Hello and thanks for joining us.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

We're bringing you a special NJ Spotlight News edition of Reporters Roundtable with Joanna Gagis, who has a roundup of the top political stories of the week with the help of a panel of local journalists.

But first, the headlines.

A major funding blow for Patterson Schools after the Trump administration sent a notice this week that it's cutting roughly $8 million in federal funding to the city's public school district.

Specifically, it's ending the Full Service Community Schools Grant, which funds programs that provide food, health care, counseling, and academic support like tutoring for thousands of students.

The money was originally promised through 2028, but will now end December 31st, according to the U.S.

Department of Ed., which says the grants no longer align with its priorities.

Nationwide, 18 districts total are losing the funding, including the six in Patterson and two in Passaic, which partners with Patterson for those services.

Local leaders warn the impact could be severe.

Nearly a third of Patterson residents live below the poverty line, with many families that rely on those wraparound services.

The superintendent says the district is exploring an appeal and alternate funding.

Congresswoman Nellie Poe, whose district includes Patterson, is urging the administration to reverse course, calling the decision "devastating" for students.

Also a controversial plan to move key hospital services out of Long Branch has cleared a major hurdle.

The State Health Planning Board voted unanimously to back a proposal by RWJBarnabas Health, an underwriter of NJ Spotlight News, that will relocate many of Monmouth Medical Center's acute care services to a new medical campus in Tintin Falls.

The move would shift labor and delivery, surgical care and pediatrics to the Vogel Medical Campus, pending final approval from the acting health commissioner.

Now supporters argue the current hospital is aging and lacks space for modern technology.

But critics, including Congressman Frank Pallone, who's been a vocal opponent of the plan, warn the relocation could make health care harder to reach for Long Branch residents and will put added pressure on nearby hospitals.

But hospital leaders say those concerns will be addressed with free shuttles between campuses, coordination with New Jersey Transit, and commitments to retain most current employees while also keeping the hospital open around the clock with a full-service emergency department.

And a mission just about anyone can get behind.

The state is taking a major step toward ending traffic deaths on our roads.

New Jersey's Target Zero Commission just approved a sweeping action plan aimed at eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries by 2040.

The commission, which was created earlier this year, unveiled a draft report this week that includes 72 proposals that range from tougher safety laws to changes in road design, increased driver education, better speed management, and even improving emergency responses to a crash.

Nearly half of the recommendations in that roadmap would require action by the state legislature.

The effort comes after a troubling spike in traffic deaths last year, including a 30-year high in pedestrian fatalities.

So far this year, transportation officials say there have been 550 fatalities on the roads, which is actually an improvement that's down nearly 19% since 2024.

Governor Murphy says the plan proves traffic deaths are preventable.

The report now heads to Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill's transition team with advocates urging swift action to turn the plan into lives saved.

And those are our top headlines.

Reporters Roundtable begins right now.

- Major funding for Reporters Roundtable is provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

Let's be healthy together.

What in the heck happened this year?

Government shutdowns, U.S.

senators sentenced to jail, energy prices skyrocketing.

We'll look back at a year of news and what's to come next year in just a minute.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Joanna Gagis, and this is Reporters Roundtable, the show where we round up a panel of journalists to talk about the latest week of New Jersey news.

But since this is our last show of 2025, we're going to look at the highlights of the year.

But first, let's meet our panel.

We have Madison Fernandez, reporter for Politico NJ; Brent Johnson, politics reporter for NJ Advanced Media; and Kenneth Burns, New Jersey reporter for WHYY.

Welcome, all of you.

Madison, I'm going to start with you.

Obviously, economy was top of mind for everyone.

Affordability was a good word, then a buzzword, now it's a bad word.

How has affordability really driven the political cycle this past year?

I think Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill's win really helped establish that affordability term as a buzzword this year.

I think after her win, you know, her campaign really touted the laser focus on affordability as a reason why she won.

And that sort of set the stage for Democrats heading into midterms who, you know, were really struggling to find a message.

And after the wins in New Jersey and Virginia, across the country, they were really able to look to that and say, hey, maybe this is our message now.

But, you know, it's really interesting how you see the Trump administration sort of grapple with that.

The president has been going on a sort of tour touting his economic message and affordability.

And just a few weeks ago, he was saying how, you know, Democrats' message on affordability is a hoax.

So you sort of see this tension here and both parties really trying to figure out, OK, how do we own this message?

Because for a while, Democrats really struggled with that, and it kind of seems like they're strived with that now.

Yeah, it's interesting what you're pointing to, because it's like Democrats flip the script on Republicans and they're trying to figure out where to go with it.

That's always been a key kind of kitchen table affordability, we care about your pocketbook issues, message from Republicans.

And like you said, you know, the president has said affordability is just a thing that Democrats are saying and it's not real.

Where do Republicans go from here to regain that affordability messaging?

Madison, stay with you.

I think that, you know, what you see the president doing right now, hitting these swing states, doing an address to the nation talking about affordability, that is definitely a start.

I think you are hearing from some Republicans saying that perhaps he's not fully selling the message at this moment.

But, you know, I think that it's definitely going to be top of mind for Republicans up and down the ballot heading into the midterms.

And even if there are still some concerns about how the president is talking about affordability, then it's going to be up to these other candidates to figure out their own message.

But we've seen that time and time again.

It's really hard for, you know, down-ballot candidates to separate themselves from the leader of the party.

Yeah, for sure.

Brent, when we look at the economy, it's hard to separate this year economy, affordability from tariffs.

What impact, when you look back at this year, have tariffs had on business, on individuals, on the overall U.S.

economy?

How do you sum that up?

Well, definitely an effect on this race.

You saw one of the things Sherrill did was she focused her message not just on being anti-Trump for anything that she said, you know, it wasn't just that Trump was a threat to democracy.

It was that he was a threat to the economy.

And one way was, you know, look at his policies, tariffs, the big, beautiful bill.

That that was her message, that Trump is his policies are hurting you economically, not just his Donald Trump drama.

So that's one thing you saw here.

There was a big facet of the race.

And, you know, Republicans will say you need time on tariffs.

You know, Ted, you will have to see the effects, the good effects coming in the future.

But until then, you're going to see Democrats continue to hammer home that tariffs are hurting you.

Do you see Republicans stepping back in the tariff space, kind of hanging back?

I don't hear too many people out there supporting it strongly.

In New Jersey, across the country?

Yeah, I know Jack Ciatarelli, the Republican nominee, was asked about it a few times during the campaign.

He didn't denounce the tariffs and didn't wholeheartedly embrace them either.

I feel there's going to be a lot of tighter walking, especially going into next year's midterms, that we're going to have a larger nationwide-scale election like we had in the one in New Jersey with, you know, all the seats in Congress up again.

So New Jersey was kind of like the launching pad, the litmus test for what you're going to see happen next year.

to see happen next year.

Where do you see this issue going when it comes to whether or not Republicans end up voting or more Republicans end up voting to extend Affordable Care Act credits?

How do you think this plays out?

I think it will play out over time as the Republicans start feeling heat from some of their constituents, particularly in the swing districts.

We've seen this in New York.

We've seen it actually across the river from me with Congressman Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania.

I think as time goes on, as people start feeling the reality of their everyday life, not these high concept talking points that most politicians like to rely on, it's going to get real and it's probably going to get real sooner because it is 2026.

It is an election year where all the seats in the House are up for grabs and you have some Senate seats as well.

So Kenny, staying with that, do you think there are any New Jersey congressional representatives, Republicans in particular, whose seats could be in jeopardy if they don't vote to extend these credits?

Easily Tom Kane Jr.

He's probably going to be in a very competitive district.

And whoever takes over for Mikie Sherrill in that seat, because remember, that's that district swings west towards more Republican areas.

As far as the other Republicans go, Chris Smith has been around forever.

And Jeff Van Drew is in a safe spot.

So, Madison, we've got Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill already shaking things up.

She made the announcement yesterday she's not going to the War Memorial in Trenton for her inauguration.

She's taking it up to her home county, Essex.

She's going to be in Newark at NJPAC.

This might not seem like a big, bold statement, but political insiders are watching for the context of what this means.

What do you think this signals in terms of her willingness to do things differently, maybe to stake her claim in a different way with New Jersey lawmakers?

It's absolutely an effort to continue her message from her campaign, where she said she was going to go against the status quo that we've seen for administrations past in Trenton.

Something that stood out to me in her campaign's announcement that she's going to do her inauguration in New York is that they pointed out how she had the highest, or caused the highest turnout in decades in Newark.

And, you know, I think back to a lot of the reporting I did over this campaign where there were a lot of concerns about can she, you know, turn out these black and Latino voters who have drifted away from the Democratic Party?

And there was a lot of concern about that.

And the answer was a resounding yes.

So I think this just goes to show a bit of appreciation for those folks and showing that, you know, she wasn't just relying on them to win, and she hopefully is going to still continue, you know, looking to serve them.

And I think that having such a big event in Newark is a big part of that.

And do you think this is her way to kind of establish very quickly, I'm going to do things my way, any long-term New Jersey senators, assembly people, take note, this is my administration, this is my rule?

I think this is part of that.

I mean, she spent a lot of time trying to differentiate herself from outgoing Governor Phil Murphy.

And I mean, even look at her attorney general pick, who she announced this week, she didn't keep on current Attorney General Matt Plotkin.

And I think that's a big part because she wants to really differentiate her own administration.

Yeah.

Brent, remember that time when we had a U.S.

senator who was sentenced to jail at the beginning of 2025?

Does that feel like a lifetime ago?

It does.

We've had like 30 chapters of this book written since then.

But, you know, it's probably something that the national audience remembers most about New Jersey, not just that we elected a new governor, but that, you know, we had one U.S.

senator go to jail.

And it plays against the New Jersey -- plays to the New Jersey stereotype of corrupt politicians.

And it was kind of a cartoonish, Sopranos-like indictment of having gold bars and cash stuffed in jackets.

So, again, it has to be worth the storylines.

I've got to jump in and just give props to the NJ.com Instagram team who came up with the video.

It was just brilliant.

If you haven't seen it, check it out.

But, you know, the video is going around.

Thirty years ago, someone's going to invite me to go for a walk in the park.

It's very important that you say yes.

They did a spoof on that, saying, you know, your friends are going to ask you to take bribes of gold and cash.

It's very important you say no.

Just brilliant editing right there.

But a lot happened in that Senate seat since then.

Obviously, we saw a play by First Lady Tammy Murphy.

We saw Andy Kim shake up the party line and the whole, you know, county system of politics in New Jersey.

Now we hear that maybe Alina Haba is going to make a run for that Senate seat.

Brent, do you give any credence to her run?

Or even perhaps Senator Mike Testa?

We've heard rumblings there as well.

And that's one of the big races to watch next year.

Cory Booker will be running for re-election to the Senate.

And the general thought is that he's going to be very difficult to take down, that Republicans might even have to put up a sacrificial lamb.

And what makes Haba intriguing there is that she already has name recognition, and she has money, meaning she has access to Trump donors, which might be - you need to run.

The last two people to run for U.S.

Senate as a Republican in New Jersey were Curtis Badshaw and Bob Hugin, who were both wealthy people.

So you need money, and she's a name.

And the thought is, well, maybe, you know, you get some Trump voters to come on board, you never know.

But this is going to be-- it's going to be tough for Booker to lose, especially as he looks to run for president again.

And she doesn't have a whole lot of a track record or runway to run off of here.

She's very short-stinted as U.S.

attorney for the District of New Jersey.

Kenny, can you kick us off on a round of a game we like to play called "Will We Ever See Them Again?"

This is actually the first time we've ever played it.

Phil Murphy, will we see him again?

He says he's leaving on a jet plane as soon as Mikie Sherrill is sworn into office.

[laughter] I don't think this will be the last we see of Phil Murphy in one way or the other.

He might not run for it.

Well, governor is it.

That's the top of the list, right?

He's still floated about his president.

I haven't really seen him sufficiently shut that rumor down But I'm sure that we will see Phil Murphy pop up every now and then yeah He did leave that door just slightly open Madison Matt Platt can will we see him again?

He says he's not running for any other office right now, but you know he's really built up his name recognition with all of these lawsuits against the Trump administration So I'd be shocked if we don't see him again in some capacity Brent your turn Jack Chittarelli What happens with Jack Chittarelli?

Chittarelli since this uh since this election has been more than a month now.

You know he ran three times um he got really close uh the last time and not as close this time.

I he might become like an elder statesman in the Republican Party.

I'm sure you'll see him around and he might be asked for comment on things but I don't see him running for office again.

Um like last time when he almost won four years ago he immediately came out and said I'm gonna run again.

This time we haven't heard from him.

So I don't expect him to run again.

Could you see maybe head of the Republican State Committee that type of thing for him?

Not right away, but maybe in future years.

Those positions do tend to go to people like that.

You know, former candidates with a big profile like Bob Hugin, who was the previous GOP chair.

So I wouldn't rule that out.

But right now, Jack Giudarelli, he hasn't tweeted anything since Election Day.

So that says something.

You said he's going to Surf City.

Go ahead, Matt.

He said he's going to Surf City.

He sure did.

He sure did.

I was to Brian Wilson.

OK, we're going to do another lightning round.

Tell us, Madison, start with you.

What is your favorite story that you covered or followed in 2025?

Oh, wow.

I what I'm really happy with the reporting that I've done on black and Latino voters, because I think it was such a big question this year heading into the midterms, and this was such an interesting test case, and really is -- I think the results in New Jersey are going to help instruct how Democrats and Republicans conduct outreach to these very important demographics going into next year.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's going to be a huge, hugely important demographic again.

Kenny, let's go to you.

Favorite story of 2025.

Ironically, is nothing political.

It's just a demonstration of how everything is local in New Jersey.

In Burlington City, there was an intersection with conflicting street signs.

One said East Pearl Street.

The other one said East Pearl Boulevard.

And one of those was correct.

They were off by a block.

East Pearl Boulevard runs along the Delaware River, so they had to go back and change the sign to properly say East Pearl Street.

And the person who lives in that complex, that apartment complex, has been trying to get this corrected for at least a couple of years, and it was finally done within the last couple of months.

All that to say this is the second year in a row or somewhere there about where I cover a story in December where someone had an issue with City Hall and they won at the end.

That I think we can, it's fair to say, only in Jersey, right?

Only in Jersey.

Brent, go ahead.

What's your favorite story of 2025?

Well, I mean, you know, besides the fact that we got a Bruce Springsteen movie, which, you know, New Jersey, you know, loves to see.

This governor's race, it was the most dramatic, maddening, insane, difficult to gauge election, governor's election that I've ever covered or before I've covered here.

You know, no one really knew exactly what was going to happen, and no one really expected a 14-point Sherrill victory.

And along the way, there was just a lot of mudslinging and a lot of fact-checking and, you know, a lot of high stakes.

And so this was a governor's race to remember.

Yeah, it was fun.

No, as a journalist, I thought it was fun to cover.

Oh, yeah.

This is what we want.

I'm going to chime in with my favorite story.

I think the arrest and then the trials of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Congresswoman Lamonica McIver, you know, we've we've almost kind of come to accept that that happened.

But if anyone remembers when that first went live and we're watching that arrest in real time and it was just bizarre and it's been bizarre to watch the whole thing play out.

So obviously that's going to be a story that continues to drive the news cycle in 2026 as we know those charges have not been dropped against McGyver.

So we'll keep following it.

I love these wrap ups.

We're going to keep going with that.

Madison, what do you expect will drive the news cycle in 2026?

What do you think is going to be a hot button issue that we just can't stop talking about?

Affordability.

There it is.

Kenneth.

I'm looking at particularly South Jersey and Camden.

Now that we have an incoming new governor, which means what's going to happen to the city of Camden and also we still have George Norcross indictment in legal limbo.

A decision has not dropped as we're talking now.

So that's going to be real interesting going in 2026.

And of course, Andy Kim, as he continues to take one to the machine.

Yeah, he does.

He doesn't seem to stop.

He says he's going after any New Jersey legislators who have been, he calls them anti-corruption.

How did he word it?

I can't get the exact wording, but he's going after anyone who's... I'll say it this way.

When he jumped into the Senate race last year, he basically did it on a whim, and it worked out for him.

So I would not be surprised if we see a lot more of Andy Kim shooting from the hip in 2026 and beyond.

Yeah, he's going after Beach, Senator Jim Beach.

We know that.

He had that that exchange with him in the legislature.

Yeah.

Anyone who is in support of these bills that he says are anti-disclosure.

Brent, what are you following for 2026?

I think it's going to be a tale of two or two halves.

The first half of the year will be looking to see what Sherrill does.

You know, she said she was going to freeze utility rates.

Is that going to happen?

Is that going to face legal scrutiny?

And then the second half of the year, we're going to have huge midterms.

We have all congressional seats up in New Jersey.

Cory Booker's seat's up again.

And the national scene is going to be, will Republicans hold on to Congress in these -- you know, in this -- this last election was an anti-Trump wave.

So will we see that again here?

And you have seats that are going to be very focused on New Jersey, especially Tom Kane's seat in the 7th District.

So there's a -- New Jersey never disappoints.

There's always something going on in New Jersey.

And this year is no different.

Yeah, you're channeling our colleague and friend Michael Aaron there.

New Jersey never lets you down.

Just really quickly, I'm looking at immigration just continuing to be an issue driving the national scene and here in New Jersey.

And I can't help but wonder how Mikie Sherrill's new attorney general, who of course still needs to be confirmed by the Senate, but she's her nominee, Jen Davenport, how she will take on the Trump administration.

We're going to be watching that.

But just quickly, Brent, what do you expect from her?

Do you think we're going to see Matt Plotkin Part 2?

Yeah.

I mean, it's kind of an open question.

We don't know much about Jen Davenport except what we see in her bio.

But she did use the two catchwords, Madison's favorite, affordability, and then Trump in her press conference.

So that seems to be what she's going to be focused on, whether she's as forward or public-facing as Matt Platt, and it remains to be seen.

He was a very public attorney general.

So, you know, a lot of questions about Sherrill's administration.

We still don't know all her Cabinet picks going into the final weeks of December.

So there's a lot to watch out for.

Kenny, really quickly, just a couple seconds left.

You talked about Kim going after people, and I mentioned Beach.

And I wanted to bring up, do you see him going after Scutari, who, by the way, has backed down and said, oh, I'm going to try that bill again, but it's not going to go after the comptroller?

That was never about the comptroller.

Just a couple seconds.

Yeah, OK.

Let's just keep watching because Scutari seems to be really wanting to string to the hand of the legislature.

Yeah, that is for sure.

Thank you all for your great coverage throughout the year.

Thanks for being with us today.

That is all the time we have for this episode of Reporters Roundtable.

I'm Joanna Gagis.

Go ahead and check out that QR screen on your code.

You can follow us on Instagram @JoannaGagisNJ and of course that QR code is where you get more episodes of Roundtable for all the crew here at Gateway Center in downtown Newark.

Thank you for being with us.

Have a great weekend and a great holiday season.

Major funding for Reporters Roundtable is provided by RWJ Barnabas Health.

Let's be healthy together.

That's gonna do it for us.

I'm Briana Vannozzi for the entire team at NJ Spotlight News.

Thanks for being with us.

We'll see you right back here on Monday.

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