>> From NJ PBS studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vannozzi.

>> Hello and thanks for joining us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gaggis in for Brianna Vannozzi.

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

What's next after a federal appeals court ruled that Alina Haba has been unlawfully serving as the U.S.

attorney for the District of New Jersey?

And what happens to cases tried during her tenure?

Then, family leave.

Hear how some lawmakers are trying to expand access while some businesses are pushing back.

And later, we talk with tennis star and Jersey native Amanda Anasimova about her stellar year and what's next.

But first, James Solomon will be mayor of New Jersey's second largest city after winning a landslide victory over his opponent, former Governor Jim McGreevy.

Now, McGreevy had attempted to make a political comeback more than two decades after resigning from the governorship amid scandal.

Solomon will replace outgoing Mayor Steve Fulop, who opted not to seek re-election, running for governor instead.

Solomon's been a vocal critic of Fulop, and he's made affordability and runaway housing costs his top issue, vowing to take on special interests and developers, and keep the city's sanctuary status for undocumented immigrants, even amid a lawsuit from the Trump administration.

After a crowded and contentious race in November, Solomon earned the support of his third and fourth place challengers, securing a more than 30 point lead over McGreevy.

Meanwhile, just to the north in Hudson County, another city's getting a new mayor, Emily Jabour eked out a win over fellow city council member Michael Russo, who, much like Solomon, earned the support of the third and fourth place challengers in the race, but it simply wasn't enough to get him over the finish line ahead of Jabour, who had the backing of state lawmakers.

On the ticket there were similar issues, housing and affordability, the ongoing challenge of parking in Hoboken and sidewalk safety with the increased use of e-bikes.

And more uncertainty for people who depend for people who depend on food assistance, as the Trump administration is threatening to withhold SNAP benefits if states don't hand over data about their program's recipients.

Now, the administration says it's looking into fraud within the federal food assistance program and is seeking names and immigration status of recipients.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins says it's an effort to root out fraud in the program that she calls "rampant."

Most states have turned over that info, but New Jersey is one of 22 states, all led by Democrats, that have refused.

New Jersey's Attorney General Matt Plattken has called the move "illegal" and "deeply immoral" and his office joined a lawsuit alleging the Trump administration is wrongly denying food assistance to non-citizens who he says are eligible, including refugees, asylum seekers, and legal permanent residents.

And lawmakers are questioning the legality of withholding those SNAP funds because they've already been appropriated by Congress.

All of this comes just as new work requirements went into effect this week, where enrollees have to prove they worked or volunteered a minimum of 80 hours a month to receive the benefits.

In New Jersey, about 800,000 New Jersey residents are enrolled in SNAP.

Also, a judge has ruled that Montclair's referendum to vote on a school funding plan cannot move forward.

The special election was scheduled for next Tuesday, December 9th, and residents were asked to answer two questions.

Both would increase the tax levy by millions of dollars.

One of those options would put in place a state monitor to oversee the Montclair School District's finances.

But after two lawsuits were brought by township residents, a judge decided the wording of the questions was not clear.

He called it a "convoluted statement" and threw it out.

The questions ask residents to approve the referendum, but never specifically ask them to approve a tax increase.

Without the additional funds, the district has said it would be forced to lay off more than 100 teachers and staff, which Superintendent Ruth Turner says will impact critical programs and services that students depend on.

The next possible election date for a reworded referendum is March, and the district says it's considering all of its legal options.

Coming up, what happens to cases under Alina Haba now that the appellate court rules she's been unlawfully appointed as U.S.

attorney for the District of New Jersey?

We'll take a look next.

Major funding for NJ Spotlight News is provided in part by NJM Insurance Group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

>> A federal appeals court delivered a blow to the Trump administration this week, ruling that Alina Haba has been unlawfully serving as acting U.S.

attorney for the district of New Jersey.

Now, Haba is President Trump's former personal attorney and his pick for the position, but Haba was never confirmed by the Senate and was voted out by a panel of New Jersey judges only to later be reappointed to the role by the Department of Justice through a series of maneuvers.

Well, the Third Circuit unanimously ruled that Haba's appointment violates federal rules, and that decision could have major implications on cases brought during her tenure.

Seton Hall law professor and former federal prosecutor Jacob Elberg joins us again to walk us through the legal impact and what comes next.

Jacob, great to have you here in the studio with us.

Thanks for having me.

Now that the appeals court has ruled that Haba is not there legally, does that mean she is automatically out as U.S.

attorney for the District of New Jersey?

Or could they presumably keep her in the role while they take this higher up, perhaps, to the Supreme Court?

So that's a significant choice that they're going to have to make because they run a real risk if they do that.

And that's what they've done even to this point.

When the District Court judge had ruled that she wasn't properly there, they could have moved and put somebody else in the role.

But instead, they decided to double down and keep going in this way.

They could keep doing that, and they could try to do that as -- and appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

The problem, though, for the administration is, if it continues to not go their way, potential real problems for all the cases that are being handled now.

Yeah, we're going to get into that, but I just want to get your take on how likely you think they are to bring this to the Supreme Court, and whether you think, obviously trying to read the tea leaves here, that the Supreme Court would be likely to take the case.

I do think if they want to take it to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court would be likely to take it, because the implications are significant.

We're dealing with this in a number of districts around the country.

It raises real issues of separation of powers, real issues of presidential power.

And so if the administration is seeking to take this to the Supreme Court, I'd expect they would take it.

That strategy call, though, is a tough one.

Under the administration's own theory, HABA would have had to leave the role in January anyway, at least as to under one of their theories.

And so not clear that it's necessarily worth the risk.

At the same time, it seems really tough for them to admit defeat and pull her out of the role at this point.

Do you think that the Supreme Court would be likely to allow her to continue in that role, given the fact that they have given presidential power in many of the cases that they've ruled on?

So it's tough to make a prediction about that, but I will say the Third Circuit's ruling and decision, much like the District Court's decision, really well thought out, really well reasoned, and not a lot there to pick on.

Okay, let's look at the cases that are brought.

We know that there are two defendants here in New Jersey facing drug trafficking charges who brought cases saying that they should have their convictions dismissed because she was in the role improperly.

What how many more cases do you think are likely to come forward like this and do they have standing.

So these defendants who were looking to have their indictments dismissed that the district court's perspective was even though Haba shouldn't be in this role those indictments can stand.

Not clear whether that's going to necessarily be the case for other cases depending on what the circumstances are what her hobbies involvement was and notably that's not an issue that the Third Circuit weighed in on the Third Circuit had that issue potentially in front of them and said you know what this isn't for us at this point we would deal with that only later if somebody gets convicted they can then come to us and say hey this prosecution shouldn't have happened because of her role but but didn't make a decision one way or another on that issue at this point the Department of Justice when those cases were first brought I have it right here said referring to the assistant US attorneys who prosecuted those cases that their ability to act does not hinge on the authority of the local US attorney having served in that office how connected are those roles does it all kind of trickle down from who is serving as the US attorney for the district of New Jersey so the issue that that that they are referring to there is a complex legal issue of of what's the implication and if the U.S.

attorney isn't there validly does that mean that that prosecutions can't go forward and that's a challenging one that I expect courts are going to be dealing with going forward.

In terms of the day to day it depends on the case.

When you're talking about significant cases there are some where U.S.

attorneys can be very much involved and are the ultimate decision maker of course in the office and so cases that are high profile cases that are particularly challenging common for U.S.

attorneys to be very much involved.

Perhaps the most high profile case here in New Jersey right now is the case from Haba's office against Congresswoman LaMonica McIver.

>> Do you think that her case, given where it is right now with the federal judge denying the motion to dismiss that case on prejudicial -- or I should say selective prosecution, does that have any implication now?

Could there be any impact on her case given this ruling?

>> I think we're going to see defendants not only in that case but in really a whole wide range of cases be looking at exactly that issue and expect to bring those challenges.

And they're going to be difficult ones for courts to decide.

And whether courts are, whether individual judges are going to get in the weeds in each individual case about what she was doing and what she wasn't doing.

Because significantly, even though the district court judge in the initial ruling that she didn't belong in the position had stayed the decision, that didn't mean it was okay for her to be there.

It just meant that her being there while the case went through an appeal wouldn't be violating an order of the court.

But it doesn't change the fact that if she wasn't there validly during that time, there are potential implications of that.

Just do me a favor and compare what's happened in New York with James Comey and to the McIver case and do you see any parallels or do you think these are two very different cases?

So there certainly are parallels.

There are differences as well.

And so the question is going to be whether those differences are what end up mattering or the similarities are what end up mattering.

Because that U.S.

attorney for the District of New Jersey found to be there unlawfully as well.

Yes.

So in Virginia, the U.S.

attorney who came in in that acting role supposedly and was responsible for the indictment of James Comey, there it was dismissed and dismissed on that grounds.

It's important to note that James Comey and Letitia James had raised a number of issues, vindictive prosecution and other things.

The issue that caused the court there to dismiss the indictment was exactly this issue, the issue that the -- that Lindsey Halligan was not appropriately in the role.

There because she was clearly so involved, the judge found it appropriate to dismiss.

Open question whether the same is going to be the case here.

We have just a little bit of time left.

But do you think that Desiree Grace who had been Habba's successor into the role after having served as first U.S.

attorney could be reinstated.

Do you see her coming back into this at all.

So it's really a separate issue.

The court and the district court judge and the and the Third Circuit as well didn't take issue with the extent to which the president has the authority to terminate a interim U.S.

attorney picked by the court.

There is a separate ongoing issue as to whether the administration within its rights to fire her from her role as an assistant U.S.

attorney.

And that... Doesn't necessarily mean that she would come back to the office.

Exactly.

And certainly doesn't mean that she would come back in that elevated role.

Jacob Bellberg, former U.S.

-- former assistant U.S.

attorney for the District of New Jersey and professor at Seton Hall Law School, thank you for the insight.

Thank you for having me.

New Jersey residents who need time off of work to care for a family member or bond with their newborn are protected to do so under the New Jersey Family Leave Act.

It guarantees their job for three months, but only for those who work at a company that employs at least 30 people, meaning folks working for small businesses are not eligible.

Well, a bill in Trenton would update the law and expand it to include all companies that employ at least five people.

That stirred up some heated debate during this lame duck session.

Ray Van Santana reports as part of our Under the Dome series.

For some small businesses, losing even one employee can feel like losing an arm.

But for Jersey City cabinetmaker Tony Sandkamp, that loss became personal and preventable.

And he quit right before Christmas and I didn't know why.

I didn't give me any notice, he just left.

And he'd been with me for more than 10 years.

And I found out months later that his mother was dying in Florida and he needed to go see her.

He's in camp runs Woodworks LLC with just five employees, including himself.

He says situations like that one are exactly why he supports Bill A3451.

The legislation would expand New Jersey's family leave protections to businesses with as few as five workers, down from the current threshold of 30.

The change would be phased in over two years.

If you don't provide it, and that worker looks over at this big corporation that's providing it, the worker says, "I'm going there."

And then you lose that employee forever, as opposed to for two months.

The bill was set for a vote this week in the Senate Labor Committee, but was unexpectedly pulled.

It already cleared the Assembly Committee, but if it doesn't pass before the end of the current legislative session, it'll have to be reintroduced next year.

The family leave bill, I believe we're going to get done this session.

We pulled it from an agenda yesterday because we continue to negotiate to make this a better bill and one which can pass both the Senate and get signed by the governor.

I think that we'll have some resolution within the next two weeks, I hope.

Not everyone is sold.

Opponents argue expanding leave requirements to the smallest of small businesses creates an economic burden.

They may not survive.

Like Kyle Staffa, who runs a landscaping and masonry business that has 20 employees.

If I'm here to hold your job, we're forced to hold your job for the 12 or 24 weeks.

What happens after 24 weeks when you're supposed to come back to work?

And then you just say, you know what?

I'm not ready to come back.

So now I left a vacant spot.

I asked my team members to stay.

And there's no guarantee you want to come back after the 24 weeks.

So what about protecting the small business?

The New Jersey Business and Industry Association says the proposal creates a hiring paradox, forcing companies to take on staff they may have to let go.

If you have 20% of your workload go away for 12 weeks, you're going to have to replace that.

Does the legislature really want you to hire somebody for 12 weeks?

What if they're a brand new mom that's just getting back into the workforce?

Now you're going to say, OK, great job for 12 weeks.

But now you know what?

Doesn't matter how good you are.

It doesn't matter if you deserve to stay here.

You're fired after 12 weeks because I have to give the exact same job back to my my other employee that went out and leave.

Advocates counter that paid leave isn't a threat.

It's a retention tool.

It's a survey conducted by NJBIA.

And in fact, what businesses find that it helps to lower turnover costs because they have increased retention.

Their workforce has higher productivity and morale because when workers can't take their paid family benefits, they are more likely to drop out of the workforce, leave the employer.

Yet researchers caution that challenges are real, especially for the smallest companies.

There's also research, but a lot less of it on the employer side.

Where we have most research, again, is from Europe, that shows that smaller employers do have a larger burden when it comes to paid leave.

And there is a little bit of research also that shows that some kind of negative potential negative unintended consequences is that firms may choose not to hire women when they know that they must replace them.

Supporters argue expanded family leave protections will help workers stay employed through life's most difficult moments.

Critics warn the changes could strain the smallest employers and complicate staffing.

For now, the bill is paused while lawmakers negotiate potential amendments.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.

Under the Dome is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

24-year-old tennis star Amanda Anasimova has had an incredible 2025.

The New Jersey native appeared in not one but two Grand Slam finals this summer at Wimbledon and the U.S.

Open.

She won her first two WTA titles and catapulted into the women's top five sitting right now at number four just behind fellow American Coco Gauff.

She's one of the top players to watch for in 2026.

But before that she'll be appearing right here in Newark on Sunday as part of an expo event a racket at the Rock.

It's the first tennis competition in the Prudential Center's 18 year history.

Anna Simova will be playing in singles as well as mixed doubles matches and one of them facing off against world number one Carlos Alcarez.

Anna took a moment to talk with Brianna Vannozzi this week about all of that.

Here's that conversation.

Amanda thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us.

I mean you only lived in New Jersey until you were three until your family moved to Miami.

But you know if you live here or were born here we claim you as our own and we have.

So what does it feel like then to play in front of a hometown crowd.

No I know I always feel that connection especially with fans and people who are from New Jersey.

Every time I play in the U.S.

Open or I'm playing a tournament in the States I always have such a great support and a crowd from New Jersey.

And I always hear people rooting for me and telling me oh I know you're from Freehold and you're a New Jersey girl.

So it's it's always heartwarming to hear.

And I always feel really connected to the people from New Jersey.

So I'm just really looking forward to being back.

Yeah.

And we all feel it here too.

I mean you reached two Grand Slam finals.

You won two WTA finals.

You've cracked the top five.

It's just been a remarkable year for you.

Have you really had time to reflect on that.

Yeah for sure.

I mean it's been such a great year for me.

And I think during this time off that I've had I've definitely had some time to process and kind of see how far I've come.

But at the same time I'm setting goals for myself for next year and you know thinking about how far I want to go and how I can improve.

But yeah it's been a whirlwind of a year for sure.

And I'm really excited to build on that.

I know a lot of people have talked about the physical nature of your game, but it's a lot of mental toughness.

You're out there on the court alone for hours on end, figuring it out, doing it yourself.

How did you do it?

I looked back at your speech that you made after the first Grand Slam final.

You turned it around.

How did you do it?

Yeah, I think that's what makes tennis so exciting.

And I feel like that's where I've learned so many things, and my mental toughness and my attitude.

A lot of things, I think, come from everything I've learned in tennis and just being an individual sport, because you learn so much about yourself and how to handle some situations or certain moments, especially in high pressure.

So I feel like that just comes with a lot of experience.

I think just I've worked on myself a lot mentally and thinking about how I want to be able to handle those high stress situations that I didn't do so well in a few years ago.

And I think this year that's been my strongest aspect or strongest part of my game I would say because the mental toughness does play a huge role especially in the sport of tennis.

And I think that's really shown for me this year, especially in those really big matches and bouncing back from Wimbledon and just being able to do it all over again at the US Open.

Yeah, I mean, I know you recently told folks that you're happy playing after taking that time away and it got it looks like it watching you that you're just having a great time.

A lot of fans have connected with the fact that you've been really raw and open about taking time to take care of yourself and your mental health.

Why do you think that enabled what has been just remarkable?

I mean, from what was it, 36 to ending the year as top four?

Yeah, I mean, I always try to be as authentic as I can to my fans and just being myself.

And I think just being able to kind of tell my story and then also, you know, have so many amazing fans and people just cheering me on, especially since my comeback.

And just seeing how far I've come has been so incredible.

And yeah, I would say that I wouldn't have been able to do it with the people around me.

I have such a great support system and team, and none of what I've been able to achieve would have been possible without them.

And then also my fans.

They are incredible, whether it's in person, the interactions I have, and just people coming up to me and telling me how much I've inspired them, or they love watching me, or online.

Like, I just... It's... Every single interaction just feels like it's the first time, and I think that's something that really motivates me and kind of keeps me going.

I know you mentioned you've got goals for 2026.

What are they?

How are you going to take it to the next level from here?

Yeah, I feel like there's a lot I can actually improve in, and I've been working really hard.

I mean, it's my off season right now, and there's a decent amount of time to work on a few things.

But I definitely have some big goals for next year.

You know, winning a Grand Slam would definitely be one of them that's been high on my list.

But, yeah, next year will just be to see how far I can really get.

And I think just improving one day at a time, which is always what I try and do, and just kind of look at it from that kind of lens and not think too far ahead.

So I'll just stick to that.

Yeah.

Amanda, it was a true pleasure.

We are all rooting for you.

So thank you and good luck.

Thank you so much.

And before we leave you tonight, one lucky Hudson County resident is going into the holiday season, a millionaire.

The winner of the Mega Millions lottery hails from right here in New Jersey and is taking home a jackpot of $90 million after Tuesday's drawing.

According to the New Jersey State Lottery, the winning ticket was purchased at Garden State News in Union City.

I'll tell you, that's one way to spark some serious holiday joy.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gaggis.

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

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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