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

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

I'm Brianna Vanozzi.

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

First, we look to Washington, D.C., where Democrats and Republicans are now pushing to extend healthcare subsidies before time runs out.

Plus, Jersey City's runoff sent shockwaves through machine politics, sending two Democratic Socialist candidates to City Hall.

We talk to the newly elected council members about their plans.

And later, a controversial CDC vote on hepatitis B vaccine recommendations sparks immediate pushback here in the state.

We talk to a leading physician who's living with the disease about what parents need to know.

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

A major shakeup tonight inside New Jersey's top federal prosecutor's office.

Alina Haba, President Trump's former personal attorney has resigned as acting U.S.

attorney for New Jersey.

Her departure comes just days after a federal appeals court ruled she was serving in the role unlawfully.

Haba was appointed to the position in March, but her tenure continued past the interim timeline through a series of Justice Department maneuvers that immediately drew legal challenges.

The Third Circuit Court found those moves violated federal law because they bypassed the traditional Senate confirmation process.

In a statement today, Haba said she was stepping down to protect "the stability and integrity of the office," but vowed her decision shouldn't be mistaken for surrender.

U.S.

Attorney General Pam Bondi says the department will seek further legal reviews and that Haba could retake the position if the ruling is overturned.

Her resignation now leaves uncertainty over who will lead the office, which has already seen cases delayed and filings paused during the legal fight.

Federal courts have found a number of U.S.

attorneys appointed by Trump are serving unlawfully, but Haba is the first of them to step down.

Also tonight, new federal data shows a dramatic spike in immigration detentions here in the state.

The population at Delaney Hall in Newark more than tripled in November, reaching an average of 807 detainees being held there at a time.

That's up sharply from 234 in September.

Now, that's according to new records analyzed by the nonpartisan research group TRACK, obtained by NJ Spotlight News.

Delaney Hall is now among the largest ICE detention sites in the country, quickly surpassing the longtime Elizabeth detention center in capacity.

Now, despite claims from the Trump administration that ICE is targeting criminal aliens, the Department of Homeland Security's own numbers show that only about 10 percent of the people being held at Delaney Hall have criminal records.

It's a similar situation at the Elizabeth facility, where about 80 percent of detainees there had no criminal record.

The sharp rise comes as the Trump administration pursues aggressive detention and deportation goals.

As of mid-November, more than 61,000 people are being detained by ICE nationwide.

Immigrant justice advocates tell NJ Spotlight News the surge, though, comes to no surprise, accusing the private prison firms that run New Jersey's two detention sites of having an incentive to fill beds to keep their multi-year federal contracts.

GEO Group, which operates Delaney Hall, declined to comment.

And it looks like we won't be seeing a political comeback from former U.S.

Senator Bob Menendez.

The ex-federal lawmaker who was once among the most influential in Washington has been permanently banned from holding public office in New Jersey.

According to a recent court ruling from a Mercer County Superior Court Judge, Menendez is currently serving an 11-year federal prison sentence after being convicted on 16 felony counts, including bribery and acting as a foreign agent.

Menendez and his wife were found guilty of accepting cash, gold bars and a luxury car in exchange for political favors that benefited interests in Egypt and Qatar.

Three New Jersey businessmen were also convicted in the scheme.

Attorney General Matt Plotkin led the legal effort for lifetime disqualification, saying "public trust depends on ensuring corrupt officials can't return to positions of power."

Under the judge's order, if Menendez attempts to run for or accept public office, he could face a new contempt charge.

And the move, by the way, is not unprecedented.

You may recall former Patterson Mayor Joey Torres launched a re-election bid after being twice convicted.

And coming up, we get the latest from D.C.

as lawmakers debate proposals to extend those health care subsidies before the end of the year.

That's next.

Funding for NJ Spotlight News provided by the members of the New Jersey Education Association.

Making public schools great for every child.

And RWJBarnabas Health.

Let's be healthy together.

Well, as the end of the year draws closer, Washington is once again staring down a health care deadline, and New Jersey families could be hit with the consequences.

Federal tax subsidies that help lower premiums under the Affordable Care Act are set to expire at the end of the month.

Without them, the cost for coverage could spike nearly 16% next year, with some families facing even steeper increases.

Though prices are set to jump even if the subsidies remain in place.

That stark reality has spurred Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew to break with much of his party, urging Congress to extend the subsidies temporarily.

Joining a bipartisan group of 35 lawmakers in the House, introducing a bill to do just that.

Our Washington, D.C.

correspondent Ben Hulak recently spoke with Van Drew about the effort and he joins us now with the latest.

Ben, good to see you.

Thanks for joining us.

A lot happening here.

Congressman Vandru's been unusually vocal for a member of his party on this particular issue.

What do we know about what's motivating his stance here and why he's joining this bipartisan group.

There are about four hundred and fifty four thousand people in New Jersey who get their health care through the ACA the Affordable Care Act that 2010 big federal health law known as Obamacare.

Many of them live in his district.

And that is really an animating factor here.

The people who are in particular outspoken on the Republican side of the aisle are often these front line members who could face tough races in six.

Seems a little premature to put Andrew in that camp.

But he does represent a large swath of South Jersey and is a little bit more dependent.

It's not a wealthier district by comparison to the rest of the states.

So this would be a massive hit financially for people who get their health insurance through this program.

If on average nationwide if in if Congress does not extend these ACA tax credits premiums would rise an average of one hundred and fourteen percent.

That's just a mind boggling statistic.

Things would be a little bit different depending on who you are depending on your age your financial background.

But this would be a massive hit really across the board.

And Congress is racing the clock here to in theory extend these credits.

There's no clear bill in sight.

There's no path to passage but it's a big political liability going into next year.

Yeah.

And there's really a lot of proposals being floated around.

How likely is it.

As I mentioned the proposal that Andrew is a part of how likely is it for this to be taken up in either side.

Because if we remember the entire government shutdown the longest in U.S.

history the linchpin were these subsidies and all Democrats got really was a verbal promise.

Nothing concrete.

Right.

So the Democrats who voted to reopen the government.

This was their main sort of prize.

They took out of those talks that hey we'll get a vote on some sort of ACA tax credit extension deal.

And of course the Republicans controlling both chambers they don't set the legislative agenda.

Democrats do not.

There is no vote in the House this week.

At least there is not one scheduled as of Monday afternoon.

And there could be a vote on the 18th.

Congressman Gottheimer has said there is a vote.

This is not secret information or anything but there's a vote scheduled in the House for the 18th which will be next Thursday.

But the day after that Congress is scheduled to leave town for the holidays and not return until January at which point bills would need to be reintroduced and pass of course both chambers again to become law.

So there are a lot of legislative hurdles and the time is really brutal for any sort of deal to get done.

You touched on it briefly and whether or not it would affect Van Drew.

But there's got to be political risk here for Republicans.

No heading into 2026 and maybe some incentive there to act quickly.

Certainly.

And I spoke to Congressman Vandrew last week during votes.

And he as he often does he says you know I'm a really conservative guy but I'm a populist.

Those are his two sort of North Stars.

He discusses this political perspective.

And it's just not right to let people suffer these massive cost increases.

Of course taking shots at the ACA itself.

If we back up a little bit these tax credits that are in question now that are being debated were part of two laws both under former President Joe Biden and the Democratic Congresses.

So the politics are really interesting here.

There are some Republicans who maybe are feeling some sort of political heat looking to 2026 and their political futures who are now defending or trying to prop up in some way a democratic law from former President Obama in Obamacare and then the expansion of that law that two Democratic Congresses made one Democratic Congress I should say made during President Joe Biden's time in office to boost up and expand financial aid for people who get these credits.

I should also point out that's about 22 million people nationwide who are getting their health care with aid of these credits.

So it's a really ticking time bomb here.

And then of course also let's not forget this is a Congress that recently passed a massive new budget law that cuts both Medicaid and SNAP funding to huge social safety nets across the country.

So there are all sorts of spinning wheels here.

And this could become a political liability.

And as I've said in the next year and then if nothing changes by January 1st could Congress retroactively change these subsidies or is that it or are they locked in for 2026.

Because as you report folks are choosing their health care plans now.

We're sort of in uncharted waters and I wish I had a better answer for you.

This the open enrollment period has been going on for a month plus now.

So people have made their health care decisions.

They've already seen these bills.

These these increased premium costs in the mail or online and signed up and sort of been the bullet.

Well we're plunging ahead for the most part.

Yes maybe Congress when it wants to can move with significant speed and perhaps they could make things retroactive.

Congress can do a heck of a lot when it wants to.

But once is the operative word.

Is there that desire here on the Hill at this point?

We have about two weeks left before the year is out and the will seems to exist in some pockets but not all.

All right.

You can read all of Ben Hewlock's reporting on this.

And as it continues on our website and a spotlight news dot org Ben.

Thanks as always for joining us.

Keep us updated.

Thanks.

If you're looking for signs that the state's Democratic machine is losing sway you could turn to Jersey City's recent runoff elections where the president has been in the race to win the presidential election.

Where the powerful Hudson County Democratic Organization couldn't deliver a mayoral win for former Governor Jim McGreevey who lost to progressive James Solomon.

And in a surprising twist, two incoming council members won without the county party's backing.

Instead endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America joining a growing slate of DSA aligned officials nationwide.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis spoke with the pair about whether this is a moment or a movement.

It just means to put working class people in power.

Two Democratic Socialists have been elected as council members in Jersey City.

Jake Efros, who's a teacher, and Joel Brooks, a labor organizer.

Jake and I now have the opportunity to show people in New Jersey, in Jersey City, what democratic socialism is by the work that we do.

Efros and Brooks won in runoff elections last week and will be taking office along with a new crop of elected officials, including Mayor-elect James Solomon.

The two won at a time when democratic socialism is having a moment nationally, including the historic win of Zoran Mamdani as New York City's next mayor.

I am a democratic socialist.

Too many working people cannot recognize themselves in our party.

And too many among us have turned to the right for answers to why they've been left behind.

And like Mamdani, Efros and Brooks were both backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, which is the largest socialist organization in the country.

They say some voters didn't know what democratic socialism meant.

Here's how Efros explains it.

Right now I think it's clear big business interests, corporations, people at the top of capital enterprise, like, they're in power.

They're calling the shots.

Their preferred politicians have been making decisions for us and it's time to flip the script and actually have ordinary people in power.

That's from the bottom up not the top down.

By and large Democrats and Republicans denounce socialism and say it's been a failed experiment.

What do you say to that.

So what I would first say is you know we ran Jake and I in a nonpartisan election which means Democrats and Republicans voted for us in overwhelming margins.

So you know I think there is kind of the boogeyman of socialism that's presented in especially corporate media.

But I think that there is a national movement a grassroots movement where we as democratic socialists are able to present a positive vision of making real material changes in people's everyday lives.

Now mayor elect Solomon is not a democratic socialist but these newly elected council members feel there are many areas where they can work closely with the mayor to achieve their common goals.

Our platform is not James's platform but I think we do align in terms of affordability for people in Jersey City making sure that they can stay in their homes whether they own or they rent.

We're going to work together and I think we're going to find what our shared values are what our shared ideas are.

These are people who care deeply about Jersey City and they care deeply about making Jersey City more affordable.

And so we're going to agree on a lot.

And I think we're going to find those areas of agreement and push to make sure their residents in the West Side and in the Heights have a more affordable city to live in.

As councilman Solomon and I worked together on the right to counsel campaign where we pushed through really historic tenants rights and won millions of dollars into Jersey City's affordable housing from developers so we already got to work together and excited to continue to work together and I think for me when we have disagreements when we have debates it's all about making sure that those are again with public involvement and transparent to the community no backroom deals no kind of shady conversations behind closed doors brooks wants to instate universal child care in the city although he doesn't have a specific plan yet on how to pay for it but it's the budgeting process that afro says is critical to their work as democratic socialists on the council what we're really excited to do is expand community control through things like participatory budgeting have more democratic workplaces through strengthening labor unions have more democratic homes through having tenant unions in buildings across Jersey City.

So again expanding social power in all these different sectors of life in our society.

That is what democratic socialism means for me.

Is this a moment for socialism in America or is this a big experiment?

How do you see it?

Yeah we love to say this is movement not just a moment.

These aren't flashes in the pan.

This is the result of intentional organizing for years and years and years both in Jersey City and in the cities across the country that have seen really great election wins.

But this is the first time in more than a century that socialists have been elected to public office in the state.

So all eyes will be watching how they work with their colleagues who don't share their goals and what they can accomplish in that setting in Jersey City.

I'm Joanna Gagas and Jay Spotlight News.

State health officials are breaking with new federal vaccine guidance after a controversial decision by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP.

In an 8-3 vote on Friday, the committee recommended ending the universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine for babies whose mothers test negative, traversing more than 30 years of a public health practice credited with driving infections in children down 99 percent, and instead recommend delaying it until a child is two months old, while also recommending individual decision-making in consultation with a doctor.

Within hours, the state health department issued an executive directive protecting the birth dose, saying delaying it would weaken the state's ability to prevent dangerous, lifelong liver disease.

For more, we turn to Dr.

Sue Wong.

She's the medical director of the viral hepatitis programs at Cooperman Barnabas.

She also served as a fellow for the CDC, and she testified at Thursday's ACIP meeting, not only as someone who treats patients with hepatitis B, but also as someone who's living with the disease.

Dr.

Wong, thank you.

Welcome to the show.

We really appreciate your time.

I want to just get first your reaction to this new recommendation.

So as somebody who watched the proceedings and was part of testifying and just seeing the live happened that the vote happened live it was very disappointing and honestly very upsetting because we have had such great success with the with the vaccinations and we've reduced hepatitis B rates by ninety nine percent in children since we've had the universal birth dose for nineteen nine since nineteen ninety one.

And we haven't had any new data to show it's unsafe.

There hasn't been any new study that's been alarming.

And so this really kind of came out of nowhere and we didn't expect this.

So when somebody living with hepatitis B it's especially upsetting because I wouldn't want anybody else to have to go through what a lot of us have gone through with hepatitis B living with hepatitis B in terms of having to worry about liver cancer sure in life with cirrhosis and worrying about spread of it especially when it's so easily prevented with just one vaccine.

Yeah.

And I wonder if you could walk us through what the real risk is to infants and from your medical and personal standpoint what that evidence is you know data wise as to why these vaccines work at keeping the disease really almost eradicated.

Yeah.

So the hepatitis B is extremely contagious is actually a more contagious virus than even HIV.

And it's can go.

It's it's through blood.

So it's not through skin touch or respiratory droplets.

So it does require blood.

But I think people often don't think about how there can be microscopic traces of blood on certain things through cuts and wounds and kids getting scratches or getting bitten by siblings or caregivers that might have be taking care of a baby's cut or wound and have a cut themselves or maybe through a nail clipper that's been used by other people too.

So these things like can happen.

And I'm actually a living testimony of that having happened because I believe I got hepatitis B from my grandparents who came to take care of me at a month of age.

And they at that point that didn't know that they had hepatitis B as well.

And my grandfather later did die of liver cancer early on.

And that happens a lot.

There are a lot of caregivers or people who come in and out of a baby's household and they don't know their status.

Or it could be a visitor.

It could be another caregiver at a daycare center.

And not to make people feel panicked about it because I think the whole point of this is if we vaccinate the whole population it doesn't matter because once you're vaccinated and you're immune you're protected for life.

And so that's given an entire generation of kids 30 years of experience of people who are completely protected from hepatitis B and don't worry.

Don't have to worry about it.

But by rolling that back now all of a sudden we all have that concern of like oh my expose you know is there exposure happening.

And so that's concerning because we've done we made such great strides and it doesn't make sense to undo that.

You know and I think one thing for everybody to remember is that there is always a choice.

There was never not a choice.

So people could always have opted out.

And our data shows that we've had this universal birth birth dose.

It's not 100 percent.

Even when you offer it universally I think in New Jersey where like 70 something percent.

So already parents are like choosing not to do it and nobody's taking away that choice.

But when you no longer universally recommend it you're going to even have bigger gaps in care which is an issue especially in New Jersey because we are such a diverse state.

And so hepatitis B is definitely an issue that here that we should be concerned about.

Yeah we definitely have a unique landscape when it comes to that but I wonder too if we start to see other states nationally drop this birth dose.

What's the risk there.

What's your concern about that on a broader scale.

So what's going to happen is this is a virus and viruses don't discriminate.

They don't care about state borders.

They don't care what color you are what language you speak.

And when you have more people living with the disease, you're going to have more transmission.

And so when you look at what the strides we've taken and the rates of hepatitis B and having just really come down nicely over time, we're going to see it start coming back up.

If we like have fewer people vaccinated in general, we're going to have more transmissions.

And I think during the meeting, there were some, you know, a lot of people talking about overall, that it's very low risk.

And certain groups have Hep B, other groups don't.

But I have to tell you, like, a lot of people show up with Hep B, and they have no idea how they got it.

They don't have any of the traditional risk factors.

And that's something to remember, that it's a, we should think of disease as like something that affects the general population, not just certain groups.

So I think it's important, it's a time to not let go of the gas pedal at this point, but just keep doing what we were doing and we were doing a great job.

So let's continue to be leaders in vaccinating.

And I think that goes for kids, but also adults.

The CDC has recommended universal vaccination for adults too, because adults actually over 30 are the ones who often haven't been vaccinated.

So it's a good time to do your catch up vaccinations as well.

Very quickly, before we let you go, your message to parents who now worry because of information that has come out from the CDC, varying information, that there are, you know, quote unquote, too many vaccines for children.

I certainly hear it in my circles.

What's your message to those parents and why the dose is so important within those first 24 hours.

So in general like vaccines we have to remember are really a sign of progress.

You know there are a lot of diseases that that I that we don't have vaccines for.

But the ones that we do have vaccines for it we're very grateful for it.

You know our kids don't have to worry about measles and hemophilus.

You know things that like not that long ago pediatricians were treating babies in the ER who couldn't breathe or had tetanus you know and were I mean polio like all these things you know we have forgotten about that for happy specifically in terms of why I within the first 24 hours is so important we have data showing that like the the sooner the baby gets it the less likely it becomes they become infected and so that timeliness is really important and we've actually tried before doing it at a week of age so after the baby was delivered or even a few days and even that the difference between a month two months to birth actually reducing it down to just doing it at birth within 24 hours it's a huge difference in terms of like preventing transmission so there is a reason behind it and I think people kind of start looking into the history and the details there was a good reason why we actually do recommend being given within 24 hours.

Dr.

Su Wong thank you for lending your insight your expertise here we really appreciate your time.

Thanks for having me.

Support for the medical report is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

That's gonna do it for us tonight.

I'm Brianna Vannosi 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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