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And PSEG foundation.

>> Tonight, the fight for control of Patterson's police department is headed to New Jersey's highest court in a case that could have a massive impact far beyond silk city.

Plus, with the state pushing again for towns to build new affordable housing, some have gone to court to fight back.

>> There is irreparable harm to the meet his abilities -- to the municipalities if we don't put this on hold.

>> Tense negotiations to settle a congestion pricing lawsuit.

>> If you are one of the 80% of New Jersey residents who get stuck on New Jersey transit, waiting an hour on a path train, or you want a nice new bus station, this is going to be affected if congestion prices doesn't go through.

>> Major products in the effort to bring Netflix to New Jersey.

It only took $400 million in tax credits to get there.

>> Huge milestone in New Jersey's march to the top of the film and TV industry.

>> NJ spotlight news starts right now.

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

Joanna: Breanna but knows he is off.

We begin with a few of today's headlines.

A new development over the Patterson Police Department.

Late yesterday, New Jersey Supreme Court issued a temporary stay on the decision from the appellate court to return control of the department back to the city.

The appellate court had agreed with the lower court ruling that determined the Attorney General was not within his legal bounds to seize control of the Patterson Police Department, even after several high-profile police shootings and dozens of criminal charges filed against officers.

As promised, the Attorney General filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court, which issued a temporary stay on any changes to control the department until after the high court hears the case.

Plotkin saying, the PPD will continue to run as it has since March 2023, ensuring public safety while strengthening community trust.

More news from Patterson.

Jose Torres has pled guilty once again.

The former mayor of Patterson entered a plea deal yesterday on a fourth degree criminal contempt of court charge.

That charge the result of Torres attempting to run for mayor in 2022.

Why was it illegal for him to run for mayor?

You may recall he first pled guilty and was sentenced to prison in 2017 for public corruption during his second term as mayor.

The verdict ruling he illegally used the power of his office to benefit his family's business.

As a result of that conviction, Torres was sentenced to five years in state prison and barred from serving for public office again.

That did not stop him for a temping to run for mayor again in 2022.

That decision led to criminal contempt of court charges against him from the Attorney General's office and the office of public integrity and a cut ability.

As part of yesterday's plea agreement, the state will probation.

How long that will last and what fines he may owe will be determined by the court.

The deadline is looming for Congress to pass a spending bill.

It has been a roller coaster of failed negotiations over the last few days, starting with a bipartisan deal that was shut down by President-elect Trump and his key advisor Elon Musk.

Trump canned the deal unless it includes a measure to lift the debt ceiling.

House speaker Mike Johnson left a closed-door meeting, assuring the public there is unanimous agreement that we need to move forward, promising we will not have a government shutdown.

That deadline is midnight tonight.

The bill cannot pass without Democratic support.

While negotiations yesterday left them out, leading to a no vote, Speaker Johnson has reportedly been in conversations with Democrats today.

Yesterday's vote saw 38 far-right Republican members vote no, highlighting the difficulty in passing a spending measure and lifting the debt ceiling.

Another major decision for New Jersey is playing out in the courts, affordable housing, and whether towns should be required to develop a total of 146,000 new affordable units in the next 10 years.

Several towns have sued the state for creating "an unfair burden."

Arguments in that case were heard today.

Brenda Flanagan has more on what happened.

>> The best thing we can do is put this on hold.

Brenda: attorneys clashed in an online court hearing today as 25 suburban towns asked a Superior Court judge to hit pause on implementing jerseys new law.

It would require municipalities across the state to build or renovate 146,000 affordable units over the next decade to meet the state's current and growing housing needs.

>> There is irreparable harm to the municipalities if we don't put this law on hold.

Brenda: One attorney argued if the towns miss the new law's January 31 deadline to adopt a plan of housing negotiations, it opens itself up to lawsuits from developers.

The law they say excuses cities like Newark from having to build any more units.

He challenged state calculations he claims are imprecise and unfair.

>> These municipalities are being subjected to over counting.

Meanwhile the constitutional basis is "fair share."

They are not getting their fair share.

They are being overburdened.

>> The plaintiffs are not injured, let alone irreparably harmed.

Brenda: Deputy Attorney General says towns can opt out of the program, but they would lose its included immunity from developer lawsuits.

They could also try to negotiate lower affordable housing goals, but pausing the new law so towns could wage a protracted court battle over its merits is a scenario that fair share housing lawyer Adam Gordon wants to avoid.

Adam: In practice it would be chaos at this point to stay the statute.

Brenda: He explained to the judge, resulting lawsuits would be expensive, intricate, and lengthy.

Adam: That is so frankly undercut the policy decisions of the legislature and executive.

We wanted to avoid that kind of town by town litigation.

>> The Republic would undoubtedly be harmed by this injunction as it would unnecessarily delay providing a cost efficient and cost-effective means of bringing state municipalities into constitutional compliance.

Brenda: Collins argued the law is fatally flawed and raises serious questions over who should set housing goals.

>> The only way we get clarity for New Jersey is if the law is on hold and we get these questions answered and everything proceeds at once.

The alternative of not granting the stay means you will have chaos in the form of municipalities submitting to an unconstitutional program.

Brenda: Jersey undertakes its fourth round of efforts to re-constitutional affordable housing to insureds set by the state's highest court.

The judge promised a decision by January 1.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

Joanna: Has the year comes to an end, there are many legislative actions that have taken place in Trenton.

2024 was a consequential year in many ways, with court cases that reshaped the electoral process.

SerDavid Cruz takes a look backt the laws that had the greatest impact, and those that, well, didn't.

David: The past two years have had a Jekyll and Hyde feel in the state legislature.

For every corporate transit fee and historic affordable housing law applauded, there was a bill that guts the open public records act and elections enforcement commission.

The New Jersey working families party has had a front row seat.

>> I'm not going to say they always do the anti-Democratic, anti-progress thing.

We've had some good things move through the state in the last two years, but it seems that the way the legislature legislates, areas uphold who will get the next contract, how can we retain power for ourselves?

I think that is evident.

>> The assembly's near unanimous vote on reforming the states ballot design.

Its answer to the lawsuit that basically killed the so-called party line and the advantages it bestowed on party candidates.

Some of the provisions that were left out, like randomizing the ballot positions and taking the ballot position selection process literally out of the hands of county clerks, they are seen as undemocratic.

>> Clearly the legislature is in cell protection mode.

They are acting in their self-interest, like we all do.

They are all people who run for office and they don't want to face more challenges than they need to face.

>> That appears to have made necessary and accompanying bill to increase the number of signatures required to get on the ballot.

An effort to guard against illegitimate candidates.

It is sponsored by the majority leader Lou Greenwald of New Jersey.

It was widely noted by critics that candidates are as common in South Jersey as Jersey shore taffy.

>> Petition requirements are intended to establish a necessary base level of support to demonstrate that seriousness.

The Supreme Court has long recognized the state interest in requiring candidates to demonstrate substantial support before appearing on the ballot in order to prevent an excess of unserious candidates from confusing voters, eroding its confidence, and its representative democracy.

>> There isn't anybody advocating it to be more difficult to get on the ballot.

To summarize one of the key points as what came out of that is ludicrous.

The majority of the hearings is a needs to be more accessible.

>> The speaker praised members for their work in coming up with a bill that he believes will stand up to court scrutiny.

And with a wide open governor's race in 2025, getting an acceptable bid through this year was important, he added.

>> anybody who thinks it is not going to be different than any other year is fooling themselves.

Candidates are going to have the first position.

They will have to make sure that we stay focused on things that reflect on New Jersey values, that are consistent with what we have done.

>> All seats in the state assembly are up for grabs.

The conventional wisdom is to not pass anything that may be too controversial in an election year.

>> The ballot bill has not made its way to the state Senate yet, but if self-preservation is a bicameral thing, it should make it through the upper house without many changes.

The heavy lifting apparently already been done.

David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.

Joanna: The bitter battle between New Jersey and New York over congestion pricing is approaching a cortical deadline as the year winds down.

Right now the two sides are locked in negotiations over a lawsuit the Garden State filed to stop congestion pricing going into effect January 5.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said her state has made generous offers to New Jersey to settle the suit, but if New Jersey lawmakers hold out until that January 5 deadline, the whole plan could be put on hold and eventually killed by President-elect Trump.

Raven Santana explains where the legal battle stands now.

>> It does not feel like it is in good faith at this time, no it does not.

I feel for the residents of New Jersey.

>> The feud over negotiations for congestion pricing have stalled with less than 20 days until the plan was officially set to start.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul did not hold back when accusing Governor Murphy of acting in bad faith, saying he failed to accept a settlement deal.

Hocul continued to say that Murphy's failure to come to the table would directly impact residents in our state.

>> If you are one of the 80% of New Jersey residents who gets stuck on New Jersey transit or waiting an hour on a path train, or you want a nice new bus station, this is going to be affected.

If congestion pricing does not go through.

>> The program was reintroduced with a lower total rate of nine dollars last month by Governor ogle after a month long -- Hochul after a month long hiatus.

It hopes to fund New Jersey's mass transit system by reducing gridlock traffic and improving air quality.

The toll is set to increase to $12 in 2028 and $15 in 2031.

New Jersey argued federal officials allowed New York to move ahead with congestion pricing without fully addressing how the tolling program could shift traffic and pollution in the region.

>> The question I would put back to Governor Murphy is what would be sufficient for you?

Because if the answer is exempting all New Jersey drivers, that is a nonstarter.

New Jersey drivers are driving into Manhattan.

They are bringing the emissions from their vehicles with them.

That is the problem, right?

So how do we work in partnership to solve that core problem?

>> The tri-state campaign executive director says Governor Hochul's multimillion dollar settlement offer is a once in a generation opportunity.

>> It makes no sense to me that now, at the 11th hour, the governor is attending to take what I believe to be a climate forward initiative, a public health forward initiative, an initiative that is geared at moving people, increasing our mobility, when in the most congestion part of New York City, we are gridlocked.

And New Jersey has a huge portion of the responsibility for that gridlock.

>> We are very concerned about the potential for people's lives to be impacted from an emergency response standpoint.

How do ambulances, police, get through this congestion?

>> A Bergen County executive says there are issues that will affect New Jersey in a negative way, especially in Bergen County.

>> This has been floored from the beginning.

There was never really a real environment to review.

And so while you talk about the environment and air pollution, here in Bergen County, it is even going to be magnified greater because the folks are going to not go through the tunnels, come through the bridge to avoid going into the congestion pricing zone.

We are going to get additional environmental impacts, but we will also get traffic.

You talk about congestion, the average weight on the George Washington Bridge now is 45 minutes to one hour during rush hour.

It will get worse.

>> In Stockholm, childhood asthma rates dropped 50% after they put this policy into effect.

Deaths by being hit by cars will drop once this goes into effect.

>> Tom Wright is President and CEO of regional plan Association.

Wright says he does not just think, he knows congestion pricing will benefit Jersey.

>> President-elect Trump has said when he gets into office, he will not allow it to move forward, so the answer is to get it started before he comes into office.

>> The vote to a January 5 start remains bumpy for Governor Hochul in addition to her efforts to settle a lawsuit brought by Governor Murphy.

Today a judge scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing.

For NJ spotlight news, I'm Raven Santana.

Joanna: In our spotlight on business report, could New Jersey become the highlight of the East?

That is what state leaders -- the Hollywood of the East?

That is what state leaders are hoping.

This week, two short towns gave Netflix approval for a $900 million film and TV studio at Fort Monmouth.

The state has hosted hundreds of film and TV productions over the past years while also expanding tax credits for studios working in New Jersey.

The Netflix studio could propel the state to new heights and draw even more revenue for the film industry.

Tim Sullivan, the CEO of the New Jersey economic develop authority, joins me to discuss this latest deal.

Great to have you with us tonight.

I saw that you posted on X that this Netflix studio deal is a huge milestone and testament to the efforts of the governor, local, and county governments.

What do you believe this will mean for New Jersey?

TIM: It will be such an ordinary project.

Netflix choosing New Jersey, the former Fort Monmouth Army base as an East Coast flagship facility is a game changer.

It represents the culmination of the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth, which was a tragedy when that closed, as well as a huge milestone in New Jersey's march toward the top of the film and TV industry.

Under Governor Murphy's leadership, TV is booming in New Jersey.

We made investments.

There is no better example than Netflix's choice to make a big bat on New Jersey.

Joanna: Economically what does this mean for the state?

TIM: Most important late, jobs -- Most importantly, jobs.

Lots of jobs.

We are talking construction jobs to build the facility.

On the production side, 1400+ permanent jobs.

When you have got a facility like Netflix is going to build, they will keep that thing full and rock enrolling -- rock and rolling year-round.

That means laws of permanent jobs.

Netflix is projecting they are going to shoot at least $600 million worth of film and TV at their studio in Monmouth County.

That is a huge amount of business.

Joanna: There is a requirement they have to stay in that location for 10 years.

TIM: That is right.

Joanna: Some of the chrism against investing and the tax credits issued in New Jersey investing in the film industry is that the jobs are temporary.

Does having a studio change that , or do we still see these are transient jobs?

Tim: I'm not sure I accept the premise of the criticisms.

If you have a booming film and TV industry, whether on locations shoots for studios, those are careers for people.

They are assembled in two or three month assignments like and the construction industry.

You work on a few projects every year and that is a full year salary.

Certainly we are excited about this studio investment.

The brick-and-mortar, whether it's Netflix, Lions gate, you are seeing major capital investment and permanent jobs for residents.

Joanna: This deal happened in no small part due to massive tax breaks for Netflix to the tune of $387 million.

I know Democratic voters have rolled against tax breaks for multimillion dollar companies.

Was that the right type of tax break for New Jersey?

Tim: One of the most important things about the tax credit program that Governor Murphy signed into law in 2021, the aspire program for commercial projects like this certainly is, it is a net benefit test.

For every dollar the state puts in, what do we get back directly in tax revenue, whether at the state or local level?

In this case, the bar is set, for every dollar we wouldn't, we get -- every dollar we put in, we get $1.25 back in tax revenue.

If all goes according to plan, the state will make money on this transaction.

It's pay for performance.

It's not like we are rolling up a Brinks truck in front of Netflix with $387 million.

It is a pay-for-performance program, where if they don't hit their milestones, they don't get the tax credits.

Joanna: I would imagine there is a residual effect for the towns hosting the films that come into New Jersey.

Tim: Enormous.

Municipalities like Oceanport, their mayors have been great.

They are incredibly excited what this means for their downtowns, their small business communities, their property values.

It is incredibly exciting.

Joanna: We have Happy Gilmore filming now, a couple other films in the works.

A lot more going on in New Jersey.

Tim Sullivan, CEO of the economic development Authority, thank you.

Also tonight, the party is over for party city.

The decades-old Jersey based company told employees today it will shut down all stores and cease operations immediately.

Employees were told in a meeting that today would be their last day of employment.

The company based in woodcraft -- in Woodcliff Lake in Bourbon County filed for bankruptcy last year in an attempt to save the business.

Party city leaders scited the impact of the pandemic as the reason.

The CEO who took over four months ago told employees they will not receive severance pay and will lose their benefits as soon as the company shuts down.

It is worth noting both New Jersey and the federal government have laws requiring written warning to employees about a company shut down before layoffs.

At the federal level, that is 60 days notice, but New Jersey goes further, requiring 90 days notice before layoffs.

We checked the state's warn notice list and did not see party city listed as of late this afternoon.

That will do it for us tonight.

Before you go, a reminder to download the NJ Spotlight News podcast so you can listen to us anytime.

For all of us here at NJ Spotlight News, thanks for being with us.

Have a great weekend, and we will see you back here on Monday.

>> New Jersey education Association, making a book schools great for every child.

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Let's be healthy together.

And Orsted, committed to delivering clean, reliable, American-made energy.

>> Public service is what we do.

We volunteer hours, partnerships , and other contributions.

We are committed to empowering communities.

We work hand-in-hand with you to educate young people, support research, environmental sustainability, and equitable opportunities, provide training and other services, all over New Jersey and Long Island.

Uplifting communities.

That is what drives us.

The PSEG foundation.

>> MJM insurance group has been serving New Jersey businesses for over a century.

As part of the Garden State, we help companies keep their vehicles on the road, employees on the job, and projects on track.

Working to protect employees from illness and injury, to keep goods and services moving across the state.

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MJM, we've got New Jersey covered.

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