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♪ BRIANNA: Tonight on "NJ Spotlight News," the next chapter in school culture wars heats up.

this is a far cry from the days of showing reproductive parts in health class and discussing abstract.

BRIANNA: Emotions on all sides taking center stage at last night's North-Hunterdon Voorhees regional District meeting.

>> they're not is going to remove all books about like that.

Just a few of them that are clearly educationally unsuitable or pervasively vulgar.

BRIANNA: Controversy swirling in Teaneck, where representative Josh Gottheimer slammed the school district for inviting care NJ to speak with students.

>> I don't believe that care NJ is the right organization to that.

Yona: Plus, a done deal after months of negotiations.

Threats of a strike.

Teaching unions at NJIT reach a deal.

>> This is a transformative contract that is going to make all of our lives a lot easier.

BRIANNA: And paying tribute.

Officials and community members gathered to pay their final respects to longtime Passaic County Sheriff Richard Berdnik.

"NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

♪ Announcer: From NJ PBS studios, this is "NJ Spotlight news" with Briana Vannozzi.

BRIANNA: Good evening and thanks for joining us this Wednesday night.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

Tempers flared in Hunterdon County last night over a controversy that is rearing its ugly head again.

Patent educators into the theater of North-Hunterdon Voorhees regional high school for the latest school board meeting and hurled harsh words at administrators and librarians over a handful of books on library shelves.

Reading material, they claim shelves.

Reading material, they claim -- that they claim should be banned because it is to explicit for high school students.

Supporters of the books pushed back and chastised the board for failing to protect employees from threats and harassment they have faced throughout the dispute.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has the story.

BRENDA: Some 50 speakers lined up for a contentious clash in the more than two-year long culture war over banning books at the North Hunterdon Voorhees Regional High School Library.

Emotions ran high in the auditorium for the school board meeting rescheduled to accommodate the large crowd.

One parent waiting to speak, exploded in anger.

[shouting] Reporter: Police escorted him outside.

Moments later, he left quietly.

The controversy over embattled school librarian Martha Hickson and her refusal to yank illustrated sex ed books like "let's talk about it" off the shelves, highlighted a deep divide.

This is a far cry away from the days of showing reproductive parts in health class and discussing abstinence.

Now we have librarians with hard-core agendas and books that promote a no sex, -- plugs, children raped by family members and how-to manuals to assist kids in sexting in Internet hookups.

>> Let's talk about it as sex education for teenagers.

Not pornography.

And they're going to, I was also sexually abused as an adolescent and knowing about my body and about consent would have been really helpful at the time.

Reporter: Hickson attended the meeting but didn't speak.

Her supporters slammed the board for failing to fully defend her against online harassment.

Including Facebook attacks allegedly posted by the husband of board member Cynthia Reyes.

>> It is shameful.

A repeat, shameful that a teacher or a livery and can be harassed or threatened for doing their job.

>> A spouse of one of your sitting board members is harassing your employee of social media and so far, we have not heard about any actions being taken against the harassers.

Reporter: the board did open the meeting by stating support for free speech and noting they would refer any threats to police.

>> The board is fully committed to supporting our staff and the proper performance of their educational duties.

Let me be clear, we will not and do not accept or condone the use of violent or threatening language or resorting to profane language at our staff or anyone else.

Reporter: During the break, we asked Reyes, a parental choice supporter, for comment.

But a board spokeswoman refused.

>> The Board President over to give a statement on behalf of the board.

Reporter: She does not speak for herself?

>> she will not answer any questions.

>> I do not feel protected by the school district.

I would like for them to state that harassment and bullying is acceptable.

I would like them to firmly state that I am doing my job and doing so with excellence.

Reporter: The board pointed out that no official forms challenging any particular book have been filed here, but public debate raged anyway, and it often got political.

>>.

>> Have been through this rodeo already.

Reporter: Tom of Roxbury is one of four parents sued for defamation and libel by his school district librarian in another book-banning battle.

>> I wear that defendant Todd like a badge of honor.

Like a batter getting hit by a pitch, taking one for the team on the way to first base.

Reporter: speakers vowed to hold school board members accountable by recall if necessary.

Both sides marshaled outside organizations as resources, and argued over how book-banning impacts LGBTQ students.

>> The odds are too great, as we heard from some of these speakers, it would see us return to a dark time when students had to closet themselves, didn't see themselves in the books and the literature.

>> They are not asking to remove all books about gain us or anything like that, just a few of them that are clearly educationally unsuitable or vulgar.

Reporter: The board took no vote on the issue.

In Annandale, Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

BRIANNA: President Biden told White House reporters this week that he has made a decision about the U.S. response to a drone strike in Jordan that killed three American service members, including one New Jersey native from Willingboro, and injured dozens more at the military outpost.

The president declined to provide details on his decision, but reiterated that he is hoping to deter broader conflict in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, it appears both Israel and Hamas remained far apart on the cease-fire in Gaza to the three remaining hostages.

According to the Associated Press, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday rejected the militant group's two main demands, that is where withdraw forces from Gaza, and release thousands of policy and prisoners.

As tensions remain high here at home, controversy erupted this week over the Teaneck public school district's decision to invite care New Jersey, Council on American Islamic relations to speak with students.

Congressman Josh Gottheimer fired off a letter vehemently opposing the move, claiming the organization supports Hamas and promotes anti-Semitism.

Care responded to the criticism by accusing Gottheimer of making statements that have put Muslim students in harm's way.

Melissa Rose Cooper reports.

>> I have heard from many of my statement in Teaneck who called and wrote me, alarmed by the letter they had received from the superintendent saying that he was going to bring in care into the school to meet with educators, to teach them how to teach the students about -- and of course my sense was how we must come together as a community.

I don't believe care is the right organization to do that.

Reporter: Congressman Josh Gottheimer calling out the Teaneck Public School District for its decision to collaborate with the Council on American Islamic relations, also known as care.

Last week the Thomas Wenn sent a letter to the Teaneck public school superintendent expressing his strong disagreement.

>> This is a group of them believe is in the spirit of what the school was seeking to achieve, which is to teach that hate has no place in our state, to bring people together, to educate teachers and students about the importance of standing up to any form of terror.

>> The congressman's reaction is very defamatory, very insulting, and it is a distraction from the work we need to do as a civil-rights organization.

Reporter: Dena is the communications manager of care's New Jersey chapter.

While she says details of the organizations collaboration with Teaneck Public schools can't be shared at this time, she maintains that they are supporting the students right to free speech.

>> What we're seeing now is very much reminiscent of the days and months immediately after 9/11, there was a rapid erosion of Muslim civil rights here in New Jersey.

And it is important that our elected officials, including Congressman Gottheimer work actively to uphold and protect Muslim civil-rights, as we see them eroding and as we see them being attacked.

Reporter: This is not the first time Gottheimer has taken issue with the district.

In November he criticized the work in support of Palestine.

AMAR is one of the students who helped organize the event.

>> We knew we would get backlash .

We still did it anyway because we knew it was the right thing to do.

>> We put Teaneck's kids, we hope they will exercise better judgment and better care than the judgment have been exercising in recent months.

Reporter: This is a member of the Bergen County Jewish action committee.

He shares similar concerns with Congressman Gottheimer.

>> Attempts to apologize away and disregard the concerns -- legitimate concerns -- that members of our community about the safety and security of Jewish students in Teaneck schools, and of the community safety generally, and the welcoming and of what we consider to be extreme, dangerous ideologies which support and promote terrorism against innocent civilians.

And generally taking conflicts that have no place on school grounds.

Reporter: A spokesperson for Tina Public schools said it has not yet partnered with care NJ, and issued a statement saying, " The only organizations Teaneck public schools has partnered with are the New Jersey division of civil-rights, and facing history ourselves.

We feel these groups will facilitate and promote a greater dialogue around differing insights and points of view.

Teaneck's number one priority is to provide a safe and supportive environment for all stakeholders."

For NJ Spotlight News, I am Melissa Rose Cooper.

BRIANNA: Just days after the state's top Democratic lawmaker sent a letter criticizing design plans for Liberty State Park, the controversial task force who once more say in the project abruptly scrapped a meeting scheduled for last night.

The task force says it is because of significant public interest.

But advocates of the park claimed the cancellation is part of a larger political ploy.

Senior political correspondent David Cruz reports.

>> There is no commercialization.

No privatization.

There could never be.

Reporter: The state DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette is the bin of the existence of well-funded forces bent on turning Liberty State Park into a waterfront sports MECCA, with large-scale sports and performance arenas and other commercial ventures.

The department has started work on the recovery plan for the park which includes pollution and flood mitigation, and recreation facilities like basketball sports and soccer pictures.

But that plan just hit a potential roadblock.

This letter from assembly Speaker Coughlin and Senate President Kothari, warning Shawn LaTourette that the plan isn't taking into account the views by certain members of the Liberty State Park Task Force created by the legislature.

Further deviation from the statute and legislative intent may cause us to action, warned the letter, such as extending the time frame for the task force to perform its duties, restrict future funding, or a combination thereof.

>> I don't want to just accuse them of being blown off.

They have been lobbied by firemen's gang who has been pushing lies and smear attacks for years.

Reporter: Firemen's gang refers to Paul Fireman, owner of Liberty National Golf Course.

The souls funding source of the People's Park foundation lab by this man former Jersey City High , school basketball coach Bob Hurley.

He makes $200,000 a year as Executive Director and sole employee of the foundation.

His family foundation has also received around half the million dollars from the Fireman Foundation.

In fact, Fireman has been spreading money around Trenton for a decade, contributing directly to mayors, lawmakers would be governors and their nonprofits.

He and his wife have contributed to Speaker Craig Coughlin directly and have hired A lobbying firm that employs Kevin McCabe, the chairman of the Middlesex County Democratic organization, which is Coughlin's political base.

Latourette fired back with his own 12-page letter.

"There appears to be some misunderstanding regarding the restoration and resilience elements of the park's interior, which will provide to you needed flood and climate change resilience measures for both the neighboring community and the park itself."

>> When you have an impervious surface like concrete, like asphalt or whatever material that does not allow water to percolate into the ground or go back as it should with natural currents, go back to the Bay Area or to the ocean, it just floods.

Reporter: State parks are not intended to provide for active recreation, notes Senator McCurdy -- Senator Roger Mukherjee who represents much of Jersey City.

>> It doesn't mean that we shouldn't take advantage of the acres of land to expand upon what is available for the community.

And we have agreed on that.

61 acres worth of active recreation being developed.

These are opportunities that weren't there before.

So it is a good plan and, most importantly, the process has been a Democratic one.

Reporter: Neither fireman nor Hurley could be reached for comment, and no date has been set for the next meeting of the task force.

The governor's office, meanwhile, has been mum on the exchange of letters or the latest flare up between the forces that see Liberty State Park as a waterfront crown jewel, or a pot of gold.

David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.

BRIANNA: And David will have more on the liberty state plan on "Chat Box" tomorrow.

He will also go one-on-one with state Senator Jon Bramnick, the first Republican to officially jump into the 2025 governors race.

That is Thursday at 6:00 p.m. on the YouTube channel.

Two New Jersey Devils players are among a group of current and former NHL players being charged with sexual assault from the 2018 case in Canada.

Michael McCloud and Cal Food were asked to surrender to Ontario police.

According to reports from the Sports Network, last week the players were granted a leave of absence from the team, but the team officials didn't say whether it was related to the charges.

Lawyers from both confirmed the charges this week and said the men maintained their innocence.

They will plead not guilty.

The alleged incident occurred at a hotel in June 2018 after a hockey Canada foundation Gala and golf event.

According to reports, Ontario police launched an investigation into a after details emerged hockey Canada settled a lawsuit with a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by eight members of the team during an event.

The NHL also opened an investigation in 2022 and pledged to make the findings public.

A Camden based firm will pay $5 million to the state in exchange for avoiding criminal charges over a tax credit dispute, according to the Attorney General's office.

The firm received one of the state for biggest tax incentives in history to relocate to Camden, but authorities accuse the nuclear energy company of falsifying documents to cheat the program.

As part of the deal, Holtec will retain an independent monitor to review the company's future applications for state benefits.

The company denies any wrongdoing.

Contributing writer Jeff Pillets reports, details from the investigation closely mirror allegations that have followed the company for years, and he joins me now.

Just, good to see you.

Excellent reporting on this.

Take a step back and tell us what Haltec is being charged for.

Guest: they have made an agreement.

They are not really being charged with anything.

They have made an agreement cannot be charged in exchange for a fine to avoid criminal prosecution and monitoring for three years.

They are being accused of violating, of manipulating their application for state tax breaks.

BRIANNA: What did they say on the application, that the Attorney General's office claims were misrepresented?

Guest: they basically completed their dealings with a partner who they were joining with to do a project with in the Pittsburgh area.

They misrepresented their financial input from this other company in a way that would inflate their revenues or inflate what they had, to qualify for a larger tax break for it in essence they qualified for a tax break that was twice as big as what they should've gotten.

The largest tax break in a New Jersey history, $260 million in 2014.

And there were some problems with their application.

They failed to inform the state that they had been debarred from federal work at the Tennessee Valley Authority in 2010.

So that got them in trouble.

They eventually sued the state and WON, basically on technical reasons.

The application was not policed as well as it should have.

So they plan to blame that on the state.

There were other issues with their applications and with the representations they made on the financial side.

BRIANNA: What is the company saying in response to this?

Guest: That they have been victimized by the state.

They admit to not wrongdoing.

They say that they continue to do good work on the forefront of clean energy, and they just basically agreed to the settlement, they are calling it, instead of a criminal prosecution agreement, nonprosecution agreement.

They are agreeing to this to avoid a lengthy prosecution.

BRIANNA: So what are the wider implications here?

, as you mentioned, there have been allegations that have dogged the firm for years.

At the time these tax incentives were given out there were progressive groups that spoke out about the amount of money the state was giving and I will say, what they called a lack of transparency or oversight over the program.

.

So what are the wider implications here?

Guest: The wider implication is that this company is going to be one of many that are looking for public subsidies as we sort of re-expand our commitment to nuclear power in the coming years, as we try to re-expand.

They are on the forefront of that, they have technology in several areas being used not just in New Jersey, but in other states, California, New Mexico, Michigan, New York.

And their role is going to increase.

.

But they will have to do it with public subsidies.

There will be increasing pressure on the public subsidies to go to a company that is of good character.

So that is the wider implication, as far as I can see it.

Groups around the country have had these questions, and they continue to the NRC questions about the company's behavior and character.

BRIANNA: We know you are going to stay on that reporting, and we will be checking back with you, Jeff Pillets.

Guest: Thank you.

BRIANNA: In our Spotlight on Business Report, another Labor win for a higher education union in New Jersey.

Members of the union overwhelmingly voted Tuesday night to ratify their new contract with the school that will cover adjunct faculty and grad workers.

As Ted Goldberg reports, the group appears to be reaping the rewards of other recent labor contracts fought and won by unions at nearby universities.

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] Reporter: When the results came in, they were almost unanimous.

>> It speaks to the unity of the Union and the unity of purpose and how proud people are of the things we all want together.

Reporter: After about 400 yeses, two abstentions and zero votes, UCAN, the union representing NJIT grad students, postdoctoral students and adjuncts agreed to a new labor contract.

>> This is a transfer motive contract that will make all our lives a lot easier.

Reporter: These workers and students at NJIT will get benefits like pay raises and extended health care starting in about a month, continuing over the life of the two year contract.

>> People tell me how her stories all the time about just making the rent, pulling out of their savings.

I mean, these are young people who don't have a lot of savings built up in the first place.

And people run it up, credit card bills.

>> That means being able to afford medications, being able to afford daycare, being able to afford the day-to-day life things that my family and my household needs.

It is literally a lifeline for me.

Reporter: This PhD candidate was worried that he might have to stop working.

The union overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike in early December, and whether it was a tactic or a threat, PABON says he had long-term concerns about joining the picket line.

>>.

>> I was absolutely concerned at that it was a real possibility, and unfortunately there are places out there where a strike has very serious negative consequences for the members of the union.

>> We fought hard, we went way into the night.

People wanted to leave and give up and we were at our last breath.

Reporter: Folks at NJIT have been working without a contract for a year and half with a strike authorization vote happened.

>> You scared the hell out of them!

>> When they saw there was a strike authorization, they knew we were serious and they immediately came to the table.

Because now they said it is negative publicity.

The governor stepped in.

Reporter: The parallels to Rutgers are no accident.

Rutgers faculty went on strike for a week and communication never stopped between the faculty at Rutgers and NJIT.

>> A lot of our members helped Rutgers.

We went there to help them strike because we knew we were next.

>>.

>> We had a very intentional impact.

When we started bargaining this round, we had all of our contracts expire at the same time, in June of 2022.

Reporter: Patrick Nolan leads one of the records unions that went on strike.

>> The members wanted a good, strong contract, whether they were at Rutgers were NJIT, and they were willing to take the votes, take the steps necessary to make that clear to management at both institutions.

So that is the result of it.

Whether it was fear, concern or just respect for our members.

Reporter: In response to the new contract, NJIT put out this statement, "NJIT is very happy to have reached an agreement that has been ratified by UCAN membership and we look forward to continuing a positive relationship with all the talented and dedicated employees who serve our students and our university."

The next labor contract will be in two years.

Until then -- >> [APPLAUSE] Reporter: UCAN's popping bottles and celebrating what they call a historic victory.

In the work, Ted Goldberg -- in Newark, Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

BRIANNA: Stocks turn lower today after the Fed decided not to cut interest rates, but indicated it cut could be on the horizon.

Here is how the markets closed.

♪ Finally, a somber day in Passaic County, as left wings and community members.

Their final respects to Sheriff Richard Berdnik.

Funeral services were held this morning at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson.

Berdnik died out of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound last week after walking into the bathroom of a Clifton restaurant.

Many questions remain about the death of a man whose hand decades in law enforcement -- who spent decades in law enforcement.

Local, state and federal leaders attending the service.

Bethea County offices and historic sites were closed today to allow for workers to attend.

Berdnik was born and raised in Clifton.

He spent nearly 30 years with the Police Department and served as County Sheriff since 2011.

He is survived by his wife and four adult children.

That does it for us tonight.

I am Brianna Vannozzi.

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

Have a great evening.

We will see you back here tomorrow.

♪ Announcer: New Jersey Education Association.

Making public schools great for every child.

And, -- RWJ Barnabas health.

Let's be healthy together.

♪