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Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, confirmed the Senate approves former Trump attorney Emile Bove as a U.S. appeals court judge despite strong opposition from New Jersey's U.S. senators.

Plus, turning up the heat.

Advocacy groups gather outside Amazon as they push for legislation to protect millions of workers from dangerous temperatures.

New Jersey interest groups have written in, the public has written in, and now it's really in the hands of OSHA.

Also, community leaders and families make an emotional plea to the Trump administration to end the starvation crisis unfolding in Gaza.

That is his grandfather.

His grandfather who died of malnutrition.

Because Israel is blocking any aid, any medication, any food from coming in.

And start your engines.

A new workforce development initiative is launching in Tom's River to fill the void of automotive technicians here in New Jersey.

It's not a job that AI is going to erase.

These jobs are lasting jobs.

NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

From NJ PBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vanozzi.

Hello and thanks for joining us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gagas, in for Brianna Vanozzi.

We begin with a few of today's top stories.

First, Emile Bove has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a federal judge serving on the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Bove's nomination became a flashpoint in the Senate after three whistleblowers from the Department of Justice made allegations about his conduct, including claims that he instructed DOJ staff to disregard court orders regarding deportation cases, and that he dismissed New York Mayor Eric Adams' corruption case in exchange for the mayor's cooperation on President Trump's immigration policies.

Now, Bove denied all of those claims under oath.

Democratic lawmakers have also objected to his role as President Trump's personal defense attorney, nominated for a role that's supposed to be apolitical.

And they walked out of his hearing two weeks ago after Republican leadership made it clear there wouldn't be further discussion of their objections.

Well, yesterday, Bove was confirmed in a 50-49 vote, with all but two Republicans voting to approve him.

New Jersey's U.S.

Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim issued a joint statement saying his professional record is marred by a pattern of abusive behavior, ethical breaches, and disdain for the norms of judicial integrity.

An honest evaluation of his record would lead any person to conclude that Emile Bove should be nowhere near the federal bench.

As an appeals judge, Bove will now oversee cases from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the Virgin Islands.

Also tonight, the saga over Alina Haba's reappointment to be acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey continues.

Here's what's playing out.

When Haba's term expired earlier this month, a panel of federal New Jersey judges voted in First Assistant Desiree Grace to the role, using a statute that allows them to name a replacement when the position is vacant.

One day after that vote, the Department of Justice fired Grace and appointed Haba as the First Assistant.

And because Grace was fired and the position was open once again, statute allows the First Assistant to serve as acting U.S. attorney.

So, Haba's back.

But the shuffling of roles has created confusion in the office.

And according to the New York Times, all court proceedings were canceled on Monday because of uncertainty as to whether Haba can prosecute current cases before the court.

A defendant facing drug distribution and gun charges has even filed a motion to dismiss his case, saying that Haba's reappointment violates his constitutional rights.

In the court filing, his attorney said the attorney general's dismissal of Ms. Grace and reinstatement of Ms. Haba constitutes unlawful executive interference.

Well, on Tuesday, the DOJ filed a response with the court defending Haba's reappointment as lawful and valid.

Her current term will now be 210 days.

So stay tuned.

And extreme heat continues to blanket New Jersey, bringing the possibility of severe thunderstorms in the northeast part of the state tonight and tomorrow.

Those storms could bring flash flooding, similar to what we saw two weeks ago.

These persistent high temperatures also raise a lot of safety concerns, especially for people working outdoors or in spaces that make them more vulnerable to the heat, like warehouses.

Ted Goldberg joined advocates outside an Amazon distribution center in Robbinsville yesterday.

They've called out Amazon for working conditions that they say put workers in danger.

It's been three years since an Amazon employee named Roger Boland fell off a ladder and died while working at the Robbinsville location.

Now, OSHA, the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, investigated the death and said it wasn't heat related and found no fault with Amazon.

But doctors said Boland's body temperature was extremely high when he fell.

Two other workers also died in 2022 at different locations.

A lawsuit has been filed against Amazon in each of the three cases brought by Warehouse Life, a nonprofit made up of current and former Amazon workers.

Here's what one advocate had to say.

The last guy that I talked to said that the pressure to produce at this time of year is super heavy.

This was a Haitian Creole speaker primarily, but the conversation that we were able to have, that's what he kept saying, was it's too much work.

It's too much work.

And when you are performing heavy labor in these kind of temperatures, of course, it's going to be dangerous.

Amazon needs to see that and needs needs to make the adjustments.

The rising summer temperatures have many calling on New Jersey to pass legislation that's been languishing in both houses that would create protections for workers exposed to the heat, including access to cool water and limited time of exposure.

But business groups say it's not necessary because OSHA already provides broad protections.

Well, now OSHA is considering new heat related guidelines that our Washington, D.C. correspondent Ben Hulak recently wrote about.

He joins us now to explain.

Ben, great to talk to you.

You recently wrote a story.

We know that OSHA has some new regulations outlined, but it's not clear yet when they're going to actually be approved.

First, can you just outline for us what those protections would be for workers who are vulnerable to extreme heat?

Right.

This started under the Biden administration, which really pushed to finalize, at least to make its proposal final last year, 2024.

Their ballpark figure was this would apply to 36 million workers in America in industries that OSHA already regulates.

So think construction, agriculture, farming, factory work, warehouses, things like fulfillment centers.

There are two thresholds, 80 degrees Fahrenheit, 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

And essentially the worker protections kick in at 80 and then they would strengthen and become more aggressive in a sense at 90.

What is the process then to finalize it if it's been proposed and we're now in a new administration?

What's the process?

It's essentially public input is a key part of this.

That has largely happened.

People have written letters.

And I wrote a little bit about this in my piece.

New Jersey interest groups have written and the public has written and now it's really in the hands of OSHA.

So the regulatory process and the rulemaking process, I should say, can take years.

And at this point, it is interesting to note that in the Trump administration, which has this deeply deregulatory bent and makes a big show about slashing regulations.

This one has not been slashed, so they still could slash it.

It could be totally obliterated and void altogether.

But also maybe there's a middle ground they strike.

So really all eyes are on OSHA at this point to see what they generate.

Yeah, there has been pushback even here in New Jersey, where, as you know and you wrote about, there is legislation that's been proposed to create more worker protections.

But there are businesses here in the state that are pushing back.

Can you just explain why some folks would be opposed to putting these protections in place?

The general sense is this would just really get in the way of business, especially within construction and agriculture.

Those are those are two key industries that are largely against in New Jersey and beyond against these sorts of proposals, whether at the federal or at the state level, the arguments are that we're safe as is.

There's no need for this.

And workers already get breaks.

They are often working if you're if you're working in the agriculture industry, you're working near farms, maybe you're indoors.

You can take a break as is.

And then also that it would be cumbersome and sort of a one size fits all approach from OSHA to enforce this.

I talked to Donald Norcross as I wrote this story and former electrician, big union backer, proud union man.

And his point was OSHA can can do this and this wouldn't be for every day.

This is just for the extremely hot days.

So that's the counter argument to the counter argument.

Just put it in perspective for us, Ben.

How many people actually die a year from heat related causes on the job?

It's it's really actually hard to pin that down, Joanna.

It's hundreds nationwide we know of.

It's sort of akin to pinpointing a death due to covid-19.

There may have been underlying causes, as we all know, and we've lived through the pandemic that ultimately ultimately led to someone's death.

Similar to heat, heat could have been a contributing factor, but maybe not the ultimate factor that led to someone's death.

Well, we will be watching to see what happens here in New Jersey and federally.

If you'd like to see more of Ben's reporting, you can go to our Web site and spotlight news dot org.

Ben, you like our Washington, D.C. correspondent.

Great to talk to you, as always.

There's growing outcry around the suffering in Gaza as new reports and images from the war torn region show children and adults dying from starvation.

It's even led to some unity in the criticism from both progressives and conservatives, including folks like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, calling out Israel's actions as genocide.

This week, a group of Palestinian Americans gathered to remember their loved ones who've been killed in the conflict and to plead for humanitarian aid for those left behind.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has their stories.

Israel has killed over 150 family members since the start of this war.

My thoughts are all about the killing of the people I love.

Members of New Jersey's anguished Palestinian community gathered yet again, surrounded by posters of family members killed in Gaza.

They spoke of pain and grief and demanded elected officials intervene as the worsening humanitarian crisis grinds on.

All told, grim stories of beloved uncles, aunts, and cousins starving to death.

That is his grandfather.

His grandfather who died of malnutrition because Israel is blocking any aid, any medication, any food from coming in.

My family, alongside two million Palestinians, have been murdered.

They've been displaced.

They've been dehumanized.

And now they are being starved by the Israeli regime.

Enough is enough.

I'm tired of standing here begging.

Humanitarian aid fell from the skies over Gaza Sunday as Israel permitted foreign countries to airdrop packages.

Israel Defense Forces said they would begin so-called tactical pauses in three areas to boost the scale of supplies entering the besieged Gaza Strip.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called reports of starvation "bold-faced lies.

There is no starvation in Gaza," he said.

President Trump disagrees.

We can save a lot of people.

I mean, some of those kids are -- that's real starvation stuff.

I see it.

And you can't fake that.

So we're going to be even more involved.

With one phone call, President Trump can end this.

We need actionable steps from our government.

We need our government to intercede on our behalf and say that we need to let the aid in.

I call upon Donald Trump and my New Jersey representatives to advocate for humanity and let aid in for the Palestinian people.

New Jersey's congressional delegation has called for increased humanitarian aid for Gaza, but shifting politics continues to divide them on ways to achieve a stable ceasefire.

New Jersey's Council on American-Islamic Relations praised Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who recently issued a statement on the famine in Gaza.

Where she calls the use of starvation of the Gazans as a war crime and further calls for the immediate end to the blockade and the further restoration of humanitarian access and the enforcement of a ceasefire.

While Congressman Josh Gottheimer has said humanitarian aid must reach Palestinian civilians, he's also insisted that Hamas must be held responsible, stating Hamas has systematically stolen food and supplies from innocent Palestinian families and children to fuel their terror operations.

That despite a U.S. government analysis that found no evidence of systemic Hamas theft of U.S.-funded humanitarian supplies.

Gottheimer also criticized France and the U.K. for proposing to recognize a Palestinian state, stating that only rewards Hamas terrorism and undermines prospects for a two-state solution.

Meanwhile, Palestinians in New Jersey are being urged to get politically active.

Wake up, register and vote.

That's the only language that public officials listen to.

If we stay nice and we keep going to these interfaith meetings, we share bread with them and everything, that obviously seems to have no effect whatsoever.

So it's about time that we become active.

Every major human rights group, including Israeli human rights groups, have called this as it is a genocide.

Israel is not allowing food trucks into Gaza.

And now all these families are being starved.

The community here says it will continue to protest, banging pots and pans at 7 o'clock every night to remind people here about the suffering in Gaza.

In Newark, I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

Republicans have their eyes on the congressional seat in District 9 that's currently held by newcomer Nelly Poe.

That district that was once a Democratic stronghold ended up going to President Trump in the last election.

And that's opened the door for GOP national leaders to make a push for CD9 to swing red.

Senior political correspondent David Cruz has more on how the race is shaping up more than a year out from the midterms.

The 9th Congressional District has been a safe Democratic seat for decades.

Bill Pasquale's legacy still looms large here.

Former State Senator Nelly Poe was the choice of Democrats to succeed the late congressman.

But 2024 was a year of tumult, and the district actually voted for Trump.

Poe survived, winning the seat by just 5 percentage points, though.

National Republicans took notice and put Poe on their 2026 congressional hit list.

Republican Bill Prempa came close last year.

He thinks he has momentum.

I think a lot of the change that's happened in this district specifically, and I think it's very unique from a lot of other places in the country, it required a lot of ground game, a lot of door knocking, a lot of face-to-face conversations, and advocating for people over the years that has led to this point.

But some Republicans think Prempa may not have the momentum he thinks he has from last year.

He hasn't really raised any money, and that skill set is important for the national party.

Now that this becomes a more nationally focused race, the national Republicans are going to want to see fundraising momentum.

They're going to want to see organizing momentum.

And the fact that Prempa is a little bit, you know, slow out of the gate this time, no disrespect to him at all, means that they're maybe going to be looking for somebody or an opportunity for somebody.

There's an opening for somebody who can raise more money, for somebody who can swoop in and hit the ground running.

Poe may still be a newbie in Congress, but she's an old hand at Jersey politics.

She knows that the GOP thinks they have an inroad into the ninth, but she insists they're reading it all wrong.

There was a situation last year where the voters really wanted to have an opportunity to see what else was out there that can help them.

They're recognizing today that what they were promised is absolutely not what is being delivered.

Midterm elections have not been good for Trump.

When he's not on the ballot, Republicans don't do well here.

But in order to help ensure that, Poe just raised a half a million dollars this past quarter, the most she's ever raised in a quarter.

Republicans are already behind in a district where they've had trouble recruiting.

The most recent name to surface was that of Clifton Councilwoman Rosemary Pino, founder and executive director of Latino Leaders of Clifton, who announced a run earlier this month.

Pino didn't respond to an interview request, but her primary opponent pointed out that Pino's group endorsed Nelly Poe for Congress last year.

I find that very interesting because now this woman has decided to jump into the race, referring to Rosemary Pino, decided to jump into the race and challenge me, despite the fact that she's supporting the opposition.

So there's two candidates for you, GOP recruiters.

To find any others, you may have to come down here and look for yourselves.

I'm David Cruz and Jane, Spotlight News.

In our Spotlight on Business report tonight, a job training program in Tom's River is helping to fill a critical workforce shortage in the auto industry.

Automotive technicians are in high demand as many are set to retire soon.

And as the technology behind vehicles continues to change, these roles will require new skill sets.

Raven Santana visited the program to see how they're training the next generation of workers and help launch their careers.

New Jersey's automotive industry is facing a quiet crisis, a critical shortage of skilled technicians.

As seasoned mechanics retire, thousands of positions are going unfilled, leaving dealerships scrambling to meet demand and customers waiting longer for service.

So the shortage has been caused by many things.

Number one, parents and really encouraging students traditionally or the children traditionally to go into college.

So we don't have the pipeline from high school into technician program training.

And then on top of that, we also have a big baby boomer population who has been in this position and these great jobs for a long time.

And they are all retiring basically at once.

We have a shortage of roughly 12,500 technicians in the state of New Jersey that we need to get filled.

This will really hit in 2026.

So this is hot and coming and we have a lot of work to do.

But at Honda of Tom's River, a bold solution is rolling out.

Industry leaders, educators and state officials came together to launch the Technician Advancement Program or TAP.

A first of its kind initiative redefining how New Jersey trains its future workforce.

Funded by the New Jersey Department of Labor's Pre-Apprenticeship in Career Education Grant, TAP delivers 18 weeks of free hands-on training right inside local dealerships, giving students real world experience without the burden of student debt.

These are programs where employers are investing in their workers.

The workers see their employer investing in them.

That helps with retention.

That helps with turnover.

It's built in succession planning.

So it takes away, not only does it give you high quality employees who are making a good living and benefits, it also takes away the stress and anxiety of who's going to be next.

We know who's going to be the next person filling that job because they're already working for you and being trained by you the way you want them trained.

Created by the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers in partnership with the state, TAP offers more than just education.

It's a launchpad to lifelong careers.

A program like this that is more condensed as well, right?

What I've recognized is a year or two in school can be a long time for someone.

18 weeks is a small kind of glimpse in your life.

Something more manageable, right?

Something that you can try and accomplish and conquer, then enter and see how it goes, right?

I think a lot of people that are out there in the world right now go to college to try to explore.

I think programs like this should be a place where students go to explore themselves, right, rather than putting themselves into debt.

And with the auto industry evolving rapidly, especially with electric vehicles and computer-driven diagnostics, today's technicians are more than mechanics.

They're tech-savvy specialists at the cutting edge of innovation.

The dealer body is the one that needs technicians, and we need to help people grow into these roles.

You know, college isn't putting people into technician roles.

So this program is specifically developed to help people grow a great career, learn about the business, make six-figure salary, which is fabulous, and have job security.

It's not a job that AI is going to erase.

These jobs are lasting jobs.

We're going to do some classroom stuff, we're going to talk about the technology and how to diagnose cars, and then the technology that's driving technicians today to learn about it, and then take that knowledge and those lessons and bring them back with our instructors and our master tech, which we've allocated to this program, into the shop and actually see how it all works, how it all comes together and get real-world experience from the team in our shop.

For students, TAP is already changing lives.

To be able to enter this field that's male-dominated, I'm excited about that.

I have an interest in opening my own repair shop, and this opportunity presented itself.

I actually went and took a class at IT in Atlanta County, and I finished that, and then this came along, and it was just perfect.

It's all free.

You get a toolbox when we complete it with 3,000 tools.

It's pretty awesome because I know guys that I went to class with at ACIT, they got a job in a dealership, they don't have their tools.

And with the demand for technicians only growing, programs like TAP are not just filling jobs, they're building futures.

It's proof that career success doesn't always follow a traditional path.

Sometimes it starts in a garage with a wrench, a dream, and the right support to turn both into a reality.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.

Support for The Business Report is provided by the Newark Alliance Presents the 2025 Halsey Fest, featuring the vibrancy of Newark's Arts and Education District and Halsey Street.

Halsey, a neighborhood built on hustle and heart.

The 2025 Halsey Fest schedule is available at halseynwk.com.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

Before you go, remember you can download our podcast wherever you listen, and you can watch us anytime by subscribing to the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel, plus follow us on Instagram and Blue Sky to stay up to date on all the state's big headlines.

I'm Joanna Gaggis.

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

Have a great night, and we'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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Have some water.

Look at these kids.

How are you?

What do you see?

I see myself.

I became an ESL teacher to give my students what I wanted when I came to this country.

The opportunity to learn, to dream, to achieve, a chance to belong and to be an American.

My name is Julia Torriani-Crompton, and I'm proud to be an NJEA member.

[Music] (upbeat music)