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>> Tonight on "NJ Spotlight News" plea deals in the age of money.

More details emerging the trial of Senator Bob Menendez that shows no sign of ending anytime soon.

As at trial plays out, another trial begins in Russia for New Jersey native Evan Gershkovich, who is charged with espionage.

Plus, a messy commute.

The couple America kicked off at MetLife Stadium last night on the heels of nightmare transit disruptions, so can they handle the FIFA?

World Cup in?

2026 >> We need to work to make sure were doing as much as we can to shore up our aging infrastructure so that this event doesn't happen during the World Cup when we are on the world stage.

>> And helping hands, a new state-of-the-art facility is meeting the needs of adults with disabilities who often have nowhere to go.

>> When I walked through this door, started to tear up, because so many people look at our children and don't think that they deserve the best, and this is the best.

>> "NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

♪ >> From NJPBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Briana Vannozzi.

Joanna: Hello and thank you for joining us.

We start with another update from the ongoing trial of U.S.

Senator Bob Menendez.

On the stand today where investigators revealing how all the money was that they confiscated from the Senators home, as well as more details about conversations between prosecutors, Senator Menendez and the attorneys of Fred Daibes, when in desperate and codefendant.

Those conversations ultimately resulted in a plea deal and a possible quid pro quo.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan got to see testimony firsthand once again.

This afternoon really brought some compelling testimony about those gold bars.

Walk us through that.

Brenda: We got to hear from a jeweler in Edgewater, he is a middleman who buys and sells gold.

He does business through the diamond district in New York, and he did a lot of business for two codefendants in this trial, will Hanna and Fred Daibes.

They introduced him to Nadine Menendez, the senator's wife.

This was a lot of gold that went through, in early April 2020 two, he sold two kilos of gold for her, two kilo barks at 124,000 dollars, then four gold coins for $7,200, and another two kilos of gold for 100 $17,000.

The jeweler also sold $40,000 worth of one ounce gold bars.

They put up two photos on the screen for the jury and showed the serial numbers, one digit off a gold bar that was sold to Hana and a gold bar that was in a picture from Nadine's cell phone.

They wanted the jury to connect the dots at this is where Nadine got the gold and sold it.

Brenda: We heard from the assistant attorney, what did he have to say about meetings?

>> We know that it one point, Menendez had called and asked him to carefully consider his finned -- his friend who had a federal bank fraud case, after the Department of Justice accused him from the case.

What did Menendez do?

He called him, he did not mention specifically Fred Daibes or the case, but he did mention two attorneys, one of them was Fred Daibes attorney and one of them was connected to the other codefendant in the case.

Joanna: We know that they did reach a plea deal.

The prosecution was supposed to wrap today.

That didn't happen.

What did happen?

Brenda: We did lose juror number 15, an alternate was dismissed.

The judge had promised her the trial would be winding up by now.

She had a prepaid, nonrefundable cruise, and the judge had promised her he would let her go if the trial wasn't done.

She left, she is going on her cruise tomorrow, and we are down a juror.

Joanna: So we say it should've been wrapping up, we are not even through the prosecutions died, and we will be following this a lot longer.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan, thank you so much.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich's trial started today.

He's been detained in a Russian prison since last year on a charge of espionage, charges that have been vehemently denied by his employer who say he was arrested simply for doing his job and a country where independent journalism has been turned into a crime.

He was left without many of the protections he would have here in the U.S. court system.

The Moscow bureau chief for the New York Times has been following the case and joins us now from Berlin.

Thanks so much for taking the time to be with us tonight.

We know the Gershkovich trial is close to the public.

What details can you share about what happened today?

>> Evan has spent the last 15 months in a jail in Moscow.

He was transferred recently to the city of Ekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains of central work Russia to stand trial for these absurd espionage accusations against him.

Today was the start of this trial, so-called trial, in which behind closed doors, the Russian authorities will present some sort of evidence that they will claim makes him guilty.

But the fact is that they have presented nothing publicly, and it is really clear that Evan is essentially a hostage of Vladimir Putin.

Joanna: As you just alluded to, there's been no evidence presented whatsoever.

We know there is a state appointed military prosecutor.

Does Evan have a public defender?

Does he have any ability to present a defense case here?

>> Evan does have lawyers, I know the Wall Street Journal is working with.

But the thing is that this is happening in Vladimir Putin's Russia, in which there is no independent judiciary.

So while we are going to see kind of the trappings of due process and a judiciary, and Russia, people are convicted almost every time, and certainly in such a high-profile case that the Kremlin is clearly involved in, we can't expect anything like a fair trial.

Joanna: Some might have been shocked to see his appearance today.

He had a shaved head.

We know he has been moved to a new location for the trial.

What else do we know about what is going to happen to him?

Will he have access to family and friends, now that the trial has begun?

>> He has been kept in near isolation in this prison in Moscow since March of last year.

Where he can't be visited by friends, he can't be visited by his family.

He has received visits from his lawyers and occasionally from the U.S. ambassador to Moscow.

I'm obviously hoping, everyone is hoping that that at least continues.

And he does have the ability to write and receive letters.

So based on those letters that I've been able to exchange with him, I can say that his spirits remain high.

He's just incredibly strong and I know can get through this, but clearly, it's extremely hard.

Joanna: The U.S. government maintains his innocence.

His employer, the Wall Street Journal, maintains his innocence throughout this.

In February, President Putin indicated might be willing to negotiate a prisoner swap.

Is there any movement there?

Do we know if there are any talks on going between the U.S. Embassy and Putin?

>> That obviously is happening very much behind closed doors.

Both the U.S. government and Russian officials, including Putin himself, have said that there are conversations going on.

But it's obviously also very complicated, and we just don't know how close that may be to coming to fruition.

Joanna: And of course folks here are watching to see if retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan will be included in those talks.

We are days away from the budget deadline and Trenton lawmakers are doing what they usually do, releasing a budget bill package just hours before committee members vote on it.

So what's in it, and what are the reactions from budget committee members?

Senior political correspondent David Cruz takes a look.

>> If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then yes, New Jersey's budget process is insane.

Like last year, despite evidence for weeks now that the i's and t's have been dotted and cross, the budgeting process has indeed come down to the wire.

Just getting the first real look at the numbers this morning, a few hours before committee votes today.

Senator of Scanlon is the Republican budget officer.

>> We are spending down our surplus to down below $6 billion, in a time of expected, reasonably expected growth in revenues.

That is nuts.

Then there's another $2 billion of one shots, probably three when you are all done with it.

So we will burn through this surplus.

>> Lawmakers will see a budget set at around 56 billion dollars at the moment that includes funding for tax relief schemes and money set aside from the speakers stay nj program, and the reinstatement of a corporate business tax surcharge specifically dedicated to funding NJ transit, which is not yet fixed.

>> After the months of NJ transit facing other issues having to do with infrastructure, the last thing our state is -- needs is NJ transit to have to face cuts.

Imagine if their budget was cut by one third and then service was cut accordingly, how much worse these days would be for the riders that rely on NJ transit.

>> Details are still being worked out, the budget proposed by the governor earlier this year might not look exactly like the one that lawmakers will vote on this week.

One constant is that advocates of all stripes will not know what is in it, really, until after it's been voted on, which creates the annual call for reform.

>> There are a lot of different groups representing a lot of New Jersey's rich diversity who have called for changes to the process, to make it feel more inclusive.

But you are absolutely right, this occurs pretty much every year.

You could almost write the script for who will play which part in this play.

And we will do it again next year.

>> Negotiations at various levels start the day the governor delivers his budget address.

They just reach a different level of frequency and sometimes a different pitch and tone as we close in on the constitutional requirements to deliver this budget.

This doesn't seem to be an unusual year, and things are pretty even keel leading up to the finish.

>> So expect some surprises.

Last year a billion-dollar Scott added late in the game.

Sometime before Monday, also expect that this year's annual show a budget wrangling will end in a press conference announcing that the play as it were has come to an end.

Until next time, I'm David Cruz, "NJ Spotlight News".

Joanna: This week New Jersey is hosting the Coppola America, but will playing host to the World Cup in 2020 six.

It will take a Herculean effort to get New Jersey's infrastructure up to the task, like our train system that is already struggling under normal conditions lately.

Delays have the real commuters over the last several weeks, caused by Amtrak overhead wire problems.

And just yesterday, engineers ended a years long mediation period with NJ transit without coming to a resolution.

The actors the path for a strike , which the engineers have all voted for.

So they now enter a 30 day cooling off period before engineers could walk off the job as early as July 25.

Couple that with the shortfall around the bin and we could be staring down a speeding disaster.

But the state has a chance to test it all out this week with the games playing in East Rutherford.

Some fans who came out for Lionel Messi got a messy commute instead.

>> It was hot, the AC didn't work.

I felt like I was in Argentina.

Let's go Lionel Messi, let's go Copa America.

>> It was a pretty bad experience.

The train before us got canceled.

People were not allowed on the trains, something I've never seen before.

The fact that I made it, I'm super happy and super excited to be here.

Joanna: But the games are just a warm-up for the World Cup which is expected to bring more than a million tourists into the region.

We will have a global impact unlike anything the state has experience, generating up to $2 billion.

They are already holding sessions to hear from other countries that a plate host.

I'm joined by Zoe Baldwin to tell us what came from yesterday's virtual planning session.

Let me ask you this.

When it comes to New Jersey hosting the World Cup in 2026, what changes or improvements does NJ transit need to make now so that it is ready?

>> It's a relatively short time and as we've seen by the actions of the past week, our infrastructure need some upgrades.

There is critical infrastructure that is shared with Amtrak that Habs are rail keep -- helps are rail keep going.

We need to make sure we are doing as much as we can to shore up our aging infrastructure so that this event doesn't happen during the World Cup or on the world stage.

Joanna: You mention the timing issue, two years is not a long time if you're making major changes.

Who are the players who have to be involved in these discussions so that it is ready?

>> That's where it gets a little complicated, because there's a lot of moving pieces.

NJ transit is the tenant on the northeast corner, where we've seen the failures in the past week.

We need to have Amtrak, but we also need the Biden administration as well as Congress on board, because this will require a multipronged solution.

Again, it is a short timeframe and these are volatile structures that really make or break an event like this.

Joanna: Tell us about the planning session you held yesterday.

Who were some of the players who offer the greatest insight, players who have hosted other World Cup's?

>> We had experienced people from basically every angle of industry that deals with world events like the Olympics and the World Cup.

They brought to the table design expertise, engagement expertise, and tourism expertise, to really be able to draw out the essential elements that our region needs to really keep and I on to make this a successful event.

Joanna: So are the players who need to be involved already part of the conversation?

Were any part of the planning session yesterday?

>> We had NJ transit employees, government employees as well as city employees.

The host committee did also watch the session, so hopefully there was a lot of fodder there for really thinking through every angle of this event that we need to be paying attention to, because it is a very complicated operation to put on an event of this scale.

We do feel there were the right players at the table and listening to the experts that we brought in.

Hopefully we can continue to work together to make sure this event goes as smoothly as possible.

Joanna: Zoe Baldwin, thank you so much.

Turning to Wall Street, trading today was flat.

Here is a look at how the markets closed.

>> Support for the business report is provided by Halsey Street.

Visit online for the 2024 Halsey fest schedule, and by NJMEP, focused on productivity, performance, and strategic element.

♪ Joanna: One of the greatest fear for parents of children with disabilities is what happens when they become adults.

It's a time that families often call falling off the cliff of services their child has been receiving.

A new facility in Paramus is able to meet the needs of more adults with disabilities, and Raven Santana this massive new space to see the smiles on their faces.

>> Is there a picnic this weekend?

Is it this weekend?

Get out of here, really?

I better get ready.

>> You name it, the CEO of new concepts for living says he's got it all in this 81,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility caters and serves adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Through the support of the New Jersey division of development in all disabilities, the nonprofit is able to offer all these services for free.

>> When I walked to the store, I started to tear up, because so many people look at our children and don't think that they deserve the best, and this is the best.

To come here to see how many things they put in place, and the amount of care.

>> New concepts also provides community residences and offers transportation, many of whom have a variety of different conditions including autism, Down syndrome, and other rare conditions.

>> New concepts is amazing.

The compassion, the care, the dignity that they have for the medically fragile, and individuals with disabilities, is unsurpassed.

>> They run group homes, community residences, rubes homes -- group homes is what they are known as.

These are adults that are 21 and older, they have aged out of the systems.

The education goes from 18-21, is a different program.

Then they are out of that system and the guardians and parents are looking for some sort of future for their left ones.

They need help with their assisted daily living skills.

They need help toileting, or it could be total care.

Those are the high need individuals who are low functioning.

There are not enough programs for these type of individuals.

Then there is low need, people who are higher functioning, but who are on the spectrum.

That is a different level of care.

I think there are six workrooms for the lower need, higher functioning individuals, and then there is medically fragile that I just spoke about.

There are four workrooms for them.

We have a nurse's station, we have track systems in the ceiling and the bathroom to help with those.

>> My son had some challenging behaviors where he was getting very aggressive and violent.

I loved everything about it, how they accommodated Ryan when he came in, they took him to the sensory room.

>> In addition to rooms like recreational and life skills, participants can also take advantage of occupational, beach, and physical therapy rooms upstairs.

>> There's a great need for occupational, physical, and speech therapy.

We have a speech therapy suite in the back.

There is a great need and a great demand.

>> The CEO says the new site replaced a former Barnes & Noble's in us about eight times the home of their former home in Rochelle Park.

Currently it is staffed with 110 employees and 80 participants.

The oldest resident at one time was 90, he says.

>> We can tell them that we've got it from here, you don't have to worry as much anymore.

>> He says they have about 300 people on the waiting list for the Paramus location.

Helps to bring a dentist and a general practitioner to the facility as well.

I'm Raven Santana.

>> Support is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Joanna: That does it for us tonight.

Before you go, a to download the "NJ Spotlight News" podcast.

For the entire team, thanks for being with us.

Have a great night, and we will see you back here tomorrow.

>> Verizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, New Jersey realtors, the voice of real estate in New Jersey.

More information is online at NJrealtor.com.

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