>> Funding for NJ Spotlight news provided by the members of the New Jersey education Association.

Making public schools greater for every child.

RWJ Barnabas Health.

And New Jersey realtors.

More information is online at NJRealtor.com.

>> President Biden's lackluster debate performance since shockwaves through the Democratic Party.

>> That was a horrific performance last night.

>> Despite Former President Trump's repeated lies, he appeared to come out on top.

>> Donald Trump did a solid job last night.

He could do better, but Biden was so terrible that Trump shined.

>> Finally, after weeks and the trial of Bob Menendez, the prosecution rests.

Can his prosecutors put enough holes in a quid pro quo to get him acquitted?

It is business as usual in Trenton when it comes to the annual budget.

Votes to pass the 56.6 billion other deal coming down to the wire.

>> It is an enormous undertaking.

>> Starting Monday, it will cost you more to ride the rails and roads despite weeks of delays and disruptions.

>> How are we going to increase the fares 15% Monday morning with no guarantee of improved service?

>> NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

♪ >> From NJPBS Studios.

This is NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi.

Joanna: Thank you for joining me.

Briana Vannozzi is off tonight.

The first debate between Biden and Trump was held last night.

The two faced off in person in a very controlled setting.

No live audience, no fact checking from the moderators, and each candidate's microphone turned off when the other was speaking.

That enabled viewers to focus on the candidates themselves.

For Joe Biden, it was a performance that left tremors rippling through the Democratic Party today.

Many confuse with his ability to complete an answer or spar with President Trump.

Trump once again stating falsehoods throughout the night, most of which went unchecked.

What impact will this debate have on a race that has been in net cup until now?

-- been in net -- been neck in neck until now?

I am joined by my guests to talk about the candidates' performances.

We will start with President Biden.

Any voters concerned about his ability to do the job at his age probably left the debate last night feeling deep fear.

Julie, we have seen all morning calls for President Biden to step aside.

Is this the right decision?

Is it time for President Biden to step aside?

>> I am I going to sugarcoat it, that was a horrific performance last night, so bad that I had to walk out of the room for a few minutes because it was so painful to watch.

If Joe Biden is not out by the middle of next week, then he's not getting out.

The only person who can make that decision is Joe Biden.

The more people pressure him to do it, the less he is going to be willing to do it.

The only person who probably has some say in whether he is able to get out or not is his wife and possibly his children.

I will say this, if he does not get out, Democrats need to stop the bedwetting, stop the handwringing.

They need to rally around Joe Biden regardless of what happened last night, and make it clear that the choice is between an old and possibly feeble Joe Biden and somebody who is going to absolutely disrupt the American experiment, become an autocrat, as he said, a dictator on day one, and is a convicted felon and is adjudicated to be a sexual offender, charged rapist.

The context is not clear if you frame it in that way.

All the Democrats need to do is just called down, let Joe Biden make a decision on his own, and if he stays in the race, been enough of the second-guessing, let's go.

This is a battle and we have to win it.

Joanna: It is not exactly a platform that is going to turn out a ton of undecided voters in the middle of the country, where he needs to secure the votes.

But let's just play out a hypothetical.

If by next midweek he agrees I am not the one to do this job, what next for Democrats?

How today coalesce around any replacement candidate in four months' time.

Julie: There is a conviction in six weeks' time that they need to get through.

Biden has delegates bound to him.

It is going to be hard, because, like Eris is not somebody I think the rest of the party is going to -- because Kamala Harris is not somebody I think the rest of the party is going to color and eight, but how do you say no to the first black female president?

It is a very complicated thing to do.

You cannot push her aside without at the same time pushing aside the most important constituency for Democrats.

For everybody fantasizing about a knight riding in and saving the Democratic Party, it is going to be a messy process if he does get out, and it is going to be a messy time if we have a huge civil or among ourselves as opposed to focusing on the threat at hand.

Winter is coming, to use a "Game of thrones" analogy.

There is an existential threat in Donald Trump we should be focusing on at the moment.

Joanna: Former President Trump at his own issues last night.

His answers on abortion, on January 6, those are answers that in the past have turned off undecided voters.

Do you think he hurt himself among that constituency last night?

>> Last night was all about Joe Biden, and it was a spectacle and a sad one for the country.

Not only does he look like he can't do four more years, I'm not sure he can do six more months.

I think people saw that last night, not just Republicans, but Democrats, and the independent swing voters you are talking about.

That dominated the feelings people had during the debate, and it is dominating this conversation.

Donald Trump I thought it a solid job last night.

He could do better.

But Joe Biden was so terrible that in comparison Donald Trump shined.

He already had a small lead across the country that, walking into that debate, God knows what the polls will show in the next week or two.

Joanna: For those of us who follow politics, who know some of the new ounce -- nuances to the answers he gave, we know the fact-check danger was going off all night.

We did not see President Biden challenge him on some of those points, neither did the debate moderators.

Are you saying it doesn't matter that the answers he gave don't matter because everyone is focused on President Biden so Trump's answers did not matter?

Chris: People know what they are getting with Donald Trump at this point.

They know where he stands on these issues.

They are taking into account things Julie said in her portion right before.

That is baked in the cake.

Right now, the race is about Joe Biden, whether he is fit to serve.

Until Democrats figure that out, Trump is going to continue to separate himself from Joe Biden, at some point it will become irretrievable.

I thought Julie articulated it well, what faces Democrats in the coming weeks, but if Joe Biden is the candidate, I don't know how you run a campaign with a candidate who cannot go out and do the most basic things candidates have to do.

Joanna: Julie, do you think voter apathy is going to be the deciding factor?

Julie: I don't think voters are apathetic.

I think it is a question of whose voters are more motivated to go out there.

There are a few undecided voters who need to be persuaded one way or the other.

Joanna: Chris, do you think politicians and voters who are hesitant to embrace Trump now embraced him after last night?

Chris: I think they look at last night as there is only one alternative.

There was a lot of talk about whether to do not like either candidate, last night, the lesser of those two evils will be Donald Trump, and that is the problem the Democrats have facing them.

Joanna: Thank you both so much.

Appreciate your perspective.

The Justice Department brought its final what is today in the federal case against New Jersey's senior U.S.

Senator Bob Menendez.

Megan Rafferty, a financial forensic analyst for the FBI.

The prosecution has laid out a litany of details, from text messages and emails to serious numbers on gold bars, to testimony about meetings with foreign agents, all in an attempt to prove Senator Menendez received cash and gold in exchange for political favors.

While the senator addressed the cameras after court let out mid-day, here is what he had to say.

Brenda Flanagan has been in the court room day this week.

What did you hear from the prosecution as they wrapped up their case?

Brenda: The prosecution wrapped up at 1:20 p.m. this afternoon, seven weeks into Senator Menendez's corruption trial.

The defense kicks off its case on Monday.

The prosecution spent his final hours comparing Bob and Nadine Menendez' personal bank accounts to the cash and gold the FBI agent's hauled out of their home during that radiant in June 2020.

The head of forensics experts go through it all and essentially testified that it did not add up.

There was too much cash that could not be accounted for in addition to those 13 gold bars.

They want the jurors to believe it adds up to no good, essentially to bribery.

All of the cash and gold that was taken out, $83,000 at about a quarter of $8 million worth of gold can be traced by DNA and fingerprints to codefendant Fred Daibes, another $12,000 worth of gold can be traced to will Hana, the other codefendant in this case, using serial numbers on the gold bars.

Joanna: How did Senator Menendez's defense attorneys respond to these claims?

Brenda: The defense argued that Menendez essentially hordes cash at his home and that he does this because he does not trust banks.

His attorneys will claim that the prosecution did not look at the older Senate and Congressional credit union records, and that those will show that Menendez has consistently taken out $400 or $500 every couple of weeks and that he will take it home and stash it all over the house.

The government came back and argued, look at these bills.

There are 20's, 50's, and hundred dollar bills that date from 2018 on through 2021.

That is when this bribery scheme was allegedly operating.

Of course, a lot at this is circumstantial evidence, which means the jury has to make those connections in their head.

Joanna: We know that is a wrap for the prosecution.

What can we expect on Monday?

Brenda: We already know that Menendez defense team is going to argue see essentially kept the senator in the dark and was orchestrating this without his knowledge.

We also have seen his attorneys are planning to call two sisters .

The first sister is the senator sister, which was going to tell their jurors why brother distrusts banks.

His family fled Cuba and use money hidden around the house to finance his way out.

Nadine's sister is going to be testifying as well.

According to the records, she is going to testify about the relationship between Bob Menendez and Nadine that essentially he had broken up with her at one point in 2018 because he was upset about her relationship with an ex- boyfriend, and how can you operate a bribery scheme if you are not even talking to one another?

That is what we expect to hear next week.

Joanna: Brenda, great information this week.

Thank you so much.

Brenda: Thank you.

Joanna: Lawmakers came down to the wire in finalizing a budget for fiscal year 2025, but the full legislature voted on the budget bill today for the governor to sign.

The bill package includes record level spending and new taxes, like Governor Murphy's corporate transit fee.

Senior political correspondent David Cruise caught up with assembly Speaker Craig Coughlan today ahead of the voting session.

Here is that conversation.

>> I thought that this was going to be the year where there would not be late-night budget committee hearings, but I was wrong.

At the last hour.

What was the delay this time?

>> It is an enormous undertaking and a great deal of energy effort and commitment that go into getting the budget process done.

We have to make sure that everything is right.

It has to be checked and double checked, and agreements take as long as agreements take.

As soon as we got it worked out, OLS did a phenomenal job.

David: That I will -- that is what I was trained to get to, the agreements that had to be made.

It was the one thing that was a sticking point, or just all of it?

>> Look, agreements, all in total.

Issues come up as you go through the process.

Things get pointed out as you go through the process.

There is an overall agreement and, of course, the devil is always in the details.

Putting those together raises other issues.

David: Having to dip into the surplus this time around is never a good fate.

But in order to keep a $56.6 billion budget funded, you have to do that.

Are you going to do it again next budget season or the one after that?

$6 billion goes fast.

>> It is a little over six point -- over $6 billion, $6.2 billion.

What the budget does is do the things we have committed to the people of New Jersey.

For the fourth time in a row, full pension payment.

For the first time, full funding of the school funding formula.

Commitments to over 40 percent of the budget goes to tax relief in one form or another.

Aliens of dollars for property tax relief.

Funding all of those things that are important to the people of New Jersey, working to solve the transit challenges we are going to have.

All of those things will go in.

The good news is never do you want to have to spend money from surplus, but the good news is the good fiscal management over the past years put us in a place that we could do all of the things that are important to the people and have the surplus to make sure it gets there.

David: You talked about transit, and we have this corporate transit fee which we will not see this year, but if NJ transit ever looked like it needed it, the last few months are evidence area how concerned are you about our ability as a state to provide people transit from point A to point B by train and bus?

>> We are all concerned about that, and I think that is where we are going to see the bill passed today with great support.

We want to make sure we get transit right.

It is critically important to the success of this state.

There are things we need to do up and down the state to make sure the people are moving around.

It also has the advantage of being positive for climate change.

Investing in transit is something that is wise and right .

I am confident we are going to put those dollars to good use.

David: Right about the time is the budget gets passed, commuters are going to see an increase in cost.

Should the Senate put a pause on that?

>> I respect the transit folks' decision to increase those fares.

That I think -- but I think the other things we are doing right now are going to have longer-term benefits than probably a combination of the two.

David: Speaker, thank you.

Joanna: As this Supreme Court session nears its end, the judges have been delivering several long-awaited decisions.

One case has a big impact in New Jersey and more broadly, deciding whether government agencies have the power to apply a reasonable interpretation to laws that are unclear.

It is a practice that has been allowed under what is known as the Chevron doctrine that permits, for example, educations like the EPA to enact environment protection rules.

This challenge with Chevron started in New Jersey with commercial fishermen in Cape May who argued that a federal rule forcing them to pay for monitors on their boats was unlawful.

Today the Supreme Court agreed with them, but this ruling goes far beyond fishermen.

It shifts power away from federal agencies that have experts in their fields and ask for -- and instead brings it back to the courts to decide case-by-case.

>> This is a case about every federal regulatory agency.

The ruling here is going to apply to cases brought by pharmaceutical companies, by big oil companies, and really sort of the case was engineered as a vehicle to overturn this Chevron precedent.

It is a very small dispute about who pays for these observers on fishing boats, but it ends up resulting in this sweeping ruling which reallocate power from administrative agencies to the courts.

Joanna: Another decision dropped sides with cities seeking to pass laws that would ban homeless camps in public spaces.

This case was brought by Grants Pass, Oregon, that made it illegal for homeless people to sleep in public, issuing fines on the first offense and jail time for me in public.

Homeless advocates filed suit, claiming this was a cruel and unusual punishment under the eighth amendment since the city offered no alternative spaces where the homeless could go.

The high court struck down that request saying the city's response was similar to other cities around the country.

In our spotlight on business report, commuters on NJ Transit are bracing for sharp pains in their wallets to start next week.

The agency's 15% fare hike takes effect Monday and jumps by 3% every year after.

It is a steep increase after years of fares remain flat.

There has not been a price change since 2015.

This hike comes as NJ Transit has experienced a string of severe troubles on several train lines.

Writers today voiced their frustration with the rails and the rates at the NJ Transit org meeting.

Some are outside agency headquarters and others inside North Penn Station.

Our reporter made a stop at each space to talk to them.

>> I am a writer near transit every day and I discussed it with the service over the last months.

It is horrible communication.

I want to know what you are going to do to fix it.

Raven: Dodgers got straight to the point when calling into air their grievances about NJ Transit during Friday's board meeting.

While there was some testimony given in person, almost all of the testimony was via phone.

Providers were given two minutes to let it out.

The public comment period comes days before NJ Transit riders will experience a 15% fare hike, fueling more frustrations.

>> We certainly are as frustrated as the customers.

There are a lot of people who have called in from the line I write every day.

Certainly I have first-hand awareness of that.

A board member and I were talking 100 mechanical issues after set -- out of 17,000 trips.

Percentagewise, that is very small.

Raven: Today, Boyd members appeared poised as they listened to angry riders.

While this in thighs, the nature to point out Amtrak's role in all-time performances -- on time performance.

>> Talking about the rack we inherited with NJ Transit, part of that was a dysfunctional relationship.

Raven: This frustrations could be heard outside the committee meeting in front of the building, where advocates behind me protested for hours, saying those fare hikes would impact their livelihood.

>> We are here to say that how are we going to increase the fares 15% come Monday morning with no guarantee of improved service?

>> If we are not using our resources to help assist people over profits, then we have to seriously think about whether our priorities are in the right place.

Raven: Meanwhile, Congressman Rob Menendez in a hearing on Capitol Hill declared that Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg watch an investigation into the Amtrak overhead wire malfunctions along the Northeast corridor or that have caused thousands of hours of delays for NJ Transit commuters over the last several weeks.

>> Imagine coming to work and assuming you will be able to get back to your children relying on public test rotation.

We want to alleviate congestion.

Imagine walking out your door and not knowing when you will be able to get back home.

In your words, what is the department doing to partner with Amtrak to ensure breakdowns like this never happen again?

>> We know commuters on NJ Transit have been subjected to infuriating delays, as you have described.

FLA personnel are on the ground assessing what took place in trying to get an understanding of the causes of what appears to be physical damage to NJ Transit cars.

>> I feel like there should not be fair hikes anyways, especially since they have been doing so bad recently.

>> The alternate is probably a new burrow or lift, a lot more expensive.

-- an uber or Lyft, a lot more expensive.

Raven: The budget expected to pass this weekend includes a corporate transit fee which is expected to be used for NJ Transit in 2026, but this year it is not, a tough reality for commuters as fare hikes begin Monday.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.

Joanna: Stocks were flat today.

Here is a look at how the markets closed.

>> Support for the business report is provided by experience the vibrancy, new arcs art and education district, and Halsey Street.

Visit Halsey-n-w-k.com for the 2024 Halsey Fest schedule.

Joanna: That does it for us tonight.

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

I'm Joanna Gagis.

Thank for being with us.

Have a great weekend.

We will see you back here on Monday.

Announcer: NJM Insurance Group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

New Jersey realtors, the voice for real estate in New Jersey.

More information is online at NJrealtor.com.

And by the PSEG foundation.

>> Our future relies on more than clean energy.

Our future relies on impact of communities, of our schools and streets.

The PSEG foundation is committed to sustainability, equity, and economic empowerment.

Investing in parks, helping towns go green.

Supporting civic centers, scholarships, and workforce development has strengthened our community.

>> Look at these kids.

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, and I am proud to be an NJEA member.

♪