>> Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, crisis averted -- for now.

Legislative committees advance an historic 54 billion-dollar budget in a late-night session, the largest spending plan ever now heads for a full vote.

>> The constitution of the cursor to be in place at midnight, June 30, or the government will shut down.

>> Plus, affirmative action shutdown.

The Supreme Court returns -- overturns a 40-year-old legal precedent, banning rates as a factor for college admissions.

>> You don't just wave a magic wand.

All the ways that racialist commission have been used to hoard opportunity.

>> also, alleged union busting.

Two federal workers appear in court after being fired.

They claim it was for union organizing.

And New Jerseyans brace for code red air quality alert as Canadian wildfire smoke returns.

NJSpotlightNews begins right now.

>> Funding for "NJ Spotlight news," provided by the members of the New Jersey Education Association.

Making public schools great for every child.

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And Orsted, committed to the creation of a new, long-term, sustainable, clean energy future for New Jersey.

♪ From NJPBS, this is "NJSpotlightNews" with Brianna Vannozzi.

BRIANA: Thanks for joining us this Friday night -- this Thursday night, I Brianna am Vannozzi.

With minutes to spare, the Senate legislative committee Last night approved the largest spending plan in state history.

Democrats first through the 54 point $3 million budget along party lines narrowly beating a deadline to avoid a government shutdown.

The plan includes most of Governor Murphy's original proposal, a 7 billion-dollar payment to the public worker pension system, full funding for the anchor property tax relief program, expanding the child tax credit, free state parks, and more money for the senior tax relief program.

But it also adds about $1 billion in new spending, amounting to a roughly 60% increase in state spending since Governor Murphy took office in 2018.

All of that added to Republicans' protests and frustrations Last night, accusing Democrats of a lack of transparency and public input for throwing a bill together, they say,.

Saying, they never got to look at the document before the vote.

>> Has your side of the aisle seen a full budget document at this time, because my caucus has not seen a full budget document.

We have only seen school sheets which we were told maybe not 100% accurate at this point in time.

>>.

>> If I may, we have seen the full budget document.

Accuracy is in the eye of the beholder.

We are voting on what we have in front of us.

Accuracy is perhaps, you are suggesting it is accurate because it is not the understanding of what we suggested, that we are voting on what we have in front of us.

If we find any inaccuracy, we would have to change it.

BRIANA: The budget and finance writer John Reitmeyer was at the Statehouse until the bitter end, and he says the drama is commonplace in the process, but -- >> A little bit embarrassing for leadership especially on the eve of a full legislative election year.

All one hundred 26 including the seats of the assembly speaker and the Senate President are on the ballot this fall.

Certainly, it's not a good look to be going into a full legislative election with this sort of confusion through, again, what is really the most important bill that gets enacted in Trenton.

BRIANA: In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the use of race in college admissions.

The affirmative case involved Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

The 6-3 ruling by the court cited the admissions policy which gives weekly attentional students race is unconstitutional -- which gives weight to a potential student's race is unconstitutional.

Affirmative action policies were put in place to address decades of discrimination and increase diversity in college settings.

That the majority opinion says the programs's "Invoke racial stereotyping and lack meaningful endpoints."

The case against Harvard accused the University of discrediting against Asian students by requiring higher test scores.

As it invited had this to say about this decision.

>> We cannot let this decision be the last word.

We cannot let this decision be the last word.

While the court can render a decision, it cannot change what America stands for.

America is an idea.

An idea unique in the world.

BRIANA: The implications here are widespread.

Joining me to help explain the decision and what it will mean moving forward, is that Dean and Professor of Law at Rutgers.

Kim, it is good to see you.

First, your reaction to a decision that dramatically alters college admissions throughout the country.

Guest: I certainly cannot say I am surprised.

A lot of us in higher education have been watching this case, obviously we know what the makeup is of the Supreme Court right now.

We know it is a court that doesn't mind overruling precedent that has been around for a very long time, so I am not surprised that the decision be Saturday, and a lot of us have been preparing for it for quite some time.

BRIANA: Chief Justice Roberts took the unusual step, I will say unusual, in actually going further and explaining the decision, saying that there is some new once that schools shouldn't automatically ignore race, but should consider it more broadly.

What does he mean by that?

GUEST: First thing I will say is I think it is really confusing, in the way that the court talks about how schools have used race in the past.

It has been a very long period of time when the Supreme Court has told us that you can use race, but you can't have quotas, none of us have headquarters obviously, in that it has to be part of a holistic admissions process.

The second thing that justice Roberts, I think, is saying, is that if you have a student whose essay speaks to their experience as a member of a marginalized community in the United States, or a black student writes an essay about how race has impacted that person's life to the extent that that information can be used to convey that this is a student who has an enormous amount of GIT, AN , a student who has had to overcome substantial obstacles, that that would still be allowed.

BRIANA: But we heard a really strong dissent from Justice Sotomayor and justice Ketanji Brown Jackson who said that the majority was in a " let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, ," really talking about this country's past, and in her words, being ignorant to what is still the present," still ignoring systemic racism.

GUEST: I love what she said.

She wrote "history speaks."

I think that is so important.

We do not move asked what this country has done historically, for centuries to people of color , particularly people who have histories of being enslaved in this country.

You don't simply wave a magic wand and all of that disappears.

You don't simply wave a magic wand and all the ways in which the pernicious forms of racial discrimination have been used to HOARD opportunity in this country, you can simply write a sentence that makes them go away.

We have to take the history of this country into account as we think about the future that we want to forge.

That I think is what Justice Sotomayor and justice Jackson are telling us.

BRIANA: Do you think that this is going to build pressure to reshape the advantages that are there for legacy applicants?

So, children of alumni, the very wealthy, the connected, et cetera, because there is a lot of discussion around the fact that the affirmative is not ending for those people.

GUEST: Yeah, and of course that has been lots of talk about that for some time, you do have schools that have been talking about getting rid of legacy admissions.

But going back to Justice Sotomayor and justice Jackson, part of what they talk about are the many ways in which the advantage starts very young in this country.

.

It's not just let your parents and grandparents went to Harvard and so that you get a thumb on the scale's as a legacy admission, it is that your parents and grandparents are college-educated.

That means they have particular types of jobs.

That means they have been able to create particular types of educational opportunities for you.

Perhaps it means they got a tutor to help you study for the SATS, they hired an expert to help you write your applications, all that makes this talk about it should be about merit than anything else, that is what makes it so foolish, right, because we know that merit is often based on where people are board and who their parents are.

It's not about skill set or hard work.

Some people get born, as and Richards said, some people are born on third base and they think they hit a triple.

BRIANA: The codeine and law professor at Rutgers-Camden, thank you for your thoughts today.

After facing legal action, the school district wants to meet with New Jersey's Attorney General to negotiate.

School hoping to work out an agreement on a controversial policy requiring parental notification if students alter their gender identity.

Attorney General Matt Platkin's office is in legal disputes with a handful of school districts over similar proposals, filing civil complaints against Manalapan County, Hanover, Middletown and Marlborough School Districts for policies that they say OUTS gay and transgender students, violating the New Jersey law against discrimination.

At a heated Board of Education meeting last night, impassioned parents and community members crowded a school gym debating a gender policy affecting the very youngest of their students.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis reports.

>> No one knows my kids better than me.

[APPLAUSE] >> We are gravely concerned with proposed policies that put student safety and mental health at risk and violate New Jersey's law against discrimination.

Joanna: The debate played out in it another school district last night, whether that cold snap board of education should put a policy that requires teachers to inform parents whether a student comes out about their gender identity.

>> Regarding their mental, medical and emotional health, keeping that information from their parents, to me, as a father, it is absolutely immoral.

>> the scientists say that they are here for you.

They make parents the adversary!

[APPLAUSE] >> I think that in the best interests of children, you should definitely reconsider and vote no.

Don't force these children to tell their parents anything if they are not comfortable.

Joanna: Beyond the heated emotional debate, some in the district reminded the board that adopting this policy would land Colts Neck in the same legal battle as four other districts including Melbourne and Manalapan Englishtown.

New Jersey's Attorney General has filed civil rights complaints against all four districts.

Hanover policy has been paused, while the other three remain locked in a legal dispute.

>> Lawsuits cost money.

Why on purpose would be go headlong into a lawsuit?

What is that going to cost us?

What will the children have to give up for this nonsense?

Should we give up the school play?

How about sports?

Let's give up that so we can go headlong into this battle!

>> I am outraged that after three districts in this county have passed the law and have been sued by the state, that Colts Neck is continuing to pursue.

This policy it is a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money.

They are going to be buried in legal bills.

Aside from the accountability and responsibility to their township, they have -- they need to be held accountable for their students.

They need to protect their trance students and clear students.

Joanna: But the former Executive Director of the New Jersey family policy Alliance thinks these districts could win in court.

>> There is no precedent, no settled case law that has ever been applied in any manner that would prohibit parents from being informed about their child's social, emotional and mental well-being.

The AG has simply decided on his own to apply the law in a manner that sidelined parents and removes them from the process.

Joanna: The law is New Jersey's law against discrimination, which the suits say these policies violate.

In the end, uncertainty around those cases, that the Colts Neck school board to postpone a last night about.

>> Would like to make a potion to postpone to a certain time or table the second reading of policy 756 until such time that the current lawsuits filed by the Attorney General and ending against the four school districts have been resolved.

>> For Michael Gottesman, who has been challenging these policies at school board meetings across the state, that is a win.

>> That could take years.

So unless they vote again and say they will undo that, they are stock until the legal issue is resolved in the administrative courts, or the courts of the state of New Jersey.

Joanna: A possible turning of the tide in what many thought would be a wave of districts are this policy.

For NJSpotlightNews, I am Joanna Gagis.

BRIANA: The man at the center of the murder-for-hire scheme that rocked New Jersey politics is been sentenced to 24 years in federal prison.

Prosecutors called for 15 years.

Former political consultant John Cattell pleaded guilty last year for hiring two hitmen who murdered his former colleague in his Jersey City apartment, and then set the building on fire.

In court filings, Cattell said he had him killed because he was extorting money from him and threatening to rule his career.

Cattell could have faced life in prison for his crimes, but he struck a deal with the FBI to provide information for other investigations, and he had been awaiting his convincing at rather than in jail.

The two men charged with murdering his partner have been arrested.

One of them received a 20 year sentence.

His accomplice got 16 years.

So far just one other conviction have come from CATTELL's Corporation.

A SITE of decades-old pollution in Trenton is really getting cleaned up with the help of a federal grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The industrial site dates back to the 1800s.

It was once home to a pottery factory, a gas station, and most recently a dry-cleaning business.

The chemicals used in that work because significant soil and groundwater pollution from opposing health threats to neighbors.

Now officials say they are finally achieving some environmental justice.

Ted Goldberg has a story.

REPORTER: The inside of this former drycleaner in Trenton looks like something out of a horror movie.

It has been vacant for eight years but it could get cleaned up next to a federal grant funded by the infrastructure law passed in 2021.

>> we want to bring new homes here, new people to live in this community.

We want to be able to have the people that live here live in a safe environment.

>> this is a part that people come into the capital city down through this corridor, and we want them to be welcomed with the beauty that really resonates in this historic city.

Ted: The drycleaner was the latest in a string of industrial businesses posted here over the past 100 plus years.

After Trenton asked the EPA to look over the site, they found large amounts of tetrachloride thoroughly and in the soil, a compound used by drycleaners.

>> The chemical industry creates some wonderful products and it does seemingly magical things like cleaning our clothes, but years later, we come to find out that that magical thing is actually really, really bad.

It can pollute our environment, it can damage our health.

Every community of people deserves to live, to work, to play, to grow, to have their children live in a safe community.

>> this property right here has been an eyesore for many, many years.

The fact that we are starting to do redeveloping in this area now our concern was what was going to happen with this property because of all of the contamination.

>> We like to say this is environmental justice in action.

This is taking or turning blight into might.

And we are just really excited that we can be a part of it.

Ted: The contaminants here go 40 feet underground.

The hope is that once this area is remediated and redeveloped it'll be a big boost for the Neighborhood.

>> This is a perfect storm.

I am really excited to envision the possibilities of what will be here when this is cleaned up.

>> Across the street we have our beautiful Westwood recreation center that is just about to be reopened.

We are excited about that.

Things are coming up in our community.

Having this property go along with it and it is being renovated, the health issues concerned, that is important to us.

>> We can't complete the whole ambience of the community if we don't get this done.

So this is imperative.

Ted: That city of Trenton can find a developer to move in, after the soil is cleaned up and the buildings knocked down.

Trenton is betting on finding new tenants for former industrial sites to give them and the city a brighter future in .

In Trenton, I am Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

BRIANA: In our spotlight on business report, a labor dispute goes to court.

Two workers from a cleaning company that contracts with the American dream of our fighting for their jobs, alleging they were fired in retaliation for organizing a union.

The National Labor Relations Board is spearheading the case of half of the employees, who say their lives are in limbo where the legal challenge plays out.

Melissa Rose Cooper reports.

>> It was a very surprising to me and unexpected.

I have been prized for my work.

I also was promised a promotion before they terminated me.

MELISSA: The past year has been difficult for LUIS.

He used to work for HSA Cleaning, spending his week greeting the American Dream mall , but last week he was fired.

>> Terminated for no reason.

Just for their intention to organize our coworkers in the union.

MELISSA: Which he says, was necessary due to complaints from workers being mistreated on the job.

So now the national Labor Relations Board is taking HSA Cleaning to court, demanding that LUIS and his coworker, who was also let go, be reinstated immediately.

>> At the time I was an employee , I never had any complaint or any issues.

But after I started speaking, they decided to fire me.

MELISSA: Representatives from both the and L RB and the agency appeared in federal court.

In court documents, the NLRB accuses HSA of firing their workers in retaliation for organizing a union.

But lawyers for HSA did neither claim, saying the company didn't even know that union existed until the petition was drawn to get their jobs back.

Instead, HSA maintains that workers were let go due to necessary cuts in the workforce.

>> I thought what he had to say was very unconvincing.

He tried to argue that HSA had good reason to fire the workers, but as I said earlier today, not a single piece of paper supports HSA's position.

These guys worked there for years without a single negative comment.

In fact, we see lots of praise for LUIS, in particular, from the owner of the company, from the director of operations.

That is what the written record shows.

And that is what is really convincing here.

MELISSA: BRET is the deputy general counsel for SEIU 32BJ, he says they have the legal authority to reinstate the workers.

>> They don't have any jobs, and the workers at the mall have lost the most outspoken union advocates, and they of course are afraid that if they stand up, that the same thing will happen to them.

So it would be an extremely important way of sending the message to these immigrant workers low-wage workers that , they have the Right to organize.

That they have rights in this country.

When Jose and Luis Are return to work.

MELISSA: We reached out to HSA, and they are representative told us they have No comment at this time.

The judge is expected to give his decision in the next capital weeks.

BRIANA: Here is how markets closed on Wall Street.

♪ Before we leave you tonight, air-quality warnings have been issued against statewide as hazy skies return to smoke from wildfires still burning in Canada.

The air is strongest in the southern half of the state.

The National Weather Service lists most of that area as either unhealthy or unhealthy for sensitive groups.

Now that includes people with asthma, heart and lung disease, the old, and the very young.

Medical experts are urging anyone with health concerns to wear an n95 mask or Stay indoors.

The air quality index is still nowhere near as bad as it was in Early June, when the state reached an index of 458.

500, of course, is the highest and most hazardous.

Deities predict winds will shift -- meteorologists predict winds will shift Friday morning lifting any lingering Smoke, clearing the skies in time for the Rican.

That is it for us.

A reminder to download the NJ Spotlight News podcast so you can listen anytime.

I am Breanna Vannozzi.

For the entire team, thanks for being with us.

Have a good evening.

We will see you tomorrow.

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♪