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Briana: Tonight, primary election results are in.

Andy Kim now in strong standing to be the next U.S. senator from New Jersey.

Who else won and lost in the election?

>> There are many saying that he is too progressive for that district.

I am not among them.

Briana: The corruption trial of Bob Menendez continues.

What we have learned from the courtroom today.

>> I think they scored a pretty significant victory.

There was reported to be thousands of email communications on the day in which she retrieved to the car.

Briana: Congestion pricing on hold.

The fate of the tall plant in the hands of the New York governor.

Why she is delaying the program indefinitely.

A positive development for America's national bird, the bald Eagle.

>> We were down to a single nesting pair.

Briana: "NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

♪ >> From our studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News."

Briana: Good evening and thank you for joining us this Wednesday night.

We begin with breaking news.

Governor Murphy today signed the controversial bill overhauling New Jersey's open Public records act.

Behind closed doors and through a lengthy written statement defending his decision.

This is despite months of pressure from transparency advocates urging him to veto the bill.

Critics argue that will got the ability to look at records.

It weakens access to email and call logs.

Those are items that were useful in busting open cases like the Bridgegate scandal.

Even some critics agree that changes were needed to keep the law updated with the times.

Governor Murphy said he takes concerns about trust in our democracy very seriously.

He said if he believed to the bill would enable corruption in any way, he would unhesitatingly veto it.

This comes as his party prepares for critical matchups in the November general election.

Tuesday's primary solidify the power of party machines, even without the partyline ballot.

No real surprises but several consequential victories.

Andy Kim now in contention for Bob Menendez's seat.

He is not out of the race, he is just running as an independent.

In the house, it was a sweet for incumbents, especially the younger Menendez, who fought off a bruising challenge to take the nomination.

The election show the power or lack of it for the trump name in blue New Jersey.

This starts the clock on a frenetic election season.

We have the round up from Tuesday.

>> I showed you that I can withstand a challenge.

I will always take on the fights big and small for you and your family because that is what this is about.

Reporter: He summed up his victory in district eight 48 cheering Hudson County crowd.

He underscored the biggest take away from the primary election, at least for Democrats, even without the infamous County line ballot.

Winners can still effectively steamroll their opponents.

He beat his main challenger, the mayor of Hoboken, by 18 points.

>> The organizations that are going to play dead just because they do not have a line.

>> He watched incumbents score primary victories throughout the state on both sides of the aisle.

Party organizations cranked up votes.

Powerful city mayors made a difference.

>> The kind of vote that you saw Brian stack pull out of his town for the early vote, every day of early voting, the quarter of that was coming from Union City.

There is no substitute for that.

The line can give people equal footing on the ballot but it does not mean that everybody is going to campaign.

>> The strength of the candidate matters.

Fundraising and organizing and things matter.

>> This is not just been a campaign, it has been a movement.

Reporter: Andy Kim proves just how dramatically the political landscape can shift, easily wetting the primary for Senate.

>> This is been a challenging and difficult race.

A dramatic one at that.

It has changed New Jersey politics forever.

Reporter: His successful grassroots campaign against First Lady Tammy Murphy mobilized progressives.

His legal challenge broke the partyline ballot for Democrats.

Now he will face off against a Republican.

One analyst emphasized campaign organization still counts.

>> I'm sure there are some that say the trump endorsement does not matter.

I don't agree with that.

I think you have to run a campaign.

Her campaign did not promote the endorsement or her as a candidate near enough.

>> We were vetted and screened and we had to knock on doors and meet committee people and we won this fair and square.

I am grateful for the process because it was the best way to get to know the state.

Reporter: He warily embraced trump during the primary and will face not only Andy Kim but also indicted Bob Menendez, who filed to run as an independent even as he stands trial for allegedly very.

New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the Senate in more than 50 years.

The state GOP issued a statement vowing that New Jersey is in play this November.

>> I hate to break it to them but New Jersey does not imply.

Reporter: He heads the Democratic pac.

He predicts President Biden will win New Jersey by 12-15 points.

>> I expect the Democratic candidate, Andy Kim, to outpace him.

Even if Bob Menendez polls 5-10% .

That is a very big if.

To see if he will be on the ballot.

Reporter: Progressive sad little time to organize after the county line ballot had a demise.

He announced he is voting for trump on the same day that a New York jury convicted him.

>> All eyes will be on CD7.

Some say she is too far left for that district.

Reporter: Expect a politically seismic campaign season.

Briana: The matchup is set in what will arguably be New Jersey's most competitive congressional race.

District seven, between an incumbent Republican and a challenger.

The showdown is expected to have national implications.

The seventh District is one of just a handful across the country that could decide which party controls the house.

We turn to our Washington correspondent for more.

He has been looking into what is ahead.

Good to see you.

A big night in some respects last night.

I'm thinking about the piece that you wrote, the matchup is now finally set.

Could this have implications beyond the borders of New Jersey?

>> Certainly.

It is tightly contested.

There is only a five seat majority right now for the Republicans in the house.

That will likely stay somewhat close.

We will probably have a similar margin in the new Congress.

Congress will likely be decided by a few tested seats.

One of them is in New Jersey.

That is a seat that in 2020 President Biden carried.

It was redistricted to be more favorable for Republicans.

There are about 17,000 more Republicans registered in the seventh district.

Which is a big switch from 2020, when there was a Democratic edge.

Briana: We should expect to see considerable resources.

Reporter: Correct.

Both organizations have poured significant money and resources into it.

The national party bosses know who he is.

Briana: The Senate could see another competitive race.

Senator Menendez is running as an independent.

If he does not get reelected, we will have somebody who lacks the seniority brought to the office.

What does that mean for New Jersey?

Reporter: I think of my job is covering two worlds, one political, one policy.

Melendez -- Menendez is 17th in seniority right out in the Senate.

That is quite high.

That means you get your pick of the letter on committee assignments.

After he was indicted, he stepped down from one committee.

But he is still on banking and housing and urban affairs and finance.

This is a bit of a wonky aspect of governance that most of governance that most the public does not track or see.

It is complicated.

The higher up you are in the pecking order in the Senate means you have more control over federal dollars and all sorts of influence.

Briana: Thank you so much.

Reporter: My pleasure.

Briana: The jury in the Menendez trial is getting a deeper glimpse into the relationship between the embattled Democrat in the Egyptian officials from whom he is accused of taking bribes.

Day 14 of the trial included witness testimony from another F EI agent who spent the morning reading out texts from the senator and his wife.

Most of the messages had to do with the Mercedes-Benz they allegedly received as a bribe from one of the businessmen indicted in the case.

Part of the prosecution's effort is to make sure not only to the couple have a strong relationship with him, the senator was also aware of the financial trouble his wife was having.

The prosecution also released a trove of new evidence, photos and videos depicting a NRB between the Menendez family and an ejection leader.

We turn to a federal prosecutor.

It is good as always to get your insight.

A couple of pieces of new evidence being brought to jurors.

It is very evident that the FBI had been surveilling them for years.

Almost medially after his previous corruption trial ended.

What did you note about what prosecutors presented in terms of a dinner held between the Menendez family and Egyptian officials and text correspondence between them showing that maybe they did not lead to the separate lives the defense attorneys want the jury to believe.

>> You are quite right.

The evidence is streaming in now.

Including this dinner that occurred at a high-end restaurant.

Their widget -- Egyptian officials.

A lot of this is for optical effect.

They were not talking or huddling in hushed tones.

Briana: The Mercedes-Benz was finally introduced.

We have been talking about it for months.

Juries first heard about it.

A Mercedes-Benz that was given to Nadine Menendez allegedly.

How damaging is that evidence?

>> Much more significant.

The prosecution scored a pretty significant victory when the judge emitted -- admitted thousands of pieces of evidence.

She said she was at a garage picking up the vehicle.

That is a centerpiece of the evidence for that.

It does bolster the prosecutions perception that these individuals were in regular contact.

It diminishes the defense that they were living separate lives.

Briana: Perhaps a victory for the defense when it comes to the safety deposit box that was talked about in court.

No trace of Bob Menendez on that safety deposit box.

And the $80,000 worth of cash in it.

Reporter: The defense certainly highlighted that point.

He did not have access.

No record of him accessing it.

No other evidence associating him with the box that his wife and her father had opened quite a number of years ago.

The only real significant evidence I recall is there was forensic testing done on the 10 envelopes of cash in the box.

The FBI forensic analysis revealed that two envelopes contain DNA of the codefendant.

But other than that, no trace of evidence directly tying the senator to the box.

Briana: Thank you as always.

>> Great to see you.

Thank you very much.

Briana: President Biden signed a new Executive Order on immigration that will drastically tighten the border by temporarily turning away migrants seeking asylum once a daily threshold is met.

That is unless asylum-seekers meet certain exemptions.

This takes effect as he faces a increasing pressure over the influx of migrants at the southern border.

>> Today I am announcing actions to bar migrants who cross our southern border unlawfully from seeking asylum.

>> The president was announcing an executive order to close the southern border.

>> Migrants will be restricted to receiving asylum at the southern border and less they see fit through an established, lawful process.

>> This brought blowback.

Some groups said they would sue the Biden administration.

>> This feels like such a but trail of trust.

Reporter: She says the idea of emigrants being welcome then could not be further from the reality of the southern border.

>> We have created a bottleneck system at the border.

You have to set up appointments so far in advance that there are so few appointments.

There is such a backlog of cases.

There are so few attorneys.

>> He just returned from a visit to the southern border.

He says the system is backlogged.

>> Some of the things we saw, most of the people we connected with has been waiting for nine months at the shelters.

Uncertain about when the appointment will come up for them.

Reporter: Former President Trump urged Republicans not to pass that bill.

It was up for a vote again in the U.S. Senate last week but was shot down by Republicans and progressives including Cory Booker.

He said in a statement that it fails to fully support the border.

He says this will only worsen the crisis.

>> Folks who desperately come to the border seeking asylum will send their children across alone now.

He said that will only >> >> Alienate progressive voters.

People who will not vote for him will vote for him anyway.

People who try to stomach voting for him, this might put them over the edge.

Reporter: They believe the lawsuits will prevail in the courts.

But they say trust has already eroded in the Biden administration and the nation's ability to pass meaningful reform.

Briana: In our spotlight on business report, a stunning change of events per the New York governor is hitting the pause button on a congestion pricing plan.

She said the program is being halted indefinitely.

She cited a couple of reasons for decision, the economy and politics.

The administration is concerned that it will harm the central business district and deter people from coming from the -- coming to the area.

There are also political pressures as Democrats face competitive House races this year.

Republicans are using congestion pricing as a political wedge.

This was expected to be a windfall.

She said she is finding new revenue.

Stocks saw a nice bump on Wall Street.

Investors see this as optimism for interest rates to be lowered under the water.

Here is where the markets closed.

♪ >> Support for the business report.

♪ Briana: It is a come back decades in the making.

And a patriotic one as well.

Environmental leaders say they are confident they can remove the bald Eagle from the endangered species list.

We look at the two most important factors that led to the birds resurgence, including a little help from our neighbors to the north.

>> Bald eagles are really important to the citizens of New Jersey.

Reporter: When it comes to spotting them in a while, it is a game of luck, not skill.

It also used to be much harder.

>> We were down to a single nesting pair to the 1970's and 1980's.

Reporter: She is chief of the endangered species program for the state Environmental Protection Agency.

She says bald eagles nearly went extinct in New Jersey.

One factor was the use of a toxic chemical that was not banned nationwide until 1972.

>> DDT is one of those chemicals that is very long-lived in the environment.

It was used heavily in New Jersey to control mosquitoes.

>> It damaged fee reproductive systems and is still frequently found in the wild.

>> Every time they attempted to nest, the egg shells would crack and the nest would fail.

Reporter: This wildlife biologist used to work for the DEP.

>> We would take one and there would still be two in the nest.

That area of Canada was unaffected so those birds were naturally productive.

Reporter: It might be surprising to hear that an American symbol is booming back thanks to Canada.

The way state workers dealt with the Eagles was a little unexpected.

>> I would climb in the nest and take out the real eggs, put in the fake eggs so the bird we keep incubating.

Eventually the female died and was replaced by a young female who was not contaminated.

Briana: Banning ddt and transferring new Eagles helped.

Soda cutting back on development.

>> The land revelatory program in the state developed really serious rules about protecting the habitat that bald eagles were using.

As we were identifying new nests.

Reporter: These efforts have led to the dep requesting moving bald eagles off the state federal endangered list.

They would join a list of species of special concern.

>> These are species we need to keep an eye on because they could backslide.

Hopefully we can do work like habitat management that will keep them in the good space.

Reporter: the dep will try to finalize its lists later this year.

Until then, bald eagles will continue to be free to chow down on turtles.

Briana: That does it for us tonight.

Make sure you tune in tomorrow.

We will talk with a GOP strategist about the outcome of Tuesday's primary elections and if the elimination of the party line caused any significant change.

For our entire team, thank you for being with us.

Have a great evening.

We will see you back here tomorrow night.

>> Making public schools great for every child.

RWJBarnabas health, let's be healthy together.

and New Jersey realtors, the voice of real estate in New Jersey.

More information online.

♪