>> Major funding for "NJ Spotlight News" provided in part by NJM insurance group, serving residents and business groups for nearly 100 years rate plus the PSEG foundation.

Briana: in a stunning move first lady Tammy Murphy drops out of the U.S. Senate race, setting a path for Andy Kim to lock up the Democratic nomination.

>> I never imagined we would get to this point with such a desire across our state for change.

Briana: As the Senate shakeup plays out, it is deadline day for other congressional candidates seeking a spot on the primary ballot.

>> A lot of these races have been building up and have not gotten a lot of attention because about the attention paid to the Senate race.

Briana: Also, a survivor Center database.

The state creating a new system aimed to help sexual assault survivors track and monitor their own cases.

>> This opportunity to use federal funding for this database is life-changing.

Briana: Record rainfall for parts of the state leaving low-lying neighborhoods underwater.

"NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

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

Briana: Good evening and thanks for joining us, I'm Briana Vannozzi.

First lady Tammy Murphy is out of the race for U.S. Senate, abruptly ending her bid for the Democratic nomination in a video released on social media yesterday.

A stunning development in what has become one of the most watched races in the nation and all but clears the way for Andy Kim to become the presumptive nominee in the general election.

In her video Murphy said it became clear to her that continuing the race would involve waging a divisive and negative campaign that would tear down a fellow Democrat at a time when the presidency and Donald Trump are on the ticket.

Her campaign faced an uphill battle from the start, further blown off course by a major lawsuit followed by -- filed by Kim to dismantle the system Murphy Bennett of -- benefited from.

The lawsuit is still alive.

The turn of events is a game changer as David Cruz reports.

>> After many busy, invigorating and challenging months, I am suspending my Senate campaign today.

David: In a lot of ways this campaign was doomed from the start and it is not entirely the candidate's fault.

The first lady's team did bungle there launch a bit, looking to party bosses for approval before working on their message to voters.

They also never counted on Congressman Andy Kim catching fire as a candidate or the tear down the line movement that could change the course of elections in the state forever.

>> There is a recalibration on where the voice that matters is, it can't be just Party Chair people, it is grassroots and voters.

That is healthy.

You had a system where a handful of people influence every decision and it impacts costs to residents in New Jersey.

It is why we are a very expensive place to live.

It impacts legislation.

David: Jersey City Mayor Steve fulop gave voice to many who were silently dreading the support of a boss driven campaign having a serious case of failure to launch and then there was the unassuming three term congressman from South Jersey.

>> Andy Kim is a once in a generation candidate to help bring about that culture change.

To see the culture change coming and step into it and bring it about says a lot about him.

You are right, she did not see any of that happening.

She stepped into a minefield.

He saw things that were stacked against him and he was not willing to take no for an answer.

He figured out a way around it.

He changed the rules on the way.

He changed the game.

>> I did not imagine we would get to this point where we see such a desire across our entire state for change.

To be able to push in that direction.

This is exciting, bigger than me, bigger than our Senate race.

Advocates and activists have been working in this space for years.

I am grateful for everybody else and the work they are doing.

I am proud to be part of this effort.

David: Murphy says she will concentrate her efforts the next several months helping the Biden presidential campaign.

She was not talking today but Kim said he and Murphy spoke briefly before the announcement over the weekend, but she did not offer nor did Kim offer endorsement.

Conventional wisdom is that Kim is all but the presumptive nominee which the other two candidates still in the race say is presumptuous.

>> It gives us an opportunity to turn the leaf and talk about what Andy Kim is for.

He is against Menendez, Tammy Murphy.

He has not told reporters what he is about and that is a time for New Jersey voters to talk about his vision.

I have been from the beginning talking about my vision for New Jersey and what I will do to fight for working families >> The Kim-Murphy fight, this is Larry Hamm speaking, a clubhouse fight.

Andy Kim, he is an incumbent Congressman.

He is not Larry Hamm or Patricia Campos-Medina.

He is part of the establishment.

He might not want to be classified as part of the establishment, but he is part of the establishment.

David: The actual race for the Senate nomination, with issues and voting records coming to the fore may have just begun.

I am David Cruz, "NJ Spotlight News."

Briana: The first lady was not the only U.S. Senate candidate to drop out of the primary.

GOP contender Alex sedan also announced he is dropping his bid.

That leaves Curtis Bashaw and another left to fight for that nomination.

Anyone else looking to get to the June primary ballot had today to file, showing they had required signatures.

That applies to Senate and Congressional hopefuls all the way down to the local level.

For more on where things stand I am joined by Colleen O'Dea.

What a day.

Truly remarkable in the political landscape.

So far from everything we know about the filing, any surprises we were not expecting in terms of candidate?

Colleen: Other than this Senate surprise, not really.

A lot of these races have been building up.

They have not gotten a lot of attention because of all the attention paid to the Senate race on the Democratic side.

We will still have a Senate race in the Democratic and Republican primaries.

Briana: We have talked a lot about the front runners in the U.S. Senate primary.

Where there any names added to the list that have not been in the mix until this point?

Colleen: There is a Republican we have not heard about before from Sussex County running as a conservative Republican.

What kind of chances he has without any party backing, as we know all about the party line, it is unclear.

He would be the third Republican in the race.

Briana: This is procedural.

You have to get the filing in, sure you have the signatures, but what happens next?

We have seen races follow part in years past when other candidates and people outside the candidacy filed challenges to those petitions.

Colleen: That will be happening over the next week.

For the Senate you need 1000 signatures.

For the house you really need 200.

There are some candidates who came in with a little more than 200.

Yes we have seen in the past and I expect it will happen this year that some folks may have signatures that wind up being invalidated so those folks by April 3 will know who is not on the ballot.

Briana: What is the next big date we need to look at?

Obviously April 3, but we are two months from the June primary.

What are you keeping tabs on?

Colleen: It is not that far away.

At the end of the month candidates have to file reports with the FCC, quarterly reports.

Those come out by mid April, we will see how the money race is shaking out.

We saw surprises in the eighth district where Robert Menendez, the senator's son, is facing a challenge from the Hoboken Mayor who raised more money than him, almost $1 million.

Money can matter in these races.

Money can be important in a race like in the ninth where you have one of the oldest members of Congress and a Democrat facing a challenge from the mayor of Prospect Park.

He filed a petition with more than 1000 signatures which is a healthy number.

I think you will stay on the ballot.

Briana: We are also waiting for this decision from a judge about abolishing the county party line on the ballot.

How much could that affect these races going forward, and the fact that Andy Kim, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has accepted the line from the Party Chairs who previously did not endorse him when Tammy Murphy was in the race.

Colleen: It is such a hard thing to talk about.

Kim knows the party line is influential, can help him.

He has been working against it.

We are hearing the counties that endorsed Tammy Murphy will give the line Kim.

That seems like an undemocratic process.

I would think in some of the house races the line is abolished and no one has the line, that could change the face of some races.

Briana: Colleen O'Dea, thank you.

The gears keep turning in Trenton with budget hearings underway.

Key executive branch officials are testifying before the legislature, starting with the state treasurer today who faced tough questions about how the Murphy administration plans to spend more than the state will take in the next fiscal year.

Joanna Gagis reports.

>> the governor outlined his proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 and it is our responsibility as a legislature to have a robust overview.

Joanna: The assembly budget committee asked hard questions about the governor's proposed budget during a hearing today where they heard testimony from the office of legislative services and the treasurer, who highlighted key funding efforts for the next fiscal year.

>> The proposed increase of $908 million brings the total investment to $11.7 billion.

Joanna: Governor Murphy-- >> Would bring his pension contributions to $39.9 billion, more than triple the total contributions made by the previous six and straights combined.

Joanna: She also highlighted property tax rebate programs, one for seniors who remain in the state, all while keeping a surplus in the budget.

>> When Governor Murphy took office six years ago we inherited a budget that included a surplus of less than 2% and one that allocated a small fraction of the required pension payment.

Joanna: even though this has a $6.1 billion surplus it does not meet the recommended 12% surplus estate should have.

That topic took up much of the discussion today.

>> The end of the road for the current financial trajectory is looming on the horizon.

The anticipated $6.1 billion fy 24 closing surplus is only part of the expenditures from the fund.

>> The last budgets have had a structural deficit.

You are spending more than you are bringing in.

That is how you define a structural deficit.

If we continue in this manner, indications are that we may, would you agree that in two years we would be in a financial crisis?

>> If we did not take more efficiencies, no more cuts to the budget, we put $1 billion in cuts in this budget.

Joanna: Carol Murphy questioned the treasurer on one of those cuts, $20 million to community colleges.

>> Can you justify that $20 million cut to community colleges?

Especially when we are still dealing with affordability issues?

>> Higher Ed funding we have $3.144 billion this budget proposes.

We have heard many remarks today about the issue.

The structural deficit we have to address, and everything else that goes into putting these numbers together.

This is another tough decision.

Joanna: Another topic, the corporate transit fee.

Could raise $1 billion for NJ transit, but no bill has been proposed to guide how the money will be spent.

>> Of the money we collect in this upcoming budget, how are we helping transit in this upcoming year?

Will we find ourselves in out years in difficulty because we did not allocate this money toward transit?

>> For the corporate transit fee a lot will depend on the legislative language we work on together.

Joanna: That will depend on how they work with treasury to iron out details of what remains in the proposed budget.

In Trenton Joanna Gagis "NJ Spotlight News."

Briana: Governor Murphy Friday took the first step in making sure the state is better prepared for a future public health crisis, signing an executive order creating the task force on pandemic and emergency preparedness.

After a nearly 1000 page independent review released on New Jersey's response to the Covid pandemic, and cited systemic failures that cost tens of thousands of residents' lives.

It will be cochaired by the state Department of Health Commissioner and state police Colonel.

It will also include other senior officials from across state government.

The COVID report warned New Jersey is still underprepared for the next emergency, but offered 33 recommendations the state could act on to improve future actions.

Governor Murphy pledged to implement recommendations during his final two years in office.

By this time next year, if all goes according to plan, survivors of sexual abuse will be more able to easily track their cases and monitor the status of their forensic exam kits.

DNA samples like hair, blood and urine, collected after an assault has been reported.

It will be rolled out through New Jersey's division of violence prevention.

It is important according to advocates because the current process of following a case can be re-traumatizing and involves culling labs and law enforcement and rehashing details of the incident.

I am joined by the division's executor -- Executive Director.

You have called this a survivor-centered database.

How will it work?

Patricia: There are two main components, the first is a statewide database that will allow us to track in real time the collection, tracking, status updates of all forensic evidence when a survivor of sexual assault engages in a forensic medical exam.

Historically it has been a challenging process to keep all that data in real-time.

It is hard to keep track of trends.

We cannot create data-driven policy decisions because getting the data has been so cumbersome.

This new system will allow access to that data on a statewide level in real and should transform how quickly we can make reform.

The second most important piece I think is the fact that survivors will have access to this data as well.

When a survivor engages in a forensic medical exam they will receive personalized access code where they can log in to a portal and in real time track the status of their evidence which will give them more autonomy, more access to place phone calls during business hours, and reduce the amount of trauma they experience as they navigate the process.

Briana: Is it more likely folks will have faith in the system, that if they come forward it will be seen through to the end, and give us a more accurate depiction of how many of these incidents are happening?

Patricia: You're asking all the right questions.

That is our hope.

We know sexual assault is the most underreported crime.

Anything we can do to affirm survivors confidence in the criminal justice system and our ability to not just hold offenders responsible but help them in trauma informed ways gets us to a place to have a more healing pathway forward after someone experiences victimization.

Briana: Is the state committed to going further with reforms?

And you give us any sense of how many untested kits remain?

Colleen: That is a great question and I am glad you asked it the way you did.

There is confusion about what it means to be an untested kit versus what has been talked about, a backlog.

In New Jersey we have survivor centered policies.

A directive in March of last year expanded the amount of time New Jersey will hold on a sexual assault forensic exam kit to 20 years, which brings us in line with national best practice standards.

A survivor could have those critical specimens collected today and 20 years from that point in time to make decisions about whether they would like to move forward and have that kit moved to law enforcement possession and of the lab.

Those kits we hold our untested.

In New Jersey we have been taking a look at that data, historically hard to get a hold of, and we have determined our prosecutors have the ability to call the state lab and assay we have a case moving quickly, can you process those specimens quickly?

If you look at the data so far some have been tested as quickly as 24 hours when they are needed to move a proceeding forward.

But the data we are collecting now in real time will give us other opportunities the change policies and practices to be more transformative for survivors and help us with the criminal justice process.

Briana: Patricia, the executive of the New Jersey leader of this initiative.

Thank you for joining us.

It may be two years away but New Jersey is not wasting time preparing to host the 2026 World Cup final.

Representatives from New Jersey transit and tourism and business groups revealed the work that will take place before the big event including major construction, seven new buildings around MetLife Stadium widening the soccer pitch to meet FIFA standards and moving the perimeter to improve guest experiences.

New Jersey was tapped to host eight tournaments.

Business leaders are looking to capitalize on fan events and experiences.

Notably by making sure New Jersey transit is equipped.

They do not want another Super Bowl embarrassment.

They will split the burden between the existing rail line and a new transit way bus rapid transit projects under design.

Early predictions estimate the World Cup will have a $2 billion impact on the economy with more than 14,000 jobs created.

>> How do you grow the game and not look to New Jersey as the foundation with that diversity?

The whole hello world mantra, something we are delighted press picked up on.

This was a great moment for our region.

I shared over and over again, everyone who works and lives, participates in this region.

Briana: On Wall Street the stock rally dipped.

Here is how the markets closed.

♪ Briana: Coastal flood warnings and advisories were still in effect most of the day across the state after that soaking rain storm over the weekend.

The National Weather Service says parts of New Jersey recorded FOUR inches of total rainfall while most counties got one to TWO.

The highest totals were in the far corners of the state, lower aLLOWAYS Creek.

The bulk of the highest rainfall totals slammed southeast New Jersey.

That cause excessive runoff and flighty in dozens of towns.

An entire park was underwater.

Roadways in Newark and other low-lying neighborhoods fell victim to the drenching.

The storm also brought strong winds with gusts as high as 50 miles per hour along the shore and stretched into the 40 mile-per-hour range inland.

That does it for us tonight.

Don't forget to download the "NJ Spotlight News" podcast so you can listen anytime.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

For the entire team thanks for being with us, have a great night.

We will see you here tomorrow.

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