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♪ BRIANA: Tonight on "NJ Spotlight News," ♪ A new poll finds public opinion of Senator Menendez is plummeting.

>> New Jerseyans has had enough.

They give Menendez a chance the first time around.

The second time is just one indictment too many.

BRIANA: Plus, President Biden delivers the state of the Union, our new Washington correspondent will be in the chamber "of New Jersey's congressional delegation.

>> the overriding concerns for the delegation, I would say, primarily Ukraine and then second two Ukraine, the status of Israel and Gaza.

BRIANA: also bail reform is on , the table in Trenton.

The public gets a chance to weigh in as crime rates drop across the state.

>> One out of eight individuals were remaining in custody because they could not afford to post bail of $25 or less.

BRIANA: And lifesaving lessons are being taught on the campus of William Paterson University.

Their nursing program leading the way to reverse the growing nursing shortage.

>> When a William Paterson alum walks into your room as your nurse, you know you have someone who is well-prepared, caring, empathetic and you will get better.

BRIANA: "NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

♪ ANNOUNCER: from NJPBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Briana Vannozzi.

BRIANA: Good evening and thanks for joining us this Thursday night.

I am Breonna Vannozzi.

It is going to take more than 18 federal judges and three superseding indictment still good New Jersey's senior senator to design.

-- U.S.

Senator to resign.

U.S.

Senator Bob Menendez today, dodging cameras on Capitol Hill and telling CNN he has no plans to resign despite Sock being hit just days ago with his third indictment in the sweeping federal bribery case against him.

Asked whether he'll seek reelection, Menendez said that's a different question.

The Monmouth University Polling Institute asked voters their opinion of the Senator Ernst process legal troubles, and the majority lined him out.

63% of residents close-up including most of his fellow Democrats say he should resign.

75% said he is probably guilty of the charges against him.

And just 16% of New Jersey voters approve of the job he's doing.

That's a reversal of opinion since the last time he was under federal indictment.

Monmouth polling director Patrick Murray says support for Menendez continues to tumble.

And it is unlikely to recover, as charges keep writing up.

>> we have his first indictment back in 2016 and the trial that he went through, and that time, New Jersey voters, including most Republicans, said, even though I don't like him, even though I think you might be guilty, he deserves the chance to stand trial, clear his name and then if he clears his name, continued in his job.

At this point Sock they are not saying that and they are being joined by Democrats and independents alike who are saying that it's time to go.

BRIANA: Senator Menendez is expected to be in the timber tonight as President Biden delivers his last State of the Union address of his first term in office.

The speech will set the tone for the November presidential election, a likely rematch between Biden and Former President Donald Trump.

Beyond the political subtext though, the Biden administration is saddled with a number of challenges at home and abroad.

From the economy to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

New Jersey's congressional delegation will be listening closely to ensure their concerns are prioritized.

And our new Washington, D.C. correspondent will be in the chamber with them as the president delivers his speech.

Ben joins me now from Capitol Hill.

good to have you with us.

You spoke with the members of New Jersey's delegation.

What did they tell you about what they're listening for tonight?

Reporter: the overriding concern for the delegation, I would say, primarily Ukraine and then second to Ukraine, the status of Israel and Gaza.

A lot of the delegation are bringing 70 members of hostage victims who Hamas has kidnapped and is still holding, and whom Hamas has executed during the war.

That is really the overarching motive for a lot of members.

They are also looking for Biden to make a robust claim to a second term, arguing that he is a president of continuation and of normalcy and a steady hand at the wheel.

BRIANA: We can't ignore the fact that this is coming a few days after Super Tuesday, widely considered a pretty pivotal moment in his campaign and the presidential election.

So what do you expect from his vision is he should get another four years in the White House?

Guest: He plans to build, if he is reelected, on what he has done legislatively, and on foreign policy in the first term.

So we are talking expanding the Inflation Reduction Act measures , things on economic policy, health care, lowering costs for everyday Americans, and then, as I said, sort of being this bulwark against the U.S. leading into potential of.

That is the overarching theme.

Things are so divided BRIANA: And much more partisan than they used to be.

Does that shift the president's agenda-setting power in the speech like this?

Guest: It certainly does.

In my view, reporting on the hill, it's hard to get members of both parties to agree on a lot, of course, Biden last year was heckled by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia.

There is a sort of deterioration of the current, I would say, -- a lot of deterioration of decorum, I would say a lot of negotiations that do have some sort of durability are often held behind closed doors.

Away from reporters, away from the public.

That is what Biden I think is trying to harken back to from the state of political normalcy.

He spent years in the Senate fancies himself really is a dealmaker, a dealmaker that could usher in a new era of a more perfect union, as he likes to say, something the U.S. has never achieved, in his words, but something we should strive for as a nation.

BRIANA: You mentioned at the top some of the guests who will be there.

Everyone from Evan Gershkovich's parents, he is the Wall Street Journal reporter who has been detained in Russia and has New Jersey ties.

Also the families of American Israeli hostages.

What does that say about the potential tone, and what we might hear about policy around potential aid packages?

Guest: Of course, it is a political speech.

But to your point, the guests are sort of clued into what to look for.

That aid -- the aid packages that you mentioned are, at least on Ukraine, they are stuck.

Biden will likely talk about an immigration deal that is stalled in the House.

But really, for Biden to have a successful second term.

If he is reelected, a lot of what he wants to do is anchored upon who controls Congress, which parties win in November, and what they want to do come January 25.

About BRIANA: Washington correspondent Ben taking the pulse in Ben, thanks so much.

Guest: My pleasure.

BRIANA: Governor Murphy didn't mention it in his annual budget address, but the state is looking at a looming June deadline to renew New Jersey's Transportation Trust fund.

A massive pot of money that pays for roads, bridges and highways.

This week state leaders began , pushing a new plan to raise money for the fund.

A controversial proposal that will raise the tax on drivers and those who own an electric car.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has the details.

Reporter: Jersey drivers would pay a higher tax at the pump, and EV owners would pony up user fees to help charge New Jersey's Transportation Trust fund.

With a couple of billion dollars a year.

That is under a bill that won approval before the assembly transportation committee today.

>> The plan that is being proposed is balanced, it is affordable, it is fair and very straightforward.

Reporter: But the bill is also very controversial.

The ttf pays for bridge and other transit projects.

It expires on June 30.

To reauthorize that and keep the money flowing, the bill would increase New Jersey's's gas tax by about two cents a year, or about $.10 a gallon after five years.

It also would hit electric vehicle drivers with new registration fees, $250 a year, to start increasing over five years to $290.

>> We all support transportation investments.

Reporter: Some companies fret over paying more, as do drivers.

New Jersey's business and industry Association is staying neutral on the bill especially given other fees and taxes proposed by Governor Murphy in his recent budget message.

>> New Jersey has an affordability problem.

We need to figure out how this business tax, the gas tax, the Fare hikes and total hikes also together.

>> The added benefit of this is a user fee.

Reporter: the Jersey Chamber of Commerce president claims the proposal would cost drivers on average an extra $0.13 a week.

>> There is a direct linkage between the P please and the facilities, and the fees being charged.

Reporter: supporters estimate the recharged TTF could create more than 21,000 jobs and pump billions into the local economy.

Meanwhile towns and counties , depend on TTF money to pay for road repairs and keep property taxes low.

But the bill hit significant a position the road.

Environmental groups argue that it would discourage folks from switching from gusts to electric cars.

They suggested a $75 fee instead.

>> We have to continue investing and subsidizing connected vehicles in the short-term.

Not forever.

There needs to be an orderly transition.

Reporter: Advocates complained that Governor Murphy is pushing to remove the sales tax exemption on EV purchases, which car dealers produce could damage the governor's climate change deadlines consumers will not react well to this, and this shrink will render the governor's goal of one hundred percent EV sales in New Jersey bitterly unachievable.

>> Increasing the gas tax is unnecessary, unwise and thus for me, a nonstarter.

Reporter: Republicans recommended no new taxes and a major audit of NJ Transit, which also receives ttf funding.

But the Democratic majority is behind this, and it is fast tracked.

>> We have to continue to invest so can improve our roads, over infrastructure, our bridges, and our local towns and municipalities that depend on this so much.

Reporter: The committee voted along party lines to release the bill.

An identical measure goes before the Senate transportation committee for debate next week.

Supporters are hoping to get this passed and on the governor's desk before the end of the month when state budget battles begin in earnest.

At the Statehouse in Trenton, Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

BRIANA: Also at the Statehouse today, lawmakers chipped away at the judicial vacancy that has been dogging the state.

The Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed 7 new judges to the Superior Court to replace members of the bench who have retired.

That leaves the statewide vacancy at 48, down from the record high of 67 a year ago.

The committee today also heard from critics and proponents of the state's criminal justice reform measures most commonly known as Bill reform, which has been blamed recently for upticks in certain crimes, even as overall crime rate drops.

Ted Goldberg reports from Trenton.

Reporter: In the seven years since New Jersey instituted Bill reform prosecutors and court officials say it has done its intended job of keeping fewer people in jail because they can't afford bail.

>> Nearly 12% of New Jersey County's jail population, or one out of eight individuals, or remaining in custody because they couldn't afford to post bail of $25 or less.

By October 7, 2020, that number had decreased to 0.2%.

>>.

>> This legislation helps address inequities in the criminal justice system and prevents individuals accused of low-level crimes from remaining jailed strictly because they can't afford monetary bail.

Reporter: This is the adversative director of the courts in New Jersey.

He gave New Jersey's bail reform a B- grade grade, saying it could owners be better, when insisting there is no widespread evidence of people reoffending went out of bail.

>> If you are looking to get 100% certainty that nobody out on pretrial release will not commit an offense, the only option is to lock up everybody.

Reporter: Well that is not a real option, the Senate Judiciary Committee listened to suggestions for how Bill reform can be tweaked.

>> There should be a presumption of detention for certain firearms possession charges.

.

This should also be true for young defendants charged with firearms offenses because they are being released as a result of a low score.

>> The absence of support often has a detrimental effect, since defendants may return to the same environment that drew them into their court involvement.

Reporter: The NJ Reentry Corporation had and Jersey City mayoral candidate Jim McGreevey says he initially opposed bail reform because there weren't enough resources to help people after they got arrested.

Now he is pushing for more lifelines for anyone out on bail.

>> When Dale reform was first instituted, I said, without these services, we are just expecting an irrational outcome.

Reporter: Some senators were skeptical about the formula used Dell judges if someone should be out on bail.

Part of that formula is the convictions on someone's record, but not what they are initially charged with.

>> Come on judge.

With all due respect, it is a farce.

You arrest somebody for aggravation with a gun and the prosecutor's office pleads it down to possession without a permit.

That is the data that is being kept.

>> That defendant should not be penalized because the state has now shown that they are unable to proceed with a larger charge.

Reporter: Of the senators are looking for other tweaks.

>> I am convinced that people who do these crimes are well-educated on the risks.

So the immediate solution this legislature could do in a day, they could either raise the level of the offense, or impose minimum mandatory jail time.

Reporter: Well Senator Troy Singleton reminded everyone that there has been no permanent spike in crime since Bill reform was implemented.

>> There is a lot of talk about New Jersey almost being awash in crime.

New Jersey's statistics when it comes to the number of shootings dropped in calendar year 2022 by a significant amount.

The number of auto theft dropped as well.

Reporter: Judges do have the discretion to keep someone in jail in spite of the formula.

Of an amendment to New Jersey's Bail Reform law has exceptions if the judge thinks a defendant poses a threat to others, might skip out on bail, or could it obstruct the criminal justice process.

In Trenton, Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

BRIANA: In L.A.

Spotlight on Business Report, we first reported on William Paterson University's New School of Nursing just before it launched last fall.

And in a matter of months, it's become home to one of the largest and fastest-growing nursing programs in the state.

As Raven Santana reports, the University is hosting the largest student enrollment in all of North Jersey.

>> I can't breathe.

Reporter: A patient admitted to the hospital lies in the emergency room screaming he can't breathe.

His heart rate dropping, he continues to complain about abdominal pain.

>> My belly hurts.

Reporter: In emergency situations, decisions that nurses make good make the difference between life and death.

This computerized medicane is part of a nursing program, offered to nearly 2000 students at William Paterson University's school of nursing.

>> When a William Paterson alum walks into the room as your nurse, you know you have someone who is well-prepared, empathetic, and you will get better.

Reporter: The William Paterson University president boasts the new nursing school that opened in fall of 2023, now has the largest nursing student enrollment in the state across the bachelors, Masters and doctoral levels.

President Helldobler believes offering online courses has helped increase enrollment as it caters to diverse and non traditional students.

He additionally points out more than 60% of nursing students are people of color.

>> Right before the pandemic, we launched WPP online to really go after the working adult and the market in that space and it has really proven beneficial in terms of growing nursing to now 1800 students.

So we are now the largest nursing program on any single campus in the state of New Jersey.

Currently the Reporter: School has 24 full-time and part-time faculty as well as more than 100 adjunct faculty, a vast majority of them, working nurses who teach on the side.

Dr. Gottman, associate Dean of the Nursing School, says the school's collaboration with Atlantic health system has been a game changer for students.

>> The Atlantic health system, Morristown Overlook, and Christian health, are clinical agencies that we use to to send our students for their training.

Meaning, they go there for clinical experiences at least once or twice a week, depending on the course, to learn how to take care of patients, work with nurses in the actual situation.

Reporter: This is one of more than 10 lifelike mannequins here at the school that students I spoke with say Rp.

The for real life situations not just in health care settings but soak environments including patients' homes.

>> We did one week on communication.

That is a big proportion of side -- bedside manner.

Which I didn't think you would be doing in the nursing program.

You think you would be doing IVs and other technical skills.

It mixed me more comfortable going into clinicals knowing that I have the ability to do the hands-on skills.

>> We have three scale labs and that is where the students will practice their IV therapy, oxygen therapy, putting in Foley catheters.

Those are their skills.

Than we have mannequins which are patient simulators.

Our patient simulators breed, they have a heart rate, they have pulses, their eyeballs move , they constrict, they can have cataracts.

We can change them walking in.

It's very scary when you are a new nursing student walking in and wondering what to do.

Here, they can practice.

Reporter: President Helldobler now says he wants to continue to expand health programs at the school to include other areas like physical therapy and pharmacy.

For NJ Spotlight News, I am Raven Santana.

BRIANA: On Wall Street, stocks rose today after the Fed again, said rate cuts are likely this year, but the central bank is in no hurry.

Here is how the market closed.

♪ BRIANA: Tonight, we continue with the second piece of our reporting in our new digital series called "The Change Project."

Which focuses on possible answers to some of New Jersey's most pressing problems.

This time, we look at the state budget and whether the process of crafting such a massive spending plan can be improved.

I recently spoke with our budget and finance writer John Reitmeyer about what he found.

John Reitmeyer, always good to talk to you.

This project underway you tackled it looking at the budget, which is something that is so complex, constitutionally has to be balanced, but there is some much more to it than just balancing the budget.

What did you focus on?

Guest: Thank you for having me in to talk about this.

So sometimes these concepts, public finance, it can be esoteric.

What I wanted to look at was how New Jersey, with its budget, over $55 billion, prepares for the type of economic downturns that during the course of my career covering the state government for more than 20 years, I get to see the ups and downs of the budget cycles and the consequences of that.

I really wonder to put a focus on how these types of things can impact every day New Jerseyans.

New Jerseyans struggling with things like inflation and property taxes.

And how some of the decisions that get made in Trenton today or over the next few months, could have an impact on their everyday lives going forward.

Specifically, when we see revenue losses, so when we think about events like the great recession 2007 to 2009, the , aftermath of that, when we think about the downturn that happened during that first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The way that hits the budget, is it, those types of events usually cause revenue losses.

BRIANA: Revenue losses equate to a stop in some way, shape or form of state spending.

Guest: Absolutely, that's what I have seen happen in my career, and that's what usually happens.

We can look at studies that have been done across the country and how other students have seen the same types of effects.

And so the next step is, these have an impact on everyday residence.

One good example is during the 2020 revenue losses from COVID-19.

We saw the property tax benefits for seniors and low income homeowners put aside.

The funding was what we call de- appropriated, to make sure that the budget stayed in balance.

The state also borrowed money and taxpayers are paying off that borrowing.

For quite a few more years to pass.

BRIANA: So these are things that may be when you see on paper as a taxpayer, you may not see them as tangible like the effect you, but to infect affect your bottom line.

Guest: That's the goal of the reporting, to make that connection and to bring that home.

You can never predict when a recession will hit our how deep those revenue losses will be, but there are some best practices that have been researched and have shown states have been able to improve their resiliency by following some of these practices.

BRIANA: What is that so important, because when we talk about the state having a big surplus or seeing years where the revenue collections are higher, and yet, we are always focused on these downturns.

Guest: Yes, speaking from experience, during those downturns, you are sort of in an all hands on deck triage mode.

It's when you are not in a downturn situation -- Revenue collections are a little soft compared to where they were a year ago, but still relatively high historically.

So this is the time when policymakers should be considering things that make the state and the budget itself more resilient because we are not reacting to a downturn, when you are really using your Bandla to just keep the lights on and respond.

Now maybe we can be a bit more thoughtful and take on some of these more challenging issues with that convenience of being right in the thick of it.

BRIANA: Are those issues fixable?

Which is the big question?

Guest: In my role as a journalist, I don't want to STate Duma X or do -- I don't want to say to X or do Y or do Z.

There is good research that is done by a public finance expert -- by public finance expert in this country, we are lucky to have some good ones, who can shine light on the way states like South Carolina and New Mexico, the things that have done to be able to do so.

BRIANA: Think you much, John.

Guest: You are welcome.

BRIANA: That will do it for us tonight, but make sure you catch Reporters Roundtable tomorrow.

David will talk to CJ Griffin, an attorney and expert on New Jersey's open Public records Law about a bill that would change the public's access to certain information.

And then, a panel of local reporters will break down this week's's political headlines.

Watch tomorrow at noon on the Youtube channel.

I am Breana Vannozzi.

For the entire NJ Spotlight News team, thanks for being with us.

Have a great evening.

We will see you back here tomorrow.

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

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♪