Briana: Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, New Jersey's mental health crisis is at the top of the governor's agenda.

As experts gather to tackle bullying, loneliness, and the effects of COVID isolation.

>> So many students that need help.

And we simply do not have the number of staff, or the clinicians available.

Briana: Another blow to Governor Murphy's gun laws.

The stateAttorney General calling a judge''s ruling devastating to public safety.

And a former Newark cop goes on trial today for manslaughter after a 2019 car chase.

A jury decides if it was an excessive use of force or self protection.

And amid a statewide nursing shortage, protest erupts.

>> We are angry and tired.

Briana: Over the suspension of nine nurses for illegal union activity.

NJ Spotlight News starts right now.

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

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

State leaders are confronting an unprecedented to health crisis that is playing out through rising rates of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide.

An issue that has hit every corner of New Jersey.

Governor Murphy today joined a group of behavioral experts for a panel to talk about how to reinforce and support services that are available.

As those working on the front lines point out the existing shortage of mental health professionals that only continues to grow.

Our senior correspondent learned of Flanagan reports.

>> This past year two days before school began we learned one of our students died by suicide.

Reporter: Middlesex magnet County school superintendent described the tragedy to a roundtable of experts looking for solutions to treat soaring mental and behavioral health problems.

He said the young victim's family asked for school photos.

>> As they were looking for pictures to display at the funeral they simply could not find any pictures where he was smiling.

The signs were there and nobody picked up on them.

We realize there are so many students who need help.

We simply do not have the number of staff or the clinicians available.

>> People are hurting, especially young people.

Reporter: Governor Murphy told the group that New Jersey is establishing a new program called NJ for us.

It will focus on prevention and offer tools to support kids in crisis with 15 regional hubs located around the state.

He said it is not meant to replace in school services.

>> The so-called hub and spoke model is meant to supplement, not replace, the hard work that many of you already do with a statewide network that connects every school to supports already in place in the community.

>> What we need our clinical teams housed in all of our schools to deal immediately with problems that emerge any classrooms.

-- in the classrooms.

We need to wake up to the effect.

Reporter: The superintendent noted New Jersey schools have 450 students per counselor and outside clinicians have four month waiting periods.

Families feel overwhelmed.

>> There is a physician psychiatrist shortage.

Child psychiatrists are rarer than hen's teeth.

It's important to utilize social workers, psychologists.

Reporter: Every panelist mentioned funding.

They need financial support to launch new programs, expand treatment facilities, and grow the mental health workforce.

>> Ask any officer in this room, they will tell you mental health calls on the most challenging the experience.

They are the calls most likely result in use of force.

Reporter: New Jersey's Attorney General promoted the new arrival together program that pairs a plainclothes police officer with a mental health professional will respond to calls together in an unmarked car.

>> Brookings Institution just did a study that found arrived together has the potential to transform policing.

They found it eliminated use of force, eliminated arrests, and racial disparities.

Reporter: The programs earmarked for $10 million in the governor's upcoming budget.

The Murphy administration is also studying how best to improve addiction treatments with a $1 billion treatment -- court settlement it won.

>> This is a once in a generation opportunity to make targeted and meaningful investments to prevent and treat the disease of addiction.

Reporter: Elected officials acknowledge they are struggling to cope, especially post-COVID.

>> The pandemic made it so much worse.

Everyone has a breaking point so many in our society have reached or seen to be a preaching -- be approaching there's.

Briana: a federal judge has dealt another blow to Governor Murphy's latest gun-control law, blocking certain parts of the law limiting concealed carry from being enforced.

Gun rights advocates are challenging the constitutionality of the law Governor Murphy signed in December banning guns in dozens of so-called sensitive places.

Today a U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction allowing concealed firearms to be carried in several of those sensitive places when the state attempted to block them.

That includes parks, beaches, bars, libraries, zoos, and public gatherings.

Individual businesses and homeowners are still able to decide whether or not they will allow firearms on their property.

The Attorney General today called the decision devastating for public safety, bad constitutional law, and bad for New Jersey, vowing to immediately appeal.

The ruling will stand while the case winds its way through the legal system, likely up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Dozens of nurses represented by the union 1199 SEIU rallied outside Clara Maass Medical Center.

It comes in response to the hospital suspending, and then terminating a nurse who had immobilized a patient during a medical procedure.

The union says the nurse's actions followed Hospital policy and were done to keep the patient and staff safe.

About 170 union members signed a petition protesting the suspension.

Eight more nurses who delivered the petition were also suspended.

Union members say the suspensions are the latest hostile action from hospital management since the union formed in 2022.

The two sides have not agreed to a contract.

Nurses say they need higher pay and better benefits.

>> I feel targeted.

I feel like I have been but lead to an arrest.

There was -- been bullied and harassed.

There was no need to suspend me.

I definitely feel targeted because I am a union member.

>> We are angry.

We are tired.

I have been here almost when he five years at the same hospital.

It was my first job out of nursing school.

I love this community and I want to give them the best that I have.

This facility is not allowing us to do that.

Briana: In Trenton, Governor Murphy is using the power of the veto pen on several bills that cleared the legislature, sending back to lawmakers a controversial measure that would have allowed government officials to redact their home addresses from public records and financial disclosure forms.

The governor supports the bill, but wants the legislature to delay its start until 2024.

Advocates say omitting the information would help protect the privacy and safety of elected leaders and their families, but critics argue less transparency makes it harder to investigate corrupt campaign deals.

The governor also sent back a bill that would allow Pete -- police and firefighters to retry or -- to retire after 25 years and receive 50% of their pension.

He cited concerns for the pension system which has been woefully underfunded for decades.

The criminal trial began today of a former Newark police officer charged in a fatal shooting.

The officer is standing trial for firing his weapon three times from three locations during a wildcard chase in 2019 that ultimately killed the driver and wounded the passenger, he says, pointed a gun at him.

The case centers on whether deadly use of properly used, an issue that is a point of contention between the law enforcement and the communities they serve.

David Cruise reports.

>> He starts hooting, hollering, and laughing.

That's the state of mind of the defendant that night, before he even started to encounter the victims in this case.

Reporter: the prosecutor's opening statement at the manslaughter trial painted the former Newark cop as a hothead dent on confrontation.

So amped that his partner had to repeatedly admonish him to calm down.

In a matter of fact delivery, the prosecution broke down the chaotic events of the night of January 28, 2019 when they responded to a call for assistance during a high-speed chase through the streets of Newark.

>> What the criminal justice system does not allow is for the defendant, or any police officer, to be judge, jury, and executioner.

Mr. Griffin ends up driving away.

There is no question he was wrong for driving away from the motor vehicle stop.

I'm not going to refute that.

Nobody is going to refute that that was wrong.

However, driving away from a motor vehicle stop, whether or not it was a gun in the car, was not justification to shoot somebody in the back of the head and somebody else in the face.

That is not enough.

Reporter: He faces multiple counts of aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault, official misconduct, and weapons charges in the incident which ended with the driver, Gregory Griffin, dead, and his passenger, Andrew Dixon, wounded.

>> The inside out prosecution is prosecution from Mars.

Reporter: The defense attorney, in sharp contrast to the prosecution's just a fact delivery, punched the air and raised his voice repeatedly, mocking the prosecution's case, then apologizing for his rhetorical floor shares before returning to them.

He argued that Crespo's life was endangered and the shooting fell within the Attorney General's guidelines for use of force, which justify it when there is quote, imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or another person.

>> As Crespo gets up there, he sees them doing one of these.

Holy cow.

Not again.

He takes a shot at both.

That is when he hits them both.

Completely justified.

He made the decision that night, like any cop would do, any real cop, any hero cop.

He made a decision that night to be judged by 12 and not carried by six.

It is that simple.

Reporter: Both maintain the extensive video evidence will prove their cases and dozens of other officers who were at the scene are expected to be called as witnesses in a trial that is being closely watched in a city with a troubled history of police/community relations.

Briana: And at the federal level today, a Russian national was indicted in New Jersey for ransomware attack's throughout the United States, including two here in the state.

He is a prolific cyber criminal who allegedly participated in conspiracies using three different ransomware variance.

He attacked thousands of victims around the U.S. and the world including schools, government agencies, hospitals, and law enforcement.

A behavioral Health Center was targeted last May.

Encrypting data and holding it hostage to demand ransom payments.

New Jersey U.S. called the attacks acid in scope and catastrophic in consequences.

Celebrations for Asian American Pacific Islander heritage month have been taking on a new meaning in recent years.

The month of May is designated as a time to honor the influence and achievements of them.

But those in the community say they are still fighting for visibility and representation, and harboring safety concerns for hate that surged in the pandemic.

For more context I am joined by an advocate for make us physical -- make us visible Nj and past president of the lawyers Association of New Jersey.

Let me ask you first, because I have spoken with a number of Asian American organizations where folks say they have a complicated relationship with celebrating AAPI.

Talk to me about what it means to you.

>> I am glad it is being celebrated because it is bringing about this awareness that is not talked about any other days of the year.

But at the same time, I am sure with any other month, women's history month, women should be celebrated every other month of the year.

It feels like we are pigeonholing, but at the same time I am glad to see the celebrations because at least people are utilizing those days because everyone is so busy to complement Asian Americans, what it means to bring about the history and to learn about it.

So one month out of the year is better than none.

Briana: What would you like to see come about from having a designated month, which is pretty much what we have right now?

>> I am glad you are bringing that up last year was the first time that Governor Murphy signed into law that requires AAPI history to be taught in K-12.

New Jersey is only the second state in the nation after Illinois to have such a requirement.

Even there, the struggle continues.

We think about New York and California with a larger AI guy -- AAPI population.

There is such a rich history.

East Asians who are different from South Asians, which encompasses India, Pakistan.

Everybody looks different, ethnically, culturally.

There are associate economic differences across the board.

The disparities, even within one country, within one group, is so diverse.

So it is very difficult to teach AAPI history and heritage, because it is not a monologue.

Briana: Talk to me about some of the challenges that still persist.

It was a tough couple of years during COVID.

Coming out of COVID we saw a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes.

I am wondering if there are still concerns about security and safety within the community.

>> There absolutely are.

Just from my personal perspective.

I live in Secaucus, so I usually take the bus.

During the pandemic I took a pause which I never dead it wait a minute I do not feel safe taking public transportation as an Asian.

Not even just as a female, but as an Asian.

That is probably fell across the board and I am not the only one.

Briana: Where would you like to see these conversations go, and to help people come out of that mentality and not treating these cultures as a monolith?

>> Education is step number one, where kids are taught from a young age what it means and that there is cultural diversity.

I think there is strength in that.

In addition, there needs to be a recognition on the political side and also in the criminal justice system.

New Jersey in 247 years has never had an Asian American on the New Jersey Supreme Court.

So, that is something that needs to be remedied.

We have able and ready candidates.

Briana: A lot of work to be done for sure.

Thank you so much for coming in and talking to me about this.

>> Absolutely.

Thank you for having me.

This is so important.

Briana: In our spotlight on business, a new law aimed at giving temporary workers in the state more protections as being called unconstitutional by one of New Jersey's leading business groups.

The New Jersey business and industry Association joined a federal lawsuit against the state to overturn the law, arguing it will hurt the state's workforce.

Governor Murphy signed the temporary workers Bill of Rights earlier this week, granting new rights to the state's 127,000 contract workers.

In short, they are given basic job information in their native language, like their pay rate and scheduled hours, among other items.

Temp workers will also receive the same salary and benefits as traditional employees.

That is a sticking point in the lawsuit.

The New Jersey staffing alliance and the American staffing Association contend the requirements in the law will paralyze the temporary staffing industry.

The EPA is announcing a $54 million proposed settlement to clean up a tox or -- a toxic site in Monmouth County, including $29 million for the remediation itself.

The roughly two mile stretch of land was home to two dry-cleaning operations, but Bank of America took legal responsibility of the property in 2004 and will pay for the cleanup.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the dry cleaners white Swan and son cleaners used hazardous chemicals that caused soil and groundwater contamination.

The contaminants are known as VOC's, or volatile organic compounds.

They can cause cancer or other serious health risks.

Bank of America will pump out contaminated groundwater to mitigate the chemicals from seeping into nearby properties.

On Wall Street, markets continue reacting to looming debt ceiling worries.

Here is how stocks ended the day.

>> Support for the business report provided by, New Jersey American water, we keep life flowing.

Online at New Jersey a.m. water.com.

♪ Briana: One local organization is rolling out the welcome mat for refugees in the area.

Offering a hiring event in Jersey City as part of a resettlement program.

As those who have been displaced in Afghanistan, Ukraine, and elsewhere around the world, rebuild their lives and search for work to do so.

Ted Goldberg has a story.

Reporter: More than 100 refugees crammed into this hiring event, looking for jobs after resettling here in New Jersey.

>> The situation in Afghanistan was critical and that is why we moved here.

I face a direct threat so that is why we came here.

Reporter: He moved his family from Afghanistan almost two years ago.

While he appreciates all the job fair has to offer, he is hoping to be hired as a case manager.

>> I am so happy and I meet a lot of people.

I am happy and I am trying to get this job.

I am excited and I am trying.

I think this is a good job for me.

Maybe I get more experience in this.

Reporter: For many of these refugees, these careers can be wildly different from their jobs back home.

.

>> In my own country I was a singer and musician.

>> Our clients are people who have had to uproot their li ves.

When they come here, a lot of those certificates and things do not transfer over.

A lot of people are having to restart their lives.

Reporter: two organizations are hoping to cushion the blow of settling in a new country.

Church world service Jersey City, and the 10 partnership for refugees cohosted this event in Jersey City, trying to make it easier for refugees to not only find a job, but also keep it.

>> We work with our employers to help them create welcoming environments for refugees who are still learning the local language and train them on both an application process and post hired, what they can do to make sure they can still hire somebody who might not speak English as proficiently and will be able to learn the language on the job.

Reporter: One of the employers looking to hire is the fashion company uniqlo.

No stranger to hiring refugees.

>> uniqlo has been hiring refugees since 2011.

They have connected us with a lot of the local agencies around the area.

Recently we just opened the one store or in Jersey City.

Reporter: Like many companies that hire refugees, Uniqlo has programs to help their new employees acclimate amid the wide range of challenges refugees might face.

>> We do have a peer mentor buddy system.

Any refugee hires, we have a tracking system and we like to partner them up with other refugee hires so they can have someone to lean on.

>> Refugees might have access to a car when they first arrive in the U.S., and making sure employers are thinking about how they can help refugee applicants and employees get to work by offering about transportation guidance, carpooling, or other options.

Reporter: Refugees in America or are eligible for jobs right after they arrived.

One year later, they can apply for a green card.

Five years later, they can go for citizenship.

So getting that first job is a crucial step.

And job fairs like this make it more likely that these refugees can settle in more permanently.

Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: And that is all we have for you tonight.

A reminder, you can now listen to NJ Spotlight News anytime via podcast wherever you stream, so make sure you download it and check us out.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

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

Have a great evening.

We will see you right back here tomorrow.

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♪