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>> Tonight, show me the money.

The cash and gold bars the senior center is accused of accepting in bribes makes its appearance in court today.

>> It's pretty powerful to have the jury be able to handle it, physically see it, and pass it around like you mention.

>> Plus, will it be Governor Murphy's lasting legacy?

He is expected to sign the controversial open Public records reform bill by week's end.

>> Ladies and gentlemen, this is awful.

It's disgusting and represents everything that the people think is wrong with the government.

>> AlsoDistricts in the state ae getting a lifeline to help offset massive budget cuts.

And a search for shelter in Ocean County as organizations work to support a camp of several dozens seeking shelter.

>> There's a lot of discrimination against the homeless.

Somebody sees the person is homeless when they are applying for a job, it's a good possibility they won't get that job.

>> NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

♪ >> from NJ PBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News.

>> Good evening and thanks for joining us this Thursday night.

U.S.

Senator Bob Menendez today revealed the medical condition that caused his wife's trial to be delayed.

In a statement released this morning, Menendez said she has been diagnosed with grade three breast cancer and will undergo a mastectomy.

That will require follow-up surgery and possibly radiation treatment.

The email went out just as evidence was being presented in his federal corruption case in Manhattan and a day after the senator's defense attorneys presented opening arguments where they blamed his wife or his legal troubles.

Menendez says he disclosed the information at the request of his wife as a result of constant press inquiries and reporters following her, adding they are, of course, concerned about the seriousness an advanced stage of the disease, asking for her privacy.

Defense attorneys today continue to argue Menendez was unaware his wife ever accepted gifts of cash, gold bars, and a luxury car from three New Jersey businessmen who are also charged in the case.

Our Senior correspondent was also inside the courtroom as the first witnesses and pieces of evidence were presented.

How did the prosecution start now that the trial is in full swing?

>> It was a show and tell kind of day for the prosecution today in court.

The FBI brought out evidence that it has seized when it rated the Menendez family home.

We started in Nadine's Menendez 's bedroom closet.

Inside a safe, they found gold bars and wad after wad of cash.

The prosecution wanted to really make an impression on the jury, so they brought these items into court in clear plastic bags and gave them to the jury to pass around.

At one point, I saw a juror hold up a plastic bag with a one kilo gold bar and go, wow, so obviously this did make an impression.

Then the jury got to see a duffel bag absolutely stuffed with cash that the FBI found in Bob Menendez's home Senate office.

Then they got to see even more cash.

The FBI went into the basement and found boots, jackets just stuffed with cash.

We are talking clips of $5,000, $7,000.

>> The prosecution underscoring the shock value.

How much?

Did they get a sense?

>> I did not get a total, but it was so much money that the FBI agent at one point said, OK, wait a minute, we have been photographing these bills, laying them out on the floor so we can see the serial numbers.

There's so much money we cannot do that anymore.

So much money I think this might be evidence of a crime, and as a result, they called in two more agents from Manhattan with money counting machines.

There was too much to count by hand.

At that point, the defense said objection, the judge set sustained, but I don't know how the jury is not going to remember that.

>> What did the defense had to say for themselves?

We get to hear from the codefendantS.

>> the attorneys for two codefendants did hear -- to give their opening arguments today.

Will hana's attorney said that he and Nadine were like brother and sister, that he knew she was in financial trouble, so he gave her a loan to help with mortgage payments.

He gave her a job, $10,000 a month for three months, but then he said she did not show up to work.

She did not want to work, so he fired her.

Fred Daibes says yes, I gave gold bars to Nadine Menendez, but these were gifts, and a gift is not a bribe.

There is no way you will be able to connect any gifts that Fred Daibes gave to Nadine to an official act performed by Senator Menendez, and that is what the prosecution has to prove.

>> Any other pieces of evidence, the gold bars, the cash, anything else brought forward?

>> They seized a bunch of cell phones, so that may be where they found some of the incriminating text messages.

>> Thanks so much for the reporting there.

The gold bars and cash are just the first pieces of evidence, as you heard, to be presented in a trial expected to last seven weeks.

As prosecutors try to prove Nadine Menendez was the go-between for the politically powerful senator acting as a conduit for bribes and messages.

The defense argues Menendez was kept in the dark about his wife's financial troubles and the source of her income.

How is the case stacking up so far?

I'm joined by a former federal prosecutor.

So good to see you.

Thanks for coming back on the show.

You predicted it and said that if you were prosecuting this case, you would want to have those gold bars in the courtroom, and they were today.

What do you think the impact is having the jury pool pass these gold bars around?

>> The impact is just to make it clear right out-of-the-box, this is the physical evidence that if we are going to prove was the subject of a bribe scheme, and it's pretty powerful to have the jury be able to handle it, visibly see it, pass it around, like you mentioned, so prosecution is opening with a mandate.

They cannot say it out right, but what they want the jury to think is nobody has this kind of cash in gold bars stored throughout their homes.

They want to make it extraordinary and unusual, which it sounds like they have.

>> I want to ask you about the government's ability to really show a quid pro quo.

We heard from the defense attorneys who said all of these items, be at the car, the money, the gold bars, were given to Nadine Menendez, not directly or even indirectly to Bob Menendez.

How difficult is this going to be for them to prove?

>> That was a defense strategy that I think we collectively anticipated.

It's really easy to blame the person in the empty chair who is not at trial, which is Mrs. Menendez, right?

But the government will have to make that connection, and the way they do that is to show how involved Senator Menendez was through the text communications, the emails, and eventually, the cooperating defendant, who I'm sure will testify at some point.

>> The codefendant who had pled guilty will be key, but they are really making this a case about relationships, are they not?

They said Nadine knew these folks for years.

They have always exchanged expensive gifts.

Bob was in the dark, and he did not even know that she had gold bars stashed away in her closet with her clothes and other jewelry.

How strong of a defense is that?

>> I think -- and this is my personal opinion.

Again, I cannot get into the minds of the jury, but I think it is a lot -- really, everything has to line up perfectly for you to believe the defense and what they are arguing, that Nadine did this all on her own unbeknownst to the senator.

At the same time, he happened to be taking all of this official action that benefited these defendants, but one thing had nothing to do with the other.

Ultimately, I think the judge will give a deliberative destruction where the jury can be instructed that if a defendant deliberately tried to blind himself and basically deliberately tried to stick his head in the sand and avoid this while knowing it's ongoing, that is sufficient to prove knowing and corrupt intent.

It seems that is the way the case is going.

If the jury buys it or not, it's a lot that has to line up perfectly for them to be able to, you know, convince the jury that the government did not meet its burden.

>> So good to have your insight on this.

>> Likewise.

Good speaking with you.

Have a good one.

>> The Murphy administration is offering a lifeline for school districts facing steep state aid cuts.

The government signing legislation that will give districts the ability to apply for millions in grants and the option of raising property taxes to help offset the funding they are losing.

Affected schools do not have much time to act.

They are in the midst of finalizing budgets and considering layoffs.

>> If nothing happened and these bills did not pass, we were looking to eliminate an additional 40 positions, and that most definitely would have taken class sizes and the 40's.

>> it came down to the wire for school districts like Lacey Township, Hillsboro, and South Brunswick, just three of the 140 districts that lost money in this year's final round of funding, the round that allocates state aid to districts, all waiting until just a day before the bill was approved.

>> stated everything they said they were going to do.

>> not in phrase you hear often about Trenton for school funding, but they call it a victory to see the law restored, and a measure allowing the districts that lost funding year over increase property taxes beyond the 2% cap without voter approval.

>> That's where the tension comes in.

That would be on the backs of our taxpayers, and it is that tough balancing act.

Property values are better when schools are better and in order to do that, they need the funding to do it.

>> Hillsboro was looking at staff layoffs and cutting middle school sports.

The tax increase in the high 7% for them, which translate to about $160 a year for households.

In the Brunswick, 35 teachers were to be laid off.

Their jobs are not saved along with school security, mental health programs, and no increase to families for pay to play.

>> Our families were going to have to be paying $350 a family for activities -- sports, clubs.

They will pay more for parking, more for taking an AP test.

>> Lacey District may still need to approve a referendum for capital improvements, and it's falling on taxpayers all at once.

>> Perhaps they had given us the option that instead of doing a 9.9% straight increase, that perhaps we were able to do that incrementally.

>> The senator who sponsored the legislation that passed this week acknowledged there is way more work to be done before next year's funding allocation.

>> This is not the right way to do school funding overall.

I will be the first to admit that this was a temporary stopgap measure.

The only thing we can do now is catch our breath and dive headfirst into tweaking the school funding formula so that we are not in the same place next year.

>> The ability to raise taxes above the 2% cap is only for this year, only four repeat losers.

These superintendents would like some flexibility.

>> It generally takes about 4% or 4.5% for any school district to move from one year to the next.

With a 2% cap, you need 4%.

Each year, you are kind of in the hole.

>> Do you think the answer for New Jersey is to have a 4% cap or do you think that needs to be a flexible number, given the changing inflation we are seeing ?

>> I believe something tied to inflation is not out of line.

>> Hillsboro's Mike Beaudry wants to see a more human element.

>> Once the numbers are run, have somebody take a look at it before you distribute that out to school districts.

Hey, you know what?

This is really going to hurt Hillsboro.

How can we come up with a do no harm approach that still gives every district their proportionate amount?

>> That is the question now.

>> Meanwhile, all eyes are on another bill sitting on Governor Murphy's desk.

The legislation that reforms and many say got New Jersey's open Public records act by making it harder to access government documents and significantly limiting transparency.

Advocates are urging the governor to veto the controversial bill or risk disdain it will leave on his legacy.

>> By the time it came to an actual vote, the demise of Oprah as we know it can quickly.

The calculations had been worked out in corpus rooms.

All that's left after the human cry of the past two months is the signature from the government, and that, it looks like, is dependent on a whole other set of calculations.

>> He's got the extraordinary pressure that legislative leaders have had not only on legislators but now on him, and they are going to tell him, if you don't sign this thing, we are going to give you a hard time with the budget and other legislative priorities that you might have.

Nothing gets done until this gutting happens.

>> And budget time can get testy and messy, especially when the governor has a corporate transit fee and the anchor text rate program that may end up competing for funds against the speaker's tax break program and school districts looking for money to make up for budget shortfalls, and the pressure is only going to get more intense because the bill, as Murphy knows, is not very popular.

>> Ladies and gentlemen, this bill is awful.

It's disgusting and represents everything that the people think is wrong with the government.

>> This bill has the United support of progressives and conservatives, but progressives who supported him are now against the bill, so if he does sign it, it's the fact that he only has two years left.

I don't think you should be that kind of guy.

I think he should stick true to the people who supported him all along and veto this bill.

>> The governor's office is said to be flexible on the issue and reaching out directly to stakeholders, including press associations like the New Jersey Society of professional journalists.

>> Is this a legacy issue?

I think so.

You have to look at it like this -- you say Governor Murphy is a progressive Democrat.

This is a regressive bill.

If you are a progressive Democrat, do you want your name on a regressive bill?

That is your decision to make, but when and if you make it, live with the consequences of how people view you.

>> About this time is when lame-duck chief executives are looking at what their legacies might be.

>> Siding with the politicians against government transparency, he was willing to protect members of the legislature, members of his and other parties against the sort of public intrusiveness, and I don't think that is a good look.

>> Maybe not, but insiders are suggesting the governor may not have the luxury of thinking about his legacy.

Remember, it's getting down to the nitty-gritty of the budget season.

>> The more sources of conflict that you have that are open conflicts going into June, the more has to be resolved before we get a signed budget, so, yes, this adds one more onto the pile at the same time you are trying to negotiate budget.

>> That is an area it would probably be apropos for the year of upheaval that the state has seen.

>> In tonight's spotlight on business report, a sales tax increase is potentially on the table this budget cycle.

Lawmakers this week floated the hypothetical idea of raising New Jersey's sales tax back up to 7% from the current roughly 6.6% it has been for the last 20 years.

This is as they figure out how to pay for Governor Murphy's proposed 56 billion dollars state budget and as a possible alternative to the administration's proposed corporate transit fee, which would tax the state's most profitable companies to provide a funding stream for New Jersey transit.

The questioning continued in the assembly on Wednesday when the state treasurer testified, but lawmakers insist they are not supporting this idea.

They just want to gather more information.

You can check out the reporting on the hypothetical idea at your website.

>> Stocks tick higher today, pushing the Dow to a fresh milestone, reaching 40,000 for the first time ever.

Here is how the markets closed.

>> Support for the business report" is provided by Riverview just.

The event details, including performance schedules and location, are online at Jerseycityjazzfestival.com.

♪ >> Finally tonight, tucked behind the Garden State Parkway just off the winding River Park, is a place about 20 people are calling home, a tent camp set up with the help of a homelessness advocacy group in Ocean County.

It is a temporary shelter for displaced residents who say they don't feel safe living in the other few options available.

In an area of the state that remains the only county without a full-time housing shelter.

Ted Goldberg has the story.

>> Parted yesterday.

We have our hanging plants.

>> Melissa MacLean is one of about 20 people living in this encampment in the woods.

The County does not have a full-time homeless shelter, so people like her are making the best of it.

>> there are a few things from civilization, if you will, that we miss, like running water.

We have 10-man tents, so there's plenty of room to spread out in.

We'll decorate.

I have pictures on my grandkids.

>> I have learned to adapt more.

I never thought I would go camping after seeing all those "Friday the 13th" movies.

>> Is on the backside of winding River Park, far away from the vast majority of bikers and hikers.

People here have electricity from a generator and heat from propane, but they are far from essential services.

>> it's, like, a mile and a half to the nearest store, so that is a three-mile commitment round trip.

If you are walking, that takes a while.

>> Melissa has been dealing with homelessness for about three years and says it has been incredibly difficult to find a home for herself and Susie.

>> Nearly impossible.

Long waiting lists.

I'm talking seven-here waiting lists.

There's very few options out there.

I probably could find a senior Place, senior housing because I'm 64, but most of them, their waiting lists are years long.

And if you find a place, you have to come up with a security deposit, and most of us don't have that kind of -- well, if we had that kind of money, we would not be out here.

>> Her health problems have made it hard for her to find a full-time job and so does her lack of address.

>> I even got denied an appointment at a hairdresser.

They asked me for my address, and I was confounded.

>> when someone sees that they are homeless when they are applying for a job, it's a good possibility they will not get that job.

>> The minister at Lakewood outreach church brings supplies when he can.

>> This is the mess area, the food area.

They come over here, and there's food in this tent area.

>> He says he scouted the area about a year and a half ago for a man dealing with homelessness who had nowhere to go.

>> I looked around and found this area which seemed to be conducive but was not around any schools or developments or anything like that.

>> Brigham is not the only advocate to help these folks out.

Paul holds says his group has helped find housing for about 20 people in this encampment.

>> It is not a permanent solution because you are on public land.

I feel bad for those out there because they are not there for that reason.

They are there because in their mindset, they don't have anywhere else to work towards or who is going to help them?

>> While Ocean County does not have a full-time shelter, it has a code Lou shelter for days below 35 degrees and a fund set up last year has raised more than 107,000 dollars for services by adding a $5,000 charge for documents process by the County Clerk's office.

He has ideas for how to spend that.

>> using it to establish rent or pay back rent or as a security deposit.

There's not a lot of red tape with that funding.

That will help a lot of folks to get over that hump.

>> the County recently set up a task force to decide where the money goes.

They tell me the task force is figuring out its bylaws and in scheduling meetings.

>> That does it for us tonight, but don't forget to download the NJ Spotlight News podcast so you can listen any time.

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

Have a great evening.

We will see you back here tomorrow night.

>> and JN insurance company, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

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More information is online at NJrealtor.com.

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