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Anchor: Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, day 10 of the Menendez trial and evidence of more emails and texts connecting the Senator to favors done for a chip shot dignitaries.

Do they prove quid pro quo?

And the FBI warning of arising scam involving fraudsters selling vacant properties without the owner's knowledge.

>> Our best advice to the community, for the profession, try to avoid remote closings if possible.

The fraudsters rely on remote closings where they don't have to show their face.

Anchor: Also, ready to strike, nurses across three New Jersey hospitals ready to walk off the job as the deadline for contract negotiations looms.

And game changers, Major League Baseball will add Negro League star steps to its record books, taking history for several players here in New Jersey.

>> I think the Negro Leagues were always major-league and now it is more formalized.

Anchor: "NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

♪ >> From NJPBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Rihanna Vannozzi.

Anchor: Thank you joining us this Thursday night.

It appears that embattled Senator Bob Menendez will run for reelection despite being in the thick of a federal corruption trial.

According to NBC news, he has enough signatures to run as an independent in the race.

The elders cited multiple sources close to the 70-year-old Democrat, saying he secured the minimum required for his election petition, 800 signatures, but he is working to reach closer to 10,000 by the June 4 filing deadline.

He hopes to use the number of signatures as a statement for the level of support he still has.

Whether or not Menendez follows through remains to be seen but he's already lost the support of establishment Democrats in the state who have lined up behind candidate and current Congressman Andy Kim's bid to replace him.

This as Menendez Interstate 10 of his of bribery trial where prosecutors are in the thick of trying to prove he engaged in quid pro quo.

Our correspondent has been inside the courtroom all day and joins me with the latest.

Good to see you.

They are still sifting through all of the phone records, tell me what you learned today.

Reporter: Yes, the prosecution again was a sifting through phone messages, voicemails and what they are trying to do is show jurors, by inference, the connection between how Senator Menendez acted to help the ejection government and what they got in -- a chip shot government and what they got in return, gold bars.

The Egyptian chief of intelligence is on his way to meet with U.S. senators, this is a June of 2021.

Meantime story breaks in the Washington Post saying human rights groups want Congress to interrogate the enteric in chief because he supposedly connected to supplying illicit drugs used in the brutal murder of a journalist.

This is something Senator Menendez sees, the article.

He sends it to Nadine his wife.

She texts the article to the assistant for the intelligence chief and she says as she is texting it, I'm giving you this as a heads up so you can prepare your answers.

The assistant answers yes you did and afterwards the assistant tells Nadine, this was really very helpful into the meeting went very well.

Nadine kind of kneels it down again the next day, she sends a text message that says I hope this information was helpful in how you were able to form your rebuttals.

What happens next?

Anchor: Yeah, what is the defense saying?

Reporter: We didn't get to the gold bars yet, I've got gold bars for you.

The next day, the codefendant in the trial, very tight with a chip shot connections, -- a chip shot -- egyptian connections goes out and buys gold bars, those are in photos on a cell phone seized during the FBI rate of the Menendez home.

Anchor: The keep circulating back.

How does the defense counter this?

Those are pretty damming conversations?

Reporter: It is tough to draw the wood pro quote, we don't have that, we have an inference.

The defense is questioning the FBI agent in the argument they are making is the prosecution leaves a lot out in the presentation to the jury, cherry picking the evidence to essentially put the worst possible spin they can put on this narrative.

What they are saying is they are trying to add more context.

They are bringing more of these voicemails up to the jury's attention to try and make it look like it is not as evil as the prosecution wants you to think.

Anchor: It strikes me that Nadine Menendez is not on trial, she is not even present and yet so much of this so far has been about her.

Reporter: Absolutely.

You would say she is the proverbial empty chair in the courtroom.

Physically she is not there.

However, we have heard her voice now and how she does a little love messages to Senator Menendez.

We have read her voicemails and text messages.

She is a presence in the courtroom even though her husband says she's being treated for breast cancer and that's why she will be tried but separately and later on this summer.

Anchor: Testimony continues tomorrow and Brenda Flanagan will be there.

Thank you so much.

The FBI is warning of a new scam on the rise, fraudsters selling vacant property out from under the owners.

In some cases victims only discover their land has been taken after seeing heavy equipment show up to start construction.

Experts say the Cova 19 pandemic made this kind of fraud possible with more transactions taking place entirely online.

Businesses and realtors got good at it inserted criminals.

How are they pulling off?

Special agent Joseph Cardoza he is here.

Thank you.

Don't you need to have a deed, a title, some form of ID even if you are closing remotely?

>> Thank you for having me on, this is a fascinating scheme and it has really ramped up a post-pandemic era.

How it takes place is someone reaches out, cold calls or even text message, everyone is a little too informal these days to take solicitations over text message or email.

That starts the conversation, someone says they are the owner of the land in they reach out and say I want to sell this land and a quick close.

They have a fake ID ready, they find open-source information that matches the owner of record and create fake IDs, sometimes a fake deeds and notary stamps and fool everyone.

Anchor: So they shop around to find the realtor, even if they find one, how does it eventually get discovered or does it?

>> Thankfully through our outreach effort we've got a bit of a Rocha going around, we are talking to realtors, title companies and even attorneys to make them around -- make them aware.

Even folks to think twice about land they own or the real estate fashion, thinking twice about lot sales.

Unfortunately sometimes is not discovered until after the transaction closes, after they drop into their vacant lot of land, they see equipment developing the property.

We had one owner noticed a construction crew come up to their adjacent lot and she approached them and they said we work for the buyer of the property and the victim said I never sold this property.

Anchor: If it is discovered, and eventually lands in the right hands, is there recourse or how are you advising realtors and landowners to be on the lookout.

The level of sophistication we are seeing with stolen identities and fraud is, the caliber is amazing.

Mr. Cardosi: Our best advice for the community in the profession is try to avoid remote closings if possible.

Fraudsters rely on remote closings where they don't have to show their face, all they do is send a copy of their ID, so ask for additional information.

Ask for a piece of mail, they probably won't have a piece of mail in the owner's name.

Landowners, keep an eye on your property.

I understand people own properties out-of-state.

Talk to your neighbors, be part of the community, have someone drop in on the property and make sure there isn't a for sale sign.

Or even as simple as putting your address in a Google search.

Anchor: It sounds like a bizarre form of fraud.

How commonplace is it in New Jersey?

Mr. Cardosi: This came to the attention of our squad in Newark last summer, and since we started scratching the surface, it's a new variant of fraud we had heard about and the more we talk to folks, the more we are coming across it.

We are up to north of 100 incidents discovered in the past year.

Most of them here in northern New Jersey.

The more we talk to folks in other parts of a country, it is happening everywhere.

Anchor: Special agent, thank you for sharing this information.

State leaders exploring new ways to expand access to harm reduction.

Those are strategies like safe and managed use of drugs to meet people where they are at while also helping them to get treatment.

Today the health department shared how it is using opioid settlement money to fund new centers and services while reaching into more communities to let residents know they exist.

Joanna Gagis reports.

>> So many of our systems are only built to serve people who decided the day they walk into your treatment facility is the last day we will test positive for drugs.

Reporter: Health care experts and advocates spoke at the first annual harm reduction conference in Newark today about the growing movement toward using harm reduction services to combat overdose deaths in New Jersey.

>> What we know is with harm reduction, everyone is motivated for something.

We need to find out what the motivation is.

Do they want services and support, to be part of a community?

Reporter: The conference put on by a regional training center that has partnered with New Jersey's Department of Health to expand its trauma informed care.

The DOH Commissioner spoke about the recent steps the Murphy administration has taken to expand harm reduction services across the state.

>> We have more than doubled the number of harm reduction approved sites in this state in the last year.

We have now expanded decriminalization of supplies.

That means savor smoking supplies, that means other supplies that help people not get infections or get sick.

This means we can do drug tracking -- checking, and bring people in for the support and care they need.

Reporter: The state is making a $24 million investment into harm reduction over the next two years, a significant increase from the previous $4 million budget.

The dollars are coming from the first tranche of the opioid settlement agreement funds.

>> We sometimes will hear in the news, we are starting to flatten the curve, or numbers are coming down.

That little bit of flattening is mostly white New Jersey residents.

The black and brown communities in our state are unfortunately still on the rise of overdose deaths.

Reporter: She says a major effort of those state dollars will be for programs in black and brown communities to get medication into the hands of those who need it.

>> This harm reduction care and behavioral health care needs to be integrated into the general medical community as well.

We don't need to hold it as separate all the time.

We need primary care programs, emergency medicine, physicians and emergency departments and hospitals to do harm reduction and treat people with addiction like we treat everything else.

>> OB/GYN's?

>> Yes, is the number one cause of pregnancy associated death in New Jersey right now.

OB/GYN's, midwives, family physicians that do obstetrics and prenatal care.

Reporter: But some spoke about how far away we are from the goal because of stigma that still exists in health care settings.

>> We put up very unnatural barriers to the treatment of substance use disorders so we have all of these regulations around who can prescribe methadone for opioid use disorder, whereas at the same time if we are going to use methadone for cancer related pain or other pain management, none of the barriers exist.

Reporter: To those not in support of harm reduction spaces, just look at one in New York called on points as its executive director.

>> In 2.5 years, over 150,000 utilizations, 150,000 times people would have used in just two neighborhoods that used indoors with us.

2.5 million units of hazardous waste was disposed of safely, not in a community, don't in parks and streets, etc.

The biggest thing I would say to those who oppose, we agree we don't want these things to happen.

The biggest difference is we also want to keep our people alive and have the community impact.

Reporter: Impact advocates want to see more of in New Jersey in the coming years.

I am Joanna Gagis.

Anchor: More than 3000 nurses are ready to walk off the job at a handful of New Jersey hospitals if their demands for a new contract are not met before they expire midnight on Friday.

Leaders of the three local nurses hospitals at three hospitals say they are fighting for mandatory staffing ratios to be put in their contracts, arguing current levels are unsafe for patients and unfair to their colleagues who are leaving the workforce en masse because of burnout and frustration.

Leaders tell us they were inspired by the nurses strike last year that lasted more than four months and resulted in a contract that included enforceable staffing ratios.

Representatives for Cooper and Palisades Hospital say health systems have been negotiating in good faith with the union and pointed out to have increased both wages and staffing and recent contracts.

Officials at Inglewood declined to comment.

If a deal isn't reached before the deadline, the union would have to head in a 10 day strike notice before a walkout could happen.

For the full story, check out the story on our website.

>> Support for the medical report is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

Anchor: In our spotlight on business report, swapping college for trade schools.

The next crop of New Jersey students are being exposed to the careers and opportunities available if they opt into the construction trades.

Attending an annual construction career day, they learned about a growing number of industrial job openings, but fewer people to fill them.

As Raven Santana reports, high school students are increasingly looking for alternatives to the four year degree route and the price tag that comes with it.

Reporter: More than 2000 students from schools across the state got to get a taste of what it is like working in the construction field.

>> College isn't for everybody, so if you don't like college, you've got to have a plan B into this is mine.

Reporter: This construction industry career day has been going on since 2001 and hosted by the associated construction contractors of New Jersey.

>> The event organizers, there are eight event sponsors, that makes this event free.

No charge for anyone to come.

We provide stacks to the students who attend.

In addition we are able to offer scholarships to schools.

We allow for the schools to participate in a raffle.

We typically select 10 schools to receive $500 each for our raffle.

We also provide transportation assistance as well, we don't want any school district to come across a hurdle that they can't get transportation so we assist with that.

Reporter: More than 30 different exhibitors offered a number of hands on experiences ranging from bricklaying to carpentry.

>> We have the mechanical trades and pipe trains -- trades, we have bricklaying, carpentry, plumbers, electricians.

We have only union construction trades.

There is a simulator outside so students can see what it's like to work in an operating engineer position.

There are a lot of smaller trades as well and we are encouraging students to try everything.

>> I think it's an opportunity as well as more knowledge.

You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Reporter: And tractors who accompanied students agreed the career fair is a game changer for some students.

>> I'm just watching the students go around and getting all of the information.

They really enjoy it and leave with a lot more knowledge of different jobs.

We just need some to come here and see the different traits.

>> For seven years I've been organizing this trip for our students because some of the kids do go to college but the majority don't.

I want to push alternative careers.

Hands on, whether it be welding, concrete, ironworkers.

Something other than academic, if you will.

To me it's very important that they make a lot of money and are productive citizens.

I feel as though the high school's are pushing too much with the testing and scores and not focusing on what are these kids going to do when they graduate?

You are not just letting them lose, you have to give them some type of guidance and appropriate career challenges.

Reporter: According to recent data from the National students clearinghouse research Center, the number of students enrolled in vocational focused community colleges increased 16% from 2022 through 2023.

>> We open every October and this year we had 1200 applications in eight minutes, we had to shut it down.

We kind of were looking for 600 and we got 1200, we didn't turn anybody down, they all got their applications and.

-- applications in.

Is just a process of getting these guys and girls tested and reviewed and on the list to go to one of the locals.

>> I want to build houses, I kind of want to see from the foundation up.

I might want to work for the union in the future, but as of right now I just want to get into it and start with what do I want my houses to look like?

Reporter: Sponsors are spoke with agree that the sooner they can expose students to the benefit of working in the construction industry, the sooner they will be able to meet the growing demand that is only expected to rise in the state.

I am Raven Santana.

Anchor: Turning to Wall Street, stocks slid today amid lingering concerns about those stubborn interest rates.

Here's how the markets closed.

And finally, a monumental change happened this week within Major League Baseball, after the organization officially incorporated statistics from Negro League players who were barred from the MLB during segregation.

The updated records mean some of baseball's greats like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb no longer hold top spots in history, and a star athlete like New Jersey's own Larry Doby and Monte Irvin are finally getting the recognition they deserve.

Ted Goldberg has the story.

Reporter: Major League Baseball's decision to incorporate major -- Negro League statistics into major-league record books has brought a new focus to Negro League players in the state.

>> American ingenuity at the finest, if you don't want us to play we will start our own league and it was very good.

Reporter: The Negro Leagues have been recognized by the MLB for four years but the statistics considered separate.

Patterson native Larry Doby made his debut before breaking the color burial -- barrier.

>> I know they added some numbers to my father's, I don't know what the new ones are because grew up knowing the big-league ones.

Reporter: While some are thrilled with the decision, Doby Junior was more subdued, he said Negro League players already consider themselves big-league caliber, kept out because of Russes him -- racism and not talent.

>> He was lucky enough to start there and get a chance to play in the big leagues.

The guy said didn't get a chance, this is validated, saying what you did is validated in that to me is where the focus should be that they are recognized.

>> I think the Negro Leagues were always major-league and now it is more formalized.

Reporter: This man founded friends of inch stadium.

>> It gives the opportunity to have the Negro Leagues players in the encyclopedia so you can look up a player and see their statistic.

Reporter: This historian says incorporating Negro League statistics was not a simple decision.

>> There are chuckle heads who are driven by racism and will respond negatively but there are also people with principled objections.

Your Negro League seasons tended to be longer than the 150 four games played by the American League and National League.

But most of their games were against semi professional, barnstorming outfits because between league dates they had to fill their calendar.

>> What I found offensive is when they refer to Major League Baseball, they called it organized baseball, whereas Negro League baseball was not organized in their eyes.

Reporter: This noted baseball fanatic says this was overdue.

>> It took 50, 6, 70 years for it to happen, but I think there is a level of vindication.

Reporter: The decision to combine stats finally means Negro League players were right when they believed they were worthy of playing on the same field as big-league competitors.

In Patterson, Ted Goldberg.

Anchor: That will do it for us tonight.

Make sure you tune into Reporters Roundtable tomorrow with David Cruz, where he talks to a Democratic strategist about what is at stake for candidates as we approach the June 4 primary.

Plus, a panel of local reporters discuss all the political headlines of the week.

That's Friday at noon on our YouTube channel.

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

Have a great evening and we will see you tomorrow night.

>> NJM insurance group, serving residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

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

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