>> Major funding for "NJ Spotlight news" is provided in part by NJM Insurance group Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, And by the PSEG foundation.

Briana: tonight on "NJ Spotlight News," taking on Trump.

Attorney General Matt Platkin Princess Margaret against the president, just one of his long list -- between Matt Platkin earns a victory against the president, just one of his lungs deposits.

NJ decides 2025.

Our conversation between Republican candidates moderated by Michael Hill and David Cruz.

Also, responding to interim U.S. attorney Alina Habba's election task force targeting broader fraud --voter fraud.

>> Most officials in New Jersey are upset about the idea of the federal government coming into change the way we run elections.

Briana: Also, it is Real ID day, the first day that passengers will need a real ID or passport if I domestically, with the chaos at Newark Airport due to flight delays and cancellations.

>> They canceled last night at 8:00 or 8:30 and then two hours later booked us on a flight that is two hours later.

>> When we saw we were canceled we were like, oh God, because we don't have a lot of time.

Briana: "NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

>> From NJPBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Briana Vannozzi.

Briana: Good evening, and thanks for joining us on this Wednesday night.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

We begin with the few of today's top headlines.

A major legal victory for New Jersey schools cou sided with New Jersey and 16 other states forcing the Trump Administration to restore $1 billion in Covid really funding for schools nationwide, $85 million alone just to New Jersey.

The decision, handed down Tuesday by a federal judge in New York, blocks the U.S. Department of Education from cutting off access to funds meant to help K-12 schools address the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lawsuit, filed in April, claims the Department of Education illegally revoke access to the funds well before the approved 2026 deadline, creating budget gaps for schools.

The programs, according to officials, support homeless youth, repairs to school buildings, and help students recover from Ms. classroom time due to the pandemic.

New Jersey attender -- Attorney General Matt Platkin says the ruling puts a stop to the Trump administration's " reckless and cruel attempt to cut off education funding."

Also, a hit for transgender rights.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with the Trump administration, allowing the military to enforce a ban on transgender service members coming giving the Armed Forces the greenlighted discharge 4000 transgender people serving and reject new recruits while legal challenges play out in lower courts.

The ruling was briefed, unsigned, and didn't give reasons behind the decision, which legal experts say is typical for an emergency order before the court, but it did note that the three liberal justices publicly dissented.

President Trump January signed an executive order effectively banning transgender troops from serving, stating they are unable to meet the standards meted to be part of the American military seven active transgender military members sued along with an activist group arguing it was unconstitutional.

A federal judge in Washington agreed, placing a temporary block on the banded the High Court's ruling comes against the backdrop of broader policies by the White House to scale back transgender rights.

In a stunning reversal from the Catholic diocese of Camden, new Bishop Joseph a Williams this week said his diocese will no longer oppose a statewide investigation of sexual abuse by clergy, a fight the diocese had been waging secretly behind closed doors for the last six years.

According to an interview with "the Philadelphia Inquirer" on Monday, the Bishop said he asked the church attorneys to send a letter to the state Supreme Court about the shift in position because he felt it was critical for the diocese to support anyone who had been harmed by the church.

The move comes days after attorneys for the diocese argued before the state Supreme Court to block prosecutors from in paneling a grand journey.

The church has argued for years that the state bars grandeur is from reports on private institutions like churches.

A spokesman for the attorney's office says they welcome the investigation but it is unclear whether the grand jury will go forward since the court is considering the earlier argument not to seat one.

Tonight we kick off the first of two conversations with the gubernatorial candidates in partnership with WNYC radio.

You will get a chance to hear from the Republicans vying for their party's nomination to move to the general election this November.

Former assembly man John Ciattarelli, longtime radio host, Bill Spadea, and State Senator Jon Bramnick will discuss issues with David Cruz and WNYC "Morning Edition" host Michael Hill who are with me to extin -- explain what is at stake.

Good to see you.

This is arguably the most contentious gubernatorial fight in the last 40 years.

Who are these candidates, why are they running?

David: Well, there are four, technically, candidates.

Only three of them have qualified to be in these debates/conversations because they received matching funds from the state.

They are required to participate.

Briana: They have to raise a certain amount of money, correct.

David: they are Jon Bramnick, who is a State Senator.

He is a veteran of the legislature, former minority leader.

He knows Trenton inside and out and has been considered a potential candidate for governor the last two cycles of the very least.

Then there is Jack Ciattarelli, who has run for governor three times now.

This is his third shot at it.

Last time out he lost to Phil Murphy by a smaller margin than most people expected.

The first time he ran he didn't make it out of the primary.

And then there is Bill Spadea, a former television and radio host who is making his first run for governor.

He ran for Congress more than a decade ago.

He is probably the most archconservative in the group.

Followed probably closely by Ciattarelli, who used to be a much more moderate Republican.

But he has moved significantly to the right.

And then I would say Bramnick, his niche is he is the anti-Trump Republican, although he has been less anti-Trump of late and he has been the past two years.

Briana: But his time in the legislature he was a moderate.

Michael, you have got two heavily conservatives, one looking at the middle lane.

Where is the daylight between these candidates for the selection?

--this election?

Michael: I don't know if there is much daylight when it comes to affordability because affordable housing is such a big issue with dates and towns being told to build affordable housing.

Where do you build affordable housing?

Do you build it in 60 towns or do you shorten that list to places where there is infrastructure to accept that kind of development?

The other issue with affordability is energy costs.

In an June the rates go up 20t three dollarso $28 a month.

All candidates are talking about now, how do we get the rates down so we are not just an energy importer, we can become an energy exporter.

Briana: what about the Trump factor in this race and the potential for an endorsement?

Michael: When you listen to these candidates talk and look at their platforms, even Bramnick, who might have been an a never Trumper to an extent you can really see the influence of Donald Trump.

You are talking about changing the size of government and things like that, even DOGE on a New Jersey scale.

Trump has had an influence on these candidates, influencing how they run their campaigns.

To date the president has not endorsed any of them.

Briana: I guess people still have influence if he sits it out, which will help in the general election.

Is there a clear frontrunner, David?

David: I would add on Trump that indications of late are that he may just sit this one out.

But they are both still --Ciattarelli and Spadea are still quoting him enough that he would support them.

In that case the jury is still out in terms of whether or not an endorsement from Trump actually helps them.

But to your question of who is the front-runner, one public poll recently put out there was from the Eagleton Institute.

They had Ciattarelli up by 30 points over Spadea and Bramnick in single digits.

I don't know that that is totally accurate.

I think it is fair to say that Ciattarelli with organization support and three times running for office, for governor, has better name recognition.

But I don't know if it is 30 points better name recognition.

Briana: What about his ability to fund raise above Spadea and Bramnick?

Briana: David: Ciattarelli?

Briana: Ciattarelli.

David: we talk about Trump and all that stuff, but Ciattarelli is very much one is like a traditional campaign.

Briana: By the way, this is the first race without the coveted party line or County line, which we won't get into here, but that could also be a factor.

Michael: It certainly could.

Straight out of the gate everybody is even, nobody is getting preference in terms of the party position on the ballot.

It is a horserace.

Briana: Let's talk a little bit about the tone for this evening.

There was a debate back in February where things got a little fiery between these folks.

Michael: Awfully kind of you.

[LAUGHTER] Briana: This is a conversation we here at WNYC and "NJ Spotlight News" are calling it, not a debate format.

How are you planning to steer this thing?

Michael: David and I are going to make sure it is not off the rails as the debate was in February.

Contentious, yes, going back and forth, but not screaming and shouting over each other where you cannot hear what someone has to say.

David and I are aiming for philosophically where do you stand come out do you get to where you are in this particular position.

We don't want to hear the screaming and the shouting, at least not a whole lot of it.

We want them to explain how did you arrive at this particular position, why did you take this position, what is your thought process.

David: The reality is that these guys don't really like each other all that much.

But I also think that first debate, which was just off the rails, I think all of them realized that that wasn't a good look for them.

So while I think they will be contentious, I don't think they will be off the rails.

And I said this morning talking to Michael on the radio that I welcome the challenge of trying to keep everybody in line.

Plus, I mean, there is a virtue to having a good exchange.

We don't just want everybody to get a pat answer and move onto to the next person.

It's possible -- where possible we will get them to engage with one another.

Briana: When we talk about primaries, generally these are low-turnout elections.

This is your party faithful.

Is there a chance that any of these candidates split the vote, siphon votes from one or the other, like we are sitting on the Democratic side potentially?

David: There was discussion about who is going to get that Trump-MAGA support, as if those numbers had grown among Republican voters in New Jersey.

There's a certain amount of evidence -- Briana: Republicans have added to their voter rolls.

Where they land on the spectrum, we don't know for sure.

David: But the problem with that is what do you do in the fall, and how much is Trump and his persona and his philosophy and all of that going to play in the fall.

Briana: Michael, you want to add to that?

There has been a lot of toxins the general election where the president outperform how most -- since the general election where the president outperformed how most analysts expected to.

Maybe New Jersey is leaning in the purple direction.

Michael: That is exactly why when you look at their platforms online and you hear them talk, it sounds so much like -- let me say this, if Donald Trump or not the president and had not run this successful campaign over the last couple years, I wonder where these candidates would stand on a lot of issues.

Trump won on a lot of these issues.

I wonder where they would stand.

If there was no Trump influence, if there was nothing to attach themselves to and say that is a winning formula.

David: While when he is at the top of the ticket, Trump and MAGA are very motivating.

But when he is not at the top of the ticket, it's a little bit harder to get them to come out to vote.

That could have an effect on election day.

Someone has got to get them to come out.

Otherwise they are going to stay at home, and then it becomes an even tighter race.

Briana: We will leave it there.

David Cruz, Michael Hill, good to talk to you both.

There you have it.

Make sure you tune in tonight live on NJPBS for the first of two conversations with the gubernatorial candidate, moderated by WNYC morning host Michael Hill and senior political correspondent David Cruz, live at 7:00 p.m. on WNYC radio and streaming on our "NJ Spotlight News" YouTube channel.

The federal aviation administration arrivals and departures at Newark airport to date in response to growing safety concerns following an incident last week where air traffic controllers lost all radar and radio communication with pilots flying in and out of the busy airport.

The FAA is adding traffic controllers staffing, which has been blamed for the long delays and hundreds of canceled flights there.

The chaos continues as the U.S. finally rolls out its Real ID program that has been in the works for two decades and could added to the confusion for flyers.

Ted Goldberg has the latest from terminal A unit Newark.

Ted: Another date, another round of canceled flights at Newark airport.

>> They canceled us last night at 8:00 or 8:30 and two hours later said they booked us on a flight that is two hours later.

>> When we saw we were canceled we would like, oh God.

>> They said it was canceled and booked another one.

Whether it is an air traffic control issue, who knows.

Ted: The first day of Real ID enforcement was overshadowed by the ongoing wave of delays and cancellations and New Jersey's largest airport.

According to the website FlightAware, nearly 100 flights were canceled Wednesday morning as I closed down runway and a shortage of air traffic controllers have hobbled Newark airport.

>> I have a friend I was traveling from Alabama and he had to stay here for 12 hours because her flight had been delayed two times.

She told me it was really bad.

>> I actually flew in yesterday, and I experienced quite a few delays on my flight in yesterday morning.

It's been a little bit tough, delay here and there.

But at the end of the day got here.

>> Two weeks ago I'm like -- have like a trip to San Antonio.

I have three hours when I come back to come here, three hours delay.

Ted: Nobody was turned away for not having Real ID.

They were just subjected to increased security.

Some flyers were savvy enough to get there Real ID well ahead of today's deadline.

>> I have had a Real ID for years now.

Really hasn't affected me.

>> They have been doing Real ID for a long time in Colorado.

Comes automatically with her driver's license.

Ted: The Real ID rollout went pretty smoothly at Newark airport, from what I could see.

Travelers had other issues with the airport that had nothing to do with Real ID.

>> We five of us that we will never come to Newark, New Jersey, to flight in or out again.

Ted: You have thoughts about this airport, would you like to tell me some of them?

>> It's horrible.

Didn't have no directions where to catch the shuttle.

We had three attendance who work here and all of them were on their cell phones and shouldn't have been.

Ted: It is a chaotic time at Newark.

The air traffic controllers moved to Philadelphia last summer set a briefly lost radar and communication.

The stress of the outages led some air traffic controllers to take a leave of absence, making staffing shortages even worse.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy spoke on CNN yesterday about the need for investing in a new infrastructure for airplanes.

Sec.

Duffy: Because we have such old infrastructure, 25 to 50 years old depending on what you are talking about, you cannot let it get to this point, where you see issues like Newark.

Could that happen somewhere else?

It's possible.

You can't snap your fingers and lay fiber or bringing new radios or radar.

Those things take time.

We will to take the time and money in and you will see results sooner than three or four years as this buildout happened.

>> The situation we are seeing is not unique to Newark but it is more extreme and intense and Newark.

Ted: An airline industry analyst says the fixes won't come cheap and the FAA will need to lobby for the resources.

>> It is also going to have to go to Congress and make the case that the FAA needs long-term funding, multiyear funding, to invest in the necessary technology to make sure that the controls are using reliable equipment, state-of-the-art equipment.

Ted: Secretary Duffy says a plan will be rolled out on Thursday to calm things down the Newark.

He warned it could be expensive but it will make traveling in and out of Newark less miserable in the future.

At Newark Airport, I'm Ted Goldberg, "NJ Spotlight News."

Briana: Voters rights activists are questioning interim U.S. attorney Alina Habba's recent announcement that her office is launching an election integrity task force, raising concern that the move is a political fear tactic meant to intimidate New Jersey voters.

The action came on the heels of Habba's comments that she hoped to help turn the state red while in her role, a position that is meant to be nonpartisan.

Other state officials told Joanna Gagis they welcome the input and interest at the federal level to keep elections secure.

>> Looking at my state in particular, the Department of Justice, the last Department of Justice left behind simple basic things like elections that need to be secure.

Joanna: That is interim U.S. attorney for the district of New Jersey Alina Habba, who announced she is creating an election integrity task force to enforce executive order signed by President Trump in March that make sweeping changes to the voting process in New Jersey and the nation.

The Mercer County clerk who oversees elections in the county.

>> The election officials in New Jersey are upset about the idea of the federal government coming in and trying to change the way we run elections because we all work very hard to make sure that they are safe and secure, and it is in the U.S. Constitution that the states are supposed to determine the time and place and manner that voting is to take place, and Congress also has a role.

It is not the executive branch under the president to set voting requirements and laws.

Joanna: The executive order would require prison to show a Real ID each time they vote to prove their citizenship.

It would require mail-in ballots be received by election day.

Current New Jersey law allows them to be postmarked by election Day and counted six days later.

Senator Mike Testa acknowledges that the Constitution gives authorities to, states but that he has no problem with Habba's actions.

>> How can that be considered a bad thing whatsoever?

There are major implications if you have voter fraud.

I don't see a real problem with her wanting to instill election integrity into New Jersey elections.

Quite frankly, that is her doing her job.

Joanna: Do you believe that New Jersey's elections are safe, secure, and valid?

Sen. Testa: I can say this, I'm the county chairman for the Republican Party in Cumberland County.

I can rest assured to buy constituents that those elections have integrity, 100%.

However, I don't see a problem with us wanting to clean up the voter rolls.

There is absolutely individual on the voter rolls who are no longer eligible to vote because they don't live either in Cumberland County or the state of New Jersey, or quite frankly have unfortunately disease.

Joanna: Jesse Burns with the League of Women Voters in New Jersey says the state spends every day updating the roles that change with the number of variables.

>> It is important to understand that voter roll inaccuracies are not the same as voter fraud.

So voter fraud is if somebody is casting multiple ballots or the candidate is doing something that they shouldn't be doing in order to win an election.

Voter list inaccuracies might be I moved and it has me at the wrong address.

The way to solve that isn't through threats of prosecution.

It is through modernization and pro=-voter policies.

Joanna: Habba has said she will prosecute any election crimes such as casting fraudulent ballots, voting by noncitizens, reporting multiple times.

Burns takes issue with that messaging.

>> The implication that voter fraud is happening is part of the same playbook we have seen that seeks to undermine confidence in elections while ignoring all the truth about the verification process.

Joanna: If the tone were different, would you welcome the support from the federal agency trying to ensure that there is 100% accuracy in all of our voting?

>> The support already exists.

Every year the attorney general in our state, the Lieutenant Governor, Homeland Security, federal agencies, federal law enforcement work together to ensure that elections in this country and in the state are safe and secure the problem is the implication that they aren't.

Joanna: New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin has joined with several other states to sue the administration.

A judge has blocked the proof of citizenship requirement, and the courts will have to decide if the executive order is an overage of the president's authority.

For "NJ Spotlight News," I am Joanna Gagis.

Briana: That is going to do it for us tonight.

You can download our podcast wherever you listen and watch as anytime by subscribing to the "NJ Spotlight News" YouTube channel.

Plus, you can follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to stay up-to-date on all the state's headlines.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

From the entire team at "NJ Spotlight News," have a good one, see you tomorrow.

>> New Jersey education Association, making public schools great for every child.

RWJBarnabas Health, let's be healthy together.

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

More information is online at njrealtor.com.

And Orsted, committed to delivering clean, reliable, American-made energy.

>> For more than a century, New Jersey realtors has worked to advocate for homeownership and private property rights.

Whether it is your home or business, we work on the issues that matter, here in Trenton and in your neighborhood.

As the voice of real estate New Jersey, we support initiatives that safeguard homeownership, strengthen communities, and reinforce our economy.

Learn more at njrealtor.com.