>> Good evening and thanks for joining us on this Wednesday.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

Tonight a few stories we'll get into later in the broadcast.

First, after a more than 40-day standoff, did Democrats throw in the towel on the government shutdown?

What did they gain and what did they lose?

Then travel nightmares continue, flight and staffing reductions causing delays and cancellations in and out of Newark Airport.

We talk with travelers about their frustrations and later the battle over SNAP.

Even as the shutdown ends, the fight over funding for food assistance continues.

We'll look at the impact on New Jersey recipients.

First, though, a few of today's top headlines.

Just a week after Mikey Sherrill clinched the governor's election, the list of people looking to replace her in a special election is expanding, as the Congresswoman today delivered her final speech on the House floor.

Now, former Maplewood Mayor Dean Daffis announced he's launching a bid for the seat.

So, too, is Mark Chabon announcing his run today, a 25-year-old Morris County native who just a few years ago was working as an intern for Mikey Sherrill on Capitol Hill.

They join a crowded field that already includes more than a half-dozen Democrats, including former Congressman Tom Malinowski and Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill.

State law directs the governor to order a special election to fill an open House seat, but doesn't give a particular time frame, and that process can take months.

A bill in Trenton would speed it up, requiring the governor to call a special election within 10 days of a seat becoming vacant.

Meanwhile, over in District 12, Congressman Bonnie Watson Coleman's announcement on Monday that she won't seek reelection in 2026 is also leading to jockeying to replace her, with a handful of elected officials announcing candidacies this week and many more expected to join the race before the primaries in June.

Also tonight, Rider University is facing one of its toughest financial challenges to date.

The private college in Mercer County says it's laying off up to 40 full-time professors or about a quarter of its faculty, and cutting pay for all employees by 14% starting December 1st as part of an urgent effort to stabilize its finances.

Now, Rider's president says other employee perks are also being suspended, like retirement contributions and tuition remission.

That's a benefit that's considered a standard in higher ed.

Workloads for those who remain will also be increased.

The cuts come as Rider has faced significant budget problems over the years and was placed on probation by its accrediting agency.

Rider ended the 2024 fiscal year with a more than 21 million dollar cash deficit, which the school blames on declining enrollment and rising costs.

Senior leadership there insists classes will continue for the roughly 4,000 students it serves and every student will be able to complete their degree on schedule.

Writers President John Boyack says the decisions are painful but necessary to keep the school open.

And the State Department of Health is warning parents and caregivers to immediately stop using the infant formula, "by heart whole-trip nutrition" following a multi-state outbreak of infant botulism that sickened at least 15 babies across a dozen states, including one here in New Jersey.

Now, all of the infants had reportedly consumed by heart formula, which has now been voluntarily recalled nationwide.

Health officials say botulism in infants is rare, but can be life-threatening if untreated.

New Jersey Acting Health Commissioner Jeff Brown is urging families to check their products and seek medical attention at the first sign of symptoms.

Those can include constipation, weak crying, poor feeding, and loss of head control.

The recall covers all BiHeart formula products, including canisters and those single-serve sticks that are sold online and in stores.

The formula makes up less than 1% of all infant formulas sold in the U.S.

If you have one of the products, health officials say throw it out or return it and thoroughly wash any items it may have touched.

They also emphasize, though, that most infants recover fully with prompt treatment.

Federal and state health agencies, including the FDA and CDC, are conducting a full investigation of the outbreak.

Coming up, the end is near, but what did Democrats gain from the longest government shutdown in U.S.

history?

That's next.

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House members are back in Washington this evening voting on the Senate amended bill to reopen the government, the longest shutdown in U.S.

history.

Now, the bill provides stop gap funding for much of the government through January 30th, giving lawmakers a few more months to work out an agreement on nine of the 12 full year spending bills.

And most of New Jersey's Democratic House members are not on board voting against the package, including Governor-elect Mikey Sherrill, who's in D.C.

for the vote.

So what did the party win in the 43-day standoff, and what did it lose?

Our Washington, D.C., correspondent Ben Hulak joins us now to explain.

Ben, good to see you.

Lots of activity today, after it being relatively quiet there for quite some time.

The question, of course, is, did Democrats throw in the towel here?

What's in it for them?

That is the general sentiment from the party base, certainly.

There's a lot of anger and vitriol coming out of the left wing of the Democratic Party towards establishment Democrats here in town, out on Capitol Hill.

A lot of that is being pointed toward Chuck Schumer, the man who leads the Democrats in the Senate.

He represents New York, just across the river from our beloved New Jersey.

But the general sense from the party base is yes, they did, and they didn't get anything to show for it.

There is a show vote that Democrats will get, basically a handshake deal with Republicans to promising a vote at some unnamed date to come on extending health care tax credits for folks who get their coverage underneath the Affordable Care Act.

That's a 2010 health law established what feels like political eons ago.

But that was the main entry point, the main result for Democrats here.

There's some Democrats also who represent, I should point out, a lot of federal workers.

So, his vote really makes a lot of sense because he -- people were hurting.

They were hungry.

And they've gone -- they've gone for weeks without a paycheck.

But beyond the pockets where federal workers live, the United States has a lot of federal presence, yes, the sense is, Democrats didn't get much from this.

Yeah, I mean, remind us how we got there.

There was a block of Democrats, more moderate or centrist Democrats, if you will, who decided enough's enough.

I'm going to vote with Republicans on their bill.

Right.

There was a sort of a breakaway group of eight moderate Democrats in the Senate who came essentially in this months-long negotiating position the Democrats had taken.

They had been pressing for a year-long extension for these health care benefits.

And at this point they said enough's enough.

And over the weekend they cut a deal with the White House and Republicans in the Senate.

And the New Jersey representatives here in the Senate and the House are on the whole livid about this.

And Andy Kim Cory Booker over in the Senate voted against this bill soon to be law once President Trump signs it.

And that's one of the sentiment in the House today as well from Democrats.

So there's the promise been of a vote to renew these expiring subsidies.

But is there a guarantee.

And is a promise enough.

I mean from from the folks that you're talking to on the Democratic side.

Do they believe it'll happen.

There is no guarantee.

There is nothing set in stone here.

This is basically says this is Democrats taking the word of Republicans that there will be a vote at some point on this issue.

I should also point out Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin offered an amendment to add this one-year extension for subsidies.

This happened earlier this week over in the Senate.

That was voted down.

Long party lines.

Every Democrat voting for it.

Every Republican against it.

And the Senate and the House operate as two different bodies.

So, Senate Democrats can complain all they want, but the Republicans control both chambers.

The Republicans, one of those chambers is the House.

So, the House, they're like different planets on different orbits, and the House is under no obligations to take up what the Senate has passed.

Also, there is no, there's no mechanism really to force a deal.

There's no mechanism to force a vote on these health care subsidies that Democrats want.

Democrats in their argument have said, well, the ones who voted for this, this bill, soon to be law, have said, well, now we can show and demonstrate with the American people, to the American people where Republicans stand.

But that's certainly not actually going to really matter to folks whose premiums will go up in the new year under the ECA.

What does get funded then through this package.

What does not.

The core things that get funded are the V.A.

and Department of Agriculture.

Agriculture might be sort of a bit of a puzzlement for folks at home.

That is the department that funds SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps.

So that's hunger assistance going out to 42 million people in the country, about 850,000 of whom live in New Jersey.

And that really was the key takeaway for the members who voted for this deal, especially in the holidays, that just the political price of cutting SNAP benefits is too extreme for most members.

Everything else gets funded beyond SNAP and beyond a few select agencies for about two months into late January.

And that gives Congress some breathing room to negotiate some sort of spending bill that gets the federal government all the way through next September.

So 2026.

But that's sort of light years away for a lot of members who just want to vote for the -- want to get out of here and basically are thinking already of 2026.

Mentally, they are past the holidays.

They are on to the next year.

Unless, of course, you're viewing it through the lens of the midterms in 2026, in which perhaps they'll make this an issue.

But, very quickly, in the 30 seconds we have left, New Jersey's House Democrats are largely against this.

A couple, though, on the fence.

Have you talked to folks?

Have you caught up with any in the halls?

And what are you hearing from them?

REP.

ADAM SCHIFF (D-NY): I have not.

But the general sentiment was that Democrats capitulated, and they wanted more - the folks who voted against this wanted more.

Folks who voted for it really - the sense is we have to open the government.

There's no way to operate.

And we can get back to Washington to negotiate a different deal.

And the subsidies only would have - the extension, rather, only would have lasted a year.

So this is not something that is totally off the table.

Come next fall, Congress can take another swing at negotiating these health care subsidies.

All right.

Check out all of Ben Hulak's reporting on our website, njspotlightnews.org.

Ben, good to see you.

Thank you.

Even once the shutdown is in the rearview mirror, the impact on air travel is expected to last for weeks, if not months.

Airlines have cancelled roughly 6% of their flights as they try to adjust to the shortage of air traffic controllers, who've been working without pay and calling out to earn money elsewhere until the shutdown ends.

As of this afternoon, FlightAware has logged nearly 13,000 delays and 1,300 cancellations nationwide.

Industry experts warn the window for sufficient recovery before Thanksgiving travel begins is narrow, and some essential FAA employees may choose not to return altogether.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis has the latest from Newark Airport.

We didn't have laundry, we didn't have clothing, the temperature dropped.

It's crazy.

Samantha Liriano just landed at Newark Airport this morning after being stranded in Florida since Sunday.

Especially stressful when temperatures dropped into the 30s and they hadn't packed for that weather.

My mom brought a lot of clothes for some reason but it's still cold because I didn't bring gloves.

We were scheduled to return from Disney Sunday, Sunday morning and after like seven cancellations we get to the airport around 6 p.m.

and we're on the plane, checked bags, everything and they had us come off the plane, wait three hours to rebook.

No accommodation for a hotel, no food, nothing.

We have two babies and it was cancelled until Wednesday this morning, 8 a.m.

Starting Tuesday, airlines had to start cutting 6% of their flights at 40 major airports, including here in Newark.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that's to ensure the safety of those flights that are operating, but added that it's gotten better as the week's gone on.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, very rough travel days, significant cancellations and significant delays.

So just for comparison on Saturday we had 81 staffing triggers.

Today we have four.

So I think our air traffic controllers are seeing an end to the shutdown and feel more hopeful and they're coming into their facilities.

So we're grateful to them for all that they're doing.

help this family from Blo home after also being str three days.

Flight was de excited because we thought on.

We got on the plane an on the plane about to tak to cancel the flight.

I k this flights were canceled hour.

So we were fingers get on it and we did.

But to take some time to dig created by all the cancel to get a lot of people ba air control facilities, t facilities and the employ the schedule squared away are going to have their o to get their crews ready.

In some places the airplanes are in the wrong places.

And I would say conservatively at least a week before you get anywhere close to a full normal return to operation.

And even though flights are moving well this morning, passengers are still feeling the stress and anxiety of all the uncertainty.

"I've been up since like 4 just panicking.

I get anxiety, especially extra anxiety with all that's going on."

"Our flight here, it was quick.

I thought it was going to be delayed because the government shut down, but I'm actually really scared on the 19th because you've been seeing all those delays on TV on my flight and I have work the next day, so I'm praying to God that my flight is not delayed."

Some of the travelers I spoke with today told me that even though it looks like the government shutdown is coming to an end, they're not sure how all of these delays and shortages could potentially impact their holiday travel.

travel days that thanksgi and Wednesday before and we're telling folks if you the weekend before thanksg thanksgiving and then head friday or wait until that might be able to avoid so as the wheels all begin tu said it'll take about a we controllers to get all of that they're going to be who called out during the caution and empathy in th of the questions you ask safety, are you fit for d did 2 14 hours shifts and of sleep.

No, I'm not uh, nor should uh trigger dis But even when they all return to work, the entire system is still about 2000 controllers short of where it needs to be in Newark.

I'm Joanna Gagas and Jay Spotlight News.

Well, as Ben Hulak mentioned, even as Congress moves closer to ending the shutdown, millions of people who rely on food assistance are caught in the middle of a legal tug of war after a series of conflicting court rulings and federal directives put SNAP benefits on hold.

That confusion is playing out in real time from more than 800,000 New Jersey SNAP recipients who've seen benefits appear on their cards but are now at risk of being clawed back.

Our senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan is with us now in the studio for the latest.

Bren.

Hey, Brianna.

So just to be clear, New Jersey did obtain its full November share of SNAP benefits from the U.S.

Department of Agriculture last Friday morning and loaded up all of the EBT cards for 820,000 eligible recipients.

The money is there for them to use, according to New Jersey's Department of Human Services.

That happened during a brief window in a volley of legal appeals, when the USDA complied with the judge's order to let the states access an almost $5 billion emergency fund to pay SNAP benefits.

Jersey and several other states scored.

But on Saturday night, the feds in a memo directed states to stop and -- quote -- "immediately undo" dispersing those benefits.

New Jersey refused.

The Trump administration is now trying to claw that money back, but it's opposed by 23 state attorneys general, including New Jersey's Matt Plattken.

He noted in a news conference the USDA on Friday had authorized funding those snap cards for recipients.

They want them to fill up their supermarket baskets, get to the checkout counter, already worried about whether they can afford everything in that basket given the price of those goods, have them swipe that card and have it not work.

That is what that letter on Saturday night would have done if it were even technically capable of doing it.

I never imagined in my life I would have to use the education and training I have as a lawyer to prevent my government, the government that I pay taxes to, to prevent it from starving American citizens.

And yet here we are.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The USDA memo threatens states that fail to comply with cancellation of future federal funding.

The states argued clawing back those funds would cause serious economic harm.

That case is before a district court in Massachusetts.

But in New Jersey, many SNAP recipients are on pins and needles, including Pensakens Sharon Barton.

She's disabled and gets $350 a month for food.

SHARON BARTON, Pensakens Disabled Person of the Month, New Jersey, "If you actually put your card number in to check how much is on the card, it's there.

And I was just so confused.

I'm like, do I have money for food or do I not this month?

So I took it to the dollar store and it went through.

So now I'm worried it's going to be taken away again, that there's going to be some kind of a freeze or a hold on it.

I don't know.

So I just want to go get some food for the month.

I just, I just don't know what's going to happen next.

Meanwhile, in a different case, the U.S.

Supreme Court yesterday allowed the Trump administration to continue withholding SNAP benefits for at least two more days while Congress continues to work on resolving the shutdown.

The case gets to which branch of government controls the money that keeps people fed.

Forty-two million Americans rely on SNAP.

The Justice Department argued the courts lack jurisdiction over SNAP money, noting the administration unequivocally agrees that any SNAP lapse in SNAP funding is tragic, but adding the irreparable harms of allowing district courts to inject themselves into the shutdown and decide how to triage limited funds are grave enough to warrant a stay.

"A federal judge effectively telling us what we have to do in the midst of a Democrat government shutdown, which what we'd like to do is for the Democrats to open up the government, of course, then we can fund SNAP and we can also do a lot of other good things for the American people."

But although the high court did order a stay, it did not issue an opinion on the merits of the case.

Advocates like Lisa Pitts say in New Jersey, 350,000 of people on SNAP are kids.

200,000 are seniors.

They can't afford to wait while politics ultimately play out.

We have so many families struggling right now with the cost of living across the board, certainly the cost of groceries, housing, right?

Who are really struggling, who are on a daily basis, are making these horrendous choices of whether or not do you, you know, do you keep the lights on?

You know, can you afford your medicine?

Can you put gas in your car so that you can get to your job?

Or do you, do you buy food?

You know, how many times do you have to use a food pantry?

How many different pantries do you have to go to just to make sure that you have enough food for yourself and your family?

Now, New Jersey typically releases about $160 million a month in SNAP benefits.

Across the U.S., that adds up to $9 billion.

So there wasn't even enough in the USDA's nearly $5 billion contingency fund to pay for all of November.

A Rhode Island judge told the agency to grab extra money from an account that pays for school lunches, but the Trump administration's argument is that without a federal government appropriation there is effectively no SNAP program, Brianna.

So Bren, what happens to these court cases once the government reopens?

Do they all just go away?

Is there still a fight here?

Well, they could be declared moot, meaning that if the problem is solved, that there's no need to continue the lawsuit.

But the Trump administration could push litigation to get a ruling on whether the courts overstepped their constitutional boundaries.

And there's no telling what kind of backlash states like New Jersey that did disperse those SNAP benefits might face from the administration.

All right, Brenda Flanagan, Forrest Brennan, great reporting as always.

Thanks so much.

And finally, sky watchers across New Jersey are getting a very rare treat this week.

Sightings of the northern lights shimmering over the Garden State, and you could get another shot at seeing it tonight.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, says it's monitoring a strong geomagnetic storm tonight.

The same kind of storm that made the Aurora Borealis visible Tuesday night far beyond its usual range.

In fact, as far south as Florida.

Photos from those lucky enough to catch it in New Jersey poured in from Bedminster all the way to Cape May Courthouse.

Residents were able to capture the glowing bands of color lighting up the night sky.

NOAA says the storm was fueled by a series of solar eruptions that sent waves of charged particles toward the Earth.

It's unclear how long the big flares will linger tonight, so you'll have to keep an eye out and of course hope for just the right conditions to catch an encore.

If you do see it, send us your photos.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

A reminder, you can download our podcast wherever you listen and watch us anytime by subscribing to the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

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

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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