>> Funding for NJ Spotlight news provided by members of the New Jersey education Association.

Making public schools great for every child.

And RWJBarnabas health >> Tonight, Senator Tammy Murphy?

The First Lady will throw her hat in the ring to challenge the state's embattled senior U.S.

Senator but is she ready to run?

>> I understand she will probably get the majority of the lines, if not all of them and she will be a heavy favorite.

I would not underestimate someone like Andy Kim.

>> A blue wave in district 30.

A three decade long political tide turned by defeating the Republican incumbent.

>> We will take it one term at a time but it opens up an opportunity to have significant changes.

>> Also, a show of solidarity.

Chris Christie on the ground in Israel, meeting with families of hostages as heavy fighting rages on in Gaza.

And, panic alarm.

An investigation takes a deep dive into Newark's deadly cargo ship fire that killed two firefighters.

>> We don't have standard operation procedures.

>> NJ Spotlight news begins right now.

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

Thank you for joining us this Monday night.

New Jersey appears to be on the brink of a political showdown.

First lady Tammy Murphy will announce her bid this week to be the Democratic nominee in the 2024 race for the U.S. Senate seat.

That according to sources familiar with the first lady's decision.

The news comes after Andy Kim officially launched his campaign for the seat.

The 41-year-old former Obama administration staff or kicked off his run Friday night at a South Jersey brewery, saying he is sick of a broken Congress that will fight to restore trust as he seeks to take over the seat of indicted U.S.

Senator Bob Menendez.

Adding, he will stay in the race even if the party machine decides to back the Murphy machine.

David Cruz reports.

>> Whether you believe there has been a groundswell of support from the party's rank-and-file, or you believe the first lady's always been a candidate in search of an office, it is inevitable now that Tammy Murphy for Senate is going to be a thing.

>> There are no groundswell's for rich white women, I am sorry.

It doesn't occur.

David: Now you may say that is coming home a Republican and you would be right.

While you may not be hearing it out loud, there's a genuine undercurrent of resentment among some Democrats.

Women of color particularly who suggest there were several other candidates better known and in some cases may be better or equally qualified, but did not even get a courtesy call from team Murphy.

>> New Jersey voters are tired of political bosses manning the back of a room, over steak dinners, deciding who gets to run for office.

David: She may yet mount an electoral challenge which bestows favored ballot position on candidates like by the party bosses.

In this case, it appears that is Tammy Murphy.

>> We have a lot of qualified women, women of color candidates who should enter this race and speak about their vision for New Jersey's future.

An endorsement by party leaders and party bosses limits the ability of voters to have choice.

David: That system makes a candidate, even one many Democrats find palatable, less attractive because there was not an open primary.

Meaning no partyline.

>> It should be that those that are doing a lot of the political work in this state can feel and see themselves in the political system.

Again, working families, we feel very strongly about the line and the way that it allows the county parties to put their thumb on the scale.

I think it is important that we have a true primary where voters fully decide who the candidate is.

David: All of those things may be true, but in the current world of New Jersey politics, the inevitable Miss Murphy is coming as a shock to no one.

Least off Congressman Andy Kim who was unavailable today, but has said Murphy is not a factor in his thinking.

>> I know there are number of different people who might be considering.

A number of them are colleagues of mine.

I have known them for a number of years.

I have deep respect for them.

I hope they make their decision in the same way I did, which is what is best for New Jersey, what's best for the country.

I respect that.

David: It should also be noted that as of right now, the incumbent, a well-funded Democratic powerhouse with the highest name recognition of the bunch says he is not stepping back.

>> That would be the easy way out.

As it relates to a primary, I trust the people of New Jersey.

I have trusted them for nearly 50 years.

>> In terms of her being perhaps the worst candidate thae Democrats could put forward, I think that is for sure.

David: It may be a Democratic primary next year.

Whether it will be a contest is to be determined.

I'm David Cruz.

Briana: It looks like Democrats landed another surprise in last week's legislative elections, likely picking up a six seat in the assembly.

The Associated Press retracted its call on the race in the eighth district, putting the Democrat ahead by just 27 votes.

Piling onto the blue wave voters created, including in the Jersey shore's 30th district where the rabbi became the first Democrat since the 1990's to win an area long considered a Republican stronghold.

Brenda Flanagan has that story.

>> Lakewood's conservative Orthodox community wanted a seat in the room where it happens with a Republican lawmakers locked out of decision-making by Trenton's Democratic majority.

Lakewood's religious leaders back to Democrat for assembly in LD-30, and he won.

>> This is a historic moment that for the first time in decades, the district is being represented in the majority party and we can actually get stuff done.

That is what we are looking forward to.

Brenda: Schnall says he switched from Republican to Democrat about six months before the election as part of the plan.

>> I know the frustration.

At a certain point, people want change.

That is what the district says.

>> One of Lakewood's own home boys, if you will, being a member of the legislature because that is where the action happens.

When you are at the table.

Brenda: He says Lakewood's Orthodox Jewish voters drove a whopping 40% turnout and elected Schnall to the assembly by a 22 point margin.

>> Whether he ran as a Republican, a Democrat, or independent, he would have won because they did a tremendous job in getting the vote out.

48%.

>> When you have one community that dominates a legislative district, and has the ability to swamp everything else, even some fairly large towns like Howell.

They cannot hold a candle to that number of registered voters.

Brenda: Lakewood's demographics gives it more political muscle.

The ongoing influx of Orthodox Jewish residents raising large families pushed the town's population to 135,000 in just a decade.

Explosive growth reach havoc with public school budgets versus funding for private religious schools and other issues.

Schnall's on a mission.

>> Somebody in the room where conversations are having, whether it is infrastructure or funding, whatever it is about.

Someone is there able to say, hi , there's a place called Lakewood.

Brenda: Lakewood can depend on him to be reliably conservative on issues like abortion, LGBTQ, and parental choice.

LD-30 did reelected other two incumbents, including Bob Singer.

He explained his community's willingness to score political influence by switching party allegiance.

>> They are not linked to DNR, but on the state level, they are testing the waters to see having a person in the Democratic caucus can move the needle.

I don't think it can, but I have been wrong before.

Brenda: What does this mean for future elections?

Will Lakewood target other Republicans to elect a Democrat?

Maybe.

>> I can't see Evernote supporting Senator Singer, but we would need a fresh look.

>> I don't know if I were to leave, whether the person taken over would be a Republican or Democrat.

>> We will take it one term at a time but this definitely opens up the opportunity to have significant changes.

Brenda: Lakewood is eager to flex its political muscle.

I'm Brenda Flanagan.

Briana: Former governor and GOP presidential hopeful Chris Christie on Sunday visited Israel, touring a town destroyed in an attack by Hamas militants.

It triggered the war in the Middle East that has killed thousands of Israeli and Palestinian civilians.

Christie said the U.S. should stand shoulder to shoulder with its ally and back to Israel's rejection of a Cease Fire in the Gaza Strip, even as international pressure mounts to stop or scale back Israel's strikes on Gaza with the death toll rising to more than 11,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry run by Hamas, saying a third are women and children.

New Jersey is home to the nation's largest Palestinian population, but an interview with CBS New York, Christie had critical words for pro-Palestine supporters here.

>> I think some of them just have to be confused.

They had to have been given horrible information, and I think that is happening particularly on college campuses all over this country with people with a much different agenda.

Briana: It is a tough number to pinpoint but the latest come from the state's office of homelessness prevention finds New Jersey is making strides towards lowering the number of people without a place to call home.

Data out today shows a double digit in residents who are homeless and unsheltered, while revealing the biggest factors contribute into how people end up on the streets and it's probably not what you think.

Ted Goldberg reports.

Ted: New Jersey's apartment of community affairs says there's been a 23% drop in the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

Using data from other state data, leaders say the unsheltered homeless population has dropped from about 10,000 people to about 7600 people from October of 2022 to this past October.

>> We are within a confidence interval of counting, but particularly with the loading factors are.

What I say it is 100% confidence?

We are working towards getting there.

Ted: Michael Callahan is the director of the office of homelessness prevention.

He says leaders are learning more about what causes homelessness so they have a better idea of reducing it.

The new report says the common cause of unsheltered homelessness is being asked to leave a shared residence.

That accounts for 26% of people statewide who experience homelessness in the past year.

Callahan says being evicted is the second most common way.

And it is more common than substance abuse.

>> It is not being diagnosed with serious mental illness.

It is not because you are struggling with addiction.

It is because you are a normal person struggling with the realities of our economy.

Ted: Leaders acknowledge there's a 13% increase in shelter homelessness, which still labs up to a drop in people experiencing homelessness overall.

One of New Jersey's organizations helping families experiencing homelessness or right on the cusp of it.

>> Over 450 families per month are calling us for help.

With critical help from DCA and other partners, we are able to intervene quickly.

>> 105,817 people access prevention programs this year.

That is incredible.

We have never seen so many people throughout the state need access to preventative mechanisms and interventions, but also just to get information just in case.

Ted: Callahan made a point to mention New Jersey's program helping people who are facing eviction.

Emphasizing that keeping someone in a home is less extensive for the state than housing them in a shelter.

>> For less than $670 on average on cost per household, 97% of the families in this program never enter shelters.

One third of them stabilized their own funds and income, and all they needed was rapid intensive case management.

Ted: While leaders share good news, they say there's much more that can be done.

>> While we are here today because of the efforts of the office of homelessness prevention and partners have made strides, there is still work for us to do.

>> We are seeing unsheltered people sleeping in office buildings, camping communities.

>> We have people who are in a major crisis and we say I hope you have a big box full of documents.

I hope they are all up-to-date and all correct and also that we don't lose them.

Let's help people so they can help people get these things.

We can help that woman with dementia who does not remember where she was born but we are demanding a birth certificate from her.

Ted: I'm Ted Goldberg.

Briana: In our spotlight on business report, there is a new push at the federal level to ban a toy experts say should not begin homes with young kids.

Congressman Frank Pallone is introducing legislation for a national ban on water beads marketed for kids.

The small sensory toys are colorful and can look like candy.

They make them appealing for water and other play but health experts warn they can become dangerous or deadly when swallowed by children.

That is because they quickly absorb fluids, including those inside the body, and swelled to a larger size, sometimes blocking intestines or causing other internal injuries.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, there were roughly 7800 emergency room visits between 2016 and 2022 as a result of kids ingesting water beads.

The ban water beads act would direct the safety commission to enforce the restrictions and help warn families as millions of water beats have already been sold.

>> So long as they are being sold to children and parents as toys and crafts, hazards will continue to exist.

Briana: The U.S. inflation rate has come down significantly since hitting a forty-year high in 2022.

But most people are still feeling the severe effects of cost-of-living increases high inflation is causing, especially black and Hispanic New Jerseyans.

A new report finds nonwhite households take a harder hit because they often have lower average incomes, and less to shield them from price increases.

For more on this, I am joined by an economist and faculty director of the Center for women and work.

Thanks for joining me.

It is one thing to talk about inflation, it is another to really look at who it is hitting hardest.

Why aside from average salary are nonwhite households feeling this the most?

>> We found when we looked in detail at which goods and services rose the most in price, that nonwhite households are consuming more goods and services that arose the most in price.

In particular, transformation -- transportation, especially gas, new cars, car insurance.

That rose a lot in price.

We saw that black and Hispanic households consume relatively more transportation items than other households.

So, they were hit hard by that.

Other categories included food and beverages, as well as housing.

Those are the big three, they rose the most.

And those vulnerable households consumed them more relatively more than other households.

Briana: It is not just how much income you are getting.

It is how that money is spent that really determines whether or not you can absorb these changes, it sounds like.

Yana: Exactly.

Everybody in New Jersey has been hit by inflation, but some were hit more than others because of what they consume but also as you just said, it is also based on their income and whether or not they have solid employment.

So some households are more vulnerable because their incomes are lower or they may not have a full-time income earner.

Briana: Are there programs or safety nets that the state has or needs to have based on the center's findings to help push -- cushion this for residents?

Yana: That is a great question.

We advocate in our report, generally for a stronger social safety net because some people still downplayed the need for a strong social safety net, New Jersey is already a leader in terms of progressive labor market policies that our report is there to emphasize that this kind of social spending does not go in vain.

That it is really needed, especially by vulnerable households.

Briana: Was there a difference between if a male was head of household versus a female come about how that spending impacted or what the spending was going toward impacted the inflation hits they were taking?

Yana: That's a really good question.

We went into the report thinking that women head of households would be harder hit than men.

That was not the case.

Again, because largely that transportation item.

Transportation Rosa so much more than other categories and men spent proportionately more on transportation than women.

If we look at who consumes what, men were actually a little harder hit by inflation then women in New Jersey.

Once you add in who is more able to absorb those price increases, that is men.

Their average earnings are higher and they have higher employment rates.

Briana: Yana from the Rutgers Center for men and work, thank you.

Yana: Thank you.

Briana: On Wall Street, stocks were little changed today as investors prepare for key inflation data coming out this week.

Here's how the market closed.

♪ A new three-part investigation is raising disturbing questions about the deadly July 5 fire aboard a cargo ship at Port Newark.

That is where a vessel loaded with 1200 used cars bound for Africa burst into flames, killing two firefighters as they work through dangerous conditions trying to put out the blaze.

The cause is still being investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board, and the results could take a year before being made public.

After sifting through court filings, public records, and hours of radio transmissions, Ted Sherman found the port fire was a battle the firefighters never saw coming and one they were not prepared to fight.

Ted joins me now.

It is a pleasure to get to sit down and talk with you.

Tell me first after looking through all of these records, did Newark and the fire department have a plan of action when they arrived on scene that night?

Ted: The records that we looked at clearly show that they did not have a clue as to what to do.

In fact, we spoke to firefighting experts and even without the reports that we had, they said specifically that they came onto the site and did not know what to do next.

When you go and read through the incident reports we obtained from public records requests, it says it all out in black-and-white.

A number of captains in their reports specifically said I have never been trained on ship firefighting.

Briana: I am curious too because that night we learned initially they arrived on scene, it seemed to like things were somewhat stable.

The crew members on the cargo ship were accounted for.

What happened there and why did firefighters continue going inside the container ship to fight this blaze?

Was that unveiled in your investigation?

Ted: Yeah, there was no reason for them to go in.

When they first showed up, both the incident reports and the audio that is now available talked about the fact that this was a no-nothing fire.

There were two cars on the top deck that were on fire.

The commanding officer in charge of the response said we are taking care of this.

He canceled EMS.

He canceled other departments.

He said, I don't think I will need them.

Then, one of the battalion chiefs decided to go down deeper into the ship to see why there was still smoke coming up from the lower deck.

And speaking with firefighting experts, that is just not the standard operating procedure on a ship fire like this.

You either use the ship's fire suppression system or you stand back and let it burn out and cool it down until it burns itself out.

Briana: With those firefighters have been alive today if there was standard operating procedures in place and they were followed?

Ted: Depends on what the standard operating procedures were, but everyone I have spoken to say there was no reason for anyone to go down into that compartment.

You talked earlier about how things got bad in a hurry.

Things got very bad in a hurry.

They went down there, they thought it was OK initially when they went down.

Two cars on fire on the deck.

But you can see in the compartment.

In the space of minutes, the smoker started filling up the compartment where nobody could see anything.

It was zero visibility.

The only thing that they had, the only breadcrumb trail they had out of the compartment was this firehose.

Let go of that, you are disoriented, you might not ever find your way out in time.

Two firefighters did find their way out and two unfortunately perished after they lost their way.

Briana: Ted Sherman on this three-part series.

Thanks so much.

Ted: Thanks for having me.

Briana: That would do it for us tonight, but don't forget to download the NJ Spotlight news podcast you can listen anytime.

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

We will see you back here tomorrow.

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♪