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Briana: Tonight, community leaders in Trenton demand its top cop resign in the wake of a damning report on systemic abuses by the city's police.

>> the Trenton police department has routinely violated our community's civil-rights.

Briana: Plus, Donald Trump's pledge to deport millions is spreading fear through New Jersey's immigrant communities.

>> we hear stories of people who are too scared to register for health care, or to send their kids to public school, or to report things like wage theft or domestic violence.

Briana: Also, more than a dozen years after Superstorm Sandy plans to protect a vulnerable , Bay shore town from future danger storm surge.

>> thousands and thousands of residents will be safe, secured from those rising tidal waves.

Briana: And, breaking down how Trump's picks of RFK, Jr. and Dr. Oz might affect public health here in the state.

>> Even if they make regulatory changes, requirements or suggestions of the top, the real questions comes down to what we get funding ways.

Briana: "NJSpotlightNews" begins right now.

♪ ANNOUNCER: from NJPBS studios this is "NJ Spotlight News" with , Briana Vannozzi.

Briana: Good evening and thanks for joining us on this Monday night, I'm Briana Vannozzi.

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

First, New York City's congestion pricing plan is ready to go.

The Highway administration give the final approval last week clearing the way for the controversial plan to take effect July 5, charging most drivers and extra nine dollars if they enter Manhattan south of 60th Street, with increases phased in in the next several years until the toll hit $15 in 2031.

The money will help fund the cash-strapped transit system, and cut down on the gridlock that consumes lower and Midtown Manhattan.

But opponents, including Governor Murphy and Congressman Josh Gottheimer, are still pushing back, arguing the toll unfairly burdens Jersey commuters, calling it a tax grab that has been fast-track to circumvent more public scrutiny.

The Murphy administration has been trying to block the plan in court while Gottheimer, is calling for a federal review of the pricing structure.

Both though I running out of time.

Also tonight, Special Counsel Jack Smith is dropping his cases against President-elect Donald Trump, bringing to a close a historic and unprecedented prosecution of a farmer and now every elected president.

In court motions filed today, Smith requested to dismiss all felony charges against Trump in connection with his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the lead up to the deadly January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, and for the mishandling of classified documents.

Trump was first indicted in August 2023 for obstruction and conspiracy charges, but the case was put on hold for months as his legal team argued for presidential immunity.

Then, the Supreme Court this summer agreed.

According to court documents, Special Counsel Smith requested the dismissal due to a long-standing Justice Department policy that bars the prosecution of a sitting president, not because of the merits or government troops proof of the charges.

And outdoor dining is here to stay in New Jersey, Governor Murphy signed a bill making it a permanent feature for bars and restaurants.

It comes more than four years just to the idea was rolled out during the COVID pandemic.

Department had been given temporary restrictions that were set to expire, but they will now stay in place indefinitely so those businesses can expand onto the, patios and other designated outdoor areas.

Restaurant owners and advocates of the bill praised the option for being an economic boost to many local communities, many said it enabled them to keep operating during the pandemic.

Patrons and residents to like the flexibility it offers under it transformed the downtowns.

Governor Murphy today called the initiative to prevent success that helped with the state's post-pandemic recovery.

In the wake of a scathing DOJ report which found a pattern of civil-rights violations in the Trenton Police Department, many are still trying to digest the findings, which included excessive use of force and illegal stops and arrests.

But social justice advocates in the state's capital city are speaking out and demanding immediate changes, as the first step of what they see as many, to make Trenton a safer place to live.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis.

>> The Trenton Police Department has routinely violated our community's.

Reporter: that was the finding of the United States Department of Justice that released a report last week indicating repeated violations of individuals' constitutional right during police stops and arrests, as described today by members of the Trenton NAACP.

>> Routinely using excessive force, physical force, and pepper spray.

The Trenton Police Department arrests people without legal basis.

They provoke and escalate, not de-escalate.

They unlawfully stop, search and arrest people for a routine pedestrian and traffic stops.

Reporter: The NAACP described at a press conference, how these practices outlined in the DOJ report have cost Trenton taxpayers more than $7 million in civilian lawsuits and settlements.

But far worse, have cost countless Trenton residents their lives.

>> An unarmed black man paralyzed by this police department.

One who was pepper-sprayed to death outside his home for an incident he was not even involved in.

Stephen does some more, turn to own George Floyd, who screamed out repeatedly, "I can't breathe.

I can't breathe!

Reporter: Austin Edwards, President of the Trenton NAACP, went on to list several other names of people who have died in police custody.

In response, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey has outlined more than two dozen reforms for the Trenton PD, including improving use of force policies as well as training, and hence to, along with a host of new guidelines for stops, searches, and arrests, including better training, documentation, and supervision of that.

But that's not enough for this growth.

>> we are demanding the immediate termination or resignation of Trenton police director Steve Wilson.

Number two, we are calling for Trenton's own community review board.

We demand a board responsible out not to any political figures or to police interests, but responsible only to ensure that the police are indeed working to protect and serve us.

>> What we want now is accountability.

We want the Atlanta Police Department, its leadership, the mayor, the administration and the Council to come together, and we want to know if it is also documented, how will you go about making that right then we need a monitor put in place so that officers who are doing well, who are trying to do their job, don't keep getting bogged down in the department.

There needs to be a check and balance on the system.

Reporter: They say they want a federal monitor coming over to oversee the department, similar to what happened with Newark and they wanted this to be a focal point in the gubernatorial race.

We reached out for the mayor of Trenton for his feedback.

We have not yet received a response, but some community members here today called for Restorative Justice, that includes Trenton police in the solutions.

>> it needs to look like being in the community and the police together and actually having dialogue around the harms that have happened to start the conversation around talking about suggestions and ways to co-create and collaborate and reimagine what community policing looks like.

Reporter: The next city Council meeting is on Thursday, December 5.

They are hoping for a big turnout from their community calling for major changes to be made here at the Trenton Police Department.

In Trenton, Joanna Gagis, NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: As immigration groups prepare for a second Trump Administration, multiple reports have been made that I.C.E., or immigrations customs and enforcement is already wrapping up efforts.

Documents show I.C.E.

is trying to secure contracts for three new detention facilities here in the state.

While the state law outright banning the centers remains in limbo.

Some advocates fear it could make New Jersey a staging ground four mass deportations.

But as Senior political correspondent David Cruise reports, it's not just the incoming administration network, many of those plans originated under President Biden.

Reporter: There is a palpable chill spread into the immigrant community in New Jersey where upwards of half a million residents are undocumented.

The incoming federal administration has made it clear that mass deportations are a top priority.

But the push to fill detention centers, and expand those detentions, has been underway for some time.

>> my gosh.

So this has been happening since the Biden administration took over.

When President Biden came into office, there were about 13,000 people in detention.

That number has backed up to almost 43,000 in detention, it has tripled almost since he has taken office.

Reporter: That's 43,000 people held in detention facilities, basically prisons, around the country.

Most often run by private operators, like Tennessee-based CoreCivic, and Florida-based GEO group.

Billion-dollar companies and industry leaders who make most of their money from lucrative contracts with the federal government.

The ACLU sued to get records that show Immigration and Customs Enforcement, I.C.E., has issued requests for proposals to expand capacity in New Jersey.

Facilities under consideration here include the treatment center in Trenton, the Elizabeth Detention Center, and the leaning in Newark, all owned and/or operated by CoreCivic or GEO group.

>> It really is just a big business.

>> It's a really big business.

And when we are talking about the players in the space including those who have responded to RFP's in New Jersey or that are currently operating in New Jersey, these are very large private prison companies essentially that are also in the business of immigration detention.

Reporter: Not that business was bad under President Biden, but when you consider the scale of the Trump Administration's deportation plan, investors have perked tops intellectually.

The companies, whose executives were from contributors, have seen their stock prices jump significantly.

For CoreCivic, over 50% in the past month.

GEO group, up 74%.

And advocates say all of that money is corrupting the policy.

Is narrowed to Martinez, who asked we not show her face, says her husband Walden, who was in the U.S. without proper documentation, was picked up by I.C.E.

in April.

He decided out of desperation from being locked up test signed a voluntary deportation, she says.

He signed months ago, and he still has not been released to his home country.

And that started in April.

>> It started in April.

>> Esmeralda said one of the guys told two guys that had been in Walden, that they had been there already three months waiting for their voluntary deportation.

And they asked the guard why are we still here?

And the guard said, because if we send you back to your country, we are not going to make any money.

Reporter: It's hard to prove anecdotal evidence like that, but one thing is certain, immigrants of all statuses here are beginning to recede back into the shadows.

>> We hear people who are too scared to register for health care.

Or even to report things like wage theft or domestic violence.

They are nervous about interacting with state and local government agencies, because they don't know if their information will get shared with I.C.E.

Reporter: The immigrant's trust act, legislation that would make, and some of the protections already afforded by our so-called sanctuary state, is languishing in Trenton, making it possible for a new administration, perhaps one more aligned with the President-elect , to simply erase them.

I am David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: 12 years after Superstorm Sandy devastated shore towns up and state, the final phase of the residency project in Port Monmouth is already underway.

Congressman Frank Pallone and officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today launched the last step of the $61 million plan.

It will build flood walls around Route 36, drainage systems, levies, and road closure gates, part of a larger effort to safeguard neighborhoods from rising sea levels and storm surge.

But as senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports, those efforts rely heavily on federal investments, and an incoming administration that has denied there is a climate crisis.

Reporter: Big Koreans of the word pieces of yet another floodwall in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown, where officials today are after they had signed the final contract, sprawling 300 billion-dollar defensive network.

Levees, gates, walls and dunes to channel, deflect and drain dangerous storm surges.

>> Thousands and thousands of Middletown residents will be safe, secured from those rising tidal waves.

>> Port Monmouth continues to be a community that is vulnerable to future storm events.

And this project, once complete, will help to reduce that risk significantly.

>> Oh, I am so grateful for this to go up.

What they have been doing has really helped us a lot.

Reporter: Kathy Rogers moved here in 1976, and immediately lost everything in the flood.

Holmes in Port Monmouth built on salt and freshwater marshes.

They flooded often.

>> and then Sandy came, and we had to just 41 homes here that were lost.

>> When we started thinking about this and how it was necessary after Sandy, in my opinion, it becomes more necessary now because of the problems we face with claim eight.

>> Building this type of infrastructure to protect our communities is critical today and will only become more so in the years ahead.

Reporter: it is 15-year lot effort.

Funding is dedicated to the Sandy relief act, but the beach already needs replenishment, and some advocates see political storms ahead, recalling how the Trump Administration's funding for sure resilience, and the current President-elect remained skeptical of climate change.

>> it is one of the great scams of all time.

You know why they don't talk about it?

Because people aren't buying it anymore.

>> So that's a problem.

I am not going to tell you differently.

Reporter: Congressman Frank Pallone says he is trying to add earmarked for beach replenishment into the pending U.S. document, but he believes federal funding for coastal Jersey could survive under Trump.

>> In the past he has been supportive of the Army Corps of Engineers projects, so I don't think we need to be worrying about that when it comes to these projects or the other Army Corps projects like in Union Beach or the shore protection along the Atlantic coast.

>> If and when that were to come, there will certainly be a bipartisan voice to advocate for the completion of this project.

Reporter: But if the next administration cuts claimant resilience funding, would environmental officials re-examine their priorities?

Would they still Green Light a project for a small community like this one?

Hard discussions and tough budgets lie ahead, the DEP Commissioner says -- >> It is how you do that next part of solution-building.

You have to acknowledge that some places are vulnerable and that others will benefit from the hard civil engineering that we see just over our shoulders here.

Reporter: Without this complex system, Port Monmouth would literally go under.

>> We needed this.

To save the Bay shore.

The life of this town.

Reporter: The last phase of this residency project will not be completed until 2028 but climate change does not follow either a construction, or a political calendar.

In Port Monmouth, I am Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: President-elect Donald Trump this week and unveiled his choices to lead the nation's top public health agencies.

Tapping Dr. Marty Mccarry, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins in Maryland to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Former Florida Congressman Dr. Dave Weldon to serve as director of the CDC, and Fox News medical contributor, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to be the incoming administration's next Surgeon General.

All three positions, of course, require Senate confirmation.

The cabinet picks follow Trump's decision to select Robert F Kennedy junior to serve as the nation's top post as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and choosing Dr. Mehmet Oz, most widely known for hosting the Dr. Oz show until launching a failed Senate bid in 2022.

He has been tapped to lead the Center for Medicare and Medicaid services, or CMS.

For more on what drumsticks say about his approach to public health, and what it will mean for people here in New Jersey, I am trained by our health care writer Lilo Stainton.

,So, you have been talking to folks across the gamut when it comes to public health in New Jersey, what is their reaction to the folks the President-elect has tapped so far to lead these very large and important agencies?

Guest: Yeah, a lot of the people that I have talked to, people who -- scientists, public health professionals, physicians, nurses, they have concerns about some of these names.

But they also take pause.

Then one of the things that I hear a lot is, a lot of public health is actually controlled by the state.

Big systems like Medicaid are controlled by the state, not Medicare.

But once again, living in New Jersey, where the governor and the legislature have placed certain protections for health care, we are likely to see less change than there might be in other states.

But however, the big concern is the funding.

Even if they make regulatory changes, requirements, or suggestions at the top, the real question comes down to what we get funding wise.

Briana: Any idea from the folks he has spoken to about what the leaders of the departments would prioritize?

We have heard a lot about bringing down cost of prescriptions -- Trump on the campaign trail talked about that quite a bit -- but also, de-regulation.

Do we have any sense where these folks are coming from?

Guest: You are a couple of things that I hear repeatedly, right, if RFK, Jr. is in charge of Health and Human Services and has concerns about vaccines, he might try to relax vaccine requirements that exist.

But, again, much of that is public health that falls under state control.

So maybe they would defund a big program to support vaccine delivery.

That could have a big impact.

I am told 40% nationwide of children, not infants, but children getting their back-to-school shot, or through a free program that is funded by the federal government.

That's a big concern.

If you are an administration that is less -- that is more focused on middle, upper-class folks, capitalism, you might invest less in federally-qualified health centers which primarily serve people without insurance.

A big concern is just the dollar numbers are these giant subsidies that have been prevented not for people who are very poor, but for working-class folks who buy insurance through the marketplace.

In New Jersey, that is 400 thousand people.

They have been able to get really pretty decent plans, at less than $10 a month.

Unbelievably low.

Those subsidies are extremely expensive and they are due to expire in the coming years.

If they go away, that could be the end of health insurance for hundreds of thousands of people in New Jersey alone.

Briana: I know you are dissecting each of these picks.

You zoomed in on Dr. Oz who has been tapped to lead CMS, what can you tell us briefly about what that might look like in New Jersey?

Guest: Again, he would oversee Medicaid and Medicare.

There is regulatory things around nursing homes and hospitals, people suggest you would see more of them lean towards privatization, which is already happening in Medicare.

And other thing that I hear a lot about is that New Jersey has leaned into both private sector and public sector into social determinants of health, hospitals investing in housing and food programs, clinics providing food programs.

The funding for those kinds of things could really be dried up.

How long that takes a back New Jersey is a question.

Briana: Thank you so much, we will be talking soon.

And finally, if you are frustrated with your favorite local NFL team losing, for the first time in six years, the New York red Bulls soccer team is heading to the Eastern Conference final.

That's after posting a big 20V 2-0 victory against New York City SE this weekend.

Despite their New York name, the Red Bulls operate out of Red Bull Arena in Harrison and practice at a training complex in East Hanover, New Jersey.

The major soccer league team has largely been considered underdogs with the season, but defeated their archrival in the first ever playoff game between the two New York clubs at City Field on Saturday.

Now the red Bulls are just one win away from making their second-ever appearance in the Major league soccer cup final.

The team now heads down to Florida to take on the Orlando City soccer club.

And if the past is any indicator, the red Bulls beat Orlando the last time the two teams faced off in June.

That's going to do it for us tonight, but make sure you check out our latest episode of "hazard nj."

This episode we are reporting on PFAS, also known as Forever Chemicals, and their impact on our state.

Episode two looks at PFAS in the foam used for firefighting.

It is now contaminating the water systems around New Jersey and beyond.

You can download episode two or every listen.

I am a Briana Vannozzi.

For the entire team, thanks for being with us.

Have a great night.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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