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♪ Briana: Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, Day two of the port workers strike up and down the coast, leading to fears of crippling supply chains and economic chaos for businesses in New Jersey.

>> If the strike lasts one to two weeks or more, that will put us in considerable difficulty and a significant hit to the cash flow.

Briana: Plus, a political game of chess.

What will the United States next move be after Iran launches over 100 missiles on Israel?

>> This is an extremely dangerous situation.

Frankly, we shouldn't be here.

Briana: Also, New Jersey reacts to the vice presidential debate with less than five weeks until election day.

>> the fact that neither side really screwed up, neither side did anything to hurt their running mate, Vance had to introduce himself and he did that.

BRIANA: and hats off to a local business doing a surge in orders this election cycle.

>> The biggest surge was the day after Kamala assumed the nomination for president, and then the day after Walz was named to VP.

Briana: NJSpotlightNews begins right now.

♪ ANNOUNCER: from NJPBS Studios, this is NJSpotlightNews, with Briana Vannozzi.

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

We begin with a few key stories we are following.

First, nearly 50,000 dockworkers remain on strike in the U.S.. Members of the International Longshoremen's Union Association are back on the picket line for a second day here in Newark and at roughly three dozen ports up and down the East and Gulf Coast.

Workers are calling for more money and a ban on automation that could take over their jobs.

Some plates and experts say the strike has the ability to cripple the economy, causing shortages of some goods and higher prices if the lockout than a few weeks.

Now even though consumers are not seeing shortages yet, stores like this Cosco reported cells being wiped out after the paper and other paper goods Tuesday morning.

The result of panic buying.

In anticipation of the strike, at most major retailers stocked up on goods and changed shipping schedules for holiday items.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis will have more on the strike, and which sectors are already feeling the pinch later in the show.

Also tonight suck two former Penn State fraternity leaders are going to jail for their role in the hazing death of Timothy Piazza, a Lebanon New Jersey native who was pledging for the now defunct chapter of Beta Theta Phi in 2017 when he fell and later died after drinking more than 18 alcoholic drinks in less than two hours.

A judge on Tuesday sentenced the former fraternity president Brandon Young and pledge Mr. Daniel Casey with two to four months behind bars followed by three years of probation and community service.

Young and Casey both pleaded guilty in July to 14 counts of hazing and reckless endangerment.

They were the last two criminal defendants to be sentenced, in the case that rocked the higher education world, prompting lawmakers to crack down hazing.

Also tonight, New Jersey is entering into another federal consent decree to resolve claims the state violated the constitution by failing to keep residents of its veterans homes safe.

The proposed consent decree with the DOJ's civil right division and the attorney's office of Legacy requires the state to meet no specific standards for patient care, along with overhauling practices for infection control and emergency operations.

The proposal asked the court to appoint an independent monitor to make sure the state is following the consent decree, and to add a layer of accountability, after investigations launched in October of 2020 found the state failed its residence at the state-run New Jersey Veterans Memorial zones at Menlo Park and Paramus during the pandemic.

They had the highest number of reported deaths during the first wave of the coronavirus.

The consent decree now goes for approval from the courts.

And I watchdog group is accusing the state of violating solitary confinement laws in New Jersey prisons.

In a report issued Tuesday night, NJ present Justice which revealed a survey of 67 incarcerated people in which the vast majority said they are getting far less than the regularly required four hours a day out of their cells.

Two out of every three respondents said they were offered less than one hour outside their cells any given day.

Many said they got less than 30 minutes.

If true, it would be in violation of a 2019 law limiting isolation.

Researchers want lawmakers to investigate how the Department of Corrections is following that law, and they are calling for legislative hearings.

In a statement a spokesperson for the corrections department said it unequivocally contests the characterization.

You can read more about the findings on our website, NJspotlightnews.org.

Dockworkers at the Port of Newark are pledging to stay on the picket line 20 47 until a new contract deal is reached.

Some businesses and the stupidest say that at just two days into the strike, they are already feeling the effects.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis has the latest.

>> the energy is not changing, we are committed to stay out here until you get a fair contract.

The energy here is that we are this together.

We will not stop fighting and whatever our unions needs, we will hold this picket line until they tell us not to.

Reporter: It is day two of the biggest strike since 1987.

Longshoremen and other workers at the docks walked off the job at 36 ports yesterday.

[shouting] >> No contract >> no work.

Reporter: they say it is fair considering the billions in profits that their employer, the US Maritime Alliance has made, and they are fighting automation that they say could cost members their jobs.

They were bouyed by the support of union delegates today, reminding them of the leadership efforts while they are today picketing.

>> Howell is on his way to Baltimore.

Dennis is working with the Senators right now for the states.

I just want you to know we are grinding away and really, really, really love what you're doing.

On the you.

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] Hang in there, we will win this thing.

Reporter: Then there is best.

A show of support from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, that sent a massive truck caravan at the picket line, and a visit from Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] >> We need to make it happen like today.

Reporter: that is because of retail owners are furiously calculating the goods they have in stock and how long they were last while the ports remain closed.

Folks like Kyle who own this place in the front counter >> currently we are fortunate that I have products I can sell today or tomorrow.

But I don't have enough resources or product sitting on the grounds for six months.

Reporter: he worried that delays will impact his ability to complete jobs like home construction projects.

Chris has a national tree company which sells artificial Christmas trees and Dick Clark.

He is concerned the strike could impact the busy season that drives most of his profits.

>> if it lasts one to two weeks or more, that would put us in significant difficulty and a significant hit to the cash flow would mean a significant hit to the company.

We will survive, but there would be a significant dent in the metrics, for sure.

In any yesterday trucks were able to ship goods already coming into the ports, but today as you can see, the streets are so much quieter.

If this strike continues by tomorrow, the roads could be clear.

>> We will probably see an in fact probably next in the couple of days, but if this strike next week and and longer I think that's when you're going to start to really feel the impact , because a lot of the materials are in warehouses, may be the plants already, but the concern is the longer the strike goes on, the more concerned we are going to grow.

Reporter: President Biden has urged usmx to come to the table and present "a fair offer to the workers of the ILA," saying that foreign ocean carriers have made record profits since the pandemic when long shoremen put themselves at risk to keep ports open.

It is time those ocean carriers offered a strong and fair contract that reflects ILA workers' contribution to our economy and to their record profits."

USMA put out a statement late yesterday saying our current offer of a nearly 50% wage increase exceeds every other recent Union settlement while addressing inflation and recognizing ILA's hard work to keep the global economy running .

We look forward to hearing from the union.

A union rep told us today that no talks have happened, but they are ready to talk.

>> As this prolongs themselves, it may present a problem to local municipalities like Newark.

We need to make sure it doesn't prolong.

At some point somebody should intercede.

Reporter: The U.S. acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, is urging both sides to sit together, but so far, they are standing ocean support.

Joanna Gagis, NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: Israel's Prime Minister Prime Minister Netanyahu is vowing to punish Iran for a missile strike on Tuesday where roughly 180 ballistic missiles were fired, according to the Israeli military, sending millions of people across Israel into bomb shelters.

Iran said it was retaliation for the assassinations of two has been, and an Iranian commander.

Israel's air defenses block most of the incoming fire with the help of Western allies like the U.S.

But one Palestinian man was confirmed killed in the occupied West Bank, and two others were wounded by shrapnel in Tel Aviv, according to Israel's emergency service.

The attack came and after Israeli forces began a ground invasion of southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah.

President Biden is also pledging full support of Israel in its next steps.

For more on what that might look like, I am joined by Trita Parsi.

He's the co-founder of the Quincy Institute for responsible statecraft.

It seems like every time we talk, we discuss the escalating tensions in the Middle East, but this feels different.

What was Iran's intention here?

Guest: It certainly is different.

This time around, after the Israelis attacked Lebanon and killed Nasrallah, as well as a senior Iran official, on top of around 900 people that were also killed in the same attack, that were overwhelming civilians, Iran decided to respond.

But they did respond in a different way from what they did in April.

In April, they sent around 300 projectiles and most of them were slow flying drones designed to be shot down.

They only got nine missiles through Israel's air defenses.

All hitting military sites that they had already signaled before in order to avoid further escalation.

This time around, they used hypersonic missiles.

The footage people have put on Twitter shows a very large number of them actually made it through.

We do not know what the actual damage was because the Israelis do not allow the reporting of that.

There is military censorship there that doesn't allow reporting on military damage, including as to whether there were any casualties.

There is a couple of reasons why the Iranians did this.

You had a message from Jared Kushner that essentially said that the success of Israel in Lebanon by taking out Nasrallah.

It had shown that Iran was a paper tiger, that Hezbollah was about to be destroyed.

And that Israel should go full force, and this was an opportunity to transform the Middle East.

I hope their viewers are very sensitive to the language of "transforming the Middle East."

This is the kind of language that got us into Iraq in the first place and has only delivered disaster for the region and for the United States.

Then you also had Netanyahu issuing a video message to the Iranian people, although it was in English, with English subtitles, essentially saying that the regime in Iran going to fall, telegraphing that he was going to attack Iran.

And he did the same to the Lebanese people before attacking Lebanon, the same to the people of Gaza before attacking Gaza.

So I think the Iranians drew the conclusion that combined with the fact that the Biden administration has been either unwilling or incapable of stopping Netanyahu, that Israel was going to attack Iran, unless Iran showed its capabilities and its willingness to strike back.

And as a result, send the message that it will be very costly if Israel declares a full scale war against Iran.

Briana: And so, what response might we see it now from Israel?

We know they are vowing to retaliate, the U.S. has well.

Israel has shifted the war between proxies turn out two original powerhouses.

Guest: is, it is increasingly starting to look like it will be a direct war between Israel and Iran.

And the Israelis have well vowed -- they have vowed to do a very punishing response.

The question is, will they target Iranian civilian infrastructure -- oil refineries, economic targets?

If that is the case, the Iranian response back will be different from what they did this time around when they only struck military targets.

The other question is, does Israel have the capability to strike Iran in such a way that would deprive the Iranians from an ability to strike in return?

I find that very doubtful, given the missile capabilities of the Iranians have, many of them are dug underground in mountains, et cetera.

This is an extremely dangerous situation and frankly, we should not be here.

Had the Biden administration forced a ceasefire early on, or at a minimum, really been , serious about preventing and escalation in the region by not allowing Israel to go into Lebanon as a date and recognizing that this could drag the United States into this war, then we wouldn't be in this situation.

It's not too late to stop it.

But if the Biden administration continues to only provide support for Israel when it escalates, even though Biden said he doesn't want to see escalation, then escalation is exactly what we will see, and unfortunately, we may also seat in the United States dragged into this war.

Briana: Does diplomacy then still stand a chance, or are we to acknowledge that at least so far those efforts have failed?

Guest: Serious diplomacy still stands a chance.

The Biden administration has refused to use the liver and it has with Israel.

It has used its leverage against Iran and Iraq he malicious, against the Houthis.

It has refused to use any leverage against Israel.

As a result, we cannot say diplomacy failed, because this was not serious diplomacy.

BRIANA: Trita Parsi is the co-founder of the Quincy Institute for responsible statecraft.

Trita, thank you so much.

Guest: Thank you for having me.

BRIANA: Well, early polls show Americans are split over who won the vice presidential debate.

Ohio Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz squared off for the first and only time since before the election.

In an event that largely focused on foreign policy, in a collegiate and civil manner, something that has become increasingly rare in politics.

It is unlikely this debate will change the outcome of this election, but as senior political correspondent David Cruz reports, it may motivate more of each base to get out and vote.

Reporter: the first rule of presidential debate is do no harm.

In that regard the one and only debate between vice presidential candidates J.D.

Vance and Tim Walz delivered.

Although most pundits and analysts felt Vance was the more polished debater, and that flows may have had too many facts ready to go.

The onus was on the Republican, who is Vice-Presidential Roll Up was not the best.

>> he came out as both knowledgeable and likable, which is a trick today.

Reporter: especially when you are so unlikable?

[laughs] >> I think he certainly came into the debate with the worst image of the two guys.

But I thought he did himself a favor Last night.

Guest: I think people thought that neither side really screwed up, neither side did anything to hurt their their running mate?

Vance had to reintroduce himself , so in essence, he did that.

>> you guys said you weren't going to fact-check.

Since you are fact-checking me, I think it's important to say what is actually going on.

>> he is still saying he didn't lose the election.

Did he lose the 2020 election?

>> Tim, I'm focused on the future.

Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind and the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?

>> that is a nonanswer.

>> I thought it was civilized, but it was still kind of rhetoric and not a lot of speaking from the heart, kind of things that I was looking for.

So, after about a half hour, I bailed on it and I went and watched the baseball game instead.

>> With the candidate, people are so torn between them, that it is going to be close as far as the race and whatnot.

That is scary, because we really don't know which way America is going to go.

Reporter: There was some discussion in the morning after about Vance meant splinting to the female moderators, and bowls still being unable to explain his travel to China from decades ago.

>> It has not been on the books.

>> thank you, Gentleman.

[laughs] gentle man, the audience cannot hear you because your microphones are cut.

We have so much to get to.

Thank you for explaining the legal process.

Nora?

Governor, to follow up on that, the question was can you explain the discrepancy?

>> All I said on this is that I got there that summer and I misspoke on this.

That is what I have said.

Reporter: most of which if passed Presidential debates at any indication, will move the needle not one bit before November.

>> I have long thought for many months that this is not a persuasion election and has not been because of Trump's existence is so powerful in people's minds that either love him or hate him, but you know how you are voting.

This is a turnout election, where both sides have to make sure their voters come to the polls.

If I were in their shoes, I would stop trying to persuade them on issues and persuade them in.

Reporter: the VP debate represented the final opportunity for the campaigns to capitalize on unforced errors.

Having failed at that, this one can now go into the history books next to the one where that guy debated the other guy, and that few people remember.

I am David Cruz, NJSpotlightNews.

Briana: -centered and night, for the last three decades, workers inside Newark's union factory have had a rare front row seat to the popularity of competing presidential campaigns.

Turning out hats and other political merchandise for candidates dating back to the Clinton era.

Everybody from McCain and Trump to Obama and Harris, they have done it all.

Raven Santana toward the inside of the hat factory where business is booming.

Reporter: if you have seen or worn a hat bearing the name of a political candidate including the president, there is a good chance it was made by unionware here at their 70,000 square foot facility in Newark.

>> We have been part of the business since 1992 when we did a small order from Bill Clinton's campaign and we had made hats for every Democratic nominee for president, nearly every Democratic candidate for the primaries, and many Republican candidates, as well, and for a number of other politicians running for Senate or governor, Congress, et cetera.

Reporter: He is president of union ware, which has been in business for over three decades, making hats for a competing campaigns, some with famous slogans.

Including that now-popular Republican Red Hat.

>> when Make America Great Again first appeared in 2015 ON Trump wore during the primary, we received a huge amount of orders for that good at the beginning of it, there was demand for the hat and not enough capacity, because only a few factories manufactured it domestically.

They had wanted the hats to be made domestically, so we were very heavily involved in that in 2015.

Reporter: He says sales at the factory were down at the beginning of the election cycle until Vice President Kamala Harris entered the race.

He says they received another jolt when she announced her running mate Governor Tim Waltz , of Minnesota.

He says this camouflage hat with Harris-Walls in font, is the most popular.

>> we haven't seen anything like Kamala really since Obama.

Obama's first term running for president.

We didn't see a lot of merchandise for Biden this year, it was very small amounts of orders.

The last time we had seen that was with Hillary in 2016.

The biggest influx we received of orders was the day after, assumed the nomination for president, and the day after Walz was named to VP.

Reporter: he says these 165 employees behind me are now working around the clock to meet demand that he said, has more than doubled since Harris announced her campaign for presidency.

Khan also credits the boost in sales to his made in USA label.

>> We manufacture the hats here from scratch.

We order fabric.

We cut and sew it into baseball hats.

We normally in a typical year are doing about 2500 hats a day.

This year during the coming up, campaign, we are manufacturing about 5000 hats per day.

When Kamala stepped in, we had a very short period to make hats, so we stretched our workers a lot, they are working 50, 60 hours a week, overtime.

We moved most of our bag-manufacturing into hat- manufacturing, and we also invested in a considerable amount of automation equipment to get this project done.

Guest: He says is Kamala wins, they expect a surge in Inauguration merchandise, as she would also become the first woman president.

>> You have the primaries.

You have the presidential candidates.

They are all talking about domestic manufacturing.

That always seems to be, at least for the last 20 years, one of the biggest hot button issues they are talking about.

So everyone who's buying , products thinks maybe I should consider buying USA.

So we see a surge during even -numbered years, because it happens during the winter Olympics and midterm elections also, and then we see sales generally fall during od-numbered years.

Reporter: Reporter: For NJSpotlightNews, I am Raven Santana.

Briana: That will do it for us tonight.

But make sure you tune into ChatBox and quit night where David Cruz talks with New York Yankee great Bernie Williams about life after baseball, his music interests, and giving back.

That is Thursday at 6:00 p.m. on the NJSpotlightNews Youtube channel.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

For the entire team, thanks for being with us.

Have a great night.

We will see you right back here tomorrow.

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