Major funding for NJ Spotlight News is provided in part by NJM Insurance Group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

And by the PSEG foundation.

>> Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, mass teacher layoffs in East Orange might mean good news for Paterson that is struggling with a teacher shortage.

Plus, unusually one temperatures and dry conditions are raising a wildfire and drought warnings.

>> We are getting a lot more ground fire than we normally do because it's been so dry.

Right now we have a full ban on any burner whatsoever.

Joanna: Also, crime has been front and center on the campaign trail.

In New Jersey, it is a new law could come back home envisions.

>> These policies are not based on data and evidence.

I can only think of them as a politically motivated at this point, because we know that tough on crime policies don't work.

Joanna: And the story of a young mom, Dreeah Austin, whose death after giving birth to a healthy baby girl raises questions about the care she received.

>> She fell through a gap.

It wasn't necessarily that the hospital did something wrong.

It wasn't that she didn't have the care.

Somehow we missed something as a system.

Joanna: NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

♪ ANNOUNCER: From NJPBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News, with Briana Vannozzi.

♪ Joanna: Good evening and thanks for joining us tonight, I am Joanna Gagis.

Briana Vannozzi is off.

First, we reported last week that 71 classroom teachers and staff and 4 administer the East and School District are facing layoffs as a result of a budget deficit that administer the stylus stands around $8 million, although other numbers have been reported.

That news came as a shock to committee members and to many of the teachers themselves, several of whom were just hired by the district this summer.

In a contentious meeting last week the newly appointed superintendent explained that mystics were made in the budget that was presented to him when he started in July, and he filled position is that he never actually budgeted for.

But East Orange's Mistake is promising news for a distance like Madison that have failed teacher shortages.

They are using virtual teachers to fill the gaps and some of the classrooms.

Well, they can no higher from the pool of 70 plus teachers leaving East Orange.

The superintendent has said he will help each teacher let's go to transition to other districts.

Layoffs will take effect in December.

The first round of New Jersey 2024 bear hunt ended on Saturday, and already hunters have killed 18% more black bears than last year.

The hunt is meant to control the bear population in New Jersey, that has risen by 80% since 2018, according to the division official and wildlife.

That goal is for 20% to 30% of the total population to be killed, or harvested, as it is called.

In these first six days of hunting, 392 bears were killed that is compared to last year's October hunt that saw 331.

Hunters were only allowed to use Archery for the first three days, then muzzle loaders for the next three.

There is still another round of hunting scheduled for December at one hunters will be allowed to use shotguns.

How long that hunt less could depend on how many beers are harvested in the first few days.

The state can shut down the hunt once it reaches its target 30%.

And each hunter is only allowed to harvest one bear per year.

This Saturday, beach lovers joined with clean ocean action for their annual fall beach sweeps.

Volunteers donned their gloves and cleaned up debris left over from the summer season at 83 locations, waterways and beaches from Essex County to Cape May County.

Tens of thousands of items are collected.

Care to venture a guess what the most common pollutant was?

You guessed it, Plastic stopped the list, along with food wrappers and bottle caps.

Some good news though.

There are less plastic bottles being left on the beach than in years past.

But those pesky little cats are still ending up in the sand.

This is the 39th year these beach sweeps have been going on.

They don't just clean up the shore, they help researchers collect data to inform clean ocean action's advocacy efforts in Trenton.

All of you summer lovers are no doubt basking in the late October sun, I know I am.

But there are some downsides to it.

The higher heat and low humidity also make the perfect combo for forest fires.

In fact, there is a blaze in Morris County right now that the estate/service is trying to get control over the 40's dry, hot conditions spark anything further.

Ted Goldberg has more on what they are seeing.

Reporter: The weather lately has been perfect to take in fall foliage.

Unseasonably warm, dry, and a light.

Unfortunately, those are also perfect conditions for wildfire to spread quickly.

>>.

>> Once the leaves begin to fall off the trees, then the sun can begin to hit the ground and the forest and dry out the fuels.

>> That grass, for instance, are growing dormant and drying out.

That is tender,.

The leaves are starting to fall off the trees.

That is tender.

You just need a spark to get something going.

A forest fire in Morris County over the weekend has reached 77 acres.

The Forest Fire Service has 70% of its and take nobody has been evacuated.

The section fire warden says the recent drought is the major obstacle in keeping fluids from growing.

>> It's a major impact.

We are getting a lot more ground fire because it's been so dry.

Right now we have a full ban on any burner whatsoever, whether it's agricultural or regular campfires, nobody should be having any open flame whatsoever.

Reporter: State did a great bucket 18 -- 85 state data that goes back to 1895.

This past September was the third driest on record.

This October it is on pace to be the driest there is a possibility of wind coming in the next couple of days that might change things a little bit and that's why we are working really hard to make sure things stay the same that.

Reporter: Might be hard to believe considering the recent hurricanes in the south.

That initial rinse couldn't get past a ridge of high pressure.

>> we have just had high pressure parked over this area for weeks and it has fallen off and make systems -- any storm systems, even the storms that brought the rain from North Carolina from Helene.

>> This Meteorologist from Mount Holly says the drought has cooked up conditions for more wildfires to start and spread.

>> When we have conditions that are extremely dry and extremely windy, that will lead to the potential for wildfires to spread rapidly.

Behind the conference, to get a very strong northwest wind that does two things.

It will create a very strong winds, but most behind the cold fronts, the air gets really dry.

Reporter: the air has dried up and see the reservoirs drop down to very low levels.

This reservoir is at record lows according to the New Jersey water supply authority.

>> Normally this time of year our reservoirs and groundwater levels bottom out after all of that used during the summer, and they begin to refill, hopefully being full by next spring.

Right now the reservoir levels are on a downward spiral and starting to fall below normal, and the concern is that that will continue into the winter season and put a threat on filling our reservoirs by next spring.

Reporter: New Jersey has issued a drought watch, which asks people to use less water, but doesn't force people to that could happen, if conditions don't get better in the next few months.

The state would issue a drought warning, or emergency.

The drought watch is likely to expand for at least another couple of weeks forecasts don't show much precipitation stayed late for the next 10 days or so.

Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

Joanna: Crime statistics keep popping up in campaign slogans some warning of crime rates increasing others touting crime rates decreasing.

Governor Murphy recently announced a new effort to crack down on home invasions and increase penalties for juveniles who break into a home with a firearm.

A senior political correspondent David Cruz looks at the new law and in fact it could have.

>> If anybody out there is thinking about burglarizing a home, stealing a car, doing a home invasion of one form or another, you better look at the penalties before you take that step because they are now what I would call nothing short of severe.

Reporter: Phil Murphy never seems entirely at home when he is trying to talk tough on crime .

At the recent bill signing that raised the penalties for armed home invasions, the governor tried to remind everyone who thought otherwise, that he also has been pro-reform.

>> Again, at the are incredibly proud that we have brought fairness to our criminal justice system.

Today was about stronger, but the past seven years have also learned about fairness.

Reporter: but ask any victim of crime, they will tell you that they don't want to hear about the fairness part.

Assembly man Paul Kanitra says these thieves broke into his house to steal the keys to his estate car and then drove off with it.

He says this bill, which makes 15-year-olds eligible for adult status treatment if they are armed, still doesn't go far enough.

>>.

>> The bill that just got past actually makes young thieves even more valuable now, because it increases the penalties for adults, but it does nothing for youth without a gun who is committing 90% of these kinds anyway.

Reporter: It should be noted that in the days leading up to election time, it is incumbent upon incumbents, especially, to find a spot where voters feel anxiety, and then propose to ease it.

Even if that, in the discussion of crime especially, includes exploiting short-term statistics, and ignoring actual trends.

>> These policies are not based in data or evidence.

So I can only think of them as politically motivated at this point, because we know that tough on crime policies don't work.

What we know is that in 2014, burglaries in New Jersey were over 31,000 for that year.

Last year, 13,000.

That is a huge.

Reporter: Difference don't tell that to the Edison Mayor, Sam Josie.

He calls home envisions a crisis in his community, although statistics show that Edison Township's crime rate is significantly lower than the national average in all categories, including burglaries.

>> We increased the amount of police officers to 196, which is the highest level of police officers here in Edison Township in 15 years.

We had three, sometimes even four times the amount of police officers on the road at any given time.

And yet, that was still not enough, because when our officers were catching those bad guys and those criminals, what ended up happening is unfortunately, some of them, especially the juveniles, it would get right back out on the street.

>> what concerns me the most is the way these policies as of late have been targeting young people.

So in the summer, we had these really harsh penalties introduced for rowdy teens at the shore.

Now in this burglary bill, we see, as I mentioned, a penalty for a juvenile that would allow them to be tried as an adult and face after a decade in prison.

Reporter: Polling shows crime has been important issue for mostly Republicans nationally and here in Jersey, even as evidence from the FBI and others shows that crime has held steady or declined in most places across the country.

After steep declines over the past decade.

But anxiety, voter anxiety as, especially no logic.

As any politician will tell you, numbers don't lie.

Regardless of what they happen to be saying at the moment.

I am David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.

Joanna: Dreeah Austin was a vibrant 30 year old black mom who died of complications two weeks after delivering a healthy baby girl in July.

She was also a mom to a 10 year old daughter.

Her cause of death was a blood clot that reached her lungs, called a pulmonary embolism.

Now, Austin joins a long list of black moms in New Jersey who have lost their lives during or after pregnancy.

Family and community members held a vigil recently to honor her life, and to call for changes to the health system that, they say, let her down and let her die.

It's an issue that has been found in Center and health systems in the state, and yet deaths like Dreeah Austin's going to do to help them.

Health care writer at Lilo Stanton is here to shed more light on the issue.

So great to have you in studio.

What do we know about Dreaah's case and the risks she faced postpartum.

Guest: She did have risks, this blood clot was something they knew about, something she was receiving treatment for, it developed in her leg after she gave birth to her first child, Ellie.

She was receiving treatment.

But the problem here is we just don't know what happened.

She woke up one morning and was not feeling well, and later that day, suffered what appeared to be a seizure, and died.

You just, I can't help but wonder what could have been done differently so this didn't have to happen the way it did.

Joanna: We will get into that a bit more and what could have been done differently, but first, I want to listen to community members and Dreaah's partner and has talking about her and her loss.

>> And so when someone passes away at the hospital, they are left to figure it out on their own.

The family is not connected with resources.

No one knows what to do.

>> Above everything, she was a good mom, a great mom and a great woman.

At some point, I have got to explain to my baby girl what happened to her mom.

I can be the best father I can be the greatest dad in the world, but I can't be a mom.

Joanna: Hearing him say I can be the best dad I can be but I can't be her mom.

When we talk about the numbers and what the state is doing, it's easy to sometimes forget the human impact on the other side of the.

But the state has put a lot of measures in place.

Some of them are systems that we didn't see carried out here for Dreaah.

Can you talk about that?

Guest: One of the clear examples is the family connect program, which the state and First Lady Tammy Murphy has put a lot of effort into.

There has been a huge rollout and is now available in 11 countries.

But I spoke to several people involved in the program, clinicians, who said the problem is, not everybody gets this program.

It is universally available and it is free and open to everybody, regardless of their insurance, their immigration, their income.

However, you have to know about it, you have to be asked, you have to say yes.

It's not even clear if that would have saved her.

We don't know.

But is there some way where a woman who is in a high-risk category when she leaves the hospital, how do we make sure she gets through this critical period?

Half of these maternal-related deaths are after the mom gives birth.

So it is actually a pretty dangerous time, even though you have gotten through what you think is the hardest part.

So, we know she was two weeks out of delivery and still a few days away from her first postpartum visit with her doctor.

Guest: Yes.

Joanna: Is the state considering systems where women should be seen sooner or where home visits go automatically to those high-risk patients?

Guest: I don't know, but this is something a number of clinicians put up with me, that apparently the average -- I am not a mom and I feel like a fraud talking about this, my understanding is six weeks is average postpartum.

Dreaah would have been seen in two weeks.

That is pretty quick.

Maybe two weeks should be standard for everybody.

Maybe there is a call.

Maybe a text chain.

Just throwing things out.

There has to be a better way.

She fell through a gap.

It wasn't necessarily that the hospital did something wrong, or that she didn't have the care.

It is something.

Somehow we missed something as a system.

Joanna: Yeah, some of the folks have said that given the amount of medication she needed to take on her own -- -- she needed to give herself a shot daily -- that there should have been another level of care.

We have heard that in response to Dreaah's case.

Another thing is we have heard folks say "I wasn't listened to when I went in and I knew something was wrong."

We don't know if doctors and nurses would have listened to Dreaah, we want to think they have.

But in a case like this where a woman comes in and says, I just don't feel well, we hear this all the time, how easy is it that they could have done that?

Guest: I don't know if Dreaah had a provider that she could call or text that she wasn't feeling well that morning.

I think what this points out is the need for more data.

Because the data that a site in the story is the best data we have, and it is a couple of years old.

There is a message from the government that we are moving the needle on this.

We don't actually really know that.

Dr. Harris and the other women that I interviewed for the story said, they still see too much of this.

This is still happening.

Joanna: It certainly is.

Lilo Stainton, I know this is an issue that you continue to cover, thank you so much.

Guest: Thank you, Joanna.

ANNOUNCER: support for the medical report is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

Joanna: And I Spotlight on Business Report, housing is one of the greatest needs, in New Jersey, and yet one of the hardest to figure out.

State lawmakers of the courts have battled to determine where and when to support affordable housing.

The Department of community affairs has been tasked with determining each town's fair share of affordable units are just released numbers.

Some towns called it shocking and they are suing the state.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan gut reactions on all sides of this hot button issue.

Reporter: Folks searching for an affordable place to live in New Jersey contently it is generally slim pickings, but now the state has put a number on it.

New Jersey needs 146,000 units of affordable housing within the next decade, according to know state calculations that are so controversial, they already face a court challenge.

But advocates have long cited the critical lack of reasonably- priced units.

>> we are happy that the first step is done and we can all begin reviewing the numbers and we expect that the Towns will do the same.

Reporter: Advocate Josh Bauer welcomed the latest affordable housing calculations released by New Jersey's Department of community affairs.

DCA figure the state right now needs more than 65,000 affordable units for current residents, and in the next 10 years, should provide almost 81,000 more, a total of 146000 and, it set specific goals for each new town.

But 24 municipalities, have joined up to sue the state, calling New Jersey's affordable housing obligations unconstitutional.

>> First of all, they filed this lawsuit before these numbers came out, they were already trying to delay the process.

That is what they said they were going to do, they just wanted to delay the process because they don't want to do it.

Reporter: DCA's calculations follow a new law that Governor Murphy sign in March that abolished New Jersey's old Council on affordable housing.

They used streamlined formulas reached after decades of legislation and litigation to figure out each town's fair share.

It offers extra credits for building group homes for vets, seniors and the developmentally disabled.

Montvale's Mayor says he expected maybe 150 units, a small obligation.

>> As I look at the rest of the towns, everyone was surprised.

It was complete chaos over the weekend.

Reporter: DCA set Montvale's obligation at 30 units now and 148 more over the next decade.

He said his town's roads and schools can handle it.

Montvale is among the municipalities that have gone to court.

>>.

>> We want to work with him, we want to build, but we want to build responsibly.

We don't want to just build six stories where it doesn't belong.

Reporter: Governor Murphy praised DCA's partnerships in advancing our shared goal of expanding access.

But Republicans called the numbers "shocking."

>> They have left certain towns with no choice other than to litigate this, because it is just such an unrealistic and such an unreasonable ask of our communities.

The entire flavor of the community has changed just within the last couple of years, trying to comply with round three obligations.

Reporter: The Bergen County senator, Holly Schepisi, claims affordable housing need is highest in 47 so our aid municipalities.

Cities like Newark that state law exempts from future building obligations.

>> And if you look at some of the communities that are getting a free pass and are still qualified of urban aid municipalities, and you compare demographics, and you compare current rents and cost of living and income levels, some of the communities getting hit the worst in Bergen County actually have more diversity, have less income, and have had more obligations.

>> So there is diversity in the state.

It is just segregated all over the state.

I look at it as people trying to shirk their responsibility and take care of all of us.

Reporter: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka says a city like his current run of stock and build new units, but the need for affordable housing extends into the suburbs, which haven't kept pace.

>> I mean, the DCA is not making these numbers up, these are real numbers.

If you look at the report, you can see clearly that is not happening and that they haven't complied.

Reporter: New Jersey towns have until January to come up with an acceptable housing plan.

But Montvale says it will ask the court this week to stay implementation of the new requirements.

I am Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

Joanna: That does it for us tonight, but before you go, remember to download the NJ Spotlight News podcast so you can listen to us anytime.

I am Joanna Gagis, for all of us here at NJ Spotlight News, thanks for being with us.

We will see you back here tomorrow.

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