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>> Tonight on NJ Spotlight News.

With five days to go before the election, more than one million New Jerseyans have already cast a ballot.

There is still plenty of time to vote.

In person early voting runs through Sunday.

Hurricane Ida relief.

Governor Murphy signs a long-awaited bill that will give survivors much-needed mortgage assistance.

>> I am almost five months behind on my mortgage.

This will catch me up and remove the threat of foreclosure and losing my home.

It is huge.

>> Teen voters.

Jersey city officials push a new ordinance to vote in all citywide races.

>> If they are doing the research, learning it in school, let's give them a chance to vote.

>> The end of a printing error.

New Jersey's largest printing paper will shut down its printed publication.

>> studies have shown cities, towns, places in the U.S. that don't have access to local news consistently over time show higher levels of political corruption.

>> NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

♪ >> from NJPBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Rihanna Vannozzi -- Briana Vannozzi.

>> think you for joining us.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

We begin with a few key stories we are following.

We are now just five days out from election day.

Already, more than 1.3 million people have voted in New Jersey.

That is nearly 20% of all registered voters in the state.

So far, the early total vote is 48% Democrat and 29% Republican.

The rest, 23%, or unaffiliated voters.

Casting ballots for the next president, one U.S. Senate seat, and all 12 seats in Congress.

Along with county and local offices across New Jersey.

Most of the early voting has been done using vote by mail ballots, but there has been steady turnout at the polls.

Which will be open for early voting every day from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. through Saturday.

The hours will shift on Sunday from 10:00 to 6:00.

You can vote at any early voting center in the county where you are registered.

Use either a secure ballot drop box for your vote by mail ballot or have postmarked by 8:00 p.m. on election day.

We have the details on how and where to vote, including guides on candidates and the big issues .

Head to NJ decides 2024, on our website.

The Mount Holly school district in Burlington County is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's office for complaints the district violated the civil rights of students.

Including an 11-year-old girl who died by suicide after her family said she was relentlessly bullied by classmates.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, which first reported the investigation, authorities are looking into complaints the school system discriminated against students based on race, sexual orientation, gender, and national origin.

The probe also includes how Mount Holly schools handled allegations of harassment by students.

The investigation was made public after lawyers for the district recently tried to delay proceedings in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Felicia Menendez who died by suicide in 2023.

Allegedly asked school officials for protections from bullying classmates.

She never got it.

According to the Inquirer, the district is planning to fight both cases and denies any violations of civil rights.

The recent dry spell has turned New Jersey into a tinderbox.

A wildfire is now 90% contained after burning through 40 acres.

The state -- forest fire services no injuries were reported and no structures damaged thankfully.

Fire service crews will remain on the scene and monitor control lines until the state gets significant rain, which could be a while.

Today marks 32 days without measurable rain.

War than half of the state is in a severe drought.

The rest of the state has moderate drought conditions.

According to state data, October has been the driest month ever on record for New Jersey.

We are also having an unseasonably warm into the month.

Temperatures reaching about 80 degrees.

Not great for wildfire potential, but perfect for trick-or-treating.

The heat is beating a decades-old record when it was 81 degrees on October 31, 1946.

>> At long last, relief from a home -- for homeowners stuck in the bow three years after Hurricane Ida turned their lives upside down.

Washing away homes and forcing others to abandon there's while debt racked up.

Governor Murphy on Wednesday signed into law a measure that will put some victims mortgage payments on hold for a year and give them protections from foreclosure during the same time.

Our Senior correspondent reports it took a lot of political wrangling to get the final bill over the finish line.

>> they protested, they lobbied, and they testified.

Finally three years and two months after Hurricane Ida dumped -- dumped eight inches of rain, damaging or destroying thousands of homes, some survivors will get the help they waited and worked for.

A one-year break from mortgage payments.

We asked four survivors what that means for them.

Michelle building beamed.

>> I was shocked.

I was happy, ecstatic.

>> Her family rented for two years after Hurricane Ida flooded them out of their home in Milford.

Bills pile the.

>> It was processing.

Over $37,000 out-of-pocket.

Renting a house, paying a mortgage.

>> It will give us breathing room to get our heads together and get back in the game.

>> Colleen Kane still can't move back home.

Ida trashed the building, plumbing and electrical systems, and their family budget.

>> almost five months behind on mortgage, it will catch me up.

It is a huge reaction.

>> they never gave up.

This will give them the opportunity to trying get their lives right sided.

>> Senator Singleton is a sponsor of the rescue program which also shields survivors from foreclosures for a year.

Governor Murphy vetoed his first bill even though the legislature had passed it unanimously.

Singleton then worked with the front office to address the governor's concerns about possible fraud.

The Bill Murphy finally signed also eases eligibility requirements to include more survivors.

>> the administration has worked diligently to begin the process of already thinking through what the back-office operation needs to look like to move relief faster.

I'm confident we will not have folks waiting too long for the relief.

>> I think people are surprised there are still so many people who are displaced or in very difficult financial situations.

>> Leanna Jones works with New Jersey's organizing project which lobbied hard for the relief program.

She is grateful but notes Hurricane Ida left so many folks financially underwater.

Some did lose their homes.

>> I know it will make a difference to many, it will make a difference to me.

But it is not the end.

The reason we are in such difficult financial situations is largely in part to the fact it takes too long for money to reach disaster survivors.

>> The Department of community affairs will process applications and processes certificate of applicability for those who sustained damage and apply to a list of programs including blue acres.

That opened up eligibility for Debby Josephs.

>> For the next few months, I can focus on paying down some of my expenses incurred for fixing my house.

There is no way for us to get the money back >> She lives in Manville's Lost Valley, which is so flood prone, that DEP will not pay to elevate the homes.

Her only viable option is taking a blue acres bio.

>> You cannot sell it, you cannot afford to fix it the way you want to fix it.

You cannot elevate it.

You are forced to sell it back to the state only for them to tell you this is their offer and you have no choice.

>> She is one of many survivors facing that dilemma in this drawn-out storm recovery.

I'm Brenda Flanagan.

NJ Spotlight News.

>> When it comes to the environment, the transportation sector is the single largest contributor to greenhouse gases.

In New Jersey, it accounts for about 40% of all emissions.

Not to mention the toll it takes on the health and well-being of residents.

The Murphy administration celebrated a massive new grant from the federal EPA to support electric truck charging stations that will be build up and down the I-95 corridor.

Along with providing a certain number of all-new trucks purchased to be electric.

It has drawn the higher of some lobbyists and lawmakers who say New Jersey is just not ready.

As Ted Goldberg reports, they are proposing to delay the clean truck rule by another two years.

>> Andrea's truck looks like your typical truck from a distance.

Until you get close up.

>> you would not normally see such a big catwalk.

The batteries are in the middle here.

>> and realize it is fully electric.

She's been a trucker for four years.

And for most of the past year, she has gotten around thanks to batteries.

Not diesel fuel.

>> the big difference is you don't feel the weight.

You feel like you are on a cloud.

It is awesome.

Compared to where you have an automatic or manual, you have to get that truck going.

>> most important.

>> do you feel you are sacrificing any performance at all?

>> No.

>> It gets up to 240 miles on a full charge, less than on a diesel engine, but good enough for her routes and to change her mind on electric trucks in general.

>> I was skeptical at first.

I have to admit.

Being that I've always driven automatics and even a manual in the beginning.

It was a little different.

I was kind of like -- I don't know.

Kind of interesting.

>> She says driving is a smoother, cleaner experience than driving with diesel.

>> it is very quiet, you don't hear anything.

Sometimes I have to listen like are you still on?

And like lack of exhaust, you don't have to worry about -- it helps the environment.

Truckers as well.

Because we have to deal with leakage are going into the truck.

>> this has become a once in a generation opportunity to clean up our air.

>> she was joined by environmental advocates at the Thomas Edison service area on the Turnpike celebrating the $250 million federal grant that will be used to build charging stations for trucks along I-95.

They say it is a win for the environment and people who won't have to breathe in diesel fuels.

>> this area and other heavily trafficked roads bring an enormous amount of pollution.

Not just to our communities, but our entire region.

>> even apart from the need to take action to reduce climate pollution, we have to protect the lungs of our residents and our kids.

>> the charging stations are needed so truckers can follow state guidelines which require more new truck sales to be zero emission vehicles.

In 2035, all new truck sales will have to be zero emission.

>> Small business owners and large trucking companies have the opportunity to transition their fleet to electric and help reduce the climate emissions creating an 80 degree day in October.

Max the guideline have faced opposition from some in the trucking industry.

>> We are not ready, we are too far over our skis.

The market needs time.

>> This lobbyist says he's not anti-electric truck, but says they are more expensive and require more charging stations than the state has right now.

>> An electric truck is three times the expense of the comparable new regular diesel powered truck.

We are starting the process of putting together the infrastructure with a requirement we start selling a certain percentage of these trucks.

>> We have to bring everybody to the table and figure out how to address issue.

>> Patrick Dykman is skeptical.

>> To propose a mandate of 10% and that the new truck speed... electric at this point is unattainable.

How are they going to do their business?

>> Heath introduced a bill to delay the guidelines for another two years.

Because he doesn't think 100% zero emission trucks are possible by 2035.

>> Anything is possible, but if we get 75%, we are much more advanced than we were in 2024.

>> The grant is good for 24 truck-charging sites on I-95.

State leaders figure out regulations for the new trucks that would use them.

In Wood-Ridge, Ted Goldberg.

>> First it was Newark, now New Jersey's second largest city is pushing an ordinance to let 16 and 17-year-olds vote in certain elections.

The proposal in Jersey City would extend beyond local school boards to all municipal elections.

It echoes an effort at the state level to support -- that has the support of Governor Murphy and other prominent Democrats.

Not everyone is on board.

Some are skeptical teens don't have the maturity to make a quality choice without being swayed by their peers.

Our senior political correspondent takes a deeper look at the issue.

♪ >> In the push for teenage enfranchisement, some Jersey City officials are trying to up the ante.

A former board of Ed member and mayoral candidate says it is time for teenagers 16 and up to be able to vote.

Not just for the board of Ed, but city Council and for mayor.

But as we saw before in Newark, when an ordinance to allow 16-year-olds to vote in school board elections was approved, adults we talked to outside a polling place were a little skeptical, but not entirely against it.

>> I think it is complicated.

I think a lot of the way people communicate or the information is being given to people can be concentrated into one opinion.

So I question if the person who is 16 to 18 has that kind of maturity to be able to distill between what they really think and what they are being told to think.

>> okay.

I like that idea.

They are the ones who -- they are also affected by the school board, and the rules the mayor and the city Council makes.

But I think we probably have to make sure we educate you for it implements.

Because the it can't be a joke, it has to be serious.

>> Olley points out wisdom does not come with age alone.

>> I talk to people who are educated about issues.

One of the best things is they are good at reading this information.

I know some uncles and aunt to send around messages we know are complete misinformation.

They did not grow up in the age of social media.

Young people understand what misinformation is and can identify it quickly.

Ali is an advisor to vote at 16, the organization that has been pushing the issue in the legislature.

And getting support from Governor Murphy.

Zachary is a cochairman of the group.

>> A lot of people are very -- they are making decisions based off the candidate, not necessarily looking at the facts area whereas a lot of students are researching.

Even when they don't have the chance to vote.

If they are doing the research, learning in school, let's give them the chance to vote.

>> The ordinance which has not been formally introduced goes beyond what a similar state bill would do.

It allows for teens to vote in school board elections.

But officials say dozen -- does not specifically disallow them from voting and other local elections.

>> It creates an opportunity to have a strong conversation about what it means to be cynically engaged locally.

In the research I've done, where cities and states have a lot in the United States and abroad, it has done no harm and has engaged voters for a longer time because when you are 16 and 17 voting in a local election, you understand how important your one-vote is.

Is also a great opportunity to bring Civics into the classroom, which has been sorely lacking for quite some time.

>> Supporters say they've got the votes to get the ordinance passed.

Hoping to have it take effect in 2026.

I'm David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.

>> Keep it here for NJ decides 2024 election night coverage.

We are live at 8:00 p.m. with all the results, reporters fanned out across the state at campaign headquarters and in studio political analysis.

That is next Tuesday, November 5.

Also streaming on our YouTube channel and our digital site until the last race is called.

>> Local journalism takes a major blow.

On Wednesday, we learned the state's largest newspaper, the Star-Ledger, will no longer be available in print as of February.

The decision to shut down the facility comes amid rising costs and less demand for printed paper.

While that is not a surprise, it is disappointing for a paper with storied history in New Jersey.

The ledger is also laying off its editorial board and other dailies like the Times of Trenton, South Jersey times, and the hundred 10 County Democrat will no longer be printed.

The worst of it all is the journal that covered Hudson County news and politics for 157 years is shutting down entirely.

For more on what this means about the states media landscape, I'm joined by the director for Cooperative media at Montclair State University.

Thank you for talking.

A lot of trying to wrap their heads around what this will mean, especially for a place like Hudson County, known for political corruption.

Where we are not going to have a field of reporters dedicated specifically to news there anymore.

>> yes.

That to me was the biggest part of the announcement that hit me.

The closing of the Jersey Journal.

There are some other small news organizations that operate in Hudson County.

Hudson County view, some left side -- some lifestyle organizations.

Some small startups, slice of coach run out of Saint Peter's University.

Nothing like the Jersey Journal.

150 plus years, the Jersey Journal has been covering that County.

This will mean there aren't people anymore at government meetings, a lot of events happening in Jersey City and around the county.

It is a really huge blow.

>> What type of news do we miss when we don't have the watchdogs of the Free Press looking at some of the mundane, which are government meetings?

>> Some of the things people will see most immediately will be lack of coverage of mundane things.

Like zoning decisions, Township decisions, city decisions.

Even things as simple as when is leaf pickup or what happened at the latest Board of Education meeting.

Over time.

That leads to a lot more.

Studies have shown cities and towns and places that don't have access to local news show higher levels of political corruption.

People are less likely to engage cynically.

Voting goes down.

It leads to a lot of other things longer term.

That is what I'm most worried about.

I think this is a moment for entrepreneurs and other organizations like the New Jersey civic information Consortium to step up and figure out what we can do to prevent that from happening in Hudson County.

>> I should note other outlets, ours included, cover Hudson County.

But none were dedicated in the way the journal was.

And of course, 157 years.

Let me shift gears.

I think the headline that really took everyone was the Star-Ledger.

The state's largest newspaper ending publication.

They will continue their work online, but you will no longer have the print paper.

We saw this coming.

>> We saw that coming.

I worked for advance when they closed in 2009.

I have lived in a community and I was a reporter when our local new shutdown and the print went away.

It is really hard in a local level and statewide level.

That was 15 years ago.

Things are different now, but there's still a portion of our population that really depends on having a printed newspaper.

That is especially true for ethnic and immigrant communities in our state.

Even though we saw this coming, it is still going to hurt people.

People are going to be looking for something else to fill that gap.

I'm hopeful we can help show people there are great online news sources, such as NJ Spotlight News, that you can turn to.

And even show people how to use some of those online news sources while print goes away.

Print is not going to come back, it is becoming a niche product in media.

>> What is the center doing in light of this and the ongoing work you have been doing to make sure local media stays alive?

>> We got a lot of people in my inbox asking that question.

We will host a meeting in a couple of weeks, gathering some stakeholders across the state and people working local news.

Hopefully people who work at the Jersey Journal, to talk about the immediate impacts in Hudson County, but also longer-term.

That will include folks from the civic info Consortium.

We want to try and work together to see what we can do to help make this change the least harmful it can be to our state.

>> Stephanie Murphy, thank you.

>> That will do it for us tonight.

Before we go, if you want to get to know the candidates running in your district, check out our NJ decides 2024 election exchange podcast.

David Cruz, Colleen O'Day, and I go one-on-one with the candidates running for the 12 congressional states up for grabs and the only U.S. Senate seat on the ballot in New Jersey.

Download the entire series wherever you listen and hear why they think they deserve your vote.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

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

Happy Halloween.

We will see you back here tomorrow.

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♪