BRIANA: Tonight on "NJ Spotlight news coaster social solidarity.

Records students and faculty joined the picket line is the nurse's strike enters a day 63.

>> it is not about the money.

It is about the same staffing for our patients.

Plus, community members share their experiences with the anti-bullying task force looking to address harassment, intimidation and bullying in our state schools.

>> we must do better.

We must help our babies.

BRIANA: Also, if that runs from overhaul.

Governor Murphy and state leaders announce a new oversight plan for our veterans homes after a scathing DOJ report criticized operations during the pandemic.

>> there is plenty of work to be done.

BRIANA: " to resign after a customer and pushes a police officer during a public meeting.

>> At this most recent meeting, he push the officer.

BRIANA: "NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

>> funding for NJSpotlightNews provided by the members of the members of the New Jersey education Association, making public schools great for every child.

RWJ Barnabas Health.

let's be healthy together.

And Orsted, committed to the creation of a new, long-term, sustainable, clean energy future for New Jersey.

♪ ♪ From NJPBS, this is "NJSpotlightNews" with Brianna Vannozzi.

BRIANA: Thank you for joining us on this Thursday night.

A I am Brianna Vannozzi.

The turmoil at Rutgers University spilled into the streets as crowds of faculty, staff and students staged a walkout from classes in front of the portable Bissen Center in new work, protesting in solidarity with union members from Rutgers, New Brunswick and nurses at the University Hospital that have been on the picket line for more than two months.

They chanted and carried signs as the board met inside the school directors community says they are fed up over a number of recent decisions by leadership from arresting the Chancellor at the Newark campus, to emerging medical schools and rejecting that nurses union contract terms.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis has a story.

[chanting] REPORTER: Her hundreds of nurses from the University Hospital in New Brunswick joined with faculty, staff and students from Rutgers University in the work, protesting a range of concerns.

Unions share.

[Protestors chanting] They are on day 63 of a strike that has left them without pay or health benefits.

Their cries today were to stand strong and keep fighting.

>> we as nurses are looking for a safe contract, a fair contract.

It is not about the money.

It is about the safe staffing for our patients, which if we get the safe staffing, every single nurse in this state stands to benefit from our victory!

[APPLAUSE] >> If not for the corporate greed -- [APPLAUSE] -- then nurses deserve a fair contract.

We deserve safe staffing.

Mr. Madigan, Mr. Arnold, Mr. Lee , Ms. Bowles, all of you, these nurses out here are nurses at the bedside.

We are in the trenches.

We are the ones that take care of you!

REPORTER: Nurse Stoner calling out the members of the records Board of Governors that held their meeting here on campus today.

In the room when hospital president Mike Madigan as well as Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway.

The school and hospital are connected through the merger of the Rutgers New Jersey medical school and at Robert Wood Johnson medical school.

[Protestors chanting] REPORTER: Rutgers University staff have a contract.

They are out here today in solidarity with the University Hospital nurses, and they are also calling for the removal of Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway.

>> When a vote on the medical school merger occurs despite the input of impacted faculty, staff, and students?

And when it is abruptly decided not to renew a Chancellor's contract despite a stellar performance and resounding support from the community, it can therefore be determined that something is broken at the leadership level of this institution!

[APPLAUSE] REPORTER: This student representative referring to the President Assad letting go of Newark Chancellor in August.

At the end of September, the Rutgers University Senate passed a vote of no-confidence for Holloway.

>> We will not sit by as courses are cut in the name of austerity, harming both lecturers and their students.

Will not stay silent while management falsely and shamelessly blames our contract victory for unnecessary tuition hikes.

REPORTER: The calls for Holloway's of start weren't the only ones heard today.

>> There is no place for a CEO like Mike Madigan on the board of records where his unionbusting and refusing to support basic patient safety.

>> They are trying to break our union.

They have a lot of hospitals in this state and they are afraid that if we are successful, they will have to extend a good contractor everybody, which would be the mentor them, terrible.

But to the community, it would be amazing.

REPORTER: Robert Wood Johnson is an part of an underwriter of NJSpotlightNews.

They say do look forward to resuming negotiations tomorrow and hope the Union shares our commitment to achieving resolution.

A federal monitor will be present during the talks tomorrow.

In work, I am Joanna Gagis, NJ Spotlight News.

BRIANA: Families of bullied students offered heartbreaking testimony at a public hearing Wednesday night for the state for such new anti-bullying task force as it looks for ways to improve how school districts address the rising instances of bullying, harassment and intimidation.

It comes as the state has faced an onslaught of bullying incidents and complains that severe bullying incidents, and complains about New Jersey's anti-bullying laws aren't doing enough to protect the students who are targeted.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports.

>> we must do better.

We must help our babies.

We are failing miserably at protecting them.

Reporter: her voice broke as Elena Lo albo told New Jersey's anti-bullying task force about her late daughter Felicia.

The 11 year sixth-grader, a student in the Mount Holly School District, died this past February after enduring relentless bullying, her mother said.

>> My daughter attempted suicide by hanging herself in the high school bathroom, which resulted in her passing on February 8.

We sandwich it into the schools for an education, not so they can be determined and ignored.

Reporter: this panel is tasked with making changes recommending improvements to New Jersey's anti-bullying Bill of Rights Act enacted in 2011.

They called this hearing -- >> So we can hear some more powerful stories of students staff and families and better ways that we can help.

REPORTER: They listened as families, educators and officials told stories.

Many asked for stricter guidelines to hold school districts more accountable for reporting so-called harassment , intimidation and bullying, or HIB events.

>> I think having some type of system or HIB policies would be helpful.

>> Sweeping them under the rug just enables them to get better funding.

REPORTER: Parents like Nicole also asked for better enforcement of school reporting guidelines.

Her eight-year-old son Matt is disabled and a target of bullying, she told the task force.

>> My son has tried to scratch and harm himself.

I know it is a direct result of bullying.

I will never forget the hurt he felt at being ostracized in that school.

REPORTER: She has pulled him out of classes in the Woodlynne Borough school system.

>> Investigations were not taken place.

I am still waiting for HIBs from March and they still have not been done to this day.

The year has started and my child is at home now because he still doesn't feel safe at school.

REPORTER: We reached out to the Willingboro and Mount Holly school districts for comment but got no response.

New Jersey has been rocked by recent high-profile student bullying and suicide cases including one in Berkeley and another in Rockaway.

Both those cases also involved cyber bullying, kids posting on social media.

Task force members to work green -- >> We need to be holding social media companies responsible.

Ever since they began, they have been profiting like crazy off of the suffering of kids.

They have been completely irresponsible.

Reporter: some witnesses said skates need more resources to deal with the rise in students' mental health problems.

Others complain New Jersey needs to broaden its rules, which require a distant classification such as race or gender, for events to qualify as bullying.

Lauren took her daughter out of public school.

>> The staff in it and they did nothing.

I was told, Mrs. Cohen, although your daughter is experiencing bullying, she is not protected, because she is not different.

REPORTER: The task force advised parents, they couldn't intervene in individual cases.

The task force will issue a final report with its recommendations to the Governor and the legislature by the end of this year.

In Trenton, I am Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

BRIANA: New Jersey state-run veterans homes are getting a major overhaul, following a blistering report from the Department of Justice which criticized the facility for high COVID-19 death totals, a field pandemic response, and for medical care that continues today.

Governor Murphy and a handful of leaders on Wednesday announced plans to reform how New Jersey overseas veteran homes by taking the facilities out of the Department of military and Veterans Affairs and into a new state agency.

For more details, I am joined by our health care writer, leader Stainton.

It's good to talk to you.

We have had so many, it seems, reports, out the last few days about the veterans homes, what specifically is this land that Democrats seem to be in agreement with?

LILO: The first thing is they called it a conceptual plan.

It is clear that it will take some time to put into action.

It is basically three parts.

There is discussion about creating legislation that would essentially move the veterans homes out of what is now called the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs into a new entity with cabinet-level authority.

They also are talking about appointing a veterans advocate at a fairly high-level that could raise these issues in the future.

And the third piece is there is an acceptance or acknowledgment that the federal government is likely to send a federal monitor to oversee any changes as they sat in their statement, it was something that was put in place at the Department of children and families and probably helped the process to make sure that children and families are being better served.

So they were looking at this as a positive opportunity to make change.

BRIANA: I mean, this is a pretty big move, to completely dismantle how the department works right now.

What specifically was so scathing in the report that prompted this?

LILO: The report talked about understaffing, lack of understanding basic control protocols.

Poor communication with families and within the staff.

There is a whole litany of problems.

I think the real issue is that, a COVID was devastating in nursing homes across the state and across the country.

This was not uniquely a New Jersey problem, but there seemed to be a real reluctance to deal with the problems upfront at the veterans homes.

Things like telling staff not to wear masks the first few weeks because it would scare people.

I mean, those are just actions that we now know are completely counter to what we needed to be doing to control the spread of Covid.

Pretty glaring stuff.

Improvements have been made, they have done oversight, they have sent in experts from the state so there are changes underway.

But more to come.

BRIANA: So it sounds like there is a lot of coalescing around this idea.

It's not the first time, though, that we have heard this brought up.

What is the history there for them to finally arrive at this position?

LILO: Well, interestingly enough, Senators have been working on legislation for some time.

Interestingly enough, the governor's office pointed out to us this morning in email that Governor Murphy actually raised the issue of separating or dismantling the organization in some way back in 2016 during his campaign, which is an interesting point but it does raise questions about what hasn't happened yet.

BRIANA: You mentioned that it is not just limited to the veterans' homes.

There have been other scathing reports about nursing homes, about folks with intellectual disabilities who were in nursing homes and died from COVID as a result of the poor care.

What is happening in the state?

Why this lack of oversight?

LILO: I think to be fair, part of this is things that have been going on for a long time that we are learning about all at once.

So some of this is perception.

But to be honest, there is the question of oversight here.

One of the things that was particularly interesting to me that was in the federal audit from the Inspector General Department of Health and human and senior services that came out this week was, they noted that DOH seems to be very literal when it comes to enforcing the rules.

There seems to be some disagreement on how you interpret the rules and what the goals are.

Is it regulatory to meet the letter of the law, are to protect the people who live there?

Lilo Stainton, thanks as always.

BRIANA: Paterson Mayor Andrzej Sikora is calling for city Council member to immediately resign after an official meeting nearly turned valid Tuesday night.

Consummate Michael Jackson is shown in video getting in the face of longtime rival Luis Valez and then pushing a police officer who tries to intervene.

This is not the first time Jackson has been in the hot seat, or has been called on to resign.

>> Shut him up before I shut him up myself.

>> Council members, please.

REPORTER: They Council meeting in Paterson took a turn for the worst Tuesday night when tempers turned physical when consummate Michael Jackson became infuriated with Federal Council and Luis Valez after he said the valez was provoking him when talking about a cousin who was killed in a shooting.

>> Consummate Jackson was speaking about issues that articulate inner-city.

REPORTER: At one point Jackson was seen walking to where Luis Valez was seated when a police officer intervenes, and Jackson, in turn, pushes the officer.

>> Mike!

Come on, Mike!

REPORTER: Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh is now calling for consummate Jackson to resign.

Saying it is only because this is in the first time Jackson has been in the hot seat.

>> Michael Jackson put his hand on the woman earlier this year at a public meeting.

He has twice threatened consummate Luis Valez at a public meeting.

And at this most recent public meeting, he shoved the police officer.

There is no reason why he should put his hands on anyone, let alone a police officer.

>> I am planning to also charge him for this one because, the way that he came to me after the police intervened, he pushed the police.

He pulled my nose.

I am still sitting at my desk.

I don't get up.

I got more to lose.

>> I never touched anyone.

The only person I touched was the officer who touched me.

The officer was right there, he would have known if I touched him.

.

He was there doing his job.

And if I touched him, I would have been in handcuffs since the incident, the mayor and.

REPORTER: Velez said they have felt unsafe and have decided to hold meetings virtually.

>> He is like Trump.

He has been charged and charged.

He is like Teflon.

That has got to end.

It's not fair to consummate Luis Valez.

They are in fear when they go to these meetings because they don't know what they're going to do with his outburst.

>> It's obvious that neither of them have growing up in this community.

If they want to feel safe, they should walk in my ward.

Thousands of times, every time someone comes to the microphone, there is a displeasure with the mayor.

Never, not once has there been a moment where someone has had that same episode with consummate Jackson.

REPORTER: A community activist,, Corey Teague, says Jackson is an important and critical voice to have in the community, and says Mayor Sayegh does not appreciate that.

>> The mayor is making calls to whoever he can on a political level to try to silence his voice, because, to be honest, he wants to put somebody in that first Ward seat that will be in lockstep with him, so he doesn't have anyone to challenging him up there.

>> If he has got good things to get to the community, give them back to the community.

I'm not going to expect an apology, he is not the type of people to apologize.

REPORTER: Mayor Sayegh is calling for Jackson's resignation, that Jackson and Ally Cory Teague say Mayor Sayegh should resign.

For NJ Spotlight News, I am Raven Santana.

BRIANA:.

BRIANA: In our Spotlight on Business Report, the years-long fight between the Jersey shore town that is home to a toxic waste site, is far from over.

Toms River joined an environmental group filing a lawsuit this week to overturn a recent settlement reached between New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection, and the company that polluted the ground and water there for decades.

The damage lead to health problems for people living in and around Toms River, including a rise in childhood cancer cases.

As Ted Goldberg reports, critics are calling the settlement a sweetheart deal.

REPORTER: The settlement proposal hasn't gone over well in Toms River.

Now the Township is joining same partner bay to sue and start the settlement from happening.

>> They have been exploiting the residents of Toms River and our environment for the last 60 years.

REPORTER: The mayor says the lawsuit challenges the proposal on multiple fronts.

>> The state gives them 250 acres that they can market as commercial real estate, which we don't think it's fair to the residents of Toms River.

That land should be deeded to Toms River as open space.

REPORTER: Under a proposal accepted by the DEP, BASF would pay the state $500,000 as part of the Natural Resources damage settlement.

BASF owns the site which polluted Toms River groundwater for decades.

The environmental organizations, save better convey allege the damage is worse than the $500,000, estimating the true value to be $1 billion.

>> They were relying upon, in their words, a Greenacres valuation that was in a piece of property we were engaged with in Bretton-Woods.

That is a mature, wooded parcel.

Not a former Superfund site.

The value of those two pieces of land are vastly recent.

Many of the executive director says the settlement proposal violates New Jersey's spill act and accuses the DEP of not giving the public enough time to comment on the proposal.

>> we were called by the DEP into a private Izyum meeting in September along with an entourage of environmental groups and this is when we first learned about the deal.

They had only given them 30 days for public comment.

30 days that started on December 5, through the holiday period, of which we complained immediately about.

First of all, the law requires 60 days.

REPORTER: This attorney represents save Barnegat Bay but not the Toms River.

He says part of the settlement render the proposal null and void.

>> You can't do environmental or restoration projects on property where it is against local zoning to do it.

Toms River has local zoning ordinances to say we don't find that there is any ecological uplift in putting environmental easements on contaminated properties.

REPORTER: Peter is not part of the lawsuit, but he is providing technical assistance Save Barnegat Bay after living in Toms River for more than 40 years.

>> The reason they came here is the -- they were making.

They have to be stable.

The color of the wastewater matched the color of the river so nobody would notice.

REPORTER:.

REPORTER: You can see the fence surrounding the site from his home.

The first finding of contaminated water was in the 1980's.

>> Mercury, cadmium, chromium.

REPORTER: According to EPA data, those were the three chemicals dumped into the ground.

He has spoken out against the settlement many times, saying it doesn't cover the extent of the damage caused by Seabrook Agee.

>> A number of the people that had worked there showed me on maps where they had dumped barrels and crushed them, and the EPA was not even interested in looking there because they felt they could pick up their contamination before it left the property.

REPORTER: The DEP tells us they don't comment on litigation, a lawsuit that could take a while, leaving folks frustrated in Toms River.

For NJSpotlightNews, I am Ted Goldberg.

BRIANA: The political chaos in Washington is fueling uncertainty in the markets.

Here are today's closing trading numbers.

♪ BRIANA: Be sure to tuning this weekend to NJ Business Beat with Raven Santana.

She surveys the landscape of higher education in New Jersey from financial struggles for a recitations to unique workforce training programs and the latest effort to wipe away student loan debt.

Watch on the NJSpotlightNews Youtube channel Saturday at 10:00 a.m. ♪ BRIANA: And make sure you catch "Reporters Roundtable" with David Cruise tomorrow.

David kicks off the show with the Republicans Senator about why the GOP caucus is calling for hearings into Senator Menendez's dealings with the New Jersey Attorney General's office.

And a panel of local reporters break down this week's big political headlines.

Watch roundtable Thursday at -- Friday at noon on the Youtube channel.

Also a reminder, you can download the podcasts so you can listen anytime.

That does it for us tonight.

I am Breana Vannozzi.

For the entire NJSpotlightNews team, thanks for being with us and have a great evening.

We will see you tomorrow.

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