Briana: Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, global unity.

President Biden joins 140 four leaders at the U.N. General assembly, stressing the need to stand up to Russia and any other future aggressors.

>> That was an important part of the speech to signal to the world as well as to the audience that the U.S. is engaged.

Briana: Plus, bridging the gap.

After two decades, Newark finally breaks down on a $110 million pedestrian bridge.

>> And now we are building a bridge that will add to the upgrade at Prince Station and connect communities that were divided because of McCarter Highway.

Briana: Also, no deal in sight.

>> It is time to have serious negotiations.

Briana: Nurses reject RWJ University Hospital's latest proposal, blasting the hospital for what they call extreme anti-labor tactics.

And, NJ decides 2023.

With every seat in the legislature upper grabs this November, a deep dive into the hot button issues and who is runningin the Jersey shore's 11th district.

>> Everybody is going to be trying to get every vote that they can to turn out in these low turnout elections.

And it is a real tossup at this point.

Briana: NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

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♪ From NJ PBS, this is NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi.

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

I Briana Vannozzi.

amPresident Biden today stood before the world's top leaders, urging them to embrace what he called an inflection point in our globe's history.

In his third speech as president to the U.N. General assembly in Manhattan, Biden outlined his vision for tackling global challenges like climate change and public health crises.

Using the annual speech to forcefully call on allies to preserve peace, prevent conflict come and stand up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

That war, now in its second year, casting a shadow over the event.

He rallied leaders to stand firm against Putin's aggression, drawing applause for saying Russia alone is responsible for the Bloody conflict and Russia alone has the power to immediately end the war.

The president touted efforts to connect India and Europe, strengthen developing nation's infrastructure, and responsibly manage conflict with China.

>> Our history need not dictate our future.

With the conservative leadership and careful effort, adversaries can become partners.

Overwhelming challenges can be resolved.

And deep wounds can heal.

We know our future is bound to yours.

And no nation can meet the challenges of today alone.

Briana: The speech, coming at a time of high political stakes too, with the 2024 presidential election in Biden's sights.

For more I am joined by Alain Sanders from Saint Peter's University.

Professor, we heard President Biden hit on these tenents of democracy, talking about sovereignty, human rights.

Is this what we expected to hear from President Biden given all of the conflicts going on right now?

Alain: He did in passing mention other crises like climate change but certainly democracy was a big theme of his speech.

In part because he sees that as a global danger but also because he sees that as a danger here in the U.S.. His campaign is based in large measure on preserving and protecting democracy.

So he filled the need for domestic politics as well as international politics.

Briana: There was quite a bit of climate crisis as a thread throughout his hitting on issues with China and also artificial intelligence and how nations need to work together.

What we heard less of than what most of us expected was talk on the War in Ukraine and Russia.

Of course Vladimir Putin notably not there.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in the hall.

Let's hear a quick soundbite of what the president had to say on that.

>> Russia believes that the world will grow weary and allow it to brutalize Ukraine without consequence.

But I ask you this.

If we abandon the core principles of the United States to appease an aggressor, can any member in this body feel confident that they are protected?

Briana: Professor Sanders, does the president's message aligned with what Ukrainian leaders were hoping to hear?

Alain: I think it aligns quite well with what they were hoping to hear.

What was also significant is his remarks on Ukraine and protecting Ukrainian sovereignty and standing with Ukraine was the only part of his speech that drew applause from the general assembly audience.

The fact that like people like Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi are not there, provided an opportunity to speak unimpeded and trying to convince leaders of the U.S. position.

The speech is just a formality.

What is also important are the meetings that occur in and around the actual assembly session.

Briana: I thought it was interesting that he began with talking about our relationship in Vietnam, and did the speech with Ukraine.

What, if anything, it you?

Where do you think the president hit his stride?

Alain: I think he hit his stride throughout the speech.

Certainly what you mentioned work important items in his speech.

U.S. engagement and U.S. willingness to adapt to changes in the world environment.

It was important for the president globally and domestically is to show he was focused and engaged.

He faces a lot of pushback on his age and his ability to command the stage because of his age.

He was very intent on showing he is focused and determined and knows full well all the details of foreign global policy and by implication, all the details of national policy.

Briana: Alain Sanders is professor emeritus at St. Peter's University.

Thank you so much.

Alain: My pleasure.

Briana: Just before President Biden took the stage delivering that bruising message to Russia, a Moscow court declined to hear an appeal from detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

The 31-year-old New Jersey native is seeking release from Russian jail on espionage charges that he, the Journal, and the U.S. government deny.

The Moscow city court said it is sending the case back to a lower court, meaning he will remain in jail until at least November 30 awaiting trial, for which no date has been set.

Just before the hearing ended, Gershkovich appeared in the glass defendant cage smiling wearing a yellow sweater and blue jeans.

The U.S. ambassador to Russia easily made her fourth visit with the journalist and was in the courtroom today, noting Gershkovich remains strong and is keeping up with the news.

Talks of a prisoner swap between the White House and the Kremlin have taken place, but so far, failed to secure his release.

A key piece of the so-called Newark revival today finally broke ground.

A long talked about pedestrian bridge ducting Newark Penn Station and the ironbound to the Preudential Center in Mulberry Commons.

It is literally and figuratively bringing together two parts of a city that are still in the midst of profound change.

As senior political correspondent David Cruz reports, the new walkway represents so much more.

David: As a councilman on his way to becoming a mayor, Raz Parada was never a fan of the Prudential arena, built as it was with lots of public money.

At today's groundbreaking for a new pedestrian bridge though, the two-term mayor with presumed gubernatorial ambitions was a bit more pragmatic about things.

>> I am happy, number one.

Number two, we were never against the arena.

We were more interested in developing Symphony Hall and all those other things.

But this has proven to be an incredible asset to the city of Newark, the Prudential arena, everything around it.

David: It was suggested these pedestrian bridges have long been seen as a means of keeping corporate employees and tourists away from the hoi polloi of the Penn Station neighborhood.

Cynical says Baraka, spinning the bridge as something more than a concert arena.

>> You cannot stop cynicism.

But that is why we are here.

We are trying to be progressive and fight against cynicism.

At the end of the day hopefully they don't want to avoid them.

They can help us to provide for them.

So this bridge will also accompany a station we are building up the street for homeless so they can clean themselves up, get resources.

David: The bridge, as envisioned in these colorful renderings, is part of a long-awaited downtown come back that you can almost see from this scenic view atop the Ironside building which is adjacent to Mulberry Commons.

The biggest obstacle the bridge will overcome is McCarter Highway.

Six, often busy lanes, that officials say was an impediment to progress, connecting to Penn Station and turning this series of parking lots into a vibrant community in just a few years.

Governor Murphy was here today.

The state has kicked in several million dollars to the project, which will cost over $100 million all told.

>> He had lots to say about the potential transformative effect the bridge could have.

>> You are going to unleash an enormous amount of development and that will be hugely important to Newark, to jobs, to the economy.

And all the stuff that goes with that.

The restaurants, the drycleaners, the diners, coffee shops, etc.

I think almost a bigger impact is going to be societally.

Families that cannot traverse McCarter Highway will feel free and safe to do so.

I just think the society, the backbone of society in Newark will be so strengthened.

It is already strong.

This will take it to another level.

David: In case you are one of the cynics the mayor chastised, Baraka says, come see us in a couple years.

In Newark, I'm David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: The strike was on for more than 17 hundred union nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

The union overwhelmingly voted today to reject the latest contract proposal from RWJ health, which is an underwriter of NJ Spotlight News.

The latest offer contained a three-year employment agreement and would have put an end to the six week long work stoppage.

But leaders of United Steelworkers local 4200 say addressing short staffing remains their key priority, and the latest proposal does not go far enough.

The union was given three options from the hospital during a six-hour mediation session last week.

Agree to the terms presented, enter in binding arbitration, or continue to strike.

A spokesperson for RWJ said in a statement today, the newest offer included the state's highest staffing standards and pay for nurses.

It is urging the union to work with the hospital to reach a resolution.

The union president tells NJ Spotlight News her members are not backing down.

>> They want safety for their patients, further license.

Nursing is a very hard profession nowadays.

They want safe staffing.

Safe staffing as it is.

So that our patients get the best care they can possibly get and that a nurse stays at the bedside.

This is for the future of nursing and they need to come through with ratios print Briana: Down the road at Saint Peter's University Hospital, labor and delivery nurses are being primed on a new approach to childbirth.

Centered around shared decision-making, it ensures the medical staff and the patient are on the same page throughout the birthing process.

A simple concept that has been touted by midwives for decades, shown to improve maternal mortality rates but only recently put into practice.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis has the story.

>> How does the patient feel safe?

It is when everybody on that team, their village is looking out for them.

And we are a health care village.

Joanna: Health care leaders gathered at Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick for the official launch of a birthing program called Team Birth that is meant to improve outcomes for women and infants in New Jersey.

>> Women are saying I was not heard, or their partner way saying I tried to explain, nobody listened to me.

So with Team Birth it is a simple concept what it does is it really includes the patient and centers of the patient in the conversations and discussions.

Joanna: The program is in its early stages and if you New Jersey hospitals implement what -- implemented to help improve maternal outcomes, especially for Black women.

A key part of the approaches including the birthing mom in the plan.

>> We have these pauses.

Some people call them huddles but we call them a pause.

It is a time for the team and that is the care team.

That also involves her, her support person.

That we all come together and talk about what the plan of care is.

Joanna: What does that look like when things go wrong, when decisions need to be made quickly?

>> It is even more important when things go wrong and you have to make quick decisions.

Oftentimes that discussion is being made outside the room with the physician, midwife, and the nurse.

Joanna: and often she has no say.

>> Right.

And she is not given all the details.

Now with Team Birth, this is taking place in the room.

Joanna: Team Birth is part of a state pilot program federally funded through the Department of Health and it is a major piece of first lady Tammy Murphy's program.

>> We want to make sure this is the Siri -- safest place to raise your baby.

The level of innovation in talking to the mom and the family, bringing everyone together, making sure everyone's voice is heard, that is what we are looking for.

Joanna: Here at St. Peter's, the Team Birth approaches used in stable or -- as well as in the birthing center.

>> We are completely separate than on labor and delivery yet if you need help they are here.

Joanna: The health care quality Institute and nurture NJ would like to see more hospitals take on this Team Birth approach and make it a key part of the process.

>> To think a lot of times people think a midwife is someone who only attends births with people who don't want epidurals and don't want interventions and things like that.

We have course support that and we love that experience for people but we all work as a team could I need something from my OB/GYN's they are therefore made but when they have a patient that is looking for a birthing experience similar to what we provide, we are there for them as well.

>> Midwives tend to be trained to have this type of care and it comes more naturally to them anyway.

It is effective to have Team Birth rollout in hospitals with strong nursing leads any midwifery presence because they can be champions for this.

Joanna: Team Birth is creating systemic change in the hospitals adopting it.

>> It really creates that empowerment and that person-centered kind of feeling.

When the decision-making of their care before, during and after birth, is between the patient and the provider.

Joanna: She believes the Team Birth results will speak for themselves and more hospitals will sign on.

I'm Joanna Gagis, NJ Spotlight News.

>> Support for the medical report is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

Briana: In our spotlight on business report, for the second time in as many months, Paterson city Council is blocking an attempt by the mayors office to increase the number of stores selling legal weed.

Members voted down a proposal that would have bumped cannabis retail licenses in the city from three to 10, and ease other regulations.

As Ted Goldberg reports, the decision could be stifling the very economic growth Paterson needs.

Ted: John De Los Santos quit his job as an EMT two years ago to bring recreational cannabis to Paterson.

>> Is a passion overall.

There is a lot of actual medical benefits I wholeheartedly agree that cannabis can provide for the community.

Ted: The Paterson native got state approval last year but has run into roadblocks on the local level.

>> When I had received was my application was lost.

Ted: De Los Santos says he was Paterson's first applicant for recreational cannabis after the silk city approved recreational sales last September.

In that time, three other companies in Paterson have gotten licenses.

>> I am a resident of this town, but yet other interests have been chosen over me.

Ted: Paterson only had three recreational licenses to hand out.

This limbo has already cost De Los Santos one location, and he could lose another if the Paterson city Council does not issue him a license by October 21.

>> This is my hometown.

2% problem of revenue would go to the town, and I would like it to go to the town I live.

>> That is why we are trying to raise the number of licenses to 10, so that we can meet the need, or at least accommodate the demand that exists.

Ted: Mayor Andre Sayegh has clashed with city Council over how many licenses the city should allow.

>> We were ending for 10.

Because the demand is very high.

Ted: Paterson city Council did not go for that plan, voting it down last week there a six-hour meeting that got a little testy.

Sayegh says Paterson's lone dispensary has proven that the city can handle cannabis without sacrificing quality of life.

>> We were able to generate tax revenue.

Also, they created job opportunities for Paterson he ends.

-- Patersonians.

And if you are coming from a social justice perspective, people were able to get their lives back together as a result.

>> we have no problem with them.

They have good security in a good way to manage their business.

Ted: He was one of six Council members to vote down the plan.

He believes too many dispensaries could actively harm Paterson.

>> I don't look as the financial part only.

I look at the quality of life.

If students are walking by a cannabis place, who is going to be looking into they are not selling to minors?

Ted: He is not alone with his concerns.

Paterson city Council voted 6-2 to reject a plan that included seven more licenses to sell recreational cannabis.

>> The Council understood the negative impact and the majority of us voted against it.

Ted: She was one of the two to support the additional licenses.

>> This is not any difference then -- th liquor storesan.

I do not consume it.

But guess what?

That is the individual.

>> If you are vision is to see if Paterson that's filled with liquor stores and dispensaries, then vote for this.

>> I see this as something that will benefit the city in terms of our budget, in terms of bringing jobs to the city.

Ted: While selling cannabis might be legal in Paterson, getting a license to sell has become a tall task.

Even for people raised in Paterson who want to keep their business in the community.

Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: On Wall Street, investors appear on edge this week as the Federal Reserve meets.

Here is how the markets closed.

Election season is in full swing and Republicans are looking to pick up a number of legislative seats this fall.

One battleground is erupting in district 11 along the Jersey shore where the incumbent is the only remaining Democrat representing the area.

And culture war issues have the potential to upend the entire race.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports.

Brenda: The hot district on this fall's legislative Markey is in Monmouth County where Republican challenger Steve Dnistrian, a relative newcomer from Colts Neck, is vying to unseat incumbent Senate Democrat Vin Gopal.

It is a race boiled by issues like parental rights and offshore wind.

And with no big races topping the ballot in this off year election, analysts predict a rumble.

>> It's going to be a knockdown, drag-out.

Everybody's going to be trying to get every vote that they can to turn out in these low-turnout elections and it's a real toss-up.

It is a real question at this point.

Brenda: So who is Steve Dnistrian?

His opponents call him a radical .

He was originally a Democrat but he says he switched parties over IRS intrusions.

He's a devout catholic but won't say where he stands on abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

You won't tell me where you stand on abortion?

>> no.

I will let my constituent tell me where they stand because I am supposed to represent them.

That is what representative democracy is all about.

Brenda: Dnistrian also would not say whether he would support Donald Trump candidacy.

On issues like offshore wind, Dnistrian tweeted about possible links to whale deaths, questioned the cost to ratepayers, and called for a moratorium on development until lawmakers get clearer answers.

But he also profited from representing a company that wanted a piece of offshore wind business.

>> I'm not opposed to offshore wind, but given the number of deaths of dolphins and whales washing up on our shores, correlated with the increase of the sonar mapping of the ocean, the responsible thing to do here is just to tap the brakes.

Brenda: Federal researchers blame whale deaths on climate change and ship strikes.

Gopal is bluntly critical.

>> The last thing Trent needs is another hypocritical politician.

I don't understand how you cannot disclose he worked for the industry you are now railing against.

Brenda: On the parental rights movement, which seeks to inform parents about students' gender transitions, Dnistran is sympathetic and says parents should lead the discussion in each district.

It is now a court battle, but Gopal says he doesn't think the state attorney general should be suing over local school policies.

>> I don't want anything hidden from any parent and until they can show me where that's actually happening, this is a manufactured political message to try to confuse, misleading parents to hope that they come out and vote, and vote through fear.

Brenda: Gopal won reelection with about 3000 votes in 2021 when both his assembly running mates lost to Republicans.

This time, he's facing a very different race in a redrawn jerk tricked to include 14,000 more registered Democrats.

But most voters here remain unaffiliated.

The trick for both candidates is getting them to the polls.

I am Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: That is going to do it for us tonight but don't forget to download the NJ Spotlight News podcast so you can listen anytime.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

For the entire NJ Spotlight News team, thanks for being with us.

Have a great evening.

We will see you right back here tomorrow.

Announcer: NJM insurance group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

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And by the PSEG foundation.

>> Have some water.

Look at these kids.

What do you see?

I see myself.

I became an ESL teacher to give my students what I wanted when I came to this country.

The opportunity to learn, to dream, to achieve, a chance to be known, and to be an American.

My name is Julia, and I am proud to be an NJEA member.

♪