>> Tonight on NJ Spotlight News.

The senior senator pleaded not guilty to all federal charges as he, his wife and two other defendants appear in a New York courtroom.

Menendez surrendering his password and paying a $100,000 bond.

>> It is time for him to show some respect for our democracy and resigned.

>> Challenging Menendez.

The U.S. representative, Andy is the first to throw his hat in to unseat the embattled senator.

>> It sounded like he was saying he owns the seat.

That is just not true.

It belongs to the people of New Jersey.

>> Shut down showdown with three days left Democrats and Republicans remain divided on a spending bill to avert a government shutdown.

>> It offers questions about the health of American governance right now.

>> Building a case for reparations.

The New Jersey Institute for social justice held their first public meeting seeking to repair the damage caused by slavery.

>> The time has come for New Jersey to create a shared understanding of the harms caused to Black New Jerseyans.

>> NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

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Briana: Thanks for joining us this Wednesday night.

Senator Bob Menendez and his wife pleaded not guilty to federal bribery charges today after being accused of abusing his powerful position.

The pair and two of the codefendants appeared in a lower Manhattan court this morning for the first time since being indicted last week, as calls for his resignation from fellow Democrats escalate.

Menendez remains defiant.

Today GOP state assembly leader John DeMeo said if the senior senator will not step down he will introduce a constitutional amendment that will force him.

The clause would suspend any indicted official from office until Acquittal ro conviction -- or conviction.

Menendez is expected to address the caucus on Thursday as he continues to deny any wrongdoing.

The Senior correspondent, Brenda Flanagan has the latest.

>> You need to give us -- come on.

Brenda: In a show of solidarity, Menendez and his wife held hands as they entered federal court in lower Manhattan, making no comment to the news crews.

Inside a packed courtroom they set amongst an army of attorneys, both pleaded not guilty in a brief arraignment to three counts outlined in the indictment, conspiracy to commit bribery, fraud, and extortion.

Menendez allegedly treated his political clout for bribes.

One protester outside urged him to step down.

>> Do the right thing, resigned.

>> It is time for him to show some respect for our democracy and resigned.

It's fine for him to fight this in court.

But he has done enough to disrespect our country.

Brenda: Menendez was not the only defendant from the indictment arraigned today.

The Edgewater developer, Fred, also appeared in court, along with the codefendant, Jose, both businessmen pleaded not guilty to flying Menendez with envelopes stuffed with hundred dollar bills, bars of gold, and a Mercedes-Benz.

The indictment alleges Menendez tried to disrupt criminal prosecution involving three businessmen.

The fifth defendant was arraigned here yesterday, after flying into the U.S. from Egypt.

He also pleaded not guilty and posted bail.

The court required all five of the accused to surrender passports, promise not to contact codefendants or witnesses, and agree not to travel beyond southeastern New York, New Jersey and the Washington DC areas.

They agreed to post personal bonds.

$100,000 for the senator, who must avoid contact with staff with any knowledge of evidence of the case.

$250,000 for his wife, guaranteed by their Englewood Cliffs home.

$1 million for Jose Uribe, secured by his home in Clifton.

$2 million for Daibes.

And $5 million for Wael Hana secured by $300,000 of cash and stock shares in his company.

This is the second corruption trial Menendez faces.

The first one ended in a hung jury, under speedy trial requirements the next court appearance is October 2.

The judge ordered prosecutors to make evidence available to defense attorneys.

The Menendezes left court together.

Menendez faces a possible 45 years in prison if convicted.

He left without a comment.

In lower Manhattan, I am Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

Jim: --Briana: The senator's defiance is becoming a political headache for Democrats into the 2024 election cycle.

If Menendez runs in the primary and wins, Democrats will have to pour millions of dollars into a seat that will otherwise be considered safe.

That gives Republicans their best shot in over 50 years at picking up a senate seat in New Jersey.

Putting them in a vulnerable position giving their razor thin 51-49 majority.

It casts a cloud over their campaign messaging against Former President Donald Trump's alleged corruption and criminality.

It may come as no surprise that there is already a long list of people interested in running for his seat.

Among them, and the first to declare, Menendez's colleague in the house, South Jersey Democratic Congressman Andy Kim.

He spoke about his dramatic decision with our senior political correspondent.

David: All the state Democratic big shots got together last Friday, they urged the senator to resign.

They must have thought of next steps, do you think your name came up in their?

>> I don't know.

I'm not sure what they are thinking.

All I was trying to focus on was what I thought was best for New Jersey and for the country.

It is important that we send a quick and strong message that we don't stand by.

I am grateful to the Democratic leadership in New Jersey for taking the stand so quickly.

I appreciate their leadership and look forward to working with them on how to repair the situation.

David: why go out there on your own?

You are a party guy, why not take a few meetings, make a few phone calls, why jump out so quickly Saturday morning?

Rep. Kim: Well, look for me I am glad took the steps we did on Friday.

So many of us called for him to step down.

I believe it was the right thing to do.

But then, Senator Menendez came back to us quickly and at us with an aggressive statement accusing us as well as saying that, he said that, I think was, I'm not going anywhere.

I really did feel that forceful and immediate response from the senator deserved a forceful and immediate response.

To say that this does not stand, that this is not what we stand for, and he is going to be held accountable.

If he's not going to step down then it is going to happen at the ballot box.

Which is why I felt so moved.

It was not something I planned.

I pulled that together in a matter of hours.

My mom and dad did not know that I was doing this until the tweet came out.

I felt that it needed to happen quickly, and that the country needed to see that New Jersey was moving quick lay -- quickly to try to repair the situation.

I'm going to do whatever I can do to fix this.

David: Was part of it the way he said it?

Rep. Kim: Oh, yes.

When he said -- when he had that defiant tone and that -- "I am not going anywhere", it did not sell well with -- sit well with me.

It got me up all night long.

I did not get a minute of sleep Friday and Saturday.

What bothered me is that, it sounded like he was saying he owns the seat, that this is his seat.

That's just not true.

It belongs to the people of New Jersey, who have entrusted him with this.

I think that is at the core of what really rubbed me wrong.

This is not just about what he did.

It's about his whole approach, about public service, I just think it was so different than mine.

Right now, we live in a time with the greatest amount of distrust in government in American history.

So many people in New Jersey and across this country just, with so much hesitation and so much concern, about how our politics are.

We need to show that there is a way we can have politics to restore integrity.

David: We should also say for folks watching that this is very much a political party process that is happening right now.

So, in that context, did you talk to any party leaders, the governor, Cory Booker, before you decided?

Rep. Kim: I gave them a heads up that I was doing this.

But, I felt compelled to do what I did.

In many ways it reminded me of 2017.

2017, my Congressman at the time, Tom MacArthur took actions on health that I disagreed with, that I thought was going to dump pre-existing protections.

When he announced that in Congress and it was on the news I launched a tweet that said I considered challenging him in Congress.

I had like 21 Twitter followers at the time.

I had no deep ties with the Democratic Party and certainly the leadership in New Jersey.

But I felt like it was the right thing to do.

I felt that same kind of conviction this time around, that I had to make sure I did everything that I can do to be able to try to remedy this problem and do it in a way, with the urgency that I thought the moment needed.

I will be honest, I got a great outpouring across the state and country.

People responded in new we needed to have that kind of strength to be able to show unequivocably that this is something we do not stand for.

I have been excited and encouraged.

David: Did the party leaders you talk to try to dissuade you at all?

Rep. Kim: No one tried to dissuade me.

Briana: Watch the full interview with Congressman Andy Kim on Chat Box with David Cruz tomorrow night at 6 p.m. on the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

Kim talks about taking on the Democratic machine in New Jersey and the looming government shutdown.

That is Thursday night at 6 p.m. Congress is in crisis tonight.

Three days left to cut a federal spending deal and prevent a government shutdown.

It will impact millions of Americans and the services they rely on.

Ted Goldberg has the latest on the plan passed last night by the Senate and its chances in the house.

Ted: Congress has until midnight Saturday to pass a spending bill and avoid a shutdown.

Republicans in the house are willing to risk a shutdown in order to secure more funding for the border, angering Democrats and moderate Republicans.

>> The president to make a decision, if he wants to keep the government open, he needs to shut down the border.

>> It defies logic.

It defies decency.

>> Why would you want to hurt veterans with a government vendor -- shutdown, stop military pay?

Ted: Josh cochairs the caucus, a bipartisan group that agreed on a framework to avoid a shutdown and fund the federal government through early next year, including aid for Ukraine and.

But it does not going to particulars.

Ted: We put out both supports and it keeps the lights on in government, it will support our veterans, seniors, first responders.

Families will be heard by a shutdown.

It helps resources for Ukraine and to fight Putin.

Ted: He thinks it will pass if Kevin McCarthy brought it to the floor.

McCarthy is not worried about waiting to get a deal done.

>> If you're deadline is for a paper to be done in school, but you still get it done on the date, does it still work?

Ted: What could be worrying him are conservative Republicans who have threatened his position in the house if he compromises.

New Jersey Democrats say McCarthy should ignore his party.

>> They have announced that they want to throw him out of his job.

They will try to take him out.

So he might as will side with reason and keep the country functioning.

>> There are some people that you're never going to be able to satisfy.

All they want is a shutdown.

Now if you're asking me what does that communicate?

It communicates your -- you are irrational and illogical.

Ted: The Senate passed a similar framework yesterday.

Senators have publicly scolded the house for using shutdowns as a negotiating tactic.

>> They don't work, as political bargaining chips.

They create unnecessary hardships were millions of Americans.

>> All last week Speaker McCarthy, instead of focusing on bipartisanship, catered to the hard right and has nothing, nothing, to show for it.

>> The vast majority of Americans want Congress to compromise.

That means even if it is compromising on the things they think are important.

Ted: According to a poll from this morning, Americans are split on who to blame for a shutdown.

A plurality says it is the fault of Republicans in Congress.

48% say it is either as an in Joe Biden's fault or Democrats.

Where everyone agrees is that members of Congress should compromise to avoid a shutdown.

>> The group that differs on that opinion are conservative Republicans.

Ted: Which leads to larger questions in the future.

>> Would the general public including independents see that and blame them?

Or will they blame everybody?

>> It offers questions about the health of American governance right now, the willingness to compromise, certainly the U.S. is supposed to be founded on this aspiration of pluralism and diversity of opinion.

But towards compromise.

Ted: If the government shuts down, expect travel delays, as TSA agents work without pay until a new spending bill is passed.

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed.

And members of the military will not get paid.

Briana: Budget watchdogs have joked about New Jersey having more than 600 school districts.

Now, after an overwhelming vote of approval last night, there will be two less.

Voters in the towns of Highlands and Atlantic Highlands voted in favor of consolidating their K-6 school districts merging it with the Henry Hudson regional district that serves middle and high school students.

The move has been pushed for years and it combines three boards of education and three budgets into one.

The new regional district is slated to be up and running by next July.

The original plan called for nearby Sea Bright to join the merger.

Other districts that are receiving students block that effort over concerns of the economics of it.

Two other school districts are introducing new ways to to tackle critical problems facing students in the state.

In the central regional school district, officials will be allowed to search the contents of student cell phones under a new electronics policy.

It applies to grades seven through 12 and was enacted after a 14-year-old, who was allegedly bullied died by suicide last year.

All cell phones will have to be stored in a special cell phone pocket while in class.

High schoolers will have the option of using the phone pocket or just turning the phone off and putting it away during school hours.

The A.C.L.

you of New Jersey is questioning whether the policy goes too far on school surveillance.

In Camden County, school leaders are hoping to tackle the addiction and drug overdose crisis.

The Black horse Pike regional school district teamed up with members of the local drug awareness task force to distribute kits to school bus drivers.

Leaders want the powerful opioid reversal drug in the hands of many as possible.

After the death of a 12-year-old who was poisoned by Fentanyl last March.

In New Jersey, more than 3000 lives have been lost to drug overdose this year alone.

In our spotlight on business report, workers making minimum wage will get a bump in pay starting January 1.

The statewide minimum wage will automatically increase by one dollar to $15 $.13 per hour for most employees -- $15.13 per hour for most employees.

It was signed in 2019, after promising to raise the minimum wage, when Murphy took office three years prior.

The law requires the labored army to adjust the annual rate based on inflation or one dollar per year, but not every low-wage worker will see the change.

Exceptions carved out for people employed by seasonal and small businesses, along with farmworkers.

There still a different set of rules for tip workers like restaurant servers and bartenders.

Read more about the minimum wage change on our website.

17 states including New Jersey and the Federal Trade Commission are taking on Amazon, suing the e-commerce giant for inflating pricing and stifling competition.

The lawsuit was filed in Amazon's home state of Washington.

It's considered one of the biggest legal challenges against the company in its 30 year history.

According to the suit, Amazon abused its power to maintain a monopoly on the market, resulting in higher prices and for quality items being sold to tens of millions of Americans who regularly shop with the retailer.

The FTC argues third-party sellers who rely on Amazon to stay in business are forced into paid up late -- pay to play fees.

Top officials are defending their business model saying the practices have spurred competition and and innovation for the industry.

New Jersey is home to a growing number of the companies where houses, including in Robbinsville and Teterboro among others.

It's in a rocky week for Wall Street.

Here's a look at how stocks closed.

This week the New Jersey reparations Council held its first ever public meeting to study the lasting impact of slavery on Black residence in the state, and come up with ideas on how, if at all to repair the damage, including repaying the generations who have suffered.

The meeting on Tuesday night comes as legislation for statewide reparations task force has stalled.

>> Although slavery shape every aspect of New Jersey, too many believe that it never happened here.

REPORTER: Ryan says things like housing and wealth gap disparities are proof of slavery's impact on the black community.

The creation of the New Jersey reparations counsel is a step in repairing harm felt by generations of families across the state.

>> Because these inequalities have been reinforced by generations of policy design, not individual behaviors, they must be repaired by design.

The Council will not only propose bold, strategic policies to repair the enduring harm to Black people from slavery, but it will answer this foundational question.

That is, what kind of reparative system does New Jersey need to build and invest in for Black people here to finally be free, to thrive, to win?

REPORTER: Last night, the Council held its first virtual public meeting.

For the next two years members will study the history of slavery and its effect on the state's current racial landscape.

>> New Jersey was called the slave state of the north for a reason.

It's not just that slavery here was among the most brutal regimes that has been documented, but also because New Jersey was among those states that refused to ratify the 13th amendment.

New Jersey did not ratify the 13th amendment until it was already ratified.

In other words, New Jersey came to its 13th amendment, its abolition of slavery, kicking and screaming.

REPORTER: By acknowledging New Jersey's resistance to Black freedom, the Council will create a better understanding of how slavery has shaped economic system.

>> Slavery was practice from the very beginning of European colonization.

African slavery was practiced from the very beginning.

There were other systems of labor that the colonists and colonial legislators were experimenting with.

But they quickly made distinctions based on race and perpetual enslavement.

>> The current reality is that there are a large and persistent gaps and opportunity for health and well-being across neighborhoods and communities, depending on who you are and where you live.

As the nation's largest philanthropy dedicated to health, we deeply believe in dismantling structural racism and the barriers millions face every day, simply because of their race or intersectionality with other groups that experience oppression.

As a funder of the Council, the foundation is clear, that the time has come for New Jersey to create a shared understanding of the harms caused to Black New Jerseyans over the past four centuries and embark on attorney to remedy this.

>> Before publishing its final report on Juneteenth 2025.

For NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: That is going to do it for us tonight.

Don't forget to download the NJ Spotlight News podcast, so you can listen anytime.

I'm Briana, for the entire NJ Spotlight News team thanks for being with us.

Have a great evening.

We will see you tomorrow.

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