NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi

NJ Spotlight News March 21, 2023

Tonight, on NJ Spotlight News we’re full swing into budget season right now, as lawmakers begin to hammer out the details of the state’s RECORD $53.1 billion dollar spending plan. The first budget hearing took place today at Ramapo College where the public lined up to take their shot at how the money should be spent; The oldest, private bus company in the state, DeCamp, is ending all commuter service on April 7th. The company was once a premiere transportation line from New Jersey’s suburbs into New York City, but never recovered post pandemic; Here in New Jersey, the rise in interest rates have contributed to a slow-down in first time home buyer ship; And the message is simple but stark - time is running out to save the planet. The latest climate change report released by the U-N late yesterday showed that Earth is on track to reach a critical threshold that will lead to dangerous overheating - with catastrophic results - in the next decade.

NJ Spotlight News March 20, 2023

Tonight, on NJ Spotlight News it’s called the “Elections Transparency Act”, but critics say the bill that’s just passed by the state Senate, will do anything BUT make elections in New Jersey more transparent; It’s a matter of life and death for patients. That’s the message from nurses and health care workers who rallied outside the statehouse today, demanding new staffing ratio rules for hospitals; As we marked the 3rd anniversary of the pandemic shutdowns, for many, COVID feels like it’s slipping out of view. But for some, the long-term health effects of the virus continue months, even years after their illness. Doctors are still trying to understand what it means to have Long-COVID; And New Jersey is becoming known as the Cinderella State after two teams – Princeton and FDU- put up huge performances on the NCAA Tournament stage this last week, but only one will dance on to the round of 16.

NJ Spotlight News March 17, 2023

Tonight, on NJ Spotlight News the Attorney General’s office released body camera footage and 911 tapes from the day activist Najee Seabrooks was shot and killed by police in Paterson, protesters once again take to the streets demanding legal action against the officers; Today in Camden - a federal judge heard arguments in a case to overturn a state law restricting concealed carry of firearms. Gun rights advocates are challenging the law Governor Murphy signed in December banning guns in dozens of so-called “sensitive places” in New Jersey, we are in the courtroom for the arguments; More jitters in the markets today as fears of more banks crumbling linger; And March does mean MADNESS for college basketball fans. Especially here in Jersey where another hometown team is winning big and busting brackets, it might be time to declare Jersey as the new “Cinderella” state, we talk to Princeton’s Coach Mitch Henderson

NJ Spotlight News March 16, 2023

Tonight, on NJ Spotlight News a string of dead whales washing up on New Jersey and New York beaches in recent months have sparked public and political concern, opponents speculating that work related to the wind  industry is harming the giant creatures, but scientists have loudly rejected that assertion. GOP Congressmen Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith are holding public hearings in Wildwood; Change is coming to Liberty State Park. The state department of Environmental Protection today unveiled plans to restore and enhance the park’s natural resources and expand its amenities; Today legislators from the Senate and Assembly hosted a joint meeting on Higher Education, where they heard a variety of testimonies from different colleges and universities across the state regarding the future of the state’s funding formula for higher education; AND fresh off their upset last night, Raven Santana goes one-on-one with FDU’s coach Tobin Anderson playing in the dance for the first time in his career.
 
 

NJ Spotlight News March 15, 2023

Tonight, on NJ Spotlight News Breaking NEWS…the markets tumbled once again today, the Dow down 500 at one point, ending the day more than 250 points down, reacting to the current banking crisis. What does it mean for investors here in New Jersey? Rhonda Schaffler breaks it down; All eyes are on Texas, where a Trump-appointed judge today heard more than four hours of arguments over a lawsuit seeking to take the 20-year-old abortion pill Mifepristone off the market. A ruling could bar health care providers from prescribing the drug even in states like New Jersey where abortion is legal; Feces-stained floors and walls, broken handrails and fly infestations are among the horrors state officials found at a Cherry Hill nursing home in late 2021. A year later an aide was accused of kicking a resident who lay on the floor. Who is policing our nursing homes, Lilo Stanton reports; AND we mark the passing of Former State Senator Ron Rice at the age of 77. Rice was a longtime civil rights icon and a well-known Newark Democrat.

NJ Spotlight News March 14, 2023

Tonight, on NJ Spotlight News State leaders are doubling down on their “tough on crime” stance touting double digit drops in both gun violence and car thefts. Now the Murphy Administration is sharing new numbers on crime reduction calling the policies a success…. Anchor Briana Vannozzi goes one-on-one with the Attorney General Matt Platkin amid a spate of police-involved shootings that are roiling the state; The Justice Department is investigating the collapse of California-based Silicon Valley Bank. How is the collapse impacting tech companies that were largely using the bank here in NJ;  New Jersey Transit’s board of directors signed off on critical funding for the long awaited Gateway Project last night, meanwhile outside the meeting a number of environmental groups rallied pushing back against the proposed Transitgrid project that’ll use a gas-burning power plant; And finally we waited all winter for it, a late-season nor’easter is leaving its mark across the state, get your shovel out.
 

NJ Spotlight News March 13, 2023

Tonight, on NJ Spotlight News the police-community tension in Paterson is escalating.  Advocates and friends of Najee Seabrooks are continuing their calls for reform, late today one of the state’s leading social justice organizations officially requested the federal Justice Department to intervene and investigate the shooting death of Najee Seabrooks; Residents struggling to pay their utility bills have just TWO days left to apply for help. That’s when the state’s annual Winter Termination Program ends;  In our business report tonight the collapse of the California-based Silicon Valley Bank reverberated throughout New Jersey, hundreds of companies are affected: And Jersey is giving March Madness fans another reason not to count out an underdog. Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Men’s Basketball team is heading to the big dance.

NJ Spotlight News March 10, 2023

Tonight, on NJ Spotlight News BREAKING NEWS, in a massive show of support, Rutgers University faculty have voted to strike – with 94% in favor. Now the vote doesn’t mean they’ll walk off the job today but union leadership now has the power to call a strike at any point;  Domestic abuse often takes the form of control and manipulation that may never leave a physical mark, it doesn’t always mean a black eye or a broken arm as legislators in Trenton learned as they work to redefine what domestic abuse is in a package of 11 new bills; March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and colon cancer cases are on the rise among young adults under the age of 55 and frustrating healthcare providers, who’ve long warned that colon cancer is one of the most preventable types of cancers; And the debate continues on what is causing all these dead whales to wash up on our shores, freelance writer Andrew Lewis looks at whether it could be sonar related.

NJ Spotlight News March 9, 2023

Tonight, on NJ Spotlight News the rise in teen bullying recorded and posted online, but there is a clear divide over how to address it. Should there be legal consequences or will that incite more; Atlantic City Casinos are still fighting back against a proposed smoking ban, but at hearings today in Trenton casino workers are saying they’re being forced to choose between their health and a paycheck; Camden residents were promised they’d be hired for new jobs when the state awarded more than a billion and a half dollars in tax breaks roughly a decade ago for companies to move to the city, but WNYC’s Senior Reporter Nancy Solomon tells us new data reveals most companies have only hired a few; AND in Newark tonight the unveiling of a new Harriet Tubman monument where Christopher Columbus once stood and a local artist addressing an environmental crisis…through art.
 

NJ Spotlight News March 8, 2023

Tonight, on NJ Spotlight News as the U.S Attorney General releases a report finding repeated civil rights violations by the Louisville Police Department in the aftermath of the Breonna Taylor shooting death, outrage about police involved fatalities is spilling over in Paterson in what activists are calling another senseless shooting of a 31 year-old man who was dedicated to preventing these deadly incidents; After the train derailment in Ohio last month, there’s a new sense of urgency in the fight against a proposed South Jersey Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal, students and community leaders staged a rally in Camden, pressuring the city council to oppose the project slated for Gibbstown; And on this International Women’s Day we are celebrating our budding entrepreneurs and the way they’re changing the world. Meet 19-year-old Kamily Flores, the daughter of immigrants, a first-generation college student and now one of the state’s youngest business owners.