July 23, 2018: NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams
Major. Njtv, news is, provided, in part by the, members of the New Jersey Education Association. Making. Public, schools great, for every child and, PSEG. We, make things work for communities. Tonight. On NJTV news a fight, over state finances. Senate. President Steve Sweeney wants. A constitutional. Amendment to, change the, way state revenues, are certified. Is. It policy or politics. The. State attorney general meets with jersey city officials, to iron out just who it is that, can decriminalize. Marijuana. New. Jersey lawmakers called the Trump administration barbaric. And bullies, it's all over federal funding and immigration. Plus. A million dollar boon for Bayonne in federal, grants to keep ships rolling, in and millions. Of dollars rolling into the Meadowlands, Racetrack in, under two weeks was it just good timing those. Stories and more next on, NJTV, news. Live. From the Agnes Varis NJTV. Studio at 2:00 Gateway, Center in Newark this is NJTV. News with, Mary Alice Williams. Hello. Thank you for joining us in the escalating. Conflict, between the Trump administration and, local leaders over immigration enforcement, the. Federal Justice, Department, is withholding millions. Of dollars from cities that aren't helping hand over unauthorized. Immigrants, to ice the. State has, already sued to pry back its share of the federal fund some four million dollars, now, the City of Newark is punching, back to Leah Myshkin reports, it's. A fight that's been going on for nearly a year we raised our voices against, what the, Trump administration is, trying to do really, trying to bully. Us into, supporting, policies. That, we outright, disagree, with here, in the city of Norman this is not just for Newark it's for the all the norc's across America, in July of last year, attorney general sessions made the announcement the department would only give funding from the Edward Byrne Memorial justice. Assistance grant program, to cities, and states that quote comply. With federal law allow. Federal immigration access. To detention facilities, and provide, 48, hours notice before they, release an illegal, alien wanted. By federal, authorities adding.
Quote These long overdue requirements. Will help us take down ms-13. And other, violent, transnational. Gangs and make, our country safer, we, are not going. To stand by and acquiesce. In the sanctuary, city cities. To, nullify federal immigration. Law. If, they want to receive federal grants. I don't. Want to. Defund. Any jurisdiction. Cities. States we. But, we want them to rethink. We. Want them to change their, policies. And start. To cooperate with. Our ice, officers, whose, lives can be at risk, the over 174. Million dollars in federal funds is money states used for various programs from, law enforcement to, crime prevention and education to. Drug treatment and enforcement. That helped us tremendously with, technology. And increase. Security, for around, a courthouse around, the city or on our parks to make sure that our folks don't look over their shoulders while, they were enjoying our. Facilities, lawmakers, have sent several letters to the Trump administration in, the past year to release the funds writing. Quote delaying, these funds is punishing, the law enforcement, officers on the, ground doing their jobs and trying, to keep their community safe the, law enforcement, officers, police, they, need to be left alone what in God's, name are they thinking, but the president, says the safety of American citizens is his highest duty and that's, why he has called on Congress to block the funds lawless. Sanctuary, jurisdictions. Are nullifying, federal, law. Obstructing. Immigration, enforcement and. Releasing, thousands, of criminal aliens into u.s. communities, to, prey on innocent, victims. It's. Absolutely. Terrible we want our cities to be sanctuaries. For Americans. Not, safe havens, for criminals, New Jersey's Attorney General has joined several other states, in suing the Department, of Justice over the withholding of the funds calling. The move, unconstitutional. This money not only is there it's been committed to these towns and, the. Government, has interceded. Congress. Did not create this grant program to be held conditionally. Unless. States gave in to the federal extortion we. Asked why this press conference was called a year after the decision was made and, Congressman Payne said they have to let the DOJ, know they, haven't forgotten and, they're, going to continue to fight for the funds in Newark, laya Michigan, NJTV. News. Union. Activities, top the state of New Jersey business. Rhonda chef lers off today here with all the business news is joanna, gagis Joanna, Mary. Alice one kitchen company, is feeling, the heat lifetime. Brands the company that makes KitchenAid, and Mikasa has come under fire for, allegedly firing. Two, employees, who attempted, to join a union the. Company was accused of causing quote, irreparable, harm, by, sending the message that employees, unionizing, could, end in termination according. To court papers a US, District Court judge ordered, lifetime brands to reinstate, the fired employees, and to stop interrogating all, employees, about their union support the, temporary, injunction also. Ordered the company to stop offering promotions. For employees who would withdraw their, union support, love. The sinner tax, thus in New, Jersey's latest tax plan to institute, a so-called sin tax on things like legalized, sports betting and ecig arete may not raise real revenue that, according to a report, by the Pew Charitable Trusts, that analyzed the tax in other states and found revenues. Offered only short-term, economic boosts. The, report warned states to be cautious when relying on sin taxes, to fund recurring, budget expenses, especially, in new markets like marijuana that really have limited data but. One benefit, for the tax they, can help support public, health objectives like, reducing. Smoking, Stockton. University's, Atlantic City campus has been designated as, a university. District the, designation, will help Stockton invest, in and develop, its academic, programs within, the city chief. Operating officer, Brian Jackson said the university, sees this as a way to help stimulate economic. Development, in the community and that, includes attracting, new residents, to the city the. University, District extends, from sovereign, oov to Dover Ave and from, the boardwalk to inside, the thoroughfare, and across.
The Albany avenue bridge it runs from, Albany, and Trenton adds to West End Ave and almost. 50 acres in Bader filled the, area connects, the tourism district and the Bader field district, and finally. A possible, salmonella contamination has. Caused a recall, of Ritz crackers, the, Hanover New Jersey based company, is voluntarily, recalling 16. Varieties of its Ritz cracker sandwiches. It's Ritz bitz the, products, contained whey powder that its suppliers, recalled, due to potential. Salmonella, contamination. Mondal, a global says no illnesses, have been reported, Salmonella. Symptoms, include fever nausea, vomiting. And diarrhea that. Can be serious and even deadly in young people and the elderly or those were the weak immune immune system, anyone. Experiencing, these symptoms should please contact their health care provider on Wall, Street Stocks closed mixed, and those. Are your top business stories. Support. For the business report is provided, by s J magazine. The heart and soul of South Jersey online. At SJ Magazine net, will, Jersey, City's declaration. To decriminalize. Marijuana, remain. In force it, only went into effect last week this week the state attorney general, saying not so fast senior. Correspondent David, Cruz reports. Jersey. City Mayor Steve Phillips unilateral. Decision, to, instruct the city's prosecutor, to decriminalize. Marijuana in. His city was met with a swift rebuke, from, state attorney general gerber, gray wallace in a letter noteworthy, for, it's not quite collegial, tone gray, wall pointedly, instructed. Municipal, prosecutor, jake Hudnut, to, stay in his Lane you. Do not have the legal authority to decriminalize. Marijuana the. Criminal, laws of this state are not, determined, by municipal, prosecutors. Based, on recent public opinion polling and I. Encourage. You to contact prosecutor. Suarez, or my, office if you, have any questions, about the duties of your office. Ouch, that. Prompted a meeting between gray wall and Hudnut today even. As the mayor continued, to make the rounds of local TV news shows to, promote the new policy, the, mayor says this is about social justice pointing. Out that people of color are three, times as likely to face arrest for small amounts of marijuana than. Their white counterparts. The, mayor publicly, shook his head at the state intervention, especially, in the absence of any action, from state lawmakers after.
The Meeting which Philip did not attend, none, of the parties made themselves available, for comment despite. Repeated, requests. Although, a source did say that they, had come to understanding, and we're, working out details, on how, to proceed regardless. Of the outcome of today's meeting until. The legislature, comes up with a decriminalization. Or legalization. Bill, it's, not unlikely, to think that other municipalities. May, decide to take the matter into their, own hands in Jersey, City I'm David Cruz and JE, TV news. Million. Dollar news for the Bayonne drydock is nearly 400. Subcontractors. And 280. Full-time. Workers, roughly 90, percent of whom come from local communities. The, largest, dry dock in the Northeast, has, just received a major small, shipyard, grant to, modernize, its operations. The federal, Department, of Transportation funding, was announced, by New Jersey senior. US Senator, Bob Menendez, for. Bayonne drydock, this federal investment, of more than a million dollars will. Help the site upgrade. Its capabilities. Compete. For more contracts. And continue. Providing state-of-the-art, service, to some of the largest commercial, and naval. Vessels around, they, do a lot of work for, the US Navy which. Is an ultimately, part of our national. Security system. So they are part of making sure that, these ships can continue to operate as they defend us across the globe. Another. Step toward performing municipal. Courts, the, state judiciary, is moving to clear away close to seven hundred ninety thousand. Old bench, warrants, for minor offenses, dating back at least fifteen, years more, than two-thirds of them for, parking, tickets the. Supreme Court Committee on municipal, court operations fines and fees released, a report last week showing municipal, courts last year collected. Some four hundred million dollars in fines much of it funneled, to city coffers Supreme. Court Chief Justice Stewart. Radner, has created a panel of three assignment. Judges who, will hold hearings to ascertain, whether, any of the outstanding warrants should remain in force an. Anonymous. Gesture, of gratitude that. Tops tonight's Garden, State Express, our first stop Toms River where. Five members, of the first-aid squad just off the overnight shift had. Polish off a hearty, breakfast, at the local I hop when, they were paid back for their service, a hefty. Bill paid, in full with, a note saying thank. You for all you do and signs. Recovering. Addict, in, an attempt to personally, thank the generous, woman, the rescue squad posted. About the surprise gesture, on Facebook, it, received, hundreds, of shares and likes but. No hint of their benefactors. Identity. Next. To Edison, we're cats and the people who love them were attracted, to the 82nd. Annual garden state cat show and, adopt-a-thon. To, see pure breads like the Maine Coon cat and the, bomb-bay purebred. A hybrid. Created, by breeding a sable Burmese, with, a black American, Shorthair though, about 50%. Of dogs in the United States, are pedigreed, just, five percent of cats are and only about two percent are, registered. Pedigree breeds, the. Nonprofit, Garden State Cat Club supports. Local humane, societies. No-kill. Shelters, pet, visitation. Programs, for nursing homes and funds, cat health studies, all over the world to, make sure they live nine healthy, lives, finally. Margate, where Lucy, the elephant has outlived, her own lifespan. She's. 137. Years old they, look somewhat, younger partly. Due to an annual birthday, party, fundraiser, well, this year's, drew hundreds, of people who got to ride on a trackless. Train a few, blocks from Decatur, to Cedar Grove avenues, the, same route Lucy, took in 1970. To, get where she's standing now all, the, money made from birthday, party activities, food, games, and prizes will, help offset operating. Costs, and capital, improvements, to keep the historic, landmark rocking. 137. And beyond, and that's, the Garden State Express, from Monday July 23rd.
Something, Up in your neighborhood tip, us off. In. Trenton, a power-play, New, Jersey's, governor, has the constitutional. Power to project, how much tax revenue comes, in to, determine how much gets spent now. The state, Senate president's moving to strip, Murphy, of that power chief, political correspondent Michael. Aaron reports on the issue and what's possibly, behind it, Senate. President Steve, Sweeney thinks. The state can do a better job of forecasting, and, certifying, revenue, under. The Constitution. Of 1947. The governor alone makes that annual, certification. Sweet. He wants to amend the Constitution, to create a three-person. Revenue, certification. Board it. Would consist, of the State Treasurer the Office of Legislative Services, revenue. And finance officer, and a, third person, of their choosing it's, a situation where, we've, had administrations. And I'm not blaming this administration, there's, some previous administrations, where they make the numbers work to where they want to make them work we. Need to know what the numbers really are at. Each each year when we do our budgeting, it's important, to have, a process. That everyone, buys into as the Senate Budget Committee heard testimony about. The proposal. Today it. Was hard to escape the idea there is a political, component, to Sweeney's, plan, and. Governor, Murphy just came through a very, contentious. Budget, process, and this. Constitutional. Amendment would, dilute the governor's authority, going forward, isn't this a slap, at the power of the governor no, not at all in fact, if I'm the governor I would want us because. You can't argue the numbers if you have a consensus, of independent. Between, the legislative, body and independent. Individual, and the governor then, you have consensus. Built. Around real. Projections. An expert. From the volcker Alliance, a good government group back to Sweeney up he, gave a PowerPoint, presentation, on how other states forecast, and certify, revenue, unlike, 28, other states by, our count New, Jersey does not use a consensus, of forecast from the governor's office legislative, leaders, and outside. Experts to build an estimate, of revenue to, the general fund budget, instead. The governor's proposed budget includes the, chief executives. Estimate, of resources, available for the coming upcoming, fiscal year the governor's office issued, a statement disagreeing. With Sweeney the executive. Branch is best positioned to certify, revenues, because, it has access to information including. Tax data that. Is unavailable, to other entities that said, governor. Murphy feels that it is unwise to disrupt. The separation, of powers that has existed, in this area for, over 70 years. Sweeney. Says OLS, has good information too, and that, legislators. Want to work with the governor, look we're partners we're, partners we want to continue to be partners and we think we should be part of the scoring process he, insists, it's not about the rivalry between him, and Murphy this is not a shot at him it's, a shot it was modernized, the way we predict, our revenue, forecasts to get a constitutional.
Amendment Onto this year's fall ballot, the legislature. Must act within the next few weeks veteran. Activist, Gordon McGinnis told the committee that's too fast in the end we disagree, about the timing not about the content and, the timing, is is important, we just had a bad budget, with. Numbers we don't know we're real or not real and. This is not listen, there's, many budgets, like that you. Know we've been through it it's, time to fix the process, Gordon another, State House a long time or applauded, the move no. Governor. Should. Yield, to the temptation. Of, inflating. Figures or conflated. Figures, for a political whim or. Some kind of agenda the committee deferred, action if you thought the power struggle, between Sweeney, and Murphy ended, with the budget compromise that. Doesn't appear to be the case this. Attempt to take away the governor's power to certify, revenue, looks, like only the latest, manifestation, at. The Statehouse I'm Michael Aaron and J TV news. A. Lifelong. Legacy, in memory, of a child whose life span just 27. Months Michael. Hill got a tour of Jake's place. Jake's. Place is the first inclusive. Playground, in new jersey built, in 2011 over, three days with, lots of donations of money time, and labor it accommodates, children, with and without disabilities all. Playgrounds, today are a DA compliant, which means that a child in, a wheelchair for instance, can wheel up to it and look at it that may have, access, but, they can't play on it Jake. Couldn't play on any playground, and he wanted to do his physical, therapy every day on the playground Jim and Lynne Cummings, were the grandparents, of Jacob, Cummings Nast oh he, was born with a heart ailment that took his life at two-and-a-half years, his, mother conceived, of Jake's place and his family worked tirelessly to fundraise, and partner. And make, the dream a reality there's, nothing, to replace a, loss. Of a child nothing there's, not anything, that replaces, the loss of anyone you love right but. When you see all these happy, smiling children, it's, very life-giving. To us and, every. One of these kids represents. Our grandson. So. It's, a wonderful. Tribute, to, his memory the, human laughing here all the time we. Can hear him laughing he. Would've loved this place actually. Seeing kids in. Wheelchairs they have such strong. Upper, body strength, that. They pulled. Themselves onto this and pull themselves up on the rock the Cummings gave NJTV. News a tour show intel style of Jake's, place with his ramp for children and adults on crutches. Or wheelchairs. Long. And winding it leads, to several fun, stops. Lynne, Cummings helps these playmates, on the sway fund it simulates a boat on the water an all-inclusive playground, is not just about the play part of it it's really about all the. Movements. That help, the brain to develop it helps, the motor skills to develop there's, a transfer, point up there so somebody in a wheelchair can get. On to the slide other, features, wheelchair. Height fun boards with a xylophone and kaleidoscope. On one side the alphabet, on the opposite, and a, buddy station, where a wheelchair, can fit in the middle for playing Arthur. Aston the executive, director of the nonprofit bill, Jake's place was, born with spina bifida to, see something like this an, accessible playground where all children can play together is, just. Amazing it's something that I never thought that I would see in my lifetime Jake's. Place inspired, other advocates, to rebuild, a park with inclusive, access, in Berenson this month this summer the, build Jake's placed nonprofit.
Is Building, on its success, another. Inclusive. Playground, in Dell ran in Burlington. County the, Cummings that advocates, say all, 21, counties should, have at least one, and they lobbied, and educated, lawmakers, who agreed the Jake's law bill sailed, through the assembly, and Senate with, no opposition. It would require state, agencies, to set guidelines and, standards that, exceed, those of the federal Americans, with Disabilities. Act if signed, into law counties, will be able to apply for and dip into the same Green Acres fund that they already do for their Parks and Recreation projects. To build their own versions of Jake's, place this, is something that is is something that we should be doing as. A state and I, am very pleased to, to. Know that I have colleagues that also agree. With with, this Jake's, plays cause hundreds. Of thousands, of dollars to build but parents in the park say it's worth every, penny I love. It it's exciting and we, love it because it's then everyone. Goes like that parents. Are really, involved. After. So, I found myself like swinging somebody, else yeah. It's not great and we're, here quite often one young man was in the sway fun and I walked. Up to him and his aide was crying and I said is there, something wrong and can, I help you and she said I've, been his aide for three years I've never seen him laugh the. Coming say those laughs sometimes come, by the school bus loads and from folks out of state some, think they even have to pay no. Admission, here just lots, of fun and, learning, for. All kids, and I think having a, law, Jake's. Law, it. Helps, us to, be, able to spread that. Kind of an educational. Message of how, important, this is not, because you didn't necessarily care. But because she just didn't know in, Cherry Hill Michael. Hill NJTV. News. And. Now some noteworthy facts, that help you know Jersey, the current New Jersey state constitution. Was drafted in. 1947. New, Jersey would be the tenth state, to legalize recreational marijuana. New. Jersey's Bayonne drydock is the largest in New York Harbor and New, Jersey's, Lucy, the elephant is listed on the National Register, of Historic Places if there's, someone who you'd like to get to know Jersey share use hashtag, no Jersey tomorrow on NJTV, news, Newark's. Position, to take the lead in voice, technology, Alexa. You listening, to, share any story you've seen tonight go to NJTV. News dot org I'm Mary Alice Williams for all the men and women of NJTV, news thank, you for being here see tomorrow. RWJ. Barnabas, health let's. Be healthy together. Njm. Insurance Group serving. The insurance needs, of, New Jersey residents, and businesses, for more than a hundred years and horizon. Blue, Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey an independent. Licensee of, the blue cross and blue shield association. Njm. Insurance, company, has been serving New Jersey policyholders.
For More than 100, years but. Just who are NJ. M's policyholders. They're, the men and women who keep the Garden State growing, business. Leaders, the. Caretakers. Of our historic, landmarks, and the. Custodians, of our public, safety, the. People who make our state a great. Place to call home and, JM. We've, got New Jersey covered. I'm. Fighting, cancer I'm, fighting cancer I am fighting cancer I fight every day every. Night every hour. Every, minute and. RWJ. Barnabas health together. With the Rutgers, Cancer, Institute, of New Jersey, brings, the latest research treatments. And clinical, trials close to home, we. Are fighting cancer and, I'm not fighting alone. RWJ. Barnabas health let's. Beat cancer, together. Look. At these kids. What. Do you see I see. I became. An ESL teacher to give my students, what I wanted, when I came to this country. And the opportunity, to learn to, dream. To achieve a. Chance, to be long and to. My. Name is Julia Giuliani Crumpton, and I'm proud to be an nje a member.
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