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Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, the Habba saga continues.

After Alina Habba was rejected by a panel of New Jersey federal judges, the Department of Justice fired their new pick for New Jersey's U.S. attorney.

So who's in charge?

Also, Patterson police ruling.

The state Supreme Court ruled that the AG did have the power to take over Patterson's police department and left the door open for him to do it again.

We've made extraordinary progress in this city since March 27, 2023.

Plus, NJ decides 2025 Jack Ciattarelli picks Morris County Sheriff James Gannon as his lieutenant governor, who just happens to be from Mikie Sherrill's home district.

And housing takeover.

The federal government is stepping in after a years-long battle over deplorable living conditions at the Housing Authority in Atlantic City.

Stanley Holmes, to be gentlemanly about it and to be diplomatic about it is a disaster.

NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

[music] NJ PBS Studios.

This is NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi.

Good evening and thanks for joining us on this Wednesday night.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

We begin with a few of today's top stories.

First, New Jersey is in the midst of a showdown with the White House over the state's top prosecutor.

Federal judges this week declined to keep President Trump's choice of Alina Habba as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey serving in the role, which depending on who you ask, either expired Tuesday or at the end of this week.

Instead, the 17-member panel of U.S. District Court judges selected Habba's first assistant U.S. attorney, Desiree Grace, for the job.

But within hours, the Justice Department fired back, announcing they fired Grace, a career prosecutor in the office, and reinstated Habba, citing the president's authority to do so.

In a social media post, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the DOJ doesn't, quote, "tolerate rogue judges."

Democrats, including the state's U.S.

Senators Cory Booker and Dan D. Kim, immediately slammed the Trump administration for firing a career public servant, lawfully appointed by the court, calling it a blatant attempt to intimidate anyone that doesn't agree with them and undermine judicial independence.

The U.S. Attorney's Office did not return NJ Spotlight News' request for comment.

Also tonight, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office will continue to run the Patterson Police Department after the state Supreme Court today unanimously rejected arguments from city leaders that the state takeover was illegal.

Attorney General Matt Plotkin's office assumed control in 2023 following several deadly police shootings, including that of Najee Seabrooks and other criminal charges against officers.

The office has touted dropping crime rates as a sign their leadership is working, but Mayor Andre Seya and local leaders have been critical from the start, suing to regain control of the department.

An appeals court sided with the city in December, ordering the police agency to be returned to local control, but that order was put on hold while the Supreme Court weighed the case.

Today's ruling reversed the appeals court decision, leaving the Attorney General's Office in charge of Patterson's police.

The justices, though, didn't rule on whether the AG has authority to conduct future takeovers in other towns.

The court instead said that issue should be taken up by the legislature.

In a statement, Mayor Seya said even though the city lost, the outcome is "an important check" on an attorney general.

Plotkin praised the decision at a press conference this afternoon and said the takeover will end when his 55-point strategic plan for the department is achieved.

Today isn't about wins and losses.

Yes, it ends a multi-year distraction that we have dealt with, but importantly, it means most importantly that the work that's been done by the women and men of this department, the work that has been done including leadership from the community of Patterson, can continue.

This progress will continue, and I look forward to seeing that progress continue and pledge that I will support it any way we can.

And New Jersey has two new laws on the books.

Governor Murphy has signed a bipartisan bill aimed at protecting students' mental health by requiring public schools that include grades 7 through 12 to print the contact info for both the state and national suicide prevention hotlines and crisis text line on the backs of student IDs.

Now, previous law only required the contacts for state hotlines to be made available.

It comes as New Jersey is experiencing a rise in youth mental health challenges and suicide rates, but also as the White House recently moved to shut down the 9-8-8 suicide and crisis lifeline for LGBTQ+ youth.

Advocates say having these resources available can be the difference between life and death.

Meanwhile, coming soon, driver's licenses on your phone.

The governor today also signed a law requiring the Motor Vehicle Commission to create mobile driver's licenses and digital non-driver ID cards.

The governor's office cited several reasons for the move, including convenience and security.

Licenses will be accessible via smartphones, making it less likely for people to lose or forget their license or ID, and it will allow residents to update their documents electronically.

The office says the law builds in safety and privacy measures for users, though it will still be a couple of years before the option is available.

Well, Jack Ciattarelli has officially introduced his running mate on the Republican ticket for governor, tapping Morris County Sheriff James Gannon to serve as lieutenant governor during a campaign event at Johnny's Tavern in Boonton this morning.

The third-term sheriff fired up supporters while vowing to help flip the seat red after November's general election.

Senior political correspondent David Cruz was there.

I can begin and end my remarks simply by saying this, because this is what I believe.

We are going to win this race this year.

Jack Ciattarelli's selection of Morris County Sheriff Jim Gannon as his running mate says two things about what the campaign is thinking.

One, Morris County is key.

Gannon is a former Boonton beat cop and a proven vote getter in Morris, which is critical to the GOP effort.

It shows that Morris County is the battleground.

It's very important to the Ciattarelli campaign.

They feel that they need to win in that county that can swing back and forth.

Gannon has run very strongly in Morris County over the years.

He's gotten over 60 percent of the vote in his elections.

Democrat Mikie Sherrill represents Morris in Congress.

She just won re-election to the seat by 15 points in November.

So as an electoral countermeasure, Gannon fits the bill.

But he's also there to send another message.

We'll repeal the dangerous, dangerous sanctuary state and restore cooperation between the immigration authorities known as ICE and law enforcement officers throughout our state.

That's our commitment.

And we'll take the handcuffs off our police and restore law and order.

Nonviolent crime across this state is through the roof.

Break-ins, car thefts, flash mobs on our Jersey Shore, not under this administration.

No softening of the message, no tacking towards the middle as most experts predicted and recommended.

Ciattarelli's even bucked the conventional wisdom of diversity on the ticket.

In your mind, does this ticket represent the diversity of New Jersey?

I think it does.

How so?

You've got two white guys.

We're men of the people.

One of them's a cop.

We're men of the people.

I've won races in a town, a county, in a legislative district with Democrats outnumbering Republicans.

Jim has been a man of the people for 40-plus years.

Most polls suggest that affordability is still uppermost on the minds of voters.

But law and order was big with the MAGA-friendly crowd in the room today.

And for the past 40 years, this man has walked the beat.

He has served in every capacity there is in law enforcement, and he's dedicated his life to protecting our community, and that's exactly what our administration is going to do.

Thanks, Putin.

Thank you very much.

Putin didn't stop to talk to the press.

He and Ciattarelli were headed to separate events, separately.

At the moment, it's unclear where, outside of Morris, the two will really need to be seen together again.

I'm David Cruz.

And Jane, Spotlight News.

For some Atlantic City residents, this is the news they've been waiting for.

The federal government will take control of the long-troubled Atlantic City Housing Authority.

A letter sent from the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to the authority on Monday declared the agency was in substantial default, citing the many ways residents say they've suffered over the years.

As Ted Goldberg reports, the move comes months after residents led a petition urging HUD's takeover, but also provides little clarity on what comes next.

We're residents and we're paying to live here, and we would like to be treated as fair residents as well.

With the federal government stepping in to take over properties ran by the Atlantic City Housing Authority, or ACHA, the emotions of residents range from elated to cautiously optimistic to uncertain.

I just hope that if they're going to come in and take over, I hope they're going to be coming in, taking over, making things better.

I'm kind of unsure because we've been promised and promised and promised certain things.

So once we see it in action, then my optimism will probably go a little bit higher.

But right now, uh-uh.

We've been reporting on the issues surrounding Stanley Homes Village for several years, managed by the ACHA.

Residents have complained about mold and inconsistent heat and water.

The ACHA sometimes put residents in the Clarets Hotel when it got too cold, which wasn't an option for people like Tammy Bathia.

To relocate to the hotel to only come back to the same conditions.

Nothing was fixed.

I even lost my pet.

They didn't have anywhere to send us that was pet-friendly.

It passed from the condition.

It was freezing.

Earlier this week, the ACHA received this letter from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.

Part of it reads, "Based on the gravity of ACHA's situation, it is not appropriate to permit ACHA the opportunity to cure the substantial default.

Further, the most appropriate substantial default remedy is for HUD to take possession of ACHA."

The letter says the ACHA had 10 days to respond, but residents and advocates say they've tried to get attention for much longer than that.

A lot of the other residents deal with situations with mold and pests and rodents.

My issue wasn't as big as a lot of other people's.

Mine was more, like I said, consistent with the no heat and hot water situation.

We took a bus to Washington, D.C. We did everything.

We talked to the council people.

We talked to the school board.

One of those council people is Kaleem Shabazz.

Stanley Homes, to be gentlemanly about it and to be diplomatic about it is a disaster.

He says if the federal government is stepping in, there's a good chance life will improve for people living in Stanley Homes and other public housing complexes.

I have to think and believe that by taking this step, they are willing to put the resources and the energy necessary to move Stanley Homes to a level that's acceptable.

Congressman Jeff Van Drew has been a longtime critic of the ACHA and said in part of a statement, "Families were freezing in their homes, living with mold, no heat, no hot water and no help.

It was unacceptable.

I promised the people I would not stop until something changed, and today accountability is here."

Housing attorney Olga Pomar, who represents tenants in ongoing litigation against the ACHA, wonders how the federal government will intervene.

The new administration is kind of looking to cut back on funding for affordable housing.

That was what the White House proposal was.

That's what the House Appropriations Committee proposed.

So it's going to be even harder, I think, to find good solutions.

The timeline for HUD taking over is unclear, and with 1,200 people living in ACHA properties, Pomar says the federal government has a tall task ahead.

They are taking on some very serious problems.

We have people who need housing.

We have people living in bad conditions.

The housing authority's inspection reports and analyses show that millions and millions of dollars are needed.

More than 100 Stanley Homes residents are suing the ACHA over alleged living conditions.

It seems like that lawsuit will carry on, further complicating the situation for New Jersey's oldest public housing complex.

In Atlantic City, I'm Ted Goldberg, NJ's Spotlight News.

A look inside New Jersey's largest ever state budget, totaling nearly $59 billion, finds that a housing program serving some of the state's most vulnerable residents lost its state aid entirely.

The Camden Coalition's Housing First program, which has helped chronically homeless residents gain stability, now faces an uncertain future.

It's just the latest example steep state budget cuts are having on social support programs that rely on the money to operate.

Our mental health writer, Bobby Breyer, joins me now for more as part of our Under the Dome series.

Bobby, good to see you, as always.

This is really interesting.

Can you just walk us through what exactly is the Housing First program?

Because it seems that it has a pretty good track record.

So, why was it, you know, defunded?

Sure.

You know, the Housing First program at the Camden Coalition has been around for a decade now.

And it essentially works to put people in housing first before addressing some of their more needs, essentially medical needs, you know, child care.

Get them stable, get them in a house, then address the rest of the-- Exactly.

Yeah.

So, essentially, after that happened, we're seeing now a continuation of some of these cuts to the program.

Last year, they had $250,000 allotted to them in the state budget.

That number is now down to zero.

So, essentially, what was going on, I'm told, is that they were trying to address these problems.

Like, essentially, the state government was asking the Camden Coalition to kind of water down some of their services.

So, to be able to provide them still, but also to do so in a way that wouldn't provide some of these wraparound services.

So, it's a cut to the program, and it's one that is cheaper, but it often costs taxpayers more money in the long term.

I mean, $250,000 seems like a relatively small amount when we're talking about a $59 billion budget.

How are lawmakers justifying that amid what you wrote is a rise in homelessness and also an economic benefit that the program brings?

Right.

I'm actually saying right now that although this is a cut, the lawmakers that I spoke to said they're going to continue to support this program long term, doing so by providing some of those services like wraparound services, but also doing so in a way that would make sure that these Medicaid cuts aren't hitting programs like Housing First as hard as they possibly can.

Okay.

So, there is certainly more to the story and more to come.

So, they're trying to find other ways that the program itself doesn't get another financial hit, even though the state aid won't be there.

Absolutely.

Right.

What are some of the consequences, though, Bobby, just to the community and also to folks who are currently housed or using the services under the Camden Coalition?

Right.

You know, right now, this would look like a lot of these folks, potentially, if they get this funding is cut, essentially, they would not be able to sustain that apartment or that house.

They may have to go into things like specialized care or institutional living.

That is really going to cost taxpayers money in the long term.

How so?

Essentially, it would tax these systems that are in place, the emergency crisis response systems, hospitals, law enforcement, police officers, in a way that they're already stressed and already overburdened.

It would do so in a way that would essentially make it harder for them to provide more comprehensive care in the long term.

So that's really some of the main issues that I've been hearing from state officials.

I mean, this is one initiative.

Are there other programs, other agencies that can fill these gaps when it comes to homelessness?

And where does the state stand when it comes to those numbers?

Yeah, right now, we're seeing a lot of programs trying to step up, a lot of nonprofits, in addition to the Camden Coalition, trying to raise money to ensure that these programs could keep going year in and year out.

We're seeing things like fundraising drives, asks from philanthropic donations as well.

The state has tried to do so.

There are some other funds going to housing support programs.

But really, the most effective support programs right now are those Housing First programs, and they're the ones taking the biggest hit.

Long term, we could see this increasing the amount of people experiencing homelessness as well as costing taxpayers more money.

Let me ask you, just in a little bit of time, we have left about the broader picture here.

We know that Medicaid cuts are happening.

The Supreme Court passed the Grants Pass, rule on the Grants Pass decision, essentially saying that homelessness can be viewed as a crime, that folks can be penalized and fined even.

We're seeing that play out in some towns across New Jersey.

How does this sort of reshape the social safety net program that New Jersey's really come to be known for?

Yeah, exactly.

We're facing a time right now that a lot of housing advocates have said is almost like a tipping point.

Essentially, when you have these affordable housing crisis, the Grants Pass decision, cuts to programs like Housing First, we can not only see people on the street more often, but we could also see them not receiving the support and care that they need in order to get some of that mental health support, some of that substance use prevention support.

Really what that amounts to is potentially more people having a lesser quality of life and potentially losing their life.

So it's really a life and death situation for many right now, and these cuts certainly don't help it in that way.

All right.

You can find all of Bobby Breyer's thoughtful reporting on our website, njspotlightnews.org.

Bobby, thanks for coming in.

Thanks, Briana.

Under the Dome is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

In our Spotlight on Business report tonight, what the latest energy auction means for your electric bills.

This week, the state's grid operator wrapped up its latest capacity auction, a process that's used to guarantee future electricity supply.

It's the same process that last year contributed to the soaring prices ratepayers are experiencing right now, and the final price hit a record high for the second year in a row.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis reports.

It's going to result in an increase again for ratepayers in New Jersey.

Won't be as significant as last time, but there will certainly be rate impact.

Industry experts are absorbing the results of yesterday's capacity auction held by PJM, the energy grid operator for New Jersey and 13 other states, plus the District of Columbia.

The auction calculates the market rate per megawatt of energy per day, and yesterday's auction ended at $329.17, a nearly $60 increase over last year's auction results.

There were some interesting takeaways from the auction.

You know, the clearing price obviously being the big takeaway and that we need to get these more resources online.

But some of the other takeaways are the additional resources that did bid into the auction.

There were more renewable energy projects bid in.

Many of those projects were already producing electricity.

They just didn't bid into the last auction.

But because of some rule changes that the BPU advocated for, along with other states, we saw more renewable energy actually bid into the auction.

That's just one of several factors that kept prices from spiking this year, which experts expected even after seeing a tenfold increase in last year's auction.

Those factors include some rule changes that were implemented, including a new requirement about the pricing that PJM could accept.

Which both puts a price cap and a price floor, kind of keeps prices around where they were last year.

That was adopted directly in response to a complaint by Governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Governor Moore of Maryland, Governor Murphy of New Jersey, and several others also chimed in in support, as well as a lot of the public utility commissions.

And last week, Governor Murphy joined a bipartisan group of nine governors in a letter to PJM, highlighting a series of concerns over their ability to plan long-term and to bring new electricity projects online that could reduce costs.

And another change in the auction process was the inclusion of some previously excluded energy generators.

Particularly, there are some power plants that are on life support called reliability must run units.

Previously, PJM excluded them from the auction, but after really strong advocacy, particularly from the rate council in Maryland, supported by the rate councils all over the PJM, they included that.

And while that didn't bring the price down below $3.25, it did.

The PJM analysis showed that what the clearing price would have been was about $3.88, and those additional projects helped to really suppress that higher clearing price.

The price is the maximum the cap allows, but it won't necessarily translate into a higher bill for consumers.

It's only one part of four major components that make up an electricity bill.

The utility companies will have to purchase their energy in a separate auction, but PSEG put out a statement yesterday saying that while the capacity rate went up, some other rates went down that could anticipate a near flat impact on customers' electric bills effective June 1, 2026.

But Republican lawmakers are still critical of Democrats' clean energy goals that they say got us here in the first place.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco put out a statement saying, "Instead of pursuing a balanced, affordable, and reliable energy strategy, Trenton Democrats catered to the far left wing of their party with unrealistic mandates and politically driven policies that ignore basic energy economics.

Now ratepayers will see no relief for the 2026-2027 delivery year."

New Jersey needs to look at this and say, "How can we now revamp our future?

How can New Jersey be a power producer?

Is it nuclear?

Is it carbon capture?

Is it hydrogen?

Is it wind?

Maybe it's all of the above."

And I think that's what we need to focus on is a holistic point of view from bringing power into the state.

It's the cost of fuel that ultimately, when you take a look at cost of building and cost of operation in order to generate that electricity year after year after year, renewables really just knock it out of the park when it comes to comparing to fossil fuels.

Those projects that are New Jersey-based projects that are stuck in the PJMQ, the 79 projects, are mostly solar and storage, and those projects get online much more quickly than a large power plant.

The governors in PJM's grid announced today they'll be holding a conference in September to keep pushing for reforms to lower costs for consumers.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Joanna Gagis.

Support for The Business Report is provided by The Newark Alliance Presents the 2025 Halsey Fest, featuring the vibrancy of Newark's Arts and Education District and Halsey Street.

Halsey, a neighborhood built on hustle and heart.

The 2025 Halsey Fest schedule is available at halseynwk.com.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

But a reminder, you can download our podcast wherever you listen and watch us anytime by subscribing to the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

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

Have a great evening.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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