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Briana: Transportation officials on the hill answering questions about the ongoing safety issues at Newark airport.

>> You can't fix this overnight.

This is going to take as a year, two years, three years.

Briana: Protests continue outside to delineate Hall into Newark as Mayor Baraka awaits his day in court.

A landmark $450 million settlement with the chemical giant 3M.

It will clear up the water in the state.

>> We, the public, the state DEP that represents them, must pursue these chemical manufacturers to clean up the mess they should've never made in the first place.

Briana: New Jersey transit riders are bracing for another summer of hell commute with two days until a possible engineer strike.

>> All I see are the indicators it is going to happen.

I don't see indicators there is any talking.

Briana: "NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

>> From NJPBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Briana Vannozzi.

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

I am Briana Vannozzi.

We begin with some of today's top headlines.

Newark airport was a topic of discussion during a House hearing today with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was on Capitol Hill to answer questions from lawmakers about his department's 2026 budget.

Duffy acknowledge the recent delays and travel headaches at Newark, pointed due to staffing shortages and equipment issues.

He said the department is offering bonuses to keep experienced air traffic controllers on the job longer and ramping up hiring, but noted there is no quick fix.

The FAA is holding a two-day meeting with major airlines including Delta, United, and American.

The goal, to discuss scaling back flights in and out of Newark to ease congestion.

There are 77 flights per hour.

The FAA wants to cap that at 56 until runway construction wraps up in June.

Hundreds of flights are operating on delays and 100 more have been canceled.

Also tonight, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka released several video clips today that he says prove he wasn't trespassing at Delaney all.

The video shows federal agents at the ICE detention facility opening the entrance gate and inviting Baraka onto the property.

He can be seen walking out of the gate before a violent scuffle begins and ICE officers arrest him.

Homeland Security accused Baraka, who is a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, of storming the facility alongside three Democratic Congress members.

The video comes ahead of his first appearance in federal court Thursday morning.

Protests have continued outside the detention facility, and on Monday more arrests were made, this time of kludgy members from New Jersey and other states who were holding an interfaith rally.

Republicans in Congress are attempting to have Congress members Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman stripped of house committees for being present during the Delaney Hall incident with Baraka.

Governor Murphy is rolling out a series of steps to help presi bracing for cash resident --residents bracing for big increases in the electric bill.

It would let certain customers know about energy use and cost before sending out a monthly bill.

Murphy signed Executive Orders asking utility companies to voluntarily expand programs on service disconnection through the winter months from July to December and fees during peak summer usage as well as directing the Board of Public utilities to look at available funding to stabilize utility bills.

The administration is asking BPU to move quickly to review proposals for bringing more energy generation online, among other things.

The rate hikes stem from a capacity auction at PJM interconnection and are expected to raise monthly bills by up to $25.

This week the state reached a landmark settlement with chemical giant 3M, which agreed to pay New Jersey up to $450 million to resolve lawsuits over widespread contamination from PFAS, otherwise known as Forever Chemicals.

They are used in everyday products like nonstick pans and waterproof clothes, and research has linked PFAS to cancer and other severe health issues.

The state lawsuits content chemicals have polluted our water, soil, and natural resources following decades of use of 3M products at the timber works facility in Salem County.

The current and former owners of that site will still stand trial starting next week.

For more on all of that, I'm joined by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner.

This is the largest PFAS settlement in New Jersey history.

How exactly is the state planning to allocate the money, and are there assurances in place to make sure this money goes to the communities that have been most affected?

>> Yes, Briana, there are many assurances in place, both constitutional and as a matter of process.

This settlement served two aims.

It serves the aim of PFAS abatement, getting treatment in place in our water systems or upon private wells that need the treatment to get PFAS out of our drinking water where the impacts are largest.

There are also natural resource restoration components to the settlement.

Our Constitution requires that Natural Resources be restored in the area where they are harmful these funds will indeed go right into the communities that have been harmed.

Briana: Is there a schedule, Commissioner, for how and where the money will be spent?

Can you share it?

>> Not just yet.

We have got to get the settlement approved through the court and get to the point of implementation.

That I will give you a few ideas.

You will recall that many of our water providers across the state of New Jersey have engaged in national settlements with PFAS manufacturers.

We believe that the funding that has been put forward across all of the settlements is not going to be enough for the long-term to achieve all of the ends that are needed.

For example, while the underlying settlements for water providers may provide funding, we need funding for source water production for cleaning up PFAS where it is so it doesn't get into the water supply in the first place.

That is a primary goal with this settlement.

Briana: How much has the state approved so far through holding these corporate polluters accountable, either through settlements or through litigation?

>> Sure, sir just a year and a half ago -- so just a year and a half ago we settled with one of the large manufacturers in southern New Jersey, Solvay, to both clean up the site that is the source of the contamination and to provide relief for communities around that site.

That is just shy of $400 million.

So together we are just under at this point $850 million.

But we have not had reached the point of settlement or a trial or jury verdict against one of the largest players in this mess, which is DuPont and their progeny companies.

The first of multiple trials against DuPont starts on Monday.

We are going to expected them to clean up their mess.

Briana: What is the state seeking through that trial monetarily and also just in terms of them being held as possible?

>> Sure, so DuPont and Camorra's are among the largest manufacturers and still presently manufacturing PFAS chemicals, whereas 3M has taken steps to reduce the amount of PFAS and ultimately phase out PFAS completely from its product lines.

In addition to that, at the DuPont site down at the foot of the Memorial Bridge, the Delaware Memorial Bridge, the treatment facilities there, the wastewater plants were used as a PFAS toilet for the entire country.

The liability is extreme.

And we need both site cleanup at Chambers works and other DuPont sites and we need them to make sure that they are supplying the state of New Jersey with the resources to track down the pollution where it exists and to remedy it.

Briana: What is your message, quickly, Commissioner, to the public about the state's ability to remediate this?

People are concerned it is in our soil, and our natural resources.

>> We've got a lot of research to do and a lot of abatement work to do, and we expect these folks to be held to account.

For any New Jersey resident was worried, I would tell them to things.

If you have a potable drinking water well and you are concerned about PFAS in your letter, call the New Jersey DEP fund.

Our spill fund is there for you.

If you are a water provider that is concerned you cannot make ends meet to get this stuff out of your water supply, call the New Jersey DEP municipal finance program, because we will be there for you, too.

Briana: Shawn LaTourette, thank you for your time.

Governor Murphy says the state is preparing for the rest ahead of what appears to be an imminent New Jersey transit strike.

Its union locomotive engineers are preparing to walk off the job at midnight Thursday if they cannot strike a contract deal with transit leadership.

The two sides have been at odds over salary increases, and negotiations have grown contentious in the last couple weeks.

The impasse means tens of thousands of rail commuters will be left scrambling to find alternate ways to work.

Ted Goldberg reports.

Ted: Commuters are worried that train stations could go quiet on Friday.

Their concern level?

>> Huge.

Because all I see are the indicators that it is going to happen.

I don't see any indicators that there is any talking.

>> Very concerned, because I grew up in Jersey City, I don't have a license or a car.

So I have to take the train.

>> Without the train I won't be able to commute to work at the University.

I have students that I have to meet.

Ted: NJ transit and the union representing its engineers have until midnight Thursday to agree to a deal.

Otherwise, engineers go on strike for the first time since 1983.

>> It seems like it is going to happen because people are fighting for the right cause, perhaps.

>> I know that they want an increase in salary, but I hope they come to a bargain where they meet at the middle and negotiate.

Ted: Both sides have blamed each other for negotiations taking this long.

Calf cap is nothing new in the world of organized labor.

>> I think they want to disrupt the public and if they want to have another strike, that is what they're going to have if they want it.

>> Not going to give any notice and he might call people out any possible time, the height of a response ability.

-- height of your response ability.

>> That was before the last strike in 1983 which lasted 34 days.

The current standoff is unique for several reasons.

>>e the engineers have been working for six years without a contract, which is in a Trinity in labor relations.

-- paternity in labor relations.

Ted: He says they are typically not negotiated through news conferences and press releases .

NJ transit CEO acute union leadership of a violating a handshake agreement after a deal agreed upon was overwhelmingly voted down by the union's rank-and-file.

>> Most times union leaders are very in tune with what the membership is expecting.

Usually there was a lot of discussion about setting expectations, long before negotiations even begin.

I just think it was a miscalculation, very serious one.

Ted: Both sides met on Monday in Washington, D.C., meeting with the National Mediation Board.

They have not issued public updates other than confirming that negotiations are happening.

>> The National Mediation Board does great work.

I know they have been involved in the past and it has not been successful.

But I think at this point they are going to be successful, at least I'm hopeful they will be.

Ted: So do leaders around the state.

Gov.

Murphy: Hoping and praying they can find the common ground we need to find to avoid a strike.

We have to prepare for the West but we are hoping for the best.

>> We needed this issue to be resolved as quickly as possible, and hopefully it doesn't get to that point.

Ted: Sheena is the mayor of South Orange, a village with a ton of commuters, and she is the lieutenant governor candidate on Steve Fulop's ticket.

>> Summer of hell, winter of hell, fall, spring, you name it.

Ted: She says a strike would mean more people in buses, more drivers and cars.

>> we will have more people driving into our downtown, which is pretty bustling.

We have a lot of students who walked around South Orange and Mabel, and adding this number of cars is a little scary.

We have got to take precautions with crossing guards.

Ted: NJ transit's contingency plan includes more buses to New York City from four park-and-rides, including this one.

That won't be enough to accommodate most rail riders, so municipalities are rendering with private operators to provide bus service the company boxcar will provide residents round-trips to the city for $30, while other commuters consider more expensive options.

>> Uber, Lyft, it is costly in the pocket.

>> It is going to cost me a lot.

Amtrak, there is no set pricing.

It is variable.

Amtrak can be up to $100 a day.

>> I plan on working from home on Friday and thinking of what I will do next week if it continues.

Ted: If no deal is reached by the deadline, the White House and even Congress could intervene.

Commuters are waiting for updates, and researching alternate ways to get around.

In Edison, I am Ted Goldberg, "NJ Spotlight News."

Briana: House lawmakers are continuing a marathon meeting debating pieces of President Trump's sweeping tax and spending cuts bill package, with the X vacation that committees will move the bill close -- expectation that committees will move the bill closer to a full floor vote.

It calls for trillions in tax cuts, major cuts to Medicaid, and requires states to pick up more of the tab on food assistance programs known as SNAP.

Democrats in New Jersey and across the country say it would devastate communities and the people who live in them.

Joanna Gagis reports.

Joanna: it's been called the one Big Beautiful Bill five Republicans commit extreme and toxic by Democrats.

In a marathon hearing of the House of Representatives that started yesterday at 2:00 p.m. and continue through the night into today, lawmakers debated and marked up portions of the bill that would make significant changes to Medicaid.

>> We are prebuilt to stop the billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicaid program by reining in the polls and ensuring states have flexibility to remove ineligible recipients from their roles, and removing beneficiaries who have >> Enrolled in multiple states.

Today my Republican colleagues are trying to ram through a bill that would slash hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid.

Let's be honest about what is happening.

No matter what Republicans say, there is no i f about it.

Benefits will be cut.

>> Make no mistake, the policies in this big, ugly bill do the exact opposite.

If this bill became law, it would devastate the health care infrastructure my and all of your constituents rely on.

It would strip health care coverage for millions of our most vulnerable citizens.

Joanna: 71 million Americans depend on Medicaid for their health insurance will these are low- to moderate-income people who cannot afford private insurance, in some cases because of illness or disability that is force them out of work.

Lawmakers took turns showing individual cases of people on Medicaid whose lives will be compromise or even lost without it.

One example is Sasha from Congressional District 7 in New Jersey.

>> She was born with cerebral palsy, and the right side of her body doesn't function due to a stroke she had in her mother's womb.

Since she was seven years old, Sasha has suffered from seizures.

Her mother, who is also here, quit her job to care for Sasha.

Without Medicaid, Sasha Would not have the resources to access treatment, medications, or doctor visits.

Joanna: In an unusual twist, Sasha's story was told by a California representative rather than her own.

>> Who is standing up for Sasha and millions like her?

Democrats stand with you, Sasha come in opposing any Medicaid cuts.

We need to just four Republicans to join us.

I hope we can find them and I hope it is your Congress member.

Joanna: her Congress member is Tom Kean, Jr., who was noticeably silent even after promising his district he wouldn't cut Medicaid.

>> President Trump and congressional Republicans promised the American people they would not cut Medicaid benefits or strip away people's health care.

In February President Trump said, "Medicare, Medicaid, none of that stuff is going to be touched."

Call it whatever you want, the bottom line is these people are going to lose Medicaid.

Joanna: Democrats say millions of people will lose if Republican changes go into effect, like adding work requirements to maintain eligibility.

>> IC 7.6 million different waste, fraud, and abuse, cases 1.4 million illegals on the roles, 1.2 million individuals who are ineligible.

Let us not forget the 4.8 million able-bodied adults, healthy adults that choose not to work.

Joanna: Republicans imposed an up to $35 co-pay for individuals who make 138% of the federal poverty level, $15,000 earned a year.

And they have cut incentives for states to adopt Medicaid expansion for those who are in that amount.

Democrats like New Jersey Congressman Rob Menendez accused them of stealing from the poor to give to the rich.

>> This would be a different composition if this wasn't part of a budget resolution that calls for the extension of the original Trump tax cuts.

We know that those cuts have to be paired with spending cuts, which is what this conversation is about, the $880 billion that we have to cut.

That is why it makes listening to our friends across the aisle so difficult, because you are tying yourself in knots talking about improving Medicaid but you are not doing that.

>> Elsewhere in the budget bill you are giving people who make $5 million a year of $500,000 tax cut.

Joanna: Democrats proposed several amendments several all voted down, even by Tom Kean, Jr.

So for those four votes from Republicans are nowhere to be found.

For "NJ Spotlight News," I'm Joanna Gagis.

Briana: Finally tonight come the second smallest town in New Jersey is now home to the highest percentage of green space out of any community here.

Officials recently cut the ribbon at the East Newark Riverfront Park, a five-acre scenic oasis on the banks of the Passaic River, developed on a formal industrial site.

As Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports, the project is the result of a years long effort to remediate pollution and transform the property into a model that can be used elsewhere.

>> 1, 2, 3.

Brenda: Officials snifter the ribbon to officially open East Newark's Riverside Park.

It's a transformation from the scar of an old factory site.

Engineers created five acres of passive green space including a playground and 1000-foot boardwalk along the Passaic River.

It is the only park in a tiny Baroque with a heavy industrial legacy and not much greenery.

So lots of local excitement.

>> I can't wait to sit in traffic at this light and look over -- [LAUGHTER] and look over, and instead of seeing a dirt space, see a new mom with a stroller.

Brenda: But Riverside is more than just a park.

It is a prototype, a new way to speed up the benefits for communities harmed by toxic Superfund sites like New York's planted that dumped deadly dioxin into the Passaic River and mercury pollution in various Creek.

About 100 companies share potential liability for cleanup, and one of them offered to help build Riverside Park in exchange for future credit.

>> BASF helped to pioneer a new model for the set of work, one that prioritizes early community benefits while meeting the goals of the trustees.

Brenda: Why did BASF reach out as opposed to circling the wagons the way so many other companies do?

>> It's important to BASF to be part of the community.

We work in communities, our people live in communities.

It is critical for us to see our responsibility and react appropriately.

Brenda: Doug helped design the park.

It doesn't fix pollution problems along the Passaic dish the river remains a toxic mess that will require cleanup projects spanning years.

Legal disputes continue over who owes what and how much.

>> When you are a chemical company and you have liabilities that have been created from past actions or that you have inherited, sometimes that is just the red side of the balance sheet.

Brenda: But the DEP Commissioner praised BASF for its proactive approach from which into the company a $70 million credit towards any alleged liability.

Federal officials say they hope it sets a new standard.

>> I hope for a company to come forward voluntarily and do this kind of thing is extremely unusual, and it is something that we want to encourage in the future.

Absolutely.

And we hope will continue to happen again.

Brenda: But that's uncertain.

A former Department of Interior staffer who worked on Riverside Park noted no one from the Trump Administration attended this event.

>> Because of the views of the current administration in contrast to those of the Biden administration, there was no federal presence whatsoever on that podium and appreciating, acknowledging, proudly taking credit for a role in developing this part.

Brenda: No one from interior replied to her request from comment.

Riverside Park will remain under the stewardship for 30 years as a rest up for birds, garden for native plants, and a gathering place for families.

>> it is about environmental justice and the ability to breathe in healthy spaces.

>> To my borough residents, we are the guardians of this great gift.

Brenda: The park is open to anyone from surrounding communities.

I am Brenda Flanagan, "NJ Spotlight News" Briana: That's going to do it for us tonight, but if you missed our conversation with the Democratic gubernatorial candidates on Friday, you can watch it on our site, njspotlightnews.org, or on the "NJ Spotlight News" YouTube channel.

You can watch the broadcast this weekend Saturday or Sunday.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

For the entire team at "NJ Spotlight News," thanks for being with us, have a great evening.

We will see you back here tomorrow.

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