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♪ BRIANA: tonight on NJ Spotlight News, With six days to go, Democrat Andy Kim has a sizable lead in the latest poll of a Republican Curtis Bashaw into this wrist for the U.S. Senate as lawmakers in Trenton to bid with a novella look like.

>> There is a new way to do's and about that and still give voters on the way to select the candidates they prefer.

Briana: Plus, putting millions into nature's reports.

The Biden's administration is looking to make of a freight line more climate friendly.

>> to do it is about reducing carbon emissions while reducing residency.

Protecting our environment without sacrificing the efficiency and economic impact of our port.

And it means creating countless good-paying jobs.

BRIANA: also, increasing cannabis fees as the industry continues to Cash In.

The regulatory commission is looking for more money to support social equity.

>> That money is specifically earmarked for communities that have been most harmed by the war on drugs.

Folks that have been traditionally disenfranchised.

Briana: And one mom's mission to combat cyber bullying.

>> social media is not going on.

We need to make it safer for these kids to navigate because right now it is a free for all, and they cannot navigate it by themselves.

Briana: "NJSpotlightNews ♪ " begins right now.

♪ ANNOUNCER: from NJPBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News, with Briana Vannozzi.

BRIANA: Good evening and thanks for joining us tonight, I am Briana Vannozzi.

We begin with a few key stories we are following.

First, no tossup here in New Jersey, voters are true blue to Democrats.

It Rutgers poll finds registered voters in the Garden State are more likely to vote for Democrats opened on the ballot between now and November 5.

It also shows Democratic candidate holds a double-digit lead over GOP candidates, 55% of voters say they are going for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Just 35% said they'd vote for Former President Donald Trump.

U.S. Senate candidate Andy Kim also holds a sizable lead against Republican Curtis Bashaw.

49% to 26%, with a whopping 19% of respondents who still don't know the who they will vote for in the race.

The Eagleton director says voters' lack of awareness about the Senate candidates is what makes party affiliation so important.

>> This has been perhaps one of the most unorthodox of races in a long time in terms of going from a heightened level of drama as of this time a year ago, to something we haven't been dedicated much time for information to as voters or the public, simply because the race seems at this point like a done deal.

Briana: That is not the only poll favoring Democrats, they survey released today is in line with those results, showing Democrat Andy Kim leading Curtis Bashaw by 19 points among voters in New Jersey, 59% to 39%, more evidence that Tim is likely to become the next U.S.

Senator.

Also tonight, New Jersey says these new railcars will improve your commute.

The struggling transportation agency today previewed the first of one 74 new multilevel railcars which will replace the oldest single-level cars at the agency, and hopefully reduce the odds that your tree will get stuck or delayed.

The electric self-propelled railcars are the first of their kind in America and touted as having higher reliability.

They also have amenities like USB charging ports, and onboard information screens.

They are expected to start up a meeting by the middle of next year, and according to the New Jersey transit officials, were purchased with the help of more than half $1 billion in federal funds.

It comes after commuters experienced the so-called sum of hell, filled with abrupt delays.

And cancellations according to federal data, doing the first five months of 2024, there were 550 New Jersey transit trains canceled due to mechanical failures.

.

Governor Murphy today said the new cars will make frustrating rides fewer and farther apart.

>> NJ Transit is not perfect, none of us are, but this is an example of the progress that we have made that has been overwhelming, and I promise to the commuters and customers out there that we will stay at it and split through the tape over the last 15 or so months of administration.

Briana: A controversial bill that would make it harder to Bandbox in New Jersey is now sitting on Governor Murphy's desk awaiting a signature.

This, after clearing the final hurdle this week, gaining Senate approval.

Sponsors say it is designed to limit book bans and prevent librarians from being sued over the material on shelves.

The freedom to read it would require the state education Commissioner to come up with policies on how library materials are selected, and how challenges to those books are considered.

The responsibility would then be on the local school and library boards to adopt their own guidelines for using that model.

The action comes after a number of books targeted for removal nationally skyrocketed some 65%, according to the American Library Association, mainly for including LGBTQ+ or sexually explicit content.

But also, as a glowing number of liberty and say, they have faced harassment from parents over book removal demands.

The bill gives librarians and library staff more legal protections from civil and criminal lawsuits.

It faced fierce opposition from Republicans in the legislature, who argued the books put kids at risk by exposing them to inappropriate material.

Another County Clerk has agreed to settle a lawsuit over the so-called party-line ballot system used in New Jersey.

Monmouth County, the first defendant named in the federal lawsuit challenging the ballot design, will drop its defense of the ballot and is agreeing to use official block ballots in future primary elections.

Theft of the Attorney General declined to continue defending the party line, it didn't make financial sense to continue battling it in court.

It comes as a number of other county clerks and political chairs have settled their lawsuits, and as a new select committee in the assembly kicked off a series of hearings to determine what a new ballot could potentially look like.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports.

>> certainly, fairness should apply to every election held in our state.

Reporter: for the brand-new assembly committee, it is about drawing up a fair ballot for New Jersey voters, one that embraces the advantage jersey's political bosses historically wielded, by stacking preferred candidates in the old candid line valid.

Lawmakers called in an expert from Colorado for advice.

>> there is definitely more than one way to the a ballot and still give voters an easy way to select the candidates they prefer.

Reporter: She explained, other states use block-styled ballots, or at random drawings giving every candidate a fair shot at a decent spot.

She noted lawmakers have several choices.

>> more than one system that leads to winners and losers based on those voters' choices and that is what election is all about.

New Jersey is on its own thinking this through sort of from scratch.

Reporter:.

Reporter:, actually, New Jersey got here following a grassroots revolt against the County line ballot and multiple lawsuits.

One, found by Democratic Senate candidate Andy Kim, after the order for county clerks to switch and use office block ballots in the recent primary.

From Essex County, this County Clerk said her voters found the change to tough to follow.

>> English is not their first language.

We had an example of what the office block looked like in the past election.

People were confused.

Reporter: but the Essex county clerk considered the new ballot switch.

, quote, positive experience.

>> overall, I thought the boater handled the change, understood the block ballot voting.

And you know, overall I think it was pretty seamless.

Reporter: Other county clerks described a backlash from angry voters.

There's been a lot of changing in elections over the last few years, and while each individual piece of policy and no, was meant to enfranchise voters and bring more people to the table, it has sown a lot of distrust and confusion.

>> when you make a change, let us do it properly, do it right, with education.

I don't have problem with office block styled.

Reporter: a panel of six election officials, some with counties still involved in settling legal ballot disputes, said some of their voters wanted candidates grouped together.

>> Voters will vote for who they know.

And they look for those clues to see if there are candidates that have their same values.

With her that his Republican, Democrat.

>> on the local level, the local candidates, they want to be in the club, they want to be together.

They seek that grouping through the county committees and through the county conventions.

Really>> Boils down to one thing, which is that everyone should be treated the same on the ballot.

No one should be given any advantage.

Some of the questions were saying, can the assembly candidates be positioned together?

That concerns me.

Reporter: The committee says Andy Kim will receive an invitation to testify.

So far, the assembly has launched this ballots design project without input from colleagues in the Senate.

New Jersey working families, which also filed ballot lawsuits, once full engagement.

>> It was not starting on the right foot to not have at least some form of public testimony today, than to start with an invitation-only hearing.

Reporter: The committee will meet several more times to get input.

What is there a deadline?

One County Clerk told them she has to start putting a ballot together but much 24.

At the state house, Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: Keep it here for NJ Decides 2024 Election Night coverage.

We are live starting at 8:00 p.m. with all the results commit reporters across the state at campaign headquarters, and in-studio political analysis with Rider University's Micah Rasmussen, and many others.

That is next Tuesday, November 5, at right here on NJPBS, and also streaming on our YouTube channel and on our digital site until the last race is called on .

On the heels of a port strike that nearly crippled the nation's supply chain, federal and state leaders today gathered at the port of Newark though for a less contentious announcement, nearly $400 million awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency to electrify the ports.

Cargo equipment, and trucks, and also to reduce the number of polluting vehicles that roll in and out of the port on a daily basis.

It is part of a $3 billion pot of money President Biden announced on Tuesday in Baltimore, as the administration looks to clean up the environmental impact of the nation's freight line.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis has the story.

>> we are so happy to announce the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to receive $344 million, and C Street ferry company to receive over $54 million.

Reporter: Federal, state and local leaders gathered at Port Newark today to celebrate nearly $400 million coming from the US from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Ports program to help clean and green the activity around the ports of Newark, Elizabeth, and a -- and beyond.

>> it's about protecting our environment.

It is about creating countless good-paying jobs.

Reporter: the grant is part of a total $3 billion announced today for Clean Ports programs around the country, the funding coming from the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had to apply for the grant, that, they say, will cut 67,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

$540 million was also awarded to the Delaware River and bay authorities for the Cape May Lewis.

>> Ferry terminals I applaud the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for its commitment to environmental justice and the fight against climate change and this funding will advance the shared goals of increasing air quality and emissions reductions at the port.

Reporter: the funding breaks down into three buckets.

$344 million to electrify operations.

$54 million to the C Street ferry company, and $3 million for creating a community advisory committee to give local residents input on the plans.

The Port Authority director explains how the $344 million will be spent on four major programs one,.

>> To help replace cargo handling equipment, which is the special machinery that is used to move the containers on and off the ships and trains and trucks.

The second component will be used to allow ships to plug in when they arrive here at the port so they are not continuing to burn their diesel engines when they are sitting here for 24, 36 or 48 hours.

Reporter: Third will be a your incentive program to help truck drivers upgrade their trucks to a emission capability.

>> All that funding will be supported by basic infrastructure so, upgrading the electric grid to support that, and the fourth component is workforce to and workforce training so that the workforce here at the port, both in the terminals and with the trucking community, they know how to operate and maintain the new equipment.

Reporter: Rooney gives it six to nine months before any of the zero-emission equipment arrives at the port.

As for the C Street ferry, $54 million will go to upgrading the fleet to zero-emission ferries.

>> in New York and New Jersey people take the ferries back and forth.

So it is a real win-win to reduce climate pollution and air pollution.

Reporter: a major driver came from environmental justice organizations advocating for cleaner air and less pollution in those communities adjacent to the port that they say bear the brunt of the pollution from productivity.

>> as a mother of three asthmatic children, living in a community southward of Newark, which we refer to as the diesel death zone, now I can say to do that is going to change with this funding, and the collaboration and support that we are receiving.

>> We can lift the GDP, create jobs, fund our economy, grow opportunity and at the same time, make sure that the social determinants of health.

affect the lives of our kids every single day are solid and allowing them to live longer lives.

Reporter: It will take time to get these programs underway, and some of them will be refined through the input of the community advisory board, but in the end reducing 67,000 tons of , carbon dioxide will have a massive impact on this region.

At Port Newark, Joanna Gagis, NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: In Ella Spotlight on Business Report, will the state raise taxes on cannabis?

Members of the cannabis regulatory commission are debating the social equity excise fee.

It's a tax on every ounce of recreational cannabis sold, with the money steered toward social equity projects in the neighborhood's most affected by the war on drugs.

With the industry booming, progressive groups say the time is now to raise money for that mission.

Others argue a higher tax will hurt the market.

Ted Goldberg has the details.

>> I think it behooves us to get this right.

Reporter: The Cannabis Regulatory Commission is taking a smoke break on raising the social equity excise fee charged on each ounce of cannabis.

>> This will afford the commission more time together more information, to speak to more stakeholders and organizations who represent the businesses and the people who will be directly impacted by this decision.

Reporter: The crc had considered raising it from one $.24 an ounce, but they say they will mull it over a bit longer.

>> that money is specifically earmarked to go back to communities that have been most harmed by the war on drugs.

Reporter: the fee has changed each year the cannabis has been sold in New Jersey and it has raised about $5.5 million so far.

By law, 15% of that money is dedicated to under age while the rest is dedicated by statewide and local leaders.

>> stay your community needs afterschool programming, the money could be used for that.

Or maybe a scholarship fund, or maybe it could be used for grant programs for minority owned businesses that might need additional reinvestment.

>> This is necessary to ensure investments that are desperately needed to repair and restore impacted communities are done in a meaningful and substantive way.

>> This is a very targeted fee on cultivators, which tend to be, as far as industry goes, larger and wealthier parts of that industry.

And New Jersey is actually one of the lowest-text cannabis industries in the country right now.

Reporter: Advocates say the fee needs to be raised to help communities adversely affected by the war on drugs.

>> At that time, it was low in order to allow the industry to grow with a promise that a higher fee would be implemented in the future to meet the need for meaningful community reinvestment.

My hope is that when the final decision is made, that we will not be leaving millions of dollars on the table that should be invested back into black and Latinx communities that have bore the brunt of the drug war.

Reporter: Others argue that cannabis in New Jersey is already too expensive and that raising the fee would aggravate customers and make it harder for people trying to break into the industry.

>> You cannot kill the golden goose right now because the same tax at a $30 rate would estimate the racial and social equity you build.

What it would do is absolutely exacerbate the problems of the legacy market.

>> The fund is great.

Well-intended.

I can understand certainly a modest increase, if you went from 1.25 dollars to $1.52 or even five dollars.

But going to a 23 per -- 2300% increase right now is the absolute long time.

Reporter: even the CRC concedes that small businesses could face obstacles that would be easier for big businesses.

>> for all of our new cultivators, this decision can be devastating.

And what we have already heard from businesses, access to capital, is so hard to come by.

Reporter: The fee is excited to bring in about 2.5 million dollars over fiscal year 24, with possibly much more money raised in the future off the backs of buyers and sellers in New Jersey's cannabis market.

For NJ Spotlight News, I am ted Goldberg.

Briana: Finale tonight, one South Brunswick Township's mom's personal fight to end cyber bullying.

She has spent the last three years traveling to D.C. and advocating for children like her daughter, Emily, who died by suicide in 2021 after relentless bullying from peers who took the social media to target her.

Her mission is to prevent other kids from the same online harms, working tirelessly along other parents and getting Congress to pass the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA Act, which advocates they would protect against threats to kids health and well-being online.

She joins me in the studio to share more.

I am so happy to get a chance to sit down with you.

Since that time, you have created and released champions, a foundation and nonprofit, you have created a kindness fa ir.

You have met with folks in D.C.. Is that the advocacy work that keeps you going?

GUEST: yes, it helps to know my grief into being and doing something more productive.

Otherwise after Emily died, I was a big advocate for her to begin with because she was a big special education student.

But my advocacy was my part of my identity.

So when Emily died, I kind of lost that whole part of my identity.

And I needed something to channel my grief because it was like, you literally, your life gets shattered.

Briana: I mean, and you have met other families and parents at this point who have lived a very similar experience.

Guest: Yes.

It is crazy, but there is a whole underworld of breaved parents that no one ever hears about.

As we all seem to find each other.

[laughs] Briana: So when you meet with folks, say, in D.C., Congress members, and you are talking about this online safety act, and of course, there has been a lot of attention on these tech companies in the last couple of years, what is the message that you give them?

Guest: Essentially the parents I traveled with, we all have lost a child to something related to social media.

So, Emily was cyber bullied.

I know parents who their children have died by taking a social media challenge, or, picking up drugs that were laced with Fentanyl through Snapchats or Instagram.

So, all our children have been harmed by something online.

And so we are focusing on making social media -- social media is not going anywhere, but we need to make it safer for these kids to navigate.

Because right now, it's a free for all.

And, they just cannot navigate it by themselves.

We really want the social media companies to be a little more, you know, responsible for what is being put up on their platforms.

Briana: Right now now that KOSA Act has been passed in the Senate.

It has not yet been posted for a full of vote in the house although it through Frank Pallone's committee for mark-ups.

Guest: It did.

Briana: What do you want to say to those lawmakers who are not posting this bill?

Guest:, honestly I want to say that if it was their child that had been harmed, I am sure it would have been out for a vote already.

But it's not because, you know, tech has spent $51 million just this year in lobbying against us.

I mean, we are 20 parents who go to Washington, D.C. and we talk to lawmakers and we tell them our horrific stories.

And these companies are coming in with all of this money behind them.

It is hard to fight that.

It's really not about red or blue.

It's about the kids.

This is about keeping our children safe.

I already paid the ultimate price for putting my child on social.

I don't want anyone else to have to walk this path.

Because it is terrible.

It is like shattering.

It alters your entire life.

And, you know, you have a young child.

I don't want you to have to worry about this 10 years from now.

I want there to be things in place so that when you get there, that this is something that is manageable for these kids.

Briana: Karen, thank you for sharing your story and, Of course, for keeping Emily's memory alive in the advocacy work that you are doing.

Guest: I appreciate it.

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

Before we go, check out our NJ Decides 2024 election exchange podcast, where David Cruz, Colleen Oâ™Dea and ia go one-on-one with the candidates running for the 12 congressional seats and the only U.S. Senate seat on the ballot.

You can download the entire series wherever you listen, and hear why they think they deserve your vote.

I am Brianna Vannozzi.

Thanks for being with us.

Have a great night and we will see you back here tomorrow.

ANNOUNCER: NJM Insurance Group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

And by the PSEG foundation.

♪