Announcer: Funding for "NJ Spotlight News" funded by the members of the New Jersey Education Association, making public schools great for every child.
RWJBarnabas Health, let's be conduct healthy together.
>> We saw dangerous behavior that could lead those who were seeking to get healing to leave worse than when they came in.
Briana: Less, deal or no deal.
>> What we need are real solutions on the border and real solutions that would help the 11 million undocumented again -- gain a path to citizenship.
Briana: A deal to overhaul the immigration policy is teetering tonight, and the impact can be felt here in New Jersey.
Also, calls for a cease-fire.
Commute applicants urged New York City Council -- Newark city Council as the death toll in Gaza surpasses 27,000.
>> Is long overdue for the city of Newark and the United States to call for a permanent cease-fire.
Briana: And off the hook, Atlantic City casinos have no legal obligation to stop compulsive gamblers rolling the dice.
"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 this Wednesday night.
I'm Briana Vannozzi.
Some of New Jersey's most vulnerable residents are being preyed on by the very system designed to help them, that according to a scathing new report by the state commission of investigation, feeling widespread fraud and corruption in the addiction recovery industry, which the report says has ballooned into a multibillion-dollar business.
The 106 page investigation sites unchecked abuses by so-called professionals, the owners and operators of these businesses, who are accused of caring more about profits and getting their clients clean and sober.
A Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports, the investigation chronicles how the fraud and wrongdoing were found at every stage of the recovery process, sometimes starting as early as an overdose victims hospital bedside.
>> This devastated my family.
We are still feeling the effects of it in every way.
It shattered us.
Brenda: Nicole says her sister Georgine struggle to find treatment, dragged her whole family down a dark rabbit hole into the addiction recovery industry, a business she says prioritize profit over patients.
She testified before the state commission of investigation about her family's nightmare and welcomes the agency's Fort reforms.
>> More transparency, more accountability, looking into these owners and their backgrounds.
All really crucial stuff.
>> We have these criminals hiding in plain site that they should be going after.
>> Alicia recognizes the abuses outlined in the report.
It revealed widespread fraud, unethical conduct and wrongdoing were found in businesses at every stage of the recovery process, with millions of dollars squeezed out of desperate families.
She wants lawmakers to target so-called brokering.
>> They are preying on families with private insurance, and getting them into treatment centers just so they can make a profit.
And it doesn't matter if the treatment center is a good fit for the person, they don't care.
They just want to get you in so they can get a kickback.
>> We also found nonprofits and sober living homes.
>> She says state law bars patient brokering by individuals, but the report commends banning it industrywide and increasing fines from the current $10,000 to at least $50,000.
Other reforms include creating strict licensing standards and oversight for so-called peer recovery coaches, setting tougher rules for licenses, financial audits and criminal background checks at treatment centers, and cracking down on sober homes, particularly unlicensed ones, that cram recovering clients together.
>> May be some of them are OK, but a lot of them saw bad drug use issues, bad living conditions, a lot of people packed into one room.
The sober homes, it does not seem like that is currently effective.
>> They responded saying they are taking the allegations seriously and we don't have further comment at this time.
Chair Tiffany Williams Brewer says the clock is ticking.
>> We are striving to shine a light on this issue, particularly in light of the level of funding that is being dedicated now in our state to the addiction and rehabilitation industry.
>> More than a billion dollars in opioid settlement money is headed to New Jersey.
The FCI doesn't want it poorly spent.
>> We saw some egregious examples of failure to protect some of the most vulnerable in their time of need.
We saw instances of greed.
We saw instances of impropriety.
We saw dangerous behavior that could leave those who were seeking to get healing to leave worse than when they came in.
>> Her sister succumbed to her illness.
Her family is urging lawmakers to enact reforms that might have saved her life.
>> This is a devastating disease, and people really need to start treating it that way and not looking upon it with shame.
Brenda: I'm Brenda Flanagan, "NJ Spotlight News".
Briana: A bipartisan border deal was doomed before it even reached the U.S. Senate for today.
The $118 billion bill package includes dramatic changes to immigration law that GOP members initially backed, but are now rejecting under pressure from Donald Trump, who is making it a campaign issue.
Senate Chuck Schumer will put forward a stand-alone package that includes only emergency funding for the two war-torn countries while nixing the immigration component.
As David Cruise reports, the debacle is frustrating immigrant rights groups here at home.
>> By the time this report is done, so will the chances be of the immigration side of the National security supplemental appropriations act of 2024 Modesto ending the latest attempt at any kind of integration related policy change.
Despite reports that the immigration side of the bill took months to negotiate, it now appears dead on arrival.
Most advocates say it is not actually unwelcome.
>> Certainly it is extremely frustrating, disappointing, deceiving to see the administration and had committed to passing immigration reform to put all 11 million immigrants on a pathway to citizenship in the United States, really take an entire tome of the Trump playbook and try to pass it into law.
>> Sarah says the president has inherited a broken system, but adds that the proposals in the bill represented a capitulation and a lose-lose for anyone hoping for even the most modest reforms.
>> Absolutely it's a trap.
The legislation would have given nice the largest budget to detain people in the history of the agency.
This is an agency that has proven time and time again to be deceitful, to be a violator of human rights.
This completely changes the asylum system and makes it much more difficult to apply and creates numerous problems for immigrants who are already in this country by decreasing deportation authority.
>> He says the idea was to add border enforcement, Republican priority, to the supplemental as a way to bring GOP lawmakers in on the deal to fund Ukraine and Israel.
>> The original supplemental was largely enforcement based and was meant to get Republicans on board.
When it didn't, they opened it up to bipartisan negotiation, which got more Republican priorities into the package, and then they don't seem to have the appetite for that.
It's a challenge, it clearly has political wait for them and they want to leverage it to their advantage.
>> Former President Trump came out against it.
Today Speaker Johnson, whose tenuous hold on the speakership is subject to the political whims of Trump acolytes in the house, expressed confidence that what remains of the supplemental will make its way through both houses eventually.
>> We are governing here.
Sometimes it's messy.
The framers anticipated you would have a system with people with very different ideas on how to resolve their problems, but they also anticipated that we were to be able to get in a room and arm wrestle over public policy and come to consensus to move the ball forward for the most people.
That is what is happening.
You are seeing the messy sausage making, is not always cleaner pretty, but the job will be done at the end of the day.
>> Maybe, but the one certainty is that immigration will not be a part of it.
That discussion, as per usual with this issue, will have to wait.
I'm David Cruz, "NJ Spotlight News".
Briana: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is back in the Middle East, working to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire.
That would include the release of Israeli hostages who have been held by the militant group for months in Gaza.
In exchange for more aid to reach Palestinians.
But the two sides appear as far apart as ever.
Lincoln met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in other top Israeli leaders to continue negotiations but acknowledged a lot of work has to be done to reach a deal.
Israel has publicly rejected a proposal from Hamas that includes three phases, withdrawing Israeli troops in Gaza, a larger humanitarian effort, and freedom of movement for Palestinians throughout the territory.
Israeli officials confirmed the deaths of 31 hostages in Hamas captivity, and pressure is mounting from American and Israeli hostage families to secure their release.
There's also more calls for permanent cease-fire, growing louder and more vocal.
Members rallied outside Newark City Hall, calling on the Council to support a cease-fire resolution and make it only the second major U.S. city to do so.
Joanna Gagis was there.
Joanna: A coalition of several community organizations marched eight blocks to Newark City Hall today calling for the city council to pass a cease-fire resolution for Gaza earring today's meeting.
>> It's been 123 days of genocide.
It is long overdue for the city of Newark and the United States to call for a permanent cease-fire.
>> The coalition of protesters included undergrad, graduate, and law school students, together with the Council on Islamic relations, the Newark water coalition, a group of anti-Zionist rabbis, and the People's organization for progress.
>> The coalition says that the resolution should say the city of Newark calls for an immediate , durable, and sustained cease-fire, an end to the occupation and colonization of all Arab lands.
The immediate release of all Palestinian political prisoners.
And the immediate issuance of adequate food, water, and medical resources to Palestine.
>> We have a genuine interest here in Newark for cease-fire, considering that $144 million of New Jersey taxis goes toward finding military weaponry in Israel.
In Newark alone, about 4 million comes from tax payer dollars.
>> Is largely symbolic because Newark city Council is not making a national policy.
>> Cities all over the United States are calling for cease-fire resolution and passing them adamantly.
San Francisco, Minneapolis, Denver, all passing resolutions.
Although they don't have a say in international policy, the resolutions will show the U.S. government that the people of the United States have something to say about the funding going into this genocide.
Joanna: Close to 50 resolutions have been passed across the U.S., four of them in New Jersey.
Jersey City attempted to pass one in December, but it failed.
Last night, Union City's counsel joined those that passed a resolution, a move that this coalition applauded.
>> They got the town council to pass a resolution last night.
Joanna: Protesters say they will be paying attention to who votes for cease-fire and they will remember those names when they turn out to the polls in November.
The New York City Council present -- Newark city Council President gave a statement saying the turmoil in Israel and Gaza is wrong.
We stand with him pray for families on every side who have lost loved ones and are being traumatized daily by the horrific things the world is watching.
We played with all who love peace and justice.
In Newark, I'm Joanna Gagis, "NJ Spotlight News".
Briana: Newark and state environmental officials are launching an investigation into faulty work on the lead service line replacement program.
Officials say that in recent weeks they became aware of three properties in the city where lead service lines had only been partially replaced.
State law requires a full replacement.
The shoddy work was done by an unnamed third party.
The city is conducting a citywide audit to determine if other lead line work was detected.
New has replaced more than 23,000 lead service line since 2019.
Work was key to ending a water crisis in the city that had grabbed national attention.
In the years since, Newark has been touted as a national leader on lead remediation.
Officials stressed that Newark's water quality is still safe because of water treatment that prevents lead pipes and fixtures from corroding.
City water customers will receive notices in the mail later this week about the issue.
A former New Jersey transit engineer is suing the agency, alleging it ignored his whistleblower concerns about safety hazards on the new portal North Ridge.
The chief of construction management claims he repeatedly raised issues about the bridge's design that could pose a risk to public safety.
In return, he says he allegedly faced discrimination and openly got fired from his job.
The $2.3 billion portal North Ridge project will replace the existing more than century-old's wingspan that is in Taurus for getting stuck and causing commuter delays.
It's also an important part of the broader Gateway program.
Colin Wilson broke the story and joins me now.
Great to see you and chat with you.
Walk me through what this engineer says happened to him, what the concerns were that he saw.
He was overseeing this project.
>> It sounds like pretty early on in his job at New Jersey transit, overseeing this project, that he was starting to see concerns and issues related to the way the ground was settling and soil was settling on the construction site.
It sounds like he started raising these concerns to others at the agency and was kind of getting blown off, at least those are the allegations he makes in his lawsuit.
So the concerns began to elevate two issues that could relate to construction equipment moving on the construction site and other delays to the project because of ground stabilization and then ultimately he also raised concerns about how this could impact the current traffic on the bridge that is right next to the constructio site.
Briana: And also that it couldn't -- slow down the project and wreak havoc on the area.
What did he allege happened when he brought those concerns forward?
>> According to his lawsuit, his accusations, he really didn't go anywhere, as far as New Jersey transit, that he was accused of not knowing what he was talking about and just kind of silenced him.
Started shifting some of his roles to other people, so it sounded like, he even had his workspace searched, he said, and then was ultimately fired pretty unceremoniously, it sounded like.
Briana: Is this someone who has quite a few years of experience in his field, so his concerns might be deemed credible?
>> Yes, I believe he has more than 30 years of experience as an engineer and has worked on myriad projects similar to this.
Before New Jersey transit he was at Amtrak and was working with Gateway projects and certainly involved in that realm.
Briana: Have we seen this in the past?
Talking about a project of this magnitude, both economically and also the size of it, where concerns come up during design portions?
Is that somewhat typical, or does this situation seem to stand out from what we can tell in the lawsuit?
>> I don't think I could speculate, from my limited expertise on other similar projects.
One thing I did think about last night was the highway wall near Philadelphia where that collapsed because of certain sand materials that were used and there was some kind of issue there that wasn't properly investigated.
There had been red flags before that collapse.
This is not the same thing, but you do have to wonder, these are red flags being raised by someone, what is being done, should this have been caught sooner?
Should they be encountering this problem the way it is now?
And what impact will it?
?
Have on the future there have -- what impact will it have on the future?
Briana: Since we are talking about the Gateway project, what is the status but now with financing, funding, this is a $16 billion project that has been years in the making.
>> The project you are talking about is the tunnels program.
Phase one of the Gateway program is the portal North Bridge.
The Hudson yards concrete casing project, which is on the New York side, right where the tunnel will enter New York near Penn Station, and then of course the big one, which is the $16 billion tunnels portion which is rehabilitating the old tunnels and building two new ones.
That is still in its final phases of getting the last final federal grant, expected to be $6.88 million grant from the FTA.
They are in the final phase of getting to that rant agreement.
So what they did January 31 was file its financial plan, which outline who is paying what, basically.
It showed New Jersey is going to pay significantly less than what was first assumed because of the federal contribution.
It is unimpressed -- unprecedented level for a mass transit project like this.
Briana: Thank you so much.
It looks like the match is set in New Jersey's close he watched race for the seventh congressional district seat.
Former U.S. State Department official Jason suspended his campaign on Tuesday, clearing the field for Sue Altman to become the presumptive Democratic nominee in the upcoming election.
The longtime progressive activists will challenge incumbent Republican Tom King Junior.
He is now endorsing Allman's effort to flip the seat blue again.
All eyes are on this race.
The Democrat won the race during the blue wave in 2018 against incumbent Leonard Lance.
A tight race came after redistricting push more GOP voters into the seventh district.
In a statement, Tom King Junior's campaign responded saying voters now have a clear choice between a problem-solving public servant or an activist radical.
In our spotlight on business report, casinos are off the hook for compulsive gamblers.
A U.S. district court judge this week ruled Atlantic City's casinos aren't legally obligated to prevent so-called problem gamblers from betting.
Dismissing a case from a gambler who accused MGM resorts International of luring him with offers to gamble, despite knowing about his addiction.
New Jersey has a litany of laws and regulations governing gambling, but think -- according to the judge, none put a legal duty on casinos to cut off compulsive gamblers.
The decision mirrors two similar cases where a gambler claiming to love -- who have lost money while drunk sued unsuccessfully.
There's a program where patrons can voluntarily self exclude him in person or online betting and casinos do have to honor that list or face fines.
Stocks rallied today as new quarterly earnings rolled in.
Here is where the markets closed.
♪ Briana: That does it for us tonight.
Make sure you tune in tomorrow for Chat Box with David Cruz, with the world of the world -- news of the World Cup coming to MetLife Stadium in 2020 six, will our infrastructure, mass transit and businesses in the Meadowlands be ready for this global event?
David puts those questions to the president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.
Check it out Thursday at 6:00 p.m. on the "NJ Spotlight News" channel.
Don't forget to download our podcast so you can listen anytime.
I'm Briana Vannozzi.
Thanks for being with us.
Have a great evening, 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.
>> Look at these kids.
What do you see?
I see myself.
I became an ESL teacher to give my students what I wanted when I came to this country.
The opportunity to learn, to dream, to achieve.
a chance to be known and to be an American.
My name is Julia and I am proud to be an NJEA member.
♪
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2BrtqWxzmilo2Wjpby1uMign61lnprEtHnFnpmrrZGnxm6DjGtna2xdZoRxg5JqcGltZmQ%3D