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

>> Hello, and thanks for joining us.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

We're bringing you a special NJ Spotlight News edition of Reporter's Roundtable with Joanna Gagis, who has a roundup of the top political stories of the week with the help of a panel of local journalists.

But first, a few headlines.

New Jersey's largest health care insurer will pay the state a record-breaking $100 million settlement.

Attorney General Matt Plotkin says the agreement with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, an underwriter of NJ Spotlight News, settles allegations the company fraudulently secured a 2020 contract to deliver public employee health benefits, and then overcharged the state for years.

At the heart of the case was a condition that required Horizon to bill the state the lower amount between what a provider charged and the insurer's negotiated rate.

Well state investigators say Horizon promised to follow that rule but never intended to, submitting more than a thousand false claims, billing the higher amount, and issuing inaccurate explanation of benefit statements.

Plotkin says that fraudulent move drove up health care costs for hundreds of thousands of public servants in the state.

As part of the settlement, Horizon must pay the full amount within the next 25 days, comply with strict monitoring and reporting requirements, and of course, stop that fraudulent billing practice.

Also, the Port Authority is rolling out an ambitious plan to improve service for its customers, but it'll cost you.

The bi-state agency unveiled a $45 billion capital plan to overhaul the system.

The proposal, covering the next 10 years, would finish major projects like modernizing Newark Airport's Terminal B and building the new Midtown Bus Terminal, along with dramatically expanding PATH service.

Now, commuters will start feeling that change in March with more frequent rush hour trains, faster weekend service, and for the first time in 25 years, all four PATH lines will run seven days a week.

How about that?

By 2027, trains from Newark to the World Trade Center could arrive every four minutes during peak hours.

The improvements, of course, come with higher costs.

PATH fares will climb 25 cents a year starting next summer, followed by annual hikes through 2029, totaling a dollar extra.

And a separate 3 percent toll hike is slated for this January, while EasyPass off-peak discounts will be phased out in 2027.

Public hearings on both the capital plan and the budget begin next month, with a final vote scheduled for December 18.

And a major health care shakeup in Jersey City.

The new owners of Heights University Hospital, formerly known as Christ, have filed paperwork with the state to close.

The operator, Hudson Regional Health, says it will commit to keeping the emergency department open but that the rest of the hospital will go offline as soon as the health department approves the closure.

HRH says they've sunk in $300 million, but it's just not enough to dig the hospital out of its financial hole.

The hospital serves a largely uninsured and low-income population.

In response, the state health department says Heights Hospital has failed to fund their payroll despite the state advancing millions of dollars in charity care payments.

At a press conference Friday morning, the CEO of Hudson Regional Health pleaded with Governor Murphy for support to keep emergency services running.

Health care union HPAE called the closure illegal, noting that employees haven't been paid in weeks.

The rest of the site's future is still up in the air.

Jersey City's council is already working on an ordinance to block a proposal to build residential units on that property.

And those are our top headlines.

The Reporters Roundtable begins right now.

The government shutdown is over and a spending bill has been signed into law.

So what does it mean for New Jersey?

Let's get into that in just a moment.

Hi everyone, I'm Joanna Gagis and this is Reporters Roundtable.

Let's meet our panel of journalists.

We have Madison Fernandez, reporter with Politico.

There she is.

We have Ben Hulak, Washington, D.C.

correspondent with NJ Spotlight News.

And P. Kenneth Burns, New Jersey reporter for WHYY.

Welcome all of you.

So all of New Jersey's Democratic lawmakers in Congress were opposed to reopening the government.

All Republicans voted for it.

But the eight Democrats who broke party lines nationally and voted to pass the bill have been criticized of capitulating.

Madison I'm going to start with you.

Did Democrats lose this fight or are they playing the long game trying to make this an issue that could help them win the midterms.

I think it really depends on which type of Democrat you're speaking with.

You know, we saw a lot of the entire New Jersey delegation, Democrats standing against this because, you know, I really go to Cheryl's win in the governor's race last week.

Her whole thing was standing up against the Trump administration.

And you heard that sort of echoed throughout all of these Democrats who are against this because they're saying, you know, we're not going to back down.

So I think that Democrats are going to continue having this debate over the long game versus the short game here.

And I think there's a lot of concern about, you know, healthcare access and everything like that.

So that's definitely going to be top of mind over the coming months and especially as, you know, another potential shutdown is just in a couple of months as well.

Do you think that this actually gives Republicans a chance to kind of restructure their messaging around health care?

I did see something out this morning that they're looking to create their own plan.

Do you think they see the urgency in this moment as well, Madison?

They absolutely do.

I think that Democrats are going to keep, you know, hitting them on this issue no matter how Republicans talk about it.

I think that we saw in last week's elections all across the country and in New Jersey, this is an issue that Republicans need to figure out how to talk about.

And, you know, I'm not sure that those conversations and messaging can change so quickly in just a couple of weeks.

And I think that as we head into the midterms, it's still going to be top of mind.

Ben, obviously, you know, the shutdown's over, but the government doesn't turn back on with a flip of a switch.

I was at Newark Airport earlier this week.

I was talking to travel experts who think at least when it comes to the travel issue, it's going to be about a week, maybe more, to get things back to normal.

But when you look at issues like funding SNAP and paying the federal workers who went all this time without a paycheck, what does that take to return to some type of normalcy?

It takes certainly time and investment.

I would also just underscore that throughout the entire second term of the Trump administration, the administration has been disincentivizing people from working in the federal government.

If we remember back to the spring, Elon Musk, his so-called Department of Government Efficiency came in and started firing people willy-nilly without cause.

So well before the shutdown, there was this deep-seated concern, rightly so, if you're a federal worker, that you could be laid off at any moment.

So yes, it takes a lot to reboot things like SNAP, Medicaid funding, and I also would point out WIC, Women, Infants and Children Centers, were really struggling during the shutdown.

It takes time, but also the manpower was weakened well before the shutdown happened.

Let me ask you this, Ben.

We know that we don't see too much public pushback resistance from Republicans against some of the president's moves, including firings and laying off of federal workers.

But they did write into this bill language that would require full back pay that would limit firings and and any of the staff reductions that happened.

Do you think that that is in some way Republicans kind of holding their ground against the president?

I would say, first of all, that that was illegal to not pay furloughed workers under a previous law from the first Trump shutdown, which was during his first term from 2018 to 2019, a little more than a month.

This was really a negotiation that sidestepped most Republicans, most backbench members across both parties.

This was a deal that essentially Senate leadership, Republicans and eight Democrats who broke ranks brokered with the White House.

No one else really was in the negotiations here.

Kenny, we're going to switch gears a little bit.

Let's look at New Jersey and the gubernatorial election.

That was only a week ago.

How is that possible.

To me it was a month ago.

It already feels like so much has happened.

But you wrote recently about the significant voter turnout that we saw.

And just looking forward do you think that that signals that we have a more engaged electorate right now.

Do you think that that points to maybe a higher turnout for the midterms?

I think it does only because one thing that we have in 2025 that we did not have four years ago was a President Trump acting in real time upsetting everybody.

To put it nicely you saw the Latino vote swing in Passaic County.

Well and across the state, affor It will be the issue next to Passaic County where y vote.

They didn't like the officials rating their co nilly to borrow a term an of uh decisions or process legally and who's not here and the one constant over my career when I speak to the Latino community is that they are for, you know, following the rules as far as immigration, but I think they want it in DC and in order and not what we've seen over the last several months.

How much of this is voters who have the attention span like all of us of a gnat these days, a goldfish maybe, and it's easy to sway voters.

Do you think that we could see this kind of perpetual back and forth swing where, you know, messaging hits this day and it doesn't that day?

Kenny, what do you think?

I think if it was easy to sway voters, those ads that we've been seeing for the last year would do a lot of good and we're probably going to see a little bit more, especially if you live near Pennsylvania like I do.

But I think it's just the fact that they're seeing it on the news and they're talking to people in their community.

That's probably going to be the more engaging factor coming up in 2026, more than any ad or any messaging that you'll come across.

Madison, you wrote a terrific article looking at this coalition that President Trump had built around the Latino community, who really turned on him in the 2025 election.

Do you think that he has lost this community for good, like we were just talking about?

Definitely not.

I think in speaking with folks in the days after the election, the big takeaway is that the Latino electorate is a swing electorate.

And just like they supported Trump last year, they voted for Democrats this year because they were frustrated with what they were seeing.

I think like what Kenny was saying, a lot of it is what's happening the days before you head to the polls.

I mean, when you look at how SNAP benefits weren't coming through, a lot of folks were affected by that and were frustrated and probably voted for Democrats because of that.

I think that it's hard to guess what the electorate's going to be thinking a year from now, especially with, we don't know what the economy is going to look like.

We don't know what else the Trump administration is going to be doing at that point in terms of the economy, in terms of these immigration moves.

And of course, there are other issues the Latino community cares about, but those were really top of mind in this election.

So no, I don't think that Republicans have lost them for good.

I don't think Democrats have them on their side for good.

They are a swing electorate.

What do you think this president could do to win back, to earn back the Latino vote?

And does a $2,000 check to every American help?

A lot of it is going to be about the economy.

And I think you've seen folks from the Trump administration saying that the president is going to be having a more economic-focused message over the coming months ahead of the midterms.

And I think that is a recognition that, you know, folks were really dissatisfied this election and they showed it at the ballot box.

In terms of sending those checks, you know, I think that people might appreciate it, but it's not necessarily a long-term fix.

Yeah, Ben, looking at New Jersey representatives in Congress, we have two women who've both been in for a couple terms, stepping down.

We have Mikey Sherrill, obviously, becoming the governor-elect.

And we have Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who is retiring.

She is 80 years old.

They both came in at a time when there was really this push to have more female representation in Congress.

I'm curious, what do you make of these two stepping down and how that impacts the balance of power between males and females in Congress and in New Jersey?

I would say New Jersey on the whole versus other congressional delegations has more women and is certainly more diverse ethnically and across backgrounds.

I think the loss of Watson Coleman in the delegation is particularly striking.

She's the lone member who represents the state in Congress who sits on an appropriations committee of either the House or the Senate.

So she's, she is on the big money committee in lay terms.

That's that's a striking loss.

And it's also I point out she's sort of in this liberal lion of the delegation for years and is often voting against her Democratic colleagues in particular on Israel and Gaza issues.

So that voice will be lost.

And with Cheryl, she really has had a heck of a time here in just about three and a half terms.

She's been through two impeachments, one insurrection, an inauguration.

And I think it's sort of understandable from a personal perspective why she might look at Washington and say, "I have struggled to get things done.

It's difficult for anyone to get things done in these calcified congressional halls.

It's hard to pass even simple bills.

And you know what?

I think I can do more good back in New Jersey."

So, yeah, she certainly leads an interesting legacy.

She came to Congress when really there weren't a lot of windows for big legislative action.

And the prize might be brighter.

Yeah, she did flip a red district blue, though it is now a very purple district.

Kenny, any thoughts there in terms of whether or not we could see a Republican replace Sheryl in Congress?

It's definitely possible, but Mikey Sheryl has proven that if you're a moderate Democrat, you could be successful in that district.

In fact, I think the New York Times said it succinctly in her election victory last week, even Morris County.

And from another colleague that I spoke with last week, Morris County, it has not turned like liberal blue all of a sudden.

They're very much Republican, but it's a certain Republican that they're looking for.

Yeah.

Well, Maddy, Madison, I want to come to you just in terms of who is jumping in the ring to replace both of them.

Let's start with Cheryl.

We've got a laundry list right now of who's who coming in.

Not all of them are recognizable names.

What can you tell us about who some of the stronger contenders may be?

That is a very, very crowded seat and it's going to be quite a special election whenever that is called.

It's still unclear now, but if it is called when Sheryl resigns next week, we could be looking at a January primary and a special general election sometime later in the spring.

So for everyone who just got over governor campaigning, everyone in that district is gonna see a little bit more action.

So there are around a dozen candidates already announced.

Some of them are former Congressman Tom Malinowski.

We have Lieutenant Governor Tahitia Way.

There are a lot of people who are vying for this seat.

And I would also just like to say, although this is a purple-ish seat, it is dem-leaning.

And I think especially after the gubernatorial results, Republicans are going to have a bit of a difficult time in this seat.

I think if Republicans had a stronger performance last week, they might feel a little bit more emboldened.

But, you know, I think Democrats certainly have the momentum right now.

And you also need to consider that Democrats have done pretty well in special elections over the last year.

So I think it will be a bit difficult for a Republican here.

Yeah, we know Brendan Gill is another one.

He's an Essex County Commissioner.

Cheryl has said she's not making any endorsements.

She's obviously had a lot of support from Malinowski and Gill.

Seems right now she wants to stay out of that.

>> I'm going to open this to whoever wants to jump in.

We do see that house speaker Mike Johnson has said there will be a vote next week on the Epstein files to release the Epstein files.

How does the timing of Cheryl stepping away potentially impact the outcome of that vote?

Kenny, Ben, jump in.

>> I don't think it affects it all that much.

I think it's a little bit more complicated.

I think it's a little bit more earlier today.

There are some Republicans that are on board with releasing those files.

But no matter what, you have the big T to deal with, the T for Trump.

And so the question at that point will be, will there be veto-proof majorities in the House and the Senate to ultimately get it done?

>> Ben, do you agree with that?

>> I do agree and I would say there's also the big S, the Senate.

Kenny and I can start a little abbreviation politics show here.

Whatever if the bill gets out of the House has to go to the Senate and then would go to the White House with Trump's signature.

That seems like a really tall task.

>> Let's bring it back to New Jersey.

Governor Murphy held a gaggle last week immediately after meeting with Governor-Elect Sherrill for the first time.

It was just a madhouse of press asking him questions, but one of those questions was, what are his priorities in the lame duck?

What does he think he can get through?

Let's take a listen to what he said as the answer to that question.

There are a good amount of legislative objectives and non-legislative objectives.

On the non-side, continuing to retire medical debt is a huge priority for us.

We made an announcement within the past week.

On the legislative side, on my list would be bell-to-bell banning of cell phones in school would be high on that list.

There's a collection of housing bills that we'd love to see get through, particularly given how expensive housing has become in New Jersey and the supply demand imbalance.

There are several public safety items or agenda items, potential bills that we're looking at very seriously.

Kenny, I want to get your takeaways from that.

What do you think, when he talks about banning cell phones in schools bell to bell, he talks about the affordable housing bills that he wants to get through and then public safety bills that they're looking at.

When you look at those topics, given the fact that there's fully democratic control in both houses of the legislature in New Jersey, what do you think he's likely to get through?

What do you think is going to be the easiest to push through?

I think the easiest one is the cell phone ban, just because you have bipartisan support for it, particularly Bell to Bell.

All the other initiatives are going to take time.

It took him, it's taking him seven years so far to get some of those priorities through.

And I'm not sure if this legislature would be able to have those conversations in the lame duck just based on the amount of time.

Is now the time to be tackling a big issue like affordable housing?

That's been a huge, you know, controversial issue, although it does seem like he has a lot of alignment in terms of his approach as as governor elect Cheryl does.

What do you think, Kenny?

I think at this point he has he could definitely start the conversation.

It will continue in the next session.

But I don't I'm doubtful that anything of significance could get done so quickly unless it involves being able to change the rules quickly.

Madison, what are your thoughts there?

What do you think we're going to see from this governor?

Do you think his eight-year run in New Jersey is really just about, you know, ticking down and getting through?

I mean, I think a lot of what happens in Lame Duck is going to be legacy building for the governor as he's reaching the final weeks of his term.

And in terms of what can get done, I think that even if there are some priorities that don't make it all the way through, you have to keep in mind that you do have another Democratic governor coming in and they're aligned on a lot of issues.

And the approach might be different.

But I think if you brought up affordable housing, for instance, I mean, Cheryl talked about that a bunch throughout her campaign.

So it's obvious that's going to be a top priority of hers, even though the approach might be different than Governor Murphy's.

So I think that even if all these things don't get addressed in lame duck, it's not like there is another governor coming in who won't tackle some of these issues.

Madison, stay on that, because we did talk with with Cheryl in the same press conference about her priorities for the first hundred days.

You know, it's kind of that that mile marker that folks look at to see how impactful is she going to be early on, how aggressive is she going to be when she starts?

What do you think, given all that she ran on, all that she, you know, her campaign platform, what do you think will be the first things she tackles that you think she can get through this legislature?

Well, she said that on day one, she's going to declare a state of emergency to freeze utility rates.

And I think that even though Jack Titorelli throughout the campaign said it didn't have support, I think that it does have support from fellow Democrats, because that was one of the main promises of her campaign, especially as utility rates are skyrocketing.

She's also talked about enacting children's online safety protocols.

And I think that's really interesting because that's not something that I typically hear from a lot of other state Democrats across the country.

So it's clear where her priorities are to lower costs and protect families.

That could even be one where she has bipartisan support.

Yes.

Ben, I know you spoke with her earlier this week, really asking her about an issue that was key, top of mind for a lot of Latino voters, which was the Immigrant Trust Directive, which right now is just guidance that comes from the Attorney General's office.

There's a push for that to become law.

What did she say in terms of whether or not she would sign an Immigrant Trust Act if it was placed on her desk?

- Right, I tried to box her in and just caught her in the halls Wednesday night when the House was voting on the large spending bill.

She did me a hard, she gave me nothing concrete and I asked in a different way a second time and didn't get anything back on that.

I also asked what she might do to protect or to scrutinize in some way the expansion of the joint base, joint military base down in Burlington County that the Trump administration is eyeing to use to hold and deport the undocumented and send them overseas and she again gave me sort of a non-answer on that.

The final thing I pressed upon as she was dashing to her car is, will she stick around to be potentially a key vote on the Epstein legislation?

And she said yes, of course.

Thank you.

That's all we've got for this week's Reporters Roundtable.

Thank you so much to all of you, our terrific panel, for being with us today.

Sorry to cut you off there, Ben.

But you can follow me on Instagram @joannagaggisnj.

And go ahead and scan that QR code on your screen for more Reporters Roundtable.

For all the crew here at Gateway Center in downtown Newark, I'm Joanna Gagis.

Thanks for being with us.

Have a great weekend.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you right back here on Monday.

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