>> major funding for NJ Spotlight News is provided in part by NJM insurance group, serving insurance needs for residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

Briana: Tonight on NJ Spotlight News -- New Jersey remains under a state of emergency as residents are hit with another snow storm.

Also, critics: Lawmakers to skip a planned trip to Israel, trying to get firsthand attacks.

>> I don't think it is right for lawmakers to go on a publicly sponsored trip at this point your 100 children are being killed every day in Gaza.

Briana: Plus, after days of emotional testimony, what are the key findings?

Ted: So many little things had to go wrong that this compounded into what happened.

Briana: Fighting opioid addiction.

Heather: One of the things I focus on is trying to erase the stigma surrounding substance use, because a lot of times, people do not seek treatment.

Briana: NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

♪ >> From NJPBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News, with Briand a Vannozzi.

-- with Briand a Vannozzi.

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

I am Briana Vannozzi.

Storms picked up in Central and south jersey, dropping three inches of fresh snow by 1:00 today, according to the National Weather Service totals will likely be closer to four inches to six inches once the system fully tapers off.

Forecasters say in some parts of Monmouth County, they could be higher totals, and you should keep your ice scrapers handy.

Take a look at the Great Falls in Patterson, New Jersey's very own ice skate, lift from the fall -- missed from the false creating is very own wonderland here.

Mapping from the National Weather Service in Mount Holly says all residents should be extra careful come tomorrow.

Mike: tomorrow, we are certainly concerned about roads re-freezing, especially if they have not been treated yet, we can certainly see roads re-freezing from temperatures dropping into the teens.

It will be very cold, with temperatures waking in the teens.

And then it is going to be very windy.

We are expecting wind gusts upwards of 20, 30 miles an hour and wind chills in the single that is across the state.

Briana: In the Middle East, lockouts in Gaza surpassed the one week mark, the longest since it began.

It is added to the difficulty of eight operations.

It means Palestinians are not able to reach their loved ones.

A statement on Thursday said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is adding to tensions with the U.S. after Netanyahu said the idea of creating a Palestinian state in the future is something the U.S. says it favors, one clash with the security of Israel.

I war with Hamas since the surprise attacks on October 7, and equity to United Nations, nearly 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, roughly half our children.

Reports on the ground they the situation in Gaza is devastating, with allegations mounting against Israel, claiming war crimes and genocide are being committed.

This Sunday, a group of 22 New Jersey state lawmakers, educators, and other local leaders are leaving on a mission trip to Israel being organized by the Jewish Federation of greater Metro West and what the group says is an attempt to help community leaders better understand the crisis.

But those advocating for the cease-fire called the trip propaganda.

They are urging elected officials not to attend.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis the latest.

Joanna: This coming Sunday, a delegation of 22 New Jerseyans, including the status humbly, educators, and other members, will go on a mission trip to Israel.

Asm.

Kanitra: I want to know numbers, figures, the timeline, plans for the future, and I want to dig in as deeply as possible.

Joanna: Kanitra says he wants to walk away with a better perspective, but that is likely to be one-sided, because the trip, which is organized by the Jewish Federation of greater Metro West, is sponsored by the Israeli government and will have a very controlled message.

Stephen: I suspect that from the trip, the sponsor trick, they will only see and hear one side.

There's a reason they want you to see that controlled agenda, because they are hoping you will come back and act as their, you know, sort of propaganda.

Joanna: Gaza is a closed region, but they say calling it a propaganda trip is just wrong.

"We're doing our best to present the complexity of what is going on in the region by showing the story through the perspective of Israeli Jews."

Stephen shalom pushes back on their motive.

Stephen: Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest acts as if it is the Jewish voice in the state of New Jersey, but there are a lot of Jewish peace groups that take a different point of view.

Lots of Jews no longer support the blind support for Israel position.

Joanna: If Not Now in Highland Park, sending a letter to not participate in what they are calling a propaganda trip.

One woman will be disappointed if any of her colleagues decide to go.

>> I don't think it is right for any legislators to go on a propaganda trip at this point your 100 children are being killed every day in Gaza, 12,000 have been killed overall, more than 20,000 have been killed total, and residents of New Jersey have lost thousands of family members, and I know people who have lost tens of family members each, so I think a signal to those people that their perspective and the lives of their families do not matter.

Joanna: The trick will not include any meetings of families of Palestinians killed in Gaza.

Alex: Learning about Israeli Jews, for anybody who wants to learn about the country, is a good thing.

The problem is that there's not the same understanding or the same amount of time spent about when it comes to Palestinians.

Even Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Asm.

Katrifa: as someone who has traveled to over 100 countries, I'm pretty good at separating facts from fiction and I can formulate my own opinion.

I have traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, throughout the Arab world, so I think I bring into this trip a perspective that few may actually have.

Joanna: Will you show the perspectives of those who oppose Israel's response?

Asm.

Kanitra: I will speak to as many as possible.

I will talk with Arabs and Jews alike.

Joanna: The trip will last three days, and so far, no one has been deterred from going.

Briana: Using Allstate psychiatric -- old state psychiatric hospital to process and house migrants is being questioned.

The Murphy and administration is considering the old hospital in Glen Gardner as a potential site.

Earlier this month, migrants being bused to New York City from Texas and other border states stop first at train stations across New Jersey, and some local officials balked.

Now they are speaking out about the potential use of the rule facility, saying housing migrants there will over war -- overwhelm resources.

Doug Steinhardt, who represents the area, says the state's communities are already stretched too thin, blaming President Biden for ignoring the immigration places and Governor Murphy for declaring New Jersey a sanctuary state.

The Murphy and his ration has not confirmed or denied the plan.

That topic is one of many New Jersey's gubernatorial hopefuls will have to tackle as they I the 2025 race.

In a surprise move, former Republican Lieutenant Governor Kim Lugano -- Kimb endorsed Dean Phillips' bid for the seat.

He is a registered independent.

Now she is backing him for governor in an increasingly crowded field which includes Republican Jack Ciattarelli who made an unsuccessful go of it back in 2021.

Ciattarelli spoke with Senior political correspondent David Cruz for the Reporters Roundtable about the state of the GOP in New Jersey and whether he supports Donald Trump for president.

Mr. Ciattarelli: Listen, I'm going to continue to go out there and talk about how to fix New Jersey and why I am the best candidate to win in November.

I think our 2021 race when we won seven seats in state legislature, 150 seats at the municipal county level, and I'm somebody who has coattails because of the energy I bring to the campaign and the way I talk about the kitchen table issues.

David: All right.

Is the state GOP getting more red, though?

And where are you on the spectrum?

Are you red, purple, or blue?

Mr. Ciattarelli: I'm New Jersey, David.

I'm all about New Jersey.

David: No, no, you have used that one on me a few times before.

Mr. Ciattarelli: If you keep giving me the same question, I will keep giving you the same honest answer.

I suppose there are some issues that are considered extremely conservative.

Some may consider me liberal.

I'm about New Jersey.

I'm about fixing problems, on -- I am about making the state better so people can feel confident.

This is where people can find a job of their dreams, own the home of their dreams, that's not the way people feel today.

I believe we can do a better job making people feel confident, and New Jersey be the home it has always been for the Ciattarellis the past 100 years.

And I'm not going anywhere.

David: The last time I saw you was at the League of Municipalities.

There was some soul-searching that they said was going on.

Is the party still searching for its soul as you head into the gubernatorial season and U.S. Senate season?

Mr. Ciattarelli: What got all the headlines last November were the legislative losses.

We gave them back and then some.

The Republican Party has great victories at the local level.

Look what we did in Cumberland County, Atlantic County, we won in Essex County.

We took back the mayor seat, We won 16 seats in Bergen County.

Some really great local wins.

I'm sorry?

David: You are saying local wins.

I'm saying victories underneath the legislative races you could have some political company.

Mr. Ciattarelli: I do.

I don't see the grass as totally empty, I see it half or as far as the municipal county level.

Sadly, we were not successful in the legislative level.

We could probably spend an entire segment talking about why that happened.

David: That's another segment, though.

Mr. Ciattarelli: I think people are disappointed by what they see in Joe Biden, in Phil Murphy.

Beto there are problems being -- They know there are problems being fixed here, and my job is to tell them if you want change, you've got to make a change.

David: All right.

I've run out of time.

I have one more question.

I need a one-word answer.

Are you a Donald Trump supporter?

Mr. Ciattarelli: I won't be voting for Joe Biden.

Listen, I want to be governor.

There's a good chance Donald Trump might be president.

I have to work with the present, -- the president, whoever who he or she may be.

David: That is more than one word.

It was yes or no, those were the two options.

Mr. Ciattarelli: I have an obligation to work with the president, no matter he or she might be, David, and I will not be voting for Joe Biden.

Briana: You can see the full interview with Jack Ciattarelli on Reporters Roundtable Saturday at 6:00 p.m. and Sunday at 10:00 a.m., and make sure you watch "Chat Box" where David speaks with Senate candidate Larry Hamm.

That is right here on NJPBS.

A week of public testimony on last summer's fatal cargo ship fire at Port Newark finally came to a close this week.

The witnesses ranged from motional testimony of firefighters who were alongside Wayne Brooks Jr. and Augusto Acabou, the firefighters who died, to maritime experts.

All of the testimony offered gritty details into that day, and our reporter Ted Goldberg was there, listening to that testimony for the last six of those sessions.

Ted, good to have you on.

A lot of takeaways from this.

There were some items we knew going in, that of course these were firefighters who were charged with overseeing this port, but they did not necessarily have the tools and training they needed.

What were the big takeaways?

Ted: Not only was lack of training at issue, as many people testified, there was a sequence of events that add to this.

So many little things had to go wrong that compounded into everything that happened.

We saw it with, you know, a recall notice on a Jeep Wrangler, which you may not think about it too much if you are not driving a 2008 Jeep Wrangler, but it has a transmission issue, where it can possibly be leaking transmission fluid.

This is how the fire started.

Briana: We shall remind people this was the Jeep being used to push a lot of other vehicles on this cargo ship, about 1200.

Ted: Yes, and the corrective action for this was to basically reroute a dashboard light to tell you OK, don't drive this Jeep right now.

But as one testified, the lights when not working on this car, so it starts from there, and once this fire spreads, the firefighters get there, there's a language barrier because it is an Italian cargo ship, and because of the wave the ship is laid out, with the amount of steel, the radio transmissions are garbled.

It is difficult for people to understand each other.

A map is brought out, produced by the crew, and firefighters were having trouble understanding this.

Briana: This was the first time they were seeing the map.

Ted: Yes, and again, in person training for ship fires, they have not had that since 2014.

One of the people to testify was William Burket, the director of the maritime response team at the Port of Virginia, and he said, you know, there was a similar situation he had dealt with years back where a decision was made, because there were no human lives at risk, to let the ship run.

Mr. Burket: What are we risking to save this ship?

Lucky for us, it was not a fatality.

So what are we risking to save, all right?

And I cannot speak for the others, but I can tell you there was no life hazard.

If we continue to flow water inside this ship, we will sink it at a Navy Pier, which is not a good thing.

Briana: Yeah.

We hear they were talking about weighing the risk of fighting this fire or letting it burn, and the risk seemed to be fighting it, at least according to that testimony.

Why didn't these firefighters, though, have that type of institutional knowledge with them?

Ted: The other issue is, as many people testified, there were no lives at risk.

The firefighters knew the crew was off the ship.

As to why there is no specific training for this kind of thing, offered to the firefighters, a lot of people are upset and saying why aren't the firefighters trained for this sort of thing more frequently?

Part of it is because cargo ship fires are not something the n Newark fire department response to a regular basis, and to train for this is very expensive.

It takes a lot of time.

It is hard to get your firefighters to train for something at the same time.

As William Burket testified, you know, it's not always easy as let's schedule training for the firefighters.

Mr. Burket: they are not trained for ship fires.

They have to do EMS.

They have to do a HAZMAT.

They all have staffing issues, right?

There's no such thing as free training.

Briana: Wow.

That's a line that I think we'll -- I think is going to stay with a lot of people after this.

Where does it go from here?

Is the investigation over?

Are these all of the witnesses that this joint board wanted to hear from?

Ted: There are more witnesses, but because of logistical issues, they were not able to come to Union this week or last week, so the investigation continues.

This hearing will continue, because they will be called into Union, they will speak on this sort of thing in the future, but the investigation is still ongoing.

The Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board will be looking into this.

They are going to be speaking to more witnesses.

Once they are done, they will be issuing a report, but there is no concrete timetable on when that will come out.

Briana: Of course families of the firefighters who died and all of those who were involved will be waiting to see that report.

Ted Goldberg, thank you for staying on this.

Great reporting.

Good to have you on.

Ted: thank you.

Briana: He's not resigning, but Camden's embattled School Board President will take a leave of absence while it plays out.

Governor Murphy called for 56-year-old Wasim Muhammad to immediately step down, saying the allegations against him are appalling and heinous in nature.

MUHAMMAD is accused of sexually assaulting his former student in 1994 while he was her teacher at the Cooper B Hatch Middle School.

It continued for years while the girl was in high school.

Muhammad's attorney denied the allegations but said he will not have contact with other advisory board members or the administration during the trial.

The troubled school system has operated under a state takeover since 2013.

The board has no real teeth.

Members cannot enact or make changes, but they do wield influence in the district.

In our spotlight on business report, we take a look at spending for the Rutgers university athletic department.

According to NJ advanced media, the department's latest financial report says Rutgers is raking in more cash than ever as part of the Big Ten conference, but it is also spending even more to keep up with the competition.

2023's fiscal reports submitted NCAA said Rutgers spent $53 million for that academic year, about an 11% bump from the year prior.

The budget has more than doubled since Rutgers joined the Big Ten.

The biggest expense is coaching salaries, but the department also set a record for revenue, more than $125 million last year, thanks in large part from revenue from Big Ten media runs.

Despite that, the department is running a deficit of $54 million.

On Wall Street, stocks climbed today thanks to a tech-led rally.

Here's how the markets closed for the week.

♪ Tune in this weekend for an encore episode of NJ BusinessWeek with Raven Santana.

She talks to Newark's mayor about his vision for the city to she also sits down with city leaders in fashion, arts, and to discuss how Newark supports small businesses.

Watch it right here on NJPBS.

♪ Earlier this month, Governor Murphy signed legislation expanding access to what are known as harm reduction supplies, items like clean syringes, Naloxone, and opioid antidotes.

The harm reduction method was long seen as controversy, but research shows it is a more effective and compassionate way to help people dealing with substance abuse.

Melissa Rose Cooper takes a look at one training program in South Jersey, teaching communities how they can help.

Heather: Home reduction embraces meeting people where they are instead of saying this is the benchmark you need to meet.

Melissa: Yet an approach many people do not understand when it comes to treating substance use disorders.

As someone who remains in recovery, Ogden knows the struggle firsthand.

Heather: Traditionally, we tend to encourage people into a particular pathway of recovery, we kind of prescribe what they need to be doing.

Harm reduction is a philosophy that is more Rogerian-centered, it is client-center, it is patient first, and we look at each person as the authority on themselves, so when most people hear "harm reduction," they think of the methods of harm reduction, which is things like overdose prevention sites, Naloxone, but it is so much more than that, because it is a way of interacting with people and accepting that they are the authority on themselves and that all pathways are good pathways.

Melissa: Now she is teaching others how to effectively interact with patients, hosting this training at Recovery Centers of America.

The inpatient and outpatient facility offers a variety of services to help those struggling with addiction get back on their feet.

Corey: So we have, like I mentioned, detox admission care, so they are medically detoxed, they are given a withdrawal taper.

While they are tapering, they are also given comfort meds, to make sure they are safe and they are comfortable while they are going through that, and then they also have group services.

Melissa: Corey Richey is the CEO for Recovery Centers of America and Lighthouse.

She says substance abuse tends to get a bad rap, and people don't often realize they could be underlying issues contributed to the disorder.

Corey: a lot of people believe that substance abuse is a disease of choice, it is a disease just like any other disease.

One of the areas I focus on is trying to erase the stigma around substance abuse.

It should be no different than somebody who needs to go to the hospital because their diabetic medication is not working.

It should not be different because this is a disease of the brain, and it is not a disease people can make sense around medically.

Melissa: Opioid and fentanyl use continue to impact New Jersey families.

State data shows there were more than 2300 suspected overdose deaths between January 1 and November 30 last year.

Ogden says creating an individualized recovery plan is critical to a patient's success.

Heather: One method does not work well for everybody, so we have tried many different things over the years to get people into recovery, but we realize that recovery means something different to every person, so we want to embrace that, because recovery is really about improving your life on your terms.

Melissa: As more harm reduction centers open across the state, Ogden wants people living with the substance use disorder to know that there are safe places for support, so no one has to be in this fight alone.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Melissa Rose Cooper.

Briana: That will do it for us this week, but don't forget to download the NJ Spotlight News' podcast, so you can listen anytime.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

Stay safe and warm this weekend.

We will see you back here this Monday.

>> New Jersey Education Association, making public school great for every child.

And RWJBarnabas Health, let's be healthy together.

>> Our future relies on more than clean energy.

Our future relies on empowered community, to help the safety of our families and neighbors, so that our schools and streets, the foundation is committed to sustainability, equity, and economic empowerment, investing in part, helping towns build dreams, supporting civic centers, scholarships, and workforce development that strengthen our community.

♪