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Briana: Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, the second week of the Menendez federal corruption trial is underway.

Prosecutors in the defense questioning the alleged whistleblower in the case, diving deeper into the senior senator's role in a lucrative monopoly.

NJ decides 2024.

A dozen candidates officially throw their hat into the ring to succeed the late Congressman Donald Payne Junior.

>> Gubernatorial politics at play here.

Whoever may or may not be in the county fair that plays into the selection.

Briana: Also, state legislators move forward with a series of bills to stop deepfakes, looking for ways to keep your image or voice from being manipulated or altered.

>> I think it would act as a deterrent to potential people who are thinking about creating this kind of content.

Briana: Nearly 1000 middle school students head to the beach for some hands-on learning.

>> This is a great experience for me and my peers, because since we are not close to all that stuff, I feel like this is once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Briana: NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

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

Briana: Could evening and thank you for joining us this Monday night.

I am Raven Santana in for Breanna about --Briana Vannozzi.

Week two of the trial began Karabakh on the stand is the alleged whistleblower in this case.

USDA agricultural attaché to Egypt, Brett take, the heart of his testimony focusing on the export monopoly prosecutors allege the senior senator worked to arrange.

Take testified to emails he saw from Menendez to the undersecretary of agriculture in 19, talking about the Egyptian beef situation.

Menendez received bribes from codefendant well how not to help seal the monopoly deal.

Today, defense lawyers got their shot at Tate spending much of the day trying to discredit him.

Ted Goldberg has been in the courtroom and joins us with the latest.

Who is this whistle broke -- this was a blower and what is his connection to the case?

Ted: Brett Tate was the agricultural attaché to the American Embassy in Cairo.

Basically he was a diplomat asking -- acting in America's interest.

The way he got involved in this case is that he noticed that the monopoly was forming, as to the only company that could certified kosher meat to Egypt for export.

Any meat that is sold to Egypt must be halal.

He noticed the monopoly forming in 2019.

Originally, there were four certifiers, four American companies that could provide Halal certificates for meat sold in Egypt peered over the course of not a long time, it went from four companies to one company care the one company was not a previous certifier.

It was a company operated by business will Honda at the center of this whole scandal, this mess.

I.S.

E.G.

Halal was a company that did not have any previous background in Halal slaughter.

They did not have background in exporting, according to Tate's testimony.

He noticed that Egyptian officials and folks in charge of the Halal company had a cozy relationship, which he thought was suspicious considering he says he never got a good answer from Egyptian leaders why they wanted a monopoly in importing Halal meat.

And why the penny had to be I.S.

E.G.

Halal.

Raven: The defense had a crack at him.

What was their line of questioning?

They were trying to discredit him, right?

Ted: There was one big piece of information they tried to get all over him.

One of the first things Tate testified is that the number of people who work at American bases is sensitive but not classified information, meaning it is not information they want divulged to the general public.

Tate mentioned terrorism as a possible reason why that information should be kept secret.

Sensitive, but not classified.

The defense contended if you knew where to look, those numbers were available publicly, if you went to the right website.

Anyone with an Internet connection can find these numbers.

.

The prosecution argued that the numbers available online were out of date, and therefore inaccurate.

This was something the defense had brought up, part of the indictment that the Menendez's had communicated how many people were at the embassy, putting lives in danger.

Raven: The final witness for the prosecution, a lawyer with will Hannah's Halal company.

Ted: He only worked there for six months but it was a very eventful six months.

From a startup company that was not doing a lot with just a couple of employees, to making more than $300,000 and certificate income the first month they were operating.

According to emails that mold of unscented to the government of Glatch, the Halal company was acting as a government company on behalf of Egypt's government.

It is something that has been nebulous.

The Halal company at the center of this, are they a private company?

?

Are they part of Egypt's government?

If these emails are true, and allegedly they were written at the request of Mr. Hana, then that would make it seem like that this is a company acting at the behest of Egypt's government, and something that could play a very huge role in this trial as it plays out.

Raven: A lot of interesting developments.

Thank you so much, Ted.

11 candidates are throwing their hat in the ring for the late Donald Payne Junior seat in the 10th Congressional District.

Among them, the president of Newark city Council, and a former staffer for Congressman Payne, and many more.

The special primary will be on July 16.

The general election is set for September 18.

Senior political correspondent David Cruz has the story on what is shaping up to be a crowded field.

David: In the olden days when a thing called a party line existed, filling the seat of a deceased member of Congress was a Soviet swift act machine politics.

In the first primary in the post party line era, rational district 10 has drawn almost a dozen candidates.

You would never see that and the party line years.

>> Voter apathy is something that is happening across the country.

Every state or community has their role to play in that.

But in New Jersey, the line has been the source of what I believe voter apathy, because people don't have action and people are discouraged with running.

Because somebody didn't choose me.

David: Candidates like Britney Claybrook says it is a brand-new day.

It is not like these 11 candidates are all just gadflies.

Clay Brooks is a planning director in Plainfield and a former city councilmember.

Monica McIver, the favorite, is a Newark city Council President.

Jerry Walker is a Hudson County Commissioner.

There is mayors and state officials, and a lot of smart people running.

>> The family, I believe that they have this position.

Yes, it was an opportunity.

It also speaks to people that really want to get involved, that could not get involved before because of the law and politics.

David: The Chief of Staff to the Essex County executive, and a longtime party player there, backs LaMonica McIver, as does the Essex County democratic organization.

But he says in any election in the middle of summer, with no top of the ticket, the party organization will have its work cut out for it just to get people to pay attention.

>> Absolutely.

Again, it is a strange dynamic, this race.

Redistricting, you have three different counties that are involved.

You may have the Hudson County Democratic organization endorsed somebody else.

You have editorial politics that play in here.

Roz baraka, Steve Bullock, whoever may or may not be endorsing Union County.

That plays into this election.

David: The race has already seen its first court case.

Clay Brooks has mounted a legal challenge to McIver's nominating petitions, which, if successful, could derail the Newark councilwoman's candidacy before it even begins.

It is a petition challenge that would have been unheard of when the machine was handling all of that paperwork.

>> This is a brave new world where candidate centered campaigns, it is the candidate who was putting the stuff together.

It is the candidate who is circulating the petition.

Maybe it is her mom who is circulating, neighborhood Chief of Staff circulating.

It is not the apparatus of the party itself that is making sure everything is buttoned up.

You will have these mistakes that are going to happen, as we were about to this new system in which candidates are at the middle of everything.

It is not the party organizations in the middle of everything anymore.

David: To be clear, the candidate who wins this primary on July 16 will then run in the special general election in September.

The winner would fill the rest of Payne's term.

A few months' worth in Congress.

As for who will be on the ballot for a full term in November's regular general election, the party decides that.

Regardless of who wins the primary, technically.

I am David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.

Raven: New Jersey is increasing penalties on nursing homes that repeatedly violate state regulations, strengthening programs designed to reward quality here, and investing heavily in expanding the long-term care workforce.

Exchanges were born out of recommendations from a report released by the state nursing home task force in April.

How are the changes impacting the industry, and is it enough to discuss that and more?

I am joined by health care reporter, Lilo Stayton.

Thank you for joining me.

>> Thank you for having me.

Raven: No doubt we have seen long-standing problems on monks more than 230 licensed nursing homes in the state during COVID especially.

Now, there is $50 million being allocated to funding reforms.

What kind of reforms are we talking about?

Lilo: Sure.

A lot of this would go to a quality incentive program that is designed to encourage nursing homes to do the right thing when it comes to prior staffing levels, avoiding things like bedsores and falls, which are closely related to staffing.

And that is just part of it.

That is part of a Medicaid program.

The state has taken a lot of different steps, according to human services, they have invested more than 100 million in staffing efforts to try to build back a workforce on the front lines in nursing homes, and home health care.

One of the things that the report pointed out, this is the state's long-term care task force, is that no matter what we do at nursing homes, eight out of 10 people prefer to age, or if you are talking about someone who might have a disability, prefer to live at home or in their community in some kind of smaller group home type situation.

The question is really, what can the state do to move more people to that model?

Raven: Right.

We know it is expensive.

.

It's not easy.

Lilo: And the other thing is -- you are absolutely right.

It's expensive.

There is a lack of hope for the housing in general.

With a lack of housing, a lack of housing for programs like this for people who might need to be government through that housing, is really hard to do.

Yeah, it's a challenge for sure.

Raven: Going back to the reforms, are they working?

Is this enough?

Lilo: I think it is a little too soon to tell on a lot of this.

And a lot of this is new.

Some of these are pretty novel.

For example, the state has a law where 90% of the Medicaid money spent on the dollar has to go to direct care.

How that is defined is always a challenge.

One of the challenges the report also points out is enforcement of this is up to state inspectors.

In the department of health has been struggling with staffing issues throughout, in some parts.

This is one of their issues.

They have a lot of vacancies in inspectors.

Not all nursing homes are being checked on as frequently as advocates for residents.

That is, again, it comes back to money.

The state is looking to put around $5 million into more staffing.

That is important.

But it is a process.

It is a process.

Raven: Staying on the topic of Medicaid, when we think about that, what are the biggest challenges?

What is being recommended to solve that problem?

Lilo: The report talks about how -- there are about 68,000 people roughly in Medicaid who are receiving these long-term support services.

That means either just under 24,000 who are getting into a nursing home.

That is six or seven out of 10 nursing home beds is funded through the state and federal Medicaid program.

Another 45,000 or so, in little less than, are getting those supports in the community.

Numbers wise, we are supporting more people at home then we are in nursing homes.

The thing is, the report said we would like to move another 10,000 from nursing homes into community housing in the coming few years.

To do that, you have to rethink housing.

Raven: A lot of work still needs to be done.

Thank you for joining me.

Lilo: Thank you, Raven.

Raven: In the world of artificial intelligence technology, deepfakes are becoming more and more of an issue.

Sometimes they are used on politicians and celebrities to deceptively show that saying something they did not or looking a certain way.

But they have also been used to target women and girls in unflattering ways.

The assembly considering bills that would hopefully prevent deepfakes and hold perpetrators accountable.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis from Trenton.

>> It is here now, and we need to figure out how we can alleviate what is going on.

Joanna: What is going on our deepfakes, video image, and audio files that are manipulated to show a person doing or saying something that never actually happened.

A package of bills with bipartisan support is moving through the legislature to address it.

.

Several were up for a vote in the assembly Judiciary committee.

>>>> We spend billions of dollars a year trying to fight the perpetrators for hacking, phishing, it takes a toll.

Not only on the individual, but as a community, a society.

Joanna: One bill would make the production or distribution of deepfakes a third-degree crime, and would give victims the ability to take civil action against the perpetrator.

An associate professor of communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University thinks this bill will have impact.

>> I think it would act as a deterrent to potential people who are thinking about creating this content.

If they knew that they could be held criminally and then civilly liable.

Joanna: That bill requires any manipulated video include a disclosure.

A disclosure was audited in another bill that forbids distribution of any politically motivated deepfake about a candidate 90 days before an election.

>> It is really important to let our voters know that if video or a photo has been manipulated, altered in any way, we as a vote or have a right to know that that has been the case.

I don't think it takes much to say -- to put a disclosure on there.

That this is not the image, and that it has been altered.

That is all it takes.

I think voters deserve the truth.

Joanna: She wants to see something similar at the federal level.

>> We need at a national level is legislation that requires that content that is created by AI be watermarked.

Then also prohibits the removal of those watermarks.

That would be really important because it would send a signal to people that what they were looking at is false.

Joanna: Another bill voted on today allocates $2 million to create a union under New Jersey's Department of law and safety, called fake technology unit.

The two Republicans on the committee abstained from the vote, with an assembly man saying he supports the notion of the bill but -- >> 2 million and we don't have, I guess, detailed examination of how perpetrators are going to be located.

Many of them are going to be outside of the country.

Once they are detected, they just move on to another IPN.

And they are off to the races again.

It is just going to be a constant hide and seek, so to speak.

Somewhere along the line, we need to know how they are going to be punished.

How they are going to be fined.

>> Unfortunately, that is the state how hacking and ransomware and all of this that is happening with the Internet and computers now.

It is not just the deepfakes, but it is another aspect of the Internet that keeps changing and moving.

Joanna: Legislators agreed to keep working on the how aspects of the bills, even as each of them cleared committee.

In Trenton, I am Joanna Gagis, NJ Spotlight News.

Raven: A group of eight short towns is going to court again to try to block construction of the Atlantic Shores offshore wind project.

The Atlantic Shores plan calls for 200 wind turbines, some as close as nine miles from Long Beach Island.

The short towns, Long Beach Township, Ship Bottom, Barnegat Light, Surf City, Harvey Cedars, Brigantine, and mentor have oppose the project because of tourism concerns.

They lawsuit to challenge is a Department of Environmental Protection decision last month, which found Atlantic Shores construction plan meet state standards.

The towns also sued the DP in September with accusations that agency officials were biased when approving the Atlantic Shores project.

That lawsuit was tossed by a trial judge.

The towns are appealing the dismissal as well.

Turning to Wall Street.

Stocks ticked higher today, looking for another record close.

Here's how the markets fared for the day.

>> Support for the business report is provided by Riverview Jazz, presenting the Jazz Festival May 29 to June 2.

Event details including performance schedules and locations are online at JerseycityjazzFestival.com.

Raven: Nearly 1000 middle school students got a chance to become Marine scientists for a day as part of clean ocean actions 26th annual summit in Sandy Hook.

The Summit included six different hands-on stations and 11 field activities, including lessons on everything from horseshoe crabs to ocean pollution.

The unique field trip is designed to provide middle school students who come from different areas of the state with an opportunity to experience hands-on -- hands-on Marine environmental education.

Staff and students I spoke with say the goal is to inspire future Marine scientists.

>> They have been on the planet for over 400 -- 450 million years.

Raven: Students from 32 different schools got a unique lesson in marine life at the 36th annual clean ocean actions spring student summit.

The two day free summit that focuses on the importance of environmental preservation took place at the Gateway national recreational area in Sandy Hook.

>> They will be going out onto field trips by professional field trip leaders from organizations, like the American littoral Society, and other organizations.

Then they are going to be -- that will be part of their day.

The other half of their day are going to be these roundtables where they get lessons on how to be good stewards of the environment that they are learning about today.

>> It's good stuff.

These kids have never even seen horse crabs before.

It was pretty cool to watch them.

Raven: The summit included six different hands-on stations and 11 field activities, including lessons on ocean pollution and how to properly handle different species.

>> I am also really passionate about terrapins.

I enjoy working with them.

I'm excited to teach kids about terrapins and other species here on Sandy Hook.

>> We get middle school students out to the beach to learn from experts and the people that do this do for a living.

And really connect with these marine-based lessons.

We also have high school students from the Marine Academy of science and technology, which is out here on Sandy Hook.

These high school students, and also teach lessons, which is so great to kind of pass on the ripple effect of environmental advocacy.

>> This is RC urgent.

I named him Spike.

He had a rough day because a starfish tried to eat him.

>> We go out to school here so there are opportunities for us to be in the environment.

We learned to really appreciate it.

Raven: It also provides exposure.

>> For us, it took us an hour to get here.

Just the change of scenery, the change of environment, they were not experiencing -- we were up there and it was warm.

Down here, windy and cold.

Definitely a great experience where they get to see the high schoolers that are here.

They are on their way into school.

>> This is a great experience for me and my peers.

Since we are not close to all of that stuff, I feel like this is once-in-a-lifetime chance.

I do like the most interesting thing I heard is how horseshoe crabs use bait, and how their numbers are going down, and how they are harmless to humans.

Raven: The staff say the goal is to inspire future Marine scientists.

The summit focuses on districts in northern and central New Jersey.

The next summit will happen in fall on Island Beach State Park and focuses on the southern part of the state and Cape May.

For NJ Spotlight News, I am Raven Santana.

That does it for us tonight.

No forget to download the NJ Spotlight News podcast so you can listen anytime.

I am Raven Santana.

For the entire NJ Spotlight News team, thank you for being with us.

Have a great evening.

.

We will see you back here tomorrow night.

>> New Jersey education Association, aching public schools great for every child.

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♪