tonight on NJ Spotlight News, not in the Garden State.

Lawmakers moved to punish schools and libraries that banned books.

Also targeting hate, a new report finds a concerning trend in discrimination against Muslims in New Jersey.

>> Students, parents, employees they often don't report cases because they are afraid of retaliation.

>> Plus primary preview.

>> Anything can happen.

>> With every seat up for grabs, what are the races to watch with the election two weeks out?

Getting ready for the summer season.

>> without it would be easier.

>> The summer start is just days away.

NJ Spotlight News.

>> Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association New Jersey realtors.

More information online at NJ realtor.com.

♪ From NJPBS, this is NJ Spotlight News.

>> New Jersey lawmakers have a new tactic to fight the rise of censorship in schools.

Good evening and thank you for joining us.

It's a ban on book bands.

Two Democratic state senators proposed a controversial bill to all-out prohibit public schools and libraries from banning books by requiring them to adopt the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights or a similar policy or they risk having the district state aid cut.

The bill was introduced by a librarian.

Proponents say it would prevent materials from being removed because of partisan disapproval.

Some parents and critics argue this is not for the government to decide.

>> This is not one person who looks through their child's backpack, read the book, and said I am concerned about this.

This is organized.

>> She says the latest push to ban books in public schools reflects a political movement organized by a few fringe groups.

>> I was labeled at a board meeting by name.

As a pornographer, pedophile, and groomer of children.

It was life altering.

>> She is back now, but supports proposed legislation to prohibit libraries and schools from banning books at the risk of losing state education funding.

Public libraries would also have to formally adopt the American Library Association Bill of Rights which bars censorship over partisan issues and requires material.

>> The teeth have to do with dollars.

>> You cannot ban a book without consequence.

The consequence is the withholding of state funding.

>> The sponsors say librarians should not have to become gatekeepers, safeguarding the right to read.

>> The goal is to dial down this attempt to ban books and move it back to conversations and legitimate conversations that parents want to have about what is being taught in schools.

>> Illinois is implementing something similar, so we are happy because that basically means we will have additional layer of support.

>> She says 20% of her members report that book censorship occurs without even getting to a school board for discussion.

>> We hear this all the time, one parent one person makes a call to the superintendent.

Librarians and teachers are afraid of retaliation.

They are afraid of their working conditions being affected by standing up to sensors.

>> The Washington Post reported that people across the country filed a disproportionate amount of challenges over the last year.

Most challenges targeted books with sexual content, much of it LGBTQ.

Speakers at a recent rally said parents have the right to do that and Republican Senator agrees.

>> Everyone talks about state rights and library rights and government rights.

What about parental rights?

Nobody wants to burn any books.

We just want parental oversight of what the kids can and can't see.

>> The number of book titles targeted for censorship hit more than 2500 last year.

38% jump.

The Association gave Hickson an award for her anti-censorship stand.

>> There is no deal yet on the national debt ceiling drama, but leaders met again today to continue talks.

Kevin McCarthy met again today to continue talks McCarthy reportedly telling Republicans in a closed-door meeting that the two sides are nowhere near a deal yet both leaders though say discussions are productive and there's little time to broker a bipartisan agreement and prevent the U.S from defaulting on its debt all by June 1st it's a move that would impact millions of Americans and cause economic chaos including here in New Jersey where lawmakers are in the final weeks of state budget negotiations and the debt ceiling crisis is now starting to play a larger role than expected.

for the latest I'm joined by budget and finance writer John so you've been keeping an eye on this hearing today what can you tell me about how much the debt ceiling could affect our finances here.

>> Brianna it remains a big wild card so we've heard testimony both from the state treasurer today and also from experts from the nonpartisan office of legislative Services bring this up in the context of these plans for what is the revenue Outlook going to look like in the new fiscal year that begins July 1 and right now no one at the state level is projecting a recession.

There is a little bit of a a hiccup in revenues compared to where they were at a few months ago but nothing dramatic uh in the big picture of a state that spends more than 50 billion a year but we are hearing more and more that as this continues to go unresolved in Washington D.C it does raise the chances for you know economic turmoil including financial markets and job losses that would dramatically affect the state revenue stream and so increasingly it's something that we're hearing about and being told to keep an eye on and lawmakers are being told to keep an eye on because it has the potential to really dramatically reshape things.

>> Certainly just like a budget at home if you don't know what money is going to be coming in makes it tough to plan but interestingly though lawmakers put out a couple of new proposals just within the last 24 hours that seem to be shaking up the discussions what's happening what can you tell us.

>> that that's also true so just today we got a new proposal from Republican members of the Senate talking about using funds that the state has already earmarked for uh paying off debt and and preventing paying debt on a pay-as-you-go basis going forward so you don't have to issue new borrowing .

They want to use that to instead give it to County and Municipal governments on a per capita basis the idea that that would be property tax relief because you would prevent those governments from having to pay for these projects themselves and so that's a new proposal we've heard in recent days the assembly speaker discussed uh increased funding for senior property tax relief .

>> jnj is the name that that he's given that.

>> we don't yet have a bill so it's hard to take that too seriously at this point before we know you know how much it would cost who gets what where the money would come from but that's certainly another idea that's been brought into this topic you know we're at that point in the budget phase when public hearings are ending and it goes behind closed doors for high-level negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders so it's all all sort of up for discussion at this point.

>> John I'm also hearing rumors that the corporate business tax surcharge which was going to expire at the end of the year is now on the table to potentially be extended to pay for some of those Democratic plans.

>> Yeah we've heard in the last few days some conflicting messages so I think the Senate President has been on the record talking about maybe being open to letting a surcharge which has been estimated to be worth a couple hundred million dollars in the the new fiscal year to let that it's supposed to expire maybe they would let that remain in place temporarily but we also heard the Senate budget committee chairman today uh reiterate that he has been in favor of letting it expire on time so again we're in that phase where we're entering negotiations and a lot of things get discussed we're just gonna have to wait and see what the final product is in a few weeks when there's a budget Bill introduced.

>> Thank you so much.

A report out this week shows a significant increase in discrimination cases in 20 against Muslims compared to the previous year.

The New Jersey chapter published its annual civil-rights report revealing a 46% spike in incidents.

The bulk came from workplaces and schools.

unlike previous years FBI and law enforcement surveillance complaints decreased that's an important piece of the data according to the organization which says it shows the face of anti-muslim bigotry is evolving.

To get a deeper look at what's inside the report and examples of common discrimination being experienced here I'm joined by Dina Syed Ahmed the communications manager for care NJ.

Dina you know we look to these reports every year to give us a sense of what's happening within the community what can you tell us about some of the major findings.

>> Something that was very interesting in this report this year is that we found a 46 increase in the number of cases that we've received so in 2021 we received 104 cases this past year in 2022 that number jumped jumped to 152 cases.

>> Were they across the board in terms of all hate uh bias incidents um I mean did they run the gamut talk to me about that.

>> So I've seen a different few different categories we've seen some cases within law enforcement FBI we've seen cases with schools which tripled from the year before we've seen a lot of employment tripled from just nine cases in 2021 to 27 in 2020 and that's just what's been reported and that's just what's been reported these numbers uh caveat that we often add is that these cases are often or the numbers that we have are deflated it because students parents employees employers they often don't report cases because they're afraid of retaliation which is it's a valid fear so all these numbers that we have are deflated and we suspect that the reality is much much higher.

>> I mean I'm curious to know how these incidents are playing out because in years past and particularly during the pandemic it was threats right because everyone wasn't together are there turning to violence physical verbal threats how are they actually playing out.

>> It's a mix of you know violent threats as a mix of variable threats you see some retaliation in workplaces in one of the cases that we have uh in this report a employee an employee was physically assaulted by his employer but then you also have other cases where students are forbidden from establishing an MSA for example and then going back to just the violent cases you also had two girls two teenage girls in a Clifton nail salon that were also physically assaulted so it's a it's a mix of verbal assaults physical assaults stopping students or employees from practicing their religious Faith.

>> What does it tell us about bias or anti-muslim bias is it on the rise is it about where it's been over the last several years.

>> So it's hard to say that it's on the rise this could there could there could be a few different factors that are at play over here we did expand our staff capacity over the past year so we are Fielding a lot more case cases simply because we have a larger capacity but it is possible that anti-muslim bigotrys on their eyes we wouldn't be able to say that just based on this report we'd have to wait a few years to be able to make that judgment or to be able to make any judgment call on the rise or decline of anti-muslim hate.

>> As an advocacy group I know you all make recommendations for policy makers what's the key takeaway for what actions can be done for policy makers we do advise that they speak with Muslims that they have Muslims on their councils for example to you know get an idea of what it is that Muslims in New Jersey need and what they're experiencing.

For ordinary citizens we often encourage people to take a look at this report to use the resources at Care New Jersey and Care National provide to better understand your Muslim employees employers your classmates your neighbor your friends even just to get a better idea of what their needs are and how you can be an ally to them.

>> In our spotlight on business report, the unofficial start to summer is less than one week away.

Businesses in New Jersey have been preparing for months.

Some are struggling with the labor shortage as tourism numbers are expected to come back at pre-pandemic levels.

It's getting down to the wire for employers still searching for the help they will need to keep up.

>> Seaside Heights won't stay this quiet for long.

With Memorial day less than one week away, employers are filling up job openings with varying degrees of success.

>> We are a little behind, >> There's a backup of applications.

We have people waiting in the wings.

>> The seaside mayor says the borough is doing fine in this labor shortage thanks to a boost in pay and an optimistic outlook for the summer.

>> In my opinion, we are back to normal.

We are seeing it early on when it was nice for the Easter holiday.

>> employers are finding new and creative ways to bring in new workers.

Some are raising wages.

Others are changing the hours of work or shifts.

>> If people just want to do daytime from 12:00 p.m. until 5:00, we do that.

If they have a job during the day and want to do the overnight hours or something or the later hours we could try to do that.

>> Short tourism last year was close to pre-pandemic levels so businesses and municipalities might have to hire more help to keep up with demand Stockton Professor Michael bussler is cautiously optimistic for this year.

>> People will have money to spend because they were cooped up for so long they really want to come out and spend it they want to feel free they want to rip that mask off and most have done that and they want to go out on the beach and and enjoy themselves.

>> Another factor is cheaper gasoline which could drive even more tourists to New Jersey's beach towns a year ago at this time we're looking at Gasoline 450 475 at one point up the five dollars so now it's down in the 330 340 um a gallon rain so that will seem reasonable uh to people and as such I don't think High higher gasoline prices are going to hurt the industry.

>> Not every municipality can afford to go over minimum wage like Seaside Heights and bustler says businesses that pay a premium for employees have to make up the difference somewhere.

s your labor costs go up all of your costs go up you have to maintain profitability Jersey Shore uh products are typically a little higher priced you know because they have to make a Year's worth of profit and five or six months.

>> Mayor Vaz says there's one local job in particular that has a ton of turnover and could use a few extra applications if someone wants to work on the boardwalk.

>> Beach attendance they have a rough job their job is to maintain assembling of people making sure they have the right passes to get on the beach that they're not bringing in materials that are forbidden to be on the beach like alcohol and so forth that's a rough Turner and plus it's hot.

>> According to the New Jersey Division of travel and tourism more than 114 million people visited the state last year and 18 million person bump from 2021. we'll see if this summer contributes to even more people coming down the shore or going elsewhere In the Garden State .

>> New Jersey's first offshore wind project is one big step closer to becoming reality.

It is being built by a Danish energy company just cleared its environmental analysis by federal regulators.

That means final approval for the project is expected this summer with construction slated to start next year.

The project proposes to install 98 wind turbines and offshore substations.

A second offshore project is also making progress receiving its draft environmental impact statement.

Both developments are seen as key pieces to transitioning New Jersey to renewable energy.

That's a goal of the governor and the Biden administration.

For updates, check out Tom Johnson's reporting at NJ Spotlight News.org.

Turning to Wall Street, here's how the markets closed today.

>> Support for the business report supported by New Jersey American water.

>> Among the big deadlines on the horizon, New Jersey's primary election day.

It is June 6 and all seats in the Senate and assembly are up for grabs this year.

There are a few that could cause fireworks.

>> Even if we think we know it's went to happen, anything can happen.

>> The reality is, despite a record number of voluntarily retiring and pushed out lawmakers on both sides, organization backed candidates will likely when their primaries.

>> Two different districts, incumbents were kicked off the line and ended up choosing not to run.

That's how powerful it is.

>> And Hudson, big names will be at the top of the ticket giving everyone listed underneath them on the ballot issues leg up because voters tend to vote vertically.

>> You will have a Brian stack at the top-of-the-line someone who is been for decades and is very well known.

his name recognition will benefit the people under him so even though County Executive candidate Elena little and her loose Confederation of progressives managed to score line a on the ballot they still have to face a line topped by a party boss and unlimited resources behind her opponent Craig guy .

>> I think what keeps me going is is the fact that people are the the people who just at their happy to have a choice happy to actually have a meaningful Democratic choice right because there's no Republican running for this seat so whoever wins the Democratic primary is essentially winning the general.

>> And so it shall be for most of the state still run by the system but that doesn't mean the primary won't hold some mystery in South Jersey district 3 the shine seems to have come off Mega poster boy Ed Durr who shocked the world in 2021 by unseating long-time Senate President Steve Sweeney.

But in 23 he's facing his former running mate Beth Sawyer in one of the more closely watched races.

>> It's possible that Ed Durr could face a more spirited Challenge from Beth Sawyer than we're expecting in in the Third District the Democrats will see one of their most senior senate members ousted after redistricting pitted veteran Senators Nia Gill and Dick Cody against one another in the 27th District in Essex if Guild were to lose she'd be one of the most glaring examples of how female representation in the legislature could end up reduced by 20 percent come 2024.

>> The fact that we are seeing less women running or women being replaced it actually doesn't fare well for where we're going in politics in New Jersey we already saw a weakening of election laws that gives more power to to body bosses and puts more money into politics that also doesn't fare well for where we're going in the state so I think us as citizens who care about democracy and engagement need to pay attention to what are the choices that that are leaders in the political parties are making and paying attention can sometimes be the last thing voters do when they're inundated with races that produce tv ads and flyers that turn up the heat but do little to illuminate the issues of importance.

I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight news >> Everything you need to know about the upcoming primary election, had to our website.

That's all we have for you tonight.

Join me tomorrow for a virtual roundtable focusing on the mental health crisis here in New Jersey and rebuilding the workforce.

Understanding the pressures that go along with those going through it and returning to work .

That's 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

A reminder you can also listen to us anytime via podcast wherever you stream.

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

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

>> The members of the New Jersey education Association making public schools great for every child.

Let's be healthy together.

Committed to the creation of a new long-term sustainable clean energy future for New Jersey.

>> Look at these kids.

What do you see?

I see myself.

I became a teacher to give my students what I wanted when I came to this country.

The opportunity to learn, to dream, to achieve.

Chance to belong and to be an American.

I am proud to be a member.

>> I am very grateful I am still here.

>> We went to celebrate our first anniversary.

>> With my new kidney, I have strength.

I'm still going everywhere exploring new places.

Nobody thought I was going to be here.

>> I'm looking forward to getting older with my wife.

>> we are transforming lives.

>> They gave me my normal life back.

>> Let's be healthy together.

♪