Noticias

Four New Jersey PBS trustees have stepped down, including Chairman Scott Kobler, following last week’s announcement that the state’s public television station will shut its doors in July 2026.

“I’m stepping aside as chair to allow WNET to more directly manage the end of the NJ PBS term and look forward to doing my part to assist the next iteration of public media in New Jersey,” Kobler said.

Kobler indicated last week that he intended to depart.  Three other trustees – Liz Thomas, Thomas Bracken, and Elizabeth Mazzeo – have also resigned from the NJ PBS board.

“WNET has served the state of New Jersey well,” Kobler stated. “They assumed operations of New Jersey’s public media network in its time of need in 2011. The work of the reporters on NJ Spotlight News, on the air and online, continues to be exemplary and fills a huge void. I could not have been prouder to be a part of it. I wish the state of New Jersey had responded in a more cooperative fashion when it came to a renewal.”

The final broadcast of NJ PBS is set for June 30, 2026.   WNET will continue its thirty-minute New Jersey weeknight newscast on THIRTEEN.

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The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission disbursed more than $1.6 million to gubernatorial nominees in the latest round of public matching funds, according to a Monday release.

ELEC gave Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) $1,020,052 and Republican former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli $639,240 in this round of matching funds.

ELEC has so far distributed $9,731,556 to Sherrill, about 78% of the cap, and $8,778,512 to Ciattarelli, about 70% of the cap.

General election candidates may receive up to $12.5 million in public funds in a $2-for-$1 match system. Participation in the program comes with an $18.5 million spending cap, though super PACs and independent expenditures can continue spending to support their favored candidate.

Sherrill and Ciattarelli were the only candidates to qualify. A third-party candidate would have had to raise $580,000 by Sept. 2 to qualify.

ELEC distributed over $37.5 million in matching funds in the primary election, a record-setting sum.

Mail-in voting started earlier this month — more than 29,000 New Jerseyans have cast their ballots, according to VoteHub.

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As Congress barrels towards a government shutdown deadline tomorrow night with no clear off-ramp, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) says that he’ll decline his congressional salary as long as the government is closed and federal workers aren’t getting paid.

The House has passed a two-month stopgap funding bill with Kean’s support, but the bill lacks buy-in from Democrats, who want it to include a variety of health care provisions as well as guardrails against President Donald Trump’s ability to revoke funds. Senate Democrats, among them New Jersey Senators Andy Kim and Cory Booker, have blocked the bill in the Senate, which Kean said today is unacceptable.

“DC Democrats are playing political games and pushing our nation toward a shutdown that would be harmful to the American people,” Kean said in a statement. “The House has already passed a bipartisan funding bill based on the very spending framework that Democrats themselves supported in the past. It is unacceptable that vital government services are being threatened and that federal workers may be furloughed.”

Kean said he’s already made a formal request to U.S. House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor that his paycheck be withheld if a shutdown starts tomorrow.

The congressman – who represents one of New Jersey’s most competitive districts, and is likely in for a tough fight in 2026 – made a similar salary promise in the leadup to a potential shutdown in September 2023, but that shutdown was unexpectedly averted at the last minute; it hasn’t always been pretty, but Congress has successfully kept the government funded throughout Kean’s entire congressional tenure.

Three other New Jersey House members (Mikie Sherrill, Josh Gottheimer, and Andy Kim) promised during that 2023 showdown that they wouldn’t take their salaries if the government shut down. Members of Congress get paid $174,000 a year, a salary unchanged since 2009.

Kim and Sherrill also didn’t accept paychecks when they were first sworn into the House in 2019, because the government was in its longest-ever shutdown at the time. Gottheimer, meanwhile, co-sponsored a bill last year to revoke pay for all members of Congress during shutdowns.

It’s still possible that congressional leaders will find a way to fund the government before tomorrow’s deadline; Trump and leaders of both parties in the House and Senate are set to meet this afternoon.

This story may be updated if other New Jersey members of Congress announce that they will decline their salaries.

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A week after Rebecca Bennett got an endorsement from former Summit Mayor Jordan Glatt, former Summit Councilman Greg Vartan’s campaign for New Jersey’s 7th congressional district has earned the support of a different Summit leader: former Mayor Nora Radest, who led Vartan’s hometown until 2023.

“Greg is Summit through and through – born and raised here, and deeply committed to the people who call it home,” Radest said after hosting a pro-Vartan event at her home over the weekend. “He embodies a new generation of Democratic leaders who put community first, rise above politics, and always stand by their neighbors.”

Radest was first elected mayor in 2015, ousting one-term Republican incumbent Ellen Dickson, and was re-elected unopposed in 2019. She stepped aside in 2023 rather than seek a third term, and was succeeded by Republican Elizabeth Fagan; Radest and Glatt remain the only two Democrats to lead Summit in the last century.

(Radest also got involved in this year’s gubernatorial primary, supporting Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s campaign; Fulop ultimately came in second in Summit, winning 20% of the vote to eventual nominee Mikie Sherrill’s 53%.)

Radest’s time in city government overlapped with that of Vartan, who was elected to the common council in 2018 and became council president in 2023 before retiring at the end of last year. Vartan also remains the chairman of the Summit Democratic municipal committee.

Democrats are currently down to just two seats out of seven on the council – and both of those Democrats, Ward 1 Councilwoman Michelle Kalmanson and Ward 2 Councilwoman Claire Toth, have endorsed Vartan’s congressional campaign.

Vartan and Bennett are two of eight Democratic candidates seeking to unseat Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) in the 7th district. Also running are climate scientist Megan O’Rourke, attorney Vale Mendoza, former Small Business Administration official Michael Roth, criminal justice professor Beth Adubato, businessman Brian Varela, and physician Tina Shah.

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