The Pension System is in crisis to the tune of 100 billion. It is underfunded we got future unfunded liabilities. Governor Chris Christie talked about it today. He had couple of solution, the question is goff for, you have been in office for eight years. Where were these solutions sneap Ashley Johnson has all the details. Ashley, what do you got for us . New jersey governor Chris Christie at News Conference wednesday issued a warning to the sk sores democrat phil murphy about the dire state of the state pension fund system. New jersey is more than 100 million in the hole to pay for current and future retirement benefits. Lets get rid of the myth which started was Public Employees underpaid. You know . We have the highest paid Police Officers in america. We have think highest paid firefighters in america. We have a month of features in america. Where are they suffering exactly . And most of those public make more than all of you . Special commission on Public Pensions and Health Benefits will reach the findings tef final report which suggest reforms including shifting active employees to a high drid Retirement Program that includes a 401 k . This year state pensions and Health Benefits made up 16 of the state budget. That numb bex expected to rise to 20 by 2023. While christie gave the administration praise for tackling the debt, the bipartisan report suggests not so fast. The numbers work. The politics didnt. The bottom line of this, the time report, that is that while some progresses a been made. It has not been enough. A message today is that the personalities in trenton are going to change up but the math is not changing and if anything, the math is getting a lull bit worse. Shifting gears, crest ty played a pivotal role in the Candy Company mars dea siding to open a new headquarters end newark. Think it once again show thats the pollties of this administration and what we provide. Christie will be unem knowed come january 17th once he leaves office and wont decide on the next career move until the time as governor is up. In trenton, i am Ashley Johnson, reporting for chasing news. Thank, ashley. All right. Lets bring in the aplus panel to break this down. I am joined by dr. Liz henry, pediatrician. Welcome dr. Liz. Always good see you. Here f. Great to be here. A political strategists, greet see you, jennette. Thank you, bill. Andre richardson, political strategists. Andre, will start with you. You are not a huge fan of the governor. Heres my question four the guy has bin office for eight years. Basically today, he told everyone about ha we already knew. We have a pension crisis. We got more than 100 billion in unfunded liabilities. He is announcing all the fixes its the last month in office. Where was see . Right. Right. This is indicative of the lame duck governor and the term. He has had plenty of opportunities to try to take this by his own admission. He is going to come up a little bit short and needs to needs ton physically funded. So before you go all over this democrats in the legislature. Whatever you do. Look. They are going to be in charge for more than decade. The governor in 2011 sat down and created this opportunity for everyone saying were going to be able to fix the pension problem by having teachers and state workers contribute more. It got worse. Oh, yeah. Well, here is the thing. The democrats in the legislature and the state Workers Union didnt want to hear it, bill. Governor christie came into office in 2010 worked and got some reform dope. He said at that time, it is not enough. We have to go further. Ho one in trenton wanted to do that on the democratic side because they are behold ton the fessing treens. Dr. Liz, you know, take out your doctors hat. You are a taxpayer. You live ins this new jersey. You gat family. This is state fis fixable . I think it is fixable. We need someone who is going to really care about the people of new jersey. And and stop talking and actually take action and put policies end place. All right. Ok. Thanks, guys. Big things happening in washington, d. C. That are going impact your bank account here in new jersey and new york. It is tax plan for the house and the senate slightly different versions but this is historic change in the tax codes. As a matter of fact. Thing about e change in the tax code as long as it gets to the president s desk we have seen since 1906. A loft tax cuts in there, change in the brackets and the race, one of the big things in new Jersey New York and california are property taxes are so high that without some of the state and local Tax Deductions, some peoples tax may go up at least some neb members of congress. Two here in new jersey. Republican and democrat they have got an idea they think can save the plan and lets dig night. I am joined now by congressman, congressman. Welcome to chasing news. How are you . Thank you for having me. I appreciate. Bill first. Tell me if i am wrong. It seems to me that both plans, the senate plan, the house plan have already said that much of the state and local Tax Deductions are fog stay where they reason including the Home Mortgage interest deduct up to a million or half million depending on this plan. What is different about what you are proposing. Well, the one exception to what you said, actually, eliminating the stit and local Tax Deductions on the property tax side they put a cap unallowing up to 10,000. So property taxes. Do you know in new jersey and new york and connecticut in our area. 10,000. Aof people pay more than 10,000 in property tax. The big issue is you can no longer deduct in the tax hike bills and no longer deduct the state income tax. You pay more than 10,000 in property tax. You are not talking about working class New Jerseyans. As a hatter of fact. According to members of cop degrees. The congress for example who champions a lot of it in the bill said that really for working class New Jerseyans somewhere between 70 and 90 are going to see tax decrease. A so in my district. The congressional district. North jersey. If you look at paramus, for en stance. A family, a confident teacher, who owns a home in paramus will likely see a 5,000 tax increase upped the consider rep plan. So i dont consider that regular hardworking folks if you look at new jersey and oradell and oklahoma city. Oradell, the average price of the home is 550,000 and their tax bills are 15,000 them they will see tax increase. You stand with sweeney or phil murphy when it comes to the millionaire tax in new jersey. Sweeney is saying put the brakes on it. Do you aze well, we state there are new factors plains. I dont think we can raise taxeson answer one. All right. Congressman, well, we like to you have back on the show. Thankthank four joining me toni. Appreciate. Nice talking to you. Bill take care. This is a take point from the gy who wants to win restriction. No, i dont think so. The bipartisan members of concompress coming together as part of the problem solve ear caucus which love doing what the people of new jersey sent them to do. That is to protect our interests to make sure were not paying higher taxes. You didnt elect the republican president to raise the taxes so i think they are doing what their constints sent them to do. Isnt it typical of the republicans ap democrats who are desperate for the take point. Now you found a president who is cutting tax is a cross the board. Wait. And the tax will only happen if we continue to overtax. Why should the federal taxpayers subsize the corruption tax in new jersey . I mean, because right now, the new jersey taxpayers one in four were going to wind up paying higher tax in the tax scam. Here is what i say. Here is what i say. Look at the numbers. If you look at both directions, right. They look at republican districts. This is not election year. Think this plan does have the been if its to lower taxes overall for the state of new jersey or right now, 53 of the country disagrees with this tax plan. Let me ask you. How long can we get away with everybody else. If you are paying 25,000 a year am are part of the one percent, no . I mean, new jersey, we pay one of the highest taxes in the United States. And i think, she is right. I mean, the politicians have to work for their constituents of new jersey. They have to push for what benefits us as citizens of new jersey. They are late tow party. Tom already solved this. He taught. He got it in. U know what . You got it to the senate. That 10,000 cap. It is not enough. The property takes so much higher. To the point, people are paying higher other than people who the Property Values spiked now looking at retirements. I understand that. We are talking about people who are living in multimillion dollar homes. 00,000 in the fancy mappings. Why should those folks get a break . Well, so the governor is actually willing to pay more in taxes and honest about it as posed to donald trump. Am going to also out on this bill. I will also ut on this bill. The talking point, flight we can argue about that. Yeah. Honest there, thiseas republicans last . No, it is. So well, when we raise taxes, yeah, that is when we do lose, bill. We want republicans to cut tax. So you believe this new tax bill is a taxic . For certain person, it will be. I am not a millionaire, my taxes will go up. I live in monmouth county. It has high property taxes . Bill got to leave it there. Thanks, guys. We got a lot more chasing news for you tonight. Nj transit, you know it is a mess. Now a new federal report out telling us pretty much what we already know. But there is some danger on those rails. Well tull all about it. And meteorologist dan zarrow will have the forecast, it is getting cold. And will there be snow weekend . Meteorologist bill, beginning to feel a lot like winter. The cold air has returned. Temperatures only going down as the weekend price of. We got a couple of chances of snow talk about as well. I will have the forecast, coming up. Welcome back to chasing news. This damaging potentially damage newing report out from the federal government. Wait until youer that. Allison, what what do you got . Allison, what do you got . Yes, a troubling report released last week says Jersey Transits behind on the force, life saving fixes in the past few years there has been derailments and even a fatal train crash. Todd who is formerly employed by new Jersey Transit as the chief Compliance Officer is considered by many as a whistleblower. He says the commuters are at risk. Positive control. It is here to save lives to prevent collisions and slow the trade. The federal progress reports that conclude in september says new Jersey Transit still has quite a to do list. According to the report, new Jersey Transits behind on installing positive control related radio towers in related radio towers in training employees. The other project is december 31st 2018. Of the 440 trains that beat positive control. Only 25 are equipped. Positive train control automatically prevents trains from going too fast or running past stopped signals. It uses gps, wireless radio and computers to monitor trains and automatically endorsed speed limits and emergency spots that is not clear if it would have presented the 2016 fatal hoboken crash. Nancy snyder,who is a spokeswoman for new Jersey Transit said in a statement, new Jersey Transit continues to have every expectation that we will meet the federal implementation deadline. Congress original deadline for installing positive train control across the United States was 2015. Lawmakers later gave railroads the threeyear extension. The bottom line is if new Jersey Transit doesnt lead to what they need to do doesnt get it. Yes, they will come in and well shut them down. Three new Jersey Transits full progress reports to visit for chasing news, i am allison gormly. Bill thank you, allison. All right. Lets bring back the aplus panel. Dr. Liz henry is here and andre richardson. We start with you. The governor takes a lot of heat for this. One of the big things is positive control. The woman died in hoboken and blamed sleep apnea they have been on schedule for the train control and it could have been avoided. Yeah. It is unfortunate. This shows how important that the investment in transportation is and what happened when we dont have it here in new jersey. There is no dedicated Revenue Source for new jerseys transit and the entire state budget which means they hodgepodge things together. Bears keep going up. I remember fares went up 9 to 1 on service. Yeah. I mean, today, i think fares are up. I think part of the problem is, actually, they do dedicate. It needs an agreement. It happens. Were here for her. Also part of the problem, i hate to see it. This was National Issue when he was running for president. Well, i think, also you have to go back to how do we fund our budget. The Pension System we just talked about picked up a third of the budget. It doesnt leave a lot of room for other things. Bill why not privatize it. You talked about it. You got private entities coming in places like tokyo, hong kong. You know what it is . I think it should be a priority. I mean, new jersey is based on transportation. You have great examples. You have delays in tokyo in seconds. I know. Seconds. I know that is good example. I am all for foundation appropriate safeguards. Talk about intentions. Listen. If we can cut the cost for commuters. All right. We got to leave it there. Ok. Lets check in with our Sports Reporter who has all the news. George . Reporter thanks, bill. You know aaron boone played 54 regular season games, but the impact on the franchise has been quite dramatic. He was acquired late in the 2003 season and that fall in the playoffs the American League championship series was the game seven extra inning home runs that propelled the yankees the world series and knocked out the Boston Red Sox for the greatest games you will want to see. That offseason, boone injured the knee badly playing basketball. The yankees released him and picked up another third place ban. Ban. The guy by the name of alex rodriguez. So now, he is back in spin stripes leave the broadcast booth at espn give the keys to a castle that includes the talent of young stars like aaron judge and gary sanchez. Obviously, this is a team with loads of talent. This is a team that came of this year and arrived and i am really comfortable and believe that me and my staff will be a part of helping them take the next step. Aaron boone were all major league players. In fact his father bob was a major league manager. Is it a risk for the yankees . You bet it is. Bill, get it back to you. Bill thanks, george. Ok. Lets check in with meteorologist dan zarrow with the forecast of arctic cold. Dan, say it aint so. Meteorologist our first wave arctic air has arrived and only3 thaevethisulthinpen for t weekend approaches. We also have a couple of snow chances to talk about. Which i have been talking about all week but lets go to a little further detail because i know you want to hear about the first flakes of this season. The first storm system comes into view late friday into early saturday. The coastal storm system as it slides up. If it slows enough, we could very well see some snowflakes and maybe a little bit of accumulation. But that accumulation is Going Limited to southern new jersey and long island closer to center of the storm. Certainly going to be cold enough for some snow and especially if you are south and east of the new jersey turnpike and that includes the fire five burroughs. Into sunday, another shot of snow showers early in the morning. A system will be coming from the west. I suspect the better chances for bit of snow. We could see a dusting on the ground by the time you wake up early sunday morning. Then, going to get cold tonight. Lows in the upper 20s to lower 30. Of course, partly sunny for thursday. Mid to upper 40s. Not too bad for early december. Pretty close to normal. We should stay dry during the day. Friday, though, we kickback to temperatures another notch. Lower 40s. Mostly cloudy and breezy. Again, a chance of late snow. The weekend stays cold system of we will top out around 40 for saturday, sunday. Again the next chance of snow showers will come along early sunday morning. I am let meteorologist dan zarrow. Bill thanks, dan. Well, boy i wished i had not waited to put out the outside christmas lights. All right. Check with the headlines were chasing for you tonight. President trump seemed to have trouble talking wednesday during the speech announcing the United States recognition of of israel. To respond to disagreement. With debate and finally i asked the leaders of the region god bless the United States. Thank you very much. Woe got a lot more coming you for you tonight. Governor christie took some shots at the president and you can tell man was he bitter about being fired as the transition team. Wait until you hear w governor christie is on the way ut of office but not without taking shots at the president. The governor gave a Conference Today talking about everything from the Opioid Crisis to the pension debacle where underfunded that and the fact he doesnt have a job and what he focused on was the fact he should not have been removed as the transition speese for the president s transition. I think what folk blos involved in that transition have now painfully learned at the extent of the country is that experience matters. The governor we ton say that where it matters, experience would have solved the problem and prevented such things like mike flynn having to have been fired. Say feg were in charge of the transition, this would not have happened. You no i, the idea you can take six month of work and group of over 100 people did that we assembled and draw out. Um, i think for sure, mike flynn. It oh coarse to me when governor Chris Christie talks about his experience the fact that Vice President elect at the time mike pence effectually i threw out, according to the new yorker. 30 bounders full of information and you know, we heard about binders full of stuff before. Remember mitt romney talking about binders full of women. I wonder what they are full of. I will leave that to your imagination. A i tell you this. Give in the track railroaded on making opponents that eventually end up doing time for what they did as far as Improper Conduct and unprofessional conduct. Let me tell you something. No one needed governor crist ts input on the transition team. I think is fine we are is. Good luck with the job hunt, governor. We, you well. Thank for inviting me in to your homes tonight. I appreciate being here every weeknight. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow night on chasing live from center city in philadelphia this is fox 29 news at 11 00. On top of several stories happening right now. Democratic senators are calling on their colleague al franken to resign including one local politician and raging wildfires are burning out of control in southern california. Fierce winds are fanning the flames as firefighters battle to put them out. And in montgomery county, a trip to see santa ended in heartbreak and awful message scrolled in lipstick on moms car. Thanks for joining us im lucy noland. This is what she came back to after taking her terminally ill son to meet santa. Our Chris Oconnell joins us live from king of prussia with a story youll see only on fox. Chris, just breaks my heart. Reporter yeah, you know, lucy, going to visit santa claus
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