Mary Alice Williams steps down as NJTV News anchor

After six years with NJTV News, Mary Alice Williams announces she is stepping down as anchor. Williams spoke with Senior Correspondent Briana Vannozzi about her time at NJTV News and shares some of her fondest memories.

NJ Business Magazine reports

NJTV, New Jersey’s public television network, announced that Mary Alice Williams, anchor of its flagship NJTV News broadcast, has decided to step down from her position effective this month.

Since 2014, Williams has anchored the NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams, along with multiple news specials, from the Governor’s State of the State addresses and election night coverage to the network’s specials like In Your Neighborhood and Facing The Future.  Last month, she stepped back from anchoring duties to care for family members in the face of back-to-back health crises.

“The landscape of journalism is changing but its mission stays the same,” said Williams. “In its coverage of the COVID-19 crisis, the NJTV News team has demonstrated its critical role in providing essential information to help New Jersey get a handle on this life-altering pandemic. They’ve done it with courage and compassion and grace under enormous pressure. It has been my privilege to work alongside them. I look forward to watching them soar.”

“Mary Alice Williams is an icon in broadcast journalism, as well as a very proud New Jersey resident,” said Neal Shapiro, president and CEO of NJTV and its operator WNET. “Along with her extensive network news experience, she has had a longstanding relationship with public television.  We have been very fortunate to have her as part of the NJTV News family.  Her experience and mentorship with our staff has been invaluable.  It’s no exaggeration to say that she has helped shape its journalism and raised the bar for excellence within our show.”

When Williams joined NJTV, she brought with her a stellar reputation as an award-winning journalist, anchor and author. One of her many crowning achievements was her role as a primary architect behind the design of the first worldwide television network, CNN, contributing to its award-winning program lineup and serving as a vice president there. But Williams has also spent decades regularly contributing to public television projects.  Following the September 11th terror attacks, she wrote and hosted a 3-hour PBS special Reaching Out to Heal.  She also hosted a companion program to Bill Moyers’ On Our Own Terms, about death and dying, which aired in Fall 2000 on PBS.  Her 90-minute PBS special on alcoholism and addiction, Within Reach, along with her work as a PBS contributing correspondent and anchor on Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, have established Williams as a recognized commentator and reporter on broad issues of ethics.

“Mary Alice will be missed,” added NJTV News Senior Managing Editor Jamie Kraft. “But she is leaving our show with a solid foundation and our team with a long-lasting blueprint of how to be a diligent and objective yet caring journalist and colleague.”

Williams’ successor as the anchor of NJTV News will be announced at a future date.  The weeknight newscast will continue at 6pm, 7:30 pm and 11pm on NJTV, with the NJTVNews.org and NJSpotlight.com websites providing latest news and information on issues across the state around the clock.

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Little League World Series canceled for first time

Little League World Series canceled for first time
August 25, 2019 Little League World Series Championship game at Lamade Stadium in South Williamsport, Pa.

From the New Castle (Pa) News

This year’s Little League World Series and the championship tournaments in six other Little League divisions have been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Little League President Stephen Keener announced the cancellations in a Facebook Live broadcast Thursday afternoon from league headquarters in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, saying it would be “impossible” to hold the events amid ongoing restrictions on large gatherings and travel.

The Little League World Series has been held every August since 1947 and had never been canceled before. Next year was to be the 75th playing of the tournament; that milestone has been pushed back to 2022.

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“Let me tell the folks in all those communities and all the sites where we have regional qualifying tournaments how disappointed we are to have to do this, but it was inevitable,” Keener said. “It would be irresponsible and impossible to bring teams and thousands of people from all over the world into the community of Williamsport as well as those six other communities that have been such great friends and supporters of ours over the years.”

He added that travel restrictions would make it equally impossible to hold qualifying tournaments for international teams and to bring those teams safely to the United States.

Little League has not, however, called off the 2020 regular season. Keener said there was reason for optimism that teams could play this spring and summer, depending on restrictions in states and localities.

The annual major league game in Williamsport, which this year was to feature the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles on Aug. 23, has been canceled, MLB said.

“While the cancellation of the 2020 Little League World Series is extremely disappointing, the health and safety of all of the people involved must be the paramount consideration. We look forward to our return to Williamsport for the 2021 MLB Little League Classic,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

Little League announced in March that the season was on hold until at least May 11 because of guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention against gatherings of 50 people or more.

After that date, Keener said, districts and leagues should look to states and localities for guidance on when or if the season can resume. He also urged districts to hold all-star tournaments to give kids at least a taste of the competition they’ll be missing missing with World Series qualifying scrapped.

“We will be very amenable to (changing) eligibility requirements and be very flexible to allow as many kids the opportunity to play as possible for whatever can remain of the 2020 Little League season,” he said.

Along with the Little League World Series, which is held in South Williamsport, the other events canceled were the World Series of Little League Softball in Greenville, North Carolina; Junior League Baseball in Taylor, Michigan; Junior League Softball in Kirkland, Washington; Senior League Baseball in Easley, South Carolina; and Senior League Softball in Sussex County, Delaware.

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U.S. officials crafting retaliatory actions against China over coronavirus as President Trump fumes

The president has in recent days told aides and others that China has to pay for the outbreak and publicly floated demanding billions in compensation  

President Trump has both praised China’s response to the coronavirus outbreak and criticized China for not being forthcoming enough about the virus. (Video: JM Rieger/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

By Jeff Stein, Carol D. Leonnig, Josh Dawsey and Gerry Shih , Washington Post

Senior U.S. officials are beginning to explore proposals for punishing or demanding financial compensation from China for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to four senior administration officials with knowledge of internal planning.

The move could splinter already strained relations between the two superpowers at a perilous moment for the global economy.

Senior officials across multiple government agencies are expected to meet Thursday to begin mapping out a strategy for seeking retaliatory measures against China, two people with knowledge of the meeting said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to disclose the planning. Officials in American intelligence agencies are also involved in the effort.

President Trump has fumed to aides and others in recent days about China, blaming the country for withholding information about the virus, and has discussed enacting dramatic measures that would probably lead to retaliation by Beijing, these people said.

In private, Trump and aides have discussed stripping China of its “sovereign immunity,” aiming to enable the U.S. government or victims to sue China for damages. George Sorial, who formerly served as a top executive at the Trump Organization and is involved in a class-action lawsuit against China, told The Washington Post he and senior White House officials have discussed limiting China’s sovereign immunity. Legal experts say an attempt to limit China’s sovereign immunity would be extremely difficult to accomplish and may require congressional legislation.

Some administration officials have also discussed having the United States cancel part of its debt obligations to China, two people with knowledge of internal conversations said. It was not known if the president has backed this idea. Two senior White House economic officials ruled out the possibility of doing so shortly after this story was published.

Administration officials strongly cautioned that the discussions are preliminary and that little formal work has begun on turning these initial ideas into reality. Other administration officials are warning Trump against the push to punish China, saying the country is sending supplies to help the American response.

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Gov. Murphy Meets Trump As NJ Coronavirus Deaths Hit One-Day High

By Tom Davis, Patch Staff

Gov. Phil Murphy asked President Trump for tens of billions of dollars in assistance on Thursday before announcing, during an afternoon news conference, that New Jersey’s coronavirus death toll hit a single-day high. Trump said the issue of bringing more funding to New Jersey to aid in its recovery is a “tough question.” 

Murphy reported that New Jersey had 460 more deaths on Thursday, raising the overall total to 7,228. New Jersey also had more than 2,633 new cases – a number that’s been on a daily decline – as the overall number rose to 118,652. 

Earlier, Murphy told Trump that the state will likely need $20 billion to $30 billion to shore up the state as it continues to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, record unemployment and sharply declining revenues.

“We don’t see this as a bailout. We see this as a partnership,” Murphy said.

Related news stories:
State officials hold April 30 coronavirus briefing (NJTV News video)
NJ governor lobbies Trump for states bailout during White House meeting (Politico)

Murphy wants to make sure that tens of thousands of people – including police, firefighters, teachers, EMS and other public employees – can get paid in the middle of the crisis and continue to assist people “in their hour of need.”

Trump’s response was: “That’s a tough question because you’re talking about the states and whether you call it a bailout or a lot of money – a lot of it’s for years, longer than you (Murphy) were there.”

Trump then went on to praise Murphy, saying: “You can’t have a better representative than this man. Plus, he’s an old Goldman Sachs guy.”

“He went through a big operation just before this happened and that’s a helluva thing,” Trump said, referring to Murphy’s cancer operation.

Murphy said the visit with Trump yielded good results, prompting the Trump administration to provide:

  • 550,000 new test kits
  • 750,000 new swabs for testing
  • 358 nursing homes will be receiving a direct shipment of 220,000 masks, 19,000 goggles, 200,000 gowns and 1 million gloves.

“This proves that it is possible to put people over politics,” Murphy said. “It’s no secret that the president and I disagree on some things but that’s not going to stop me from making sure that New Jersey has all the resources it needs.”

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NJ Spotlight’s coronavirus update for April 29, 2020

 New Jersey today reported an additional 2,481 confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number to 116,264.

Statewide, there were 6,289 COVID-19 related hospitalizations as of last night, continuing a steady decrease since mid-April. 1,811 are in critical or intensive care, and 1,327 require ventilators. 

Hospitalization trends varied across the state, with numbers dropping in northern New Jersey and rising in southern New Jersey (chart above). For more in-depth information regarding hospitalizations, please visit our COVID-19 data page.

New Jersey reported an additional 329 deaths, a continued spike after the weekend and bringing the total number of fatalities in the state to 6,770. That is twice the number than in any other state except New York, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.
State and federal response

Gov. Phil Murphy today announced an executive order to reopen state parks and allow county parks as well as golf courses to also open, effective at sunrise on Saturday, May 2.Social distancing rules would continue to be mandated.

A second executive order signed by the governor will allow for any petition to place municipal or county initiatives on the ballot to be signed electronically, the same as candidate petitions.

The Murphy administration announced $24 million in state and federal resources for temporary wage increases for the direct support professionals who care for adult individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities living in group homes and supervised apartments$10.6 million in state funding and $13.4 million in federal matching resources.

NJ Department of Labor will begin notifying recipients of the first round of federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payments.

Murphy announced a partnership between the state and NJMEP to manufacture face masks and gowns in-state.

NJ Human Services Commissioner Carole Johnson and Children and Families Commissioner Christine Beyer today announced the state will continue to help pay for child care for essential employees as defined in Executive Order 110 through at least the end of May.

The NJ Department of Human Services announced that additional federal funds to many residents who receive food assistance through the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).An additional $36 million will be provided to about 214,000 New Jersey households in May.

Related news story and video:

Organ donations in NJ down 65% in April

BY Joanna Gagis, Producer/Correspondent, NJTV News  | April 29, 2020, 3PM EST

Vicki Bernstein has a lung condition called sarcoidosis, along with COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“Been diagnosed about 18 years now, and the past year or so it’s really gotten much worse. I have a very difficult time obviously breathing, when I’m walking,” she said. “It’s scary when you get to that point where you can’t breathe and you’re like, shouldn’t the oxygen help me. And it’s not always a quick fix.”

About three years ago, Bernstein’s doctors recommended she get on the transplant waiting list for new lungs, but she says she wasn’t ready until a cold landed her in the hospital.

“And that’s when I said, ‘It’s time. I need to get on the list,’” she said. “Then of course, corona came around and it makes things even worse because if they do call you there’s a lot of concerns.”

She’s concerned about undergoing surgery at a time when exposure to coronavirus within a hospital setting is high. But Joe Roth, who heads New Jersey’s organ and tissue procurement organization, has different concerns.

“Through April, we’re down about 65% in terms of donation. Now in a normal time that wouldn’t worry us because it’s hard to forecast anyway during normal times what your donation rates are going to be. But at a time like this where there’s a lot of uncertainty as to how long this is going to string out, it’s of great concern to us that donation’s fallen,” Roth said.

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