Gov. Christie witholding an endorsement, Congressman Pallone getting one. And we’ve got an interview with Mayor Cory Booker. Plus, cracking down on carjackers. And coping with too much rain.

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Right now, undocumented students must payer higher out-of-state college tuition, but the Tuition Equality Act would allow them to pay cheaper in-state tuition rates if they graduate from a New Jersey high school. Bryan Velasco is among the thousands of students who would benefit from this proposed bill.

“It’s not like I am getting something for free because I’m actually going to pay and it will help me a lot, for me and my family. As many of you might know, I have to pay double and sometimes triple than a documented student would pay,” Velasco said.

This is creating an underclass says Assemblywoman Marlene Caride, one of the bill’s sponsors. And she believes this measure makes moral and fiscal sense.

“The reason that I was for and I am for this bill, is because we as citizens here in New Jersey invested millions of dollars in their education as it is right now, we may have public education from kindergarten through high school. If we’re going to see a return on our money, why not let them go to college and get a degree?” asked Caride.

But critics like Jeffrey Hastings, a member of New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control, says this bill would increase taxes and create competition for limited space at New Jersey’s colleges and universities.

“All of sudden have people who have no papers, no documentation, give them a pass. What does that say to people who are trying to play by the rules?” asked Hastings.

But Udi Ofer, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, says 15 other states offer in-state tuition to undocumented residents and New Jersey should follow suit.

“The United States Supreme Court three decades ago said that undocumented students should have equal access to education. That’s what this bill would authorize. This bill would make sure undocumented students who grew up in New Jersey, contributed to the New Jersey culture and society, are treated equally,” Ofer said.

The Assembly Budget Committee approved this bill and another one that would allow students who are legal residents but have parents who are undocumented to be eligible for grants, scholarships and in-state tuition. Velasco hopes they both are signed into law so he can get the education he needs to pursue his career goals.

“My goal is to get higher education, become a physician … do something good, cuz eventually I will pay it back to the community,” Velasco said.

Democrats believe they have enough support to get both bills through the Assembly and Senate. The one stumbling block could be Gov. Chris Christie.

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It is one of the worst fears of many residents and visitors to cities like Newark. You’re stopped at a red light or just helping a fellow motorist when, seemingly out of nowhere, a carjacker is in your vehicle and gone, before you even know what happened.

“Clearly there’s an impact on the psyche of our residents and the people who come and work in the cities of Newark, East Orange, Irvington and what not. It’s not just a Newark problem, though. It’s a statewide problem; it’s a national problem,” said Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura.

Over the last three years, Newark has again seen a significant jump in carjackings — from 290 in 2010 to 345 last year — making it once again the carjack capital of New Jersey.

“We have more victims, basically, but it’s not as acute as you think it might be. You know, places like Camden and Trenton, and all the other cities, Paterson, Passaic. They have the same problems that we do,” Fontoura said.

But of the top five counties for carjackings in New Jersey, Essex has been number one for five consecutive years. A carjacking task force that includes local and state police, sheriff’s officers and even federal law enforcement has been making a dent in the problem over the past two years.

“With the quality of proof that we’re able to build, with the technology that we have now and with the partnerships we have now, if we have a good case, we’re going to seek the courts’ permission to waive you up to adult court and if you’re 16, 17, 15 even, you’re probably going to get waived and you know, we don’t want anybody surprised when they get 17 years in state prison at 17 years old,” Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray said.

Law enforcement officials say they’re getting a handle on the problem but in a city that averages about a carjacking a day, most Newarkers we talked to on Broad Street say they don’t see that at all.

“The police have nothing like that under control. That’s impossible. They have nothing under control,” said resident Ben Jones.

When asked if the situation makes her angry or afraid, Aqueelah Butler said, “I’m both. I’m afraid, angry and terrified, all three at the same time.”

“These guys, they’re willing to do anything; they’ll shoot you or do whatever they gotta do to take your car,” said Louis Reed.

When Newark Police Director Sam DeMaio was confronted by residents’ claims and asked if the situation was out of control, he said, “Absolutely not. Absolutely not. It can be that one carjacking that happens in the wrong place at the wrong time or to the wrong person that creates a fear amongst everyone.”

The county says it’s still compiling 2013 numbers but this week alone, Newark’s had three carjackings, one ending with a cop shooting a 15-year-old suspect, and State Police issued a carjacking alert for the city last week after two cars were jacked in similar fashion on Route 78. That is a painful reality, no matter what your perception.

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Gov. Chris Christie fulfilled a commitment he made this spring to some Sayreville students who asked him a question at a town hall meeting.

He held a mini town hall this morning at their school and fielded questions mainly about what it’s like being governor.

“It is a lot of work, but the work is a lot of fun. And sometimes it’s really not that hard. Like this is part of my job today. How great is this?” Christie said.

In the afternoon, he visited another town that was hit hard by Sandy — Moonachie in Bergen County.

The senior citizens center was destroyed and has now been rebuilt.

He told the seniors small visits like this to hard-hit towns are designed to make everyone feel things are coming back to normal, a point he expanded on to a gathering outside.

“What this symbolizes behind us is another step, a small step but an important one, in getting life back to normal for people in the areas that were really drastically affected by Hurricane Sandy,” Christie said.

In a rain-shortened news conference that followed, Christie was asked about the push-back he’s getting for calling a special election for U.S. Senate three weeks before the regularly scheduled election.

Legislative Democrats are seeking to combine them by statute and in the courts.

We asked the governor how confident he is the state Supreme Court will uphold his position.

“As confident as you can be that the Supreme Court of New Jersey will follow the law that was written by the legislature. And if they do, then the special election will happen on Oct. 16 and the general election will happen on Nov. 5. But you know, Michael, I can’t predict what the courts will do any more than you can. And certainly given the history you just never know what’s gonna happen. But we followed the laws and the appellate courts put that forward quickly. And as far as the other stuff, this is just electioneering by members of the legislature. Believe me, if they thought it worked to their advantage, they’d be keeping quiet,” said Christie.

Conservative Steve Lonegan has only token opposition in the Republican Senate primary.

Christie has not endorsed him.

Lonegan says he expects Christie’s support.

“Like I said, we have a primary and I’ll see what happens in the primary as we move along. And I’ve got an election of my own to concern myself with so I got a lot on my plate politically, Michael. I’ll deal with what I need to deal with,” Christie said.

What mattered to this crowd, however, was that a senior citizen center that was under four feet of water seven months ago was newly re-dedicated today.

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Heavy rain this afternoon drenched the crops on Honey Brook Organic Farm in Pennington. Farm Manager Sherry Dudas says enough is enough.

“It’s really creating some major problems in the field,” Dudas said.

The National Weather Service in Mount Holly says so far it’s been an abnormally wet June for the Trenton area. To date the rainfall has been 6.71 inches. That’s four inches above normal.

“Well the first thing that a lot of rain means is that you don’t have a lot of sun so it is really adversely impacting plant growth. Also, it makes it harder for us to get out into the fields when they’re sopping wet so heavy tractors can’t get in to transplant some of our summer crops,” Dudas said.

Crops like watermelon. Because of the soggy soil, farmers haven’t been able to plant it yet. The wet weather makes it difficult to control the weeds and they end up choking the crop. The moist conditions also create the perfect breeding ground for mold.

“This spring, the crop that was most directly affected by the overabundant rain was our strawberries and they’re a very high value crop for us. The fungus that we have in the fields now is called gray mold and it really loves wet, moist conditions,” Dudas said.

The farm lost 30 percent of its strawberry crop to fungus and since the organic farm doesn’t use any chemicals, the fungus is especially challenging.

“As we move further into our history at Honey Brook Organic Farm, we’re actually finding global weather events are really impacting our farm and other farms like ours throughout New Jersey, so we’re learning how to be smarter with respect to farming under challenging conditions,” Dudas said.

That means putting more crops — like blackberries — on raised beds. That protects them from being inundated with an overabundance of rain.

The good news is the wet weather hasn’t affected business at Honey Brook. That’s because it’s a community supported agriculture farm and members pre-pay in advance of the growing season.

“I think that this marketing model really has a lot of potential opportunity to help farmers in this time of transition with the weather still be able to do economically OK,” Dudas said.

The rain didn’t keep Trenton resident Carol Monaghan away from the farm.

“You’re gonna slosh in the rain no matter what,” Monaghan said. “Here the impact is when you go into the fields to pick, you definitely need your boots on.”

The National Weather Service predicts sunny, warm temperatures for the rest of the week. That’s something Honey Brook Organic Farm is counting on.

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In New Jersey’s largest city, an urban gardening initiative is taking hold. The program, called Adopt-a-Lot, was started by the city of Newark nine years ago.

Food Policy Director Elizabeth Reynoso explains. “They city’s Adopt-a-Lot program began in 2004 and the idea of it was to be able to give the opportunity to residents to adopt vacant city-owned lots in their neighborhoods, not only just to beautify it, but to actually grow food,” she said.

Newark resident Walter Berry works on a lot adopted by his mother-in-law Wanda Upshaw. “We have vegetables being grown here for the community. We also have ornamentals, flowers, dwarf fruit trees, there’s a pond, a waterfall, there’s tree stumps where people can sit and rest,” Berry said.

“What I love most about paradise gardens is seeing the transformation from a weeded, garbage dump to this beautiful place sitting right in the middle of the central ward of Newark, New Jersey,” Upshaw said.

Adopt-a-Lot participants receive gardening materials from the Greater Newark Conservancy, an environmental non-profit.

“We will help get them started by getting them two 4 by 8s of soil. We also provide workshops for them and technical advice, seed donations and plants,” said Conservancy Community Greening Coordinator Justin Allen.

With more than 80 open lots adopted throughout the city, the Adopt a Lot program is making a visible difference in many Newark neighborhoods.

“Community residents are experiencing more community cohesiveness because of being able to have a place in the community where they can gather, just more eyes on the street. It gives that sense of confidence that we’re taking care of ourselves and taking pride in where we live,” Reynoso said.

“In 2009, there were a few Adopt-a-Lots, there were a few urban gardens. But now you see them on every lot almost,” said Upshaw. “Everybody on every block should have a lot. Why not?”

Transforming vacant lots in Newark into spaces that are both beautiful and healthy.

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In an interview with NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider, Booker says the $24 million that will be spent on the special election could be better put to use in shore towns and urban areas in need.

“Actually, it might be a better election [in November] because more New Jerseyans would be involved,” said Booker.

Long before Lautenberg passed away, the Newark mayor had made his intentions to run for the U.S. Senate known. He says one of the reasons for running was to advance the “extraordinary’ work that was being done in Newark. Another reason, he cites, was to give New Jerseyans a sense that Washington is working for them. His mayoral experience, he says, qualifies him to be their representative.

“What better leader to have … than somebody that’s been working as a mayor to solve real problems every day for the last seven years and showing great progress?” he asked.

Congressman Frank Pallone criticized Booker’s cozy relationship with Gov. Christie on yesterday’s edition of NJ Today, saying “[Booker] should be trying to get him to pass a minimum wage bill, marriage equality, I don’t see any of those things happening.”

In response, Booker says he refuses to be drawn into an exchange of negative attacks with the other candidates.

“I’m not one of those politicians that’s going to sit in my ideological camp and just scream at the other side,” said Booker, adding that his ability to form partnerships is exactly what’s needed in Washington.

“I’ve got a track record for doing that. So working with the governor, we’ve got the biggest economic development boom in the city of Newark since the 1960s,” he touted.

When asked if he thinks the attention he has brought to Newark, in the form of business development and education funding like the Facebook grant, will dissipate after he leaves Newark, he insists that he will continue to be rooted in New Jersey.

“A lot of the innovations in Newark [that were the] first of their kind either in the nation or the state, [whether] it’s the first Youth Corps, the first Veteran Corps, the first financial empowerment centers, the first of their kind prison reentry programs, I now can help spread throughout the state of New Jersey.”

Critics have pointed to the high crime rate in Newark as a black mark on Booker’s term in office, but he says the number of shootings has been down in Newark since he started office. But he adds that his ability, as a mayor, to stem the tide of crime is limited because of what is happening (or not happening) in Congress when it comes to gun control.

“Look, the carjacking is done with a gun — people pulling out a gun, where does that gun come from? Not the city of Newark and often not the state of New Jersey. They’re coming from out-of-state because criminals are allowed to buy guns in the secondary markets, gun shows and the like,” he said. “So we need champions in Washington with real experience [with] crime fighting on the ground that know … common sense gun safety can stop the people on the ground from committing these crimes.”

Earlier this month, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver took issue with the portrayal of Cory Booker as “heir apparent” to Lautenberg’s seat.

Booker denies the charge of entitlement, pointing to the 2005 documentary Street Fight which he says shows him working hard to earn every vote.

“I’m gonna be all over the state of New Jersey, looking voters in the eye, trying to earn their vote, talking to them not with just words but showing the progress that we’ve made,” Booker said. “One of the reasons why people know me around the state [is] not only because [of] the work we’ve been doing in Newark, it’s because we’ve found creative ways to champion issues, to turn even the national focus, whether it’s for my food stamp challenge or talking about marriage equality.”

Lately, it seems as if Gov. Christie has as many Democratic leaders endorsing him as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono. Several Democratic mayors, as well as Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, are among those who have publicly thrown their support for the Republican governor.

Booker has been publicly supportive of Buono but refuses to criticize those in the party that are backing Christie.

“I’m not going to cast aspersions on individuals,’ said Booker. “We only have one vote in New Jersey, so whether you’re a state senator, a mayor or a citizen who goes to work every single day to try to bring home a paycheck to their families, we all get one vote and so sometimes we focus on too much on the politicians.”

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