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Welcome back. Rising health care costs are a real concern here after a bill from Democrats to extend Obamacare subsidies fails in the Senate. They are about to expire. Some Republicans voted with Democrats to keep the subsidies, but not enough. Republicans put up their own bill they say would have helped. That too failed. Governor-elect Sherrill, set to take office next month, is preparing to go at it with President Trump. One potential battleground is artificial intelligence. Trump is banning states from regulating AI. He signs an executive order that makes a national framework. Big tech firms. want it like this. The White House says a national approach is needed to keep up with China. The governor-elect says she's against Trump's order that will make it harder for states like New Jersey to rein in big tech and protect kids with common sense guardrails, as she says. Acting US Attorney Alina Haba resigns as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor. The move comes after a federal appellate court disqualified her from the role, ruling the Trump administration bypassed the Senate confirmation process. Haba is from New Jersey and the president's former personal lawyer. She released a statement which says while I was focused on delivering real results, judges in my state became weapons for the politicized left. The US Attorney General Pam Bondi says the court's ruling has made it untenable for her to effectively run her office, with politicized judges pausing trials designed to bring violent criminals to justice. Bondi also says she's confident that the court ruling will ultimately be reversed. As much as it is a sporting event, the World Cup is already at the center of the political world, and the countdown to the final at the Meadowlands is on. And then there's the money. Fans are ripping FIFA as the latest ticket phase is now open with the schedule out. You can apply to get tickets, sign up for the chance to pay thousands. People in New Jersey can't believe what they're seeing. Just to get in the building for that final at MetLife, try 4000. Double that for a decent seat. Adam Crafton covers the World Cup for The Athletic. He joins us now to talk more about this. Adam, thanks for your time. Thank you for having me, good morning. We know this is a global event, but come on, these numbers can't be right. Uh, these numbers are very much right, and they're pretty extraordinary. I mean, you just mentioned the final prices there, but it's not just that, even in games like, um, you know, Scotland against Brazil, we're looking at an average price of just under $500 that's not even for hospitality. Qatar against Switzerland, uh, $323 over $400 for Netherlands against Japan. I mean these are seriously high prices, and I think FIFA have clearly seen the US sports market. As an opportunity and they're clearly attempting to maximize their revenues, but you also say that maybe we are missing an opportunity when it comes to soccer in the US right now because of this. What are your thoughts in that regard? Well, I, I, I mean it's interesting because I think, you know, clearly FIFA will have done modeling on what they think is possible to receive, otherwise they wouldn't have come up with these prices. Um, however, I mean you do just wonder what, how many people are going to be excluded, you know, how many people who would have looked at this tournament and seen an opportunity to get a taste of top level soccer, you know, who are casual sports fans, will now look at those prices and just say I'm not gonna pay that, I'm not gonna be able to take my two kids to that game. So therefore you lose an entry point and then you start to question, well, who is this tournament really for? It's reminiscent of the Meadowlands Super Bowl, frankly, years ago. Do you wonder what the passion and the emotion will be like because soccer is often equated with that passion, especially at the World Cup level. To what extent is there a concern that it could diminish the energy in the buildings in some of these events? Well I think, look, I think that's a trend we've seen in global soccer over recent years, that as ticket prices rise, atmospheres within stadiums, around stadiums diminish because, you know, it does become the preserve of, of, of the wealthy in sports venues. Um, you know, the, the color of, of a World Cup comes from people being able to travel from around the world and at the moment. You know there are, there are barriers to entry, you know, for people, both in terms of costs and also some of the policies at the moment um are having an impact on travel. So you know those are some of the challenges that that FIFA may face, but you know they are making a calculation and who knows, it may come off for them. You mentioned hospitality. You've also done some research at the Athletic about hospitality prices, hotel prices in host cities, and what are you finding when it comes to that? How impactful is that? Well, it turns out that dynamic pricing, um, at the moment is just a byword for up, up, up, and um so hotel prices across the 16 cities, we did a study across the 16 host cities across North America, and the average hotel price increase for the around the opening matches in each city is up 328% compared to. Um, the equivalent hotels 3 weeks earlier, so that tells you, you know, I'm seeing hotel prices for, you know, pretty, pretty standard, uh, business family hotels above $3000 a night, um, which is just pretty extraordinary. Is there any hope that anyone's listening in your piece today, you mentioned the White House, and is that just, uh, you know, any hope that this could change, you know, in the coming weeks and months? Well, ultimately, the, the White House don't set pricing around this. All the revenues from the World Cup ticketing, sponsorship, uh, even parking fees go to FIFA rather than. To host cities, so it's up to the FIFA. Look, we know FIFA and the White House have a good relationship, that was clear at the draw last week when the president received a Peace Prize. The president's also, you know, got a focus on affordability. So look, maybe it becomes a, a topic that the White House can have a say on, but it should also be said that President Trump congratulated President Infantino on record prices. He said the numbers are beyond any numbers, so at that point it didn't seem to be, you know, something that was of, of huge concern. Right, no reason necessarily for optimism there that, you know, working class folks in New Jersey will get to go to some of those matches, particularly the World Cup final. We look forward to your coverage leading up to the event. Adam Crafton, thanks for your time. Thanks for having me. Still ahead on New Jersey Power and Politics, more than 100 police officers in Newark and Patterson are now at risk of being demoted. The state says the test that got them those jobs is invalid, but law enforcement says ripple effects of all this could impact public safety.

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More than 100 high ranking police officers in Patterson and Newark are at risk of demotion, as our Tom Krasnowski reports. A state court ruled a test to move up in the ranks is racially biased. These officers have mortgages, children, all that were obtained after they made the rank of sergeant, lieutenant, and possibly captain. If they are demoted, their lives can be thrown in complete disarray. A New Jersey appeals court has ordered a retake of the civil service test that more than 100 superior officers in Newark and Patterson passed 6 years ago. Passing that test earned them their titles. Like Lieutenant Troy Allen, have been promoted twice. The test was ruled invalid years later over concerns that the last 10 questions created a racial disparity. Court documents say the score difference between minority candidates and non-minority candidates decreased when those questions were removed, but those who passed the test don't believe this should impact them. It's no race bias. I think the last 10 questions was. In regards to the Attorney General guidelines, and it's pretty much cut and dry. If there is a problem with the exam, it should be either everyone in the whole state who has to retake it or only the 15 original appellants. The attorney representing those 106 police officers has filed an appeal asking for a pause before this test comes again in February. Officers say that test requires months of studying and sacrifice. Unless they get that pause, they'll have to. Take the test in February. That's faster than the usual 6 months' notice the PBA says they'd get. The court says that until the officer passes the new test, the titles they earned are conditional. The PBA argues that the results of a new test could deplete staff. You're not replacing that experience by plugging in a lieutenant from patrol, which we're not going to have because you just demoted all our lieutenants on patrol in Patterson, Tom Krasnowski, News 12, New Jersey. We did reach out to the Civil Service commission. We did not hear back. The Office of the Attorney General of the state, which has taken control of Patterson Police, also had no comment. Mayor Andre Sea though said this, this whole thing would upend the organization, disrupt our department, and potentially compromise public safety in Patterson. We are united in this fight, and he says justice will prevail. And we invite you to join us for our December edition of Ask Governor Murphy. If you have a question for the governor, just follow News 12 on social media to post those questions or call us live during the show. Ask Governor Murphy is Thursday at 4 in the afternoon only on News 12 New Jersey. And that'll do it for this week. I'm Nick Meanni filling in for Eric Landz Kroner. Thanks for watching New Jersey Power in Politics. We'll see you next time.

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Senate Republican Leader Anthony Bucco and Adam Crafton, with The Athletic, join the show.

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