The cost of special education can be absolutely enormous – with taxpayers paying more than $100,000 in tuition to send children with complex disabilities to private specialized schools. There’s no question these students should receive the best care possible, but isn’t there another viable option? Yes, says Mark Finkelstein, the long-time superintendent of the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey, a public entity, which provides the same quality education for about half the price. How does his team do it? Find out in today’s Jaffe Briefing podcast.

Gaping potholes. Higher taxes. Senseless political squabbles. Those are all local issues that keep mayors awake at night. Throw on the pile the constant threat of state aid cuts, requirements for more affordable housing and dealing with a commuter rail station that just can’t seem to work right. Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr, president of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, is squarely in the middle of it all in her positions as a small-town mayor and the leader of the organization representing our 565 municipalities. She stopped by the Jaffe Podcast to talk about the laundry list of issues that’s currently top of mind. On top of the heap at the moment? Her own reelection campaign.

If New Jersey is truly pro-business, it needs to give a boost to the weary small business owner, the backbone of the state’s economy. These are the people coping with high downtown rents, no advertising budgets, a minimal workforce to cover a mountain of responsibility, and often governmental red tape, especially if they dare seek a building permit to expand. This week’s guest on the Jaffe Podcast is Dr. Dale G. Caldwell, executive director of the Rothman Institute at FDU in Madison, who chats with us about innovation, the “Entrepreneurial Mindset” and what it really takes to be “pro-business” in such a heavily-regulated state. Click here to listen.

It is Back to School, and for many kids, it is the sad return to the hallways, locker rooms and lunch tables, all bastions for bullying. And it’s no longer just about an ill-timed wedgie. Cyber-bullying follows students home and continues every waking hour that he or she looks at Instagram, Snapchat and any other social media app that alienates. We offer a special, Back to School podcast with Dianne Grossman of Rockaway, who lost her 12-year-old daughter, Mallory, to bullying in 2017, and Eleni Theodorou, the author of children’s books designed to reach grade school students as early as possible. The pair tells us the latest about bullying now happening in our schools and what must be done to save children from the abuse.

If you love the Jaffe Briefing, we assume it’s because of our exclusive comic strip, The New 60, which we have been happily publishing for more than a year. But what is it? What makes it so darn funny? And why can you only find it here? We ask it all to the creators, Andy Landorf and John Colquhoun. The duo recently stopped by the podcast studio to chat about all the great characters in The New 60 and what it takes to create two new strips each week from the comfort of a diner booth or wherever else they sit to discuss, create and laugh their heads off.

STATEWIDE – There’s no question that New Jersey suffers from a void in local news caused by “news deserts” – areas of the state where there is absolutely no local news coverage from independent, objective sources. However, the state is more fortunate than other areas of the country that are experiencing the same issue, as the TAPinto network of online local news sites now operates sites in more than 100 of the 565 towns in the state with more than one million readers each month. Each site is independently owned and operated and is part of a steadily-growing, sustainable franchise system. Together, these sites have created the largest news gathering operation in New Jersey, with the most local reporters on the ground than any other publication, replacing the coverage that large newspapers once provided. Mike Shapiro, the founder of TAPinto, joins us today for the Jaffe Podcast, talking about the future of Jersey journalism.

BELLEVILLE – The Old Guard is finally letting go of some towns in New Jersey, and fresh-faced, newly-elected mayors are blowing off the cobwebs. Take a peek into Belleville, where Mayor Michael Melham, 44, in his tenth month in office, walked into a town hall where no one expected the mayor to actually show up. He is building himself an actual office to do actual work, he is trying to find modern-day computers to link with printers and even has high hopes the municipal email address system will one day be reliable. Melham stepped into the Jaffe Podcast studio for a candid talk about what it takes to get everyone together and begin the uphill climb toward real change.

It’s not easy being mayor. Your constituents hate paying taxes, yet demand the best services that money can buy: Fancy athletic fields, free garbage pick-up and streets that are fully-plowed just after the final snowflake has fallen. So, how do you make the magic happen? Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac, elected four times so far, has figured out the secret sauce, offering a tutorial in this week’s Jaffe Podcast. Mayors around New Jersey: Listen up.

One of the most well-known news columnists in New Jersey, Mark Di Ionno, has plenty of opinions. After all, he has spent most of his career giving a Jersey spin on any and all issues affecting the state, always as a fierce, unapologetic proponent of his readers. After retiring from The Star-Ledger in December, Di Ionno has entered his next chapter: Writing novels and filing a weekly column for the TAPInto hyperlocal news network. Di Ionno visited the Jaffe Podcast studio to talk candidly about the state’s news industry – never a guy to hold back a punch – and about the many, many stories in this state that remain untold. He’s also very proud to talk about his latest novel, “Gods of Wood and Stone,” that he will be happy to sign for you.

President Trump was busy attacking the news media yet again yesterday, as he continues to claim any negative reporting about his administration is “fake.” Yes, this continues to be dangerous stuff, as the president is the zen master in breezily dismissing cold, hard fact as fanciful fiction. The future of journalism is at a crossroads, with constant credibility challenges from the highest office in the land. Joe Strupp, who has spent 30 years in journalism and recently penned a book called “Killing Journalism,” is this week’s guest on the Jaffe Podcast. He talks about the pressures for the news business to turn a profit, the prevailing laziness that allows the media to focus on the easy, “sexy” clickbait and how the media created its arch nemesis: Trump.