New Jersey’s local PBS station is laying off an unspecified number of staff as the news agency grapples with funding cuts from the state and from Congress.

State officials cut $750,000 in the state budget from NJ PBS during budget talks in June. Meanwhile, Congress approved a bill President Donald Trump wanted that stripped funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, after he accused public media of left-leaning bias.

The added pressure of both state and federal funding cuts meant the news agency faced “a financial situation that requires us to make painful decisions to reduce the size of the NJ Spotlight news team,” Neal Shapiro, CEO of NJ PBS’ parent company WNET, said in a memo obtained by NorthJersey.com.

NJ Spotlight is the online news website for NJ PBS. It merged with

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