CONCORD (WGME) – A woman was sentenced in federal court on Friday for illegal cockfighting in New Hampshire and North Carolina.

Jennifer Scott, 42, of Chester, was sentenced to one year of probation where she is forbidden from owning or raising roosters or chickens. Scott also faces a fine of $2,500.

Scott was found guilty of using her property in New Hampshire to raise and train roosters for cockfighting, sometimes transporting roosters to North Carolina to trade and illegally compete with other roosters.

During a search warrant on her property, law enforcement found various cockfighting training tools as well as 76 roosters, 84 hens, 261 chicks, and an egg incubator.

NEW YORK — A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore funding to a new rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey on Friday, ruling just as construction was set to shut down on the massive infrastructure project.

The decision came months after the Trump administration announced it was halting $16 billion in support for the project, citing the then-government shutdown and what a top federal budget official said were concerns about unconstitutional spending around diversity, equity and inclusion principles.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas in Manhattan approved a request by New York and New Jersey for a temporary restraining order barring the administration from withholding the funds, while the states seek a preliminary injunction that would keep the money flowing while their lawsuit plays out in court.

“The Court is also persuaded that Plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction,” the judge wrote. “Plaintiffs have adequately shown that the public interest would be harmed by a delay in a critical infrastructure project.”

The White House and U.S. Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday night.

New York Attorney General Letitia James called the ruling “a critical victory for workers and commuters in New York and New Jersey.”

“I am grateful the court acted quickly to block this senseless funding freeze, which threatened to derail a project our entire region depends on,” James said in a statement. “The Hudson Tunnel Project is one of the most important infrastructure projects in the nation, and we will keep fighting to ensure construction can continue without unnecessary federal interference.”

The panel overseeing the project, the Gateway Development Commission, had said work would stop late Friday afternoon because of the federal funding freeze, resulting in the immediate loss of about 1,000 jobs as well as thousands of additional jobs in the future.

The new tunnel is meant to ease strain on an existing, over 110-year-old tunnel that connects New York and New Jersey for Amtrak and commuter trains, where delays can lead to backups up and down the East Coast.

New York and New Jersey sued over the funding pause this week, as did the Gateway Development Commission, moving to restore the Trump administration’s support.

The suspension was seen as way for the Trump administration to put pressure on Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, whom the White House was blaming for a government shutdown last year. The shutdown was resolved a few weeks later.

At a hearing in the states’ lawsuit earlier Friday in Manhattan, Shankar Duraiswamy, of the New Jersey attorney general’s office, told the judge that the states need “urgent relief” because of the harm and costs that will occur if the project is stopped.

“There is literally a massive hole in the earth in North Bergen,” he said, referring to the New Jersey city and claiming that abandoning the sites, even temporarily, “would pose a substantial safety and public health threat.”

Duraiswamy said the problem with shutting down now is that even a short stoppage would cause longer delays because workers will be laid off and go off to other jobs and it’ll be hard to quickly remobilize if funding becomes available. And, he added, “any long-term suspension of funding could torpedo the project.”

Tara Schwartz, an assistant U.S. attorney arguing for the government, disagreed with the “parade of horribles” described by attorneys for the states.

She noted that the states had not even made clear how long the sites could be maintained by the Gateway Development Commission. So the judge asked Duraiswamy, and he said they could maintain the sites for a few weeks and possibly a few months, but that the states would continue to suffer irreparable harm because trains would continue to run late because they rely on an outdated tunnel.

____

Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut.

HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman and his Republican colleague, Senator Dave McCormick, emphasized their friendship in a feature article published Thursday.

The lawmakers said in interviews with NOTUS, a political news outlet, that they appreciate each other’s primary interest in representing their politically diverse state.

“We’re very, very good friends, and we get along, and we always try to find ways to work together,” Fetterman said. “Pennsylvania deserves that. And you know, we both realize that we don’t just represent our respective base. We represent all 13 million Pennsylvanians, and that’s why we find ways to work together.”

Fetterman and McCormick have contrasting policy beliefs, although they rarely attack each other’s opinions, as many other members of Congress do. The senators arrived at the Capitol through different paths – Fetterman was a mayor and lieutenant governor while McCormick was a hedge fund executive – but they highlight their respect for each other’s work.

“We look so much different, we have such different backgrounds, we’re from such different parties, we just have so many differences,” McCormick told NOTUS. “But we’re together on the most important thing, which is we trust each other, and we want to do good things for Pennsylvania.”

Bipartisanship, while more common in the Senate than in the House, has become unconventional in Congress. Lawmakers frequently attack each other’s policy opinions and personal characteristics to advance their interests.

On Wednesday, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz shared a social media post by House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, that accused Democrats of causing a woman’s death by not caring about crime. Democrats have also called Republicans callous for cutting social services in the name of reducing taxes.

Fetterman told NOTUS that he and McCormick have a policy of not “mudslinging” like some of their other colleagues do, a statement the Republican agrees with.

“I think he has very little appetite for, you know, the political nastiness and game playing,” McCormick said.

“I don’t have a lot of appetite for that either. I try to be very respectful, even when I disagree with people, so I give him a lot of credit. He’s been a real role model.”

The senators, under party leadership, are currently negotiating funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which has become a source of division among liberals and conservatives. The department’s ICE, in particular, has sparked intense protests that have received passionate pushback.

Fetterman reportedly described his work with McCormick as a way to bridge the gap for their state’s residents.

“A lot of the noise is coming from people from the extreme or the very deep red or blue states,” the Democrat told NOTUS. “We occupy a space in between where we have to find a way to remember that we are both Pennsylvania’s voice from different parties.”

Have questions, concerns or tips? Send them to Ray at rjlewis@sbgtv.com.