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New Jersey Democrats slam Biden administration approval of congestion pricing plan for New York

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New Jersey Democrats slam Biden administration approval of congestion pricing plan for New York

The Division of Transportation has given the inexperienced mild to New York’s controversial congestion pricing plan, which might impose a toll on drivers who try to enter Manhattan throughout peak site visitors hours.

On Friday, the Federal Freeway Administration gave tentative approval to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s environmental and authorized submissions for the proposal, permitting it to maneuver ahead with a 30-day public evaluate interval. The administration is predicted to provide its ultimate approval to the congestion pricing plan on the finish of that evaluate interval, Politico reported. 

Below the plan, drivers getting into Manhattan could possibly be compelled to pay as a lot as $23 on high of different tolls and costs. The charges are opposed by North Jersey Democrats, who say the New York plan is unfair and primarily a tax on Jersey drivers. 

MTA officers have mentioned they want a few yr to construct the mandatory tolling infrastructure, which places the plan on track to enter impact within the second quarter of 2024.

CONGESTION TAX ON DRIVERS GAINS STEAM IN BIG CITIES AFTER NEW YORK APPROVES CONTROVERSIAL PLAN

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Site visitors strikes via downtown Manhattan on April 21, 2023, in New York Metropolis. Native politicians and transit advocates are demanding the quick implementation of New York’s Central Enterprise District (CBD) Tolling Program, often known as “congestion pricing.” (Spencer Platt/Getty Photos)

A spokesman for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul instructed Politico that the Biden administration’s approval “is a essential step that can enable our Environmental Evaluation to be publicly obtainable for anybody to learn, and we’ll proceed to work with our companions to maneuver congestion pricing ahead.”

“Governor Hochul is dedicated to implementing congestion pricing to scale back site visitors, enhance air high quality, and assist our public transit system,” Hochul spokesman John Lindsay mentioned. “We’ve labored carefully with companions throughout authorities and with group members during the last 4 years to develop a plan that can obtain these targets.”

JORDAN NEELY’S FATHER MOURNS HOMELESS SON’S DEATH ON NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY CAR: ‘A GOOD KID’

Cars stuck in a traffic jam on the way to New York City

The Empire State Constructing and vacationer district are seen whereas a site visitors jam is reported alongside the path to New York Metropolis on Aug. 17, 2022, in Jersey Metropolis, New Jersey. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has mentioned a congestion pricing plan will elevate billions of {dollars} in income for public transit tasks and in addition lower site visitors jams in Manhattans tourism district and monetary middle. (Eduardo MunozAlvarez/VIEWpress)

Nonetheless, New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy known as the plain “unfair and ill-advised.” 

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“Since day one, I’ve stood towards the disproportionate unfavourable impacts of congestion pricing on New Jerseyans – a larger monetary burden on New Jersey commuters, double tolling, toll purchasing, an absence of income for NJ TRANSIT, outsized environmental burdens on sure North Jersey communities, and monetary impacts on the Port Authority’s capital price range,” Murphy mentioned in an announcement. “Everybody within the area deserves entry to extra dependable mass transit, however putting an unjustified monetary burden on the backs of hardworking New Jersey commuters is flawed. Merely put, it’s a cash seize.”

NYC SENDING MIGRANTS TO UPSTATE COUNTY ‘NOT EQUIPPED TO HANDLE’ INFLUX

Phil Murphy, governor of New Jersey

Phil Murphy, governor of New Jersey, has known as New York’s congestion pricing plan “unfair and ill-advised.”  (Ting Shen/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos)

The governor mentioned he helps congestion pricing in precept however known as New York’s plan “misguided.” 

New Jersey Democratic Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Invoice Pascrell, who every symbolize districts bordering New York, additionally condemned the “Congestion Tax.” 

“They need to stick it to our households and commuters with a $23-a-day tax, however we received’t stand for it in Jersey — the combat is simply starting. I’m demanding the Division of Transportation rethink their resolution within the subsequent 30 days,” Gottheimer mentioned in an announcement.

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“New Jerseyans are used to paying our justifiable share, however New York’s congestion pricing scheme is fatally flawed and unnecessarily unfair,” mentioned Pascrell. “New York’s plan would saddle Jersey commuters with further taxes on high of our already-high taxes with out the wanted monetary return for our transit methods. Having the rubber stamp of approval by the federal authorities is flawed and an affront to New Jersey.”

In an announcement, MTA Chief of Exterior Relations John J. McCarthy thanked the federal authorities for green-lighting the congestion pricing plan. 

“Congestion pricing is a generational alternative to make it simpler for folks to get round in, and get to, the Central Enterprise District, by decreasing site visitors and funding enhancements to the general public transit system. To do it proper, environmental fairness has been an integral element. We’re grateful that the FHWA has acknowledged the Mission Sponsors’ efforts to this point and has discovered the doc has met the requirements for authorized sufficiency.”

The Related Press contributed to this report. 

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Trump predicts 'jacked up' Biden at upcoming debates, blasts Bidenomics in battleground speech

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Trump predicts 'jacked up' Biden at upcoming debates, blasts Bidenomics in battleground speech

It’s been more than 50 years since a Republican won Minnesota in a presidential election, but former President Trump says he’s got “a really good shot” of breaking the losing streak this November in his 2024 rematch with President Biden.

The former president is in the historically reliable blue state Friday evening to headline the Minnesota GOP’s annual Lincoln Reagan fundraising dinner. He began his speech with the usual jabs at Biden’s cognitive ability, but also referenced the recently agreed to debates between the two.

“He’s going to be so jacked up for those, you watch,” Trump joked, later saying he was going to “demand a drug test” for Biden before the debate.

BIDEN CAMPAIGN HIGH ON DOJ’S MARIJUANA SHIFT, ‘SMOKES’ TRUMP FOR INACTION DURING HIS TERM

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump attends the annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner hosted by the Minnesota Republican party on May 17, 2024 in St. Paul, Minnesota.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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He went on to promise a rollback of Biden’s environmental mandates relating to automakers, railed against the sour economic statistics under Biden, and vowed to fix the ongoing border crisis.

Trump also blasted Biden’s habit of repeating false stories concerning his life experiences. “He’s so full of s–t,” Trump said as the crowd laughed.

Trump lost Minnesota by just 1½ points in his 2016 presidential election victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Four years ago, he lost the state to President Biden by more than seven points in his unsuccessful re-election campaign.

Ahead of the 2020 election, Trump promised a victory in Minnesota, saying that if he lost, “I’m never coming back.”

FIRST ON FOX: TOP JEWISH GOP GROUP STEPS UP FUNDRAISING FOR TRUMP AMID ANTI-ISRAEL COLLEGE CAMPUS PROTESTS 

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Trump Minnesota

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner hosted by the Minnesota Republican party on May 17, 2024 in St. Paul, Minnesota.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Fast-forward four years and Trump is back and once again predicting a victory.

“We think we have a really good shot at Minnesota,” Trump emphasized in an interview Wednesday with KSTP, a local TV station in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. “We have great friendships up there.”

Trump added that he’s “worked hard on Minnesota” and that “Tom Emmer is very much involved,” pointing to the House majority whip.

Emmer, who is joining Trump at the state GOP gala, is chairing the Trump campaign in Minnesota even though the former president and his allies helped sink Emmer’s bid last autumn to become House speaker.

As the Trump and Biden campaigns prepare for battle in seven crucial swing states that decided the 2020 election (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which were narrowly won by Biden, and North Carolina, which Trump carried by a razor-thin margin) and will likely once again in the 2024 rematch, both campaigns see opportunities to expand the map.

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WARNING SIGNS FOR TRUMP, BIDEN, AS THEY CAREEN TOWARD DEBATES 

Two weekends ago at a closed-door Republican National Committee retreat for top-dollar donors  at a resort in Palm Beach, Florida, senior Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita and veteran pollster Tony Fabrizio spotlighted internal surveys that suggested both “Minnesota and Virginia are clearly in play.”

“In both states, Trump finds himself in positions to flip key electoral votes in his favor,” the survey, which was shared with Fox News, emphasizes. 

Trump Minnesota

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump attends the annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner hosted by the Minnesota Republican party on May 17, 2024 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

And both states have sizable populations of rural white voters without college degrees who disproportionately support the former president.

Biden’s campaign disagrees that either Minnesota or Virginia are up for grabs.

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While noting they are “not taking any state or any vote for granted,” Biden campaign battleground states director Dan Kanninen told reporters last week “we don’t see polls that are six or seven months out from a general election, head-to-head numbers certainly, as any more predictive than a weather report is six or seven months out.”

Kanninen highlighted that the campaign has teams on the ground in both states engaging voters.

“We feel strongly the Biden-Harris coalition in both Minnesota and Virginia, which has been strong in the midterms and off-year elections, will continue to be strong for us in the fall of 2024,” he added.

And Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt, pointing to the president’s current fundraising dominance and ground-game advantage in the key battlegrounds, argued “Trump’s team has so little campaign or infrastructure to speak of they’re resorting to leaking memos that say ‘the polls we paid for show us winning.’” 

But Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who launched a long-shot and unsuccessful primary challenge against the president, insists “Minnesota’s in play.”

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Phillips, in an interview this week on Fox News’ “Special Edition,” argued Minnesota’s “like a lot of states that I think a lot of my fellow Democrats don’t want to confess is the reality. … I’m telling my Democratic colleagues who are supporting President Biden, myself included, that there’s a lot of work to do.”

While Trump’s campaign looks for opportunities to expand the map in Minnesota and Virginia, Biden’s campaign appears to be eyeing swing state North Carolina and Florida. 

Trump carried the Sunshine State by less than four points in 2020, but two years ago, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP Sen. Marco Rubio each won re-election by nearly 20 points.

LaCivita argued the Biden campaign was playing “a faux game” in both states but insisted Trump has a “real opportunity in expanding the map in Virginia and Minnesota.”

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Trump’s stop in Minnesota comes a week after he held a large rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, a red bastion in an overwhelming blue state where no Republican has carried the state in a presidential election in over three decades. Trump lost the state to Biden by 16 points four years ago.

“We’re going to win New Jersey,” Trump vowed at the rally.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

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Federal judge orders ICE to end 'knock and talk' arrests of immigrants in Southern California

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Federal judge orders ICE to end 'knock and talk' arrests of immigrants in Southern California

A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled that a tactic used by federal immigration agents in Southern California to arrest people in their homes without a judicial warrant is unconstitutional and must end.

The judgment — issued Wednesday against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency — involves so-called knock and talk practices.

ICE didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Advocates argued that the immigration agency rarely obtains judicial warrants and instead counts on immigrants answering their doors voluntarily. Advocates alleged agents routinely misrepresent themselves as police to gain entry so they can carry out an arrest.

Immigrant advocacy groups praised the ruling.

“It is a basic human right for immigrants to feel safe in their own homes and live without fear,” Lizbeth Abeln, interim director at the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, wrote in a news release Thursday. “This won’t undo the years of harm done by ICE, but it is a good first step towards justice.”

The order applies only to ICE’s Los Angeles field office, which includes the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. An expert witness said that available data showed ICE’s knock and talk methods accounted for at least 8% of arrests in 2022.

Four examples listed in the order — occurring between 2017 and 2020 — illustrate instances in which immigration agents entered constitutionally protected areas around a person’s home, such as their porch, patio or backyard, to make contact for an arrest.

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Advocates said the practice has continued since then in Los Angeles and across the country.

U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II rejected ICE’s argument that its agents could enter the private areas surrounding a home to knock on the door because mail carriers and delivery people routinely do so.

Immigration agents walk up to a resident’s home without consent and, when the person opens the door, the agents “generally state that they are ‘conducting an investigation,’” according to the order. ICE policies and training encourage agents to use knock and talks, calling the practice one of the four primary methods of apprehension.

“Despite often stating a different purpose for their visit, the true ‘intent’ and ‘actual purpose’ behind a ‘knock and talk’ is to make an immigration arrest,” the judge wrote.

The agents would be permitted to enter those areas if their goal was merely to ask questions, Wright wrote. But he said the Constitution prohibits them from doing so “without a judicial warrant with the intent to arrest the occupant.”

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“The more accurate title,” Wright wrote, “would be ‘knock and arrests.’”

The ruling stems from a 2020 class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of two local advocacy organizations, the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, as well as one individual, Osny Sorto-Vasquez Kidd.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, the UC Irvine School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic, and the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson represented the plaintiffs.

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Video: Insults Disrupt House Oversight Committee Session

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Video: Insults Disrupt House Oversight Committee Session

“Do you know what we’re here for? You know we’re here about AG.” “I don’t think you know what you’re here for.” “Well, you’re the one talking about —” “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up —” “Ain’t nothing —” “Hold on, hold on.” [gavel pounding] “Order.” “Mr. Chairman.” “That’s beneath even you —” “Order, order. Regain order of your committee.” “I would like to move to take down Ms. Greene’s words. That is absolutely unacceptable. How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person.” “Are your feelings hurt?” “Move her words, down.” “Aww.” “Oh, oh girl, baby girl.” “Oh, really?” “Don’t even play.” “Baby girl. I don’t think —” “We are going to move and we’re going to take your words down.” “I second that motion.” “You agree to strike your words?” “Yeah.” “O.K. — Ms. Greene agrees to strike her words.” “I believe she should apologize. No, no, no.” “Hold on. Then, after Mr. Perry’s going to be recognized, then —” “I’m not apologizing.” “Well, then you’re not striking your words.” “You reserve the right to object.” “I am not apologizing.” “Just to better understand your ruling: If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleached blonde, bad-built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?” “A what now?” “Chariman, I make, I make a motion to strike those words.” “I don’t think that’s —” “I’m trying to find clarification on what —” “Chairman, motion to strike those words.” We’re not, we’re not going to do this. Look, you guys earlier, literally just —” “You just voted to do this.” “Y’all did it first.” “You just voted to do it.” “Order, order.” “I’m trying to get clarification.” “Look — calm down. Calm down.” “No, no, no, no because this is what you all do. So I’m trying to get —” “Ms. Crockett, you’re not recognized.”

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