Man admits to shooting bald eagle, could face prison time
A bald eagle is seen on the 8th hole during the second round of the Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club on March 27, 2026 in Savannah, Georgia. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A Texas man could serve jail time after pleading guilty to shooting a bald eagle at his home in 2024, which is a violation of federal law.
Santos Guerrero, 42, has pleaded guilty to shooting and causing the death of a protected species. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 30, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
While bald eagles are no longer an endangered species, they are still protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which prohibits the killing of eagles, according to prosecutors.
Investigators responded to a report of the incident and reviewed video footage of the eagle being shot and falling from a tree, according to prosecutors.
Investigators then matched the tree seen in the video to a tree in Guerrero’s residence. The eagle was found alive and transported to an animal hospital, but had to be euthanized due to its injuries, according to prosecutors.
The bullet caused significant damage to the eagle’s wing and the impact from the fall caused liver fractures, internal bleeding and fractured a leg, a necropsy determined.
Guerrero faces up to a year in federal prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
Traffic moves along midtown Manhattan on Feb. 19, 2025, in New York. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge ruled that Manhattan’s congestion pricing program can continue and the Trump administration does not have the authority to kill the program, which is the first of its kind in the nation.
In a 149-page ruling, Judge Lewis Liman said the Trump administration’s attempt to revoke approval for the program was unlawful, handing a victory to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority following a monthslong legal battle.
“It is difficult to imagine more arbitrary and capricious decision-making than that at issue here,” Liman wrote.
The congestion pricing program went into effect last year in an effort to reduce traffic congestion during peak hours and to raise funds for the city’s public transit system. Passenger vehicles are charged $9 to access Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours.
The extra per-ride surcharge is 75 cents for taxis and black car services, and $1.50 for Ubers and Lyfts. During peak hours, small trucks and charter buses will be charged $14.40, while large trucks and tour buses must pay $21.60.
The Trump administration moved to reverse approval of the program last year. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at the time that the “scope of this pilot project as approved exceeds the authority authorized by Congress” under the Federal Highway Administration’s Value Pricing Pilot Program, calling it “backwards and unfair.”
New York lawmakers pushed back against the decision and challenged the federal government in court.
The federal judge reaffirmed an order from last May upholding the program, but stopped short of completely barring the Trump administration from challenging the program again.
“[Trump] is obviously free to continue to make public statements as well as to ask the Secretary of Transportation to look into whether there are lawful means to end the [Central Business District Tolling Program]. And, as to the Secretary’s statements, he has a right to continue to fight his case and to take an appeal of this Court’s orders,” Liman said.
Overall, the program was the “product of a democratic process” and cannot be arbitrarily revoked, Liman said.
“The [Value Pricing Pilot Program] was passed by Congress. The [Traffic Mobility Act] was passed by democratically elected legislators and signed by a Governor elected by the people of New York. The [Value Pricing Pilot Program] Agreement was authorized by a Secretary nominated by a duly elected President and confirmed by the Senate. The democratic process worked,” the judge wrote.
The program applies for Manhattan south of 60th Street, except for the FDR Drive, the West Side Highway and the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel.
A fuel pump at a Wawa gas station in Aston, Pennsylvania, US, on Thursday, May 21, 2026. (Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Gas prices stand near their highest level in four years as millions of Americans ready themselves to hit the road over Memorial Day weekend.
The national average for a gallon of gas on Friday stood at $4.55, which amounts to a roughly 42% rise from this time last year, AAA data showed. Gas prices surged in recent months as the Iran war choked off global oil supply.
Six states boast average gas prices above $5, including Washington and Alaska. California, the state with the nation’s highest gas prices, offers drivers an average gallon of $6.13, according to AAA.
Roughly 39 million people are expected to travel by car over the Memorial Day holiday, exceeding last year’s total, AAA forecasted.
“Travel demand remains strong, and despite higher fuel prices, many people are prioritizing leisure travel,” Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA travel, said in a statement.
Americans will spend about $2 billion more on gasoline over the four-day Memorial Day weekend compared to a year ago, amounting to an added cost of roughly $22 million per hour, Patrick De Haan, a petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, said in a post on X on Friday.
Nineteen states are expected to post record-high Memorial Day gas prices, among them Colorado, Ohio, Missouri and New Mexico, De Haan said.
Crude oil is the main ingredient in auto fuel, accounting for more than half of the price paid at the pump, according to the federal U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Middle East conflict triggered a historic oil shortage, driving up crude prices and hiking the cost of auto fuel.
The surge in oil prices came about after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of global crude supply.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures price — a benchmark of U.S. oil prices – has soared 50% since the outbreak of war on Feb. 28.
The U.S. is a net exporter of petroleum, meaning the country produces more oil than it consumes. But since oil prices are set on a global market, U.S. prices move in response to swings in worldwide supply and demand.
Oil prices have fallen slightly this week, however, as negotiations have given rise to hope among traders about a possible resumption of normal tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
As a result, De Haan said, gasoline prices may drop over the weekend, falling to an average below $4.50 by Memorial Day.
Roughly one of every 10 low-income households is spending more than 10% of its monthly income on gas, Bank of America said in a research report shared with ABC News last month, citing internal data. For middle- and upper-income households, the share spending that much on gas drops stands at about one of every 20.
Oil prices remain well below the highs reached after some previous economic shocks. In 2022, the price of Brent crude surged above $139 per barrel in March, just weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the 2008 financial crisis, U.S. oil prices shot up as high as $147 a barrel.
Howard Lutnick, US commerce secretary during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (Annabelle Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice overnight restored a photo purportedly showing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick visiting the private island of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to its trove of publicly released documents.
On Thursday, a Department of Justice official acknowledged the photo was taken down as part of a “batch of files that were flagged for nudity” following the recent release of Epstein files.
The image itself did not contain nudity, and the restored version of the photo did not contain any new redactions.
“The batch of thousands of images was pulled for review and is being uploaded with necessary redactions on a rolling basis. No files are being deleted,” the official said.
Some photos on the Department of Justice’s website are batched together into a single document, and the DOJ has said they are pulling documents on a rolling basis to make necessary redactions, such as for nudity or personally identifiable information.
The previously removed photo appears to show Epstein, Lutnick — dressed in a blue shirt and white shorts — and three other individuals near the southwest corner of Little Saint James, the private island owned by Epstein in the United States Virgin Islands.
The Commerce Department and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Department of Justice appears to have withdrawn the image from its public archive of Epstein documents sometime earlier this month, according to a saved version on the nonprofit site Wayback Machine. The removal prompted criticism from lawmakers including Representatives Ted Lieu, Thomas Massie, and Jimmy Gomez.
“Dear @AGPamBondi: Why are you covering up this picture of Epstein’s friend Lutnick?” Lieu wrote on X. “And are you really so stupid you think deleting a picture after you’ve posted it on the internet will make it go away?”
Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee earlier this month. Lutnick acknowledged that he visited Epstein’s island with his family during a vacation, though he initially claimed he distanced himself from Epstein in 2005.
Emails released by the Department of Justice earlier this month showed Lutnick’s wife coordinating with Epstein’s assistant to visit the island for lunch in December 2012.
“I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies,” Lutnick told the Senate Appropriations subcommittee.
Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, who broke from his party to push for the release of the Epstein files, called on the Department of Justice on Thursday to explain why the image was removed.
“I’m sure there’s a good reason for this. DOJ needs to tell Congress who pulled this file down so we can ask them,” Massie wrote on X.
