Trump administration tells NYC to shut down congestion pricing by March 21
Alex Kent/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The Trump administration has instructed New York City to end its congestion pricing program, the first of its kind in the nation, by March 21 in a newly released letter.
The Federal Highway Administration said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority must stop collecting tolls by that date to allow for an “orderly cessation.”
The letter is dated Feb. 20, a day after the U.S. Department of Transportation said it pulled federal approval of the plan following a review requested by President Donald Trump.
New York officials have said they will not turn off the tolls without a court order.
“We have said that you may have asked for orderly cessation, which was the phrase that came in the letter to us. I will propose something in the alternative — orderly resistance,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said during remarks before the MTA board on Wednesday.
The MTA said it is challenging the Trump administration’s reversal in federal court, seeking a declaratory judgment that the DOT’s move is not proper.
The congestion pricing plan, which launched on Jan. 5, charges passenger vehicles $9 to access Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours as part of an effort to ease congestion and raise funds for the city’s public transit system. During peak hours, small trucks and charter buses are charged $14.40 and large trucks and tour buses pay $21.60.
Hochul called the program’s early success “genuine” and “extraordinary” in her remarks to the MTA board.
The toll generated nearly $50 million in revenue in its first month, the MTA said this week.
From Jan. 5 to Jan. 31, tolls from the congestion pricing program generated $48.66 million, with the net revenue for that period $37.5 million when taking into account expenses to run the program, the MTA said.
The program is on track to generate $500 million in net revenue by the end of this year, as initially projected, the MTA said.
Congestion has also “dropped dramatically” since the program went into effect, Hochul said last week.
ABC News’ Clara McMichael contributed to this report.
(HOUSTON) — A man aboard a Frontier Airlines flight en route to Houston had to be restrained by fellow passengers on Wednesday after he began kicking seats and hitting a window, eventually breaking the plexiglass, police said.
The flight, F9 4856, departed from Denver and was in the air for about 20 to 30 minutes, when a woman asked the man behind her to switch seats, according to passenger Victoria Clark. This man quickly became enraged, profusely kicking the woman’s seat and trying to break the window, Clark said.
“I started having a panic attack,” Clark told ABC News. “[I thought] it could be a terrorist attack.”
The man continued to hit the window and was eventually able to break the plexiglass, passengers said. Without an air marshal on board, flight attendants asked if there was any law enforcement to help, passengers recounted. That’s when Tanner Phillips, a former member of the military, said he stepped in.
“This guy was just going crazy,” Phillips told ABC News. “He was screaming in multiple languages, punching out the window and laying back and trying to kick it out. I wanted to help as much as I could.”
Phillips said he and several others grabbed hold of the man, using zip ties and boot laces to restrain him and put him back in his seat. Instead of making an emergency landing, the flight continued toward its destination of Houston — forcing the group of good Samaritans to ensure the man did not escape for about two hours.
The man’s blood was everywhere around the window and the ceiling of the aircraft, since the plexiglass cut up his hands, Phillips said.
“You never know what someone is capable of,” Phillips said. “I’m really grateful that we were able to handle the situation and no one got harmed.”
Once the plane landed safely in Houston at around 10:20 p.m. local time, Clark said everyone felt an immense sigh of relief.
“People were clapping,” Clark said. “Everyone was saying thank you to all the gentlemen that helped make sure that we got there safely.”
The Houston Police Department said they received a report that there had been a “combative passenger on board,” and were already on the scene by the time the plane had landed.
Frontier Airlines declined to press charges at the scene, and police are reaching out to airport officials to see what happened to the man. Since the man is not currently facing charges, his name was not released, according to police.
Several passengers, including Jessica Brown and her daughter Chloe Starks, hope this incident shows the need for increased security aboard aircrafts, so that something like this does not happen again.
“It’s just insanity. I don’t wish this on my worst enemy,” Brown told ABC News. “I wish in 2025 we would not have situations like this.”
-ABC News’ Lindsey Krill and Jennifer Watts contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge, in a ruling late Friday evening, has denied an effort to block the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive data from the Department of Labor.
In his ruling, federal Judge John D. Bates found that the five federal employee unions that alleged Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team sought to illegally access highly sensitive data, including medical records, failed to establish standing.
“Although the Court harbors concerns about defendants’ alleged conduct, it must deny plaintiffs’ motion at this time,” Judge Bates said in his ruling.
During the hearing, the plaintiffs’ attorneys argued that if DOGE accessed DOL data, it would cause irreparable harm to their clients.
However, in his ruling, Bates found that the plaintiffs did not show that “at least one particular member is substantially likely to suffer an injury at the hands of the defendant.”
During Friday’s hearing, attorneys for the five unions argued that access to the data would also violate the Privacy Act.
“We’ve demonstrated that by having access to these systems, the personal information in them is necessarily at harm with the disclosure of sensitive information,” one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys argued. “It’s unlawful.”
The Department of Justice argued that DOGE employees would have access to data needed to assist the Labor Department in improving its information technology and data systems. The DOJ attorney also argued that DOGE employees are authorized under the Privacy Act and that they would not share data with anyone outside the agency, including other DOGE employees.
Bates pushed back on the DOJ attorneys, saying they were asking him to have “a great deal of confidence in people who, according to public reports, are very young, who have never been in the federal government, who have never had any training with respect to the hands of confidential information.”
“[You] are asking me to just put absolute confidence in the fact that nothing will happen,” Bates said.
Attorneys for the unions said they planned to amend their complaint over the weekend to include three other federal agencies: Health and Human Services, the Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“Department of Labor employees have been told to unquestionably give DOGE operatives access to any system or information they request, or else face termination,” the lawsuit said, alleging that DOGE’s pattern of conduct has been “replete with violations of law.”
Musk’s private companies, including SpaceX and Tesla, have been investigated and fined by parts of the Department of Labor, and at least one of his companies is being actively investigated. Musk has denied all wrongdoing.
On Wednesday, in response to a lawsuit by several federal employee unions, lawyers with the Justice Department agreed to a temporary restraining order that would largely prohibit DOGE from accessing Treasury Department data.
As DOGE has, according to the suit, “zeroed in on and sought unprecedented access to sensitive information” from other federal agencies, including the Treasury Department and Department of Education, the lawsuit raised red flags about Musk’s intrusion into the Department of Labor because of the sensitivity of their records related to the administration of the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act.
According to the lawsuit, Labor Department records include injury reports for thousands of employees, medical records, claim forms, and personal information gathered during the administration of FECA claims.
The department also has records of at least 86,000 workers’ compensation claims from 2024 alone that could be breached by DOGE, the suit said.
“The threats to the Department of Labor that give rise to this action and application for emergency relief represent yet another iteration of what is fast becoming a pattern for DOGE: exceeding its narrow mission and exercising authority it does not (and cannot) possess by exerting control over agencies through personal attacks and threats of unlawful reprisals, and harming people and the stability of our nation in the process,” the lawsuit said.
In a court filing Thursday, Justice Department attorneys representing DOGE argued that the federal unions who brought the case failed to show how they would be harmed by the sharing of data between DOGE and the Labor Department, acknowledging that multiple DOGE representatives have already been sent to work for the department.
“Plaintiffs cannot establish standing, much less irreparable harm, to challenge the sharing of unstated categories of information from unidentified records systems to unknown individuals working in the Executive Branch,” their filing said.
The lawsuit further alleged that Musk — described as an “an unappointed, unelected, and temporarily serving official” — has sought to “run roughshod” over the Labor Department at the same time it has active investigations pending into his private companies.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration — which falls under the Labor Department — previously investigated and fined Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla for multiple safety incidents, including one in connection with a SpaceX employee’s death. OSHA also has multiple open investigations into Musk’s Boring Company.
“Mr. Musk would ordinarily be unable to access nonpublic information regarding those investigations,” the lawsuit said. “In light of the blanket instruction to provide DOGE employees with ‘anything they want,’ Mr. Musk or his associates will be able to access that information simply by asking DOL employees for it.”
The plaintiffs are asking the judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would prohibit the Department of Labor from sharing any records with DOGE.
(PHILADELPHIA) — A medical transport plane, carrying a child, her mother and four other people, crashed in Philadelphia Friday night near a busy mall, killing all aboard and resulting in an untold number of injuries on the ground.
The Learjet 55 crashed near the Roosevelt Mall in northeast Philadelphia around 6:30 p.m. after departing from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, according to authorities.
The exact number of the injured is not yet available, officials said.
“Many people on the ground – in parking lots, on streets, in cars and homes in the area – were injured; the number of injured is yet to be released but the information shared at this time reports that a number of people were transported to Temple University Hospital, Jeans Campus in the Northeast,” the office of Mayor Cherelle Parker said Saturday.
“Right now, we’re just asking for prayers,” Parker told reporters Friday night. She urged residents to stay away from the scene.
In a statement, Shriner’s Hospital said the child had received care from the Philadelphia hospital and was being taken back to her home country of Mexico along with her mother on a contracted air ambulance when the crash happened.
The company that operated the flight, Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, said in a statement there were four crew members on board.
“At this time, we cannot confirm any survivors,” the company said in the statement. “No names are being released at this time until family members have been notified. Our immediate concern is for the patient’s family, our personnel, their families and other victims that may have been hurt on the ground.”
The air ambulance was en route to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri, according to Flight Radar24 data.
“I regret the death of six Mexicans in the plane crash in Philadelphia, United States,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a statement Saturday. “The consular authorities are in permanent contact with the families; I have asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support them in whatever way is required. My solidarity with their loved ones and friends.”
A large fire burned in the wake of the crash, prompting a significant response.
“We heard a loud explosion and then saw the aftermath of flames and smoke,” eyewitness Jimmy Weiss told local ABC station WPVI near the scene.
He added, “It felt like the ground shook .. it was a loud boom. It was startling.”
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.
An NTSB investigator arrived at the scene Friday night with additional team members expected to arrive Saturday.
Temple University Hospital told ABC News it had received six patients hurt in the crash, although it was not clear if they were in the plane or people who were on the ground.
Three of those patients were treated and released and three remain hospitalized in fair condition, the hospital said.
Speaking at a follow-up press briefing Friday night, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said dozens of state troopers and other state personnel were on on hand to offer help and praised local responders and community members.
“We saw neighbor helping neighbor. We saw Pennsylvanians looking out for one another,” he said.
In a statement posted to social media platform Truth Social, President Donald Trump said: “So sad to see the plane go down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. More innocent souls lost. Our people are totally engaged. First Responders are already being given credit for doing a great job. More to follow. God Bless you all.”
Immediately after the crash, the FAA issued a ground stop at Northeast Philadelphia Airport due to “an aircraft incident.”
The FAA had initially reported there were two people on board the aircraft but later corrected that report.
ABC News’ Ayesha Ali and Sam Sweeney contributed to this report.
