Hudson Tunnel Project halted until further notice
New York City is slated to halt the ongoing construction of train tunnels under the Hudson River this week, unless the federal government restores the project’s $16 billion budget by Friday.
President Donald Trump temporarily paused funding last October while the government reviewed whether the project included any diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Since then, a White House spokesperson said that funding won’t be restored until Democrats support funding immigration enforcement operations.
“Since federal funding was paused in October, we have done everything in our power to keep construction moving forward as planned, but we cannot fund this work on credit indefinitely,” Thomas Prendergast, chief executive of the Gateway Development Commission, said. “Pausing construction is the absolute last resort.”
The Hudson Tunnel Project, which began in November 2023, employs 1,000 on-site builders and is scheduled for completion in 2038. The shutdown would immediately eliminate current jobs and put 11,000 construction jobs at risk.
On Tuesday the Gateway Development Commission told workers they could soon lose their jobs. Many laborers said they voted for Trump since he opposed migrant workers taking their jobs but now feel the administration is “saying they don’t matter.”
The project’s funding includes $12 billion in federal grants and $4 billion from federal loans repaid by New York, New Jersey and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. On Wednesday, congressional Democrats from both states signed a letter asking Trump to unlock the frozen federal grants.
Man crashes car into Jewish sect building in Brooklyn
A man drove his car into a traditional Jewish sect’s Crown Heights headquarters five times on Wednesday — one day after Holocaust Remembrance Day — leading police to increase patrols in the area.
Dan Sohail, a 36-year-old New Jersey resident, was charged with several hate crimes after his 2012 Honda Accord was seen on CCTV video footage parked a few blocks away from the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters. He walked to an alleyway next to the building, removed several blockades and snow from the driveway, then returned to his car and drove it through the front doors.
The incident occurred on the 75th anniversary of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson becoming the leader of the Chabad Lubavitch movement. Bystanders heard Sohail yell “it slipped” when exiting his car. New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny claimed that Sohail said that his foot slipped while driving the car because he was wearing clunky boots.
“We believe that he was in Brooklyn last night to continue his attempt to connect with the Lubavitch Jewish community,” Kenny told USA Today. “He seemed to be very at home with the Jewish community at the time he was attending that social gathering 10 days ago.”
Sohail’s father told New York Daily News that his son was considering converting to Judaism and struggling with mental illness. He has no criminal history in New York City and the New York Police Department is working with New Jersey law enforcement and the FBI on the case, as authorities are investigating his mental state.
Judge rules for removal of death penalty for Luigi Mangione
Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty after a federal district judge’s ruling Friday, making his maximum possible sentence life in prison without parole.
“The analysis contained in the balance of this opinion may strike the average person — and indeed many lawyers and judges — as tortured and strange, and the result may seem contrary to our intuitions about the criminal law,” Judge Margaret Garnett said in her ruling. “But it represents the Court’s committed effort to faithfully apply the dictates of the Supreme Court to the charges in this case.”
Garnett also denied Mangione’s request to prevent prosecutors from using the contents of his backpack, seized during his arrest at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. His lawyers argued police illegally searched the backpack, which contained a handgun, loaded magazine and notebook. The judge ruled police had followed proper protocol.
Mangione has been hailed since his December 2024 arrest for the murder of United Healthcare chief executive officer Brian Thompson. He faces federal and state murder charges and has pleaded not guilty to both.
The ruling follows the Thursday arrest of Mark Anderson, a Minnesota man in his mid-30s, who was charged with impersonating an FBI agent to enter the federal jail holding Mangione in an attempt to free him.
On Wednesday, Anderson entered the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn with a court order demanding his release. The Bureau of Prisons requested his credentials, and Anderson provided a Minnesota driver’s license after throwing paperwork at them, warning officers that he had weapons in his bag. After his arrest, police found a barbecue-style fork and a circular steel blade in his bag, items believed to be from the pizzeria where he worked. Anderson has no clear connection to Mangione.
Contact Natalie Deoragh at [email protected].