AUSTIN â Our news partner, KETK, reports that Texans can purchase certain emergency preparation supplies without paying sales tax during a tax holiday from April 26-28.
Texas Comptroller, Glenn Hegar, reminds Texans of the stateâs sales tax holiday from 12:01 a.m. April 26 to midnight April 28. Some items you can purchase sales tax free include household batteries, fuel containers and flashlights priced less than $75.
Hegar notes that online purchases will include delivery, shipping, handling and transportation charges as part of the sales price. This means if you purchase an emergency ladder online for $299 with a $10 delivery charge, the total sales price comes out to $309. Tax is due on the $309 sales price since the total sales price of the emergency ladder is more than $300.
âWhile we canât know in advance when the next fire, flood, tornado or hurricane may occur, we can make sure our families, homes and businesses have the supplies they need to face these and other emergencies,â Hegar said. âDonât wait for disaster to strike. Iâm encouraging Texans to take advantage of this tax holiday to save money while stocking up for emergency situations.â
TYLER – The National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day will be this Saturday and will give East Texans a chance to safely dispense with any prescription drugs they may have.
According to our news partner KETK, the event will take place at the Athens and Tyler police stations from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. East Texans are encouraged to attend to dispose of prescription drugs that may be unused or unwanted. People will also be educated about the potential dangers of prescription medication.
Those attending can bring different kinds of pills to drop off, including solid dosage pharmaceutical products. However, no illicit substances will be included, such as marijuana or methamphetamine.
Officers will also be collecting vapes, pens and other e-cigarette devices, and they request the batteries be removed before they are turned in.
What do Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza and Margaret Qualley have in common? They're starring in a new film from Ethan Coen coming to theaters soon.
Coen's upcoming film Honey Don't! will arrive in movie theaters on August 22, Focus Features announced on the social platform X. The film will also premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in May.
The dark comedy is about a small-town private investigator named Honey O'Donahue. She delves into a mystery involving a series of strange deaths which all happen to be tied to the same church.
Charlie Day and Billy Eichner also star in the film. Coen directs from a script he wrote with Tricia Cooke.
Qualley previously worked with Coen on the 2024 film Drive-Away Dolls. She stars as the titular Honey in this upcoming film from the director.
(NEW YORK) -- Whooping cough cases are on the rise in the United States, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For the week ending April 12, at least 8,064 whooping cough cases have been recorded nationwide. This is more than double the 3,835 cases recorded at the same time last year.
Whooping cough, or pertussis, is especially dangerous for babies and young children, and several deaths have been recorded this year.
In Washington, health officials confirmed a death in a child under age 5, which is the first in the state since 2011. In Louisiana, two young infants have died from whooping within the past seven months. In Idaho, officials reported an adult resident died from whooping cough in February 2025.
"Last year, the United States had about 35,000 cases of pertussis and about 10 deaths, give or take," Chad Neilsen, head of infection control and prevention for Nemours Children's Health in Florida, told ABC News. "If we continue this pace, we'll have close to 70,000 cases of pertussis, making it one of the worst years we've seen in the U.S. in quite some time."
If that occurs, it would be the highest number of whooping cough cases recorded since 1950, CDC data shows.
Whooping cough cases have been recorded in all 50 states, according to Nielsen, who believes the increase in cases is due to a decline in vaccination rates.
A vaccine for whooping cough was introduced in the late 1940s and the number of cases each year has since dropped dramatically, decreasing more than 90% compared to the pre-vaccine era.
Before the vaccine, there were an estimated 200,000 cases annually among children and up to 9,000 children died, according to the CDC.
There are two types of vaccines used today to protect against whooping cough: diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP) vaccine for babies and children younger age 7 and tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) vaccines for children aged 7 and older, adults and pregnant women.
However, vaccination rates have been declining. According to a 2024 provisional CDC report, more than 7% of children between 6 months old and 6 years old who developed whooping cough were unvaccinated. This is much higher than any figure recorded since at least 2021.
Additionally, only 92.3% of kindergarteners were vaccinated against whooping cough in the 2023-24 school year, compared to about 95% before the COVID-19 pandemic began, CDC data shows.
"We think [the lack of vaccinations] is probably the primary driver of these cases right now in the U.S.," Neilsen said.
He said he believes the reasons for the drop in vaccination rates include misinformation about the safety and efficacy of vaccines as well as vaccine fatigue leftover from the pandemic.
These bacteria attach to the cilia in the upper respiratory system and release toxins. The toxins damage the cilia, tiny, hair-like structures found on the surface of cells, and cause the upper airways to swell, according to the CDC.
Whooping cough is spread from person-to-person through coughing and sneezing. Infected people can be contagious for weeks without knowing they have whooping cough.
Early symptoms often resemble a common cold -- runny nose, cough and low-grade fever -- and typically last for one to two weeks. Symptoms, however, can progress to rapid, violent cough coughing fits that can last up to 12 weeks.
Infants under age one, pregnant women and immunocompromised people are at highest risk, but anybody can develop the condition.
Babies who contract whooping cough may have a cold-like illness, struggle to breathe or have apnea, the CDC said.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics and receiving treatment early can reduce the severity of the infection. Most whooping cough symptoms can be managed at home, according to the CDC.
To drive vaccination rates up, Neilsen said it's important to explain the seriousness of whooping cough to the public.
"Pertussis, like measles, are not just run-of-the-mill diseases," he said. "These can cause harm ... to some of our youngest people. These are diseases that children get [and] they become extremely ill."
He said the other important thing is to address the concerns of vaccine-hesitant parents, educating them on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
Nielsen added that people may have forgotten how contagious or life-threatening whooping cough is because of how effective the vaccine has been at reducing cases.
"We've got new doctors who have never seen measles, they've never seen pertussis," Neilsen said. "It was only something they saw on textbooks. The vaccines were so successful.
ABC News Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) -- For years, President Donald Trump has blasted politically damaging reporting by The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg as fake, made-up.
His most recent criticism has been over Goldberg's bombshell story about a Signal chat he was accidentally invited to, one that included top members of Trump's national security team, conversing about an impending military attack on Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
Now, in a surprise twist, Trump said he would speak face-to-face with Goldberg on Thursday after claiming on Truth Social that Goldberg, along with The Atlantic writers Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker, would sit down with him for an interview.
"The story they are writing, they have told my representatives, will be entitled, "The Most Consequential President of this Century," he said.
Goldberg and The Atlantic have not commented about Trump's post or the alleged meeting as of Thursday afternoon.
Although the president claimed Goldberg was "responsible for many fictional stories about me," he said he is looking forward to the meeting.
"I am doing this interview out of curiosity, and as a competition with myself, just to see if it's possible for The Atlantic to be 'truthful,'" Trump posted. "Are they capable of writing a fair story on 'TRUMP'? The way I look at it, what can be so bad."
Goldberg and Trump have had a contentious back-and-forth going since the president's 2016 campaign, when the journalist criticized Trump's rhetoric.
"At the very least, he traffics in racial invective knowingly. To me, that's a threshold question. If you do that and if you know what you're doing then, yes, you're a racist. I think he's a racist," he said in a 2016 NPR interview.
Trump criticized The Atlantic's coverage of his campaign and first term, but things heated up in 2020 after Goldberg wrote an article that described a 2018 incident in which president reportedly refused to visit an American cemetery in France where World War I service members were buried.
"Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers," Trump told his advisers, according to the article. It also said Trump called fallen Marines "suckers."
The president heatedly denied he had used those terms on what was then Twitter and went after Goldberg's sources. Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff, later confirmed Goldberg's account in an interview with CNN.
In Trump's Thursday post, he brought up that story and claimed it was a "made-up HOAX."
Goldberg became the target of the president's ire again last month after he revealed he was inadvertently invited to the Signal chat that consisted of several top U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, in which they discussed plans for the March 15 military attack against Houthis in Yemen ahead of the airstrike occurring.
Trump and White House officials slammed Goldberg, claiming his reporting was biased.
"He is, as you know, is a sleaze bag, but at the highest level. His magazine is failing," Trump said of Goldberg on March 26 during an appearance on the "VINCE Show" podcast.
Goldberg has repeatedly defended his reporting on the scandal.
"They've decided to blame the guy who they invited into the conversation. It's a little bit strange behavior," he told ABC News in March. "Honestly, I don't know why they're acting like this except to think that they're -- they know how serious a national security breach it is. And so they have to deflect it and push it onto the guy, again, they invited into the chat -- namely me."
VAN ZANDT COUNTY – Our news partner KETK reports that a man was arrested on Monday, after he admitted to having suspected heroin in his vehicle during a traffic stop.
A member of the Van Zandt Countyâs Criminal Interdiction Team pulled over Cedric Earl Thompson for committing multiple moving violations, officials said. According to Van Zandt County Sheriffâs Office, a deputy began questioning Thompson when he admitted to possessing heroin in his vehicle, leading the deputy to request a K9 unit from Wills Point PD and conduct a search.
âThe K9 alerted the Deputy and Officer to the presence of illegal narcotics, resulting in a search of the vehicle,â officials said. âDuring the search, suspected heroin was located inside the vehicle.â
Thompson was arrested and booked in the Van Zandt County Detention Center for possession of a controlled substance. The sheriffâs office said the investigation is still ongoing.
Weâre coming up on 100 days since Joe Biden left office and given the stark contrast between the Biden and Trump administrations, we are coming to understand just how cosmically awful Joe Bidenâs time in office really was.
It was a disaster from its first day to its last.
Even granting enormous quantities of grace, one cannot find a single Biden administration policy that made Americans safer or more prosperous. Not one. On Bidenâs watch the world became more dangerous and the American middle class slipped back into the decline from which it had briefly emerged in Trumpâs first term. (And please, spare me the stock market. Half of the market gain on Bidenâs watch was swallowed by inflation. The rest was largely driven by the share prices of Alphabet, Meta, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla â the so called âMagnificent Seven.â The rest of the market barely budged.)
We donât have time for an exhaustive analysis of the things that Biden got wrong. That exercise could legitimately be made into a semester-long three-hour college credit course. (Not holding my breath.)
Letâs just bear down on the two Biden administration policy failures that will have the longest lasting negative consequences.
The first â surprise, surprise â is Bidenâs catastrophic border policy. Weâll never know exactly how many illegal migrants Joe Biden allowed to invade our country. Estimates range from eight to 15 million. Whatever that unknowable number, itâs horrific. No nation has ever allowed chaotic mass migration on anything close to such a scale. As a result, there is no template for what happens next.
We already know that the resulting pressure on social services, schools, hospitals and police departments has been overwhelming. Thereâs no practical way to get these migrants out of the country and there is no effort whatsoever to assimilate them into American culture. Their presence is a large-scale balkanizing force, the staggering social costs of which will be borne by generations yet to come.
The second cosmic disaster is Bidenâs reckless spending. When taken together, his âAmerican Rescue Plan,â the âInfrastructure Investment & Jobs Actâ and the ironically named, âInflation Reduction Actâ total up to $6 trillion in spending that an already deeply indebted nation can ill afford. None of these spending boondoggles accomplished any of their stated goals. They only added to an already unsustainable debt.
There are two lessons to be learned from Bidenâs terrible presidency.
Lesson one is keep Democrats out of office. Todayâs Democrats — as embodied in Joe Biden — will blindly promote increasing the scope of government no matter how often or to what degree government makes things demonstrably worse.
Lesson two is that todayâs Democrats arenât about effective governance anyway. Nor are they about the poor or the middle class or âhard working Americansâ or any other group to which they endlessly pander.
Democrats are about Democrats. Theyâre about power (and the concomitant money).
Which leads to a third lesson. As bad as Biden was, given what the party has become, the next Democrat to win the White House wonât be appreciably better.
(WASHINGTON) -- Donald Trumpâs unilateral effort to reshape election processes is an attempt to âshort-circuit Congressâs deliberative process by executive order,â a federal judge in Washington, D.C. wrote Thursday afternoon.
In a 120-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly blocked the Trump administration from requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and ordering that election officials âassessâ the citizenship of anyone who receives public assistance before allowing them to register. She also barred the Election Assistance Commission from withholding federal funding from states that did not comply with the order.
âOur Constitution entrusts Congress and the Statesânot the Presidentâwith the authority to regulate federal elections,â she wrote. âNo statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congressâs deliberative process by executive order.â
After Trump issued an executive order last month âpreserving and protecting the integrity of American elections,â three separate lawsuits were filed in the D.C. federal court to challenge the policy, including lawsuits filed by the Democratic National Committee (with New York Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries), the League of United Latin American Citizens and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
âThese consolidated cases are about the separation of powers,â Judge Kollar-Kotelly wrote.
She concluded that Trumpâs unilateral effort to reshape elections exceeds his own authority, noting that the Department of Justice âoffered almost no defense of the Presidentâs order.â
If Trump wishes to reform election processes, she wrote, Congress would be the appropriate branch to do so, adding Congress is âcurrently debating legislation that would effect many of the changes the President purports to order.â
Walton Goggins and Scarlett Johansson will host the sketch comedy series for the last two shows of the season. Goggins is set to host the May 10 show with musical guest Arcade Fire while Johansson will host the May 17 finale episode with musical guest Bad Bunny.
As previously announced, Quinta Brunson will host the May 3 episode alongside musical guest Benson Boone.
Goggins makes his SNL debut as he hosts for the first time. This hosting gig comes after he's finished a major role on season 3 of The White Lotus. Arcade Fire will give its sixth performance on the Studio 8H stage the same evening to promote the band's upcoming album, Pink Elephant.
Johansson will mark her seventh time hosting SNL with her gig as host of the season finale. She is married to the show's Weekend Update host, Colin Jost. Bad Bunny will mark his third performance on the program. He first appeared as a musical guest in 2021 and then pulled double duty as host and musical guest in October 2023.
(NEW YORK) -- An alleged leader of violence during the Rwandan genocide in 1994 has been living in an exclusive enclave on Long Island, where he was arrested Thursday and accused of concealing his role in horrific violence and human rights violations by making false statements in his applications for a visa, green card and for U.S. citizenship, according to the Justice Department.
Faustin Nsabumukunzi is charged with visa fraud and attempted naturalization fraud for allegedly lying on his application for a green card and for U.S. citizenship.
Nsabumukunzi was arrested at his home in Bridgehampton and was scheduled to appear later Thursday in Central Islip federal court.
âAs alleged, Nsabumukunzi repeatedly lied to conceal his involvement in the horrific Rwandan genocide while seeking to become a lawful permanent resident and citizen of the United States,â said United States Attorney John Durham. âFor over two decades, he got away with those lies and lived in the United States with an undeserved clean slate, a luxury that his victims will never have, but thanks to the tenacious efforts of our investigators and prosecutors, the defendant finally will be held accountable for his brutal actions.â
According to officials, Nsabumukunzi served as a local leader with the title of âSector Councilorâ in Rwanda in 1994 when the genocide began. Between April 1994 and July 1994, members of the majority Hutu population persecuted the minority Tutsis, committing acts of violence, including murder, rape and sexual violence. During the three-month genocide, an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus died.
According to the indictment, Nsabumukunzi used his leadership position as Sector Councilor to oversee the violence and killings of Tutsis in his local sector of Kibirizi and directed groups of armed Hutus to kill Tutsis. He set up roadblocks during the genocide to detain and kill Tutsis and participated in killings and violence, according to court documents.
Nsabumukunzi allegedly ordered a group of armed Hutus to locations where Tutsis were sheltering, and the Hutus killed them. Nsabumukunzi also allegedly facilitated the rape of Tutsi women by verbally encouraging Hutu men to do so. According to court filings, Nsabumukunzi has been convicted of genocide in absentia by a Rwandan court.
The suspect applied for refugee resettlement in the United States in August 2003 and then applied for and received a green card in November 2007. He later applied for naturalization in 2009 and 2015. Nsabumukunzi allegedly lied to United States immigration officials to gain admission to the United States as a refugee, by falsely denying in the applications under penalty of perjury that he ever engaged in genocide, federal prosecutors said.
He allegedly repeated those lies in his subsequent applications for a green card and for naturalization. Nsabumukunzi has lived and worked in the United States since 2003.
If convicted, Nsabumukunzi faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.
(WASHINGTON) -- A second federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from withholding federal funds from schools that participate in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Hours after a New Hampshire judge issued a similar order on Thursday, a federal judge in Maryland appointed by Trump issued a broader ruling that prohibits the Department of Education from using federal funding to end DEI initiatives within public schools.
"This Court takes no view as to whether the policies at issue here are good or bad, prudent or foolish, fair or unfair," wrote U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher of Maryland. "But this Court is constitutionally required to closely scrutinize whether the government went about creating and implementing them in the manner the law requires. The government did not."
Judge Gallagher wrote that the group that brought the lawsuit -- the American Federation of Teachers, American Sociological Association and a public school in Oregon -- successfully proved they would be irreparably harmed and the Education Department letter at issue likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
"This Court ends where it beganâthis case is about procedure," she wrote. "Plaintiffs have shown that the government likely did not follow the procedures it should have, and those procedural failures have tangibly and concretely harmed the Plaintiffs. This case, especially, underscores why following the proper procedures, even when it is burdensome, is so important."
Earlier, a judge in New Hampshire said the Trump administration's attempt to make federal funding to schools conditional on them eliminating any DEI policies erodes the "foundational principles" that separates the United States from totalitarian regimes.
In an 82-page order, U.S. District Judge Landya McCafferty partially blocked the Department of Education from enforcing the memo issued earlier this year that directed any institution that receives federal funding to end discrimination on the basis of race or face funding cuts.
"Ours is a nation deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely to the teachers concerned," Judge McCafferty wrote, adding the "right to speak freely and to promote diversity of ideas and programs isâŠone of the chief distinctions that sets us apart from totalitarian regimes."
"In this case, the court reviews action by the executive branch that threatens to erode these foundational principles," she wrote.
Judge McCafferty stopped short of issuing a nationwide injunction, instead limiting the relief to any entity that employs or contacts with the groups that filed a lawsuit challenging the DOE's memo.
Education groups sued the Department of Education in February after the agency warned all educational institutions in a letter to end discrimination based on race or face federal funding consequences.
The lawsuit criticized what it said was an unlawful "Dear Colleague" letter which will "irreparably harm" schools, students, educators, and communities across the country.
"This vague and clearly unconstitutional memo is a grave attack on students, our profession and knowledge itself," American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said in a statement at the time.
In justifying her preliminary injunction Thursday, Judge McCafferty called out the DOE for taking a position on DEI that flatly contradicts its own policies from a few years ago.
"Prior to the 2025 Letter, the Department had not indicated a belief that programs designed to promote diversity, equity, or inclusion constituted unlawful discrimination. Nor had it taken the position that schools necessarily behave unlawfully when they act with the goal of increasing racial diversity. In fact, the Department had taken the opposite position," the judge wrote.
In addition to finding the policy is likely unconstitutional and illegal, Judge McCafferty also criticized the Department of Education for making funding conditional on DEI programming, though the judge said the memo "does not even define what a DEI program is," pointing to "vague and expansive prohibitions" in the DOE's letter from February.
The Department of Education has not yet commented on the rulings.
Emily in Paris star Camille Razat has broken her silence on her decision to leave the Netflix series after being a part of the main cast for four seasons. The actress confirmed the news of her departure in a lengthy post shared to Instagram.
"After an incredible journey, Iâve made the decision to step away from Emily in Paris," Razat wrote. "It has been a truly wonderful experience, one filled with growth, creativity, and unforgettable memories."
Razat, who played Camille, Emily's friend and rival for her beau Gabriel's heart, thanked the show's creator Darren Star, Netflix and Paramount Pictures "for their trust and for giving me the opportunity to bring Camille to life."
The actress isn't saying no to making future appearances on the show, it seems, as she thanked Star and the team for "leaving the door open for her return, as she will always be a part of Emily In Paris world."
She also offered some explanation as to why she decided to leave the series.
"This character has meant a lot to me, and I feel that her storyline has naturally come to an end," Razat said. "It felt like the right moment to explore new horizons."
Razat ended her message by saying she has nothing but love for everyone involved with Emily in Paris.
"I leave the show with nothing but love and admiration for the cast, crew, and fans who have supported us along the way," Razat said. "Thank you for the beautiful ride."
Production on season 5 of Emily in Paris begins in May. They will film in Rome first before moving to Paris. The season is set to debut on Netflix later in 2025.
Belly is torn between love being burnin' red and golden in the official teaser trailer for season 3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Two Taylor Swift songs play throughout the new teaser for the upcoming season, which starts streaming the first of its 11 episodes July 16 on Prime Video.
The beginning of the teaser trailer finds Lola Tung's Belly Conklin happily in love with her boyfriend, Jeremiah Fisher, played by Gavin Casalegno. The song "Daylight" from Swift's album Lover plays over a montage of their relationship, which features cute couple activities like a movie night out by the pool at the Cousins Beach house and feeding each other while sharing lunch in the dining hall at college.
As the "Daylight" lyric "I once believed love would be burnin' red, but it's golden," plays, the trailer shifts. Suddenly, Belly stands by a door as her former boyfriend and Jeremiah's brother, Conrad Fisher (Christopher Briney), walks in. It's noticeably winter. He holds a candy cane in his mouth as Swift's song "Red" from the corresponding album begins. Only one lyric from the song plays: "Loving him was red" Swift sings over the intense moment.
The third and final season of The Summer I Turned Pretty begins with a time jump. "Itâs the end of her junior year of college, and Bellyâs looking forward to another summer in Cousins with her soulmate, Jeremiah," according to the official synopsis. "Her future seems set, until some core-shaking events bring her first love Conrad back into her life. Now on the brink of adulthood, Belly finds herself at a crossroads and must decide which brother has her heart. Summer will never be the same."
The Summer I Turned Pretty is based on the bestselling book series by Jenny Han, who also serves as showrunner and an executive producer.
(WASHINGTON) -- Ed Martin, President Donald Trump's nominee for the next U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., apologized in a new interview for his past praise of a Jan. 6 rioter who had a lengthy history of antisemitic statements and infamously posted photos of himself dressed as Adolf Hitler.
"I'm sorry," Ed Martin said in an interview with the Jewish publication Forward. "I denounce everything about what that guy said, everything about the way he talked, and all as Iâve now seen it ... At the time, I didnât know it.â
Martin's comments come as his nomination faces headwinds in the Senate over his public praise for Jan. 6 rioter Timothy Hale-Cussanelli at a 2024 event at Trump's Bedminster club in 2024.
At the event, one of several fundraisers held at Trump's private clubs to benefit Jan. 6 rioters, Martin described Hale-Cussanelli as an "extraordinary man" and "extraordinary leader."
It's unclear how Martin, vying to be the top prosecutor in one of the nation's most important U.S. attorney's offices, could claim to be unaware of Hale-Cussanelli's past anti-Semitic statements and praise for Hitler -- much less as late as 2024.
A Google search of Hale-Cussanelli's name turns up the series of now-infamous selfies that surfaced following his arrest that show him donning a Hitler mustache and holding his hand over his chest.
Hale-Cusanelli's antisemitic views made him one of the more prominently covered Jan. 6 defendants. At his sentencing hearing, the Trump-appointed judge overseeing his case, Trevor McFadden, said, "Statements and actions like yours make [Jewish people] less safe and less confident they can participate as equal members of our society.''
Prosecutors further surfaced antisemitic statements he made to his coworkers at a naval weapons station that âHitler should have finished the jobâ and âbabies born with any deformities or disabilities should be shot in the forehead.â
Martin was also previously asked about Hale-Cussanelli's antisemitic views in a recently posted interview with the Washington Informer, and didn't denounce him directly.
"When someone says, 'Hey, do you understand that of the January 6 defendants, there were some really rotten actors, and there were people that said terrible things in their lives, or even did terrible things?' then, fair enough," Martin said in that interview. "But I feel pretty good about the fact that we try to make ourselves better every day, and we try to get people give people a break, going forward, and I've got a pretty long career of fighting, I think for the right causes."
Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) -- Lawyers with the Department of Justice accidentally filed a document overnight that outlined a series of legal flaws with the Trump administration's plan to kill New York City's congestion pricing tolls.
In an 11-page letter to the Department of Transportation, lawyers with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York wrote that Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy's attempt to terminate congestion pricing faces "considerable litigation risk" and is "unlikely" to be accepted by the court.
"As discussed below, there is considerable litigation risk in defending the Secretary's February 19, 2025 decision against plaintiffs' claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, that the decision was contrary to law, pretextual, procedurally arbitrary and capricious, and violated due process," the letter said.
According to DOJ lawyers, both of Duffy's arguments for canceling the program -- that the tolls raise revenue rather than prevent congestion and that the program does not offer a toll-free option -- are unlikely to convince the court.
DOJ lawyers instead proposed an alternative justification to defend canceling the program, urging the Department of Justice to use regulations set by the Office of Management and Budget to say the program was canceled "as a matter of changed agency priorities."
"Importantly, DOT can seek termination of the agreement pursuant to the OMB regulations in addition to, and not in place of, defending the rationale laid out in the Secretary's letter," the letter said.
In a letter to the judge overseeing the lawsuit challenging congestion pricing, DOJ lawyers on Thursday morning acknowledged the document was "plainly filed in error" and asked to permanently seal the record. They argued the internal legal guidance included in the letter is privileged and should not be considered in the ongoing lawsuit.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said the filing was an "honest error."
"Unfortunately, an attorney-client privileged document was erroneously filed on the public docket last night," the spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. "This was a completely honest error and was not intentional in any way. Upon realizing the error, we immediately took steps to have the document removed. We look forward to continuing to vigorously advocate in the best interest of our clients, the DOT and FHWA, in this matter."
The Metropolitan Transit Authority's congestion pricing program, the first of its kind in the nation, went into effect in January. Weeks later, with Donald Trump now in office, the Federal Highway Administration terminated approval of the plan, with Duffy saying at the time that the "scope of this pilot project as approved exceeds the authority authorized by Congress."
In February, the Metropolitan Transit Authority sued over the Trump administration's attempt to rescind the agreement between the Federal Highway Administration and MTA that authorized the collection of the congestion toll. Lawyers for the MTA argued the termination was unlawful, contradicts the DOT's own publicly stated policies and seeks to end a program that benefits the public.
"The region's subways, buses, and commuter railroads -- vital lifelines for so many New Yorkers who live in the New York City metropolitan area and beyond -- are already benefiting from substantial investments that have been made as a result of the Program," they argued. "New Yorkers support the Program because it is working."
New York officials have said they will not turn off the tolls without a court order.
The congestion pricing plan 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.
