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Subway mayhem spurs Cuomo to urge halt to new NYC driving tax

Subway mayhem spurs Cuomo to urge halt to new NYC driving tax

As New York’s “congestion pricing” inner-city tolling plan takes effect Sunday, one of its major proponents is questioning whether the timing is right for a policy meant to drive people to an increasingly dangerous mass transit system. Through a spokesman, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed that he still backs the system that now tolls drivers $9 to cross below Central Park or enter Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn and New Jersey – but questioned whether now is best to implement it. “Governor Cuomo believes congestion pricing is ultimately the right policy, which is why he fought and succeeded in passing it after more than a decade of failed attempts,” longtime spokesman Rich Azzopardi told Fox News Digital on Friday. Azzopardi said that Cuomo’s original plan, which found agreement from then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, was based on a “safe and reliable subway system” and a thriving city core. Prior Mayor Michael Bloomberg had proposed a similar plan in 2007, but it died in Albany. HOCHUL SPARKS BIPARTISAN OUTRAGE OVER CONGESTION PRICING REBOOT AS DEMS WORRY TRUMP WILL BLOCK “[G]iven the obvious lack of confidence the public currently has in the subway system – combined with the tenuous state of New York City post-COVID, [Cuomo] called for a data-driven study on the impact of congestion pricing to inform the timing of such a major policy change and to ensure New York was not creating additional obstacles to its comeback.” Cuomo previously wrote in a March op-ed that congestion pricing’s success hinges on confidence in the MTA and mass transit, which he noted has also statistically still not recovered from COVID levels. He noted how congestion pricing is meant to “incentivize” subway use – but that that is hard to do when people are getting brutally attacked underground – and noted that it was his father, Gov. Mario Cuomo, who first beefed-up police presence after the “bad old days.” At the time of a prior column in the Post, Cuomo cited a conductor with 24 years of service to the MTA vowing never to go back underground after he was slashed in the neck and required 34 stitches while operating an A train in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. NEW ‘DRACONIAN’ LAWS TAKING EFFECT IN 2025: FROM SHAMPOO TO IMMIGRANT CARE More recently, an Ocean County, N.J., woman was burned alive in Coney Island, and there have been several near-fatal cases of people being randomly shoved in front of trains, occurring from Morningside Heights to TriBeCa, since Christmas. “It is undeniable that New York is in a dramatically different place today than it was in 2019, and without a study forecasting its consequences based on facts, not politics, it could do more harm than good to New York City’s recovery,” Cuomo’s spokesman said Friday. But Cuomo’s onetime deputy, Gov. Kathy Hochul, appeared full-steam-ahead in enacting the policy, which is intended to drive commuters and residents to consider mass transit to head to work or play in Midtown. FEDERAL JUDGE RULES ON NYC CONGESTION PRICING In a recent statement lauding her current plan, Hochul’s office said the reduction of the congestion toll from its original $15 will save drivers $1,500 per year, and that commuters will see “new and improved subway services.” “By getting congestion pricing underway and fully supporting the MTA capital plan, we’ll unclog our streets, reduce pollution and deliver better public transit for millions of New Yorkers,” Hochul said. MTA Chairman Janno Lieber, who oversees the state-run metro subway, bus and rail network, said that Hochul is “stepping up” for people who want cleaner air, safer streets and less gridlock. CUOMO JOINS NETANYAHU’S LEGAL DEFENSE TEAM, MULLS 2025 NYC MAYORAL RUN He also noted that upgrades have already taken place on the 7 subway from Times Square to Flushing, Queens, and the L train from Union Square to Canarsie. However, Cuomo’s camp maintains that it was he who envisioned and oversaw the upgrades to New York’s transit network without the added tolls in effect – and ripped Hochul and Lieber for claiming that he had gotten cold feet.  When the New York Post asked Hochul for comment on Cuomo suggesting she “hit the brakes” on congestion pricing, the governor directed comment to a Lieber spokesman, who blasted Cuomo for “flip-flopping.” “What would really harm New York’s continuing recovery is starving subways of a desperately needed source of funding after decades of underinvestment,” the MTA’s Aaron Donovan said. “The $15 fee was passed by the MTA under Hochul’s watch, but please gaslight away,” Azzopardi told Fox News Digital. “New Yorkers aren’t stupid.” Cuomo previously told WNYW that people have the option to work from home, which they didn’t have when he first pushed the plan in 2019 – and that if he were a commuter, he would likely balk at the idea of added costs at a time of “high crime and homelessness.” Cuomo’s camp also said that Hochul likes to take credit for the achievements of his three-term administration that presaged the new tolls. “The difference here is that Governor Cuomo built the [new Amtrak/MetroNorth] Moynihan Train Hall and the Second Avenue Subway [extension to East Harlem], as well as fixed the L train and did the hard work to get [Grand Central’s] East Side Access and the LIRR Third-Track done. All Hochul wanted to do was cut the ribbons,” Azzopardi said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Cuomo’s calls for a pause were joined by several New York Republicans, yet the former governor and potential 2025 mayoral candidate remains supportive of congestion pricing, while the GOP wants it nixed entirely. Commuters from New Jersey must still pay Port Authority tolls to cross the Hudson River, and outer-borough commuters the same via the East River – albeit with a slight credit toward their “congestion” fee. Drivers who remain on the FDR Drive or Joe DiMaggio West Side Highway will not be charged unless they turn onto surface streets.

Diet and nutrition experts weigh in on how RFK Jr’s nomination could impact how we eat

Diet and nutrition experts weigh in on how RFK Jr’s nomination could impact how we eat

It is unclear what Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s day one priorities will be if he is confirmed to be the next Health and Human Services Secretary, but diet and nutrition experts suggest Kennedy could effectuate changes on a number of different fronts when it comes to healthy eating. These potential reforms might include overhauling school lunch programs, establishing new standards for seed oils and ultra-processed foods, setting limits on toxins, and more.   Kennedy, who wants to “Make America Healthy Again,” has been a staunch advocate for reforms to the food industry and President-elect Donald Trump has said he will have permission to “go wild on health” if he is confirmed. One major opening for Kennedy would be overseeing a revision of the federal government’s “Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” one of the most powerful tools in terms of shaping public perception about what is healthy. The guidelines must be revised every five years and the deadline for the next update arrives in 2025. Kennedy, if confirmed, would ultimately be in charge of hiring the experts who draft the guidelines. RFK JR ‘NOT KIDDING’ ABOUT AMERICA’S ‘TOXIC SOUP’ DIET, DR. SIEGEL EXPLAINS “I know that they really want to focus on kids,” Nina Teicholz, nutrition expert and founder of The Nutrition Coalition, told Fox News Digital.  Teicholz, who has been in discussions with Kennedy’s team about the new national dietary guidelines, suggested that he could potentially use them to implement changes to school lunches, such as adding a limit on sugar, for which Teicholz said there currently is none, and bringing back whole milk to school cafeterias, which was prohibited under the Obama administration.  The addition of whole milk to school cafeterias could limit how frequently children consume high-sugar, flavored-milk beverages, Teicholz said. She also pointed out that current recommendations that are keeping whole milk out of schools “is based on the saturated fat content in milk, but there’s really no good evidence to show that saturated fats have any negative effect on children.” “I think that Kennedy has aimed to stand for evidence-based changes to policy,” Teicholz said. “So, that means not making policy based on weak science.” Teicholz added that in addition to school lunches, there is other “low-hanging fruit” associated with the guidelines that Kennedy could go after.  Kennedy could use the guidelines to narrow the definition of ultra-processed foods, she pointed out, which is a sector of the food industry that Kennedy has previously been critical of. Teicholz also said that research on “ultra-processed foods” is scant, and, therefore, you could see Kennedy commissioning more studies on such foods as well. TEEN SUES FOOD GIANTS OVER ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS AFTER BEING DIAGNOSED WITH FATTY LIVER DISEASE Dave Asprey, an author and nutrition advocate who has written several New York Times best-selling books about healthier eating, said he thinks it is likely Kennedy will also add toxin limits within the new dietary guidelines, aimed at pesticides and herbicides that have come under scrutiny. He also said he wouldn’t be surprised if Kennedy and his team were to implement new standards around animal feed. Asprey added that Kennedy’s experience as a trial lawyer could aid him tremendously in initiating legal proceedings if he wanted to pursue companies that “are continuing to push outdated, unhealthy guidelines.” “Where can he actually impact real change? The dietary guidelines – because they control how we feed our kids, what we do in hospitals and a lot of our public policy,” Asprey said. Kennedy has recently been courting support for his nomination on Capitol Hill, and, according to GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Kennedy told him that he would exercise restraint and use a light touch when seeking to regulate the food and agriculture industries. But, according to Mara Fleishman, CEO of the Chef Ann Foundation, a healthy-eating nonprofit, the Trump administration’s desire for a more limited-government approach to governing could clash with Kennedy’s efforts to reform the food industry. “I think time will tell what – if anything – RFK Jr. can, or will, do,” Fleishman said. Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Kennedy but did not receive a response.