When New York lawmakers approved congestion pricing in 2019, it was little more than a vague outline tucked into the state budget: Motorists entering the busiest parts of Manhattan would have to pay a fee to raise money for public transit.

But as the world’s first congestion pricing plan finally takes shape, a growing number of opponents — including Governor Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, some New York City elected officials and influential labor unions — are making last-ditch efforts. to dilute or derail the effort before it even begins.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority expects to charge most passenger cars $15 a day to enter a traffic jam zone under 60th Street in June. Trucks would pay $24 or $36 depending on their size. Taxi fares would increase by $1.25, and Uber and Lyft fares would increase by $2.50.

Now, amid the uncertainty caused by legal and political clashes — over driver costs, the possibility of increased traffic in some neighborhoods and more — MTA officials have a number of capital construction projects suspended that had to be paid by the program.

Five lawsuits challenging the plan have been filed in federal courts in New York and New Jersey, while lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Albany have introduced proposals to repeal congestion pricing or create exemptions. On March 13, a court-ordered settlement conference for the lawsuits ended without an agreement.

Andrew M. Cuomo, the former governor of New York who pushed for congestion pricing while in office, appeared to backtrack on March 11 when he wrote in it an op-ed in the New York Post that “many things have changed since 2019 and while it is the right public policy, we should seriously consider whether now is the right time to implement it.”

He wondered how the toll would affect the recovery of a city emerging from a pandemic and grappling with a migrant crisis and other pressing issues. And he pointed out that congestion charges, which are “intended to encourage people to use public transportation,” come as many worry about crime and mentally ill homeless people on the subway system.

Talk show host Whoopi Goldberg chimed in last week, complaining directly to Mr. Cuomo’s successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, about congestion pricing during a segment of “The View.”

“This is a huge deal,” she said, “because I can afford it – don’t get me wrong, I can afford it – but a lot of my friends who drive here every day, who left here because they couldn’t afford to still live here, that is not possible.”

But congestion pricing will soon become a reality unless the federal courts decide to intervene, transportation and legal experts say.

Many consider the most serious challenge to be a lawsuit by New Jersey officials, scheduled for a hearing on April 3-4. It alleges that the toll plan’s environmental impacts have not been adequately assessed and that no mitigation funds have been specifically allocated to New Jersey communities that could see increased traffic and pollution. Fort Lee, NJ Mayor Mark J. Sokolich has filed a related lawsuit.

Three more lawsuits have been filed in New York: by Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella and the United Federation of Teachers; and by two groups of city residents.

“We have to do what we can to prevent this from happening,” Mr Fossella said. “More and more people are starting to realize the negative consequences for their wallets.”

According to the MTA, more than 25,000 public comments were submitted on congestion pricing from late December through mid-March, with about 60 percent expressing support while 32 percent were opposed.

MTA officials and Governor Hochul have stood their ground. The authority conducted an environmental study of the plan, which ran to more than 4,000 pages and was accepted by the Federal Highway Administration. “Oh, it will happen,” Ms. Hochul told reporters last month.

John J. McCarthy, the MTA’s chief of policy and external affairs, said the environmental study looked extensively at New Jersey communities and found no significant adverse effects. He added that “mitigations can and will be applied where necessary,” including in New Jersey, once the toll plan is finalized.

The congestion pricing plan is expected to reduce the number of vehicles entering Lower Manhattan by about 17 percent. according to a November report composed by an advisory committee that reports to the MTA. The report also states that the total number of kilometers driven will be reduced in 28 provinces in the region.

Other cities that have introduced congestion pricing programs, such as London, Singapore and Stockholm, have reported sharp drops in traffic and congestion.

The toll will also pay for much-needed upgrades to the subway system, which will benefit millions of riders, said Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for Riders Alliance, an advocacy group that supports congestion pricing.

It wouldn’t be the first time that a traffic plan stumbled at the finish. In the 1970s, the city planned to charge tolls on the East River and Harlem River bridges when a new mayor, Abraham D. Beame, put a stop to that, recalled Samuel I. Schwartz, a former city traffic commissioner. A federal court later ruled in favor of the toll plan, but Congress passed a 1977 amendment that effectively blocked it.

“We were so close,” Mr. Schwartz said. “In the traffic department I was busy designing all the toll plazas. Nothing could stop this except an act of Congress – and that’s what stopped it.”

Mr Schwartz, a passionate supporter of congestion charging, said the recent opposition was expected and followed a pattern in Stockholm and other cities that introduced congestion charging.

Both supporters and opponents of congestion pricing have pushed for exemptions for certain drivers, which could reduce the projected $1 billion in annual toll revenues or lead to higher fees for other drivers.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who supports congestion pricing, has called for an exemption for “first responders,” including police officers, firefighters and medical personnel, many of whom live in Queens. “I don’t want to just clap for our first responders during a pandemic,” he said, adding, “we should lighten the burden at a time of inflation.”

In Albany, Democratic lawmakers have introduced bills to exempt residents of Lower Manhattan, Staten Island and even Rockland and Orange Counties north of the city. (Republicans have also sponsored bills to repeal congestion pricing, but they are unlikely to get far in a Democratic-controlled Legislature).

Assemblyman Chris Eachus, a Democrat who opposes congestion pricing, said many of his constituents in Rockland and Orange Counties, including firefighters, police officers, first responders and teachers, drive to work because they don’t have access to fast and reliable trains and buses. .

Still, there has been no serious discussion among Albany leaders about overhauling the congestion charge, several lawmakers and aides said.

The toll structure, which was recommended by an MTA advisory panel and pending approval by the MTA board, contains only limited exemptions. Emergency vehicles and vehicles transporting people with disabilities were already exempt by state law. The advisory council recommended adding exemptions for specialized government vehicles and for most buses.

The fight over exemptions has divided the city’s rental industry. Taxi owners and drivers have requested an exemption from the new fee, which would be passed on to passengers, saying higher fares would hurt their business. The new charge is in addition to existing congestion charges — $2.50 for taxis, $2.75 for Ubers and Lyfts — imposed in 2019.

But Josh Gold, a spokesman for Uber, which fought to pass congestion pricing, said the company supports the toll because funding a robust public transit system reduces the need for car ownership, which will likely lead to more Uber use, and it restricts traffic. ..

Even after congestion pricing goes into effect, it will likely face increased scrutiny and legal challenges.

New York opponents have called the MTA’s environmental study inadequate and have sought a comprehensive examination of the program’s environmental and socio-economic impacts on neighborhoods such as the Lower East Side, Battery Park City, East Harlem and the South Bronx, before toll collection begins. But at the settlement conference last week, “the MTA seemed unwilling to come to the table,” said Jack Lester, an attorney representing the group New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax.

MTA officials declined to discuss the settlement conference, saying they were ordered by the court not to discuss confidential proceedings.

Elizabeth Chan, a Battery Park City resident and plaintiff in one of the lawsuits, said it was “very frustrating to hear government officials say they’re going to take away the traffic congestion, they’re going to clean the air, they’re going to do all these great things.” doing.”

“Except that is the reality,” she added, “this current plan is going to do exactly those things to other parts of New York City.”

Haiti’s prime minister, who is under increasing pressure to resign as gangs have overrun the country, said late Monday that he would resign once a transitional council is in place, paving the way for the election of a new president and to help restore stability. .

“The government I lead will immediately withdraw after the installation of this council,” Prime Minister Ariel Henry said a speech on social media. Referring to the chaos in Haiti, he said: “It hurts and revolts us to see all these people dying. The government I lead cannot remain insensitive to this situation.”

But it was far from clear when Mr. Henry, under mounting pressure to resign both in Haiti and abroad, would actually do so.

Leaders from Caribbean countries, who have taken the initiative to create a transition council, met for talks in Jamaica on Monday but said no plan had yet been finalized. Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, who heads Caricom, a union of 15 Caribbean countries, said “we still have a long way to go.”

This was announced by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who attended the meeting in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica. that the United States would provide an additional $100 million in aid for a United Nations-backed multinational security mission to be deployed to Haiti. He also pledged an additional $33 million in humanitarian aid, bringing U.S. pledges to $333 million.

“We can help. We can help restore a foundation of security,” Mr. Blinken said. “Only the Haitian people can do that, and only the Haitian people should determine their own future, and no one else.”

Mr Henry left Haiti for Kenya in early March to finalize an agreement for the multinational force, led by the East African nation, to deploy and tackle the gangs. Since then, he has been stranded outside his country as gang members wreak havoc and demand his resignation.

Mr. Henry, who was in Puerto Rico, did not attend Monday’s meeting and it was unclear whether he had participated in the discussion remotely.

After months of delays, Haiti and Kenya signed an agreement this month to move forward with the deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police officers to the Caribbean country. Kenya’s President William Ruto said his country has a “historic obligation” to continue because “peace in Haiti is good for the world as a whole.”

Kenyan Home Affairs Minister Kithure Kindiki announced on Monday that the mission was in the “pre-deployment phase” and that all other programs and enforcement measures related to the deployment were already in place.

However, so far there is no clear timetable for when the multinational force will be deployed.

“We are deeply saddened that it is already too late for too many people who have lost far too much at the hands of criminal gangs,” said Andrew Holness, the Prime Minister of Jamaica. “The fear that the situation in Haiti will worsen into a civil war is now real. We all agree that this should not happen, not in our hemisphere.”

Haiti has entered a state of extreme unrest since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse sparked widespread gang violence. To date, the country has no president nor other elected national officials.

Mr Henry was sworn in as prime minister just two weeks after Mr Moïse’s assassination. But Haitians have not yet succeeded in electing a democratically elected successor.

The current unrest is on a scale not seen in decades. The recent escalation of violence, mob attacks on police stations and even coordinated attacks on two prisons, has left Haitians facing a humanitarian disaster as access to food, water and health care has been severely curtailed.

US forces evacuated non-essential US citizens from the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince and added more security personnel over the weekend, according to a statement from the Defense Department’s Southern Command. It said no Haitians were involved in the airlift.

André Paultre contributed reporting from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Nikki Haley, who has been the target of at least two hoax calls that sent authorities rushing to her home, has filed for Secret Service protection as threats against her have increased, a campaign spokeswoman confirmed Monday.

After losses in Iowa and New Hampshire, Ms. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations under former President Donald J. Trump, is now his only rival left in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. The two have clashed fiercely on the campaign trail and face a heated primary in her home state on February 24.

Trump's supporters are known to attack his political opponents with racist messages, death threats and “swatting” calls, or false reports of emergencies in their homes. But Ms. Haley's campaign officials will no longer release information about the number and types of threats she has received. Ms. Haley could also be a target because of her work in Iran as a United Nations ambassador.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, who first reported the move, Ms. Haley said only that her team had seen “several issues.” “It's not going to stop me from doing what I need to do,” she said.

Presidential candidates typically receive Secret Service protection around the time they win their party's nomination. In 2007, Barack Obama, then a senator, was granted protection nine months before primary voting began.

Ms. Haley has increased security at her events in recent weeks. In South Carolina, reports filed with the Charleston County Sheriff's Office show that emergency services responded at least two false reports since December at her home on Kiawah Island.

On the first occasion, on Dec. 30 around 2:40 p.m., a caller told authorities that he had shot and killed his girlfriend at the home, that there were children at the location and that he was threatening to harm himself, according to the incident. report. Officers said they showed their weapons when they arrived on the scene and told the three people inside to raise their hands. They soon discovered that the call was a hoax and that the people inside were Mrs. Haley's parents and a caregiver.

In the second episode, on January 1 around 1 p.m., a caller claimed she had shot her daughter in the house and that she was “lying in a pool of blood,” but authorities recognized the address and waited to send multiple units. , according to the report.

Ms Haley called the experiences 'traumatic' the popular radio program 'The Breakfast Club', in conversation with the hosts, Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy. She was not home at the time, she said, adding that authorities burst into the house after seeing her mother, Raj Randhawa, and her father, Ajit Randhawa, through a window.

“We take care of my parents. They are 87 and 90,” she said. “And if 25 people show up with guns drawn, what happened to our country, come on. I mean, we can't keep living like this. It is not normal. It's not healthy.”

The details took weeks to emerge and were part of a series of high-profile “swatting” attempts against politicians and government buildings in late December and early January. State capitals in Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi And Montana have been evacuated or confined after receiving bomb threats that authorities later described as false and unspecific. Other prominent Republicans have also been crushed, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a right-wing provocateur and Trump ally from Georgia.

The events have contributed to a heightened climate of intimidation and violence since Mr. Trump and his allies first stoked lies and conspiracy theories that the 2020 election had been stolen. In October 2022, Paul Pelosi, the husband of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was seriously injured when an intruder entered their home and attacked him with a hammer.

New Jersey's College Democrats were preparing to endorse one of the most closely watched U.S. Senate primaries when calls came in from someone in contact with the campaign of Tammy Murphy, the presumptive front-runner and the wife of the president. governor of the state.

The caller, a female student who works as a youth coordinator for the Democratic State Committee, wanted to know what Ms. Murphy's campaign could do to stop the group from supporting Ms. Murphy's main rival, Rep. Andy Kim.

“Would a call from Tammy help?” the woman asked, indicating she was passing on a message from the Murphy campaign.

Then, in a series of calls over the next two hours, pressure from the caller, Keely Magee, escalated to warnings — about funding and future job prospects for leaders of the College Democrats, according to several people involved in the discussions and a recording of one call .

In an interview, Ms. Magee said the Murphy campaign had not asked her to pressure the group on her behalf. But she acknowledged that she was aware that members of Ms. Murphy's campaign staff “wanted to do something to prevent the endorsement,” and said she received text messages from Murphy campaign consultant Dave Parano.

During the recorded conversation, Ms. Magee described Mr. Parano as a colleague who had spoken “directly” to the campaign manager and had “very, very close ties to the Murphys.” Mr. Parano did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The attempt to block the approval failed. On Wednesday, both the College Democrats of America and the New Jersey chapter published full-throated expressions of support from Mr. Kim, a South Jersey Democrat who is running against Ms. Murphy for the chance to unseat Sen. Bob Menendez.

The episode offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at the high-stakes political battle unfolding as New Jersey's first lady, a first-time candidate, struggles to gain traction with the base in her bid to oust Mr. Menendez. faces federal bribery charges.

With the support of her husband, Governor Philip D. Murphy, a second-term Democrat, Mrs. Murphy has won the backing of many of the state's most powerful Democrats and has raised a record amount of contributions in the first six weeks of her campaign fetched. Still, several polls suggest she continues to trail Mr. Kim by a wide margin.

Alex Altman, a spokeswoman for Ms. Murphy's campaign, said Ms. Magee's comments were “totally and completely inappropriate, and in no way represent this campaign or what we stand for.”

“They were created by a young person with no connection to our campaign, someone who was eager to help, albeit in a misguided way,” Ms. Altman added.

Ms. Magee, a 21-year-old junior at Rutgers University, has worked part-time for several years as a paid youth coordinator for the Democratic State Committee.

Ms Magee said her main aim had been to convince members of the organisation College Democrats board of directors to halt an ongoing online approval vote and instead remain neutral. She said she believed statewide Democratic organizations should not take sides before a primary, and worried that a group she was responsible for guiding could face repercussions if it did so.

“It didn't come from a threatening situation at all,” she said.

But students on the other end of the line said they felt threatened, so much so that they recorded the last conversation to have proof of the exchange if they were to be punished later. The students then presented Mr.'s campaign. Kim accessed the recording, which was also shared with The New York Times.

“I felt a mix of shock and fear,” said Nate Howard, 20, a junior at Princeton University who is vice president of the New Jersey chapter of the College Democrats and participated in the phone call with Ms. Magee that was recorded. “Shock because: why are these people threatening us? Are we really that important?”

According to the recording, Ms. Magee warned the students that an early endorsement from Mr. Kim could harm their future job prospects, deprive their organization of as much as $2,000 in funding and jeopardize their chances of serving as delegates to the Democratic National Convention. being selected could cause harm. in Chicago.

“If Tammy Murphy somehow wins the senatorship, I would be cautious if I ever get a job in that office or anything like that,” Ms. Magee said. “At least for the first few years of her term, until her staff changes.”

Mr Howard said Ms Murphy called him on Friday to apologize. Ms Magee said Mr Parano, a political consultant who also works for the state commission, had also apologized to her for involving her in the process in the first place.

Ms. Murphy's campaign said all students involved in this “unfortunate situation” should be given the “grace, allowance and forgiveness we all deserve at that age.”

In the 2020 elections 67 percent of New Jersey voters Voters between the ages of 18 and 29 are the highest in the country.

A spokeswoman for the Kim campaign said she was enthusiastic about the messages of support from the university groups, but had no comment on the recording.

Mr Howard said the experience has underlined what he believes is wrong with politics.

“For things to get better,” Mr. Howard said, “I believe it will take courageous people to tell the truth about the inappropriate and downright egregious behavior of the status quo.”

The Pentagon came under increased pressure on Sunday to explain why senior Biden administration officials, congressional representatives and the president himself were not informed of Defense Secretary Lloyd J’s hospitalization until days later. Austin III.

Former Vice President Mike Pence called Mr. Austin’s delay in disclosing his hospitalization a “dereliction of duty.” Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Mr. Pence said the “handling of this by the Secretary of Defense is completely unacceptable.”

He said Americans “have a right to know what his medical condition is, and the reasons for it.”

Reps. Mike D. Rogers of Alabama and Adam Smith of Washington, the top Republicans and Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Sunday that they were “concerned about the way the disclosure of the secretary’s condition was handled .”

“Several questions remain unanswered,” she added, “including what the medical procedure and resulting complications were, what the Secretary’s current health status is, how and when the delegation of the Secretary’s responsibilities occurred and the reason for the delay in notification to the secretary. president and Congress.”

Sen. James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, told “Fox News Sunday” that the lack of disclosure was “shocking.”

Mr. Austin has not yet revealed why he has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for the past week. He was still there Sunday but was on the phone, receiving operational updates and “recovering well and in good spirits,” Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.

In response to questions from The New York Times, General Ryder said Mr. Austin underwent an elective medical procedure at Walter Reed on December 22, two days after returning from a five-day trip to the Middle East, and returned home in December. 23. After experiencing “severe pain” on Jan. 1, Mr. Austin was taken to Walter Reed and placed in the hospital’s intensive care unit, General Ryder said.

Pentagon officials spent the weekend preparing a statement about who knew what and when. A senior military official said that Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the nation’s highest-ranking officer, was informed of Mr. Austin’s hospitalization by his own staff on Tuesday.

But many members of Mr. Austin’s senior team at the Pentagon were not notified, officials said, and the White House and the president were not notified until Thursday, three days after the defense secretary hospitalized for what the Pentagon called complications resulting from an elective medical exam. procedure.

General Ryder told The Times that because Mr. Austin’s chief of staff, Kelly E. Magsamen, was ill, she could not make any reports until Thursday. General Ryder said at the time that Ms. Magsamen informed Kathleen Hicks, the deputy secretary of defense, and Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, of Mr. Austin’s hospitalization.

It was unclear why another top Pentagon aide did not make the reports earlier this week.

On Sunday, Pentagon officials were still reviewing their timeline and said that Mr. Austin had planned to work from home last week, but that he and his staff had no intention of suggesting he was working while he was actually in the hospital. That response was in response to claims that Mr Austin’s aides had told people he was working from home when they knew he was in hospital.

On Saturday evening, Mr. Austin issued an apology of sorts.

“I recognize that I could have done a better job in ensuring the public was properly informed,” he said in a statement. “I am committed to doing better.”

Mr Austin added: “This was my medical procedure and I take full responsibility for my decision to disclose.”