skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Saturday, May 3, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump signs order seeking to end federal funding for NPR and PBS; NY immigrant wrongfully sent to El Salvador 'supermax' prison; PA 'Day of Action' planned for higher minimum wage, immigrants' rights; New bill in Congress seeks to overturn CA animal welfare law.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is leaving that job to become UN ambassador, bipartisan Arizona poll finds Latino voters dissatisfied by Trump's first 100 days, and Florida mass deportations frighten community members.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural students who face hurdles going to college are getting noticed, Native Alaskans may want to live off the land but obstacles like climate change loom large, and the Cherokee language is being preserved by kids in North Carolina.

NY/NJ bill reforming Port Authority may come back before lawmakers

play audio
Play

Tuesday, January 7, 2025   

A bill reforming the New York-New Jersey Port Authority is coming back before New York's Legislature.

The reforms it would implement date back to the Bridgegate scandal of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The bill increases oversight measures and transparency regarding capital planning. Although it passed with bipartisan support during last year's legislative session, Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed it.

Rachael Fauss, senior policy analyst for the group Reinvent Albany, said the reforms can improve the agency.

"It would require much more public consultation, notification and hearings about the Port Authority's capital plan," Fauss explained. "Port Authority is actually the second-biggest public authority in New York State."

The legislation would add nonvoting members such as mass transit users to the Port Authority's board. It also requires members of the Port Authority to appear before the legislatures in New York and New Jersey when there is a public hearing. In her veto message, Hochul said she wants a more collaborative bill with New Jersey officials but Fauss feels signing the bill would have opened communication. So far, the bill is in committee.

New Jersey's Legislature has yet to pass a similar bill to enact the reforms. The hope is to increase public awareness about the agency's more than $9 billion budget. The Port Authority's primary opposition to the bill centered around how the changes might restrict its operations.

Fauss noted there are concerns the agency is too independent.

"Public authorities of states are often seen as being independent agencies, but that can go too far, and they can act without accountability," Fauss contended. "There is that sort of gut reaction of, 'Well, don't we want this authority to be independent?' But, obviously, we think that has gone too far because it was used for political purposes."

While it remains to be seen how the bill could shake out in the coming session, it could get bogged down in politics. Given New York enacted congestion pricing, which New Jersey has long opposed, it is uncertain whether the two states will come together about the legislation and Port Authority's reforms.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
In Florida, Highway Patrol troopers and Border Patrol agents are also traveling together in the same vehicles to enforce immigration laws. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

While Gov. Ron DeSantis touts "Operation Tidal Wave" as a success, advocates for Florida's immigrant families say the crackdown is tearing them apart …


Social Issues

play sound

A new bipartisan poll looks at how Latino voters in Arizona are feeling about President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office - and pollsters descri…

Social Issues

play sound

A Minnesota proposal is in the works that supporters say would end forced labor in correctional facilities. They note the 13th Amendment was adopted …


Experts say Wildfire Community Preparedness Day on Saturday is a good time to move fuels and flammable materials away from homes. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Montana's wildfire risk is 74% higher than other states, so experts are encouraging Montanans to think ahead Saturday on Wildfire Community …

Social Issues

play sound

Thousands are expected to rally in Harrisburg on Monday for a "Raise the Wage and Immigrant Rights Day of Action." More than 47,000 Pennsylvania work…

Marian University's David Benson spotting birds at the Nina Mason Pulliam EcoLab. Enrique Saenz/Mirror Indy

Environment

play sound

By Enrique Saenz for Mirror Indy. Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the Mirror Indy-Free Press Indiana-Public …

Social Issues

play sound

By Lauren Cohen / Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi reporting for the Kent State NewsLab-Ohio News Connection Collaboration. S.B. 109, a bill that …

Social Issues

play sound

An Illinois law professor is weighing in on what she called a "very public and open test of due process" for immigrants being deported from the United…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021