Jersey

Round-trip train tickets brought down to $98 from $150, and bus fares to cost $20 instead of $80, state officials say.

Local governments in New Jersey and New York have reduced the cost of train and bus tickets for commuters travelling to the states’ joint World Cup venue during the tournament.

New Jersey Transit train tickets to the MetLife Stadium, renamed New Jersey New York Stadium for the FIFA World Cup, will now cost $98 as opposed to the earlier price set at $150 for a return fare, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill announced on Wednesday.

“Ahead of NJ Transit World Cup train tickets going on sale tonight, NJTRANSIT is lowering ticket prices to $98 without New Jersey taxpayer money,” Sherrill wrote in a social media post.

The move followed intense backlash from local and international football fans planning to attend World Cup games at the stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where the tournament’s final will be held on July 19.

The $98 fare, which will be charged during the World Cup matches hosted in New Jersey, is still significantly higher than the regular fare of $13 for the 29km (18-mile) round trip from New York City’s Penn Station.

When the $150 fare was announced, Sherrill defended it by suggesting the upcharge was necessary to ensure that her state’s commuters were not stuck with a “tab for years to come” for hosting the World Cup on its return to the United States for the first time since 1994.

NJ Transit officials said it would cost $62m to transport fans to and from the stadium over the duration of the tournament and outside grants had defrayed only $14m of those anticipated expenses.

“This isn’t price gouging,” NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri said last month. “We’re literally trying to recoup our costs.”

Meanwhile, the cost of taking a shuttle bus from New York City to the World Cup venue has also been reduced.

“The cost of shuttle bus tickets to and from matches will be reduced from the initial $80 round-trip price to $20,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on the same Wednesday.

The move from the NYNJ Host Committee offers some respite for fans who would have already spent thousands of dollars on attending a World Cup game, largely due to the exorbitant match ticket prices, international and local airfares, and visa costs.

The host city officials said 20 percent of bus tickets for each match will be reserved exclusively for New York state residents. The remaining tickets will be available for all match-going fans.

The US is cohosting the tournament with Mexico and Canada. It begins on June 11.

May 4 (UPI) — A United Airlines flight hit a delivery truck and a light pole on the New Jersey Turnpike on approach to Newark International Airport in New Jersey, where it landed safely and nobody was hurt.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the Sunday afternoon incident, which “has been classified as an accident due to the extent of the damage to the airplane.”

“An NTSB investigator arrived in Newark this morning to conduct interviews of the flight crew,” the agency said in a statement posted to X.

“The investigation will examine multiple factors, including flight operations, meteorological conditions, human performance, crew resource management, aircraft performance and air traffic traffic control,” it said.

The flight was on approach from Venice, Italy, into Newark but flew too close to traffic, clipping a delivery truck and then hitting a light pole that reportedly struck a Jeep on the highway, CBS Baltimore and WABC reported.

The flight, which was carrying 221 passengers and 10 crew, landed safely at the airport around 2 p.m., with officials from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to the bakery that owns the truck noting that they have no idea how the incident happened.

“Upon its final approach into Newark International Airport, United flight 169 came into contact with a light pole,” United said in a statement.

“The aircraft landed safely, taxied to the gate normally and no passengers or crew were injured,” the airline said. “Our maintenance team is evaluating damage to the aircraft and we will investigate how this occurred.”

May 1 (UPI) — Federal prosecutors are suing New Jersey for offering qualifying noncitizen residents in-state college tuition and state-funded benefits, the latest state the Trump administration has accused of discriminating against out-of-state Americans in its anti-immigration crackdown.

The Justice Department has brought nine lawsuits challenging states’ laws often called Dream Acts, which generally offer noncitizens who have lived in and attended high school in the state for several years the same college tuition that citizen residents are charged.

The Justice Department filed its lawsuit Thursday, asking the court to block New Jersey from enforcing two laws: one passed in 2013 that offers in-state tuition to eligible noncitizen residents, and another passed in 2018 that extends their eligibility to state financial aid programs and scholarships.

Federal prosecutors alleged in the lawsuit that the laws “blatantly discriminate in favor of illegal aliens over U.S. citizens from other states” and violate federal law, which bars states from offering postsecondary education benefits based on residency to people unlawfully present in the country unless U.S. citizens are eligible for the same benefits.

“Imagine being denied the opportunity of education in our own country. By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, the state of New Jersey is doing just that,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement.

The lawsuit comes as the Trump administration carries out an aggressive anti-immigration policy that has included mass round-ups of noncitizens to revoking deportation protections for those from war- or catastrophe-torn nations.

Almost exactly a year ago, President Donald Trump signed the “Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens” executive order, which directed the attorney general to identify laws “favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens,” including state laws “that provide in-state higher education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-state American citizens.”

Of the nine lawsuits challenging these Dream Act laws to date, Texas, Kentucky and Oklahoma have resolved their cases either through agreements, consent decrees or joint motions.

Lawsuits are still pending in Illinois, Minnesota, Virginia, Nebraska, California and now New Jersey.

According to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal, 21 states and Washington, D.C., provide in-state tuition to undocumented students, while 18 and D.C. also provide access to state financial aid.

JERSEY Shore star Snooki has confessed that she’s putting off life-saving surgery because she’s scared.

At the start of the year, Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi revealed her stage 1 cervical cancer diagnosis to the world.

The MTV reality star, 38, believes she could have avoided the diagnosis had she gone to her recommended follow up visits to the doctor.

But despite saying she had regrets over “just keep putting it off” about her prior appointments, she is now putting off life-saving surgery.

Her doctor recommends that Nicole should undergo a hysterectomy to avoid the possibility of the cancer’s return.

“No, we’re not putting off any more appointments,” Nicole said.

SCARY NEWS

Jersey Shore’s Snooki reveals cervical cancer diagnosis and issues plea to fans

But she later added: “They’re already yelling at me to schedule the hysterectomy, which I didn’t. I’m traveling.”

Lara then pressed: “I know but this is your life,” adding how she is a mom to three beautiful kids.

“Well, I’m not going to lie, I’m scared,” the reality star added.

“I know, and I understand that. But you know what’s going to be more scary? If you don’t do it,” Lara urged.

“If you get this hysterectomy, do the doctors feel like you will be way ahead of the curve?” Lara asked.

Snooki replied: “Yes.”

Nicole recently underwent a PET scan where the results thankfully showed the cancer has not spread, though the surgery is highly encouraged to ensure the cancer does not return.

Elsewhere in the interview, Snooki opened up about the moment she found out about her devastating diagnosis.

“I was terrified. I was terribly crying in my car. Like, what am I going to do?” she recalled.

“I have three kids. I got to do my will. I haven’t done my will yet.”

Snooki first told fans about her health scare in an emotional video posted online in January.

At the time, she urged her followers to take their gynecological health seriously, and get all the necessary appointments done.

She noted that she was trying to get caught up on all hers, adding that several recent pap smears came back irregular in recent years.

Nicole said this raised concern with her doctors, who urged her to undergo a colposcopy to retrieve samples from her cervix for biopsy.

“That hurt. It wasn’t a great experience,” she said.

She then shared that the results of the colposcopy were “not great,” adding that her doctor “found cancerous cells on the top of my cervix.”

He urged her to get a biopsy to see if the cancerous cells spread, telling her the results of that would determine the next steps.

Nicole admitted at the time that she had avoided visiting the doctor because she did not want to deal with “pain” or “stress” caused by different procedures.

She admitted, however, that doctors visits are necessary, and encouraged her followers to take it seriously.

Snooki got emotional in the clip as the reality hit her.

“Obviously, I’m done having kids,” Nicole said through tears.

“But like as a woman, the thought of getting a hysterectomy is just sad, and it’s scary…the thought of getting the hysterectomy and then not being able to have kids, I think that’s what’s killing me,” she confessed.

Transit fares from New York to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for World Cup matches will rise to $150, with officials citing costs not covered by FIFA, drawing criticism as other host cities kept prices lower for years.