Vos Iz Neias (Yiddish: What's News?)

Lakewood, NJ – Man Gets 25 Years for Robberies Targeting Orthodox Jews

2009-11-20T20:00:21Z

Lakewood, NJ – A 43-year-old Seaside Heights man who admitted driving much younger men to violently rob Orthodox Jews was sentenced this morning to 25 years in prison for his role in the crimes. Before he was sentenced, Jose Diaz Jr. of Franklin Boulevard professed to have no advance knowledge that violence was going to be [...]

New York City – City Moves to Restrict Front-Yard Driveways

2009-11-20T18:46:59Z

New York City – The Department of City Planning has proposed regulations that would restrict certain homeowners from paving over their front yards to create parking spaces, a move that could alter the residential streetscape, especially in boroughs like Queens and Brooklyn. Responding to residents’ complaints of unsightly concrete driveways and lost street parking, the new [...]

New York City – Protesters of Williamsburg Broadway Triangle Rezoning Rally At City Hall

2009-11-20T18:14:06Z

New York City – A coalition of 40 Brooklyn organizations held a press conference just prior to the City Council’s Land Use Subcommittee hearing Thursday, Nov. 19, on the plan to rezone the Broadway Triangle in Brooklyn. The rally took place 9 a.m. on the steps of City Hall. The triangle is a 50-acre urban renewal [...]

Iowa – Rubashkin Files Motion For Acquittal, New Trial on Federal Charges

2009-11-20T17:55:41Z

Iowa – Former Agriprocessors vice president Sholom Rubashkin filed a motion today in U.S. District Court for an acquittal on the 86 counts he was convicted of last week, and is also asking for a new trial on those charges. The motion contends there was insufficient evidence to sustain the conviction on the bank fraud, money [...]

London – Airline Pulls In-Flight Magazine After Holocaust Gaffe

2009-11-20T17:46:02Z

London – The airline easyJet is withdrawing all copies of its in-flight magazine, easyJet Traveller, after a row erupted over a tasteless fashion shoot at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. The airline took the decision after being contacted by the New Statesman this afternoon. The latest issue of the in-flight magazine featured two unsanctioned photographs of models [...]

Warsaw – Convicts Help Rescue Neglected Jewish Cemeteries in Poland

2009-11-20T17:36:09Z

Warsaw – Nearly a dozen Polish prisons and detention centers have signed up their inmates to an unusual form of labor – rescuing overgrown, long-neglected Jewish cemeteries. Poland was home to an estimated third of the world’s Jews before World War II but the vast majority perished in the Holocaust during Nazi Germany’s occupation of the [...]

New York – NY Hospitals Eye $200M Cancer Killer

2009-11-20T16:42:35Z

New York – Under intense pressure to compete with cancer centers in other states, New York City hospitals say they are moving closer to forming a consortium that would bring a proton beam therapy center to Manhattan. The technology allows radiation to be emitted in precisely focused cancer-killing doses, but the cost of building and [...]

New York – Heading into NYC? Be Warned of Gridlock

2009-11-20T16:29:59Z

New York – The holidays in New York City bring an influx of shoppers and visitors and with them comes increased congestion and gridlock. The city Transportation Department on Thursday listed nine days between Friday and Dec. 23 as gridlock alert days. It advised residents and visitors to use mass transit throughout the holiday season and [...]

New York City – Harassment, Assaults Against Woman on the Subways Widespread, City Officials Are Told

2009-11-20T16:25:12Z

New York City – The peak times in which women report sexual harassment or assaults on the subways are the late morning rush, roughly 8 to 10 a.m., followed by the early afternoon rush, 4 to 6 p.m. One stretch of the subways — the crowded Nos. 4, 5 and 6 lines between Grand Central Terminal [...]

Jerusalem – Israel To Send Ship to NATO In Anti-Terror Force

2009-11-20T16:18:31Z

Jerusalem – Israeli and NATO officials say Israel will dispatch a warship to join a NATO naval force, marking an upgrade in ties. An Israeli missile ship will join NATO’s “Active Endeavor” naval force, aimed at curbing terrorism in the Mediterranean. Israeli defense officials say Israel already has a liaison officer with the naval force. They say the [...]

New York – Sources: Giuliani Leaning Toward Run for US Senate

2009-11-20T15:01:48Z

New York – Republican advisers in New York say former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who many have been pushing to run for governor in 2010, is instead leaning more toward a run for U.S. Senate. Two advisers told The Associated Press that Giuliani has been indicating that the U.S. Senate might be a better [...]

New York City – Share-a-ride Reduced Cab Fares Moves Ahead, TLC says

2009-11-20T14:34:05Z

New York City – Group taxi rides in Manhattan are moving toward reality. A pilot program at three locations where two or more riders can hop into a cab for a discounted fare should be rolling out next month, the Taxi & Limousine Commission said Thursday. “We hope that before the end of the year we’ll have [...]

New Jersey – Noted FBI Agent Who Played Key Role In Dwek Scandal Steps Down From Newark Office

2009-11-20T15:07:20Z

Newark, NJ – Weysan Dun, whose tenure as the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Newark division included the arrests of 44 people in a sweeping corruption investigation this summer, announced Thursday that he will be leaving that post at by end of the year. Dun, a 27-year FBI veteran, made the announcement in brief [...]

Brooklyn, NY – Bloomberg Makes Nice with Ex-Rival Thompson over Jail Expansion

2009-11-20T14:02:22Z

Brooklyn, NY – Mayor Bloomberg took the high road Thursday in a public spat with vanquished rival William Thompson and said he is sure the city controller isn’t playing politics. The toned-down words came after Thompson, who lost narrowly to Bloomberg two weeks ago, gave Bloomberg a public punch in the nose Wednesday by refusing to [...]

Bethel, NY – Chasidic Voting Issues Linger in Town Elections

2009-11-20T14:08:59Z

Bethel, NY – While absentee ballots in Bethel won’t change outcomes in town races, the issue of whether newly registered Hasidic residents from several bungalow colonies will be allowed to vote in future elections will linger into the winter. That’s because some 89 ballots After other absentees were counted, Incumbent Councilwoman Denise Frangipane unofficially held a [...]

Israel – Health Minister Orders Hospital to Tend to Brain-Dead Baby

2009-11-20T13:53:22Z

Israel – Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman instructed the Schneider Hospital to keep alive a brain-dead baby from a haredi family, against the opinion of the hospital’s staff and by utilizing a narrow interpretation of current law on the matter, Channel 10 reported. A doctor at the hospital told the TV station that hospital staff was [...]

New York – DAF – The Importance of Parnassa

2009-11-20T12:31:12Z

New York – Part of our responsibilities as a community is to ensure the sustained economic vitality of our populace. This concern must be manifest both for the poorer sections of the community, the business men, and the broader community as well. We see from today’s Daf that Chazal took halachic action to [...]

New York – Alzheimer’s Patients Remember Songs Long After They’ve Stopped Recognizing Names, Faces

2009-11-20T13:54:44Z

New York – One of the raps on iPods is that users tend to close themselves off from other people and retreat into their own private world. But with stroke and dementia patients, iPods and other MP3 players are having just the opposite effect. Listening to rap and reggae on a borrowed iPod every day has helped [...]

Shechem, Israel – Jews Try Restoring Joseph’s Tomb Presence

2009-11-20T13:58:48Z

Shechem, Israel – An Israeli group said it will garner public support and organize a march to a West Bank town to re-establish a Jewish presence at the Joseph’s Tomb compound. The group’s move follows security improvements that led to the army’s removal of roadblocks to several West Bank towns, including at an entrance to Nablus, [...]

Jerusalem – Mumbai Doctor Converts Family To Judaism Names Children After Holtzbergs [Amazing Video]

2009-11-20T03:10:05Z

Jerusalem – In a powerful echo of the Biblical story of the patriarch Abraham, a Mumbai doctor smashed his father’s idols and eventually decided to become a Jew in the Land of Israel. Dr. Aharon Abraham, left his position as Director of the ICU Medical Center at British Kennedy in Mumbai, India after terrorists murdered his [...]

Cape Town – Noted South African Jewish Philanthropist Dies

2009-11-20T00:23:04Z

Cape Town – Leading South African-Israeli philanthropist Mendel Kaplan died Thursday in Cape Town after suffering a stroke on Tuesday. He was 73. Honorary president of Keren Hayesod and a former chairman of the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors, Kaplan led numerous Jewish and Zionist projects to fruition over more than 50 years of community service [...]

Litchfield, CT – Town Dropped from Chabad Rabbi’s Lawsuit

2009-11-20T00:30:08Z

Litchfield, CT – The town of Litchfield has been dropped from a federal lawsuit by a Jewish group claiming an anti-Hasidic bias in the rejection of proposed expansion of its West Street property, according to parties involved in the suit. The lawsuit stems from 2007 when the town’s Historic District Commission denied an application to relocate [...]

Monroe, NY – Town Highway Superintendent Earning $128,500 Is Top-Paid Worker

2009-11-19T22:51:50Z

Monroe, NY – Even if his only job was overseeing the maintenance of 41 miles of roads in Monroe, Roy Montanye, the town’s highway superintendent since 1988, would be earning well above his peers in the region. But Montanye also collects salaries for two other functions he performs for the town: he oversees its six water [...]

Manchester, UK – Rabbi: Don’t Pray With Minyan On a Plane

2009-11-19T22:04:31Z

Manchester, UK – Flying can pose all sorts of challenges, none more so than for those who are meticulous about saying their prayers at the right time of day. A Manchester rabbi reportedly told a meeting that it is better to pray in your seat rather than risk a disruption by standing in the aisle. He was [...]

New York – Official: Brooklyn Restaurant Workers Underpaid $912,000

2009-11-19T20:26:16Z

New York – New York state’s labor commissioner says more than 200 workers at 25 Brooklyn restaurants have been underpaid a total of $912,000. Commissioner M. Patricia Smith said Thursday that 16 investigators made unannounced visits in April to 27 restaurants and coffee shops in the borough’s Park Slope neighborhood. Twenty-five were found to be in violation [...]

Meah She’arim – ‘Starving Mother’ Gives Birth to Sixth Child

2009-11-19T21:37:24Z

Meah She’arim, Israel – A woman from the Meah She’arim neighborhood of Jerusalem, who is being tried for starving her son, has given birth to her sixth child at nearby Bikur Cholim Hospital. The woman’s relatives say the baby was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit in the wake of the mental pressure to which [...]

Sana’a, Yemen – Police Foil Rabbi Assassination Plot

2009-11-19T18:38:50Z

Sana’a, Yemen – Two people, believed to be of Houthi rebels, have been arrested in connection with plans to assassinate a Jewish Rabbi in Yemen, the News Yemen reported on Thursday. The website quoting sources which asked not to be identified said the two came to the Tourist City in Sana’a early this week claiming their [...]

New York – Giuliani Not to Run for Governor

2009-11-19T18:33:20Z

New York – Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has decided not to run for governor of New York next year after months of mulling a candidacy, according to people who have been told of the decision. His decision is a blow to many Republican leaders, who had viewed Mr. Giuliani as the strongest potential candidate in [...]

Postville, IA – State Gives New Owners of Kosher Plant $600,000 in Aid

2009-11-19T17:46:36Z

Postville, IA – The new owners of the former AgriProcessors in Postville received $600,000 in state assistance, plus tax credits, Thursday for a $15 million proposal to update and modernize the Kosher beef and poultry meatpacking plant. Agri Star Meat & Poultry, owned by Canadian Hershey Friedman, says it will remodel the plant and introduce a [...]

Iowa City, IA – UPDATE: Judge Dismisses All Immigration Charges Against Rubashkin

2009-11-19T23:02:49Z

Iowa City, IA – A federal judge has now dismissed all 72 charges of immigration violations against form Agriprocessor’s CEO Sholom Rubashkin. Prosecutors filed a motion this morning to dismiss all 72 immigration charges against the former kosher slaughterhouse manager. The move came after Sholom Rubashkin’s conviction last week in federal court on financial fraud charges. Prosecutors filed [...]