Yeshiva World News

YWN EXCLUSIVE: According to several reliable sources, Priority 7 vouchers, which were eliminated from this year’s budget, have been restored by 50 percent. YWN tried reaching Councilman David Greenfield, who has been leading the effort to restore the funding, but were told that he is in negotiations at city hall and is unavailable for comment.

If this in fact correct, it would be a major victory for the newly elected Greenfield in a year that the city is facing a $3.2 billion deficit. YWN will update you as we get more information.

(Dov Gordon – YWN)

House Republicans failed in a push Wednesday to force the release of White House documents related to potential job offers made to two Democratic Senate primary challengers, Andrew Romanoff in Colorado and Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania.

The Resolution of Inquiry failed on a party-line vote in the House Judiciary Committee, 15-12, leaving Republicans with a diminishing set of options as they try to force a wider investigation into White House efforts to entice Democratic challengers out of two key Senate races.

In the debate before the vote, Democrats insisted administration officials have already addressed the issues sufficiently and pointed to more pressing problems of concern to voters, including the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

But Republicans insisted there are still unanswered questions in both cases.

They want to know whether the White House Counsel’s Office signed off on job discussions between White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina and Romanoff that took place the day after the former Colorado House Speaker filed paperwork to run against Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet.

Republicans say the contact is potentially a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal government employees from engaging in political activity while on the job, defined as activity directed at the election or defeat of a candidate.

In the Sestak case, Republicans say they want to know whether former President Bill Clinton was used as an intermediary in offering Sestak a high-profile but unpaid position because a more direct approach had been already ruled out as a potential violation of the federal law.

“That would show right there the White House was very cognizant of the gray line they were toeing and tried to get around it,” said Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who sits on the Judiciary Committee.

“If everything was aboveboard and nothing inappropriate happened, then why oppose the release of additional information?” Bardella said.

Republicans have been frustrated in attempts to keep the issue in front of voters, and the failed committee vote Wednesday scratches one more option off the list.

The party is still hoping for an investigation by the Office of Special Counsel, which is in charge of enforcing the Hatch Act, a violation of which can lead to the removal of federal employees from their jobs.

Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., sits on the House Judiciary Committee but left before the vote. Polis spokeswoman Lara Cottingham said her boss had to attend a session of the Rules Committee and that he was opposed to the GOP amendment.

(Source: Denver Post)

Prominent Jerusalem askan R’ Shlomo Miller, a former deputy mayor, along with a number of rabbonim from the southern Talpiot area are protesting plans by Jerusalem City Hall to name a square in honor of a Buddhist cult which is a pure form of idolatry.

Miller sent a sharply-worded letter condemning the decision, which gives more of a foothold to avoda zara in the capital of the Jewish People. Miller points out that it begins with a statue adjacent to Kever Dovid HaMelech, followed by closing down vehicular access to the Old City which will lead to less mispallalim at the Kotel, and now, a location for idol worship in the city. Miller warns the move is tantamount to permitting “pigs to imbed their hooves in the heart of the city”.

Rabbonim wrote letters as well, condemning the decision of the Names Committee to approve naming a square at David Raziel and Olei HaGardom after a Buddhist avoda zara, urging the committee to abandon its plan for the naming ceremony and the permit to erect a statue at the location.

Miller is calling for action, insisting “we may not permit Mayor Nir Barkat to reinstate the traditions of [former Mayor Teddy] Kollek. Teddy wanted to turn Yerushalayim into a city of idols, into a tourist city like Paris and Rome, doing everything in his power to actualize his vision”.

Miller vows to do whatever possible to avoid bringing this abomination to the capital.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

A truck being being loaded with personal belongings of Frum families heading to the Catskills, was stolen by a deranged man, and driven through the streets of  Marine Park striking cars and pedestrians- bef0re being apprehended by police.

The NY Post reports the following:

A crazed man wearing only sneakers and underwear stole a truck in Brooklyn today and ran down two 12-year-olds before he was busted, police said.

The girls, whose injuries were not deemed life-threatening, were being treated at Coney Island Hospital.

The deranged truck driver was under psychiatric observation at Kings County Hospital, said cops.

A second man – likely an employee of the truck’s owner or operator – was in the back of the box truck when it was stolen, said cops.

Around 2:45 p.m., the crazed man jumped into the driver’s seat of the truck at the intersection of Avenue I and East 32nd Street in Midwood.

He then drove toward Marine Park, sideswiping other vehicles the whole way, said cops.

After he drove the truck into the two 12-year-olds at the corner of 37th Street and Fillmore Avenue in Marine Park, the man kept going, until he hit some vehicles at the corner of Nostrand Avenue and Avenue V.

That crash stopped the truck, and police were able to arrest the man. Because he carried no ID, cops were unsure who he was.

(Source: NY Post)

A series of thunderstorms and a possible tornado caused a path of destruction and a number of injuries across the New York City area Thursday, officials said.

Bridgeport (CT) Mayor Bill Finch issued a state of emergency in the afternoon after a severe storm cause widespread damage throughout the Bridgeport area.

There are reports that a tornado ripped through the area, however that has not been confirmed by the National Weather Service.

A tornado warning was issued for the area around 2:30 p.m.

Finch says multiple injuries have been reported, however so far, no fatalities. He says there are blown out windows, uprooted trees and facades ripped off buildings.

Many are posting photos on Twitter depicting a path of destruction that flooded streets, downed trees and destroyed street signs.

There are some reports of partial collapses of buildings in Connecticut and Long Island.

Celeste Beccalori of Douglas Manor, in Northeast Queens, says her quaint community nestled on Little Neck Bay looks like a “war zone” after this afternoon’s sudden thunderstorm.

A tree crashed through a skylight into her dining room, and more trees are blocking the street outside her home at 345 Kenmore Road.

Beccalori says West Drive, the single-road entryway into the Manor, is also littered with trees.

The afternoon storms also caused headaches for commuters on the Long Island Rail Road.

MTA officials confirm service on the Port Washington branch and the Oyster branch has been suspended.

The Jamaica-bound 2:37 p.m. train from Oyster Bay, due at 3:34 p.m., was being held because of a tree down west of Albertson. The Penn Station-bound 3:11 p.m. train from Ronkonkoma, due in at 4:34 p.m., was held west of Deer Park because of a tree down in Pinelawn, the LIRR said.

The Long Island Power Authority says more than 23-thousand customers are currently without power — most are located in Hempstead.

(Source: WPIX)

Washington, DC – Upon learning that the State Department has denied Ahmet Faruk Unsal, an IHH member and flotilla organizer, entry into the United States, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn and Queens), released the following statement:

“I applaud the State Department for making the correct decision. The visa system works when we deny entry to anyone who is responsible for or aids terrorist activity. IHH is a terrorist group. Their members aren’t welcome in the U.S. Period.”

“The decision to deny an IHH member a visa sends a clear message to the rest of the world, particularly Turkey: The United States considers the members of the flotilla that attacked Israeli soldiers terrorists, and stands behind Israel’s right to enforce and maintain a blockade of Gaza so long as the territory is dedicated to killing Israeli citizens.”

Last week, Rep. Weiner wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking that all flotilla organizers be denied visas to the U.S. because of their involvement with the attempt to break Israel’s legal blockade of Gaza.

(YWN Desk – NYC)

The Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE) has expressed shock and outrage at the sentencing of former chief executive officer and vice president at Agriprocessors Sholom Rubashkin to 27 years in prison. Rubashkin was also ordered to pay $27 million in restitution by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Linda R. Reade.

The RCE is an organization dedicated to meeting the religious and spiritual needs of Jewish communities in Europe.

“This is a blatant imbalance of justice,” said Rabbi Yisroel Yaakov Lichtenstein, Av-Beis-Din of the Federation of Synagogues in London and member Presidium of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe. “The doctrine of proportionality in sentencing seeks to limit arbitrary and capricious punishment in order to ensure that offenders are punished according to their ‘just desert’, and this is light years away from proportional sentencing.”

The RCE, and many other supporters in the Jewish community, felt that Rubashkin was already being singled out for special and undue attention when there was an attempt to deny bail on the grounds that the defendant could flee to Israel.

“Already at the bail stage we saw an outrageous bias against Rubashkin because he was a religious Jew,” added Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, Rabbi of the Mill Hill Synagogue in London. “This sentence merely compounds our earlier fears and smacks of sinister intent and utterly undermines the very foundations of fair justice for all upon which the United States of America has always taken immense pride.”

The RCE fully supports Rubaskin’s appeal and call upon the American judicial system to save itself from this grave inequity of justice and to allow for common sense and righteousness to prevail.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

School may start a little later next year.

The Education Department is negotiating with the teachers union to change the first day of school to Monday, Sept. 13, officials told the News.

Students are now scheduled to start on Wednesday, Sept. 8, two days after Labor Day. But because of Rosh Hashanah, the second day of school wouldn’t be until the next Monday.

Panel for Educational Policy member Patrick Sullivan had considered proposing the change after receiving hundreds of e-mails supporting it.

“Parents and teachers are expecting the absentee rate to be so high on that day, it doesn’t make any sense to start until the following Monday,” he said.

Teachers must be at school on Tuesday, Sept. 7, to help set up before the students arrive. “If they want to do it, they don’t need our permission,” said teachers union President Michael Mulgrew.

An education spokeswoman confirmed the talks.

“We hope to have a resolution soon, and, when we do, we’ll communicate it to parents,” Ann Forte said.

(Source: NY Daily News)

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, declaring his candidacy for governor of New York, could not have been clearer.

“The influence of lobbyists and their special interests must be drastically reduced with new contribution limits,” Mr. Cuomo said last month. “We will be taking on very powerful special interests which have much to lose. We must change systems and cultures long in the making.”

But as he delivered his announcement, Mr. Cuomo was sitting on millions in campaign cash from the very special interests whose influence he said he wanted to limit.

An analysis by The New York Times shows that of the estimated $7.1 million that the Cuomo campaign has received from political action committees, associations, limited liability corporations and other entities, more than half has come from the biggest players in Albany: organized labor, the real estate and related industries like construction, the health care sector and lobbying firms.

In the spirit of reform, Mr. Cuomo pledged in 2007 not to accept donations over $10,000 from most categories of contributors during an election cycle. But he did not stick to that vow and has at times received amounts five times as great.

The donations underscore the awkwardness of Mr. Cuomo’s effort to run against Albany and its insiders at the same time he is benefiting from their largess and, in some cases, his long relationships with them. He drew a similar proportion of his campaign money from special interests in his failed 2002 campaign for governor and his 2006 bid for attorney general.

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this article. But an adviser, Phil Singer, said the attorney general had consistently demonstrated his independence from special interests and others who contribute to his campaign. As of its last campaign filing, the Cuomo campaign had about $16 million.

“Any donor who could possibly think they are buying anything other than good government is delusional and blind to all facts,” Mr. Singer wrote in an e-mail message.

He cited a number of cases in which the attorney general’s office had taken action against those who had made political donations to Mr. Cuomo.

The analysis by The Times shows that in the current election cycle, lobbying firms and companies that have registered to lobby on their own behalf have given Mr. Cuomo about $555,000 in donations.

Organized labor, long regarded by Democrats and Republicans as perhaps the most powerful force in Albany lawmaking, has given him more than $1.4 million.

Real estate and construction interests have donated more than $1.3 million, and the health care industry has contributed about $570,000.

As attorney general, Mr. Cuomo has undertaken several major initiatives that have coincided with interests of those donors.

In 2007, Mr. Cuomo’s office opened an investigation into whether health insurers were systematically overcharging patients who used doctors and hospitals outside the insurers’ networks. The inquiry was related to an earlier federal lawsuit whose plaintiffs included the Medical Society of the State of New York, which represents physicians, medical residents and medical students; New York State United Teachers, a union; and the Civil Service Employees Association union, all of which have given generously to him through their political action committees. In 2009, he announced a settlement to shut down the payment system used by the industry and establish an independent database to replace it.

Also in 2007, during New York City’s real estate boom, Mr. Cuomo, after receiving complaints from real estate officials, pushed for passage of a state bill to increase financing for his office to speed up the approval process for co-op and condominium conversions and ease a backlog. The measure was written into the state budget the next year with the blessing of the industry and other stakeholders and also allowed the office to better handle complaints against developers over construction flaws.

But Mr. Singer pointed out that the attorney general had also aggressively pursued some of his contributors. His office reached an agreement in 2009 with WellPoint, the nation’s largest health insurer, to pay $10 million toward an overhaul of the health care reimbursement system. This year, Mr. Singer said, Mr. Cuomo’s office sued Bank of America and two of its former top officers, saying they had duped shareholders and the federal government to complete a merger with Merrill Lynch. This month, the office sued a developer, Yair Levy, saying he stole $7.4 million from a reserve fund of a troubled downtown luxury building.

Mr. Singer also said the campaign required prospective donors to show that they had no matters pending before the attorney general’s office and had not had any in the previous 90 days.

The Times review did not examine donations from individuals, like health care executives or union leaders. But an analysis conducted by the New York Public Interest Research Group recently found that 20 percent of the money Mr. Cuomo’s current campaign committee received from individuals came from people working in real estate or as lobbyists.

Representatives of several organizations that gave to Mr. Cuomo said it was natural that their agendas sometimes dovetailed with his. They said they believed that Mr. Cuomo was right on many of the most important issues affecting their clients or constituents.

(Read More: NY Times)