Brooklyn, NY +MVA+ A accident involving multiple vehicles on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway near the Kosciuzko Bridge, Hatzolah on the scene requesting multiple ambulances to respond, traffic delays in the area. ...

New York, NY - City Council voted yesterday to increase property taxes. The $64 million citywide increase will cost the average single-family homeowner an extra $66 for the fiscal year that ends June 30. Tax rates for the four property classes are adjusted yearly to comply with state-mandated adjustments of the "share" of taxes imposed on each category. By law, the Council could have...

Manhattan, NY +Accidental Mail Drop Off+ A motor vehicle accident involving a US Postal Service tractor trailer on West 33th Street and 10th Avenue with the tractor trailer stopping short causing the mail it was carrying to go through the backdoor of the truck ending up all over the street, requesting additional units to assist in picking up the mail. ...

Brooklyn, NY +Pedestrian Struck+ A motor vehicle accident with a pedestrian that was struck on McDonald Avenue and Avenue "I" Hatzolah responding. ...

Monmouth County, NJ - Superior Court Judge Alexander D. Lehrer has appointed an alliance formed between Wick Co. and Sitar Co. Oncor International to market a sizable commercial and residential real estate portfolio amassed by indicted real estate developer Solomon Dwek. The portfolio of nearly 270 properties is valued at more than $400 million and consists of shopping centers, vacant land...

The Anti-Semit Mel Gibson has expressed sympathy for the embattled Michael Richards, confiding that "my heart went out to the guy". Richards was forced to make a public apology after using racist language in Los Angeles two weeks ago. Earlier this year, Gibson showed similar contrition for anti-semitic remarks made during an arrest on suspicion of drink driving. "I feel really bad for the...

Jerusalem, Israel - A 35-year-old haredi man, who is mentally unstable, was arrested for stabbing and lightly wounding in the lower part of his leg an Arab employee in a shop on Rechov Yecheskal in Jerusalem. The wounded man was evacuated by Hatzolah to Hadassah Hospital in the city for medical treatment. ...

Lakewood, NJ - Al Peters, the former director of the Lakewood Police Department, wants answers. At tonight's Township Committee meeting, Peters said he will stand before the five-member panel and demand an explanation for why he was forced out as the department's leader. "My record is impeccable, and I will not let this tarnish my record in any way," Peters said. Two weeks ago, the retired...

New York, NY - The city comptroller released a report accusing the auto insurance industry of price-gouging. Comptroller Bill Thompson says the car insurance industry has raised premiums between 2000 and 2005 by nearly 29-percent, raking in 10 and a half billion dollars from premiums in 2005 alone. He also found companies were decreasing payouts for claims by more than 20 percent. ...

Fort Collins, CO - A holiday decorations dispute involving the Christmas tree and the menorah is heating up. Several religious leaders sent an email to the city council urging them to reconsider a decision made in the summer that said the menorah could not be displayed at the city's public holiday display. The ruling said the Christmas tree is OK for the city's public holiday display, but...

New York, NY - You could see it all over the city, an unmarked car with emergency lights flashing trying to make it through traffic. But have you ever wondered while you're sitting in gridlock what the emergency was? One man was caught in an unmarked car in a heck of a hurry. The man's name is Isaac Heschel. His official looking black Crown Victoria is his personal car. However, the lights and...

Chestnut Ridge, NY - A drunken driver crashed into a utility pole, causing a gas main break that fueled an intense fire on Pinebrook Road and cut power. No one was hurt in the crash, according to Ramapo police Sgt. Michael DeMeo. But about 2,000 customers were without electricity after work crews cut power to the area. The car's driver, a 25-year-old Pomona man, is charged with driving...

Medford, NJ - Police are searching for a man they say may have tried to lure a 13-year-old girl. The girl had just gotten off her school bus at Lakewood Avenue when a small white SUV approached her. The driver, a white man, asked the girl if she'd like a ride. She told him "no," police said. The driver said something else before driving away. The girl did not hear what he said, police...

Mamaroneck, NY - The village will continue its battle against a local Jewish school seeking to expand its campus in the region's highest court. Village lawyers are appealing a federal judge's ruling that found the village's zoning board restricted the Westchester Day School's free exercise of religion when it denied the school's plans to build a 44,000-square-foot building on Orienta Point. ...

Bronxville, NY - A man who tried to extort $60,000 from a rabbi in Queens and threatened to harm him and his family if he didn't pay the money was sentenced to a minimum of five years in prison. Matthew Gross, 40, of 25 Parkview Ave., Bronxville, claimed to be collecting debts for people with whom the victims had business dealings in prior years. Gross approached the Rabbi of the Synagogue...