Rochester, NH - A man took an unknown number of people hostage at a New Hampshire campaign office for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton, police said Friday. The man claimed to have a bomb strapped to him when he walked into the office in Rochester. U/D 2:21pm 2 hostages taken, Hostage taker demanding to speak to Hillary Clinton. Out of caution Barak Obama And Edwards...

New York - Sen. John McCain, who spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, reminded an audience Thursday that some Japanese were tried and hung for torturing American prisoners during World War II with techniques that included waterboarding. "I would also hope that that no president would want to be associated with a technique which was invented in the Spanish...

Atlanta, GA - The state Department of Revenue is taking out of circulation this automobile license plate: HA8 JWZ. Bill Nigut the regional director of the ADL said that the revenue department told them that the plate was randomly generated. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's office also got itself involved in the discussion. The ADL is now asking the revenue department to avoid issuing plates that...

PRINCETON, NJ - Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats or independents to rate their mental health as excellent, according to data from the last four November Gallup Health and Healthcare polls. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans report having excellent mental health, compared to 43% of independents and 38% of Democrats. This relationship between party identification and...

New York, NY - Vamoose, the latest express bus line to offer service between the Boston area and New York City, suffered a significant setback this week when Cambridge officials denied the company permission to pick up passengers on city streets. Although Vamoose had successfully launched an express route from Bennett Street in Cambridge on Nov. 8, the company was ordered to cease all...

Romania - Activists from Romanian fringe ultra-Orthodox groups have joined forces with local anti-Semites in a bid to take over Jewish graveyards in Romania, the leadership of the country's Jewish community told Haaretz. According to the Jewish leaders, ultra-Orthodox groups such as the anti-Zionist Satmar sect are cooperating with Romanian legislator Corneliu Vadim Tudor to make financial...

New Orleans, LA - 30 rabbis gathered from all Judaism's major wings spent three days in New Orleans this week absorbing the city's condition and talking to leaders and recovering residents, the better to tell the city's story and perhaps summon fresh aid from their own communities on their return. The sponsors said it seemed to work. "What I'm hearing is, 'I saw the movie, I saw it all on...

Manhattan, NY - Pigeon partisans are blasting back at a New York City councilman's proposal to ban feeding the birds.The New York Bird Club and others plan to demonstrate this afternoon in front of City Hall. They say pigeons are peaceful, gentle creatures. And they note that the birds served as flying messengers for American and allied forces in World Wars I and II.But Councilman Simcha...

New York, NY - The number of hate crimes reported to the NYPD is up 25% this year, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told a predominantly Jewish crowd at a Borough Park community meeting. "We know these incidents have a tendency to build on each other," Kelly said.A wave of swastikas were spray-painted on Borough Park synagogues and homes in late September. Kelly said 90% of the 126...

Brooklyn, NY - The Newburgh, NY, law firm Rider, Weiner & Frankel got tired of being bled, figuratively if not literally, for legal fees that it contends are owed by a faction of Satmar Hasidim based at Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar in Brooklyn. The case was a long-running dispute between the Brooklyn faction and the faction based in the Orange County Village of Kiryas Joel. The two...

Manhattan, NY - The Lower East Side Eldridge Street Synagogue for several decades prayed that the once-magnificent temple would miraculously be saved. Now, after a 20-year, $20 million restoration project, a faithful two dozen Orthodox Jewish worshippers are celebrating the salvation of Congregation K'Hal Adath Jeshurun shul.On Sunday, the historic synagogue will be rededicated in time to...

San Francisco, CA - A New Jersey man accused of stalking Holocaust scholar Elie Wiesel and dragging him off a hotel elevator has changed his plea back to not guilty by reason of insanity.Eric Hunt's lawyer made the new plea to charges of attempted kidnapping, false imprisonment, battery, stalking and elder abuse. Hunt, 23, of Vernon, N.J., has been jailed in a psychiatric unit since his...

Rockland County, Monsey, NY +Pedestrian Seriously Struck+ A motor vehicle accident with a pedestrian that was struck at Maple Avenue and Phillis Terrrace. Hatzolah on the scene requesting Medics on a rush for aided that's in traumatic cardiac arrest. Also requesting PD to respond to the scene.U/D: Aided being transported to Good Sam Hospital...

Borough Park, Brooklyn, NY - There has been much talk about Councilman Simcha Felder (Democrat - Disctrict 44) running for higher office, some say he wants to run for comptroller of NYC, citing his background as a certified public accountant. We at VIN News did some research, and found that his strive for higher office is about to kick Off, his campaign office set up a web site...

Borough Park, Brooklyn, NY +Hatzolah Ambulance Involved in MVA+ A motor vehicle accident at 14th Avenue and 50th Street involving the Boro Park Hatzolah ambulance while responding to an aided. Hatzolah sending additional units and ambulances...