New Jersey - New Jerseyans getting their driver's licenses would have to answer whether they want to be an organ donor under a measure that received final legislative approval today. The Assembly voted 72-6 in favor of the bill, which was approved by the Senate in March. The measure would require people applying for or renewing driver's licenses and identification cards to state whether...

St. Louis, MO - University City, Mo., is one of the ten best Jewish neighborhoods in North America, according to Jewish Living magazine. The magazine names a list of the top 10 neighborhoods all presented alphabetically, not in order of preference, included are Boulder, Colo., North Dallas, Texas, and SoHo/TriBeCa in New York City. The magazine identified neighborhoods "that are growing...

Toronto, Canada - 79-year-old Holocaust survivor has donated $10 million to rebuild and renovate the Holocaust education centre in Toronto. Michael (Chaim) Neuberger turned the ground on Monday for the new centre. It is being built on a 27.5-acre site at Bathurst and Sheppard as part of the new National Centre for Jewish Heritage, a campus of buildings that will house a number of community...

Washington - It's a serious issue facing more American parents: premature births. Over the last 25 years, the number of those births has soared 30 percent in the United States - to more than 500,000 a year. The trend is so alarming that today the surgeon general gathered a panel to discuss how to reverse it. "The United States is one of the worst of the developed countries in the rate of...

Israel‬ - Over 10 months after fleeing Israel, Boaz Yona, the CEO of collapsed construction company Heftziba was extradited from Italy today, and soon after arrival and being greeted by dozens of outraged protestors, he signed a plea deal with the prosecution, agreeing to spend seven years in prison and pay NIS 4 million in compensation to the hundreds of clients who bought homes from his...

Brooklyn, NY - A motor vehicle accident on the eastbound lanes of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and the Brooklyn Bridge involving a dump truck that partially overturned after its container hit an overpass and fell onto another truck. EMS, NYPD and FDNY are all on the scene. The Expressway is completely closed at this time. U/D: All lanes have been reopened...

New York City - Clear, the registered traveler program that allows members to pass through airport security lanes more easily, on Monday announced a partnership with Delta Air Lines. In July, Clear, which is owned by Manhattan-based Verified Identity Pass Inc., will begin operating fast lanes for airport security at Delta terminals in John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International...

Austria - A 95-year-od Milivoj Asner, a Nazi-era police chief accused of deporting hundreds of Jews to concentration camps, sipping wine and walking around the Austrian town of Klagenfurt amongst football fans. Asner is wanted by international policing group Interpol and is number four on the SWC’s Top 10 list of living alleged Nazi war criminals. His alleged crimes include standing by as...

Albany, NY—State Sen. Marty Golden (R-Dist. 22 [Brooklyn—Ed.]) honored Two New York State Troopers today in a private ceremony for helping a married Jewish woman and her husband find her lost jewelry in a garbage heap last year. [Reported By VIN News] The couple, Mr. and Mrs. Sruly Stern of Montreal, Canada's Outremont neighborhood, was heading home from New York on August 19, 2007 when...

Brooklyn, NY - Park Slope has long been infamous for its lack of parking. Now, many residents say the situation's gotten worse, thanks to a recent city policy change that's supposed to provide relief. The decision to suspend alternate side regulations - expected to last at least through the summer - was needed so that more than 9,000 street signs can be replaced. The signs outline new...

New York City - Council Member Simcha Felder voted against legislation that would increase fines [ reported By VIN News] for "blocking the box" from $90 to $115. "Trying to increase the fines from $90 to $115 is a clear example of the City using New Yorkers as a cash machine. New Yorkers are already burdened with an ever increasing cost of living, they do not need more reasons for traffic...

Winnipeg, Canada - Three doctors have now resigned from duty at a Winnipeg hospital rather than obey a court order to continue treating an elderly man on life support. Samuel Golubchuk,84, has been on life support with minimal brain function at the Grace Hospital since last fall. Doctors at the hospital wanted to take Golubchuk off life support, but Golubchuk's relatives have argued that would...

Kiryas Tosh, Canada - Quebec provincial police say they are investigating the death of a 75-year-old woman who died after being struck in the head by a fire hose. [first reportd on VIN News] Maskin's family is demanding answers about the freak accident, but police say it will be weeks before they can shed light on the incident. Maskin's family said the fire and local police department...

Washington, DC - A U.S. appeals panel has upheld an order to deport an 83-year-old Wisconsin man accused of serving as a Nazi SS guard whose duty was to finish off dying Jews in a two-day mass execution in Poland that killed more than 40,000, the U.S. Justice Department said today. The department said the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the January, 2007 order to deport Josias Kumpf, 83...

Iowa City, IA - "Nearly one third of Iowa is already under water and water levels continue to rise," said U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Waters are still rising in many parts of the state and the president responded. As the Cedar River overflowed its banks Thursday, sending thousands of residents in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, scurrying to higher ground, those in Iowa City to the south began...