New York City - VIN News has learned that three Chasidic Satmar community leaders were in attendance this evening at a private, exclusive VIP event for newly-minted Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama. At the 84th-Street Manhattan event, Obama spoke for 15 minutes, then personally thanked all attendees, primarily donors and community activists. In attendance were Chasidic...

Northfield, NJ - An Atlantic County synagogue suffered minor damage after being struck by lightning tonight. The bolt struck the Beth Israel Synagogue in the 2500 block of Shore Road in Northfield, New Jersey. According to police, the lightning strike sparked a small fire which was put out by the building's sprinkler system. A synagogue official said water from the sprinklers caused more...

Kiryas Joel, NY - Voters where streaming all day into an ornate banquet hall on Forest Road to cast ballots in the latest challenge to one-party rule in this sharply divided Hasidic community. Elsewhere, it might be a humdrum affair. But here in Kiryas Joel, where turnout is huge and the minority faction accuses the other side of orchestrating voter fraud for many years. According to VIN...

New York City - A bridge that leads to the airport named for President Kennedy is getting renamed for his younger brother, Robert F. Kennedy, the New York senator assassinated in 1968. The state Assembly has given final legislative approval to rename New York City's Triborough Bridge, following Senate approval in April. Governor Paterson plans to sign the measure to call it the Robert F...

Seattle, WA - A mistrial has been declared in the trial of Seattle Jewish Federation shooter Naveed Haq after the jury failed to agree on all but one of the 15 charges. Jurors told the judge today the only count they could agree on is that Haq is not guilty of attempted first-degree murder. Today was day eight of deliberations, but the past three days raised speculation that a mistrial was...

New York, NY - ABC News is reporting that Hillary Clinton will drop out of the presidential race on Friday. Sen. Hillary Clinton will hold an event with supporters by Friday, likely ending her historic bid for the White House and ceding the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama, ABC News has learned...

New York City - The JTA is reporting the following, Several prominent Jews signed on to a boycott threat against the kosher meatpacker Agriprocessors. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Ruth Messinger and Rabbi Avi Weiss are among the 1,000 signers of a petition organized by Uri L'tzedek, according to its co-director, Shmuly Yanklowitz. "We believe we have the right as consumers to be assured that...

Alpine,NJ - Rabbi Dennis Shulman won a decisive victory last night the Democratic Primary in New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District and immediately promised to change the corrupt, special interest politics of Washington.”We need to change the way we do business in Washington,” said Shulman. “We need to get our country back on track — lower health care costs, lower fuel costs, and fix...

Philadelphia, PA - The latest in a series of wicked acts of vandalism - one aimed to harm toddlers at play outside a synagogue - has rallied neighbors in the city's Mount Airy section to step forward. Rachel Gross, executive director of the Germantown Jewish Center, stood in a toddlers' playground at the synagogue at Lincoln Drive and West Ellet Street, and pointed to a half-dozen foot-wide...

Wallkill, NY - A serious fatal motor vehicle accident on the eastbound lanes of State Route 17 between Exits 117 and 118 with one victim DOA has NY State Police closing down all eastbound lanes of Route 17. Aided had a heart attack while driving on the westbound lanes, he lost control and crossed over the median into the woods and into a tree on the eastbound side. New York State Police...

New Zealand - Advertisement billboards pitching a new program for Prime Television have been removed after complaints from the Jewish community. One billboard in Wakefield St, Wellington, and two in Auckland were removed today after going up on Tuesday. The billboards bore the slogan: "Advertising Agency Seeks: Clients. All business considered, even from Jews." Regional Wellington Jewish...

New York City - A prolific bank robber dubbed the "bad hatter" -- for the varied headgear he wore during heists -- has been arrested after a DNA match from his discarded Band-Aid helped crack the case, court documents and sources said Wednesday. Thomas Kenney, 58, of East Northport, a family man who has a day job at a dental supply company, was arrested by the FBI on suspicion of robbing 13...

Postville, IA - I need to preface this by saying that I am a Conservative Jew and currently affiliate with a Conservative synagogue in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I am embarrassed that someone who claims to be a religious leader of Conservative Jewry has the gall to urge his fellow Jews to stop buying kosher meat from Agriprocessors under the platform that unethical conditions existed at the...

Nizhny Novgorod, Russia - Vandals desecrated 13 Jewish gravestones in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia less than a month after a similar incident, and just a day after a synagogue was set on fire, as was reported yesterday here on VIN News. The gravestones are located in the city's Leninsky district; the earlier incident took place in the Marina Roscha cemetery, where nine gravestones were vandalized...

New Jersey - The board of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority voted this morning to stop accepting the quarter-size, brass and nickel tokens motorists have used to pay tolls on the Garden State Parkway since 1981. Drivers will have to the end of the year to use up any tokens they have stashed away or to sell them back to the Authority. "I do believe that most of the tokens that have not been...