New York City - Stocks concluded the week's final session on a strong note, thanks to sinking oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 302.89 to close at 11,734 Friday's plus-4% drop in oil prices induced buying in stocks. Oil finished the week more than 8% lower, though is still up 20% year-to-date. Helping trim oil prices was strength in the U.S. dollar. ...

New York - Gov. David Paterson has vetoed a bill that would have ended the ban on state troopers plea bargaining traffic tickets in local courts. Until 2006, troopers could discuss with drivers reducing tickets to lesser infractions. Critics say the state ban forced some municipalities to designate lawyers to handle traffic cases and made it harder for drivers to settle cases. State police...

Baltimore, MD - A serious motor vehicle accident happened earlier today on the corner of Park Heights and Slade Avenue, when a vehicle crashed into a tree pinning the passenger in the vehicle. Fire Department and Baltimore Hatzolah were on the scene. The 20-year-old driver of the vehicle hasn't sustained any serious injuries but his 16-year-old passenger was critically injured and is in very...

Monticello, NY - Fire Department and Hatzolah on the scene for a working fire at Nachlei Emuna Bungalow Colony at 71 Joyland Road. Requesting additional man power to respond to the scene. U/D: 04:49 Fire is out at this time, everyone is out and safe. ...

Tisha B'Av - Any Tisha B'Av editorial ought rightfully mention the agonies that wrack our communities today. We won't list them. We know them all. Painfully so. Neither ought any Tisha B'Av editorial omit the historical fact that despite today's tzaros and tragedies and terror attacks, our People still never had it this good. "Vayishman yeshurun." In the past 100 years, especially in...

Israel - The Halacha holds no all-inclusive exemption for pregnant women or those breastfeeding. Each case must be assessed separately. This is the rule decided upon by the head of the Petach Tikva Hesder Yeshiva Rabbi Yuval Sherlow. The rabbi explained that “the assumption that nowadays women are weaker than they were in the past is not necessary so, and the medical logic says that in...

New York - New York has the highest mortgage closing costs in the country, according to a new study by publicly traded Bankrate Inc. The average closing cost for a $200,000 mortgage in New York is $4,015, compared to the national average of $3,118. Despite a weak housing market, the national average closing cost has increased by 14 percent, from $2,736 in 2007. North Carolina's closing...

Crown Heights, NY - While they may not be as well-known as the Yankees, Crown Heights has five of its own home-grown softball teams comprised of young men with an enormous store of energy, a great sense of fun, and a real aversion to babysitting. The Crown Heights Softball League was founded in 2005 by Zevi Steinhauser and Danny Cole. After four years of playing on a team representing Crown...

Cooper City, FL - The City must pay $325,750 in damages for violating the religious and free assembly rights of a local Jewish community, a federal jury decided. The award followed last week’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga, who found that the law wrongly places restrictions on where houses of worship can be located. The suit, filed by Chabad of Nova, alleged that Cooper...

Monticello, NY - Police are looking for a teenager who tried to burglarize a bungalow on Carpenter Avenue only to be fought off by the man living there. Monticello police said the incident happened at 2 a.m. When the teen entered the bungalow, and was about to steal a woman’s purse, when a Hasidic man awoke and confronted the would-be thief. The teen pulled a knife, but the man wrestled it...

Goshen, NY - The proposed sale of Orange Regional Medical Center's Arden Hill campus has the village on edge, so much so that the Village Board will hold a hearing to consider imposing a temporary halt on development at the site. Reports first surfaced a month ago that Simon Gelb, a Monroe-based planner and developer with extensive ties to Kiryas Joel, was the likely buyer of the 30-acre...

Williamsburg, NY - There are at least half a dozen ways to reach Isaac Abraham, a community advocate, which is fortunate, since he seems to love being found: to supply a quote, to solve a problem or to get in the middle of the city's political rumbles. He wears two cellphones on his hip along with an old black pager. In the trunk of his sport-utility vehicle, he keeps a two-way radio. A...

Bronx, NY - A tractor-trailer crashed into a pedestrian overpass on the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx -- shearing off half of the foot bridge and sending it crashing onto the roadway. The truck crashed into the overpass at Waterbury Avenue this morning. One half of the pedestrian overpass remained standing, while the other half crashed onto the roadway. The debris caused the closure of...