New York - New York's 11 public hospitals are at the forefront of a national movement to standardize color coding of hospital wristbands to designate patient conditions, in which purple - the color of amethyst - means "Do Not Resuscitate." Red, or ruby, indicates allergies, while yellow - call it amber - marks someone at risk for falling. The goal is to prevent potentially dangerous mistakes...

Solano County, CA - A legal fight is brewing between a social worker and the county he works for. A local man says he's proud of his Jewish heritage and proud of his faith. But, he claims because of discrimination he's been experiencing since 2005, he's lost faith in Solano County and now he's suing. "I have nobody to go to. It's very difficult, it's very difficult. It makes it difficult to...

New York City - Rabbi Stephen Wise, the most prominent US Jewish leader during World War II, failed miserably in his response to the Holocaust, according to the president of Reform Judaism's Hebrew Union College in Manhattan. Rabbi David Ellenson was the latest of several prominent American Jewish leaders who have censured the Jewish leadership of the 1940s, but his remarks were especially...

New York, NY - At least 20 City Council members have gone on record opposing Mayor Bloomberg's bid to rescind the 7% property tax cut, saying it would cause too much pain to middle-class homeowners. "Many people think that raising taxes is a given, but for many of us, raising taxes is a heavy lift on people we have gone back to year after year after year," said Councilman James Vacca...

Washington - The fate of a $700 billion Wall Street bailout remained unclear as a White House meeting of both parties ended without an agreement and some participants said talks had hit a major snag and may even be dead. A person close to presidential candidate John McCain said "there is no deal"—a sentiment echoed by sources close to some Democrats involved in the negotiations. The...

Washington - JPMorgan Chase & Co. became the biggest U.S. bank by deposits, acquiring Washington Mutual Inc.'s branch network for $1.9 billion after the thrift was seized in the largest U.S. bank failure in history. Customers of WaMu withdrew $16.7 billion from accounts since Sept. 16, leaving the Seattle-based bank ``unsound,'' the Office of Thrift Supervision said late yesterday. WaMu's...

New York, NY - City officials have begun sending observers into public agency walk-in facilities posing as clients and secretly assessing service, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. Employing methods common to private retail businesses, the program since May has used "secret shoppers" to visit offices and inquire about services from the perspective of a first-time customer. The "CORE" program...

Borough Park, NY - While most Jews will spent the next few days preparing for the upcoming holidays, one organization is busy making sure that even the neediest in Brooklyn -the capital of Jewish poverty- will have a "sweet" New Year. Volunteering in the Soup-Kitchen will be no one other then NYS Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos. MASBIA, NY's only Kosher soup kitchen open regularly five...

New York - Officials are expected to announce that New York's Tappan Zee Bridge will be replaced rather than repaired. The state Transportation Department, which has led a years-long study on what to do about the aging bridge, has scheduled a "major announcement" Friday about the span, which links suburban Westchester and Rockland counties. In recent years, officials have hinted that it...

Baltimore, MD - You've probably heard of the Gallup Poll or the New York Times Poll, but what about Baltimore's Presidential Cookie Poll? They're rolling in dough at Goldman's Kosher Bakery in Northwest Baltimore. Besides all the delicious cookies and cakes, Baltimoreans are voting for president in the now famous Goldman's Cookie Poll. Whether it's Senators John McCain or Barack Obama folks...

Gentilly, LA - Congregation Beth Israel was located at 7000 Canal Blvd. in Lakeview until the synagogue filled with eight feet of water after the hurricane. Seven Torah scrolls and thousands of holy books were destroyed, many of them more than a century old. Members of Beth Israel gathered at Beth Israel Cemetery on Frenchmen Street in Gentilly to dedicate headstones to the seven Torahs...

Monsey, NY - One of the positive outcomes of the brouhaha regarding the harassment of Dr. Benzion Twerski – which led to his resignation from Assemblyman Dov Hikind’s panel on child abuse – was the realization on the part of many members of our community that they cannot afford to sit on the sidelines any longer. However, the question arises: What can I do to become part of the...

New York, NY - No space in your cubicle for a bike? Council member David Yassky and transportation groups want to mandate that commercial buildings in the city provide indoor bike racks. With gas prices what they are and environmentalism on everyone's mind, more New Yorkers are taking to the streets on two wheels. "Thousands of people in this city want to bike to work," said Yassky, "but...

New York City - Touro College will unveil the Touro School of Pharmacy Thursday evening at a traditional white coat ceremony, where incoming pharmacy students are given white laboratory coats to wear. It is the third pharmacy school in the five boroughs—St. John’s University’s School of Pharmacy is in Queens and Long Island University’s Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and...

Brooklyn, NY - An officer appears to have violated police department guidelines when he used a Taser stun gun on a naked, distraught man teetering on a building ledge, officials said Thursday. Inman Morales, 35, fell nearly 10 feet to his death after he was shocked in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. He was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead. An autopsy was being...