Iowa City, IA - As Agriprocessors Inc. was getting stung by criticism after a federal immigration raid snared hundreds of its workers, "a blog by people who live and work in Postville" appeared in its defense in May. The blog defended the hiring practices of the plant in the small Iowa community, rebutting allegations in a federal affidavit and railing against the media, government and a labor...

Florida - Under a new Florida law, drivers will be hit with fines of more than $1,000 if they get busted for going 50 mph over the speed limit. And for motorcyclists, there are additional new rules, including a ban on lifting their front wheel off the pavement, also known as "popping wheelies." If drivers get caught going more than 50 mph over the limit a second time, they will have to pay more...

Washington - With 30 days until Nov. 4, Karl Rove projects that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would get at least 273 electoral votes – three more than are needed to win – if the presidential election were held today. But Rove warns that this race is “susceptible to rapid changes,” so no definite prediction is possible. The remarkable forecast from the architect of the last two...

Jerusalem - The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) was down sharply the first day of trading Sunday, Oct. 5, In the wake of the US stock markets, which fell on Friday, despite passage by the US House of Representatives of the $700 billion bailout package, the TASE recorded across the board steep falls. The Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 6.3% to 794, while the Tel Aviv 100 Index dropped 6.6% to 707, and...

Jerusalem - A Jewish group in the United States has recruited a number of retired IDF and high-ranking Mossad officials to appear in a video supporting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, saying he would be a better partner for Israel in the White House. In the video, released by the pro-Obama Jewish Council for Education & Research, Brig.-Gen (Ret.) Shlomo Brom, former IDF...

New York City - A Big Apple real-estate titan who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to New York politicians, and many 'Tezdokah' organizations was busted in Yonkers for carrying a witch's brew of cocaine and painkillers. Multimillionaire E.. the CEO of a major real-estate firm in NYC, and a major stakeholder in several large corporations, was charged yesterday with possessing 703...

Moscow, Russia - Boris Yefimov, a Russian cartoonist despised by Hitler and beloved by Stalin, who for 70 years and 70,000 drawings wielded his talent as a keen sword to advance the goals of his country. He was 109, old enough to have seen the last czar pass in a coach, become friends with Trotsky, have Stalin personally edit his cartoons and vote for Vladimir Putin. In dispatches about his...

New York City - The owners of ground zero have started a Web site to publicize the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, a day after saying many projects under way would be delayed and cost more. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Friday launched www.wtcprogress.com. The site has photographs and video of construction projects at the 16-acre site, and offers a guide for...

Brooklyn, NY - Authorities busting a suspected ID thief in Brooklyn stumbled upon a possible terrorist nest full of al Qaeda news clippings, chemical manuals and weapons literature. Cops made the disturbing find last week Thursday evening after a landlord found the photocopied IDs inside the apartment of a former tenant on Classon Avenue in Prospect Heights and dialed 311. The tenant...

New York - A NewYork judge has put a temporary hold on Wells Fargo & Co.’s proposed $15.1 billion buyout of Wachovia Corp., Citigroup announced Saturday night. Judge Charles Ramos of the New York Supreme Court has ordered Wachovia to court on Friday. He will hold a hearing on whether the Wells deal violates Wachovia's earlier agreement to sell its banking operations to Citigroup for $2.16...

New York, NY - When a patient receives a diagnosis of cancer, he is faced with two tough decisions: what treatment to pursue and whom, if anyone, to tell about it. Brooklyn's Maimonides Cancer Center takes pains to break through barriers to care among ethnic and minority groups. Its patients are an ethnic tapestry of Chinese-Americans, Hasidic Jews from nearby Borough Park, Russians from Coney...

Kiev, Ukraine - About hundred people held a mourning ceremony last week Monday at the Babi Yar monument in Kiev, Ukraine, to mark the 67th anniversary of the beginning of the mass execution of Jews by the Nazis in September 1941. The ceremony took place at Babi Yar square where the Nazis shot more than 100,000 Jews in 1941-1944. The massacre became a terrible symbol of the Holocaust. ...

Williamsburg, NY - More then 2 weeks ago, the Bedford Gardens Succah committee headed by Rabbi Meyer Spitz contacted the BG Tenants council and myself, and they were very concerned that Kraus Management has given them a major problem with ALL paper work (insurance, construction company, licensed plumber, licensed electrician, etc;) that he submitted to Kraus responding to the official request...

New York - More than one in four New Yorkers get stung in online auction scams, according to a recent survey. "Con artists, ripoff specialists and sophisticated criminals can catch you at every step of the process, from bidding to payment to shipment," said Beau Brendler, director of Consumer Reports WebWatch. Online auction fraud tops the types of complaints New Yorkers make about the...

Postville, IA - Two people who lived in Postville and later filed for divorce and then argued over custody of their children. In their custody battle, information on what appears to be at least two separate rabbi-on-boy molestation surfaced. Both apparently taught at the Postville Cheder / Yeshiva. One moved from Postville to Crown Heights, and the husband argued his ex-wife should not be able...