New York, NY - New York City Comptroller William Thompson is proposing a new registration fee for motor vehicles based on their weight. Thompson says the fee would generate more than $1 billion a year for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Thompson says that under his plan it would cost $100 more to register a light, fuel-efficient vehicle like a Toyota Yaris, but it would cost an...

Mainz, Germany - Officials spoke of hope as the cornerstone was laid Sunday for a new synagogue in the German city of Mainz, just over 70 years after the old one was destroyed. The old house of worship was destroyed in the November 9, 1938 pogrom known as Kristallnacht, when Nazis ransacked thousands of Jewish homes, shops and synagogues, destroying many. The rebuilding ceremony comes weeks...

New York - Chabad Leaders of Jewish communities and dedicated catalysts of Jewish renaissance from 73 countries from all over the globe are now arriving at Pier 94 for the gala banquet, culminating the Kinus Hashluchim. The live broadcast is scheduled to begin at 5:30pm ET Click here for live video cast of the event...

New York - At age 14, Rebecca Sandler decided to stop smoking marijuana, but not cigarettes. Or drinking. She, along with her abusive mother and three brothers, was grieving the untimely death of her estranged father. Sandler describes her childhood growing up in Worcester, Massachusetts, near Boston: "My life consisted of constant battles between my mother and father. My mother was trying to...

Melbourne, Australia - While reaffirming their support for assisted reproduction technology such as IVF, Melbourne’s Orthodox rabbis have expressed concern over aspects of new legislation currently before the Victorian Parliament. The Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill will grant single women access to reproductive treatment, including IVF, and will grant greater parenting rights to...

New York City - All she wanted was to drown her sorrows in a nice cup of tea. Now, after a catastrophic series of events that she says involved third-degree burns, skin grafts, a broken tailbone and a five-week hospital stay, 77-year-old Manhattan widow Rachel Moltner is going after Starbucks to the tune of $3 million. Moltner's tale of woe began last Feb. 19, when she says she stopped at...

New York, NY - Just weeks before Mayor Bloomberg ordered city agencies to come up with $1.5 billion in savings to help balance the battered city budget, the Transportation Department doled out raises and promotions to four dozen top managers. First Deputy Commissioner Lori Ardito received a $15,000 pay hike to $180,000. Bruce Schaller, hired in May 2007 as a deputy commissioner for...

Washington - When the new Congress debuts in January 2009, a record 45 Jews will take the oath of office: 32 in the House of Representatives and — regardless of the outcome in the still-contested Minnesota election — 13 Jews in the Senate. Among the three newcomers to the House are a young, gay, multimillionaire entrepreneur; a seasoned veteran of New Jersey’s rough-and-tumble politics...

Three Lakewood men have been indicted on charges of bias intimidation of a rabbi and another Orthodox Jewish man in connection with attacks and robberies of the two in separate incidents. In the 13-count indictment handed up by an Ocean County grand jury, Devon Hardy, 20, is charged with the attempted murder of Rabbi Yakov Jack Goldbaum, 41. The indictment, handed up Monday, charges Hardy...

Washington - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) is slated to be named secretary of Commerce by President-elect Obama, adding to the new administration's heavy roster of Clinton administration veterans. A top Democratic official said Richardson has passed final vetting but will be announced later. Obama is scheduled to appear at noon Eastern Monday at a Chicago hotel with New York Federal...

New York, NY - Hate crimes have plummeted 18 percent in the city since last year. There were 208 bias crimes through Nov. 9 this year, down from 252 over the same period in 2007, according to NYPD stats. Crimes against all but one group dropped; anti-Muslim crimes increased from one in 2007 to eight in 2008. Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigrant Coalition, was pleased...

New York - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is emerging as the leading contender to take over the Senate seat of Hillary Clinton, who is poised to head the State Department after Barack Obama takes offices as President. Blogs and polls are showing a preference for Cuomo. In a new Marist poll, 43 percent of New York voters said they would like to see Cuomo replace Clinton, 1 percentage...

Israel - Shas' spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yossef has called secular teachers chamorim (jackasses). In his weekly lecture broadcast on Shas' website, Yossef said, "There are some miserable people whose parents decided to put them in the secular educational system. Their teachers are chamorim. "What do they teach there?" added Rabbi Ovadia. "They teach them history and all kinds of...