Spring Valley, NY - The Village Board has passed a local law requiring developers of multi-family dwellings of at least 10 units to set aside 10 percent of those units for affordable housing. "Property values in the village as a whole are rising, which is a good thing, but when property values rise it does affect the affordability of housing for many other people," Ryan Karben, the village...

New York - Stocks bounced back after a two-day selloff as traders shrugged off a bigger job loss than expected, and a larger-than-expected loss from General Motors U.S. employers cut 240,000 jobs from nonfarm payrolls in October, much more than the 200,000 expected. The unemployment rate jumped to 6.5 percent, the highest in more than 14 years. Economists had expected 6.3 percent...

Chicago, IL - President-elect Obama said Friday that the country is facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime and "we're going to have to act swiftly to resolve it." However in his first news conference since winning the presidency Tuesday, Obama deferred to President Bush and his economic team, noting that the country has only one government and one president at a time. He...

Postville, IA - The owner of the second-largest real estate company in Postville warned that his business might close in the wake of major financial troubles at the town's kosher meat plant. Gabay Menahem, the president of GAL Investments, said 90 percent of his tenants - including scores of workers from Agriprocessors Inc. - have not paid their rent this month. GAL Investments owns 59...

New York - General Motors Corp., seeking federal aid to avoid collapse, said it may not have enough cash to keep operating this year and will fall ``significantly short'' of the amount needed by the end of June unless the auto market improves or it raises more capital. The largest U.S. automaker reported a $4.2 billion third- quarter operating loss and said its available cash fell to $16.2...

Washington - Remember when it was reported that President-elect Barack Obama had a problem with the Jewish vote? That is no more. In one of President-elect Barack Obama’s first Presidential decisions since Election Day he selected Representative Rahm Emanuel to be his Chief of Staff. We all know that Emanuel has “has a proven commitment to Israel’s security and served as civilian...

Trenton - Gas prices at some stations in Monmouth and Ocean counties have dropped below the $2 per gallon mark. Observers report a $1.99 per gallon price at a Sunoco station on Route 33 in Neptune for motorists paying with cash. A 7-Eleven station on Route 9 in Tom River was priced at $1.99 as well. Most stations haven't dropped that far yet, but prices are heading that way. According to...

Los Angeles, CA - With California Jews lining up on either side of a heated gay marriage debate, those opposed to gay nuptials were vindicated November 5 when a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage passed by a narrow margin. Proposition 8, which calls for amending California’s state constitution to define marriage as solely between a man and a woman, was adopted despite intense...

New York City - Ladies and gentlemen, as you know (and I have mention this had before) I had a fashionable apartment in New York in the Upper East Side. I'm seriously considering selling it. I have owned it since 1994. I love it. It was second home that I ever bought in my life. I stay there whim rarely in New York. I am "rarely" in New York because I get audited by New York State and City...

Chicago, IL - I saw the president-elect on Thursday -- six different times, for a total of 71 seconds. We didn't speak, but he did grin and wave at me. At least I think it was at me. It could have been the Secret Service agents standing behind me, all toting automatic rifles, who are a constant and imposing presence around Barack Obama. Or someone else in the group of 11 reporters and...

Brooklyn, NY - Most developments don't have a director of operations who's a former decorated New York City detective. They don't have a suit-and-tie dressed security force of active New York law enforcement officials who circle its pathways in twos and threes like beat cops who walked the streets of New York decades ago. Most developments aren't Flatbush Gardens, a 59-building, 2,496-unit...

Washington - Barack Obama's election as U.S. President opens up a new front in the pressure mounting against Swiss banking secrecy, already under fire from Germany which wants the country put on a tax haven blacklist, officials said. Obama has singled out Switzerland's UBS as one of the banks who helped "tax cheats" and he also helped introduce a Senate bill last year to crack down on offshore...

New York - Originally reported in the Jewish Star, Agudath Israel of America has officially changed its position and now is prepared to actively support mandatory finger-printing and background checks for teachers in yeshivos. Though they did specify that they would like to see how a voluntary bill is enacted before actually supporting the bill. The change follows a wave of publicity orchestrated...

Manhattan, NY - The Upper West Side woman who allegedly bilked Fortune 500 firms out of $20 million bought goods from companies at huge discounts - supposedly for charity - and then turned around and sold them for as much as 10 times the profit. Special Agent Dennis Halliden testified that the FBI had been looking into Dina Wein-Reis' operation for two years and that it had wiretapped...

New York, NY - In its struggle to make New York more green, the Bloomberg administration has tried discouraging people from using plastic bags. It has taken out ads beseeching residents to use cloth bags and set up recycling bins for plastic bags at supermarkets. But now the carrots have been put away, and the stick is out: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has called for charging shoppers 6 cents...