Manhattan, NY - State Senate Democrats and other Democratic officials and allies will be meeting at the Harlem offices of the Rev. Al Sharpton on Saturday, according to two people with knowledge of the plans, to discuss the impasse in the State Senate and how to move forward. Though several invitees to the summit were told that Gov. David A. Paterson had confirmed he would attend, a spokesman...

Ramapo, NY - Variances from zoning codes for the proposed Bobover Yeshiva on Route 306 have been rejected by the town. The Zoning Board of Appeals rejected allowing the variances by a 4-1 vote. It was uncertain today whether Bobover would appeal to the state Supreme Court. Following that public hearing, the zoning board voted 3-2 to grant variances to Mesifta Beth Shraga for a yeshiva and...

Albany, NY - A state official says Gov. David Paterson will call a special session of New York's Senate Wednesday if battling senators fail to resolve a two-week power struggle. Paterson would compel senators to session if they don't settle the leadership question by the end of Monday, the regular session's last day. Senators would have to attend but Paterson can't make them vote. The...

Chicago, IL - A Chicago couple married in surgical masks and latex gloves after learning less than 48 hours before that they both had swine flu. Ilana Jackson and Jeremy Fierstien went ahead with the ceremony after doctors assured them guests wouldn't be at serious risk. But to be sure, the 26-year-olds kept a 10-foot distance from family and friends at all times, even walking around the...

New York, NY - The president of Manhattan investment firms, was sentenced today to 100 months in prison for operating a $13 million investment fraud and Ponzi scheme. HR 44 of Manhattan, was convicted on securities and wire fraud charges on April 3, 2009, following a five-day jury trial. United States District Judge imposed the sentence today in Manhattan federalcourt. As established by...

Monrovia, CA - Anti-Israel groups under the umbrella of the "U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel" recently sent form letters to Retail chain store Trader Joe's headquarters demanding the company stop carrying Israeli products as these products "help fund an economy based on illegal occupation and apartheid." Traders Joe's has more than 300 stores in the U.S. with...

Netherlands - Dutch police have arrested twin brothers on suspicion of robbery after their alleged victim spotted a picture of them following him on Google's Street View map application, a spokesman said Friday. Paul Heidanus, a police spokesman in the town of Groningen, said he believed it was the first time Street View images had been used in a Dutch criminal investigation. For us, it is...

Ottawa, Canada - The Federal Court of Canada has rejected a Jewish group's attempt to revoke the citizenship of a former Nazi guard, saying the decision to allow the man to stay in Canada was reasonable and in keeping with the Charter of Rights. B'nai Brith Canada wanted the court to overrule a federal cabinet decision not to revoke the citizenship of Ukrainian-born Wasyl Odynsky. Odynsky...

Paris, France - Air France said Friday it would give about $24,000 as an advance to the families of the victims of the crash of Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Remains of some of the 228 dead, and hundreds of pieces of wreckage reclaimed from the sea off Brazil are helping experts build a picture of what happened to the Airbus A330. But much hope still is pinned on the...

Jerusalem - Devora, an Orthodox Jewish woman, never felt comfortable in the sleek, revealing bathing suits sold at the stores she frequented in her native France or in her adopted Israel. While she ordinarily wears fashionable skirts that fall below the knee and blouses that extend to her wrists, Devora, 31, was unable to find a swimsuit consistent with her Orthodox lifestyle. Her standards...

Newark, NJ - Simon Schapira never noticed anything amiss in the cockpit, even from his seat a few feet away in one of Continental Flight 61’s front rows. When flight attendants paged a doctor, he shrugged it off without guessing the truth: The pilot, 60-year-old Houstonian Craig Lenell, had died suddenly during the flight from Brussels. The co-pilot and a backup pilot who also was part of...

Israel - German officer Wilhelm "Wilm" Hosenfeld saved two Jews from the Nazi Holocaust, including Wladyslaw Szpilman, whose story was the basis of the Oscar-winning film "The Pianist." But he died in obscurity in a Soviet prison after World War II. More than 60 years later, Israel's Yad Vashem honored him Friday with the "Righteous Among the Nations" distinction — presenting members of his...

Washington - Car shoppers could take advantage of government incentives worth up to $4,500 this summer to send their old gas guzzler to the scrap heap in favor of a more fuel-efficient new vehicle. President Barack Obama is expected to sign into law the "cash for clunkers" program, which was approved by the Senate on Thursday. For owners of low-mileage models such as the 1994 Ford Bronco, 1998...

New York, NY - The city will forgive late fees for so-called quality of life violations for a three-month period starting this autumn, provided small businesses and residents can show the problems are being fixed, the Council Speaker said. The Environmental Control Board, an administrative body that rules on noncriminal offenses from potholes to graffiti, is owed about $200 million in such...

Albany, NY - “Today’s unemployment report from the Department of Labor is further proof that these are serious times in New York State that require the full attention of every elected member of the Legislature. There are now more than 800,000 New Yorkers without jobs, and the statewide unemployment rate has reached a 16-year high. At the current rate, while the Senate has failed to do any...