New York, NY - Bernard Madoff has hired a veteran prison consultant to help him to find the best possible jail in which to serve his 150-year sentence for Wall Street’s biggest fraud. After his sentencing this week Madoff, now Prisoner No 1727-054, met Herb Hoelter, of the National Centre for Institutions and Alternatives, whose previous clients include the jailed Sotheby’s chairman Alfred...

Woodbourne, NY - A Brooklyn man was airlifted to Westchester Medical Center this afternoon after driving his car into a brook off of Route 52, according to Fallsburg town police. AW, 21, reported falling asleep at the wheel and then finding himself in the brook a little outside the hamlet of Woodbourne. Hatzolah responded to the scene. He is reported to have broken some ribs and was taken...

Alaska - Sarah Palin announced Friday she plans to resign as governor of Alaska in a few weeks, saying she will try to "affect positive change" from outside government. Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008, made the surprise announcement at a press conference at her home in suburban Wasilla. She said the decision has been "in the works" for a while and comes after...

Damascus, Syria - Syria's leader praised President Barack Obama's outreach for dialogue and invited him to visit Damascus in remarks released today just days after the United States said it plans to return its ambassador to Syria after a four year absence. Syrian President Bashar Assad comments came in a telegram he sent to Obama on the occasion of the July 4 Independence Day and in an...

London - According to Hamodia, religious educators have warned parents not to let their children travel alone on the Piccadilly Line, as they might overhear unsuitable announcements over the loudspeaker system. Apparently, Tube drivers have been given a book of quotes which they are being encouraged to read from over the intercom to break the monotony of their passengers' journey. (Apparently...

New Jersey - Protections given to journalists in New Jersey do not apply to people who post online, a judge has ruled. Too Much Media, a Freehold-based firm, wants Shellee Hale of Washington state to reveal her sources for message board posts she made claiming its customer information was compromised last year. The firm, which provides software used by pornographic sites, denies customer...

Lakewood, NJ - The Township Committee took control of Lakewood Airport on Thursday, dissolving the quasi-independent authority that managed it. The committee officially began pursuing the airport in January. Mayor Robert W. Singer has said a primary reason was to expedite efforts to develop some 60 acres of airport property that would supposedly make the 64-year-old aviation hub...

New York - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says his administration is looking at the concept of forcing employers to provide paid sick days. Two other U.S. cities have such measures - San Francisco and Washington, D.C. A voter-approved effort to require it in Milwaukee was recently struck down by a judge who said it was unconstitutional. Bloomberg said at a campaign forum Thursday...

Vienna - U.S., U.K. and Austrian prosecutors are investigating a former Austrian fund manager they believe was paid more than $40 million in kickbacks to funnel billions of dollars of investments to Bernard Madoff. Prosecutors from all three investigations believe Mr. Madoff paid kickbacks to Sonja Kohn while she was chairwoman of Austria's Bank Medici AG via separate companies she controlled...

New York, NY - An analysis by The New York Times of rainfall and homicides for the last six years shows that when it rains substantially in the summertime, there are fewer homicides. When there was no precipitation, there was an average of 17 homicides every 10 days. But when there was an inch or more of rain, the average dropped to 14. The gap is even wider when looking just at Saturdays in...

London - The Bank of Ireland is this week threatening foreclosure on a chasunoh fund, which could impact adversely on several Bnei Torah in Eretz Yisroel. About thirty of them, who bought Traders Endowment Policies partly funded by the Bank of Ireland five years ago for the purpose of building up chasunoh funds for their children, risk losing 80% to 90% of these funds due to a decline in...

New York, NY - A number of New York’s top academic medical centers have higher than average rates of infections compared to other hospitals in the state, according to a New York state Department of Health report. Statewide, New York hospitals have lower rates of surgical-site infections than the rest of the nation, but the same or higher rates of central line-associated (or...

New York, NY - Mayor Bloomberg last night defended the overwhelming pile of money he is spending to win reelection, while two Democrats who want to replace him said he was running a city for the rich. "I made every dime that I have," Bloomberg told the Working Families Party candidate forum, sparking scattered hisses from the crowd of about 250. "I've used my money only to talk about what...

Israel - Concerned that exacting kosher stringencies have pushed meat and poultry prices beyond the reach of many poor haredi families, a group of rabbis is out to prove that a cheap, Glatt kosher chicken is not a contradiction of terms. But these rabbis might be headed for a kosher meat war, complete with mudslinging by competitors fearful of being cut out of the market. Rabbi Baruch...

Munich, Germany - The alleged Nazi war criminal, John Demjanjuk, has been declared fit enough to stand trial in Germany. The announcement followed a medical check. Earlier he had been transferred from a Munich prison to hospital after developing gout, a joint disease. The 89-year-old was deported from the United States to Germany in May after a long extradition battle. He has denied...