Deal, NJ - The government’s key witness in a corruption case where public officials allegedly accepted cash bribes made nearly $200,000 in campaign donations to prominent Democratic and Republicans candidates and committees in New Jersey. While some now say they’ll return his contributions or turn them over to charities, no politician made such promises three years ago when the witness was...

London - A Jewish school set up in a residential home in Golders Green without planning permission should be shut down, London's High Court was told. Barnet Council is seeking an injunction against Beis Hamadrash Elyon School for alleged breaches of planning control. Lawyers for the council told the court that no planning permission has ever been granted to turn the house at 221 Golders...

New Jersey - Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) had a chance to do business with a man posing as a developer — if only he would mix his private law practice with public business. Advertisement The temptation allegedly came in a telephone call from Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith (D-Hudson) on behalf of Solomon Dwek, who was posing as a developer, when in fact he was working undercover...

New York - Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food, according to a major study published Wednesday. Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said consumers were paying higher prices for organic food because of its perceived health benefits, creating a global organic market worth an estimated $48 billion in 2007. A systematic review of...

New York - It's going to cost you more to check bags on an American Airlines flight. American said this week that checking the first bag will cost $20, up from $15, and a second bag will cost $30, up from $25. The change takes effect on tickets bought after Aug. 13 for travel within the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands on American and its regional affiliate, American...

New York City - NYC Radio talk show Brian Lehrer interviewed yesterday former New York Mayor David Dinkins. Dinkins, who was elected New York's first black mayor 20 years ago, looks back on a legacy shadowed by his having, as he puts it, "screwed up" the Crown Heights riots, and reflects on the fact that Crown Heights will be in the lead of his New York Times obituary. You can listen to the...

New York - The New Jersey corruption probe that the arrest of a New York man accused of black-market kidney trafficking has drawn attention to what transplant experts say is a look-the-other-way attitude at some U.S. hospitals about the source of organs. Some hospitals do not inquire very deeply into the origin of the organs they transplant because such operations can be highly lucrative...

Bethel, NY - A suspicious package at a Bank in the Catskills, [reported here by VIN News] turned out to be a device designed to read ATM card information and a tiny camera meant to record PIN numbers was discovered at the Bank of America at the intersection of Schultz Road and Route 17B on Wednesday, according to the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office. Bank video shows that the device was...

Jerusalem - Secular residents of the Jerusalem neighborhood Kiryat Yovel harshly criticized Mayor Nir Barkat for "selling them out" in allowing ultra-Orthodox groups to open a synagogue in an abandoned building there. They said Barkat was trying to ingratiate himself with his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners. The news comes after something of a victory for the secular residents, who have been...

New York - Shabtai Zvi, a false messiah of the 17th century, was born on Tisha Be'av 5386 (1626). During the Inquisition and after the expulsion from Spain (which occurred on Tisha Be'av), many people turned to Kabbala and mysticism, became despondent because of the terrible tragedies, and a tension grew between those who sought stricter halacha and those who resisted authority or wanted halacha...

Tisha, Ba'v - This year, on Tishah B’av day July 30, the Chofetz Chaim heritage Foundation is presenting a Video “What Tisha B'Av Should Mean to You,” at more than 700 locations in 16 countries. Four Gedolim Share Their Insights Rabbi Yissocher Frand, Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro, Rabbi Eli Mansour, and Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky. The Beis Hamikdash was destroyed on Tisha B’Av because of sinas...