New Jersey - Gov. Jon Corzine this morning cast his ballot at the Elks lodge on Washington Street. "There you go, folks," Corzine said as he emerged from the voting booth and laughed when asked whom he voted for New Jersey governor. Just after 9 a.m. independent candidate Chris Daggett showed up at Fellowship Village to cast his vote. Republican New Jersey governor candidate Chris...

New York City- In traditional Election Day fashion, the two mayoral candidates started the day by casting their ballots — presumably for themselves. The Democrat, William C. Thompson Jr., the city comptroller, voted at 7:20 a.m. in Public School 242, on West 122nd Street in Harlem, not far from his home. He was accompanied by his wife, Elsie McCabe, and 12-year-old stepdaughter, Erin...

New York - “If we don’t vote, we don’t exist.” Those words, spoken with passion and conviction by my dear chaver Rabbi Yehiel Kalish, stopped me in my tracks during an enjoyable dinner that we were sharing. Rabbi Kalish ought to know. He serves as National Director of Government Affairs and Midwest Director of Agudath Israel of America. He is charming, engaging, and extraordinarily...

New York - Go to any simcha today, and as soon as the band begins any tune by a particularly legendary composer, everyone is suddenly dancing with the melody on their lips. But who could move people like few could? Who continues to elicit such a visceral, soulful reaction from his music, years after his passing? There could only be one answer: the one and only Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, of...

New York City - Just in time for the election, New York Magazine checks in on New York City architecture and development during the Bloomberg years. Instead of dwelling on the development delays and failures of recent years -- cough, Atlantic Yards, cough Willets Point, cough, Coney Island -- the magazine puts a positive spin on things. The Bloomberg administration has been "doggedly smuggling...

New York - There are people who go through their daily routine oblivious to the suffering and pain that exists around them. Our daf, however, indicates that perhaps we should stop and empathize with others around us that suffer pain and agony. The Gemorah in SHabbos tells us Ma Hu Rachum veChanun af attah rachum veChanun – just as Hashem is merciful and kind – so too must we be merciful and...

Beit Shemesh – The Jerusalem District Court handed down a four-year prison sentence to the mother from Beit Shemesh convicted of abusing six of her twelve children. Her husband was sentenced to six months for similar offenses. The mother, who along with her husband was convicted of aggravated assault and child abuse, would beat her children using various objects, pull out their hair and even...

Israel - A Knesset Law Committee meeting scheduled to prepare a bill aimed at prohibiting anyone from obtaining alcoholic beverages for minors deteriorated into a discussion of whether or not a grandfather should be allowed to give his grandson kiddush wine without the consent of the child's parents. The bill, proposed by Kadima MK Yohanan Plessner, is one of a series of legislative acts aimed...

Cleveland, OH - Prominent University Hospitals Case Medical Center heart transplant surgeon Dr. Arie Blitz spent months working with an Egyptian counterpart to help organize a conference in the North African country that would jumpstart a cardiovascular center in the region. Then he learned that two Israelis -- one a psychologist and the other a dermatologist -- faced political hurdles last...

New York - Even though a lot of folks try to stick to water these days, it's not tough to find die-hard diet soda drinkers. However, one study examined more than 3,000 women for 11 years, and found those who drank two or more diet sodas a day were at double the risk for kidney damage. The researchers did not learn whether it was the soda or the artificial sweetener in the drink that...

Montpelier, VT - A Vermont slaughterhouse ordered closed Friday after video showed calves kicked, shocked and cut while conscious had its operating license suspended three times earlier this year for similar conduct. U.S. Department of Agriculture records show Bushway Packing Inc. of Grand Isle was shut down for a day in May, again in June and again in July after an inspector cited it for...

New York City - On the eve of his corruption trial ex-NYPD top cop Bernard Kerik was offered a plea deal that would get him out of jail in under three years. Kerik faces three federal trials, the first on charges he got $255,000 in apartment renovations from a mob-linked contractor seeking a city permit. The second trial, also in White Plains, involves charges of hiding more than $300,000...

Jerusalem - Many religious educators have grappled with the following issue. Internet connections have already been blocked and taken out of students' homes, but how can one prevent forbidden internet surfing on cell phones? Ynet learned that dozens of rabbis and educators from the Religious Zionism stream have recently signed on a petition demanding cellular companies to offer "kosher"...

Crown Heights, NY - A long-standing rivalry between two Orthodox Jewish neighborhood patrols took center stage yesterday in the trial of a half-dozen men accused of assaulting yeshiva students in Crown Heights two years ago. What began as a brawl in the Brooklyn yeshiva dorm over a revered rabbi has left six members of a Jewish patrol group facing gang assault charges in a state Supreme Court...