New York, NY - More than 200 gun permits issued by three NYPD officers who are accused of taking bribes in exchange for gun licenses have come under scrutiny, with gun owners instructed to surrender any firearms in their possession to police while the investigation continues.
As previously reported on VIN News, Deputy Inspector Michael Endall, Sergeant David Villanueva and Officer Richard Ochetal of the NYPD’s licensing division were all reassigned for having provided former Brooklyn resident Alex Lichtenstein with gun permits for $6,000 each.
Lichtenstein allegedly sold the permits to individuals at a significant profit without performing the requisite background checks.
According to a CBS report, six guns and licenses issued by the three officers have already been revo...
Washington - Donald Trump can thank male voters for his big victory in the Indiana Republican primary.
The billionaire won the support of Republican men by a more than 25-point margin over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who dropped out of the presidential race after his defeat Tuesday night.
On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was drawing the support of black voters and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was attracting younger voters, according to early findings from exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks by Edison Research.
The exit polls also show that Democrats say they’re energized and optimistic about their party’s nomination process, while Republicans say they’re worried their party is being torn apart.
Indiana...
New York - New York City agreed to pay the U.S. government $4.3 million to settle a civil fraud lawsuit accusing the city’s fire department of accepting tens of thousands of improper Medicare reimbursements for emergency ambulance services.
The accord signed on Tuesday resolves claims that the city cheated the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services out of millions of dollars from October 2008 to October 2012 by submitting claims for services that were not medically necessary, violating the federal False Claims Act.
According to court papers, part of the problem may have been linked to the New York City Fire Department’s (“FDNY”) ambulance billing contractor.
The U.S. Department of Justice said that in a review sought by the FDNY, the contractor in...
New York - Fire department officials say the cause of a blaze that destroyed a historic New York City church is under investigation but it could have been candles.
The Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava (SAH’-vah) burned on Sunday, the same day Orthodox Christians around the world celebrated Easter. Fire officials said Tuesday they are looking into whether caretakers at the church may have accidentally placed candles that had not been fully extinguished in a cardboard box after the Easter celebration.
They say the fire is not suspicious, but the investigation is ongoing.
The church was designed by architect Richard M. Upjohn and was built in the early 1850s. One of its earlier congregants was novelist Edith Wharton, who wrote “The Age of Innocence.” She wa...
New York - A prominent art collector and real estate developer has agreed to pay $7 million to settle allegations he failed to pay taxes on about $80 million worth of art, the state attorney general said Tuesday.
The settlement with Aby Rosen followed an investigation that revealed he owed taxes on over 200 works of art, said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Rosen’s whose companies own several New York landmarks, including the Seagram Building that houses the soon-to-be-shuttered Four Seasons restaurant.
Schneiderman contends that from 2002 to 2015, Rosen used a company that he formed, 22nd Century Acquisitions, to purchase the art and a second company, Lever House Artwork, to commission new works. Rosen, the attorney general said, did not pay sales tax on the it...
Washington - Businesses better have good evidence to back up claims of health benefits from their products, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Monday after the Supreme Court rejected POM Wonderful’s challenge to FTC findings that the juice maker’s advertising was misleading.
The Supreme Court left in place a lower-court ruling that largely upheld the regulatory agency’s determination about the pomegranate juice maker’s advertising claims that its products fight ailments such as heart disease, prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction.
“The outcome of this case makes clear that companies like POM making serious health claims about food and nutritional supplement products must have rigorous scientific evidence to back them up,” FTC C...
Stockholm - The president of the European Jewish Congress says Sweden needs to be vigilant of anti-Semitism among some refugees seeking shelter in the Nordic country.
Moshe Kantor on Tuesday said that while Muslim refugees also face bigotry and racism, “anti-Semitism remains a significant problem in Sweden” and should be prioritized.
Kantor spoke to The Associated Press after a meeting in Stockholm with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven.
Sweden has received more asylum-seekers in recent years than any other European country, except Germany. Most come from predominantly Muslim countries including Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
“As Europeans we should be greatly sensitive to the suffering of others, especially those who are running away from oppression, but we ...
San Diego - It’s not only drones and driverless cars that may become the norm someday — ocean-faring ships might also run without captains or crews.
The Pentagon on Monday showed off the world’s largest unmanned surface vessel, a self-driving 132-foot ship able to travel up to 10,000 nautical miles on its own to hunt for stealthy submarines and underwater mines.
The military’s research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, in conjunction with the Navy will be testing the ship off the San Diego coast over the next two years to observe how it interacts with other vessels and avoids collisions. Unlike smaller, remote-controlled craft launched from ships, the so-called “Sea Hunter” is built to operate on its own.
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The 3rd aliyah of Parshas Acharei Mos tells us the intriguing avodah (service) on Yom Kippur of the sa'ir l'azazel-the goat sent off a cliff into the wilderness. We discover the stark differences between the lot of Yaakov and the fate of Se'ir-Esav. The service of Yom Kippur directs us to identify with the heavenly, angelic and transcendent connection with Hashem, as opposed to an underworld of sorcery, which is firmly rooted to the earth and physicality in general.
Click here to listen
Pinellas, FL - A Florida nursing home is under investigation after the death of a man in a wheelchair who was left in the sun, where he suffered second-degree burns, blistering and symptoms of dehydration.
Police in Pinellas Park said 65-year-old Wilbert Henry Moten, who was immobile, spent hours outdoors on Saturday when temperatures rose into the 90s on a humid day. He died later after reportedly suffering heart failure, police said. An autopsy was under way Monday.
The state Department of Children and Families said in a statement Tuesday that it has opened a death investigation. And Shelisha Coleman, spokeswoman for the Agency for Health Care Administration said it’s also looking into the death.
A woman staffing the front desk of GraceWood Rehabilitation and Nursing Car...
Baltimore, MD—May 3, 2016 -- Just about a year ago, STAR-K publicized the psak of HaRav Moshe Heinemann, shlita, on BaltimoreJewishLife.com, regarding the installation of digital water meters in Baltimore City [Baltimore's Newly Installed Digital Water Meters Pose No Threat to Shabbos Observance, posted 5/14/15]. Presently, the residents of Baltimore County are having water meters installed on their properties. These meters are the same as those that were installed in the City and according to the Rav pose no halachic issues for usage on Shabbos and Yom Tov.
When the cover is closed there is no display. When opened, it displays for 30 seconds and then goes blank. (Credit: Jonah Ottensoser)
Washington - Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic presidential primary in Indiana, scoring a late primary season victory over front-runner Hillary Clinton.
The release of a reportedly hazardous material inside the Towson Town Center did not pose a public threat, Baltimore County officials said.
Six people at the mall were evaluated, including a pregnant woman who was taken to the hospital with abdominal pain, which may or may not be related to the pepper spray-like substance that was found in the mall, officials said.
Crews located a localized substance, described by mall security as tear gas-like, on the third floor of the mall and evacuated the immediate area.
The substance was evaluated, and while no definite determination was made, officials said it was pepper spray-like.
Officials did air-monitoring and said there was no threat to the public.
The situation started around 8:25 p.m. at the north part of the complex...
Gaza - An explosion occurred on the northern border of Gaza Wednesday afternoon, the second of the day.
In a statement, the IDF said the unit stationed in the area “returned fire into Gaza using tanks” in response.
There were no injuries among security forces, the IDF noted.
The IDF does not yet know who was behind “both cross border incidents.”
Palestinians in Gaza fired a mortar shell at an IDF unit carrying out operational work on the Gaza border fence earlier in the day..
In a similar response, a IDF tank carried out return fire at a Hamas position in the area, the military said.
There were no injuries among IDF soldiers.
The incident marked the second straight day in which Palestinians in Gaza fired at IDF soldiers on the border.
Ohio - With Donald Trump all but clinching the Republican nomination for president, Hillary Clinton is beginning to explore ways to woo Republicans turned off by the brash billionaire.
The Democratic front-runner’s campaign believes Trump’s historically high unfavorable ratings and penchant for controversy may be enough to persuade a slice of GOP voters to get behind her bid, in much the same way so-called Reagan Democrats sided with the Republican president in the 1980s.
Democrats caution their effort to win over Clinton Republicans — or Hilla-cans, perhaps — is in its earliest stages, but could grow to include ads and other outreach targeted in particular at suburban women in battleground states. Already, aides say, a number of Republicans have private...
Baltimore's school board on Tuesday announced city schools CEO Gregory Thornton is leaving and, at the sane timed, named a former city schools official, now a top official at a Washington education non-profit the new CEO of the district.
Sonja B. Santelisis, 48, is now vice president for K-12 policy and practice at The Education Trust, which focuses on closing the achievement gap. She starts on July 1. This is Thornton's last week--until July, city schools general counsel Tammy Turner will serve as acting CEO.
“We believe Dr. Santelises is the person to lead Baltimore City Schools for the next 10 years,” Marnell Cooper, chairman of the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners, in a statement. “The board recognizes that the work Dr. Santelises perfo...
Washington - Republican John Hammond III had made no secret of his distaste for Donald Trump and his desire to halt his march to the party’s presidential nomination, telling the Indianapolis Star newspaper in March that the mogul was “unfit” to lead the country.
But the Republican National Committee member, a partner at law firm Ice Miller, said no anti-Trump group ever reached out to him, nor did he see any evidence that such groups were in the state until just a few days before voting in Indiana’s primary election. By the time some direct mail and TV ads popped up, it was “too late” to make a difference, he said.
“There was never really any early ‘Stop Trump’ effort in Indiana,” he told Reuters.
Trump became the Repub...
For third time Wednesday, terrorists attack IDF forces stationed along Gaza border; fourth such attack in two days.
Terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired a two mortar shells at IDF engineers operating on the Israeli side of the border Wednesday, as tensions in the south continue to rise.
The mortar strikes - which came hours after a similar attack this morning - bring the total number of similar breaches of the ceasefire by Gazan terrorists in two days to four. IDF forces returned fire at a Hamas military post in response to the second attack.
No soldiers were injured in the first attack on Wednesday, which IDF forces responded to with tank fire.
Early Tuesday evening, terrorists opened fire on IDF forces just hours after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu mad...
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May 3, 2016 at 11:38 pm
Washington - Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump advocated for the continued building of settlements in the West Bank on Wednesday, The Daily Mail reported.
In an interview with the online news purveyor, Trump refuted the notion that halted expansion of Jewish settlements is a prerequisite for peace negotiations.
Contrary to the building magnate’s previous indication of neutrality on the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump rejected the proposal of a halt in new construction.
He asserted that Israel must continue to move forward with building projects, a position that directly contradicts that of both the Obama administration as well as the Palestinian peace-negotiating apparatus.
“Thousands of missiles [are] being launched into Israel. Who wo...
Albany, NY - After wielding power for decades as one of the state’s most influential politicians, former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison after being convicted of using his office to trade favors for millions of dollars in kickbacks. The Manhattan Democrat joined a long and growing list of state lawmakers who have been sentenced for crimes including bribery, conspiracy, tax evasion, fraud and racketeering. More than 30 lawmakers have left office since 2000 facing criminal or ethical allegations.
Here are some of them, and their sentences. All are no longer in the legislature.
—SEN. MALCOLM SMITH, 7 years
Smith, a former Democratic Senate leader, was accused of authorizing $200,000 in bribes to scheme his way onto th...
