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July 24, 2016 at 9:59 am
(CNN) The head of the Democratic National Committee will not speak at the party's convention next week, a decision reached by party officials Saturday after emails surfaced that raised questions about the committee's impartiality during the Democratic primary.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose stewardship of the DNC has been under fire through most of the presidential primary process, will not have a major speaking role in an effort "to keep the peace" in the party, a Democrat familiar with the decision said. The revelation comes following the release of nearly 20,000 emails
One email appears to show DNC staffers asking how they can reference Bernie Sanders' faith to weaken him in the eyes of Southern voters. Another seems to depict an attorney advising the ...
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July 24, 2016 at 9:50 am
Montana - Two youths unaware of their surroundings when they were playing Pokemon GO on their cell phones made an illegal border crossing this week from Canada into the United States in a remote part of Montana, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said.
The two, who were not identified, were found by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Thursday, with their attention affixed to their phones as they were trying to hunt down cartoon characters on a journey that took them over the border.
“Both juveniles were so captivated by their Pokemon GO games that they lost track of where they were,” said Michael Rappold, a spokesman for the agency.
The two were reunited with their mothers at a nearby border patrol station, the agency said.
The game has been an unexpected success from Spain t...
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July 24, 2016 at 9:48 am
Philadelphia - It’s extra sunny in Philadelphia this weekend and hot and humid weather is settling over the City of Brotherly Love as tens of thousands of delegates are about to converge on the city for the Democratic National Convention.
The heat wave is expected to gain momentum this weekend and peak Monday, the convention’s first day, with temperatures possibly hitting 100 degrees, said Mitchell Gaines, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
Many parts of the United States are experiencing higher than normal temperatures — like most of the Midwest — but the Philadelphia area is slated to be the hardest hit in the Northeast. Other parts of the region, including New York City, are in heat advisories. Some New England...
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July 24, 2016 at 9:06 am
New York - A union official said operator error isn’t what caused a crane’s 250-foot-long boom to collapse across New York’s Tappan (TAP’-uhn) Zee Bridge.
Jeff Loughlin, business manager for International Union of Operating Engineers Local 137, told The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/2ajx4lk ) on Friday he’d spoken with the operator who claims to know what spurred the collapse. But Loughlin says he promised investigators he wouldn’t publicly reveal the cause.
Two drivers were injured after the sudden fall Tuesday snarled traffic, closed all seven lanes for hours and caused extensive damage to the 3.1 mile span between Westchester and Rockland counties.
Federal and state officials are investigating. The newspaper said authorities have reviewed...
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July 24, 2016 at 9:04 am
Los Angeles - Wildfires burned out of control Saturday in mountains north of Los Angeles and near Big Sur on California’s scenic Central Coast, posing a threat to 2,000 homes and a sanctuary for exotic animals that was being evacuated, authorities said.
Southern California firefighters toiled in another day of triple-digit heat from a dome of high pressure over the region. While Central Coast temperatures were more moderate, conditions included winds and low humidity.
The fire in northern Los Angeles County grew to 20,000 acres, or more than 31 square miles, spreading smoke across the city and suburbs, reducing the sun to an orange disk at times. Containment was estimated at just 10 percent.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District warned that at times air w...
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July 24, 2016 at 8:59 am
Fort Collins, CO - Thomas Sutherland, who was held captive in Lebanon for more than six years until he was freed and returned home to become professor emeritus at Colorado State University, has died.
Sutherland died in Fort Collins on Friday at the age of 85, according to Colorado State University, where he taught animal science until he left to become dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science at American University in Beirut.
There he was taken hostage by Islamic terrorists in 1985 and held for more than six years.
“The entire Colorado State University community joins once again in honoring a true hero - who believed that an understanding of agricultural science could bring relief to people and communities in hunger — and that education could be a force fo...
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July 24, 2016 at 8:56 am
Washington - A cache of more than 19,000 emails from Democratic party officials, leaked in advance of Hillary Clinton’s nomination at the party’s convention next week in Philadelphia, details the acrimonious split between the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s former rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Several emails posted by Wikileaks on its document disclosure website show DNC officials scoffing at Sanders and his supporters and in one instance, questioning his commitment to his Jewish religion. Some emails also show DNC and White House officials mulling whether to invite guests with controversial backgrounds to Democratic party events.
Although Wikileaks’ posting of the emails Friday did not disclose the identity of who provided the private mat...
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July 24, 2016 at 8:53 am
Jerusalem - Israel’s Foreign Ministry says a senior official has met with a visiting former military general from Saudi Arabia. The meeting marks a rare public engagement between countries that have no official relations.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon says Sunday that Director General Dore Gold met with Anwar Eshki at a Jerusalem hotel. Eshki currently heads a Saudi think tank in Jeddah but is believed to have close ties with the kingdom’s rulers. Official government permission was likely necessary for him to make such an overt visit.
Saudi Arabia has floated a plan for a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors. It has unofficially grown closer to Israel in recent years over their shared concerns regarding Iran.
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July 24, 2016 at 8:37 am
A Lakewood EMT could not have been in a better place at a better time today.
Following Davening this morning, the EMT – who also serves as a Hatzolah member out of town – stopped in front of his neighbor’s home and began Shmoozing with him – despite the extreme heat.
As they were Shmoozing, one of his neighbor’s children came running out of his home hysterical, saying a child was choking.
The father ran inside together with the EMT, and found a three-year-old child choking.
He immediately began performing the Heimlich Maneuver, and seconds later a full lollypop – with its stick – came flying out.
TLS spoke with the EMT, who said he doesn’t know why he was there, but now knows.
“I really don’t know why I even...
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July 23, 2016 at 11:33 pm
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says Donald Trump is a better option for Europe and Hungary than Hillary Clinton.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Saturday became the first European leader to endorse Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, calling him a "better option" for the bloc than his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
"I am not a Donald Trump campaigner. I never thought it would occur to me that of the available options, he would be the better one for Europe and for Hungary", Orban said in an annual speech at a summer school in Baile Tusnad in Romania, according to the AFP news agency.
He added that he was swayed by security proposals Trump had made in his acceptance speech as the Republican Party's presidential nominee on Thursday night.
Trump ha...
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July 23, 2016 at 11:24 pm
Cairo - Evidence gathered in an investigation into the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804 in the Mediterranean Sea in May shows the plane likely broke up in midair after a fire near or inside the cockpit that quickly overwhelmed the crew, according to Egyptian officials involved in the inquiry, the New York Times reported on Friday.
But the officials could not determine whether the fire thought to have caused the crash had been set off by a mechanical malfunction or by a malicious act, the report said.
The findings are based on information from the Airbus A320’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder along with an analysis of the condition and distribution of recovered debris, including human remains, according to forensic and aviation officials in Cairo, the report sai...
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July 23, 2016 at 11:13 pm
Three Baltimore police officers cleared of criminal charges in the death of Freddie Gray now face internal administrative reviews.
The Baltimore Sun reports that Montgomery County police are leading investigations to determine whether Lt. Brian Rice and Officers Caesar Goodson Jr. and Edward Nero broke department rules when they arrested Gray and transported him in a police van last year.
Montgomery County officers are being assisted by Howard County police with the reviews. Internal investigations into the conduct of the other officers will begin after their trials conclude.
Baltimore police commissioner Kevin Davis will decide whether to discipline the officers based on what the outside agencies conclude.
So far, trials for four of the six officers charged in Fred...
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July 23, 2016 at 11:07 pm
New York - During the primaries, Donald Trump threw red-meat rhetoric to supporters, pledging to build a wall on the Mexico border and to ban Muslim immigrants. He even told at least one crowd that he wanted to punch a demonstrator who disrupted an event.
Now that he’s the GOP presidential nominee, who needs to appeal to the whole country, some observers say he’s turning to tried-and-true code words to gin up racial animosity and fear among America’s white voters.
Trump “didn’t get on stage and issue a bunch of racial epithets,” said Emory University political scientist Andra Gillespie, who watched his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. “We didn’t hear the N-word, and we didn’t hear other words that may ...
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July 23, 2016 at 11:02 pm
Cleveland - Donald Trump followed the script in his big speech to the Republican National Convention. Less than 12 hours later, he was free-form again, Trump being Trump, resurrecting a conspiracy theory linking the father of his chief rival from the primaries to John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
Trump’s plunge into a lengthy litigation of past spats with Ted Cruz — even bringing up his retweet of an unflattering photo of Cruz’s wife, Heidi — did nothing to assuage Republican fears about their standard bearer after a national convention complicated by unforced errors.
The episode raised questions, too, about how he might govern inside the White House, having so far led a scattershot campaign marked by a short temper and a seemingly improvised approac...
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July 23, 2016 at 11:01 pm
Jersey, NJ - Officials say 17 passengers suffered mostly minor injuries when a privately-operated ferry struck a dock in New Jersey across from Manhattan.
Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill says the NY Waterway ferry made a hard landing and hit a pier just before 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Injured passengers were taken to local hospitals. Morrill says most injuries appear minor although three people were removed on stretchers.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier says about 40 were aboard the Peter R. Weiss ferry when the collision happened. He says Coast Guard response teams will seek to determine the accident cause and whether any pollution was released.
The private ferries transport passengers to various locations, many along the Hudson River in New York and New Jersey.
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July 23, 2016 at 10:27 pm
Democrats are touting Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Hillary Clinton’s new running mate, as a pro-Israel voice in Congress. The left-wing Forward ran a tribute exulting: “5 Reasons Tim Kaine Will Be the Jewiest Vice President Pick for Hillary Clinton.”
Yet Kaine joined anti-Israel radicals in Congress in boycotting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech in March 2015 — the last plea of a beleaguered nation against an agreement that Iran is already violating with ballistic missile tests.
At the time, Kaine dismissed Netanyahu’s speech as purely an attempt to influence the upcoming Israel elections — on which the speech had virtually no effect — and complained that Republicans were trying to make support for Isra...
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July 23, 2016 at 10:21 pm
This past Thursday, 15 Tammuz, was the yahrzeit of my wife's grandmother, Mrs. Shirley Yeres, Chaya Sheindel bas Alexander.
The previous day was the yahrzeit of R' Yaakov Yitzchack Ruderman, zt"l, the first Rosh HaYeshivah of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel.
Shabbos, 17 Tammuz, is the yahrzeit of R' Shmuel Yaakov Weinberg, zt"l, Rosh HaYeshiva of Ner Yisroel.
The shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmasam.
When inquired as to the identity of his visitors, Bilam responds (22:10) "Balak ben Tzipor, the king of Moav sent them to me." Rashi delves into the motivation behind Bilam's statement. His intent was, "even though I am not dignified in Your eyes, I am dignified in the eyes of kings." R' Ruderman, zt"l, points out...
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July 23, 2016 at 10:14 pm
Los Angeles - The Nielsen company says an estimated 32.2 million people watched Donald Trump deliver his GOP nomination acceptance speech.
Thursday’s audience topped the 30.3 million who watched nominee Mitt Romney’s 2012 speech but fell well short of John McCain’s audience of 38.9 million at the 2008 Republican convention.
This year’s tally reflects viewership across 10 commercial networks, Nielsen said Friday, topped by Fox News Channel with 9.4 million viewers.
The channel’s triumph came the same day that its founder and chief, Roger Ailes, resigned amid a former anchorwoman’s claims of workplace misconduct.
For the closing hour of the four-day convention, CNN drew 5.5 million viewers; NBC 4.6 million; ABC 3.9 million; CBS 3.8 milli...
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July 23, 2016 at 10:08 pm
Munich - The gunman whose rampage at a Munich mall left nine people dead was a depression-plagued teenager who avidly read books and articles about mass killings and apparently tried to lure young victims to their deaths through a faked Facebook posting, authorities said Saturday.
Information from witnesses indicated that his hatred of foreigners might have played a role in the mass shooting, even though he himself was the German-born son of Iranian asylum-seekers.
Most of the dead were youths and all were Munich residents of varied ethnic backgrounds. Hueseyin Bayri, who witnessed one boy’s death, told The Associated Press the shooter screamed a profanity about foreigners and said “I will kill you all” as he pulled the trigger. A video shot of the perpetrat...
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July 23, 2016 at 10:00 pm
In advance of Democratic National Convention, Hillary Clinton announces Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her pick for Vice President.
Presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has revealed that Virginia Senator Tim Kaine will be her running mate in the upcoming election campaign.
Clinton is expected to be formally nominated as the Party's nominee at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) starting this Monday in Philadelphia.
Senator Kaine has a reputation as a moderate Democrat, leaning more towards the political center. The move is intended to please "swing-voters", people who can vote Republican or Democrat, by moving the Democratic ticket more to the moderate side. However, Kaine's nomination may alienate the more extreme left-leaning supporters of...
