The man who admitted to killing 13-year-old Jayme Closs’ parents before kidnapping and holding her hostage for 88 days was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday. Jake Patterson, 21, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of intentional homicide and one of kidnapping. The bodies of Jayme’s parents, Denise and James Closs, were found in their Barron, Wisconsin, home in October 2018, according to police. But Jayme was missing. Three months later, the young teen managed to escape the Wisconsin cabin where Patterson kept her hidden after fatally shooting her parents. Soon after, Patterson was arrested and eventually confessed to the killings and kidnapping in a letter purportedly sent by him from jail to a TV reporter. “I knew when I was caught (which I thought ...
President Donald Trump called the federal judge who temporarily blocked construction of the southern border wall “another activist Obama appointed judge,” and said his administration would appeal the decision. Trump tweeted his response Saturday afternoon from Japan where he is currently on a state visit. It was around 4 a.m. Sunday there. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr., of the Northern District of California, ruled Friday that some construction of the wall using money not appropriated by Congress be put on hold as the court considers a legal challenge to Trump’s decision to circumvent Congress to pay for his wall. “Another activist Obama appointed judge has just ruled against us on a section of the Southern Wall that is already under construction,&rdquo...
Israel’s National Fire and Rescue Authority announced on Saturday night that it had succeeded in containing the massive rash of fires which ripped through the country in recent days, causing the evacuation of 3,500 people, the destruction of dozens of homes and over 500 acres of woodlands. A whopping 1,023 fires were extinguished over the past three days, by approximately 1,000 firefighters and 300 volunteers. Though help arrived from Egypt, Greece, Croatia, Italy and Cyprus in the form of 120 aerial missions, the town of Mevo Modi’im in the Ben Shemen Forest was almost completely destroyed, and Kibbutz Harel lost 10 buildings. Some of the blazes, including the one which consumed Mevo Modi’im, began on the Jewish holiday of Lag B’Omer, which is marked by the ligh...
On Sunday, residents of Mevo Modi’im visited the ruins of the devastated community for the first time since the catasttrophic fire burned through most of the small moshav. To the residents surprise, upon inspecting the the ruins of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s private residence they discovered that most of library survived the conflagration. Boxes of highly flammable seforim were sitting untouched in middle of all the ruins and wreckage left by the fire. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach began the moshav in 1975 with some of his closest followers. The moshav grew and in 2017 a census showed that the population had reached 285 residents. Currently the entire community is being hosted by neighboring communities, families and friends, with hopes of rebuilding the unique community in the near f...
Baltimore, MD - May 26, 2019 - Today is the last day so be sure to visit Shabsi's Judaica Center where everything is on sale from 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM.  Click here to view Shabsi's brochure showing fantastic savings offered specificaly for this event . Shabsi Schneider looks forward to greeting you personally today.  Shomrei Emunah–Shabsi’s Judaica Annual Seforim Sale Location: Shabsi’s Judaica Center 6830-A Reisterstown Road • Baltimore, Maryland 21215 410.358.2200Click on the graphic below to view sale catalogue
Baltimore, MD – May 25, 2019 - It is with deep sadness that BaltimoreJewishLife.com informs the community of the petirah of Mr.  Chanoch Erntroy, zl, brother of Mrs. Chana (Abe) Bamberger. Shiva will be observed beginning Sunday morning, May 26,  at 3108 Parkington Ave., until Shabbos. Visiting Hours 10am-1pm.  2pm-6pm    7-930pm  Bila HaMaves LaNetzach...
BREAKING: Strong winds and hail are possible Saturday night in parts of central Maryland, the National Weather Service warns. The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning Saturday night for parts of Howard, Baltimore, Carroll, Montgomery and Frederick counties. Two severe thunderstorms were located over the Frederick area between 10:45 and 11 p.m., weather officials reported. After 11 p.m., radar indicated a severe thunderstorm near Frederick that was moving east at 40 mph, according to authorities. There may be 60 mph winds and quarter-size hail, the National Weather Service reported. A strong thunderstorm near Frederick was detected at 10:49 p.m. that was producing up to 1 inch of rain per hour as well as wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph and hail, weather officials ...
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — May 25, 2019 - 10:23 PM -There is reportedly a large pedestrian presence and fights involving more than 100 subjects in the area of Light St and E. Pratt St near the Inner Harbor, causing traffic delays. Police have requested additional officers from other districts and multiple suspects are in custody. However, fights are continuing as a large group of individuals is attempting to push their way toward the inner harbor.  Avoid the area if possible
After publicly considering paying the hackers who have held city systems hostage for 17 days, Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. "Jack" Young settled on not giving them a dime. WBAL-TV 11's David Collins talked to experts who said the code is impossible to break. The hackers are demanding 13 Bitcoins (about $100,000) to unlock the system. Young said that even if the city paid the ransom, there's no guarantee that the city will get all its data back. Instead, officials are revamping city government's entire network infrastructure and using workarounds in the meantime. The FBI doesn't support paying hackers. Besides offering no guarantee that victims will get their data back, the money emboldens cyber criminals and others who want to become cyber criminals, and ...
Several top British Jewish and pro-Israel groups paid tribute to Prime Minister Theresa May after she announced her resignation on Friday. Board of Deputies of British Jews President Marie van der Zyl stated, “We sincerely thank Theresa May for being a true friend to the Jewish community during her time in office. While Mrs. May has been Prime Minister, her Government has adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism; marked the Balfour Centenary with pride; banned terror organization Hizballah; increased security funding to the CST so that our schools, community centers and places of worship are protected; opposed anti-Israel bias at the UN Human Rights Council; supported our Jewish schools through resolving issues around Gift Aid; drove forward plans for a Holocaust memorial beside ...
WATCH: Next Level Warmth Join our Next Level Call Center on June 3rd or 4th! Click here to sign up! Door prizes! Refreshments! Giveaways! It's going to be NEXT LEVEL! June 2019 6/3-6/4: NextLevel Giving 6/22: NextLevel Shabbos 6/24: NextLevel Celebrationfeaturing Avraham Fried! STAY TUNED
Boston - It was late at night and a group of Jewish teenagers were on a walk around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir in Massachusetts. Boston College Police Officer Carl Mascioli was on patrol. “As I approached them, two of them ran up to my car,” said the patrolman. “There was a body in the water.” Mascioli ran down the embankment and found a man partially submerged and not moving. “While I was pulling him out of the water, I also observed that he had a swastika on his hand,” said Mascioli. It turned out the man the Jewish boys helped save had a tattoo of the Nazi symbol, and Mascioli told them about it. “I kind of let the gentlemen know sometimes some deeds have a funny way of turning around,” said the officer. “Their good deed had a...
Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman offered the other right-wing parties an ultimatum over his demands that the Knesset pass the law enforcing yeshvia bochurim be drafted to the army, writng, “We will not budge a millimeter from the original version of the Draft Law. Accept our offer, and if you don’t – we’ll hold repeat elections. On Friday, UTJ leaders Yakov Litzman and Moshe Gafni claimed that “Liberman does not want to join a Netanyahu government, for his own reasons, and so he quit the government a few months ago and now is attempting to use the Draft Law as an excuse, when in reality he’s the only one who is not allowing the formation of a right-wing government.” Lieberman says he is not opposed to joining the coalition – as long as...
A women’s-only pond in North London will now be open to transgender swimmers, which will prevent Orthodox Jews from using the pond. A group of ultra-Orthodox women are planning to fight the decision, the London-based Jewish Chronicle reported. The decision concerning the pond on Hampstead Heath was announced this week. Edward Lord, who headed the committee that approved the change, said it “will ensure our public services do not discriminate against trans people.” The Hampstead ponds also include one for men only and one for mixed swimming. Read more at Times of Israel.
The Trump administration, facing rising tensions with Iran, plans to reinforce its military presence in the Middle East by sending another few thousand forces to the region to step up missile defense and surveillance, according to U.S. officials. The decision to send the additional forces to U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations across the Middle East, was made late Thursday during a meeting at the White House between President Donald Trump and top Pentagon leaders, the officials said. Ahead of the meeting, acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan said the purpose of any additional troops would be to ensure the protection of U.S. forces and avoid the risk of Iranian miscalculation that could lead to a broader conflict. “Our job is deterrence. This is not about ...
As wildfires destroyed most of the 50 or so homes in the town of Mevo Modi’in in central Israel on Thursday, Israelis from all around the country and Jewish organizations have sent emergency assistance to the families affected as Shabbos approached. The moshav had a population of 246 in 2017. Some 3,500 residents were evacuated from their homes in the extended area affected by the fires with only a few minutes warning, with more than 200 returning on Friday morning to find their homes severely damaged, and some even burnt to the ground. According to Magen David Adom spokesman Zaki Heller, two-dozen people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation, including two in moderate condition. Feigie Troupiansky, who grew up on the moshav, told JNS that the community has been relocated to a you...
Elad Frizat, 3, died over Shabbos in a Tzfat fire which broke out in a residential building on the city’s David Elazar Street. Frizat was transferred to the city’s Ziv Medical Center in critical condition, as paramedics performed CPR. He was later declared dead. The fire injured eighteen others, including a 4-year-old boy who suffered burns and a 14-year-old girl who was having difficulty breathing. The other victims suffered from smoke inhalation. “Despite the medical staff’s hour-long attempt to revive the 3.5 year old boy, doctors were forced to declare his death. We share the family’s sorrow. Medical staff and a social worker are with them,” a hospital statement read. The tragedy is the latest fire related catastrophe to occur in Israel this week....
Gov. Larry Hogan vetoed eight bills on Friday, including measures to abolish the Handgun Permit Review Board and bar most employers from asking about the criminal history of job applicants. The gun bill would have sent appeals of wear and carry permits denied or limited by Maryland State Police to the Office of Administrative Hearings. Democrats had raised concerns that review board members appointed by the governor were too frequently overruling state police. In a letter to lawmakers, Hogan said lawmakers should have instead focused on his proposals to curb repeat violent offenders. "This measure does nothing to prevent guns from getting into the hands of dangerous people," Hogan wrote. "The majority of cases overturned or modified by the Handgun Permit Review Board were merely appeals...
BGE on Friday asked Maryland's utility regulator to approve an raise in electric and gas rates. The utility is asking the Maryland Public Service Commission to let it secure $133 million to reflect the cost of infrastructure inspections and improvements. BGE last requested an electricity rate hike in 2015, and had natural gas rates reviewed last year. Under the proposal, the average electric bill would increase by $3.74. The average gas customer's bill would jump by $5.27. The average customer who uses both would see their bill go up by $8.53. However, BGE officials say that customers who get both electric and gas would still be paying on average 10% less than they did a decade ago. "While we know that any proposed increase may be a challenge for some of our customers, we also...
Jerusalem - Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in the central city of Tel Aviv Saturday, protesting proposed legislation granting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immunity from prosecution on a series of corruption charges. The protesters outside the city’s Museum of Art also called for protecting Israel’s democratic identity against government overreach. The rally was a show of force by the new opposition parties a month after Netanyahu was re-elected to his fourth successive term as prime minister. Yair Lapid of Israel’s Blue and White party compared Netanyahu’s efforts to consolidate his power to Turkey’s authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “We won’t let you be Erdogan. We won’t have a Turkish dictator. We won’t al...
More articles