Baltimore, MD -  The lockout of musicians in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra reached its second week, and musicians said they are now further apart from management in their contract negotiations after Friday's meetings. The musicians will miss their first paycheck this coming Friday. Management is proposing taking away the musicians' long-term disability benefits, which comes in addition to cutting off pay and health insurance at the end of the month. "What they're doing now with threatening to cut off our ltd threatening to cut of our insurance I mean its so manipulative," said Brian Prechtl, co-chair of the Player's Committee. BSO CEO Peter Kjome said that, "After reviewing the policy, our current understanding is that it does not remain in force; howev...
Baltimore, MD  — Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison detailed a plan he has to address recent violence in the city on Tuesday. As of Tuesday, Baltimore has marked 152 homicides so far this year. Harrison said he wants to focus on microzones. Harrison addressed the city's homicide rate, saying it is higher now than it was at the same time last year. He also described how officers will be required to spend more time in specific zones while on patrol. "It's sad. It's really sad. And I hate to even think about it," said a woman who asked to not to be identified. The woman lives just across the parking lot from the location of the latest Baltimore homicide. Police tape on the ground and on a fence near a playground indicate the area next to a picni...
LINTHICUM, Md. — The summer travel season has arrived and the Transportation Security Agency is expecting the number of travelers passing through Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to be the highest in years. This, as the Maryland Department of Transportation reminds people it is more important than ever to get your Real ID. The TSA is projecting more than 263 million passengers and crew members will pass through security checkpoints at airports around the country this summer. For that reason, officials are reminding folks to get to the airport early. "People who travel during the summer oftentimes are traveling with their children and that tends to slow people down which can cause a little longer line at the checkpoint," Lisa Farbstein, TSA spokeswo...
As Marylanders scramble to schedule their REAL ID appointment, the Motor Vehicle Administration is now required to reschedule all appointments on July 5, after Gov. Larry Hogan extended the Independence Day holiday through the weekend, according to the Baltimore Sun. On Monday, Gov. Hogan announced that state offices would be closed on July 5 for an extended holiday weekend.  The Sun reports that the MVA must reschedule all REAL ID appoints scheduled for July 5, causing a one-day setback in a rush to get more drivers compliant with the federal mandate.  "MDOT MVA is in the process of contacting customers with appointments scheduled for Friday, July 5 and is assisting with rescheduling those appointments," MVA spokeswoman Kellie Boulware wrote to the Sun in an email.  Cus...
Manama, Bahrain - The Trump administration’s $50 billion economic support plan for the Palestinians cannot succeed without addressing the political elements of a Middle East deal, international financial chiefs and global investors said Wednesday in comments that pushed back on the U.S. insistence that the two must be separated. Panelists at the two-day conference in Bahrain welcomed the proposal’s ambitious investment and development goals, but warned it would fall short without good governance, rule of law and realistic prospects for lasting peace — which they said are largely missing from the initiative. Their views were aired as the Palestinians repeated their outright rejection of the so-called “Peace to Prosperity” plan because it ignores their politic...
United Nations - The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said donors pledged $113 million Tuesday to help over 5 million Palestinians this year, calling it an encouraging step but short of alleviating a “precarious” funding situation. Pierre Krahenbuhl said the U.N. Relief and Works Agency faced “the unprecedented reality” last year of having the United States, its single largest donor, cut funding from $360 million to just $60 million, and this year it received nothing from the Trump administration. Krahenbuhl said 42 countries and institutions increased their contributions last year so the agency could finance its $1.2 million budget and UNRWA has kept the same $1.2 billion budget this year in hopes donors will be equally generous. But the agency s...
Bar Harbor, ME - Gordon Goodwin and his wife are rediscovering their passion for bicycling in their senior years thanks to new electric-assist bikes. The electric motors provide a gentle kick, making it easier for them to pedal up hilly roads around Maine’s Acadia National Park. “We’re getting older,” said Gordon, who turns 69 Wednesday. But, he added, “It’s nice to go somewhere and have the breeze in your hair, like you did when you were young.” They can’t get that experience on Acadia’s bicycle paths, though. The National Park Service classifies their so-called e-bikes as motorized vehicles, relegating them mostly to paved roads clogged with summer traffic. Nationwide, the agency and others that manage public lands keep thousands o...
Washington - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has agreed to call a Senate vote on a bill ensuring that a victims’ compensation fund for the Sept. 11 attacks never runs out of money. That’s according to a group of first responders who met Tuesday with the Kentucky Republican at the Capitol. John Feal, a recovery worker and a longtime activist, says McConnell has “a sense of urgency” about the bill and wants to see it approved before Congress goes on its August recess. Feal says approving the bill in the House and Senate by August would be “way ahead of schedule” and a credit to McConnell and advocates such as comedian Jon Stewart. Stewart has criticized McConnell and other congressional leaders for failing to ensure that the $7 billion fund is r...
New York - FedEx Corp. posted weak quarterly results in its core express business and warned Tuesday that its profit in the year ahead will be hurt by slowing growth in the world economy and the decision to drop a contract with retail giant Amazon. The delivery company reported a quarterly loss of nearly $2 billion. After adjusting for a change in pension-plan accounting and other items that the company doesn’t expect will repeat, however, the results were better than Wall Street expected. FedEx started a new fiscal year this month, and Chief Financial Officer Alan Graf said the company’s performance, especially at FedEx Express, is being hurt by continued weakness in global trade and industrial production. The company announced this month that it would not renew an airfreig...
New York - Ratings figures show Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson enjoyed a ratings surge from last week’s 2020 Trump campaign kickoff rally. Viewers watching last week’s event in Orlando, Florida, boosted cable star “Hannity” to a top 10 showing among both broadcast and cable programs. According to Nielsen figures released Tuesday, Hannity’s rally coverage drew 5 million viewers and ranked 7th among all weekly programs. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” landed at No. 14 with 4.5 million viewers. While Fox News covered the hour-plus rally live and in full, it got relatively limited attention from competitors MSNBC and CNN. Overall, NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” was the most-watched show with 10 million viewers.
Boston, MA - Wayfair Inc came under pressure on Tuesday after hundreds of employees were reported to be planning a walkout over the retailer’s alleged sale of more than $200,000 in bedroom furniture for a Texas detention facility for migrant children. Shares of the company fell 5.3% to $144.40 on the New York Stock Exchange. A Twitter account under the handle @wayfairwalkout, created this month with a following of more than 13,000 including high-profile Democratic U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called for the work stop on Wednesday. Wayfair, headquartered in Boston, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The @wayfairwalkout account referred Reuters to the company and Reuters was not able to confirm it was created by Wayfair employees. Democratic pres...
Gaza Strip - Thousands of Palestinians are rallying outside a U.N. compound in the Gaza Strip to protest the White House-led Mideast peace conference in Bahrain. The demonstrators gathered Wednesday, raising a black coffin that read “Bahrain conference to hell,” and signs that said “We are not trading our rights for money.” Palestinians burned effigies of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The protesters called out Trump’s son-in-law, chanting “Kushner, Palestine is not for sale.” The U.S. president’s senior adviser Jared Kushner is spearheading the $50 billion U.S. economic plan for the Palestinians. The proposal, which omits key political aspects, has been met with scorn by Palestinians and their leaders. Th...
Managua - Four men with suspected ties to the Islamic State militant group were captured on Tuesday by members of the Nicaraguan armed forces after entering the country illegally from Costa Rica, Nicaraguan police said. In a statement, Nicaraguan police said two of the men were Egyptian nationals and the other two were Iraqi. The four were due to be deported back to Costa Rica, it added. The men entered the country through an unauthorized crossing point known as La Guasimada in the Cardenas municipality on Nicaragua’s southwestern border with Costa Rica, police said. After capturing the men at around 10 a.m., the army handed over the suspects to national police for further investigation, whereupon they were taken to migration authorities for deportation via the Penas Blancas borde...
Chicago - President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump said the U.S. Secret Service took an employee of a Chicago cocktail lounge into custody after she spit on him. Eric Trump told Breitbart News in a telephone interview that it was “purely a disgusting act by somebody who clearly has emotional problems.” He implied that the incident was an example of Democrats’ showing frustration for the successes of his father’s Republican administration. “For a party that preaches tolerance, this once again demonstrates they have very little civility,” he said. “When somebody is sick enough to resort to spitting on someone, it just emphasizes a sickness and desperation and the fact that we’re winning.” His comments came after reports of the all...
Concord, NH - The head of the Massachusetts motor vehicle division has resigned for failing to terminate the commercial driving license of a man whose collision with a group of motorcyclists on a rural New Hampshire road left seven bikers dead. Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to seven counts of negligent homicide. Massachusetts Department of Transportation Secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack said in a statement that the state Registry of Motor Vehicles failed to act on information provided by the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles about a drunken driving arrest involving Zhukovskyy. Pollack said the arrest should have cost him his commercial driving license. As a result, she accepted the resignation of Erin Deveney. Manny Ribeiro, who survived the crash, said...
Washington - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was “not talking boots on the ground” if military action were necessary against Iran, and said any conflict would not last long. Asked if a war was brewing, Trump told Fox Business Network: “I hope we don’t but we’re in a very strong position if something should happen.” “I’m not talking boots on the ground,” Trump said. “I’m just saying if something would happen, it wouldn’t last very long.” The comments come just days after Trump canceled air strikes minutes before impact, with allies warning that the increase in tensions since the United States pulled out of a nuclear pact with Iran last year could accidentally lead to war. Iran suggested it was...
Baltimore, MD - June 26, 2019 -  BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Rabbi Hillel & Mrs. Tamar Feldman on the birth of a daughter. Mazel Tov to grandparents Mr. & Mrs. Nechemiah Feldman and Mr. & Mrs. Ari Lampert יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בתם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן
Tel Aviv - Israel is experiencing unexplained GPS disruptions in its airspace but measures are in place to allow safe landings and takeoffs at its main international airport, the government said on Wednesday. The announcement by the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) followed a report on Tuesday by the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) that “many” pilots had lost satellite signals from the Global Positioning System around Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. Confirming there had been GPS disruptions for approximately the past three weeks, an IAA statement said these affected only airborne crews and not terrestrial navigation systems. Israeli authorities had worked from the outset to locate the source of the problem and fix it, it added. A...
President Donald Trump’s special adviser on Mideast negotiations Jason Greenblatt took part in a rare group prayer with American rabbis and members of Bahrain’s tiny Jewish community on Wednesday morning at the at the Gulf Kingdom’s only synagogue.Vu (Video Credit: BELAAZ) Bahrain’s tiny Jewish community totals approximately 34 people, making it one of the smallest in the world.  As such, minyanim are very rare to find in the Bahrain Synagogue in Manama — the only Jewish shul in the Gulf Kingdom. The minyan was held on the sidelines of the US-led “Peace to Prosperity” economic conference towards Mideast peace in Manama. “This is an example of the future we can all build together,” Greenblatt wrote on Twitter, adding that he pray...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to testify publicly before Congress on July 17 after Democrats issued subpoenas to compel him to appear, the chairmen of two House committees announced. Mueller’s unusual back-to-back testimony in front of the House Judiciary and the Intelligence committees is likely to be the most highly anticipated congressional hearing in years, particularly given Mueller’s resolute silence throughout his two-year investigation into Russian contacts with President Donald Trump’s campaign . Mueller never responded to angry, public attacks from Trump, nor did he ever personally join his prosecutors in court or make announcements of criminal charges from the team. His sole public statement came from th...
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