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January 19, 2022 at 11:12 am
The Biden administration will begin making 400 million N95 masks available for free to U.S. residents starting next week, now that federal officials are emphasizing their better protection against the omicron variant of COVID-19 over cloth face coverings.
The White House announced Wednesday that the masks will come from the government’s Strategic National Stockpile, which has more than 750 million of the highly protective masks on hand. The masks will be available for pickup at pharmacies and community health centers across the country. They will begin shipping this week for distribution starting late next week, the White House said.
This will be the largest distribution of free masks by the federal government to the public since the COVID-19 pand...
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January 19, 2022 at 11:09 am
Is it better to wear an N95 or cloth mask right now?
Health experts suggest stepping up protection against the highly contagious omicron variant with stronger masks such as N95s or KN95s.
It’s especially important now with health care systems under strain, and with people in higher-risk situations such as crowded, indoor settings for extended periods, says Linsey Marr, who studies viruses at Virginia Tech.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its guidance to recommend the kinds of masks used by health care workers, but also noted it’s important to pick a mask that fits well and that you’ll wear consistently.
“Our main message continues to be that any mask is better than no mask,” CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said in a st...
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January 19, 2022 at 11:06 am
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defied calls to resign in a feisty performance Wednesday in Parliament — but it may be too little to prevent a push by his Conservative Party’s lawmakers to oust him over a series of lockdown-flouting government parties.
Pressure on the prime minister grew as one Conservative lawmaker defected to the opposition Labour Party and a former Conservative Cabinet Minister told him: “In the name of God, go!”
The demand from former Brexit Secretary David Davis came during a combative Prime Minister’s Questions session in the House of Commons, where Johnson defended his government’s record in running the economy, fighting crime and dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
The allegations that Johnson and his staff broke restr...
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January 19, 2022 at 10:56 am
Rules are everywhere. In every society, culture, family and group. What is the difference between baseball and football? Rules. From the ancient Laws of Hammurabi to English Common Law which, though not codified, has governed Britain since the twelfth century, laws have defined each society and culture on earth.
Every people who ever existed has had rules and laws, yet it is Jews who have been most associated with them. And not unfairly. After all, we are a people not simply contained by our laws but unified by our laws, our mitzvot.
Jewish laws.
But if everyone has rules and laws, many of them the same – don’t kill, steal, or commit adultery, teach honor for parents – what makes our Torah, our law, unique? Ther...
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January 19, 2022 at 10:52 am
Although the FBI initially said the man who held four people hostage at a Texas reform temple was focused on an issue “not specifically related to the Jewish community,” the captor voiced beliefs that Jews controlled the world and had the power to arrange the release of a prisoner, survivors said after their escape.
The gunman’s words were all too familiar to Jewish leaders and terror experts, who saw the attack on Congregation Beth Israel as yet another in the rising number of antisemitic hate crimes, a sign of the continued need of vigilance and interfaith solidarity.
The hostage-taker — identified by authorities as Malik Faisal Akram — “thought he could come into a temple, and we could get on the phone with the ‘Chief Rabbi of America&rsq...
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January 19, 2022 at 10:46 am
The status of land in and around Yerushalayim is especially complicated. Ownership and laws have changed under various rulers over the centuries. From the Ottomans to the British, to the new State of Israel, captured by the Jordanians and occupied from 1948-1967, lands and ownership have changed hands repeatedly.
A property in the Shimon Hatzadik neighborhood or more commonly known recently as the Sheikh Jarrah has made international headlines. Mohammed Salhiya ignoring court-ordered eviction orders since 2017 went to the roof of his house and threatened to set himself on fire to avoid eviction.
On a zoom press conference organized by Media Central, Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum discussed details of the situation and provided visual slides to show the...
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January 19, 2022 at 10:25 am
Once again, most of the Baltimore area will have to brace for some more winter weather over the next couple of days.
First, rain could start after 10 p.m. Wednesday. Then, it transitions into snow around 5 a.m. Thursday and ends near 11 a.m. Unfortunately, road crews will not be able to pre-treat before this one, because it will start as rain, but there is still some residual salt left on the roads from the previous events.
Expect as much as a light coating to 2 inches for the Baltimore metro area.
Friday night into Shabbos
As for the potential coastal storm Friday night into Saturday, models are showing another low system could form along the coast. Early forecast models indicate this one seems to track farther east than the last one. If it tracks too far offshore, it could mis...
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January 18, 2022 at 11:24 pm
Baltimore, MD – Jan. 18, 2022 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Yehuda Bortz (St. Louis) and Hannah Grayman (Baltimore) on their engagement.
יה"ר שיזכו לבנות בית נאמן בישראל. אמן!
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January 18, 2022 at 11:18 pm
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday advised against travel to 22 nations and territories because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases, including Israel.
The CDC elevated its travel recommendation to “Level Four: Very High,” telling Americans they should avoid travel to those destinations, which also include Panama, Qatar, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Suriname, Saint Lucia and Bolivia.
In total, the CDC now lists just over 100 countries and territories at “Level 4.” The CDC also raised another 20 countries to Level 3: High,” including Uganda, Kuwait, Jamaica, Costa Rica and Cuba. The CDC recommends that unvaccinated Americans avoid nonessential travel to those destinations.
...
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January 18, 2022 at 11:17 pm
Baltimore, MD – Jan. 18, 2022 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Faiga Bracha & Tzvi Piasek on the birth of a daughter.
Mazel Tov grandparents Shana & Moshe Kravetz
יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בתם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן!
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January 18, 2022 at 11:12 pm
The surge in coronavirus infections due to the fast-paced spread of the omicron variant is expected to peak in a week, a top Israeli health official said.
“In the coming week, we will still see increasing numbers, but in another week we will start to see a decline,” Health Ministry Director General Nachman Ash said in an Army Radio interview on Tuesday. “There are another two or three difficult weeks ahead.”
There have been about 50,000 new cases of coronavirus confirmed daily in the past few days, and the number of severely ill patients has climbed to about 500, Ash said.
Israel is currently offering a fourth dose of the Pfizer vaccine to older adults, medical personnel and people at risk. Ash said health officials weren’t surprised by preliminary data fro...
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January 18, 2022 at 11:06 pm
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) must not care much about her congressional salary, the Daily Beast reports. According to documents provided to NBC News, Greene has spent more than half of her $174,000 salary on mask fines in her first year in Congress, paying out more than $88,000 from her paychecks. First-time offenders of the House mask mandate must pay $500, with each subsequent violation totaling $2,500.
Greene has railed against the House mask mandate, filing a lawsuit last year alongside fellow Georgia Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde over the mandate. In it, they accused Speaker Nancy Pelosi of using the order to attack her “political opponents,” according to The New York Times. Greene has proudly proclaimed her opposition to any form of COV...
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January 18, 2022 at 11:03 pm
With traffic fatalities spiking higher, the nation’s top safety investigator says a widely cited government statistic that 94% of serious crashes are solely due to driver error is misleading and that the Transportation Department should stop using it.
Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she’s surprised the wording remains on the department’s website even as the Biden administration pledges to embark on a broader strategy to stave off crashes through better road design, auto safety features and other measures.
Auto safety advocates have been calling on the department for years to stop using the statistic, including requests by Homendy in recent months as well as a letter fr...
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January 18, 2022 at 10:58 pm
The fast-moving omicron variant may cause less severe disease on average, but COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are climbing and modelers forecast 50,000 to 300,000 more Americans could die by the time the wave subsides in mid-March.
The seven-day rolling average for daily new COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. has been trending upward since mid-November, reaching nearly 1,700 on Jan. 17 — still below the peak of 3,300 in January 2021. COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents started rising slightly two weeks ago, although still at a rate 10 times less than last year before most residents were vaccinated.
Despite signs omicron causes milder disease on average, the unprecedented level of infection spreading through the country, with cases still soaring in many states, means many vulnera...
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January 18, 2022 at 10:56 pm
California prosecutors have filed two counts of vehicular manslaughter against the driver of a Tesla on Autopilot who ran a red light, slammed into another car and killed two people in 2019.
The defendant appears to be the first person to be charged with a felony in the United States for a fatal crash involving a motorist who was using a partially automated driving system. Los Angeles County prosecutors filed the charges in October, but they came to light only last week.
The driver, Kevin George Aziz Riad, 27, has pleaded not guilty. Riad, a limousine service driver, is free on bail while the case is pending.
The misuse of Autopilot, which can control steering, speed and braking, has occurred on numerous occasions and is the subject of investigations by two federal a...
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January 18, 2022 at 10:52 pm
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has been targeted in more than 700 ads on Facebook and Instagram by Democrat colleagues since the House sent President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better package to the Senate on Nov. 15, Newsmax reports.
The multitrillion package has been stalled in large part due to Manchin. He has said the package is too expensive. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema also objects to some of the plan, but has not faced the same sort of backlash as Manchin. In addition, the two are opposing plans by Democrats to change the Senate filibuster rules.
“It is extremely uncommon to name a party colleague in a negative ad outside of a primary— but then again Joe Manchin isn’t a typical Democrat,” Nate Lerner, founder of digital political consultancy Build The Wav...
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January 18, 2022 at 10:51 pm
NYC Mayor Eric Adams confessed to a roomful of reporters Tuesday that he has his own trepidations about riding the subway — just three days after the tragic murder of Michelle Go, a Manhattan woman who perished after being pushed into the path of a train by a mentally ill homeless man, the NY Daily News reports.
“Day One, January 1, when I took the train, I saw the homelessness, the yelling, the screaming early in the morning, crimes right outside the platform,” he said during an in-person City Hall press briefing. “We know we have a job to do — and we’re going to do both. We’re going to drive down crime, and we’re going to make sure New Yorkers feel safe in our subway system. And they don’t feel that way now. I don’t...
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January 18, 2022 at 10:47 pm
The British terrorist who took four people hostage at a Texas reform temple had been investigated by UK intelligence services, but determined not to be a terroristic threat, according to reports Tuesday, the NY Post reports.
Malik Faisal Akram, who had a history of mental illness, was investigated by MI5 “in the second half of 2020” after a tip that he could be a possible Islamist terrorist threat, government sources told the Guardian. It was “closed shortly afterwards with an assessment that there was no indication he presented a terrorist threat at that time,” a government source also told the Telegraph.
Although he was put on a list of Subjects of Interests (SOI), the spy agency concluded that he did not “pass the threshold” for a full-blo...
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January 18, 2022 at 10:41 pm
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection issued subpoenas to members of former president Donald Trump’s outside legal team on Tuesday who pursued and disseminated unfounded claims of mass election fraud, including Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, former White House aide Boris Epshteyn, and lawyers Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell.
“The four individuals we’ve subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former President about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement.
Thompson’s statement added, “We expect these individuals to join the nearl...
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January 18, 2022 at 4:24 pm
Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski spoke with C4 and Bryan Nehman and provided details on COVID-19, his personal COVID-19 diagnosis and a continuation of bulk trash pickup for country residents.
Olszewski said the county will resume bulk trash pickup this week. It was discontinued in 1992. He said the idea came from one of the town hall meetings, calling the move "what responsive government is supposed to be like, listening to people and then trying to act."
Olszewski, who said he had very mild symptoms of COVID-19 after contracting the virus over the holidays, addressed COVID-19 cases in the country and said cases are starting to decrease following the latest surge.
Olszewski said he talks with all Baltimore County hospital leaders each ...
