President-elect Trump was spared any punishment for his hush money criminal conviction Friday when a New York judge sentenced him to an unconditional discharge, eschewing jail time while securing his status as the first felon to assume the presidency.
Judge Juan Merchan’s decision to release Trump with no strings attached caps the first and onlycriminal trial of a former president less than two weeks before he’s set to return to the White House.
New York jurors found him guilty of 34 felonies over a scheme intended to unlawfully sway the 2016 election by concealing a payment [...]which Trump has denied.
With the judge’s permission, Trump appeared virtually for the roughly 40-minute long sentencing on Friday.
Trump relentlessly sought to st...
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 10, 2025 - Brutally cold temperatures continue with another chance for snow by the weekend.
Dry weather remains through Friday with high temperatures in the mid and upper 30s.
A new winter storm will move into Maryland after dark Friday.
Light snow is likely overnight through daybreak Shabbos.
At this time snow totals look low with a coating or dusting for most with isolated spots seeing 1-2" of snow and areas in extreme southern Maryland ending up with 1-3".
Snow will be long gone by kickoff at M&T Bank Stadium Saturday night but cold temperatures will continue with wind chills falling into the teens.
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 10, 2025 - A strike has been averted at Baltimore and other East and Gulf coast ports after dockworkers tentatively agreed to a new six-year contract.
The International Longshoremen’s Association union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance of ports and shipping companies said they had reached a tentative agreement for a six-year contract, a week ahead of a Jan. 15 deadline.
In a joint statement, the two sides said the agreement protects union jobs and allows ports on the East and Gulf coasts to modernize with new technology, “making them safer and more efficient, and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong.”
They said they were not releasing details of the agreement publicly to give union members a chance to review and approve the...
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 10, 2025 - Two District Court buildings in Baltimore have been declared clear of unsafe levels of legionella in their water systems, following four buildings at the State Center complex that were cleared of the bacteria over the last four weeks.
A union representing state workers said it is pleased to see the progress for those six buildings, the only ones that have been tested for the bacteria so far. But the union says more testing needs to be done in other state buildings to ensure all employees are working in a safe environment.
“We’re happy that these buildings were cleared,” a representative with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 3 said Thursday. “We’re worried about other buildings. T...
Yehuda is rewarded by Yaakov to be the source of royalty that would lead the Jewish nation throughout history culminating with the arrival of the Moshiach.
Three words encapsulate the trait that earned him this role.
מטרף — from the prey, בני — my son, עלית — you elevated yourself (בראשית מט ט)
This refers to Yehuda — although the most threatened by Yosef's aspirations, and therefore the one Yaakov suspected of having 'preyed' upon Yosef — who was the one who interceded in taking a stand to save him from death in the pit and convinced his brothers to sell him instead as a slave.
This segment of the lager verse can be read in two possible ways.
מטרף בני — from preying on my son, Yosef, עלית — ...
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Yaakov Avinu was preparing for his final journey. As his life was coming to an end, he took the opportunity to speak to each of his sons, conveying to them personal and necessary messages and inspiration to guide them in the generations and millennia ahead. He began with his grandsons. He summoned Yosef together with his sons, Menashe and Ephraim, and announced that these two grandsons would be counted amongst the tribes. And it was then that something peculiar occurred.
And Joseph saw that his father was placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head, and it displeased him. So, he held up his father’s hand to remove it from upon Ephraim’s head [to place it] on Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, Father, for this one is the firstborn; put your ...
Baltimore, MD – Jan. 9, 2025 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Rebbetzin Shmuel Iser on the birth of a son.
יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בנם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן!
Washington, D.C. - Jan. 9, 2025 - The US House of Representatives passed the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act today (Thursday) to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, in response to its arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The legislation passed 243-140. 198 Republicans and 45 Democrats voted in favor of the bill. All "Nay" votes came from Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif). Democrats who supported the bill included Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and other Congressmen from New York such as Dan Goldman, Grace Meng, Laura Gillen, and Tom Suozzi.
One Republican representative, Thomas Mass...
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 9, 2025 - Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott joined other city officials and community and faith leaders in reading the names of the 201 homicide victims in the city in 2024.
The vigil of remembrance took place Tuesday night on the steps of the War Memorial building.
Jermaine Brown said things have been tough for him since he lost his cousin to gun violence last summer.
"It's just nice to know that people actually have time to take to remember their loved ones they lost because they're still watching," Brown said "He had a family. He had multiple kids. He was free-spirited. Left his mark everywhere he went."
It comes after Baltimore reported the lowest number of homicides in more than four decades.
Stefanie Mavronis, director of the Mayor's Off...
Conference to Occur in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. from Feb. 2-4; Will Bring Together Top Legal Minds to Discuss Ways to Address Rising Antisemitism in America
A few months ago, an Orthodox Jew was shot on a Shabbat morning as he made his way to shul in a premeditated and targeted hate crime. Political leaders in Chicago refused to acknowledge the antisemitic attack for days.
Just this month, the FBI arrested a Florida man for plotting an attack on a South Florida AIPAC building. And “Israelis are the new Nazis” was recently graffitied next to an Oakland, Ca. menorah belonging to the local Chabad.
American Jewish communities are experiencing exploding antisemitism across the country. To meet the demands of the moment, the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center (OUA), the public policy arm ...
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 9, 2025 - The former principal of Pikesville High School whose voice was allegedly imitated in a racist, AI-generated recording is now suing Baltimore County Public Schools, the athletic director charged in the case and other BCPS employees.
Eric Eiswert filed the suit in Baltimore County Circuit Court on Tuesday, alleging former athletic director Dazhon Darien and other school officials disseminated the fake audio clip to students and others, “causing it to spread rapidly” on social media and receive “millions of views,” according to court documents.
For example, DeRay McKesson, an activist and executive director of the nonprofit Campaign Zero, posted the audio to his nearly 1 million social media followers, comments in the recording,&r...
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 9, 2025 - The Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) will host and participate in several community meetings this month to discuss proposed water rate changes. These meetings offer residents an opportunity to engage directly with DPW Director Khalil Zaied and staff, gain a deeper understanding of the proposed changes, and share their input. DPW is committed to fostering transparency and collaboration with the community. “We want to ensure that residents are fully informed and feel supported throughout this process,” said DPW Director Khalil Zaied. “Your input is invaluable as we work to maintain the sustainability of our water, wastewater, and stormwater systems for future generations.”
During these meetings, residents will have the op...
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 9, 2025 - A later-than-normal winter surge in COVID-19 cases is catching some Maryland residents by surprise as infections nationwide reached the highest levels in three years just as Americans were gathering with their families for the holidays.
Health experts call the current uptick in cases a “silent” surge because it comes after a long lull in COVID-19 transmission. This one came “out of nowhere,” Michael Hoerger, an associate professor at Tulane University School of Medicine and public health expert on tracking COVID-19 trends, wrote on X.
Hoerger, who runs a COVID-19 forecasting model that pulls heavily from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wastewater surveillance data, estimates that 1 in 49 people, o...
Jerusalem, Israel -Jan. 9, 2025 - The National Public Diplomacy Directorate in the Prime Minister's Office is releasing today (Thursday), January 9, 2025, its annual Summary Report on Terrorism Against Israel for 2024, which gathers all the information and data from the IDF, Israel Police, the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), and the emergency and rescue authorities. The report is sent to all the official Israeli authorities that do public diplomacy and is used as the official source of data in the hasbara arena.
Last year, Israel was attacked from seven fronts: Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, Iraq, Yemen and from within Israel. The number of terrorist attacks in 2024 was 18,365, in which 134 people were murdered and 1,277 people were injured.
According to the report, in 2024, about...
