Ulster County, Napanoch +Working Explosion Fire+

Ulster County, Napanoch +Working Explosion Fire+ A large 2nd alarm fire after an explosion at the Hydro Aluminium Plant at 9 Aluminium Drive and Shreveport, Napanoch Fire Dept. And Ellenville Rescue are responding, Kerhonkson for S/B, 2nd alarm for manpower and equipment, Air-2 on stand by for EMS, all people have been accounted for.

SEATTLE - +Trains Collid+

SEATTLE - Two monorail trains collided on the tracks in Seattle.
About 55 people were on one train and 20 on the other, said a Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman. Firefighters on four ladder trucks were helping passengers down off the tracks across the street from the Westin Hotel, each person was checked for injuries after reaching the ground.
Several blocks of Fifth Avenue were closed after the accident.

Brooklyn +Suspicious Unusual DOA+

Brooklyn +Suspicious Unusual DOA+ A DOA was found insoide a garage that has collased at 1018 East 32nd Street between J and K Ave's, Hatzolah confirming the DOA and the victim is buried up to his waste in debris inside the collapsed garage, and has been DOA for some time, awaiting Crime Scene to arrive before they can remove the DOA, numerious ESU units responding.

NY State Thruway +Heavy Traffic+

NY State Thruway +Heavy Traffic+ A MVA with a serious injury on the NY State Thruway northbound at M/M 35.3 near Tuxedo is causing heavy long delays in the area, Medivac on the scene.

Borough Park +House Fire+

Borough Park +House Fire+ A fire in the basement of a 2.5 private 20X40 dwelling at 4312 17th Ave between 43rd and 44th St's, fire extended slightly to the 1st and 2nd floors of the dwelling, FD on the scene requesting additional E&T.

Brooklyn +B.Q.E. Traffic Alert+

Brooklyn +B.Q.E. Traffic Alert+ A low hangign sign at the Brooklyn Queens Expressway westbound at Flushing Ave has PD requesting ESU to the scene for the sign removal.

Staten Island - Man Found Decapitated Body Near Synagogue That Might Be He's Sons

Detectives from the 122nd Pct are investigating a murder of a decapitated and decomposing body of a man, that was found near 835 Forest Hill Road.
Police say the body may be linked to the case of a person missing since September.
They say the man, between 20 and 27-years-old, was found DOA in a wooded area near a synagogue and playground used by kids.
The father who was regularly searching the area for his son, recognized the boots on the decomposing body as his son's.
The medical examiner arrived on the scene a short time ago to help in the investigation.

U/D: 11/26/05 21:32
Law enforcement sources speculated that the man had been hanging a mere 100 feet from the synagogue -- on the property which belongs to Young Israel of Staten Island, a synagogue across the street -- since he went missing two months ago, on his birthday, and that decomposition caused the head to separate from the body.
While the cause of death appears to be hanging, sources would not confirm that it was suicide.
An ESU PD officer carried rope out of the woods, also an empty pill bottle, believed to originally have contained aspirin, was discovered near Boyarsky's body.
"Suicide seems to be the prevalent theory at this point," a source said.

Kiryas Yoel +Pedestrian Struck+

Kiryas Yoel +Pedestrian Struck+ A motor vehicle accident with a boy pedestrian that was struck in front of the Kiryas Yoel Yeshiva on Berditchev Road, Hatzolah on the scene requesting ALS units to respond with a rush, patient is unconscious.

U/D: 20:06
Aided is conscious and alert, Helo was cancelled.

Woodridge +Hatzolah Involved MVA+

Woodridge, Sullivan County +Hatzolah Involved MVA+ Hatzolah members vehicle has overturned in Woodridge on Glen Wild Road, with no one traped, EMS working the scene, no reported injuries.

Manhattan +Macy's Parade Incident+

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Manhattan +Macy's Parade Incident+ At the Macy's parade at Times Herald Square West 43rd Street and Broadway, one of the ropes of the M&M candy float balloon struck a light post which fell into the crowd injuring 2 children spectators, PD, ESU and FD all on the scene requesting EMS on a rush, getting an escort from PD Highway Units.
Parade has been halted for now.

U/D: 12:23
Aided got transported to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries.

Queens +Major Traffic Delays+

Queens +Major Traffic Delays+ The Grand Central Parkway at the Van Wyck Expressway has been closed down by PD Heighway units due to a disabled sanitation truck, major traffic delays through out the area.

Brooklyn +Pedestrian Struck+

Brooklyn +Pedestrian Struck+ A motor vehicle accident with a pedestrian struck on 18th Ave between East 7th St and Ocean Parkway. Hatzolah on the scene requesting ALS units to backup.

Mount Kisco +Working Fire+

Mount Kisco +Working Fire+ FD on the scene of a working fire off the roadway of 527 Armok Road driveway, units to follow flares, FD requesting EMS to stand by at the scene.

Brooklyn +2nd Alarm Building Fire+

Brooklyn +2nd Alarm Building Fire+ PD is calling for a level one mobilization in regards of a 6 story 75X100 bulding with the 2nd and 3rd floors on fire at Ocean Ave and Ave H, EMS has 3 burned victims, 2 of them are DOA's, numerous people on the fire escapes at this time requesting additional truck, also requesting multiple BLS units to the scene.

U/D: 06:53
FD are calling this fire suspicious.

Borough Park +Garage Fire+

Borough Park +Garage Fire+ A fire in a one story garage of a 2 story 30X40 P/D at 1449 40th St between 14th and 15th Ave's, FD working the scene with extra engine and truck.

City's Budget Gap Cut In Half

The city's 2006 budget deficit is pratically halved, down to $2.6 billion from a projected $4.5 million. And why? The "overheated real estate market" mostly: The city will get an extra $3.4 billion in tax revenue, but some of the boon is offset by other contract negotiations.

Spring Valley +Working 2nd Alarm Fire+

Spring Valley +Working 2nd Alarm Fire+ Heavy working structure fire at 26 Seabring St and Clinton St. On the 1st and 2nd floors of a 2.5 story 40X80 duplex, with a flash over, 3 FF's sustaining injuries EMS BLS and ALS to respond to the command, T/L from Monsey has been requested.

NYC Highway, Sewer Inspector Arrested

A New York City highway and sewer inspector has been arrested on charges that he accepted $200 in bribes from a private plumbing contractor.

The city's Department of Investigation says that he took money from the foreman of a Staten Island plumbing firm in exchange for overlooking poor repairs to a hole in the street that had been dug for plumbing work.

One Million New Yorkers Are Obese

Statistics from New York City's health department show that about one million New Yorkers qualify as obese. Yet, only 39 percent described themselves as "very overweight."

More than half of New York adults - some 3.2 million, or 53 percent - are either obese or overweight, according to the report.

Sullivan County - DMV Worker Arrested For Fudging Records

Police say a Sullivan County Department of Motor Vehicles clerk fudged records to her benefit. Forty-three year-old Pamela Hall of Fallsburg allegedly changed paperwork on vehicle registrations to show fees paid that were less than the customers actually paid and then pocketed the difference. She was charged with tampering with public records, falsifying business records and petit larceny. Hall was released on $10,000 bond, pending an appearance in Thompson Town Court. Police say more charges are likely in this case.

Holocaust Survivor to Meet Rescuer

Ruth Gruener a Holocaust survivor and lives now in Brooklyn is scheduled to reunite with Joanna Zalucka the woman who helped hide her for about eight months during the terrifying Nazi era.

Zalucka, who was then 18 the daughter of a Polish family hid Gruener from the Nazis when she was just 8 years old.

Zalucka's parents had been customers of the candy store owned by Gruener's parents. After the eight months as the danger grew that the little girl would be discovered, Zalucka's family took her to stay with her parents, who had been hiding with a different family, and Zalucka brought them food over the next two years as they continued to hide.

Zalucka and Gruener have kept in touch over the years, but this will their first face-to-face reunion since 1944.

Readers Take Issue With Minister's Charges About Lakewood

Campaigner writes that he saw a different Lakewood

As a candidate who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Lakewood Township Committee, I was appalled, shocked and dismayed to read the op-ed piece (as reported on VOS IZ NEIAS) "Preferential treatment in Lakewood affects entire community" by the Rev. Kevin Nunn. I wonder what Nunn is teaching his followers.

During the seven-plus months that I was campaigning, I saw a much different Lakewood than the one described by Nunn. I saw a deputy mayor who is an Orthodox Jew (Meir Lichtenstein) rush off the dais to administer first aid to a member of Nunn's group when she collapsed. It didn't matter that this woman was black or that she was not an Orthodox Jew. All that he saw was a person in need of medical treatment and he provided it to her. It did not seem to me, as Nunn puts it, "that they don't defile their sick with the blood of our sick."

I wonder if I would have written the same letter that Nunn had written and changed the word Lakewood to Harlem, would the Asbury Park Press have printed it? Or would they have branded me a racist?

Fallsburg - Write-In Votes Sends Message, They Claim

Fallsburg - Supervisor candidate Kenny DeMars got 456 write-ins in absentee ballots, affidavits and write-in votes, nearly 1,000 fewer votes than four-term incumbent Supervisor Steve Levine, "And that's a lot," says the Elections Commissioner.   

Fallsburg might be an old Catskills town with worn bungalow colonies, but new second-home developments for ultra-Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn is jammed in the summer and empty the rest of the year, so controlling growth is a top issue for DeMars supporters. DeMars wants a building moratorium in this town where thousands of homes are proposed, People are really scared of the development, and the write-ins sent a message in this town they say, but Levine accused the DeMars group, FallsburgWatch, of anti-Semitism - a charge DeMars vehemently denies.

Brooklyn +B.Q.E. Oil Spill+

Brooklyn +B.Q.E. Oil Spill+ Hazmat Team is requested on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway at Atlantic Ave for a oil tanker truck that is leaking fuel oil on the highway, FD on the scene.

U/D: 08:46
The entrance ramp has been temporarialy closed by FD and DOT.

Williamsburg +Person Assaulted+

Williamsburg +Person Assaulted+ A female was seriously assaulted at 70 Clymer Street, Shomrim Patrol on the scene are requesting Hazolah and PD to respond.

S. PETERSBURG, Russia - New Torah For Synagogue

S. PETERSBURG, Russia - The Great Choral Synagogue of S. Petersburg hosted a ceremony bringing in a new Torah, presented by local Jewish businessman Yevgeny Kupsin, who dedicated it to his father and his family.
During the ceremony, the donor reminded the audience about the 613th Commandment, which requires every Jew to write at least one Torah during his life in order to pass it on to the future generations. "As I put my heart and my soul into this gift, I would like my son to feel the necessity to write a scroll too," expressed Kupsin.

Flatbush +Pedestrian Struck+

Flatbush +Pedestrian Struck+ A MVA with a pedestrian that was struck on Quentin St and East 40th. Hatzolah on the scene requesting ALS aided unresponsive.

NYPD's Super Computer Goes Down

The NYPD's Real Time Crime Center, the much-ballyhooed $11 million hub that has computers and the latest technology tracking and processing criminals, went down yesterday, because of a software upgrade problem, while 911 wasn't compromised, the downtime delayed the inputting of arrest and crime reports for several hours, criminals couldn't be processed at the precincts (they had to go to central booking) and background checks couldn't be conducted at the usual computers (police had to go to central booking or 1 Police Plaza).

New York - Allou Officials Plead Guilty

New York - Top executives of Allou Healthcare Inc. - brothers Aaron, Jacob and Herman Jacobowitz - pleaded guilty to charges related to what prosecutors called "a staggering, decade-long bank fraud and securities fraud scheme," involving hundreds of millions of dollars of phony sales and inflated inventory that ultimately drove the company into bankruptcy.

The officials also admitted to a mail fraud and insurance fraud scheme arising from a fire at Allou's Brooklyn warehouse that included the attempted bribery of an undercover fire marshal, whom they wanted to change the cause of the fire from "arson" to "accidental," said U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf.

Their guilty pleas in federal court in Brooklyn came more than three years after their long-running scheme to inflate sales and profits began to unravel.

Under plea agreements announced in Brooklyn federal court, they face up to 10-15 years in prison and a maximum fine of up to twice the amount of the loss from the fraud.

Manhattan +Henry Hudon Parkway Traffic Alert+

Manhattan +Henry Hudon Parkway Traffic Alert+ An accident with an overturned vehicle on the Henry Hudson Parkway ramp to the George Washington Bridge, no pin but traffic is at a stand still, PD Highway units are on the scene.

Spring Valley +Working Structure Fire+

Spring Valley +Working Structure Fire+ A working building fire at 147 Lakeview Village, FD on the scene requesting BLS and ALS to respond, also ladder from Hillcrest, pumper from Monsey and South Spring Valley all to the scene.
PD has requested Red Cross, Fire Investigator and Sheriff's Dept Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Rabbis Ask Parents to Unplug Internet

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Rabbis in Lakewood's Orthodox Jewish community have told their flock who have school-age children to pull the plug on the World Wide Web.

Any student with Internet access at home faces suspension or expulsion from the area's 43 yeshivas.

Williamsburg - Residential Developer Buys Former Gabila Knish Site

Williamsburg - An unamed Brooklyn developer has purchased a potential development site in the heart of the Chasidic section of Williamburg. The site, which once housed Gabila’s Knish Factory, founded in 1921, was sold by Massey Knakal Realty Services from the Co. Old Fulton Landing LLC.

The property, which totals more than 27,000 square feet, and was sold for $102.22 per buildable square foot, is made up of different sites on two different blocks. The addresses are 110-120 and 111-113 S. 8th St., and 424-426 Bedford Ave.

Rockland +NYS Thruway Car Fire+

Rockland +NYS Thruway Car Fire+ A fully involved car fire with one victim trapped inside on the New York State Thruway to the Garden State Parkway, FD working the scene, EMS requested.

Remains Of First Body In Ghoul Probe, Exhumed In Queens

Queens - The Brooklyn District Attorneys investigation into the body snatchers sale of human parts, led investigators to the Maple Grove Cemetery in Queens, where they exhumed their first body.
Gravediggers working carefully took more than four hours to complete the painstaking task of digging up the remains of 82-year-old Esfir Perelmuter.
Perelmuter, who lived in Flushing, Queens and died Feb. 4, 2003, was the first exhumation in the prob, involving hundreds of bodies craved up for huge profits in the transplant business by a ring of alleged body snatchers.

U/D: 11/24/05
Invesigators discovered that the body of the Queens grandmother was carved in half, with most of her bones missing below the waist and stuffed her clothing with plastic plumbing pipes.

Kiryas Yoel And Monroe Have Fire Pact

The villages of Monroe and Kiryas Yoel have finally agreed on a new fire contract under which Monroe firefighters will answer calls in the Chasidic community only when asked to do so, and it puts Kiryas Yoel in charge of its own fires for the first time but keeps Monroe on call on the serious fires and to respond on Shabbos and Jewish holidays. Kiryas Joel will pay Monroe $54,800 for 50 calls a year, plus $1,096 for each additional response.

Brooklyn +B.Q.E. W/B Heavy Traffic+

Brooklyn +B.Q.E. W/B Heavy Traffic+ a MVA on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway westbound right after Tillary St exit has PD closing down the roadway.

Tallman +NYS Thruway Traffic Alert+

Tallman +NYS Thruway Traffic Alert+ A tractor trailer carrying food has turned over with possible entrapment on the New York State Thruway southbound at M/M 27.7, traffic is heavy.

Flatbush +Motor Vehicle Accident+

Flatbush +Motor Vehicle Accident+ A MVA with a pedestrian struck on Ocean Parkway and Church Ave, Hatzolah on the scene requesting back up to respond.

Manhattan +Manhattan Bridge Shut Down+

Manhattan +Manhattan Bridge Shut Down+ The upper level of the Manhattan Bridge Brooklyn bound is being shut down due to a RMP accident involving a NYPD MOS, ESU, HWY, FD and EMS are all on the scene, MOS will be transported with an escort to Bellevue Hospital.

U/D: 17:51
Officer has minor injuries.

Brooklyn New Courthouse Opened Today

As of today, the new Brooklyn Supreme Criminal and Family Court is fully operational.

The $670 million, 32-story complex has 84 courtrooms and features a parking garage for court employees. The building will also house offices for several city and state agencies.

Nyack +NYS Thruway Traffic Alert+

Nyack +NYS Thruway Traffic Alert+ A MVA on the New York State Thruway northbound at M/M 16.4 after exit 16 with one vehicle fully involved on fire and a large fuel spill on the roadway after gas tank ruptured, FD on the working the scene and NY State Police closing down all lanes on the Rockland side of the Tappan Zee Bridge, expect heavy delays in the area.

Monroe - SaveMonroe Candidates File Complaint Over Election Tactics

Monroe - The SaveMonroe candidates who lost in their bids for town office have filed a complaint with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, claiming “instances of unethical, and possibly illegal, electioneering that occurred immediately before and during the General Election” on Nov. 8.

George Washington Bridge +Traffic Alert+

George Washington Bridge +Traffic Alert+ Aided male jumped down the George Washington Bridge, PAPD on the scene with the male down floating north in the water, Harbor, ESU and Air-Sea Aviation Rescue requested.

U/D: 12:11
Aided is DOA, all units to pick up.

Williamsburg - Tensions Over The 184 Kent Street Warehouse Is Coming To A Boil This Week

Williamsburg - Tensions surrounding the future of the historic warehouse at 184 Kent Ave on the Williamsburg waterfront are coming to a boil this week at the hearing November 22 at 11 am at City Hall, when the City Council will hold its first hearing on whether to approve the landmark designation of the Cass Gilbert design. The owner is looking to convert the building to luxury condos which would include a number of alterations to the facade, with David Yassky appearing to be in the developer's camp.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission has declared the Austin, Nichols & Co. Warehouse in Brooklyn to be the City’s newest recognized landmark. The Warehouse is one of the East River’s most impressive structures and one of the City’s only examples of Egyptian Revival architecture.

New York City's Airports Have Worst Record For Delays In Nation

Travelers using any of New York's three metropolitan airports can expect more delays, more often, than travelers using any other major airport in the nation, according to a study released by Senator Schumer.

BERLIN, Germany - US Court Dismisses Holocaust-Era Claim

BERLIN, Germany - A US federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss a $200 million claim by Jewish heirs to a German department store over land they say was wrongly taken from them by the Nazis, the store said Sunday.
KarstadtQuelle said in a statement Sunday."We are confident that all other rulings in the contest with the Wertheim heirs in Germany and the United States will reflect this,"
A lawyer for the Wertheim heris said the appeals court decision did not deal with the essence of the case and that the claim would be refiled.

Fake Kosher Food Caught In Gaza

Israeli customs officials have seized a large shipment of fake kosher "Krembo" sweets being imported to Israel from the Gaza Strip, with forged kosher seals and certificates.
Customs staff normally screen goods for signs that Palestinian militants are smuggling weapons or suicide bombers.
Customs officials also unearthed fake kosher certification documents.
Suspicions were raised that the sweets had found their way onto the export market, to be sold in kosher food shops around the world.

Woodbury +Third Alarm Fire In Bungalow Colony+

Woodbury +Third Alarm Fire In Bungalow Colony+ A 3rd alarm fire at the synagouge of the Holiday Hill Bungalow Colony at 7 First Ave and Schunnemmunk St, building is fully involved, on the scene are Monroe,Harriman Tuxedo, Cornwall, Lakeside, Chester, South Bloomibg Grove is standing by for cover, Fire Invetigators requested.

Freehold, NJ - A Beachwood Couple Indicted In Theft Of Religious Center

Freehold, NJ - A grand jury has returned charges against a Beachwood couple accused of embezzling more than $400,000 from the Jewish Community Center of Greater Monmouth County in Ocean Township to live a high-roller life, by buying chips at casinos in Atlantic City, where they enrolled in programs to earn complimentary rewards such as nights in hotel suites, and permitted the couple to purchase an over-sized lot on Beachwood Boulevard in Beachwood, where they built and financed a new home.
Lisa and Christopher Gordon, of Beachwood Boulevard, Beachwood, have been named in a seven-count indictment that charges them with theft, conspiracy, money laundering and failing to pay taxes.
The investigation focused on Lisa A. Gordon's work as an accounts receivable manager at the Ruth Hyman Community Center of Greater Monmouth Country on Grant Avenue in Ocean Township.

Manhattan - Lower East Side Synagogues Experiencing A Rebirth

Some aspect of Lower Manhattan is now drawing young affluent Jews to stay. Like the Chasam Sofer synagogue, the area’s oldest functioning shul, is finally finishing a 30-year renovation process, it has hosted daily minions consistently over the past decades, even through periods when it had to pay people to show up at 7 a.m. Now The synagogue no longer has to struggle to muster the required quorum of 10 men, and a consistent showing of 20 to 30 worshipers now attend services.

Tappen Zee Bridge +Traffic Alert MVA+

Tappen Zee Bridge +Traffic Alert MVA+ A serious motor vehicle accident, involving multiple vehicles on the southbound of the New York State Thruway at the Tappen Zee Bridge, with some vehicles overturned with entrapment, multiple agencies responding.

BERLIN, - Germany's Holocaust Memorial Defaced By Vandals

BERLIN, - A memorial in Germany to the six million European Jews murdered by the Nazis has been partly defaced with yellow Stars of David. A Berlin police spokesman said that a star had been painted by unknown vandals onto each of six of the 2,711 concrete slabs of varying height that make up the memorial.
Under the Nazis, Jews had to wear yellow stars of David to distinguish themselves from so-called "Aryan" Germans.

First Jewish Person On Kansas Supreme Court

Kansas Supreme Court Justice Eric Rosen is the first Jewish person to sit on the state's highest judicial body, the 52-year-old Rosen said this week he is looking forward to the challenges ahead and the opportunity to have an impact on the law and society.

Chester - Homeless Men Soliciting Work And The Authorities Can't Stop It

Chester - It's 8 a.m., and the driver of the minivan, a silver-haired, bespectacled man with darting eyes, a nervous Chasidic driver is waiting for a "regular," a homeless men staying at Camp La Guardia someone he picks up daily for soliciting work because the worker is reliable.
The scene plays out daily, about 20 or 30 men from the Camp La Guardia shelter queue up for work every day as drivers, mostly from Kiryas Yoel, look for cheap, unregulated labor.   At an average $6 to $8 an hour, they are doing mostly odd jobs, most work about eight to 12 hours a day at synagogues, construction sites and distribution warehouses in Kiryas Joel and other towns.
And the police can't stop them, but the police - responding to complaints from nearby residents - have been known to ticket their potential employers for obstructing traffic.