Defendant Targeted the Victims Because of Their Race in Three Separate Neighborhoods
By David Ben Hooren
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez on Wednesday announced that a 40-year-old Brooklyn man has been sentenced to one-and-a-half to three years in prison for three racially motivated attacks against white men during a three-day crime spree in July 2018. He pleaded guilty to third-degree assault as a hate crime in May. District Attorney Gonzalez said, “As hate-fueled speech continues to emanate from the highest levels of government, leading to despicable acts of violence, it is important to set a different tone in Brooklyn where we will not tolerate hate crimes against anyone. This defendant attacked his victims based on the color of their skin. There is no place for discrimination or violence against anyone based on race, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity or religious practice. The defendant has now been held accountable for threatening our residents and their safety.” The District Attorney identified the defendant as Kevin Raphael, 40, of East New York, Brooklyn. He was sentenced to one-and-a-half to three years in prison today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun. The defendant pleaded guilty to third-degree assault as a hate crime on May 1, 2019. The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, the defendant assaulted or menaced three white males in the following incidents: • On Sunday, July 29, 2018, at approximately 1 p.m., near Empire Boulevard and Rogers Avenue, the defendant approached a 30-year-old man who was walking with his pregnant wife and stated: “What are you looking at? What are you looking for? I kill white (expletive) like you,” while motioning to his waistband, leading the victim to believe the defendant had a weapon. The defendant then motioned to his backpack and stated: “I will kill every white (expletive) around here.” • On Monday, July 30, 2018, at approximately 9:55 a.m., on the B25 bus near Fulton and Bond Streets, the defendant approached a 29-year-old law student who was sitting on the bus, punched him in the face and stated: “I hate all you white (expletive). You’re a (expletive).” Defendant then exited the bus at the next stop. The victim suffered redness and bruising to his face and eye. • On Tuesday, July 31, 2018, at approximately 6:30 p.m., on the B41 bus at Flatbush Avenue and Kings Highway, the defendant approached a 59-year-old man who was seated on the bus and repeatedly struck him about the head while making anti-white comments including: “You white (expletive) think you got it like that. You white (expletive).” The victim suffered bruising and redness to his face and eye, as well as a concussion. The case was investigated by New York City Police Detective Oscar Fernandez of the Hate Crimes Task Force, under the supervision of Sergeant Charles Senat. The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Adriana Rodriguez and Senior Assistant District Attorney Prabhalya Pulim, of the District Attorney’s Hate Crimes Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Paul Gentile of the District Attorney’s Red Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kelli Muse, Hate Crimes Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Joseph P. Alexis, Chief of the Trial Division.
Adelaide Friedman, a’h Passes at Age 91; Mother of Israeli Ambassador David Friedman
On Sunday, August 4th, it was reported that the mother of US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman had passed away at the age of 91. Mrs. Adelaide Friedman was a resident of Lawrence, Long Island and was the wife of the Rabbi Morris Friedman, zt’l.
Edited by: JV Staff
Rabbi Morris Friedman was the spiritual leader of Temple Hillel in North Woodmere, and served as the head of the New York Board of Rabbis. Mrs. Friedman, a’h, was a seventh grade English teacher at the Hebrew Institute of Long Island.
In addition to Ambassador Friedman, “Addi” Friedman had three other children. Speaking at her funeral that was held on Tuesday at Riverside Boulevard Chapels in Hewlett were David as well as his sister daughter Naomi Wolinsky, his brother Mark, several of his mother’s grandchildren as well as Rabbi Zalman Wolowik of the Chabad of Five Towns, according to an article in The Jewish Star.
“There’s no value I can place upon the self-confidence, the security, the sense of being loved, that our mother gave to us, ” said David Friedman, according to a report in The Jewish Star.
“My father was well known for many years as a public figure; she was not,” David said. “She kept her privacy, she took care of her family. She chose to do that.
“She was brilliant in her own right. She was thoughtful, she was eloquent, she was elegant, She had every opportunity to go and attain personal aggrandizement, personal gain. She didn’t think it was the right thing to do. With our father out and about all day long, she elevated us over everything else.”
Mrs. Friedman also impacted her students in so very many ways. She passed on her love for reading and the written word to them and to her children and grandchildren.
David said that some of Addi’s students at the Hebrew Institute of Long Island approached him at the levayah to convey their appreciation.
Mark remembered his mother’s “compassionate, pure and loving neshama.”
Several grandchildren recounted examples of Addi’s love and how their characters were shaped by their grandmother.
Naomi said her mother was “the kindest person I ever knew, who exemplified the mitzvah of shemirat halashon.”
The Jewish Star reported that the family is sitting shiva at the Friedman residence in Lawrence through Monday morning, Aug. 12. David Friedman will be in Lawrence through Wednesday evening and will continue shiva at his residence in Hertzliya, Israel, from Thursday evening through Monday morning.
19-yr-old Dvir Sorek was murdered last night by terrorists. An off duty soldier and Yeshiva student, he was stabbed to death while unarmed and not in uniform. Dvir went missing last night and was found stabbed to death early this morning.
Dvir was a grandson of Rabbi Binyamin Harling who was killed in a terror attack at Mount Eval near Shechem in Shomron 19 years ago.
Security forces are in pursuit to apprehend those responsible for this horrific crime.
IDF Spokesman gives name to IDF soldier, Corporal Dvir Yehuda Sorek, 19, from Gush Etzion, found early morning (Thursday), with stabbing marks on his body as a result of an attack near a settlement in the regional division “Etzion.” The late Corporal Dvir (Yehuda) Sorek served during the Yeshiva studies in the Yeshivot track.
The late Corporal Dvir (Yehuda) Sorek was promoted from the rank of corporal to corporal.
A message was given to his family.
The IDF participates in the grief of the family.
In response to this murder, Shlomo Neeman, Head of Gush Etzion Regional Council, said: “Decisions must be made, there are now half a million residents in Samaria and Judea, and there will be one million. The only way to end this – to eliminate the question marks regarding the Jewish presence here, the terrorists have a political agenda, they go out to kill any Jew they meet on their way”.
In the border city of El Paso, Texas a gunman opened fire at a Walmart store, killing at least 22 people and wounding 26. Pictured above is a shopping mall employee who was directing people out of the store when the shooting rampage was underway on Saturday morning at the Cielo Vista shopping mall. Photo Credit: Screenshot
Edited By: Fern Sidman
Responding to weekend mass shootings in
El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, President Trump is vowing “to act with urgent
resolve,” explicitly condemning white supremacy and calling for strong
background checks for gun purchases.
Trump, however, is not advocating major
gun control legislation, disappointing advocates who favor such measures.
The El Paso police force and local law enforcement authorities put the Cielo Vista mall on lockdown after the mass shooting at the Walmart store on Saturday in which 22 people were killed and 26 were wounded. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Trump made remarks at the White House on
Monday, after a pair of mass shootings 13 hours apart in which lone gunmen
killed a total of at least 31 people, according to a VOA report.
“In one voice, our nation must condemn
racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” said Trump, noting hatred expressed in a
“manifesto” attributed to the young white man being held as the suspect for the
early Sunday shooting at a Walmart store in the Texas city on the Mexican
border. “These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in
America.”
Trump also said, “Hatred warps the mind,
ravages the heart and devours the soul.”
VOA reported that plans are being made
for a visit by the president later in the week to both El Paso and Dayton. A
trip he had planned to take Tuesday to Florida has been postponed.
In his early Monday remarks, Trump also
focused on mental illness, violence in the media and in video games, warning of
“the perils of the internet and social media.”
The nation’s chief executive advocated
red flag laws to try to identify those would could potentially commit such mass
violence and prevent them from getting their hands-on weapons to carry out such
crimes, according to a VOA report.
Trump termed the mass shootings (there
have been about 250 in the United States so far this year) “barbaric slaughter”
that “are an assault upon our communities, an attack upon our nation and a
crime against all of humanity.”
According to the VOA report, Trump, with
Vice President Mike Pence at his side, spoke for just under 10 minutes and did
not respond to questions from a group of reporters in the White House
Diplomatic Reception Room.
Earlier in the day on Twitter, Trump suggested
linking gun legislation to immigration reform.
Congress for years has been unable to
reach agreement on immigration reforms, which Trump has pushed to thwart
illegal migrants, mostly from Central America, from crossing the southern U.S.
border with Mexico. On the issue of gun violence, lawmakers only sporadically
have enacted gun policy changes in the face of opposition from gun advocates
who draw their authority from the Constitution, which guarantees its citizenry
the right to own a weapon.
“It took less than three hours for the
president to back off his call for stronger background check legislation. When
he can’t mention guns while talking about gun violence, it shows the president
remains prisoner to the gun lobby and the NRA (National Rifle Association),”
said the two top Democratic Party lawmakers in Congress, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a joint statement, according
to a VOA report. “The public must weigh in and demand passage of this
legislation for the safety of our children.”
In a statement released immediately after Trump’s speech, former member of Congress Gabby Giffords said the president’s words alone without action will not save lives. “Today is not the first time this President has stood before the nation in the wake of a mass shooting promising to make the safety of our children and communities a top priority, but so far those promises have all been empty. They’ve been designed to fill a news cycle, not tackle a cycle of violence,” said Giffords, who was shot in the head in 2011 in a supermarket parking lot as she met with her Arizona constituents. “Make no mistake, if Donald Trump was truly serious about addressing America’s gun violence crisis he would demand that the Senate return from their August Recess today and send the background checks bill passed by the House 159 days ago to his desk immediately.” Photo Credit: Facebook
In a statement released immediately
after Trump’s speech, former member of Congress Gabby Giffords said the
president’s words alone without action will not save lives, as was reported by
VOA.
“Today is not the first time this President
has stood before the nation in the wake of a mass shooting promising to make
the safety of our children and communities a top priority, but so far those
promises have all been empty. They’ve been designed to fill a news cycle, not
tackle a cycle of violence,” said Giffords, who was shot in the head in 2011 in
a supermarket parking lot as she met with her Arizona constituents. “Make no
mistake, if Donald Trump was truly serious about addressing America’s gun
violence crisis he would demand that the Senate return from their August Recess
today and send the background checks bill passed by the House 159 days ago to
his desk immediately.”
Authorities are investigating the attack as a possible hate crime and seeking to confirm that the suspect, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, who has been jailed, was the author of an online posting predicting a shooting spree intended to target Hispanics. The man lived in Allen, Texas, a suburb of the Dallas area which is located hundreds of miles away from El Paso.
In the border city of El Paso, a gunman
opened fire at a Walmart store, killing at least 22 people and wounding 26, according
to the VOA report. They are investigating the attack as a possible hate crime
and seeking to confirm that the suspect, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, who has
been jailed, was the author of an online posting predicting a shooting spree
intended to target Hispanics. The man lived in Allen, Texas, a suburb of the
Dallas area which is located hundreds of miles away from El Paso.
VOA reported that Trump’s Democratic
opponents, including several seeking their party’s nomination to run against
him in the 2020 election, have blamed his oft-repeated anti-immigration
rhetoric as fostering the hate that contributed to the El Paso mass killing.
INN reported that Richard Biehl, the
Chief of Police in Dayton, Ohio, said that Connor Betts, the 24-year-old
responsible for the shooting overnight Saturday in the city’s entertainment
district, wore a bulletproof vest, mask and hearing protection.
Betts carried at least 100 rounds as he
opened fire, said Biehl, according to an AP report.
The shooter killed his sister and eight
others in less than 30 seconds before police fatally shot him, he added.
Biehl said he could not yet answer why
Betts carried out the shooting.
He added the .223-caliber rifle Betts
used was ordered online from Texas and transferred to Betts at a firearms
dealer in the area, according to the INN report.
Officials say 31 more people were
wounded in the shooting attack, which began a little past 1:00 a.m. on Sunday
morning either by gunfire or as they fled.
Thus far, in 2019 there have been seven
mass shootings in the United States. In Sebring, Florida on January 23rd of
this year, five people were killed, in State College, PA on January 24th, three
people were killed, in Aurora, Illinois on February 15th, five people were
killed, on May 31st in Virginia Beach, VA, 12 people were killed, and in
Gilroy, CA on July 28th, three people were killed.
In 2018, 80 people were killed and 66
were wounded in mass shootings in the US and in 2017, 117 people lost their
lives to gun violence. In 2016, 71 people were killed in mass shootings.
On October 27, 2018, 11 Jews lost their
lives to gun violence at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill
section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In the aftermath of the most heinous
anti-Semitic attack on US soil, a plethora of donations to Jewish organizations
came flowing in for the purpose of providing enhanced security for Jewish
institutions all across the country.
In an
interview with the Jewish Voice subsequent to the Pittsburgh massacre, Yonatan
Stern, the director of the Cherev Gidon firearms training academy in
Pennsylvania said, “Every person has the basic right to self-defense. This does
not depend upon geographic location or any other circumstances. Each person has
an obligation to learn how to defend themselves and their families. The media
attention generated by this tragedy has put my training school in the
spotlight, and has caused many Jews to flock to my courses to get them prepared
to defend themselves and their communities. I am currently overwhelmed with
demand for these courses at a level which I am simply not able to supply. This
is at the end of the day a very good thing, as apparently many people have woken
up, but it saddens me that it has come under these terrible circumstances.”
Jewish schools, synagogues and community
centers have now significantly upgraded their security systems.
On April 3rd of this year, the JTA
reported that the New York State Legislature announced an additional $25
million to fund security for protect nonpublic schools, day cares and cultural
museums at risk of hate crimes.
For the first time, summer camps also
will receive the security grant allocations.
JTA reported that the $25 million is on
top of the $15 million in security allocations already made for such
institutions this year, funding lobbied for by Teach NYS, a project of the
Orthodox Union, which worked with coalition partners including Agudath Israel
of America, the New York State Catholic Conference and the UJA-Federation of
New York to create the original program.
The Orthodox Union, through its state
advocacy operation Teach Coalition, has worked for the security funding on the
national, state and city levels, and also recently hired full-time staff to
provide direct assistance to schools and synagogues in their efforts to apply
for state and federal grant funding.
It was the
stuff that headliner writers’ and crime reporters’ dreams are made of:
Manhattan comedy club owner and his live-in nanny murdered, and her boyfriend
is a suspect.
Joseph
Porter, 27, of Elizabeth, N.J., has been charged with two counts of murder and
weapons possession in the murders of David Kimowitz and nanny Karen
Bermudez-Rodriguez at Kimowitz’s home on Walton Road, Essex County, according
to prosecutors.
“I heard a
woman screaming, ‘Oh my god!’ over and over and over,” Kathy Cantwell, 63,
told a reporter from the New York Daily News. “It was at 6 a.m. My window
was open. I didn’t see anything. Someone was screaming from the top of their
lungs.”
Police
reportedly arrived at the scene to find 26 year old Bermudez-Rodriguez on the
ground several houses away, according to Essex County Chief Assistant Prosecutor
Thomas Fennelly told the Daily News.
“Kimowitz,
a father of two baby girls, was found dead inside the house, authorities said.
His wife and children were not home at the time of the attack, Fennelly told
the Daily News. “Kimowitz was an owner of the Stand Restaurant and Comedy Club
in Union Square in Manhattan. The popular venue first opened in Gramercy in
2012, then moved to a larger space on E. 16th St. last month. It’s hosted such
comedians as Tracy Morgan, Janeane Garofalo and Judah Friedlander.”
Comedians
in the area weighed in on social media. Comic Matt Davis tweeted, “God damn
this news about David Kimowitz. RIP, sir.” Fellow comic Daniel Lobell noted on
Facebook, “RIP David Kimowitz the world will miss you!” Added comic Chris
Millhouse, “RIP David Kimowitz, such a tragedy & my condolences to his
family.” Laurie Kilmartin noted tweeted, “I’m so sad and horrified to hear of
the death of David Kimowitz. A club owner who loved comedy and comics. A
terrible loss for his young family, and the NYC comedy community. RIP David.”
NorthJersey.com quoted a Kimowitz neighbor as saying that the family had
relocated to the area roughly a year and a half ago. “The neighbor said that
Kimowitz had extended family in the area, which was part of the reason the
family had relocated there. The neighbor continued, “There was always a nanny
around, his wife was pretty quiet. He was a very happy guy, they had just
renovated the house, which had been abandoned for a couple of years… they were
young and just starting out in the suburban life after having lived in
Manhattan. He was always very nice,”
reported heavy.com.
Michael Tommasi has apparently claimed in court papers that his problem were caused by former Congressman Michael Grimm, (pictured above) who is dating his ex-wife Antonella and used his pull with the police to cause trouble. Photo Credit: Newsmax
By: Alex Morales
Police
arrested Staten Island resident Michael Tommasi for allegedly sneaking into his
company’s office in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. They claimed he broke through the
front door of the firm, Interior Metals.
In
Tommasi’s office, the police further claimed, were cocaine and more than two
dozen bottles of anabolic steroids, stashed behind some ceiling tiles. (Charges
of felony drug possession and burglary were later cut down to misdemeanors.)
Now,
Tommasi has apparently claimed in court papers that his problem were caused by
former Congressman Michael Grimm, who is dating his ex-wife Antonella and used
his pull with the police to cause trouble.
“Antonella
utilized the political connections of her ‘boyfriend,’ Michael Grimm, in order
to persuade the police to arrest Michael at his place of business” and to get
an order of protection barring him from the premises, the hubby alleged in the
lawsuit against his estranged spouse,” reported the New York Post.
Antonella
Tommasi “has also siphoned off $600,000 for herself in a bid to lower the value
of the $10 million company and force Michael, who owns 49 percent of the
shares, to sell out to her on the cheap, he said in court papers,” according to
the Post. “While “falsely and maliciously” accusing Michael of stealing from
Interior Metals, Antonella has used company cash to pay for hotels, personal
meals and parking, her ex charges.”
Grimm is a
businessman, convicted felon, Marine Corps veteran, and one-time politician who
represented New York’s 13th congressional district during his first term, after
which he represented New York’s 11th congressional district. On April 28, 2014,
he was charged by federal authorities with 20 counts of fraud, federal tax
evasion, and perjury. He was sentenced to eight months in prison for tax
evasion. In October 2017, Grimm launched a campaign to attempt to win back his
old House seat in New York’s 11th District. He was not successful.
New York
magazine once wrote of Grimm that he “owned one of the most centrist records in
the 111th Congress. And then, after only four years in office, he resigned and
assumed a new title: inmate 83479-053. He pleaded guilty to one count of tax
evasion after first being hit with a 20-count indictment related to his Upper
East Side restaurant — mail and wire fraud, filing false tax returns, perjury,
hiring and employing undocumented immigrants, and so on.”
The feature story added wistfully, “Anyway, what Grimm is selling — a
kind of cosmic bond between himself, the president, and his “real,” “regular,”
and, “average” supporters — can’t be qualified with facts or statistics. It’s
not even about policy. It’s a matter of the gut, the heart, and the hands, and
well, isn’t that Staten Island?”
New York City’s subway trains are about
to start moving faster.
No,
really.
An
announcement is said to be on its way from the heads of the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (MTA) saying just that. Faulty signal grade timer will
no longer unnecessarily slow down trains.
“They will
include the A and C lines between the Lafayette Ave. and Liberty Ave. stations;
the Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines between the Nevins St. and Utica Ave. stops; and
trains running on the B, D, N and Q lines over the Manhattan Bridge, sources
told the Daily News.
MTA’s
recently formed Train Speed and Safety Task Force is working to review
“efficient and safe operating speeds in an effort to optimize both speed and
capacity” in both subway and commuter rails.
The task
force, which will be chaired by former Administrator of the U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration Jane Garvey, will review the posted civil speed
restrictions, improperly calibrated signal timers, and overall operations to
ensure trains do not continue to operate slower than safety and best practice
dictates, the group said.
The Train
Speed and Safety Task Force will examine the problem of train slowdowns across
the NYC Subway, Metro-North and LIRR systems, and review efficient and safe
operating speeds in an effort to optimize both speed and capacity, according to
the MTA. This will coordinate with the respective unions, Save Safe Seconds
Transit effort, and PTC efforts at LIRR and Metro North.
Governor
Andrew Cuomo, after discussions with labor union leaders, suggested the MTA
convene the task force and address these speed-related problems, including
restrictions and signal timer accuracy, in order to make improvements to the
system.
“The task
force will examine two related issues,” MTA explained in a statement. “First,
what is the safe, efficient operating speed for trains in the system. The
current speed limits were set over decades in an ad hoc manner and over time
the train design and track geometry has changed. Second, the union representing
train operators believes that timed signal timers are miscalibrated, causing
operators to be wrongfully penalized and thus they operate trains below posted
speed limits. The MTA has known that a number of signal timers are in fact
miscalibrated.”
The MTA has
been aware of these issues and NYCT started a speed review on portions of the
system. However, according to John Samuelsen and Tony Utano from the TWU, train
operators will not increase the actual speed of trains until they are sure that
signals are recalibrated so that operators are not unfairly penalized. This new
resolution will address the entire system and the operators concern in a
comprehensive manner.
MTA Managing Director Veronique Hakim said: “I’m enthusiastic about this
Task Force, that together with additional engineering resources and national
safety experts, will provide guidance on how to improve our customers’ daily
experiences. Better service is what
the new MTA is about.”
Disgraced former N.Y Democrat congressman Anthony Weiner was once more seen on a date in NYC, according to Page Six. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
By Henrietta Fishman
Disgraced former N.Y Democrat congressman Anthony Weiner was once more
seen on a date in NYC, according to Page six.
Weiner was spotted on what appeared to be a date with a different
woman at South Street Seaport last Thursday afternoon, according to the celebrity
gossip site published by the New York Post, Page Six.
A spy at the Garden Bar said of Weiner — who recently finished a
15-month prison stretch for sexting an underage girl — “This d - - k looks to be on a
date. They were touching legs and talking close.” Added the spy, “Who would
date him?”, Page Six reported.
In pictures of the adorable scene, Weiner, a k a Carlos Danger — who was wearing a white T-shirt and
green chinos — appeared to be cozying up to a brunette in a floral dress. It’s
not clear who she is.
This is the second time since he was released from prison that he was seen
on a date.
The one-time Democratic congressman “appeared friendly and at ease with
his mystery date inside a packed Wall Street restaurant, leaning in close to
talk face-to-face,” the New York Post reported early July “But Weiner appeared
to lose his sense of huma after making eye-contact with a Post reporter who a
waitress seated by chance at the table next to him — close enough to nearly
bump elbows with the selfie-crazed Democrat.”, TJV reported in July
A registered sex offender, Weiner started serving a prison sentence in
November of 2017 for transmitting sexual photos of himself to a 15-year-old
girl. He was sprung from jail this past February, relegated to a Bronx halfway
house — no smart phones allowed – for several months. He returned to public
life on May 14, TJV previously reported.
His return to society “was an optimistic note for a once-brash politician
who was a rising Democratic star until multiple sexting scandals ended his
political career, strained his marriage and, ultimately, got him sent to
federal prison,” reported the New York Times just over a month ago. “Despite
his fall from grace, Mr. Weiner sounded hopeful after serving 18 months of a
21-month sentence that he received in 2017 for sending sexually explicit texts
to a minor.
I am glad to be getting back to my family,” Weiner said in a video posted
by Fox News. “I’m glad this chapter of my life is behind me.”
Weiner, served seven terms in Congress as a
Democrat, never receiving less than 60% of the vote. He resigned from Congress
in June 2011 after an incident in which a sexually suggestive photo that he
sent to a woman via Twitter was captured and publicized. On May 19, 2017, he
pled guilty to another, unrelated sexting charge of transferring obscene
material to a minor, and was sentenced to 21 months in prison, ordered to pay a
$10,000 fine, and was required to permanently register as a sex offender, TJV
reported.
The Specialized High School Admission Test (SHSAT) will be offered to eighth-grade students at 55 locations across New York on Wednesday, Oct. 30, according to the New York Post. It had previously only been offered on weekends. Photo Credit: newyorkschooltalk.org
By: Glen Mason
Mayor Bill de Blasio fought against it,
and as he has done so very many times on a variety of initiatives, he failed.
And a lot
of New Yorkers are breathing a sigh of relief.
Controversy
surrounded by admissions test for the city’s eight elite public high schools.
Now it has been announced that the test is going to be offered at more than 50
middle schools this fall.
The
Specialized High School Admission Test (SHSAT) will be offered to eighth-grade
students at 55 locations across New York on Wednesday, Oct. 30, according to
the New York Post. It had previously only been offered on weekends.
“In 2016,
the Department of Education started the “SHSAT School Day” pilot program to
give the test during school hours at seven sites. The sites grew to 15 in 2017
and 50 last year,” the paper reported.
“Having
the test in more locations and available to more students is good for
everybody,” Wai Wah Chin, president of the Chinese American Citizens Council of
Greater New York, which has fought against elimination of the exam, told the
Post. “The question is,” she asked, “How do you roll it out properly?”
According
to Chin, careful preparations need to be made for the exam to be given on a
weekday. “They have to make sure that the tests don’t disrupt students if they
are held during the school day,” she told the Post. “When it comes to
logistics, the DOE doesn’t always get it right.” The test will also reportedly
be administered on Oct. 26 and Oct. 27, a Saturday and Sunday, respectively, at
several sites to be announced.
“This is
amazing news,” added Frances Kweller, a lawyer and educator who runs Kweller
Prep, a tutoring company that prepares students for academic entrance exams,
including the SHSAT, in the Post article. “Students previously had to travel to
central testing sites and wait on long lines just to enter the school they were
assigned to. “Now, 55 public schools will allow students to test in a familiar
setting and on a weekday. Many students can benefit from this change.”
de Blasio
his Chancellor of Schools, Richard Carranza, had tried for months to stop the
single-test entrance system to the elite schools, desiring to put in place
instead a plan to admit leading students from every middle school – a step that
would lower the number of Caucasian and Asian children.
CACAGNY
strongly objected to de Blasio’s scheme, noting on its web site that the
proposal “to expand vastly the Discovery Program and set aside 20% of the seats
for selected students who fail to meet the admission scores is unfair and
unjust to the thousands of students who score higher than these favored
students and would have otherwise been admitted.
“His further proposal to undo the fair and objective Hecht-Calandra Act
with secretive, inconsistent admission criteria reverse-engineered to achieve
racial targets masks his devastating failure to provide even basic K-8
education to vast numbers of communities in NYC, let alone the highly
competitive academics needed for the Specialized High Schools,” the group
continued. “In one of his middle schools, only two 8th graders demonstrated
math proficiency in five years.”
New York
City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio is once again the subject of raised eyebrows – this
time over a bank loan.
The two-term
mayor reportedly received mortgages on the homes he owned in Park Slope “from a
bank founded by the brother of men who received $173 million from the city in a
controversial real estate deal,” according to a report in The Daily News.
The bank in
question is Wall Street Mortgage Bankers, which operates under the name Power
Express Mortgage Bankers. The paper cites city Finance Department records.
“The bank’s
treasurer, secretary, former president and founder is Abraham Podolsky, public
records and multiple sources revealed,” the News said. “Abraham is the brother
of slumlords Jay and Stuart Podolsky, who earlier this year sold 17 buildings
to the city for $173 million. Abraham did not respond to several messages.”
The deal,
valued at $173 million, originally set aside to be used for affordable housing,
“came under intense scrutiny for months from critics who pointed to Jay and
Stuart’s criminal past, a federal probe into their real estate empire and
wildly divergent appraisals on the land they ultimately sold to the city,” the
News noted. “Abraham’s company’s loans to de Blasio as well as his family
connections are now renewing concerns about potential conflicts of interest
surrounding the deal.”
Records filed
with the city’s Department of Finance show that de Blasio’s clapboard row house
on 11th Street has a $625,000 mortgage from Wall Street Mortgage Bankers, The
Daily News reports.
“That
agreement, city finance records show, is dated June 26, 2014—six months after
de Blasio began his first term as mayor—and is due on July 1 2044,” reported
Curbed New York. “A separate Wall Street Mortgage loan on de Blasio’s second
Park Slope property, also on 11th Street, is for $630,500 and is due in 2042,
according to finance records.”
City
Comptroller Scott Stringer has reportedly asked that City Hall release the
deal’s appraisals. “Stringer is investigating the appraisals of the properties
sold by the Podolsky brothers because independent appraisals estimated the
value of the properties to be around $143 million. In April, Stringer issued a
subpoena to make the de Blasio administration release the documents,
questioning the inflated final price tag of $173 million,”
reported 6sqft.com.
According
to the web site, the Podolsky brothers were represented by Frank Carone, who
served as a lawyer for the Brooklyn Democratic Party and has reportedly given
no less than $21,500 to the mayor. “The city plans on converting 468 cluster
apartments in buildings in the Bronx and Brooklyn to permanently stabilized
apartments,” the story noted. “The apartments were part of a program created by
the Giuliani administration that paid private landlords higher rents to house
homeless families.”
In 2007,
when two Manhattan-based criminal defense lawyers were finalizing a lenient
sentencing for billionaire pervert Jeffrey Epstein’s deal, which included 13
months in a Palm Beach County jail and freedom from federal criminal
prosecution, the pervert was busy writing checks to their favorite
charities, the N.Y Post reported.
Epstein’s
nonprofit donated $500,000 in 2007 to the Ramaz School on the Upper East Side,
where attorney Jay Lefkowitz was a prominent member of the school’s Orthodox
Jewish community, meanwhile Epstein also donated $250,000 to the
Washington-based Foundation for Criminal Justice, where another attorney,
Gerald Lefcourt, was a board member in 2007, the Post stated.
The Ramaz
school is one of the earliest Jewish educational institutes in New York, dating
back to the 1930’s . Lefkowitz’s 3 children also attended the Jewish school.
The alleged
pedophile and convicted sex offender nonprofit C.O.U.Q was founded in 1998 by
Epstein and former gal pal Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the late British
media mogul Robert Maxwell who has been accused by three women of procuring
girls to work as sex slaves for Epstein.
Ramaz
school denied knowing that Epstein gave this large donation, according to The
Post. “This gift
opportunity
was brought to Ramaz by a community member and was used to establish an
educational program,” said the letter, which did not identify the “community
member.” A spokeswoman for the institution refused comment, to the media.
It was also
recently discovered that in 2007 two of Epstein’s lawyers Lefcourt and Alan
Dershowitz, wrote a 2007 letter aimed at boosting their clients image during
plea negotiations. The letter claimed Epstein helped found the corrupt and
controversial Clinton Foundation, Fox News reported
“Mr.
Epstein was part of the original group that conceived the Clinton Global
Initiative, which is described as a project ‘bringing together a community of
global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the
world’s most pressing challenges,” read the July 2007 letter to the U.S.
Attorney’s office in the Southern District of Florida. “Focuses of this
initiative include poverty, climate change, global health, and religious and
ethnic conflicts.”
Epstein is
not cited in official paperwork filed by the Clinton Global Initiative as a
founder or director. Neither the Clinton Foundation nor Dershowitz responded to
FoxNews.com’s inquiry as to the extent of Epstein’s involvement.
In another
interesting development convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is selling the
helicopter he allegedly used to traffic girls to the Hamptons.
The
helicopter is as repulsive as you would imagine anything owned by Epstein to
be, with bench seats designed to eliminate personal space so that eight people
could “cuddle up,” according to Page Six.
Epstein seems
to be struggling to produce the $100 million needed to post bond and looking to
unload whatever he can to come up with the cash. The helicopter is worth five
to six million, however the asking price is three. The question remains who
would want a helicopter connected with the stigma of being connected to
Epstein’s sick pedophilic sex trafficking
Page Six reports that the helicopter, along with Epstein’s private jet,
played a central role in Epstein’s alleged trafficking.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation (S.5444/A.7515) last week allowing victims of sexual offenses, stalking and human trafficking to participate in the Department of State's Address Confidentiality Program. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
By: Jasper Wood
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed
legislation (S.5444/A.7515) last week allowing victims of sexual offenses,
stalking and human trafficking to participate in the Department of State’s
Address Confidentiality Program.
The
program allows victims to keep their address hidden from their perpetrators by
using a substitute address provided by the Department of State in lieu of their
actual home, school or work address. The bill will take effect 90 days after
becoming law.
“Victims
of heinous crimes like sexual assault and human trafficking should not have to
live in constant fear that their assailant could find and potentially hurt them
again,” Governor Cuomo said in a statement. “By signing this
legislation into law we will help protect survivors from further abuse by
shielding their address from public view and hopefully provide a measure of
comfort as they move forward with their lives.”
“New
York has been a leader in protecting the most vulnerable in society and that
effort continues today,” said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. “This
new law will ensure victims of sexual offenses can take action to protect their
identity, giving them the peace of mind and security that is essential to
recovery and healing.”
Under the
previous law, Cuomo’s office said, only victims of domestic violence were
eligible to participate in the Address Confidentiality Program. However, many
victims of sexual offenses, stalking or human trafficking also have a need for
the benefits of an address confidentiality program because they often attempt
to evade actual or threatened violence by moving to a new address in order to
hide from an assailant or potential assailant. By offering victims of sexual
offenses, stalking and human trafficking the benefits of the Address
Confidentiality Program, this legislation will help protect them from violence
by helping them keep their actual addresses confidential.
Senator
Julia Salazar said, “Too many survivors of sexual offenses, stalking, and
human trafficking live in fear that their perpetrators will subject them to
violence once again. By signing this legislation, we are providing much needed
protections to these survivors and providing them the peace of mind they need and
deserve. This will prevent not just future physical violence, but additional
emotional and psychological harm as well. I applaud Governor Cuomo for his
leadership on this issue and thank him for signing this legislation into
law.”
Added Assembly Member Catalina Cruz, “This legislation has been
vitally important to survivors of domestic violence, most of whom live in
constant fear of their attacker. The expansion of the address confidentiality
program to include survivors of offenses such as stalking and human trafficking
will help protect our society’s most vulnerable members. I thank the Governor
for signing this legislation, and for his ongoing commitment to survivors of
domestic violence and human trafficking.”
The Kosher deli, Cafe Classico, which has been in the five story building for the past 19 years, says it is the lone holdout against a big Billionaire’s Row demolition project. Photo Credit: Great Kosher Restaurants
By Hellen Zaboulani
A long time
leaser at Manhattan’s West 57th Street is seeking the protection of a court
against the building’s landlord, who has threatened to evict it. The Kosher
deli, Cafe Classico, which has been in the five story building for the past 19
years, says it is the lone holdout against a big Billionaire’s Row demolition
project. As reported by the NY Post, Café Classico says the landlord, 35 West
Realty Co., has threatened to evacuate the restaurant for insufficient
insurance coverage in having a $1 million liability policy instead of a $2
million policy, thereby violating its lease agreement.
The deli
owner alleges that the landlord is just looking for an excuse to boot him so as
to pursue plans for a “major development project” set for the space, as per the
lawsuit. The restaurant is asking the Manhattan Supreme Court justice to stop
the landlord’s eviction bid by affirming that Cafe Classico is not in violation
of its lease. The Glatt Kosher restaurant owner says that to date he has paid
$500,000 over the years for lease of the space inside a 1891 French-style
townhouse. The eatery also says that the midtown location is “unique and irreplaceable”,
and that it has a “large base of regular customers.”
The
eatery’s complaint notes, that adjacent to the restaurant is a gaping hole.
Three nearby buildings have already been torn down to prepare for a large
development. One of those buildings is the limestone mansion where the famed
Rizzoli Bookstore stood for 30 years, before being ousted to make way for a
skinny super-tower. The 6-floor building at 31 West 57th Street was razed in
2015 with the two other similar looking buildings, but the site still sits
bare, fenced in and inactive. The LeFrak Organization and Vornado Realty have
plans to develop a high-rise tower in that empty space which is next to Cafe
Classico.
The landlord, has in turn responded to say that the insufficient
insurance policy coverage is sufficient reason for eviction and that it has no
other underlying motives. The lawyer for the landlords says his client has
nothing to do with the Billionaire row construction. “We’re not part of the
demolition next door,” said attorney Warren Estis. “That’s separate and distinct from us.”
Manischewitz is kosher food company that has been providing the Jewish world with food for ages. Jews all over the world enjoy their wine, their Passover matzo, and many more amazing products that this company makes. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
By: Ezra Ashkenazi
Manischewitz is kosher food company that
has been providing the Jewish world with food for ages. Jews all over the world
enjoy their wine, their Passover matzo, and many more amazing products that
this company makes. Samantha Corbin, a writer for a web magazine called
Brokelyn one said, “For me, putting Manischewitz on the Seder table is like
using Yiddish slang in everyday conversation…It’s a celebration of cultural
Judaism, a Judaism that can be observant but liberated from
religious gravitas.” Many people feel the same, as Manischewitz has been a
Jewish staple for different sects of Jews all over the world. However, the
company has been changed many times, and it is going to undergo a number of
changes in the near future. In 1987, the company sold its wine division to a
company that is now named Constellation Brands. Manischewitz has seen its
competitor, Kayco take over a lot of ground in the Kosher food market. Kayco
manufactures Kedem grape juice and wine, as well as many other kosher wines.
It also
makes a plethora of kosher foods that compete with Manischewitz. The company
has also lost a lot of customers to the American food companies who now get
their foods checked and certified by rabbis who give the food a kosher stamp. After
all the harsh competition that Manischewitz has faced, the company plans to
merge with its main competitor, Kayco. Kayco has acquired all of Manischewitz’s
products, including their matzos, which are the best-selling matzos in the
country by a mile, and other foods. Kayco also has access to Manischewitz’s
famous labels, like Rokeach and Mother’s. According to a New York Times
article, “The company’s portfolio will be trimmed down to its Season brand,
known for sardines that are popular with nonkosher consumers.” After this deal
is done the kosher supermarkets will never look the same, their shelves won’t
be filled with the products that have filled the shelves of supermarkets all
over the country for decades. Manischewitz is a company that has gone through a
lot of competition and diversity and they finally had to throw in the towel,
and allow Kayco to acquire its panoply of products. You know the saying, “If you
can’t beat ‘em join ‘em.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week that NYC Census 2020, the City’s first-of-its-kind census outreach and engagement campaign, is investing more than $1.4 million in an unprecedented partnership with New York City’s three public library systems – the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Queens Public Library. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
By: Derrick MacGuire
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced last week that NYC Census 2020, the City’s first-of-its-kind census
outreach and engagement campaign, is investing more than $1.4 million in an
unprecedented partnership with New York City’s three public library systems –
the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Queens Public
Library – to count every New Yorker in the upcoming 2020 Census.
Funding
libraries to conduct census outreach and provide internet access will be a
critical component of NYC Census 2020’s campaign to combat the fear and
disinformation resulting from the specter of the now-defeated citizenship question,
as well as bridge the digital divide that has left hundreds of thousands of New
Yorkers without regular, reliable access to the internet, the mayor’s office
said.
The
funding is one of the cornerstones of the City’s overall historic $40 million
investment in census outreach, organizing, and public awareness, which includes
a large community-based grants program, a field operation, as well as
innovative, robust, and multi-lingual media and marketing efforts.
“New York
City has been on the front lines of the resistance against the Trump
Administration and ensuring every New Yorker gets counted is central to our
fight,” said de Blasio in a statement. “We cannot let the federal government
silence our diversity of voices. Our partnership with the public library system
will help all New Yorkers stand up and be counted.”
“You might
think we’ve come a long way since the three-fifths compromise, but when it
comes to the Census, make no mistake: the Trump Administration thinks it’s
1820, not 2020. We’re not going to let them use this critically important civil
rights exercise to erase us from the map, which is why every one of our major
public institutions, from hospitals to housing, and to the 90 library branches
serving our most undercounted neighborhoods will be leveraged to get every New
Yorker counted next year,” added Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives
Phil Thompson.
NYC Census
2020’s funding will cover:
Technology:
libraries will be able to significantly expand the ability for New Yorkers,
especially those lacking internet access, to participate online in the census
as a result of investments in laptops, tablets, and other similar technological
solutions
Training
and translations: the libraries’ front-line staff will be trained and equipped
to help New Yorkers from all backgrounds gain access to information about the
census, with a focus on priority branches
Operational
support: extended library hours will be funded in priority neighborhoods to
convene census-related activities, such as informational sessions and periods
of time when New Yorkers can access the internet to participate in the census
Marketing:
library-specific messaging will be created to reach local communities in dozens
of languages, and to raise awareness about libraries’ role in the decennial
census; and
Personnel: civic engagement staff will be brought on to engage New
Yorkers on the census and activate grassroots interest across the library
systems.
