Chaptzem Blog!      

A man was found dead on the street in a pool of blood in front of the Avenue Plaza Hotel on 13th Avenue in Boro-Park. It is uncertain whether the man jumped from the building to his death or if he was struck by a hit and run driver.
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An Orthodox Jewish sect has kept quiet since buying more than 450 acres in rural Sullivan County, but a booklet circulating in the Jewish community reveals a plan to establish a religious village there.

The Skver sect of Orthodox Jews is quickly running out of room in the Village of New Square, its enclave in Rockland County. So in July 2006, the sect paid $6 million for 458 acres, including the old Homowack Hotel, in the Town of Mamakating.

A 12-page booklet outlines plans and solicits donations for the new community, which is referred to as "Kiryas Skver."

"We are talking about creating a city from scratch," the booklet says, "building an infrastructure costing tens of millions of dollars, setting up a Talmud Torah, a girls school, a yeshiva," as well as shopping and health centers.

Those plans are reminiscent of Kiryas Joel, the Satmar Hasidic village in Orange County that was established in 1977.

On Aug. 19, 2007, about 10,000 Skver Hasidim — including New Square's grand rabbi, David Twersky — gathered at the Homowack Hotel. A story published in the Jewish Press said the gathering was an "inauguration of the new Hasidic village." In an interview last week, Dov Goldman, a Skver representative, said there are no immediate plans to build on the site. No applications have been filed in Mamakating. Goldman said future plans depend on population growth in New Square, which, by all accounts, is packed almost to capacity. New Square is only 0.4 square miles, and home to roughly 8,000 people.

Neighbors in the area of Meyerson Road fear the establishment of a religious village in their rural neighborhood. They've already organized a group, called 209 Valley Keepers, to track and fight the planned community.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080529/NEWS/805290318
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A woman appeared in Marlborough Town Court yesterday to answer charges she stole approximately $12,000 in cash from the winery where she worked.
Town police arrested Sharon Mackey, 42, of the hamlet of Marlboro, on May 22. They said she forced open the locked door of the business office at Kedem Winery and removed the cash during business hours.
Mackey is charged with burglary, criminal possession of stolen property and grand larceny, all felonies.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080528/NEWS/80528002
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In a recent Court decision, a group of Bobover Chasidim that were injured from falling off bleachers at a Bobover Chasunah, can sue Bobover Yeshivah, Bobover Congregation and the City of New York. The allegations by the plaintiffs against the City are that the City, when they provided bleachers for the Chasunah, failed to furnish bleachers that were in well enough condition to handle the enormous crowds that were present. In their case against the Yeshivah and the Shul, they allege that Bobov failed to provide adequate personnel to make sure that the crowds and bleachers were managed in a safe and appropriate manner.
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In an astounding show of contempt for their fellow Jew, the Hamodia Newspaper almost completely ignored the recent Black-on-Jew violence in Crown Heights. Aside for an extremely bland, partly recycled 400 word article there is nothing else the paper has done to express concern or solidarity with their brethren that live only a couple of blocks away. It is exactly this attitude of "We don't care as long as it's not us", that put Crown Heights in the situation that it is now and it is that attitude that continues to plague Judaism in general.

Not long ago, Crown Heights was a prospering completely Yiddishe neighborhood, with Bobov, Viznitz, Skulen and others living there. When only a couple of outsiders started moving in and taking over the neighborhood everyone said that it wasn't their problem. They all then packed up and left, leaving the neighborhood to be ravished by the worst elements thereby leaving their own brothers all alone to fend for themselves.

Now, in a time when we need to stick together the most and help each other, the Hamodia has chosen the easy way out and refuses to get involved. When you have the power to change things and you just sit idly by, doing nothing to make it better, you are then effectively making it worse. It is time the Hamodia did something to make it better.
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There is no escaping them. They have left their mark everywhere in Israel, in the form of a cryptic mantra painted in bold Hebrew lettering on security fences, sleek skyscrapers, graveyard walls, freeway billboards and sheer mountain cliffs.

Dressed in characteristic woven white skullcaps, adherents perform leaping dances on street corners in the secular bastion of Tel Aviv, to techno-Hassidic music blasting from vans bearing the slogan "Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me'uman," which has informally lent its name to the newest of Hasidic sects.
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The Na Nachs, as some of the group call themselves, are an offshoot of the Bratslav Hassidim, followers of the late Rebbe Nachman (1772-1810), great-grandson of the founder of Hasidism. But what separates Na Nachs from other Bratslavers is their belief that a mysterious letter found in 1962 by Rabbi Israel Dov Odesser, a Bratslaver Hasid from Tiberias, was a miraculous message from Rebbe Nachman himself, and that the mantra it contained, which mentioned Nachman and his burial place, Uman, Ukraine, was a "Letter from Heaven."

All other Bratslaver groups reject the validity of the letter. But this does not deter Na Nachs from believing it to be "the new song through which all of Israel will be redeemed."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/984972.html
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Justice Schmidt pictured in the left photograph second from the right. In the right photograph, his father's concentration camp uniform which now hangs in his chambers.

As courtrooms adjourned for afternoon recess, dozens of judges, court employees and members of the public came together at lunchtime to listen to the somber words of Holocaust memories.

Hon. David Schmidt, a Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice, also spoke. Schmidt did not endure the genocide himself – but his father did, and Schmidt keeps his father’s concentration-camp uniform framed and forever hanging on the wall of his chambers. It is a solemn reminder of what his dad endured not too long ago.

Schmidt’s father was 13 years old when he was shaved and stripped by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp in Poland. The gray-and-white pinstriped prison-uniform was the only thing his father possessed for the next six years. It was what he was wearing for seven days on a train with no food or water, as he and hundreds of other Jews were transported to a death camp in Germany. When they arrived, his father was the lone survivor in the cattle car.

The crowd of listeners did not make a sound during these horrific accounts of history.

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=4&id=20500
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Hospital officials say at least two employees, possible more, may be involved in an identity theft case.

The two are accused of stealing the personal information of patients and using it to buy various items.

There is no word on how many patients are involved.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6159093
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The attacker of Alon Sherman, the Jewish teen that was beaten and mugged in Crown Heights, has been arrested. The attacker is a 14 year-old black teen that does not live within the 71st Police Precinct area. The teen was picked up after detectives tracked the cell phone that he stole from Alon Sherman that was being used by the person that he sold it to. The person that used the phone gave up the attacker and he was then arrested. Police are not labeling the crime as bias but rather as a crime of opportunity.
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A huge immigration raid last week on the country's largest kosher slaughterhouse could have a substantial impact on the thousands of Jews who follow Jewish dietary laws, as well as on non-Jews who purchase kosher meat.

The Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville, Iowa, is one of the largest of a small number of U.S. meat producers that satisfy Jewish dietary restrictions, called kashrut. Federal authorities arrested 400 people in the raid, and the Justice Department said this week that 85 had pleaded guilty to felony charges involving the use of false identifications to obtain employment.

They also admitted to being in the country illegally and now face deportation, the department said. As a result, the plant, which was shut down the day of the arrests, will face a challenge replenishing its 800-person workforce.

"I don't think the Jewish community can survive at this point without Rubashkin," Mordechai Yitzhaky, owner of KosherMart in Rockville, said of the family that owns Agriprocessors.

Industry-watchers and butchers say they have heard reports of hoarding since the raid, but the impact will not be known for several days, as individuals and stores still have frozen supplies. Muslims also sometimes buy kosher meat, as Islamic dietary restrictions are similar to kashrut, and it can be hard to find halal -- or acceptable by Islamic law -- food in most U.S. communities.

For the estimated 1 million Americans who observe kosher restrictions, Agriprocessors' latest troubles ramp up a discussion that has been underway for several years: Can a company meet religious standards if it violates ethical ones?

Agriprocessors has been cited multiple times by federal and state regulators for food-safety, environmental, labor and animal cruelty violations. The violations were widely reported by a Jewish newspaper, the Forward, prompting Jewish advocacy groups to note that Jewish law protects workers and forbids inflicting unnecessary pain on animals.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102471.html?hpid=sec-religion
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The NYPD will send more cops into Crown Heights in a bid to calm tensions between blacks and Jews in the Brooklyn neighborhood, sources told the Daily News.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly made a surprise tour of Brooklyn's 71st and 77th precincts Monday night, including a stop at a local synagogue.

Jewish community leaders met with top aides to Mayor Bloomberg at City Hall Tuesday and came away with assurances more cops would be on the streets starting last night, sources said.

Police presence in Crown Heights has been growing since Friday, when more than 200 Orthodox Jews marched to the 71st Precinct stationhouse.

The group rallied on behalf of 16-year-old Alon Sherman, who was pummeled and robbed of his bike by two black teens earlier in the day.

"The protesters randomly tried to stop at least one car full of black people. If police hadn't been there, it could have gotten nasty," said a police source who worked the demonstration.

Jewish protesters said the assault on Alon should have been labeled a bias attack and charged the NYPD and Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes with doling out two kinds of justice: one for blacks and one for Jews.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/05/21/2008-05-21_more_cops_for_crown_heights.html
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An attack on a Hasidic Jewish teenager in Crown Heights still is under investigation, New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Saturday.

A 16-year-old was assaulted near his home just after midnight on Friday. Police say his bicycle, watch and cell phone were stolen. The boy also suffered a broken jaw in the incident, Kelly said.

Hundreds of Hasidic Jews marched through the Brooklyn neighborhood Friday, hours after the incident, briefly blocking traffic on Eastern Parkway.

The assault is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

The area has recently seen tension between Jews and blacks who had coexisted peacefully in the years since the neighborhood was wracked by a 1991 race riot. Black leaders expressed outrage in April after a black college student was attacked in the neighborhood by two Jewish men.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-spcrow0518,0,4716412.story
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Drawing on her skills as interviewer, observer, and social critic, Salamon presents the story of modern medicine, uniquely viewed from the vantage point of those who make it run. She draws out the internal and external political machinations that exist between doctors and staff as well as between hospitaland community. And she grounds the science and emotion of medical drama in the financial realities of operating a huge, private institution that must contend with issues like adapting to the specific needs of immigrant groups that make up a large and growing portion of our society.

Salamon exposes struggles of both the profound and humdrum variety. There are bitter internal feuds, warm personal connections, comedy, egoism, greed, love, and loss. There are rabbinic edicts to contend with as well as imams and herbalists and local politicians. There are system foul-ups that keep blood test results from being delivered on time, careless record keepers, shortages of everything except forms to fill, recalcitrant and greedy insurance reimbursement systems, and the surprising difficulty of getting doctors to wash their hands.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Hospital/Julie-Salamon/e/9781594201714/?itm=1
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Protest started at Albany Ave. and Empire Blvd., then ended peacefully at 770 Eastern Pkwy.


Alon Sherman, 15, lays in bed after the assault with his mother, Iris, by his side.

Crown Heights erupted in anger yesterday as nearly 300 people marched in protest after a 16-year-old Jewish teen was beaten and robbed in the early morning.

Police have made no arrests but have not ruled the attack a hate crime, which has angered members of the Jewish community.

The mugging has raised racial tensions in the Jewish and African-American community that have simmered since the racial turmoil of the early 1990s.

The attack and march came on the same day cops released a photo and asked for the public's help in the capture of a Jewish man, Yitzhak Shuchat, 25, who has been named a suspect in the April attack on 20-year-old Andrew Charles, a black college student who is the son of a police officer.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05172008/news/regionalnews/tension_in__crown_hts__111239.htm
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Crowd was urged by Police to leave the area. They have dispersed and left to go home for Shabbos.
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Police are now at Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue. They have roped off the street and are containing the crowd to that one block with traffic still blocked. A Police negotiation team has been dispatched to the scene to calm the community.
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Due to the latest multitude of black-on-Jew violence in Crown Heights and the growing frustration within the community of the lack of Police intervention, members of the community have staged a march of protest. Three hundred Jewish neighborhood people marched down Empire Blvd. passed the 71st Police Precinct to let their voices be heard. The crowd then proceeded to march to Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue where they have blocked the street and closed traffic in both directions. Instead of listening to the communities pleas for protection, the Police are now dispatching a task force to dismantle the march.
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According to this 'B'Chatzar Ha'Koidesh', Skverer Rebbe feels that it is very important that Skver Shtetel have two seperate Hatzalahs, one for servicing the men and the other for the women.

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A state board has just approved a $3 million grant for a women's health center that's nearing completion four years later than expected — at almost triple the predicted cost.

The cost, almost all paid for with state and federal grants, has ballooned to $11.4 million since Kiryas Joel officials outlined plans in 2002 for a 50,000-square-foot center that would offer women a multitude of health-related services, including convalescent care after giving birth.

Back then, officials estimated the work would cost $4 million and be finished in 2004.

Yesterday, Village Administrator Gedalye Szegedin played down the cost escalation, saying the original price tag was a rough calculation the village used before delving into design and engineering details.

And he described the center's expected opening within two months as the achievement of a dream for his community — a feat more noteworthy, he argued, than the cost or duration of the project.

"The village is extremely excited, after so many years of hard work, that there's finally going to be a full women's-services center," he said. "It's a project that's going to help a lot of women in need."

State and federal grants have covered most of the $11.4 million cost.

The latest will come through a state Dormitory Authority program, the recipients of which were selected by the Assembly. The state Public Authorities Control Board — a five-member panel that oversees Dormitory Authority funding — approved the $3 million award last month.

In a place where Hasidic women typically bear lots of children, the center will offer mothers pre- and post-natal care and provide 56 beds where they can rest and recuperate for days after childbirth.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/NEWS/805150343/-1/NEWS
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Check it out
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A man of many hats he is.

Police say the stocky, middle-aged bank robber who donned creative costumes and threatened tellers with fake bombs and nerve gas in the past has returned, striking on Long Island at least three times since Friday.

And distinguishing himself by his headgear.

An Indiana Jones fedora. A black hat favored by Hasidic Jewish men. He once even applied makeup to a turban costume to make himself look more dark-skinned, police said.

Nassau investigators say he's successfully demanded cash at banks at least 10 times since 2006 in New York City and in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

"The disguises? Obviously, he doesn't want anybody to know exactly who he is," said Det. Sgt. John. J. Giambrone, commander of the Nassau robbery squad.

"And he feels if he wears the disguise, he doesn't have to keep his head down and he has a better chance of getting away."

Referencing surveillance camera footage being reviewed by investigators, Giambrone said, "We refer to him here dressed as a pirate or as the Gloucester Fisherman."

Police believe the same man who robbed a Roslyn Savings Bank in New Hyde Park on Friday also robbed an Emigrant Savings Bank in Elmont Monday and a Bank of America, also in New Hyde Park, about a half-hour later.

At the Emigrant in Elmont, witnesses said he simply wore a black hat. In the robbery immediately afterward, a witness described his hat as resembling one Indiana Jones would wear.

For the most part, the robberies tend to occur during inclement weather so that, police suspect, fewer people are likely to be on the street to witness his flight and police response times are likely to be delayed.

Still, since any cash he stole appears to have come from teller drawers, the maximum he's been able to get has been a few thousand dollars, Giambrone said.

"He hasn't gotten much," Giambrone said.

During all the robberies, the typed demand notes the robber passes also appear to be, for the most part, identical.

"They all indicate that if the teller doesn't comply, that someone's going to be hurt or he might shoot," he said.

Det. Sgt. Robert Doyle, commanding officer of Suffolk's Major Case Investigations Unit, said the suspect would commit a bank robbery, displaying a fake bomb device and then not be heard from for several months.

http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/wednesday/longisland/ny-lihat145684963may14,0,7751203.story
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To all the people of Boro Park it was a pleasure serving you for the past few years. Wish I could say the same for the cowardly bosses who hide behind each other when they have personal issues against the fine officers of the 66 precinct. i am a kind hearted person who thought there was more to policing than "summons performance objectives." we all know that quotas don't exist because they are illegal. And no person in this world should hate another human being because of their race. That is just stupidity. So let’s just say there are a lot of stupid idiots who abuse their authority. We as police officers are told not to abuse our authority but we continue to get abused at our workplace. Not all of them are bad. You know who you are. I bet you go home and tell your wives and children how much of a great leader you are.

Rank is something you wear, respect is something you earn. I can truly say that I am extremely disappointed in the way I have been treated at the six-six precinct. Some people should be ashamed of the way they disregard their own self pride just for a fling with a supervisor. It is a shame when you have supervisors who stand roll call and take a banana from a community donated fruit basket, toss it to an African American officer and state "let your natural instincts take over." it is a shame when a Hispanic complainant comes into the precinct and a supervisor starts to ridicule the person because he does not speak English by saying mira, mira, mucho, mucho and begins laughing. it is also a shame that when you confront these supervisors privately to express your concerns, they turn around and give you undesirable assignments the next time they see you. i believe that these supervisors are not very good examples of how a person should conduct themselves around a public building. Especially a police precinct.

And to all you supervisors who tried to jam me up while i was at the six-six precinct..... go home to your wives and apologize. Those of you supervisors who aren’t married but are having relationships with officers. Stop the fraternization. Also, if you get one of them mad enough at you... they know how to jam you up..... They work for the same job as you and know the tricks. Smarten up. It is a shame that officers bust their butts answering 911 calls to keep the community safe and it isn't appreciated by the bosses. it is a shame when an officer shows up to work, whether late or not, puts on the uniform and risks his life day in and day out for the community and he has to put up with petty nonsense because he is perceived as having a bad attitude. Who wouldn’t have a bad attitude when you are being constantly messed with by someone who hides behind their rank? It is a shame that one boss gets upset, doesn’t have the balls to discipline an officer so he sends another to deal with his problems.....to all you, and you know who you are...... you cant hide behind the gun and badge for the rest of your lives. And, if you ever see an officer after retirement......and you were abusing that officer.....like the song goes just "walk on by"......

P.S. god is watching your every move and he doesn’t like ugly.

P.S. 2 thanks for the memories.....I will keep in touch. Good luck to the PO's and the good bosses at the 66.
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Here are some pictures of the dangerous cell phone towers that have been installed on the roof of Beis Sureh girls' school in Boro-Park. Beis Sureh is selling your child's health for a couple of bucks.

Thank you Moish P. for sending in the pix. According to Moish there are several more cell towers on the back of the building that are not in the pictures.
    
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While parents at New York City Public School 185 are fighting Verizon for putting cell phone towers near the school and endangering their childrens' life, Beis Sureh girls' school in Boro-Park is filling their rooftop with cell towers, squeezing every penny they can make out of it.

The parents of P.S. 185 have been doing whatever they can to fight Verizon and get rid of the cell phone towers that have been put up across from the school because of the dangerous radiation that these towers spew. On the other hand, Beis Sureh girls' school in Boro-Park has a humongous overcrowded roof just full of those dangerous radiation-factory cell phone towers right on top of the heads of Yiddishe children.

Does Beis Sureh really care so little about your daughter's health that they are willing to risk her life just to make a couple of bucks from the cell phone tower rent? It sure seems so.

So, the bottom line is if you enjoy the sadism of the school's administration, the exorbitant tuition that they charge and also don't give a darn about the radiation being pumped into your kids, then Beis Sureh is the place for you.
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Council Members James S. Oddo (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) and Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) called on the Department of Transportation to issue a new rule requiring those who make cuts into public streets as part of the construction of one-, two- or three-family houses to restore the pavement back to its original condition.

The Council members introduced legislation in the City Council that would accomplish this goal (Intro. 680) but it is a change that DOT can make more quickly through internal rulemaking. The Council members urged DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan to make this rule change a priority, though they vowed to pursue passage of the legislation if DOT fails to act.

Councilman Oddo said, “Despite promises that changes would come, we still see streets dug up and incorrectly or incompletely repaired by contractors. This is unacceptable and it is a quality-of-life issue for all New Yorkers. It’s a fundamental and common sense notion that should you break something you should be required to fix it. Our legislation would require just that.”

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=31&id=20330
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Scorned Chasidic performer Lipa Schmeltzer chaps a schmooze with New York City Council candidate Joe Lazar. Is Lipa endorsing him or seeking his support now that he's been betrayed by others.

     
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Two former principals at a Brooklyn mortgage lender have been charged with fraud in two separate schemes to steal more than $44 million in payoff proceeds from refinanced mortgages and to sell nonperforming mortgage loans using falsified loan histories.

Leib Pinter and Barry Goldstein, former principals of Olympia Mortgage Corp., have been indicted on charges of conspiracy and fraud charges.

The men are expected to be arraigned before a federal judge in Brooklyn late Thursday. They each face a maximum of 30 years in prison on the fraud charges.

Lawyers for the men didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment Thursday.

The two schemes allegedly ran from 1994 until November 2004 -- when Olympia surrendered its license to act as a mortgage lender in New York, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors alleged Mr. Pinter, 64 years old, defrauded Fannie Mae by stealing payoff proceeds from 257 refinanced mortgage loans that Olympia was servicing for Fannie Mae.

In a separate scheme, Mr. Goldstein, 59, allegedly directed other Olympia employees to create fraudulent or "dummy" loan histories for nonperforming loans -- where a homeowner had either missed payments or made payments late -- in order to sell those loans to Credit Suisse First Boston, the government said.

CSFB, a unit of Credit Suisse Group, purchased 12 of those nonperforming loans, prosecutors said.

The investigation is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121025785139377033.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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From the Reader's Digest
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The Belzer Rebbe gets R' Yisroel and R' Mendel Hager to dance together at a Simcha.

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A $336 million dollar class-action lawsuit settlement has been made with the credit card companies. Anyone that has used their credit card outside of the country between 1996 and 2006 can get back $25 just by filling out a short form on the settlement web-site.

This is for anyone that has been to any country and has used any credit card. You do not need to have any receipts or proof of how much you spent in order to get this refund. All requests must be submitted by May 30, 2008.

If you do not have a refund ID, click under the submit button where it says 'I do not have a Refund ID'.

Link to the site
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A couple of chevra take a motorcycle ride in Boro-Park.

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A Brooklyn man was arrested Sunday night and charged with sexually molesting two boys, 13 and 14, during their religious studies at a synagogue school, city police said.

After his 11 p.m. Sunday arrest Yona Weinberg, 29, of 1551-A East 17th St., Brooklyn, was charged with sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor, the police said.

The police were responding to allegations of past sexual abuse, with the victims saying that "the suspect had touched their private parts on more than one occasion while assisting them with their religious studies," a Monday police report said.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nyabus0506,0,7145830.story
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Rabbi Moshe Meyer Weiss was stopped at a busy intersection while driving in Boro-Park. There was an elderly woman that was walking extremely slowly that was waiting to cross the intersection. When the light turned green all the cars began to honk as if there were a fire somewhere in order to prevent this woman from crossing the street and causing them to wait for her a while due to her slow speed. Rabbi Weiss ignored all the honking and much to the other drivers' dismay, allowed the woman to cross the street and patiently waited at a full stop for as long as it took her. Now there is a real human being and Bal Midos in a world of chaos and self-centeredness!
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Here's a screenshot of a Chasidishe ad from CraigsList.

Maybe, just maybe, it's time to stop frivolous banning and time to start instilling real Torah values and morals into the Heimishe oilem instead.


Since the ad has already been removed from the original source, some words from the ad have been smudged to protect the innocent.
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Controversy between Orange County and the Village of Kiryas Joel continued Thursday during a county legislature meeting where lawmakers argued over whether or not the village deserves its yearly property tax exemptions for a certain property given recent troubles over a trespassing and damage of property dispute.

Though legislators decided to give the Village of Kiryas Joel its yearly $640 property tax exemption for a property which serves as a public water supply parcel, they argued over the difference between “the right thing to do” and “giving away leverage” on an incident that occurred seven months ago where a parcel owned by the county in the village, known as the Gonzaga Property, was vandalized.

“It doesn’t make sense to me that we give them tax exempt status, not that I’m singling them out, but I don’t know of any municipality out there is asking for tax exempt status on a property that we are possibly going into litigation over,” said New Hampton legislator Thomas Pahucki.

Legislator Daniel Depew of Walkill agreed, and asked “why give away this leverage on the Gonzaga issue?”

Other legislators, like Gregory Townsend of Monroe, felt the two issues are unrelated.

“I think this is something that is due to every municipality, and we have to look at that as a separate issue.”

Despite the arguments, the legislature passed the resolution by a margin of 17-4 in favor of awarding Kiryas Joel the 2008 tax exemption for the water supply parcel.

Investigations into the incident on the Gonzaga Property back in mid-2007 are still ongoing; the financial extent of the damage to a wall that was knocked down on the parcel is still being examined by county officials.

http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/May08/02/OCL_KJ_tax-02May08.html
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