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Brooklyn, NY - None of the nearly $1 million set aside to tackle sex abuse in New York's ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities has been spent, even as another program set up to help scrambles for cash. The state has earmarked $950,000 since April 2009 to fund Assemblyman Dov Hikind's plans to teach Hasidic Jews ... Full story

New York - Brooklyn is a fascinating place. For those who were born and raised there and attended yeshiva there, it has its advantages. We were brought up to respect our gedolim and da’as Torah. People who operated outside of the perimeter of da’as Torah were beyond the pale of what ... Full story

Rochester, NY - A US Airways jet bound for Charlotte, N.C., has made an emergency landing at an upstate New York airport after the pilot reported a bird strike shortly after takeoff. Airline spokeswoman Tina Swail says the pilot of Flight 1101 declared an emergency two minutes after leaving Rochester's airport Thursday ... Full story

Brooklyn, NY - Protesters are expected to turn out in downtown Brooklyn today as construction on the controversial Atlantic Yards project is set to begin after years of delays and court challenges. Gov. David Paterson, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and rapper Jay-Z will join developer Bruce Ratner at the groundbreaking ceremony. Earlier this week, streets in the already-clogged area between Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues began closing to clear ... Full story

South Lanarkshire, UK - A group of stunned primary schoolchildren began crying when their teacher told them during a bizarre Holocaust game that they were to be taken away from their families. The pupils, aged 11, became upset after a number of them were segregated and told they were being sent away ... Full story

Manhattan, NY - There was scarce evidence of the global recession at a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser for the IDF in New York City on Tuesday night. Even as protestors outside the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel decried the guest of honor – Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi – donors pledged six-figure sums, topping $20 ... Full story

New York - Brooklyn Democrat State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz has introduced a bill that would ban the use of salt in New York restaurants - and violators would be smacked with a $1,000 fine for every salty dish. "No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in ... Full story

Washington - During a rant that lit up the blogosphere yesterday, an enraged U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy from Rhode Island had to be gaveled quiet yesterday after ripping into what he called “despicable” media coverage of the war in Afghanistan. House floor on a failed measure calling for the end of the war in Afghanistan. “If anybody wants to know where cynicism is, ... Full story

New York, NY - They stand about six feet tall and look like naked human beings. Over the next few days, 27 of them will be scattered across rooftops and ledges of buildings in Midtown Manhattan — including the Empire State Building — as part of a public art exhibition. About the ... Full story

New York, NY - Garbage in, garbage out -- but less frequently if the city decides to replace street litter baskets with solar-powered compactors that go for a hefty $4,000 each. Eighteen months after rejecting one version of a high-tech street garbage compactor as impractical, the Sanitation Department is quietly ... Full story