A historic Hatzolah Ambulance that was used to carry the Aron of the late Posek Hador, Hagaon HaRav Moshe Feinstein ZT”L, has been moved to Brooklyn. The Lower East Side Hatzolah ambulance was seen in the iconic photo taken at the massive Levaya, when tens of thousands walked behind the Aron, as it headed to JFK Airport. The same ambulance was used to transport Rav Moshe to the hospital, when he reportedly uttered his final words “Ich hub mer nisht kein koach” (I have no more strength). Earlier this week, the ambulance was towed to Superior Collision on Coney Island Avenue, where Hatzolah volunteer Nussy Josephy is working on restoring the ambulance, which had been sitting in a parking lot in the Lower East Side for nearly 35 years.

Former presidential and New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang is leaving the Democratic Party, he announced this week. Yang said in a Medium post that he changed his voting registration from “Democrat” to “Independent” on Monday after being a registered Democrat for 20 years. “I have at this point dozens of friends and confidantes who are entrenched in the Democratic Party. I’ve been a Democrat my entire adult life,” Yang wrote in “Breaking up with the Democratic Party.” “And yet, I’m confident that no longer being a Democrat is the right thing.” Yang blasted a “stuck” political system, and polarization that is worse than ever. He called for a combination of open primaries and ranked-choice voting, as practical steps toward improving that system.

Federal agents raided the offices Tuesday of a New York City police union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, and the Long Island home of its bombastic leader, who has clashed with city officials over his incendiary tweets and hard-line tactics. FBI spokesperson Martin Feely said agents were “carrying out a law enforcement action in connection with an ongoing investigation.” Agents were seen carrying boxes out of the union’s Manhattan headquarters and loading them into a van. The FBI also searched union president Ed Mullins’ home in Port Washington, Long Island, Feely said. Mullins resigned as the union’s president Tuesday night, according to a message the union’s board sent to members. The board said he did so at its urging.

Northwell Health, New York state’s largest health care provider, announced that 1,400 employees have been terminated for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The terminations represent less than 2% of the total workforce of Northwell, which runs 23 hospitals and more than 700 outpatient facilities across the state. “Northwell believes that having a fully vaccinated workforce is an important measure in our duty to protect the health and safety of our staff, our patients and the communities we serve,” company officials said in a statement Monday.

New York City’s public libraries will no longer charge late fees and will waive existing fines for overdue books and other materials, city officials announced Tuesday. Late fees had already been suspended since March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic and will now be permanently eliminated, elected officials and leaders of the city’s three library systems said in a news release. “This announcement is another major step towards making our public libraries, the heart of so many communities, accessible to all,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “Eliminating fines will let us serve even more New Yorkers, allowing them to enjoy all of the resources and programs that public libraries offer to grow and succeed.” In 2019, the city’s libraries collected about $3.2 million in late fees.

The FBI raided the Sergeants Benevolent Association’s headquarters in Manhattan on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the bureau said. A law enforcement official told ABC News no one was arrested in connection with the raid. A U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York spokesperson declined to provide a comment to the outlet about the investigation. The union’s president, Ed Mullins, is a controversial figure who has publicly sparred with Mayor Bill de Blasio and with NYPD leadership. De Blasio on Tuesday confirmed the raid but said he did not have details. (AP)

A federal judge has declined to impose a temporary restraining order on New York City’s public school vaccine mandate, rejecting a request from special education teachers who were denied a religious exemption. Michael Kane and nine other educators — who all said they possess sincerely held religious beliefs that compel them to eschew any vaccine — sought the temporary restraining order, claiming the mandate violates the free exercise and equal protection clauses of the Constitution. The educators can try again during a hearing next week at which they’ll seek a preliminary injunction, accusing the state of “hostility” toward religious beliefs that may be outside the mainstream.

A New York mother and son have been charged with theft in aiding the disappearance of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s laptop during the Jan. 6 insurrection after the FBI initially raided a home 4,500 miles away in Alaska, looking for the computer. The FBI on Friday arrested Maryann Mooney-Rondon, 55, and her son, Rafael Rondon, 23, of Watertown, New York, in connection with the stolen laptop, according to court documents. Both also face other charges related to the riot at the Capitol. Rafael Rondon also faces possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun charge Both appeared in federal court Friday in Syracuse, New York, and released pending further proceedings, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York.

A COVID-19 vaccination requirement for teachers and other staff members took effect in New York City’s sprawling public school system Monday in a key test of the employee vaccination mandates now being rolled out across the country. Mayor Bill de Blasio said 95% of the city’s roughly 148,000 public school staffers had received at least one vaccine dose as of Monday morning, including 96% of teachers and 99% of principals. Some 43,000 employees have gotten the shots since the mandate was announced Aug. 23, de Blasio said. “Our parents need to know their kids will be safe,” the mayor said. “They entrust us with their children. That’s what this mandate is all about. Every adult in our schools is now vaccinated, and that’s going to be the rule going forward.” U.S.

A person was shot in the leg Monday near New York City’s Times Square, police said. It was the third shooting this year in the area, a top destination for Big Apple tourists. The shooting happened around 12:15 p.m. near the entrance to a subway station at 40th Street and 7th Avenue, police said, about two blocks south of the building where the ball drops on New Year’s Eve. The person was shot at street level and then fled into the subway station, police said. The victim’s injuries were not considered life threatening. In May, a 4-year-old girl and two other people were shot by stray bullets during what police said was a dispute involving his a man and his brother. In June, a 21-year-old man visiting from upstate New York was hit in the back by a stray bullet.