Two New Jersey congressmen fired the latest volley Wednesday in the brewing battle over New York City’s plan to charge a fee to enter the city’s center, announcing legislation that seeks to cut off some federal grants to the city if New Jersey motorists wind up on the hook. The legislation announced by Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer addresses New York’s plan to become the first city in the U.S. to implement what is known as congestion pricing, an additional toll aimed at reducing gridlock in midtown Manhattan and funding improvements to the city’s bus and subway systems.

A $20,000 reward has just been offered for any information leading to the location of 6-year-old Yosef Shapiro in Brooklyn. The is a joint announcement from Hatzolah, Shomrim, Achiezer, Misaskim and Chaveirim offering $10,000. An anonymous donor has just informed YWN of an additional $10,000 from himself  brin9ing the reward to $20,000. If you have any information that leads to Yosef being found, please call the Achiezer Emergency hotline at 516-791-4444. As a father, my heart goes out to this family. I can’t imagine how they must be feeling tonight. If you have any information, please contact the NYPD. Let’s bring this boy home. https://t.co/rqWlpWX5Cv — Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) August 12, 2021

A massive search is underway in Canarsiel, Brooklyn, Wednesday evening, after a 6 year old child went missing. Hundreds of volunteers from Hatzolah, Shomrim and Chaveirim are searching for 6 year old Yosef Shapiro. Yosef was on a day camp trip at a park in Canarsie at Seaview Ave and East 80 Street. The boys left the park on buses at around 3:00PM back to their camp, but Yosef somehow went missing – and may have never gotten on the bus. A massive NYPD response is combing the area by air, land, and sea. Sources tell YWN that Mayor DeBlasio is aware of the situation, and has requested as many resources as possible. Yosef was wearing a blue and striped shirt and dark pants. Please say Tehillim for Yosef ben Basya.

Tragedy struck the Satmar community on Tuesday evening, as word spread of a tragic accident which resulted in the Petira of a Yeshiva Bochur. It happened at around 9:30PM when a vehicle travelling southbound on Forest Road in Kiryas Joel struck the victim. Kiryas Joel Hatzolah rushed him to Westchester Medical Center, where doctors tried to save his life. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful. The victim was later identified as Habochur Aaron Friedman Z”L. He was 16. The Levaya was held on Wednesday in Kiryas Yoel. The NY State Police is investigating the incident. Boruch Dayan HaEmmes… (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Rudy Giuliani, the staunch ally of Donald Trump who is facing a multibillion-dollar legal challenge from voting technology company Dominion Voting Systems, has embraced a new potential earning stream. Internet users can now buy customized video messages from Giuliani, who has joined Cameo, a service that sells personalized videos recorded by celebrities. “Hi. It’s Rudy Giuliani and I’m on Cameo” says Giuliani in a video posted on his Cameo page on Tuesday. He goes on to say: “If there is an issue you want to discuss or a story you’d like to hear or share with me or a greeting that I can bring to someone that would bring happiness to their day, I would be delighted to do it. It can be arranged.

Kathy Hochul, a western New York Democrat unfamiliar to many people in the state even after six years as its lieutenant governor, was set to begin reintroducing herself to the public Wednesday as she prepared to take the reins of power after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced he would resign from office. Hochul, 62, in two weeks will become the state’s first female governor, following a remarkable transition period in which Cuomo has said he will stay on and work to ease her into a job that he dominated over his three terms in office. She stayed out of public sight Tuesday but said in a statement that she was “prepared to lead.” Hochul planned to hold her first news conference Wednesday afternoon at the State Capitol.

Don’t be caught by surprise! A nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) test will be conducted Wednesday and radios, televisions and certain cellphones will be alerted. The emergency alert system, or EAS, test will take place Wednesday, Aug. 11 at 2:20 p.m. ET (1:20 p.m. CT). It will include messages sent to radios and televisions as well as Wireless Emergency Alerts, or WEA, for those who have opted in on their cell phones. The EAS test will include a high-pitched tone followed by a message. The message will say: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Emergency Alert System.

An elderly Jewish man was viciously assaulted in broad daylight by a violent thug complaining over parking spot. It happened just before 12:00PM, when the NYPD and Boro Park Shomrim were both called to reports of a Jewish man assaulted on 12th Avenue and 39th Street. A law-enforcement source tells YWN that the victim, who is a plumber, was doing some work in a local home, and his van was accidently sticking into someone’s driveway. The suspect approached the victim and began screaming about him blocking the driveway. Without warning, the suspect suddenly slapped the elderly man in the face sending him flying to the floor. The suspect got into a vehicle and drove away toward Fort Hamilton parkway.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced his nominees to lead high-profile U.S. Attorney offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Biden picked Damian Williams for the top spot in Manhattan’s Southern District of New York, and Breon Peace to head Brooklyn’s Eastern District of New York. Both men are Black, and Williams would be the first Black person to run the Manhattan office. Both offices have been involved in attention-getting investigations and prosecutions. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District in 2018 oversaw the prosecution and subsequent guilty plea of Michael Cohen, at one time the personal lawyer of former President Donald Trump, on campaign-finance violations and other charges.

As New York’s lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul has spent years on the road as the friendly face of the administration, visiting the far-flung coffee shops and factory floors of each of the state’s 62 counties for countless ribbon-cutting ceremonies and civic cheerleading events. Now, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation over harassment allegations Tuesday, her next stop is the state Capitol in Albany. Hochul will become the state’s first female governor once Cuomo’s resignation is effective in two weeks. A centrist Democrat from western New York, she has worked deep in Cuomo’s shadow for her two terms in office, but last week joined the chorus of politicians denouncing the governor after an independent investigation concluded he had harassed 11 women while in office.