On Wednesday morning, Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein and Councilman Kalman Yeger endorsed Andrew Yang in the upcoming race for NYC Mayor on the Democratic ticket. The local Jewish political leaders cited Yang’s fresh perspective and unique skill set that will be necessary to solve the city’s many problems. At the press conference announcing their support for Yang, New York Times reporter Liam Stack asked Yang for his thoughts about the “investigation” against yeshivas who are seemingly not compliant with the city’s “substantial equivalency” standards of education. Assemblyman Eichenstein jumped in and took to the podium with a powerful and passionate response to Stack’s question.

Brooklyn Boro President Eric Adams is leading the field of mayoral candidates in a new poll, Politico reports. Adams was the first-place pick for 21 percent of the respondents in a three-day survey conducted by Washington, D.C.-based firm GQR, according to a copy of the survey obtained by POLITICO. Andrew Yang followed at 18 percent, and City Comptroller Scott Stringer had 15 percent support. Many political pundits were recently questioning why most Mosdos in Boro Park unanimously threw their support behind Yang last week, when Yang is an unknown – someone who just recently arrived in NYC, and who has no idea how NYC Government operates.

A New York City police officer killed by a suspected drunken driver was hailed Tuesday at his funeral as a humble public servant, a doting father and a “perfect picture of the American dream.” Anastasios Tsakos, a 14-year veteran of the police department, was struck and killed last week while assisting officers at the scene of an earlier crash on the Long Island Expressway in Queens. “It does not make sense how someone could live his life right in every way and be taken from us so horribly, but his heroism uplifts us,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told mourners at a Long Island church. “Some people are true heroes. Some people are there for others.

Sources tell YWN that NY Assemblyman Sheldon Silver has been released from prison and is on his way home. He was released five years earlier than his six year sentence. His original release date was March 10, 2026. He began his sentence on August 26, 2020. He will serve the remainder of his term in home confinement. He was released on the “CARES Act” bill, which much credit can be given to Rabbi Moshe Margaretten of the Tzedek Association. When Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, it included a mandate to decrease federal incarceration to stop the spread of COVID-19. DEVELOPING STORY – ADDITIONAL DETAILS TO FOLLOW

New Jersey will lift all COVID-19 outdoor gathering limits and remove a 50% capacity limit on indoor restaurants and bars beginning on May 19 as long as social distancing can be maintained, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday. Murphy said the state’s positive coronavirus trends have enabled the state to make the change. “This means that the events that we all associate with summer, from fireworks displays to parades to the state fair, can all go forward, as long as attendees keep 6 feet of distance,” he said. Murphy also announced that relaxed restrictions slated to take effect on May 10 will now apply on Friday, three days earlier.

A suspect sought in the vandalism of four synagogues in a New York City neighborhood has been arrested and charged with “numerous” hate crimes, authorities said. Jordan Burnette, 29, was charged Saturday with burglary as a hate crime and “also faces numerous charges related to the many acts of vandalism as hate crimes that have taken place in this community,” Jessica Corey, commanding officer of the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force, said during a press briefing. Burnette was arrested after he allegedly became “uncooperative” and wouldn’t provide his ID while being issued a moving violation ticket for riding a bicycle against the flow of traffic around 3 a.m. Saturday in the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale, Corey said.

Hundreds of strangers heeded the call to attend the levaya on Friday of Shraga Gestetner, a 35-year-old Chasidic singer and businessman and father of five from Montreal without any immediate relatives in Israel. Gestetner came to Israel with his two brothers for Lag B’Omer and was killed in the Meron disaster. Messages on social media called for people to attend the levaya of a Meron victim with no immediate relatives in the country and hundreds of people responded, arriving at the Shamgar beis levayos and even escorting the meis to Har Hamenuchos for the burial.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is demanding the Metropolitan Transportation Authority restore around-the-clock subway service in New York City, which has been reduced for cleaning during the pandemic. The city’s subway system, long celebrated for its all-night service, shuts down each day from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. so trains and stations can be disinfected. The Senate’s top Democrat says the system should resume 24-hour service immediately. He pointed to a jump in subway ridership, a drop in the number of coronavirus cases reported in the city and the number of people being vaccinated. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said earlier this week that he expects to see COVID-19 restrictions lifted and the city “fully reopen” by July 1.

There is an ongoing situation developing between American parents and the Interior Ministry in Israel. What began on Friday is now getting more tense by the minute. There are unfortunately students in Yerushalayim who are thoroughly traumatized by the loss of their roommates and close friends. There is understandable shock and pain. Chavrusos have been lost. Yeshivas have been thrown into turmoil. Many of these young adults are suffering a deep traumatic loss and need help. Despite the severe anguish and trauma, the Israeli Government is adamantly refusing to allow entry of parents of these students into the country.

The Westchester County district attorney has asked federal authorities to investigate “pervasive and persistent” civil rights violations involving the Mount Vernon Police Department, including illegal strip searches and excessive use of force. District Attorney Mimi Rocah asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate whether the suburban New York City department is “systematically violating peoples’ civil rights,” citing “potentially unlawful conduct by several former and current” officers. Rocah, who took office in January, raised concerns earlier this year with Mount Vernon’s commissioner of public safety about a pattern of unjustified strip searches and body cavity searches.