New Yorkers over 16 years old can sign up for COVID-19 vaccinations starting Tuesday, a major expansion of eligibility as the state seeks to immunize as many people as possible. The State University of New York also announced plans to offer vaccines to tens of thousands of college students before they head home for the summer. Gov. Andrew Cuomo expanded eligibility to 30 and over last week and announced that people aged 16 to 29 would be eligible starting April 6. Teens aged 16 and 17 will be limited to receiving the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, since that is the only one that has been authorized for use by people under 18.

An Orthodox Jewish couple sued two New York City agencies that supervise affordable housing lotteries Tuesday, saying their family of eight faced religious discrimination when they were repeatedly rejected because of their family’s size. In the Manhattan federal court lawsuit, Chaim Katz and Chana Katz maintain they faced discrimination from two affordable housing lotteries when they applied for a three-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 2017. Their lawyer, Justin Kelton, said they were repeatedly rejected on the basis that the two adults and six children had “too many members” in their family for affordable housing.

Kiddush Hashem in the air. JetBlue Flight 957 from Newark to Las Vegas landed on Monday night, but with some medical drama during the end of the flight. An eyewitness tells YWN that an an elderly man fainted around 45 minutes out of Vegas, and then went into cardiac arrest 10 minutes before landing. Two Las Vegas residents in Yarmulkas preformed CPR and used a defibrillator, shocking the victim multiple times, as the entire plane watched in horror. Both men were in Yarmulkas (and wearing masks). One is a former Queens Hatzolah Volunteer (“Q-266”) and the other is a male nurse from the Las Vegas community. An ambulance was waiting to rush the man to the hospital. It was unknown if he survived the cardiac arrest. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Following yesterdays horrific crash involving a Canarsie Hatzolah ambulance, YWN has learned some exclusive details. As YWN had reported, the ambulance was transporting a cardiac arrest patient with CPR in progress to the hospital, when the ambulance was struck by a vehicle as it passed through an intersection. The force of the crash, flipped the ambulance on its side. In security camera footage provided to YWN, one can see the vehicle appearing to be traveling at a high rate of speed in the wrong lane, as it barrels into the intersection and strikes the ambulance. Sources tell YWN that the driver only had a “learners permit”, with another driver licensed driver inside the vehicle.

Rabbi Dr. Zecharia H. Senter, CEO and founder of Kof-K Kosher Supervision Services, passed away on the last day of Pesach at the age of 84. Rabbi Senter was a musmach of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchok Elchonon and a close talmid to Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt “l. He was also a Rav in North Bergen , N.J. and then in Teaneck where he lived for the past 50 years. Rabbi Senter maintained a close relationship with many esteemed Rabbanim including Rav Moshe Aaron Poleyeff, his wife’s grandfather, Rav Ahron Soloveitchik , whom he also considered to be his Rebbe, Rav Aaron Felder, Rav Shlomo Gissinger and many others. Rabbi Senter built the Kof-K into the internationally recognized hechsher that it is today. The Kof-K is now run by two of his sons, Rabbi Daniel and Rabbi Ari Senter.

One person died and several others were injured after a Canarsie Hatzolah ambulance collided with another vehicle in Brooklyn. According to police, the accident occurred at about 4:00PM at Avenue N and Schenectady Avenue in the Flatlands section of the borough. The Hatzolah ambulance was transporting a 95-year-old woman when it collided with a 2002 Nissan Maxima going in the opposite direction and flipped onto its side. Sources tell YWN that the woman was in cardiac arrest prior to the crash with CPR being performed. The woman was taken to a hospital where she passed away from her cardiac arrest. Six members of the EMS crew, a 67-year-old man riding in the ambulance and two people riding in the Maxima were treated for minor injuries.

Two firefighters were seriously injured early Saturday when a burning building partially collapsed in Queens, trapping them, the fire department said. The firefighters were rescued and taken to the hospital, Assistant New York City Fire Chief Joseph Jardin said. At least one firefighter was being treated for burns, Jardin said. None of the injuries were considered life threatening, he said. Another firefighter involved in the fire response sustained minor injuries, Jardin said. The fire started around 2:20 a.m. in a one-story building in a strip of stores, salons and restaurants on Springfield Avenue in Jamaica. It was placed under control around 5:30 a.m. The cause is under investigation.

New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang is in the hospital with an apparent kidney stone, his campaign said Friday. Yang, 46, went to the emergency room after experiencing abdominal pain Friday morning, co-campaign manager Chris Coffey said in a tweet. His wife, Evelyn, is with him. All of Yang’s campaign events for Friday were canceled. He and his wife had been planning to attend a cabaret performance to mark the resumption of theater performances. Yang “looks forward to getting back out on the trail in the days ahead,” Coffey said. Yang, who campaigned unsuccessfully for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, is one of more than two dozen candidates who have filed papers to run in the June 22 Democratic primary to succeed the city’s term-limited Mayor Bill de Blasio.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com Recently, a sharp-eyed frum reader witnessed something quite bizarre.  It was a kosher bagel store with a prominently displayed kashrus certificate that was doing a brisk business over Pesach. The store, known as Bagel Boss, located at 263 First Avenue in Manhattan, also displayed a prominent Mezuzah on the doorpost. Um, Uh-Oh. So what’s the story?

Some New York state troopers will begin wearing body cameras on patrol, phasing in their use years after cameras were adopted by many other state and local law enforcement agencies. Body-worn cameras will be introduced to Troop G in the Albany area this month and be expanded on a rolling basis, with statewide deployment expected by the end of the year. The rollout of 3,000 cameras at a cost of $7.6 million a year is the result of a law signed in June, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday. “Too often injustices go unseen and police officers feel emboldened to act as judge and jury. Body cameras will diminish the trust deficit between the police and the communities they serve,” said state Sen. Kevin Parker, a Brooklyn Democrat who sponsored the bill.