Houses of worship in New Jersey are now able permitted to hold services with 50% room capacity with no caps on the number of people as the second wave of the coronavirus continues to retreat, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday. The new rule goes into effect immediately and comes just days ahead of Purim. “We know that for many of our residents, the ability to worship together plays a central role in well-being and mental health,” Murphy said at his regular COVID-19 briefing. “As our numbers continue to decline, we believe we can safely take this step.” Masks are still required and people from different households need to socially distance.

The first case of the South African coronavirus variant has been discovered in a New York state resident, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday. The South African variant case involved a resident of Long Island’s Nassau County, Cuomo said in a news release. The sequencing was conducted at Opentrons Labworks Inc’s Pandemic Response Lab, a New York City-based commercial lab, and verified at the Wadsworth Center in Albany. A Connecticut resident who had been hospitalized in New York City was found to have the South African variant last week. The mutated version of the virus, originally identified in South Africa, was first found in the United States last month. Scientists believe it is more easily spread than other virus strains.

The FDNY was battling a fast-moving blaze in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Monday morning. The fire started at around 10:40AM at 183 Empire Boulevard near Bedford Avenue. FDNY quickly transmitted a third alarm due to heavy fire conditions. Sources confirm to YWN that the business is a Jewish-owned mechanic shop. There are no reports of injuries or widespread evacuations. JOIN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS WHO ALREADY ARE ALERTED OF BREAKING NEWS LIKE THIS IN LIVE TIME: YWN WHATSAPP STATUS UPDATES: CLICK HERE to join the YWN WhatsApp Status. YWN WHATSAPP GROUPS: CLICK HERE to be added to an official YWN WhatsApp Group. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Two Central Park ice rinks that were set to close after Sunday because New York City is cutting ties with the Trump Organization that operates them will stay open until the end of the season. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s press secretary, Bill Neidhardt, said in a statement Sunday that the rinks will stay open for the remaining weeks of the season but added, “make no mistake, we will not be doing business with the Trump Organization going forward. Inciting an insurrection will never be forgotten or forgiven.” De Blasio’s administration announced last month it would terminate business contracts with President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The rinks were expected to close after Sunday’s sessions.

In a significant defeat for former President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to step in to halt the turnover of his tax records to a New York state prosecutor. The court’s action is the apparent culmination of a lengthy legal battle that had already reached the high court once before. Trump’s tax records are not supposed to become public as part of prosecutors’ criminal investigation, but the high court’s action is a blow to Trump because he has long fought on so many fronts to keep his tax records shielded from view. The ongoing investigation that the records are part of could also become an issue for Trump in his life after the presidency.

Lakewood Police are investigating a shooting at Coventry Square, Sunday night. The shooting happened just before 8:00PM on a residential street. Residents tell YWN that they heard gunshots, and quickly called 911. Emergency personnel found one victim with multiple gunshot wounds, including a shot to the chest. The victim was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Police were investigating the circumstances, and suspect information was not immediately available. VIDEO AND PHOTOS VIA TLS (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Eight people were injured and nearly two dozen people evacuated their homes late Friday following a carbon monoxide leak in Queens. The Fire Department of New York said it detected high levels of the poisonous gas at a residential building on 81st Street in Jackson Heights. Four people were taken to a nearby hospital, the FDNY said, while another four were treated at the scene.
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Hospitalizations are continuing to decline and the rate of New Yorkers testing positive for COVID-19 has fallen to the lowest mark since before Thanksgiving, state officials said Saturday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state’s seven-day rolling average positivity rate has fallen 43 straight days, hitting 3.5% on Friday. The number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus, meanwhile, fell below 6,000 for the first time since Dec. 14. The state said 97 New Yorkers died of the coronavirus on Friday, bringing the state’s official death total to 37,776. Cuomo asked New Yorkers to remain patient with the vaccinations, as the state’s distribution network and population of eligible recipients — 10 million — continues to far exceed supply coming from the federal government.

At the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, two Democratic governors on opposite ends of the country were hailed as heroes for their leadership in a crisis. Now they’re leaders on the ropes. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gavin Newsom of California are embroiled in distinct political woes. For Cuomo, it’s a federal investigation into whether his administration sought to hide the true toll of the pandemic. For Newsom, it’s fending off a recall effort fueled by opposition to his lockdowns — and his own personal missteps. But for both men the bottom line is clear: If you’re not careful, the same crisis that can raise your stock can just as easily bring you down.

Rosh Yeshivas Mir Hagaon HaRav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel on Sunday called for yeshivah bochurim from abroad to remain in Israel for Pesach since their ability to return to yeshivah once they fly home cannot be guaranteed. The Mir administration sent the following letter to parents on Friday: “Due to the current situation in Eretz Yisroel, the appropriate authorities have advised us about a serious possibility, that Talmidei HaYeshiva who will leave for Pesach will not be able to return for the upcoming Summer Z’man.