YWN regrets to inform you of the Petira of Hagaon HaRav Yisroel Chaim Menashe Friedman ZATZAL, the Rosh Av Beis Din of Satmar in Williamsburg. He was 94. The Niftar was a Dayan in Satmar for decades, since the time of the Divrei Yoel ZATZAL – who appointed him as a Dayan. He was Niftar on an auspicious day in Satmar, Chof Alef Kislev, the day that the Divrei Yoel was saved from the Nazis YM”S. The Levaya will be held today (Monday) at 12:00PM at the Satmar Bais Medrash located at 152 Rodney Street. The Kevura will be held in Kiryas Yoel. Boruch Dayan HaEmmes… (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The NYPD was investigating a homicide in Flatbush on Sunday evening. YWN that the NYPD and Flatbush Hatzolah were called to East 21 Street between Avenue P and Quentin Road, reporting a victim laying on the floor unconscious. Flatbush Hatzolah Paramedics found the victim in traumatic arrest, who was the victim of a stabbing. He was rushed to nearby Community Hospital with a stab wound to the chest, where he was pronounced dead a short while later. The NYPD requested a Level 1 Mobilization response, and Detectives were investigating. The NYPD tells YWN that they are looking for a white male who fled on foot. The identity of the victim was unknown, but sources tell YWN that it did not appear that Chevra Kaddisha services were needed in this incident.

The co-owner of a New York City bar that authorities said has been defying coronavirus restrictions was taken into custody early Sunday after running over a deputy with a car, authorities said. Danny Presti fled from his bar, Mac’s Public House, after deputies observed patrons entering the establishment Saturday night in violation of city and state closure orders, Sheriff Joseph Fucito said. Deputies attempted to arrest Presti as he left the bar early Sunday, but Presti got into his car, struck a deputy and kept driving for about 100 yards even as the deputy was left hanging onto the hood, Fucito said. Presti, 34, was eventually stopped and apprehended, the sheriff said. Charges against him were pending. The injured deputy was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries.

Continental Glatt Kosher Meats Corp., doing business as First Choice Kosher Meat & Deli Inc., a Spring Valley, N.Y. firm, is recalling approximately 61,504 pounds of ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and poultry products that were produced without the benefit of federal inspection, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today. The RTE meat and poultry items were produced on various dates from June 26, 2020, through Nov. 20, 2020, with various sell-by dates ranging from October 2, 2020, through April 18, 2021. [View Labels] Bulk boxes containing two, 7-8 lb. pieces of “Beef Salami Bulk.” Boxes containing 12, 1-lb. chubs of “SATMAR Beef Salami SMOKED FLAVOR ADDED.” Bulk boxes containing two, 7-8-lb.

A Frum woman was thrown off a Delta flight on Wednesday for not being compliant with mask-wearing. But the passenger tells YWN that she was 100% compliant, and thinks she was the victim of blatant anti-Semitism. The woman – who wishes to remain anonymous at this point – tells YWN her experience as follows: “I was on Delta Flight 5610 from Chicago O’Hare to JFK Airport on Wednesday. I had my siddur open and was praying. The flight attendant, Erica Green, angrily pushed my siddur down and told me to pull up my mask to comply with guidelines. My mask was up but she walked away without allowing me to show her. I brushed it off assuming she didn’t see me correctly. She came back with another flight attendant and they both got extremely angry at me.

A suspect in the shooting of a state trooper in Massachusetts was killed during a gunfight with U.S. marshals in New York City early Friday that left two of the officers wounded. The two marshals injured in the 5:30 a.m. confrontation in the Bronx were in good condition, according to two law enforcement officials who were not authorized to discuss the incident publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Killed in the shootout was 35-year-old Andre Sterling, the officials said. His gun was recovered. He was wanted for shooting a Massachusetts state trooper in the hand at a traffic stop on Nov. 20. The U.S. Marshals Service did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Policies favoring secrecy over transparency have meant that New Yorkers will be among the last Americans to learn the final vote tallies in the 2020 election, with results in a few races still unknown one month after Election Day. Several of the locally run elections boards responsible for processing a record 2 million absentee ballots cast in the state decided not to release any rolling updates on how their count of those mail-in votes was progressing until the very last vote was tallied.

New York plans to prioritize nursing home residents and staff members when it begins distributing the first doses of a vaccine for the coronavirus, hopefully this month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. The state expects to receive 170,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine by Dec. 15, if the pharmaceutical company gets the federal government’s OK to make it available to the public on an emergency basis, Cuomo said. The Democrat said New York expects at a later date to receive at least 40,000 more doses of a vaccine made by Moderna, if it gets federal authorization. That would be enough to cover the state’s roughly 85,000 nursing home residents and 130,000 staff members, though Cuomo said he expects not all residents and staff members will agree to take the vaccine.

The Justice Department today announced that it filed a lawsuit against the Village of Airmont, New York, alleging that it violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) by targeting the Orthodox Jewish community through zoning ordinances restricting religious schools and home synagogues, and by enforcing its zoning code in a discriminatory manner to prevent Orthodox Jews from using their property consistent with their faith. “In this country, states, towns, and villages cannot make or enforce any law that abridges the privileges or immunities of American citizens, nor can they deny to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,” said Eric Dreiband, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.

New York state is set to receive its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines on Dec. 15, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. That delivery, which is pending “safety and efficacy approvals,” will include enough doses of Pfizer’s vaccine to vaccinate 170,000 New Yorkers, Cuomo said. The state is expected to receive additional vaccine shipments from both Pfizer and Moderna later in the month, he said. Seventy-five to 80 percent of the general population must get vaccinated for the COVID-19 vaccine to be “most effective” he noted. The first doses the state receives will go to frontline health care workers, as well as nursing home residents and staff. New York’s first delivery of the Pfizer vaccine will be enough for 170,000 New Yorkers.