A New York City judge on Thursday dismissed a claim by Donald Trump’s brother that sought to halt the publication of a tell-all book by the president’s niece, saying the court lacked jurisdiction in the case. Surrogates Court Judge Peter Kelly said the claims were not appropriate for his court, where disputes over estate matters are settled. The motion filed earlier this week sought an injunction to prevent Mary Trump and the book’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, from releasing it, as scheduled, in July. Mary Trump is the daughter of Fred Trump Jr., the president’s elder brother, who died in 1981.

President Donald Trump has taken issue with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to paint “Black Lives Matter” in giant letters on the street in front of Trump’s namesake Manhattan tower. Trump tweeted Thursday that de Blasio “wants to paint the fabled & beautiful Fifth Avenue, right in front of Trump Tower/Tiffany, with a big yellow Black Lives Matter sign.” ““Pigs in a Blanket, Fry ’Em Like Bacon”, referring to killing Police, is their chant. NYC Police are furious!” his tweet said. But that has not in fact been a common chant at protests in New York or elsewhere since the death of George Floyd one month ago in Minneapolis.

President Donald Trump’s pick to be the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan won’t say whether he would withdraw from overseeing matters related to Trump in his current job, as Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, or if confirmed as U.S. attorney. Jay Clayton repeatedly told Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday that his nomination to head the Southern District of New York was “entirely my idea.” He said Trump and Attorney General William Barr were “made aware” of his interest in the job during the weekend of June 12, a week before the Justice Department abruptly announced that the current U.S. attorney at that office, Geoffrey Berman, would be stepping down.

New York City is currently on track to enter Phase 3 as early as July 6, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. Under Phase 3, indoor dining at 50% capacity, nail salons and personal care business can resume. Mayor de Blasio also said the city can reopen and resume outdoor sports and recreation, including basketball and tennis courts, soccer fields and dog runs. However, the mayor said the city is “not out of the woods” in the COVID battle, and Dr. Jay Varma noted “there are no guarantees” that the virus will be kept out of NYC. People need to remain disciplined in social distancing, hygiene and having face coverings, officials reminded. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Moving swiftly amid a global furor over police misconduct, New York City prosecutors on Thursday filed criminal charges against a police officer caught on video putting a Black man in what they said was a banned chokehold. Officer David Afanador pleaded not guilty on Thursday to strangulation and attempted strangulation charges stemming from the confrontation Sunday on a Queens beach boardwalk. He was released without bail. It is the second time the 39-year-old Afanador has faced criminal charges for alleged brutality in 15 years on the police force. In 2016, he was acquitted on charges he pistol-whipped a teen suspect and broke two of his teeth.

They are a symbol of celebration, loudly lighting up the night sky and best known in the U.S. as the explosive exclamation point to Fourth of July festivities. This year, fireworks aren’t being saved for Independence Day. They’ve become a nightly nuisance ringing out from Connecticut to California, angering sleep-deprived residents and alarming elected officials. All of them want to know: Why the fascination with fireworks, and where is everybody getting the goods? “I had that same question,” said Julie L. Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. Theories range from coordinated efforts to blame those protesting police brutality to bored people blowing off steam following coronavirus lockdowns.

Greater New York Black Lives Matter president Hawk Newsome joined “The Story” Wednesday to discuss the direction of the movement in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody and the subsequent demonstrations across the country, many of which have sparked destruction and violence. “You … have said that violence is sometimes necessary in these situations,” host Martha MacCallum told Newsome. “What exactly is it that you hope to achieve through violence?” “Wow, it’s interesting that you would pose that question like that,” Newsome responded, “because this country is built upon violence. What was the American Revolution, what’s our diplomacy across the globe? “We go in and we blow up countries and we replace their leaders with leaders who we like.

Kentucky and New York had primaries Tuesday, but the winners of the closest races probably won’t be known until next week. What’s going on? Get used to it. Slow vote counts and delayed results are a feature of elections during the pandemic and are likely to continue into the general election in November, when many election officials say that, absent a landslide, it won’t be clear who won the presidential election for several days. “Americans need to learn a little patience,” said Josh Douglas, a law professor at the University of Kentucky who studies voter rights. “The fact of not knowing who won right away is the process actually working.” WHAT’S THE HOLDUP?

Over the past 17 years, thousands of travelers have made use of the Tefilas Mordche Mincha Area on the New York State Thruway, stopping on their way upstate for evening prayer services. Named in memory of my esteemed father, Rabbi Mordechai Friedman, who dedicated his life to community service and to the Mincha Area in particular, the Sloatsburg rest stop has provided motorists with a safe location for prayer as they headed to the Catskills on Thursday nights. Having worked closely with the New York State Thruway Authority, the New York State Police and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office, we are once again able to open the Mincha Area at the rest stop’s upper deck on June 25th, albeit with certain pandemic-related restrictions in place.

YWN regrets to inform you of the Petira of Mrs Marta Schron A”H, the wife of Reb Ruby Schron. She was 75. Mrs Schron suffered from an illness which took a rapid turn for the worse this week, and was Niftar on Wednesday night at Maimonides Hospital, leaving her friends and family shocked and in mourning. Mrs Schron (nee Schraub), was an East-Sider, having grown up in the same apartment building – just two doors away from the Late Posek Hador, Hagaon HaRav Moshe Feinstein. She married Reb Ruby Schron, and settled in Flatbush, where their lives revolved around the Mirrer Yeshiva, and were extremely close to the Roshei Yeshiva and Magidei Shiurim. The family became a fixture in the Yeshiva, with R’ Ruby and Marta A”H davening there for more than a half a century.