We are saddened to report the petira early this morning of Rebbetzin Leah Gertzulin, a”h. Rebbetzin Gertzulin was the wife of HaRav Nosson Eliyohu Gertzulin, zt”l, who served as Mashgiach Ruchani and Rosh Yeshiva of Mesifta Torah Vodaath for over half-a-century. She was 95 years old. Rebbetzin Gertzulin was born in Brooklyn in 1924, at a time when America was a spiritual wasteland. Her father, HaRav Moshe Dovid Zwerdling was a Rov in Crown Heights, and later in Brighton Beach, and a rebbe in Yeshiva HaRav Dovid Lebovits. Her mother, Rebbetzin Tziporah, was a direct descendant of HaRav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. Despite the great challenges of that time, they were determined to raise their daughter, and her two sisters al pi derecho haTorah.

Video footage of the area around Jeffrey Epstein’s jail cell on a day he survived an apparent suicide attempt “no longer exists,” federal prosecutors told a judge Thursday. Officials at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York believed they had preserved footage of guards finding Jeffrey Epstein after he appeared to have attempted suicide, but actually saved a video from a different part of the jail, prosecutors said. The FBI also has determined that the footage does not exist on the jail’s backup video system “as a result of technical errors,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maurene Comey and Jason Swergold wrote in a court filing.

A federal judge sentenced a New York City woman to 15 years in federal prison for studying how to make bombs for a terrorist attack that prosecutors said would have targeted law enforcement in the United States. Asia Siddiqui, 35, of Queens, admitted in federal court in Brooklyn that she and another woman looked online for recipes for homemade explosives and shopped for components at Home Depot with the intent to bomb government targets. She was arrested in 2015 and pleaded guilty last year.

Rockland Chaverim volunteers once again went above and beyond the call of duty – literally getting themselves filthy as they did an incredible act of Chesed. Chaveirim received a call on their hotline that a pair of Tefillin had accidentally ended up in the garbage of a home, and were now inside the back of a garbage truck. Coordinator of Chaverim, Yossi Margareten sprung into action and immediately called the IWS Garbage Company, and explained them the situation. The company was very sympathetic, and had the truck stop its route and proceed to a trash-transferring facility. At that location, the entire truck of trash was dumped on the floor, and a team of 6 volunteers began their search. After two hours of working through mounds of smelly trash, the group located the pair of Tefillin.

Perhaprs it’s the new bail-reform law or not, but Flatbush Shomrim has been working overtime to keep the community safe. In under 12 hours, 6 criminals were arrested for various crimes. It began at around 2:30AM Thursday morning, when volunteers on patrol witnessed a well-known suspect breaking into multiple vehicles on East 28th Street near Avenue R. The man eventually tried stealing a car and had already started the motor. The NYPD’s 61 Precinct responded and took the man into custody. He was in possession of around 5 pairs of high-end sunglasses as well as other items that he had stolen from the vehicle. On Thursday at around 11:00AM, the Shomrim hotline received a call reporting a man who had broken into a vehicle on East 27th Street near Avenue J.

New York would automatically add any citizen that fills out a state form to the voting rolls under a revised bill set to head to the state Senate. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins is scheduled to push for the bill alongside voting advocates and other Democrats Thursday. Her staffers say the bill is expected to pass the Senate Thursday. Lawmakers scrapped a similar bill last summer because of an error in its wording. Last year, lawmakers voted to authorize driver’s licenses for immigrants in the country illegally. The mistake in the automatic voter registration legislation would have inadvertently added them to the voting rolls, even though they are prohibited from casting a ballot.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo used his annual State of the State address Wednesday to advocate for a mix of “practical” progressive goals and urgent responsibilities, including waging war on hate crimes, spending $3 billion on environmental protection and legalizing recreational marijuana. The third-term Democrat touted past achievements and trumpeted a long list of policy initiatives, many of which he previewed in a series of announcements over the past month. Cuomo also stressed the need for fiscal restraint, with the state staring at a $6 billion budget gap, caused largely by soaring Medicaid spending.

A gunman killed a man then was fatally shot by police during a confrontation outside a lounge in Manhattan’s East Village early Thursday, authorities said. Two uniformed officers were on patrol in Tompkins Square Park at around 3:30 a.m. when they heard gunshots and saw one man shooting at another, police officials said at a news conference. The officers gave numerous commands for the shooter to get onto the ground, Chief of Department Terence Monahan said. “He refused. He kept on walking,” Monahan said. Officers then fired three times, fatally wounding the gunman. Investigators said the two men had been involved in a dispute that started inside the lounge. Police found two .22-caliber handguns at the scene of the shooting, one of them beneath the man shot by officers. (AP)

Two NYPD Officers were injured following a serious car crash in Queens, Thursday morning. It happened just before 12:00PM at the intersection of 150th Street and 72nd Avenue. Queens Hatzolah received multiple calls reporting the crash, with reports of two officers from the 107 Precinct pinned inside the vehicle. FDNY EMS transported two victims to the hospital, and Hatzolah transported one. At least one of the victim was reportedly in serious condition – unknown if that person is a police officer. The victims were transported to Jamaica Hospital.\ Sources told YWN that this may have been in a vehicle pursuit by the NYPD. This past Monday, Williamsburg Hatzolah treated two NYPD Officers involved in a crash at Lee Avenue and Lynch Street.

Two teenagers charged with plotting to attack their New York middle school with guns and explosives have pleaded guilty to conspiracy, prosecutors said Wednesday. The boys appeared in Orleans County Family Court Tuesday, where they admitted their part in what investigators said in November was a credible threat against Albion Middle School. A third boy is due in court later this month. The three, all younger than 16, were charged as juveniles with conspiracy to commit murders after police said they set a date to attack the rural western New York school using explosives and firearms. Authorities said no explosives were recovered during searches of the boys’ homes, but police found legally possessed firearms. The threat started on an online gaming app, authorities said.