New Jersey’s Assembly on Monday passed a measure to eliminate religious exemptions for vaccines for schoolchildren, but the bill stalled in the state Senate as opponents shouted so loudly they drowned out the session. The Democrat-led Assembly passed the bill 45-25, with six abstentions, but the Democrat-controlled state Senate postponed a vote because there weren’t enough yes votes, according to the bill’s sponsor and Senate President Steve Sweeney.

Highly credible sources tell YWN that investigators are now looking at a shooting incident of a Jewish-owned vehicle two weeks ago in connection with the terror attack in Jersey City. The incident in question occurred on Route 1 and 9 exactly one week before the attack, when a Hasidic man – who happens to be a Misaskim Volunteer – noticed a U-haul van driving close to him in the area of Newark Airport. Suddenly, the Jewish driver heard a smash and saw his passenger side window shattered. He figured something was thrown at his vehicle or a stone had jumped up from the highway. The U-haul exited the highway at the next exit, and the driver never reported the incident.

A new bail law goes into effect on January 1 in New York. It will eliminate pretrial detention and cash bail as an option in an estimated 90 percent of arrests. For the remaining cases, judges will maintain the option of setting cash bail. While the reforms were only supposed to include non-violent crimes, law enforcement officials said that wasn’t the case in the final version of the legislation. In typical Albany fashion, the bills were voted on in the middle of the night along with the rest of the state budget. Under New York’s new bail laws, effective January 1st, judges will not be able to set bail on any of the following crimes.

Lines at the New York Department of Motor Vehicles were long in many locations Monday. It was the first day of New York’s new Greenlight law, which allows undocumented immigrants to apply for limited drivers licenses. The limited license requires drivers’ education and insurance. The law allows more than 700,000 undocumented New York immigrants to be eligible to obtain a driver’s license, DMV line in Flushing New York. pic.twitter.com/Iz6Hp7cunQ — Mike (@FuctupMike) December 16, 2019 AMAZING! Current line at the Queens DMV on the first day #GreenLightNY takes effect! @MaketheRoadNY pic.twitter.com/r1f91DghEk — Yatziri

Have you ever thought into the numerical value of zero? The round circle represents nothing when it stands alone. However, when placed after other numbers, it can mean everything. At COPE’s CPA Track graduation ceremonies for graduates and their families, the lineup of distinguished speakers, faculty, and grateful students echoed this theme. In today’s world where secular higher education is increasingly at odds with our values, one must be assured of staying in a safe, supportive environment, protecting the high standards cultivated by our Yeshivos, Bais Yaakovs, and families. That’s where COPE Education Services comes in. Since its inception in 1977, COPE has been instrumental in delivering top-quality secular education in an environment that’s in sync with Torah values.

The nation’s largest public bus system rolled out its first all-electric articulated bus Sunday under a plan to convert New York City’s transit agency to a zero-emissions fleet by 2040. The new vehicle was deployed on one of Manhattan’s busiest crosstown routes, the 14th Street busway. By March, the route will have 15 electric-articulated buses, which are 60-foot-long vehicles connected in the middle with a joint. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to spend $1.1 billion to modify depots for electric operations and purchase about 500 electric buses for all five boroughs under its 2020-2024 Capital Plan. The transit agency currently operates 10 electric standard buses that are leased under a three-year pilot program launched in 2018 to test the technology.

A growing list of Republican officials have stepped up in recent days to condemn hateful and antisemtic statements made by GOP members against the Orthodox Jewish community in Jackson Township, New Jersey. But so far no action has been taken to remove party members from their posts. A statement released by RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt, and New Jersey Senator Robert Singer, condemned “hateful rhetoric in the strongest possible terms.” The party leaders added, “There is no place for anti-Semitism in our party.” The joint statement came in response to several social media posts by Jackson GOP chairwoman Clara Glory and Jackson GOP Club President Todd Porter.

Dear YWN readership, I went shopping today in Brooklyn at Bingo, and parked in the Bingo parking lot using a handicapped parking spot with proper identification. I am multiply handicapped and the fact that in Bingo they have handicapped lines that are not dedicated to the handicapped, and that they do not pack for a handicapped person, even when asked, is the subject for another post. As I was packing my car with my many purchases, a car pulled in to the handicapped spot next to mine. The couple got out without placing a handicapped placard in the windshield, and without handicapped plates. They were not elderly, nor did they appear to be infirm. I told them that they were using a handicapped parking spot. The woman responded with an “oh” – and it sounded like she was surprised.

The following is an unedited press release submitted to YWN by the “Socialist Workers Party”, which is known as a communist party: To the Satmar Hasidim and the whole Jewish community, The Socialist Workers Party joins you in condemning the vicious Dec. 10 attack at the Jersey City Kosher Supermarket that killed Leah Mindel Ferencz, Moshe Deutsch, and Douglas Miguel Rodriguez. It’s important to tell the truth. This was murderous Jew hatred. This is not the first anti-Semitic attack over the last several years in the U.S. including the attacks on synagogues in Pittsburgh, Penn., and Poway, Calif. At the moment these are acts by isolated individuals. The overwhelming majority of working people of all nationalities and religious beliefs oppose Jew-hatred.

A Boro Park homeowner was terrified to find a man armed with a large knife in his kitchen this past Friday night. Boro Park Shomrim say the incident occurred at around 12:30AM on Friday night / Shabbos morning in the vicinity of 11th Ave and 54th Street. The homeowner was awakened by a noise in his house, and went to see what it was, when he came face-to-face with the man seen in the attached footage. Thankfully, the perpetrator fled the home without harming him. Shomrim has received multiple reports of burglaries in that same area on Friday night. They remind residents to make sure their homes are properly secured and to always report any suspicious activity immediately.