The head of the Shuvu Yisrael Institute, Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, was crowned by representatives of the King of Morocco to the Chief Rabbi of the Muslim State. In a traditional ceremony held in the city of Rabat, the capital of Morocco, with the participation of representatives of the Jewish community, the rabbi was dressed in the traditional religious garb.

The following was written by a Hatzolah volunteer with minor edits by YWN:
So we just arrived at Columbia Hospital with a baby on board the Ambulance.
The first question as we walked through the door was not what type emergency we have, but what zip code we are coming from.

New York’s comptroller is reporting a big increase in the number of questionable or fraudulent state tax refunds this year.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office says Friday that it had blocked more than 12,000 bogus refunds worth $43.7 million as of the start of the week.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has signed an executive order immediately ending the city’s purchase of unnecessary single use plastic food ware.
The order, announced Thursday, targets plastic straws, plates, bowls and utensil ware.
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An MTA bus driver allegedly made anti-Semitic remarks towards a Hasidic man, regarding the measles outbreak in the community.
The United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg said the incident happened last week on a B57 bus.

An off-duty police officer has been killed in a motorcycle crash in Queens.
It happened on the westbound Belt Parkway near the Queens-Nassau border at about 5:30 a.m.

NYC Councilman Kalman Yeger got fed up with ConEd blocking a street in his district and tossed their barricades aside. Then he got into it with ConEd on Twitter.
The incident occurred Wednesday at 44th street and 15th Avenue in Borough Park.
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The Der Yid Newspaper (affiliated with the Satmar community of Williamsburg) printed a strong editorial against the anti-vaxxers. The newspaper also took the rare step of printing it in English.

Three of New York’s biggest hospital systems have reached a tentative agreement with nurses.
The New York Times says the four-year contract agreement reached on Tuesday would affect the Mount Sinai, NewYork-Presbyterian and Montefiore hospital systems.
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New York City’s effort to halt a measles outbreak by ordering mandatory vaccinations in one Brooklyn neighborhood is facing opposition, with lawyers for parents opposed to vaccinations promising to file a lawsuit challenging the order by Friday.
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