NEW YORK (JTA) — If synagogues hire armed guards, they should be trained police officers, a top Jewish security agency says in a new report. Armed congregants who are not law enforcement officers “are unlikely to have experience dealing with high-stress situations,” according to the report issued Wednesday by the Secure Community Network, the umbrella […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction of new homes surged in December to the highest level in 13 years, capping a year in which falling mortgage rates and a strong labor market helped lift the prospects of the housing industry. The Commerce Department reported Friday that builders started construction on 1.61 million homes at a seasonally adjusted […]

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader lashed out at Western countries as he led Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time in eight years, dismissing “American clowns” who he said pretend to support the Iranian nation but want to stick their “poisoned dagger” into its back. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used his rare appearance […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — A government advisory committee has concluded that federal regulators followed established procedures when they certified the Boeing 737 Max and did not delegate too much safety analysis for the plane to Boeing. In a report Thursday, the panel said the FAA correctly treated the Max as an update to older 737s and […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate impeachment trials are so important that a simple, spoken oath is not enough. Senators also must sign their names on the creamy pages of a dark-covered oath book. That’s why the swearing-in process at Thursday’s Senate impeachment trial against President Donald Trump was a two-step process. After taking his own verbal […]

NEW YORK (JTA) – In 2012, Drew Goldberg spent part of his junior year of college studying abroad in Prague. It was only his second time leaving the United States — the other time was for Birthright, the free Israel trip for Jewish young adults. The trip to the Czech capital was life-changing, literally. Goldberg […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Vice President Mike Pence will attend a conference on the Holocaust in Israel. The White House announced Wednesday that Pence and his wife, Karen, would attend the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, in Jerusalem on Jan. 23. This year’s conference coincides with the 75th anniversary of the […]

WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican U.S. Sen. Martha McSally of Arizona lashed out Thursday at a CNN reporter who asked her about the impeachment of President Donald Trump. McSally called CNN reporter Manu Raju a “liberal hack” as she entered a room on Capitol Hill and refused to answer the question. “You’re a liberal hack. I’m […]

McHENRY, Ill. (AP) — A pickup truck slammed into an Illinois Starbucks on Thursday, injuring several people and causing massive damage to the coffee shop, police said. Patrick Polidori, public affairs officer for McHenry police, told The Associated Press that the driver and four people inside the cafe were injured. Three of them were transported […]

PONCE, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Antonetti family sat in the shade of a tree eating orange slices while contemplating the long day ahead of them in a dusty parking lot in southern Puerto Rico. Behind them stood their temporary home: a four-door compact car whose back seat is reserved for 89-year-old Luis Antonetti and […]