Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared on Tuesday a major overhaul of the State Department, announcing the elimination of numerous internal offices and programs as part of a broader effort to eliminate waste and streamline operations.
“Today is the day. Under @POTUS’ leadership and at my direction, we are reversing decades of bloat and bureaucracy at the State Department. These sweeping changes will empower our talented diplomats to put America and Americans first,” Rubio stated in a public message, marking the launch of the department’s reorganization.

George Santos is defending his recent social media tirade to a federal judge who will be sentencing the disgraced former New York congressman later this week on fraud charges. In a lengthy letter ahead of the Friday court date, Santos, 36, said he remains “profoundly sorry” for his crimes but protests that the seven-year prison sentence sought by prosecutors as “ridiculous” and overly harsh. “Every sunrise since that plea has carried the same realization: I did this, me. I am responsible,” wrote the former Republican lawmaker, who pleaded guilty last summer.

JUST IN: Flatbush Shomrim and Flatbush Hatzolah just conducted a search for a missing elderly woman who had gone missing in the area of Avenue J and East 13 Street. Many Hatzolah and Shomrim volunteers were searching the area. Thankfully, the missing person was found by the NYPD on Ave S and Ocean Parkway. The new Flatbush Hatzolah Mobile command center was used in this search.

Antisemitism in the United States surged to record-breaking levels in 2024, marking the fourth straight year of increasing incidents, according to data released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League.
The ADL documented 9,354 incidents of harassment, vandalism, and physical attacks—more than any year since the organization started monitoring such acts in 1979. That total represents a five percent jump over 2023, the previous record-setting year.
This figure averages out to over 25 antisemitic acts per day—more than one each hour—across the country. The highest numbers came from New York, with 1,437 incidents, and California, with 1,344. Every state reported at least some cases.

President Donald Trump is set to travel to the Middle East from May 13 to May 16, with confirmed stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, according to an announcement released by the White House.
Although Israel is not currently listed on the president’s travel schedule, Trump noted that “it’s possible other stops could be added,” leaving room for potential changes.
This upcoming tour marks Trump’s inaugural visit to the Middle East during his second term in office.
While Saudi Arabia had initially been selected as Trump’s first international destination following his return to the presidency, he revealed yesterday that he would instead begin his overseas engagements by attending Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome later this week.

A divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that immigrants who agree to leave the country are allowed some deadline flexibility in a case that was argued before President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. In a 5-4 decision, the court sided with a man who came from Mexico illegally as a teenager and had lived in Colorado for nearly two decades before he was ordered to leave in 2021. The case was argued in November 2024, days after Trump won re-election. Several other new immigration cases have since come before the court on its emergency docket. In the case of Hugo Abisai Monsalvo Velázquez, the Supreme Court majority found that a Saturday deadline to voluntarily leave should have been extended to the following Monday.

For the past year, Dan Hoffman, of Hollywood, Fla., has watched his 11-year-old daughter Nessa train several hours a day, five days a week for the 2025 USA Gymnastics Florida Xcel women’s championships.
The Hoffmans, who are frum Jews, planned each of Nessa’s meets around Shabbos and Yomim Tovim, but it turned out that the Florida championships were to be held over the first days of Pesach.
“This has been a tremendous part of her life for the last year, and then literally, two weeks before, it was ripped away,” Hoffman told JNS. “We considered scootering the 8.2 miles to the Florida Convention Center on the Sunday between seders, which would have been a disaster.”

Family getting up: Friday (4/25/25)Morning Mrs. Ester ScharfWife R’ Chaim ScharfSon R’ Shloimy ScharfSon