Monday Dec 28 News Updates

 Weather: Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 51F.

Food distribution today. 

-OTL at Mekor Hatorah 180 Sims 6:30 pm (Milk, vegetable knishes, Olives, Pastarmi Chub, Grapes, choc Almonds, Normans cream cheese, Sterns rye bread, kiwi, Tomatoes, Cinnamon buns, cookie crisp cereal)

- 17 new covid cases in Lakewood totals 7995/225

- Mir Rosh Yeshiva Harav Lazer Yudel Finkel shlita tested positive for corona and is quarinteened at home.

-Satmar Rebbe Rav Zalman Leib tests positive for covid19  יקותיאל יהודה בן פעסל לאה שליט"א לרפואה שלימה

-House voted to increase the second round of federal direct payments to $2,000. now needs senate approval

-Trump: “Breaking News: In Pennsylvania there were 205,000 more votes than there were voters. This alone flips the state to President Trump.”

- Agudah: 2nd Circuit Blocks NY Limits on Religious Gatherings - the court has recognized that the Governor's Executive Order treats religious gatherings differently than secular gatherings and says strict scrutiny would apply.

- WhatsApp will stop working on millions of phones on January 1 for anyone using an iPhone that hasn't been updated to iOS9 or higher. For Android users, the app will stop working for those who don't have 4.0.3 Android or newer. People with iPhone 4 models won't be able to update to more recent software. The same will happen to people with Android devices such as the Motorola Droid Razr and the Samsung Galaxy S2.

-Murphy: CVS  has scheduled visits to 277 long-term care centers statewide to provide roughly 80,000 COVID19 vaccinations. Walgreens  is currently scheduled to visit 15 long-term care centers to provide more than 4,000 vaccinations.

- Rabbi Hershel Schachter, a leading Modern Orthodox rabbi who received a COVID-19 vaccine Thursday at a clinic  that is now under investigation for improperly administering the vaccine, said he was led to believe that the vaccination was above board. Schachter and Rabbi Mordechai Willig, both head teachers at Yeshiva University and major authorities on Jewish law, were photographed getting the vaccine through a network of clinics serving Orthodox communities in and around New York City. State health officials say it gave the vaccine to members of the public before that was allowed . Rabbi Shachter “We were led to believe that it was,” he said. He added, “If either of us would have been told that this was inappropriate, that it wasn’t legitimate, we would not have done that.” (JTA)

-Israel Won’t Open Borders To Foreign Nationals Through At Least February 1st 

- New Jersey launches vaccination efforts in Ninety nursing homes today for  residents and staff members at long-term care facilities. The first patient is 103 year old at a  Roosevelt Care Center in Old Bridge  with Goc Murphy looking on attended by the owners from Lakewood.

- 201 plasma units collected yesterday at the Miller keystone plasma drive in Lakewood coordinated with Lev Rochel Bikur Cholim. 

- Congress will vote on a bill to send $2,000 stimulus checks to Americans in lieu of the $600 checks included in the coronavirus stimulus and government funding package President Trump signed Sunday night. It will have to be approved by the GOP controlled senate which is not a guarantee. Regardless Americans will get the $600 if the bill fails to change it to $2000

-Group from Chabad will gather tomorrow in front of the Israeli consulate in NYC to protest the police actions resulting in the death of Ahuvya Sandak, 16, who was killed last Monday when the car he was driving in with another four youth was being chased by the police and overturned during the high-speed pursuit.