Thursday December 18 News Updates Lakewood

4th day Chanuka חנוכה תשפ"ו

Weather: 52° Sunshine to start, then a few afternoon clouds.

Tonight: Cloudy with occasional rain late. winds increasing to 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.

Tomorrow erev Shabbos Chanukah 58° Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.

Downed trees, branches and power outages could result from the storm

- The Ocean County Prosecutor has dropped criminal charges against a frum, law-abiding gun owner, with attorney Yosef Boruch Jacobovitch citing inadequate training on New Jersey’s post-Bruen firearms laws as the root cause. Jacobovitch said the case never should have occurred and criticized both the Lakewood Police Department and the Prosecutor’s Office, noting the dismissal comes amid growing community outrage over the continued prosecution of another Lakewood resident under similar circumstances Faanews.com 

- A 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente identified by law enforcement as the Brown University shooting suspect.

He was found dead in a storage unit from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in New Hampshire.

FBI Boston special agent confirms a link between the Brown University shooter and the MIT professor shot dead in his home:

"It is believed that in Lisbon that those two individuals attended the same university in Portugal."

- Trump has signed an executive order closing most federal offices on Dec. 24 and Dec. 26.

-  A judge has ruled that Yeshiva Chemdas HaTorah may move forward with its project to add 500 parking spaces near James and Cross Streets in Lakewood. Judge Hodgson stated that since the Lakewood Township Committee determined the project is permitted, the Planning Board has no authority to block or overturn that decisions more Faanews.com 

-  Authorities are investigating a connection between last weekend's mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor two days later. Police have identified the suspect and issued a warrant.

- Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that The Kennedy Center board of directors has renamed the center to the “Trump Kennedy Center”

- Trump Downgrades Marijuana Drug Classification!

- Chanukah gelt Powerball jackpot climbs to $1.5 billion drawing Motzei shabbos 

-There will be early school dismissal today in advance of Shabbos Chanukah vacation, as many families will be heading out or traveling away for Shabbos.

- Clashes erupted Thursday afternoon near Bar Ilan Street in Yerushalayim as hundreds of local residents confronted police, following rumors of attempted arrests of yeshiva students for draft dodging. The riot reportedly broke out after municipal inspectors issued parking tickets to several yeshiva students, and quickly realized that they were draft dodgers. When police tried to hand over the students to the Military Police, they were met with resistance from bystanders, which mushroomed into a protest. Police used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the crowd; about 10 officers were lightly injured. The protest spread from Rechov Chana to the Yirmiyahu–Eli HaKohen intersection. A spokesman for United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf declines to comment when asked about this afternoon’s riot in Jerusalem in which ultra-Orthodox demonstrators injured 10 police officers, threw stones and overturned a police vehicle.When asked for a comment, the spokesman says, “We saw this” and shares a clip of an armored officer hitting young Charedi men with a baton.

- Sesame chanuka pop up now open in Long Branch at Salt market through Monday

- New  Gourmet Glatt location in Jackson copmpleting construction expected to open within a few weeks

- A New Jersey review found that 16 school bus companies across eight counties, including two in Lakewood, repeatedly failed to submit required safety documentation before the school year began. While this does not necessarily mean drivers were unqualified, the state lacked proof of their training and credentials at the time.

- ICE agents in Lakewood today detaining individuals 

- 8 schools in Paterson and Passaic lose $7.9M in federal grants

- Boris Tetleroyd, H’YD, was identified on Thursday as a victim of the massacre at Bondi Beach.

- Giyus: Shas party knesset members paid a  visit to yeshiva students held in military prison for draft dodging.

- Giyus: Rav Dov Landau, delivered a strong address of chizuk at Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Ozer after a talmid was arrested by the Israeli Military Police. Condemning the arrest as a “horrific crime,” saying the bochuhr was jailed solely for learning in yeshiva and not enlisting, calling the act deeply shocking and terrifying.

- Israeli aviation authorities announced stricter passenger screening at Ben Gurion Airport after recent security breaches, including tighter boarding-pass checks at additional checkpoints. The changes will be rolled out gradually, and officials warned of possible longer waits and congestion during the initial phase.

- Five Islamic men suspected of carrying weapons were arrested by Australian police near Bondi Beach in the city, where the deadly attack took place on Sunday. According to a report  a suspicious vehicle with five men inside collided with a police car, and then they were arrested

- Jackson Township Police Chief Matthew Kunz is expected to retire in the near future following the Township Council’s approval of a settlement related to a lawsuit he filed against the township.

- APP: The Jackson Board of Education has accepted a $40 million bid from Beth Medrash Govoha (BMG) to purchase the Christa McAuliffe Middle School, Lakewood Alerts reported Wednesday.The Lakewood-based BMG is the second-largest yeshiva in the world. It has about 9,000 students on its four Lakewood campuses.

McAuliffe School, located at 34 South Hope Chapel Road, has a 37.5-acre campus.

BMG has not publicly stated what it plans to do with the campus, and no formal proposal regarding future use of the property has been announced

- A new federal civil rights lawsuit has been filed against Lakewood Township and several Lakewood police officers in U.S. District Court. The case names the township, the police department, and individual officers as defendants.