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Republicans on Capitol Hill are intensifying their focus on alleged fraud tied to public programs in Minnesota, with House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer announcing plans to call top state officials to testify before Congress.

Comer said the committee will open its inquiry with a hearing in January examining the consequences of suspected misuse of federally funded programs in Minnesota. He added that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison have been invited to appear before the panel in February.

The investigation centers on allegations that hundreds of millions of dollars were siphoned from state-administered nutrition and child care programs beginning in 2021. Federal prosecutors have brought charges against dozens of individuals, and Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that 85 of the 98 people charged in the schemes are of Somali descent.

Comer accused Minnesota’s leadership of failing to stop the alleged misconduct. “Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison have either been asleep at the wheel or complicit in a massive fraud involving taxpayer dollars in Minnesota’s social services programs,” he said in a statement. “American taxpayers demand and deserve accountability for the theft of their hard-earned money.”

The hearings are expected to sharpen Republican attacks not only on Walz but also on Minnesota’s Somali community. Those criticisms have increasingly been echoed by President Donald Trump and members of his administration, who have linked the fraud investigations to broader immigration enforcement actions.

Earlier this month, Trump referred to Somali immigrants as “garbage” during a White House event. On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for Minnesota child care programs, a move the administration framed as part of its response to the fraud allegations.

Trump continued that rhetoric in a social media post Wednesday, calling for the U.S. to “send them back from where they came, Somalia, perhaps the worst, and most corrupt, country on earth.”

The White House has also floated more aggressive steps. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration is exploring whether citizenship can be revoked for U.S. citizens of Somali descent charged with benefits fraud, while conceding the effort could face legal challenges. “It’s something the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State is currently looking at right now,” Leavitt said in a Fox News interview. “We know that there are liberal activist judges across this country who will try to block and tackle this administration from pursuing justice at every turn. But that’s not gonna stop the president and his entire cabinet by acting on behalf of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens in the state of Minnesota and in states across the country who have been ripped off by people who have abused our immigration system.”

Walz’s office responded by signaling a willingness to cooperate with Congress while sharply criticizing both the committee and the president. “We’re always happy to work with Congress, though this committee has a track record of holding circus hearings that have nothing to do with the issue at hand,” the governor’s office said. “While the Governor has been working to ensure fraudsters go to prison, the President has been selling pardons to let them out.” The statement did not clearly state whether Walz would appear voluntarily.

The controversy has also been fueled by outside voices. Conservative influencer Nick Shirley recently released a viral video accusing several Minnesota day care centers of public fraud, amplifying attention on the issue after the clip was shared by prominent conservatives and Trump allies, including Elon Musk.

{Matzav.com}

Somaliland is pushing back against claims that its newly announced diplomatic opening with Israel came with strings attached — rejecting assertions that it agreed to resettle Palestinians from Gaza or host Israeli military bases as part of the deal. In a statement posted Thursday on X, the foreign ministry of Republic of Somaliland said it […]

With the 2026 midterm elections still nearly months away, early maneuvering for the 2028 presidential race is already beginning to surface, as potential contenders from both parties make high-profile appearances, test messages, and build relationships in key political circles ahead of the contest to succeed term-limited President Donald Trump. While party leaders emphasize that the […]

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani began his first full day in office Thursday by unveiling a series of aggressive housing initiatives, signing multiple executive orders and announcing that the city will intervene in a private landlord bankruptcy case involving dozens of buildings.

The announcements were made at a rent-stabilized apartment building in Brooklyn, where Mamdani outlined what he described as a decisive shift in how City Hall will confront landlords and protect tenants.

“Today is the start of a new era for New York City,” Mamdani said. “It is inauguration day. It is also the day that the rent is due.”

Mamdani said the new administration intends to act immediately rather than delay, stressing that it “will not wait to deliver action” and “will stand up on behalf of the tenants of this city.”

He described conditions faced by many New Yorkers returning home after his inauguration, saying that residents are dealing with rising rents while living in apartments where, he said, “bad landlords do not make repairs,” and tenants contend with problems such as cockroaches and insufficient heat.

Among the measures announced were three housing-focused executive orders. The first revives the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, which Mamdani said will prioritize resolving complaints and enforcing accountability for dangerous housing conditions.

“We will make sure that 311 violations are resolved,” Mamdani said, adding that the city will pursue “slumlords” responsible for “hazardous and dangerous threats” to tenant well-being.

A second executive order establishes the LIFT task force, a land inventory initiative aimed at unlocking city-owned property for housing development. Mamdani said the task force will assess municipal land holdings and identify viable development sites by July 1.

The third order creates the SPEED task force — Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development — which Mamdani said will focus on eliminating bureaucratic and permitting obstacles that slow construction.

Both task forces will operate under the supervision of Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Lila Joseph.

“These are sweeping measures, but it is just the beginning of a comprehensive effort to champion the cause of tenants,” Mamdani said.

Earlier Thursday, Mamdani signed executive order No. 1, rescinding all mayoral executive orders issued by Eric Adams on or after Sept. 26, 2024, unless they are formally reissued by the new administration. He also signed a separate order establishing the structure of his administration, including the responsibilities of five deputy mayors.

The Brooklyn building where the mayor spoke, located at 85 Clarkson Ave., is owned by Pinnacle Realty, which Mamdani labeled a “notorious landlord.” He said tenants there have faced persistent issues, including roach infestations and a lack of heat.

According to Mamdani, the property is one of 93 buildings linked to the same landlord, whose portfolio is currently in bankruptcy proceedings. He said the properties are slated to be auctioned to another landlord he claimed ranks sixth on the city’s worst landlord list and collectively carry more than 5,000 unresolved hazardous violations and 14,000 complaints.

“This is an untenable situation,” Mamdani said. “So, today we are announcing that we will be taking action in the bankruptcy case and stepping in to represent the interests of the city and the interests of the tenants.”

He said he has instructed his nominee for corporation counsel, Steve Banks, to pursue what he described as “precedent-setting action” in the case.

“We are a creditor and interested party,” Mamdani said, adding that the city is owed money and intends to fight for “safe and habitable homes” while working to “mitigate the significant risk of displacement” facing residents.

A tenant who spoke at the event detailed long-standing safety problems in Pinnacle-owned buildings, saying that a section of hardwood flooring in the speaker’s mother’s apartment has gone unrepaired for seven years.

“When they filed for bankruptcy this spring, Pinnacle gambled on making our housing less affordable and our lives more miserable,” the tenant said.

{Matzav.com}

An automated response by Grok, the artificial-intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, has raised questions about accuracy and bias after the system removed an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while leaving an image of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and justified the decision by presenting disputed legal claims as established fact. The […]

A court in Pakistan’s capital sentenced seven people, including three journalists, two YouTubers and two retired army officers, to life imprisonment on Friday, after convicting them of inciting violence during riots in 2023 and spreading hatred against state institutions. An anti-terrorism court judge, Tahir Abbas Sipra, announced the verdict in Islamabad after completing trials held […]

A 72-year-old man was injured early Thursday after being pushed into the side of an oncoming subway train at a Bronx station, in what police described as a random act of violence. The incident occurred at approximately 3:30 a.m. at the 161st Street–Yankee Stadium station, as the victim was waiting on the platform for a […]

President Donald Trump says he is taking a higher daily dose of aspirin than doctors typically recommend, citing concerns about heart health, according to an interview published today in the Wall Street Journal. “They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” Trump said […]

WATCH:

President Donald Trump has spent much of his two-week vacation in Florida golfing. But when he gets back to the White House, there’s a military golf course that he’s never played that he’s eyeing for a major construction project. Long a favored getaway for presidents seeking a few hours’ solace from the stress of running the free world, […]

LISTEN:

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​​For more info, email bitachon4life@gmail.com.

 

 

 

 

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The White House is seeking rapid approval for President Donald Trump’s proposal to construct a 90,000-square-foot ballroom on the East Wing, aiming to move the project through federal review in roughly nine weeks—an unusually compressed schedule compared with similar large-scale undertakings that often take years.

According to planning documents, the first public briefing is set for Jan. 8 before the National Capital Planning Commission, followed by a Jan. 15 presentation to the Commission of Fine Arts. Final action is slated for Feb. 19 at the CFA and March 5 at the NCPC.

A White House official told The Washington Post that applications were formally submitted on Dec. 22 to both panels, which Congress has tasked with reviewing federal construction. The CFA has confirmed receipt of an application, while the NCPC said Tuesday that it had not yet received one.

The accelerated push comes as the project faces legal opposition. In December, the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed suit against President Trump and several federal agencies, arguing that required approvals had not been secured. The group contends the ballroom is moving forward without mandated reviews.

“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else,” the lawsuit said.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon declined to issue a temporary restraining order, ruling that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated “irreparable harm” at this point. He added, however, that the government must be prepared to reverse any below-ground work that locks in a particular design.

The ballroom plan would far exceed the scope of other changes made since the president’s January return to office, which include gold accents added throughout the Oval Office and the conversion of the Rose Garden lawn into a paved patio reminiscent of Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

At a Hanukkah reception at the White House, the president said the proposed ballroom would carry a $400 million price tag, an increase from an earlier estimate of $300 million.

“President Trump has full legal authority to modernize, renovate, and beautify the White House — just like all of his predecessors did,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said recently.

{Matzav.com}

  YWN was first to report that multiple signatures on a recent letter by Baalei Batim threatening Gedolim and Mosdos Hatorah with funding was riddled with dishonesty. Numerous people have since pulled their names from this Chillul Hashem. Attached is another letter by a signer stating this fact. MAILBAG: Baalei Batim Attempt To Strong-Arm Torah […]

An international virtual conference commemorating the sixth anniversary of the death of Qassem Soleimani was held on Tuesday, as protests against Iran’s government continued across the country. The event, titled “Soleimani’s School, the Logic of Resistance, and the Future of the Front of Truth,” focused on the legacy of Qassem Soleimani, the former head of […]

On his first day in office, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani revoked all of the executive orders that his predecessor, Eric Adams, has issued since Sept. 26, 2024, including several designed to protect Jews, in order, he said, to have a “fresh start for the incoming administration.”

The mayor, who has said he would have the Israeli prime minister arrested in New York City and who has many Jews in the city worried for their safety, didn’t say why he chose that date. But Sept. 26, 2024, was the day that Adams was indicted on federal bribery and campaign finance offense charges.

Mamdani stated at first in a release that he was revoking all order prior to Sept. 26, 2024, although the text of the order stated that it was discontinuing all of the orders post-Sept. 26, 2024. The mayor’s office sent out a second press release specifying that it was orders after that date.

In the waning hours of his mayorship, Adams and the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism released an annual report on combating Jew-hatred. Adams created that office on Jew-hatred on May 13 via executive order No. 51. The status of the office wasn’t immediately clear, although Moshe Davis, its executive director, still had his title listed on LinkedIn and on X as of press time.

In the Dec. 30 report on Jew-hatred, Adams and the mayor’s office noted other executive orders that he issued—which Mamdani now appears to have axed. On June 8, Adams adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred via executive order No. 52.

On Dec. 2, Adams signed executive order No. 60, which barred city entities and personnel from boycotting or divesting from Israel, and No. 61, which directs the New York City Police Department to look into creating zones around houses of worship in which protesting would be prohibited.

After protesters blocked Jews from entering a Manhattan synagogue in November, Mamdani’s spokeswoman said that synagogues shouldn’t host pro-Israel events which, she said, violated international law.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Adams had created the New York City–Israel Economic Council via executive order in May or via another means, or what its current status is.

In his inaugural address on Thursday, Mamdani referred to the beginning of a “new era.”

“I stand alongside countless more New Yorkers watching from cramped kitchens in Flushing and barbershops in East New York, from cell phones propped against the dashboards of parked taxi cabs at LaGuardia, from hospitals in Mott Haven and libraries in El Barrio that have too long known only neglect,” he said. “I stand alongside construction workers in steel-toed boots and halal cart vendors whose knees ache from working all day.”

“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed, but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try,” he said.

Mamdani added that the authors of the city’s story will “speak Pashto and Mandarin, Yiddish and Creole” and “will pray in mosques, at shul, at church, at Gurdwaras and Mandirs and temples—and many will not pray at all.”

“They will be Russian Jewish immigrants in Brighton Beach, Italians in Rossville and Irish families in Woodhaven—many of whom came here with nothing but a dream of a better life, a dream which has withered away,” he said. “They will be young people in cramped Marble Hill apartments where the walls shake when the subway passes. They will be black homeowners in St. Albans whose homes represent a physical testament to triumph over decades of lesser-paid labor and redlining.”

“They will be Palestinian New Yorkers in Bay Ridge, who will no longer have to contend with a politics that speaks of universalism and then makes them the exception,” he added.

Mamdani said that his movement was supported in part at “DSA meetings,” referring to the Democratic Socialists of America. “I was elected as a Democratic socialist and I will govern as a Democratic socialist,” he said. “I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical.”

“To live in New York, to love New York, is to know that we are the stewards of something without equal in our world. Where else can you hear the sound of the steelpan, savor the smell of sancocho and pay $9 for coffee on the same block?” he added. “Where else could a Muslim kid like me grow up eating bagels and lox every Sunday?” JNS

{Matzav.com}

Federal officials are now withholding child care funding from Minnesota as investigators widen probes into what they describe as massive fraud across state-administered social service programs, but warning signs about the system’s vulnerabilities were documented years earlier.

Health and Human Services officials have frozen payments to Minnesota while demanding proof that fraudulent billing has been eliminated. Other states are also under review and face similar funding suspensions unless they can demonstrate corrective action.

The scrutiny follows claims by First Assistant Minnesota U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson that billions of taxpayer dollars have been siphoned off over several years. At a Dec. 18 news conference in Minneapolis, Thompson said investigators estimate that since 2018, at least $9 billion intended for child care, nutrition, housing, health care, and related programs across 14 state-run systems has been stolen.

“The magnitude cannot be overstated,” Thompson said. “What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s staggering, industrial-scale fraud.”

The political pressure intensified after President Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Republicans in Congress launched multiple investigations into Minnesota’s social service agencies, seeking records from state officials and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. Federal data reviewed by The Post shows that since Walz took office in January 2019, Minnesota has received more than $2.1 billion in combined Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding.

Long before the current controversy, however, federal auditors had already identified systemic weaknesses. A Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General report released in July 2016 found that nearly 18.91% of all federal child care payments made to Minnesota providers in fiscal year 2012 were deemed “improper.” That amounted to roughly $16 million in questionable spending.

The audit also criticized state oversight failures, noting that Minnesota officials did not disclose how many providers receiving improper payments had been flagged internally or referred to law enforcement. Despite identifying billing problems, the state did not bar any of the suspected providers from continuing to receive taxpayer funds.

Auditors further found that state agencies had not “[c]hecked for multiple providers that are billing for the same child at the same time” and had failed to conduct “on site” inspections of sub-recipients, even as federal dollars continued to flow.

Nationally, the inspector general determined that about $311 million in improper payments were made through CCDF, the third-largest federal block grant program, behind TANF and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grants.

In Minnesota alone, CCDF reimbursed more than $85.5 million in child care costs in fiscal year 2015. Applying the earlier error rate would put erroneous payments at approximately $16.2 million for that year.

A decade later, the numbers grew far larger. Minnesota was slated to receive more than $185 million in CCDF funding, even though reported enrollment in child care programs had dropped by nearly half. That sharp contrast has fueled accusations that weak oversight enabled fraud on an even greater scale.

“The red flags are obvious,” Republican state Rep. Kristin Robbins said in a recent interview with NewsNation’s Rich McHugh. “It’s multiple services by one provider, and it’s an easier barrier to entry, not a lot of checks on the providers.”

Public attention escalated after YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a more than 40-minute video documenting visits to child care centers that collectively received $111 million in taxpayer funding but appeared closed or empty. Of the 10 facilities he visited, reporters from the Minnesota Star Tribune later found that only four had children present during follow-up checks.

For the most recent completed fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, CCDF allocated more than $11.6 billion nationwide for state child care services, more than double the amount distributed a decade earlier. Minnesota’s share, exceeding $185 million, had been earmarked for roughly 4,000 centers serving about 23,000 children — a ratio of roughly one center for every five or six kids.

By comparison, at the time of the 2016 audit, Minnesota providers were serving more than 47,000 children while receiving about $100 million less in federal funding.

Minnesota was one of only nine states cited in the inspector general’s report for exceeding a 10% threshold for improper payments, triggering a federal requirement for mandatory onsite monitoring going forward.

“The most common reason these States cited for not recovering improper payments was that the overpayments identified in the error rate reviews were due to caseworker or agency error, not to fraud,” the report stated.

The audit concluded with a broader warning that now appears prescient: “Given the CCDF program’s susceptibility to fraud and improper payments, as well as recent health and safety concerns, it is critical for ACF and States to employ effective measures to ensure the integrity of their CCDF programs.”

{Matzav.com}

Eric Adams released a sweeping report on Wednesday – his last day as mayor of New York City – outlining a comprehensive blueprint for combating antisemitism, just one day before control of City Hall passed to his far-left, anti-Zionist successor, Zohran Mamdani. The 80-page report, issued by the city’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, documents a […]

New York City’s new mayor moved immediately Thursday to draw a sharp line between his administration and that of his predecessor, issuing a sweeping executive order just hours after taking office that erased most of former Mayor Eric Adams’ executive actions, including those designed to combat a surge in antisemitic incidents across the city. Mayor […]

Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, NJ announced a new increase in monthly kollel stipends, with yungeleit receiving an additional $40 per month.

The adjustment raises the standard kollel check to $1,140, up from $1,100, alongside an increase in the Yom Tov bonus to $942, compared to the previous $850.

The raise applies to all eligible yungeleit currently learning in the kollel at Beth Medrash Govoha, where 5,449 participants now receive regular stipends.

Taken together, the updated payments bring the annual kollel disbursement to approximately $83 million.

The increase is the latest step in the ongoing effort that began several years ago with the launch of the Adirei HaTorah initiative. Introduced in 2021, the campaign sought not only to strengthen financial support for kollel families, but to reaffirm the principle that a life devoted to Torah learning should be accompanied by a basic level of financial stability and dignity.

At the time of its launch, organizers emphasized that the initiative was built on a broader vision of partnership within Klal Yisroel, bringing together supporters and learners in a shared mission to reinforce the centrality and honor of Torah. The scope of the undertaking was significant: fully tripling kollel stipends required a dramatic expansion of the annual budget, growing from roughly $18 million to more than $83 million.

Despite the magnitude of the financial responsibility, the philanthropists and backers who assumed the burden committed themselves to sustaining the effort long-term.

{Matzav.com}