Former President Joe Biden in first public appearance since announcement of cancer diagnosis: REPORTER: “How are you feeling?” BIDEN: “I’m feeling good.” REPORTER: Have you decided on your treatment options?” BIDEN: “Yeah, we have. They’re under way. All the folks are very optimistic…It’s all a matter of taking a pill…”
An Alaska man who was pinned facedown in an icy creek by a 700-pound (318-kilogram) boulder for three hours survived the ordeal with only minor injuries, thanks in part to his wife’s quick thinking and lots of luck. Kell Morris’ wife held his head above water to prevent him from drowning while waiting for rescuers to arrive after Morris was pinned by the boulder, which crashed onto him during a hike near a remote glacier south of Anchorage. His second stroke of luck came when a sled dog tourism company that operates on the glacier overheard the 911 dispatch and offered up its helicopter to ferry rescuers to the scene, which was inaccessible to all-terrain vehicles. Once rescuers arrived, it took seven men and inflatable air bags to lift the boulder off as he drifted in and out of consciousness. Morris, 61, said he realizes he is probably the luckiest man alive. “And luckier that I have such a great wife,” he said Thursday. His wife, Jo Roop, is a retired Alaska State Trooper. They moved to Seward, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) south of Anchorage, from Idaho last fall when she took a job with the local police department. Last Saturday, they wanted to avoid the big crowds that converge on the Kenai Peninsula community during holidays and decided to hike near Godwin Glacier on an isolated and undeveloped trail behind a state prison, Seward Fire Chief Clinton Crites said. Their trail was actually a rocky creek bed lined with large boulders deposited by the glacier. Morris said he noticed dangerous boulders, some weighing up to 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms), along the banks of the creek and avoided them the best he could, until he ran into an area he couldn’t pass. “I was coming back and everything, the whole side slid out from under me,” he said. He said things became a blur as he tumbled down the embankment about 20 feet (6 meters), landing face down in the water. Then he immediately felt the boulder hit his back in what Crites described as “basically an avalanche of boulders.” The way Morris landed, there were rocks under him, in between his legs and around him that caught the weight of the boulder, preventing him from being crushed, Crites said. But the massive rock still had him pinned, and Morris felt intense pain in his left leg and waited for his femur to snap. “When it first happened, I was doubtful that there was going to be a good outcome,” Morris said. His wife tried to free him for about 30 minutes, putting rocks under the boulder and trying to roll it off him, before she left to find a cell signal. Amazingly, she only had to walk about 300 yards (274 meters) to connect with 911 and relied on her law enforcement experience to send exact GPS coordinates to dispatch. A volunteer at the neighboring Bear Creek Fire Department heard the call while working at the sled dog tourism operation and diverted the helicopter used to ferry tourists to the scene. Ultimately, firefighters who couldn’t navigate their all-terrain vehicles over the boulder field jumped out of the helicopter. By this time, Morris was hypothermic from the cold water running off the glacier, Crites said, and his wife was […]
The Department of Homeland Security is putting more than 500 “sanctuary jurisdictions” across the country on notice that the Trump administration views them as obstructing immigration enforcement as it attempts to increase pressure on communities it believes are standing in the way of the president’s mass deportations agenda. The department on Thursday published a list of the jurisdictions and said each one will receive formal notification that the government has deemed them noncompliant and if they’re believed to be in violation of any federal criminal statutes. The list was published on the department’s website. “These sanctuary city politicians are endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a press release. The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted communities, states and jurisdictions that it says aren’t doing enough to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement as it seeks to make good on President Donald Trump’s campaign promises to remove millions of people in the country illegally. The list was compiled using a number of factors, including whether the cities or localities identified themselves as sanctuary jurisdictions, how much they complied already with federal officials enforcing immigration laws, if they had restrictions on sharing information with immigration enforcement or had any legal protections for people in the country illegally, according to the department. Trump signed an executive order on April 28 requiring the secretary of Homeland Security and the attorney general to publish a list of states and local jurisdictions that they considered to be obstructing federal immigration laws. The list is to be regularly updated. Federal departments and agencies, working with the Office of Management and Budget, would then be tasked with identifying federal grants or contracts with those states or local jurisdictions that the federal government identified as “sanctuary jurisdictions” and suspending or terminating the money, according to the executive order. If “sanctuary jurisdictions” are notified and the Trump administration determines that they “remain in defiance,” the attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security are then empowered to pursue whatever “legal remedies and enforcement measures” they consider necessary to make them comply. There’s no specific or legal definition of what constitutes a “sanctuary jurisdiction.” The term is often used to refer to law enforcement agencies, states or communities that don’t cooperate with immigration enforcement. Some cities pushed back after finding themselves on the list. Baltimore’s Mayor Brandon Scott said on X that Baltimore is “not a sanctuary city,” noting that Baltimore does not control the city’s jails. Jails are a key area where ICE cooperates with local law enforcement authorities so it can be notified when immigrants are going to be released. But Scott also said the city made no apologies for being a “welcoming city” and said it was preparing for litigation if needed to protect the city’s immigrant community and the money it gets from the federal government. “We are better because of our immigrant neighbors, and are not about to sell them out to this administration,” Scott said. In a statement on X, the Las Vegas government said they weren’t sure why DHS included it on the list and that they hoped to “clear up this misunderstanding.” The city said that law enforcement and jail facilities there comply with federal law. ICE enforces immigration laws nationwide, […]
Hachnosas Sefer Torah at the Lutzk Bais Medrash in Yerushalyim. Among the Rabbonim in attendance was Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Hagaon HaRav David Yosef. Also seen is the philanthropist and visionary behind Adirei Hatorah, Reb Lazer Scheiner.
YWN is please to share the news that the Rosh HaYeshiva of the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, Harav Shmuel Kamenetsky shlit”a, has been discharged from the hospital and is now on his way home. According to an official statement released by the yeshiva, the doctors are very pleased with the Rosh Yeshiva’s progress, noting significant improvement in his condition. This follows his recent hospitalization due to weakness, which prompted a global outpouring of tefillos from Yidden across the world. The yeshiva has requested that Klal Yisroel continue to daven for a complete refuah sheleimah for Shmuel ben Itta Ettil, b’soch sha’ar cholei Yisroel. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Major News for Chicago’s Frum Community! Chicago’s Torah community just got a major update—Gedolim from Keren Olam HaTorah are tentatively scheduled to visit the Windy City on Monday, June 16th! Exciting plans are in the works! Stay tuned to YWN for the latest updates as they roll in!
The Honolulu Police Department said it will review all impaired driving arrests after the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging officers are arresting sober drivers in an overzealous focus on making drunk-driving arrests. In recent years Honolulu officers have arrested “scores” of drivers who show no outward signs of impairment, perform well on field sobriety tests and whose breath tests often show no alcohol, the lawsuit said. The department is driven by a “singular focus” on getting arrests for driving under the influence, even if they don’t result in convictions, the ACLU said. Supervisors give officers incentives, including telling night enforcement officers they can go home and still get paid for an entire shift if they make a DUI arrest, which results in officers taking investigative shortcuts or making arrests without probable cause, the ACLU said. Police are attempting to show that officers are protecting the public, using arrest numbers to secure federal funding and to meet quotas, the organization said. “Each of our clients blew a 0.000. None of them were intoxicated. Yet they endured lasting damage to their records, their reputation, traumatic arrests, and unlawful detention,” said Jeremy O’Steen, an attorney with a firm that is working on the lawsuit with ACLU Hawaii. “What we are demanding today is simple: Stop arresting innocent people. Stop manipulating the system.” In response, the department said in a statement that it “takes these allegations very seriously,” and officials have “initiated a comprehensive review of all impaired driving arrests dating back to 2021.” The ACLU said they became aware of the issue thanks to an investigation by Hawaii News Now reporter Lynn Kawano. The class-action lawsuit is on behalf of three plaintiffs who were arrested and represents hundreds of other drivers. The lawsuit is asking a judge to declare that the Honolulu Police Department’s practices are unconstitutional and unlawful. It doesn’t seek monetary damages. In addition to the ongoing review, the cases of the three plaintiffs will be internally investigated, police said: “We are dedicated to upholding public trust and will take appropriate action should any misconduct be found.” From 2022 through 2024, Honolulu police arrested 127 people who had a blood-alcohol content level of 0.000 after a breath or blood test for driving under the influence, according to the lawsuit. Only 15 people were given a traffic ticket, and only three people were charged with driving under the influence of drugs, the lawsuit said. Honolulu police’s “pattern” has been to stop drivers either without any problematic driving at a sobriety checkpoint or for minor traffic infractions, the lawsuit said. Tanner Pangan was a high school senior when an officer pulled him over last year after his truck fishtailed on a rain-slicked road. “When I got pulled over and accused of drinking and driving … I was kind of stunned because I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs, nothing,” he told reporters during a virtual news conference. It was his first time being arrested or pulled over. ACLU Hawaii is concerned there are quotas that officers are trying to meet. In looking at arrest statistics, the ACLU found a cluster of arrests at the end of the month. On Aug. 31, 2024, there were three arrests where a breath test showed 0.000 at the same location about […]
Ahmed al-Jabali has been sentenced to six years in prison after stabbing a Jewish barber, saying that the Israel-Gaza war gave him the right as a Muslim to “punish Jews.”
The Supreme Court has ruled to allow President Trump to proceed with revoking legal status for the 500,000 criminal aliens flown into the U.S. under Biden’s policies.
An information technology specialist for the Defense Intelligence Agency was charged Thursday with attempting to transmit classified information to a representative of a foreign government, the Justice Department said. Prosecutors say Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia, was arrested at a location where he had arranged to deposit sensitive records to a person he thought was an official of a foreign government, but who was actually an undercover FBI agent. The identity of the country Laatsch thought he was in communication with was not disclosed, but the Justice Department described it as a friendly, or allied, nation. It was not immediately clear if Laatsch, who was set to make a court appearance Friday, had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. The Justice Department said its investigation into Laatsch began in March after officials received a tip that he had offered to provide classified information to another nation. Laatsch wrote in his email that he “did not agree or align with the values of this administration” and was willing to transmit sensitive materials, including intelligence documents, to which he had access, prosecutors said. An undercover agent got in touch with Laatsch, who began transcribing classified information to a notepad and made plans to drop off information that the foreign government representative could pick up in a park. At one drop-off this month, prosecutors say, Laatsch left behind a thumb drive containing multiple typed documents marked up to the Secret and Top Secret levels. In return, prosecutors say, Laatsch said that he was interested in obtaining citizenship from that country because he did not anticipate “things here to improve in the long term.” He was arrested Thursday at a prearranged location after making additional plans for a drop-off. (AP)
SEN. MIKE ROUNDS: If we don’t pass [the One, Big, Beautiful Bill], average American families are going to see between $1,400 on their personal income taxes, but a total of about $2,400 total in additional taxes per year.
France’s Macron: “Right now, Europe is giving Israel a free hand. We must work towards recognizing a Palestinian state. If we abandon Gaza and allow Israel a free hand, we will kiII our own credibility.”
This week, Border Police officers and security forces conducted coordinated operations on currency exchange businesses suspected of channeling funds to terrorism across Judea and Samaria. Around 7 million shekels were seized and 30 suspects arrested.
During recent operations of the 98th Division in the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF says it demolished a kilometer-long Hamas tunnel.
The Supreme Court backed a multibillion-dollar oil railroad expansion in Utah Thursday in a ruling that scales back the use of a key environmental law and could accelerate development projects around the country. The 8-0 decision comes after an appeal to the high court from backers of the project, which is aimed at quadrupling oil production in the remote area of sandstone and sagebrush. Environmental groups said the decision would have sweeping impacts on National Environmental Policy Act reviews. President Donald Trump’s administration has already said it’s speeding up that process after the president in January declared a “national energy emergency” and vowed to boost U.S. oil and gas production. Justice Brett Kavanaugh referred to the decision as a “course correction” in an opinion fully joined by four conservative colleagues. “Congress did not design NEPA for judges to hamstring new infrastructure and construction projects,” Kavanaugh wrote. The three liberal justices agreed the Utah project should get its approval, but they would have taken a narrower path. The justices reversed a lower court decision that required a more thorough environmental review and restored an important approval from federal regulators on the Surface Transportation Board. The board’s chair, Patrick Fuchs, said the ruling reigns in the scope of environmental reviews that are “unnecessarily hindering” infrastructure construction throughout the country. The case centers on the Uinta Basin Railway, a proposed 88-mile (142-kilometer) expansion that would connect the oil-rich region of northeast Utah to the national rail network, allowing oil and gas producers to access larger markets. The state’s crude oil production was valued at $4.1 billion in 2024, according to a Utah Geological Survey report, and could increase substantially under the expansion project. Construction, though, does not appear to be imminent. Project leaders must win additional approvals and secure funding from private-sector partners before they can break ground, said Uinta Basin Railway spokesperson Melissa Cano. Environmental groups and a Colorado county had argued that regulators must consider a broad range of potential impacts when they consider new development, such as increased wildfire risk, the effect of additional crude oil production from the area and increased refining in Gulf Coast states. The justices, though, found that regulators were right to consider the direct effects of the project, rather than the wider upstream and downstream impacts. Kavanaugh wrote that courts should defer to regulators on “where to draw the line” on what factors to take into account. “The goal of the law is to inform agency decision making, not to paralyze it,” he said. The court’s conservative majority court has taken steps to curtail the power of federal regulators in other cases, however, including striking down the decades-old Chevron doctrine that made it easier for the federal government to set a wide range of regulations. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in a concurrence that the court could have simply cleared the way for the railway approval by saying that regulators did not need to consider increased fossil fuel production tied to the project. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate in the case after facing calls to step aside over ties to Philip Anschutz, a Colorado billionaire whose ownership of oil wells in the area means he could benefit if the project goes through. Gorsuch, as a lawyer in private practice, had represented Anschutz. The ruling follows […]
