More than 1,000 Starbucks baristas at 75 U.S. stores have gone on strike since Sunday to protest a new company dress code, a union representing the coffee giant’s workers said Wednesday. Starbucks put new limits starting Monday on what its baristas can wear under their green aprons. The dress code requires employees at company-operated and licensed stores in the U.S. and Canada to wear a solid black shirt and khaki, black or blue denim bottoms. Under the previous dress code, baristas could wear a broader range of dark colors and patterned shirts. Starbucks said the new rules would make its green aprons stand out and create a sense of familiarity for customers as it tries to establish a warmer, more welcoming feeling in its stores. But Starbucks Workers United, the union that represents workers at 570 of Starbucks’ 10,000 company-owned U.S. stores, said the dress code should be subject to collective bargaining. “Starbucks has lost its way. Instead of listening to baristas who make the Starbucks experience what it is, they are focused on all the wrong things, like implementing a restrictive new dress code,” said Paige Summers, a Starbucks shift supervisor from Hanover, Maryland. “Customers don’t care what color our clothes are when they’re waiting 30 minutes for a latte.” Summers and others also criticized the company for selling styles of Starbucks-branded clothing that employees no longer are allowed to wear to work on an internal website. Starbucks said it would give two free black T-shirts to each employee when it announced the new dress code. Starbucks said Wednesday that the strike was having a limited impact on its 10,000 company-operated U.S. stores. “Thousands of Starbucks partners came to work this week ready to serve their customers and communities,” the company said in a statement. “It would be more productive if the union would put the same effort into coming back to the table to finalize a reasonable contract.” Starbucks Workers United has been unionizing U.S. stores since 2021. Starbucks and the union have yet to reach a contract agreement, despite agreeing to return to the bargaining table in February 2024. The union said this week that it filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging Starbucks’ failure to bargain over the new dress code. (AP)
I write with disbelief regarding a policy recently introduced in a local frum school: a “Free Pass” initiative that exempts students from a final exam if they raise or donate $550 to a designated organization. Encouraging chesed and tzedakah among our children is admirable. But linking a mitzvah to an academic incentive is, at best, misguided and, at worst, a distortion of the very values we claim to uphold. Tzedakah is not a bargaining chip. It is not a ticket to privilege or a means to bypass accountability. It is one of the foundational mitzvos of a Torah life, meant to be done lishmah, out of a pure desire to help Klal Yisrael—not in exchange for skipping an exam. This policy does more than blur the lines between ruchniyus and reward—it erases them. It suggests to our children that enough money (or enough fundraising prowess) can take the place of effort, yegiah, and hard-earned growth. That is not chinuch; it is a transactional mindset that contradicts everything we teach about ameilus baTorah, personal responsibility, and integrity. Even more troubling is the silent message this sends to students who cannot meet the $550 threshold. Whether due to financial limitations or lack of access to fundraising networks, these children are left carrying the academic burden while others are rewarded—not for their learning, but for their wallets. What kind of message does that send? That effort in the classroom matters less than financial clout? That your worth in school is tied to a dollar amount? This risks turning the classroom into a marketplace where grades can be purchased, and exemptions are for sale. And worse, it will plant seeds of shame, resentment, and division among our children. Schools should be places of dignity, equity, and growth—where success is earned, not bought. There are countless ways to foster a love of giving in our students without cheapening their education or introducing financial disparity into the spiritual and academic space. I respectfully urge school leaders and administrators to reconsider this deeply flawed approach. Let us return to a chinuch rooted in Torah values—where mitzvos are done with sincerity, learning is treasured for its own sake, and every child, regardless of financial standing, is uplifted with kavod and clarity. Sincerely, A Concerned Parent The views expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of YWN. Have an opinion you would like to share? Send it to us for review.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wrote about Hamas’s use of human shields on social media on Thursday. “Hamas’ use of human shields is not just a tactic,” he wrote. “It’s the very basis of Hamas’ existence.” “Almost every home, school and hospital in Gaza is part of Hamas’ terror apparatus. Hamas turned Gaza into one huge terror machine.” “While the IDF bends over backwards to minimize deaths of non-participants, there is no magic formula to defeat this terror machine without casualties. The responsibility is of Hamas, which engineered this. “Here’s the harsh truth: If Israel is forced to stop, every terror organization on earth will use human shields because it brings them victory. This is the moment to support Israel in our thankless but vital task of fighting the worst terror groups on earth.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
A massive crowd of thousands packed Rockland Community College on Monday night for the groundbreaking Motzoh Tov event, as Yidden from across Monsey and nearly every major Chassidus—including Viznitz, Satmar, Belz, Skvere, and more—came together to support a powerful initiative aimed at restoring simplicity and affordability to chasunahs. The crowd heard stirring words from Rabbonim, askonim, and parents who have already embraced the Motzoh Tov model—saving tens of thousands of dollars while maintaining full kavod and simcha. The atmosphere was electric, as speaker after speaker reinforced the message: it’s time to return to dignified, realistic wedding standards. In a major announcement, organizers introduced a $25,000 interest-free loan now being offered to families who commit to making a chasunah through the Motzoh Tov plan. This game-changing offer will open the door for even more families to join the movement without financial strain. Attendees received brochures detailing how to access the program, including all-inclusive wedding packages from the Harmony showroom for under $50,000. Photos by Yossi Goldberg, Avremi Blum, and Shot Dee Dot captured the large turnout and the inspiring atmosphere of the gathering. The event, masterfully produced by the renowned YF Productions under the direction of Reb Yochy Fleischman, was a true spectacle of achdus and inspiration. From stage design to program flow, every detail reflected the professionalism and heart YF Productions is known for. To ensure the safety and comfort of the large oilam, crowd control and security were coordinated by the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office, Chaverim of Rockland, and RCC Public Safety, all of whom played a vital role in maintaining a smooth and secure atmosphere throughout the evening. The event was not only a success—it was a statement. A new era has begun in Rockland County, where simchos can once again be made with joy, peace of mind, and achrayus. STORY ORIGINALLY ON MONSEY SCOOP (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Amid renewed diplomatic momentum to end the Gaza war and secure the release of Israeli hostages, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has introduced a new framework aimed at achieving a ceasefire and removing Hamas from power, according to reports from Israel’s Channel 12. The proposed plan, reportedly presented during President Trump’s high-profile visit to Saudi Arabia this week, has garnered support from international mediators involved in the ongoing negotiations. Israeli officials say Witkoff, a close ally of President Trump, is “personally invested” in the effort to bring the hostages home. Sources within the Israeli government said that “President Trump made it clear that no moves will be forced on Israel against its will,” indicating that Israel will retain full autonomy over its military and diplomatic decisions. The framework reportedly assumes that Hamas leader in Gaza, Mohammed Sinwar, has been eliminated—a claim that remains unconfirmed but widely suspected following a massive strike near the European Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday. In such a case, Israeli officials say they are prepared to delay further intensification of operations in Gaza, signaling a possible window for diplomacy. Despite the emergence of this new proposal, Israeli leaders are continuing to adhere to Witkoff’s initial framework, and a delegation dispatched to Qatar has been instructed to operate based on that earlier plan. The delegation remains in Qatar as President Trump continues his Middle East tour, which now includes visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid al-Asari addressed the talks on Wednesday evening, expressing cautious optimism. “The goal is to reach a ceasefire that is longer than the previous one, that will bring a greater opportunity for agreements between the sides,” he said. “There are still challenges, but President Trump’s visit got the negotiations moving.” In a parallel development, Egyptian officials quoted by Al Arabiya reported that the United States is exerting pressure on Israel to agree to a short-term ceasefire and has informed regional mediators of its opposition to any immediate escalation of Israeli military activity in Gaza. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
A Democratic lawmaker is launching a renegade effort to impeach President Donald Trump, pushing past party leaders on Wednesday with an attempt to force a procedural vote in the U.S. House that is expected to fail. Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan announced his intention to charge ahead, saying that as an immigrant he wants to do all he can to protect America’s Constitution and its institutions. His resolution, criticized by fellow Democrats, contains seven articles of impeachment against the Republican president. “Donald J. Trump has been committing crimes since day one — bribery, corruption, taking power from Congress, creating an unlawful office in DOGE, violating First Amendment rights, ignoring due process,” the congressman said earlier from the House floor. It would be the historic third time Trump has faced impeachment efforts after being twice impeached during his first term as president — first in 2019 on charges related to withholding military aid to Ukraine as it confronted Russia and later on a charge of inciting insurrection over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. Trump was acquitted both times by the Senate. Thanedar is not the only Democrat who has signaled impeachment efforts against Trump. But his decision to go it almost alone, without backing from party leadership, comes as he faces his own political challenges at home, with several primary opponents looking to unseat him in his Detroit-area congressional district. Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said Democratic leadership would vote to sideline any effort to bring Thanedar’s impeachment articles to a full vote, calling impeachment “not the right approach we should be taking.” “Right now, our focus is on health care being stripped away from the American people,” Aguilar said. “That is the most urgent and dire thing that we could be talking about this week.” Aguilar added that Trump “is no stranger to impeachment” but said Thanedar’s proposal is “not ripe and not timely” given the negotiations over Republicans’ budget reconciliation package. Democrats who streamed out of their weekly caucus meeting were critical of the impeachment effort. They said the focus should not be on impeachment but on Republican efforts to cut spending on important programs that Americans rely on, such as Medicaid and nutrition assistance. “There’s no support for an impeachment resolution. There have been no hearings on compiling a record for which impeachment can be based. And this is just a procedure that’s meaningless at this point,” said Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. ”The sponsor is out of sync with the mood and the trajectory of House Democrats.” “The work that we need to focus on is that Republicans are stripping away access to health care, stripping away nutritional assistance for hungry kids, and giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and large corporations,” said Rick Larsen, D-Wash. “This resolution has nothing to do with that.” Timing is also key. Thanedar’s resolution claiming Trump committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” comes as Trump is traveling in the Middle East in his first major trip abroad of his second term, violating a norm in American politics of not criticizing the president once he leaves the U.S. waters’ edge. But Thanedar said he was pressing ahead in part because of Trump’s trip abroad and the potential conflicts […]
A billboard seen tonight in the Syrian capital of Damascus, featuring U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with the words, “Thank you from the heart” in Arabic and “Thank you, Saudi Arabia, United States of American” in English.
German authorities have thwarted a suspected Russian intelligence operation involving the mailing of incendiary devices, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The plot, uncovered in collaboration with Swiss law enforcement, targeted Ukraine and potentially other Western nations, raising concerns about escalating Russian sabotage efforts amid ongoing geopolitical tensions. On Tuesday, German prosecutors announced the arrests of three Ukrainian nationals—two in Germany and one in Switzerland—suspected of working for Russian intelligence. The men, identified as Anatolii H., 35, Oleksandr M., 38, and Hennadii P., 34, allegedly sent parcels equipped with GPS trackers to test delivery routes for incendiary devices. These parcels were intended to reach Ukraine, with the devices designed to ignite during transit, potentially disrupting critical supply chains supporting Ukraine’s defense efforts. The operation came to light after a tip from a foreign intelligence agency in March, prompting German authorities to monitor the suspects closely. Federal prosecutors stated that the men acted on behalf of “Russian state entities” and used cryptocurrency payments to obscure their financial trail. One suspect, Anatolii H., was detained in Cologne after attempting to mail a test parcel from a local post office, while Oleksandr M. was apprehended in Constance. Hennadii P. was arrested in Switzerland and faces extradition proceedings. “This is a significant escalation in Russia’s hybrid warfare tactics,” said Thomas Haldenwang, head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, in a statement. “The use of incendiary devices in civilian transport networks poses a direct threat to public safety and critical infrastructure.” Haldenwang noted that the plot bears similarities to earlier incidents in July 2024, when incendiary devices disguised as electric massagers ignited at DHL hubs in Leipzig, Germany, and Birmingham, England, narrowly missing flights bound for North America. Investigators believe the latest scheme was part of a broader Russian campaign to destabilize Western support for Ukraine. The WSJ report highlights a pattern of Russian intelligence operations, including arson attacks in the UK and Czech Republic, pipeline sabotage in the Baltic, and assassination plots targeting European defense executives. Polish authorities, who arrested four individuals in October 2024 for related sabotage activities, described the earlier DHL incidents as a “test run” for attacks on US and Canadian-bound flights. The devices in the recent plot were reportedly designed to evade detection, using magnesium-based flammable substances that could ignite mid-transit and overwhelm standard firefighting systems. German officials tested replicas of similar devices and warned that a fire on a cargo or passenger plane could force emergency landings or, in worst-case scenarios, cause crashes over remote areas. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the allegations, calling them “unsubstantiated insinuations” and claiming Russia had not been formally accused. However, Western security officials point to a growing trend of Russian agents outsourcing high-risk operations to local operatives, often recruited for their deniability. “Russian intelligence is under increasing pressure and is resorting to reckless measures,” a European security official told the WSJ. The arrests have intensified calls for stronger countermeasures against Russian sabotage in Europe. MI5 Director General Ken McCallum, in a recent speech, warned that Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency is on a “sustained mission to generate mayhem” across European infrastructure. Polish intelligence chief Pawel Szota described the plot as a “major escalation” in Moscow’s covert operations, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised the swift action of law enforcement. Authorities are […]
A hotline between military and civilian air traffic controllers in Washington, D.C., that hasn’t worked for more than three years may have contributed to another near miss shortly after the U.S. Army resumed flying helicopters in the area for the first time since January’s deadly midair collision between a passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter, Sen. Ted Cruz said at a hearing Wednesday. The Federal Aviation Administration official in charge of air traffic controllers, Frank McIntosh, confirmed the agency didn’t even know the hotline hadn’t been working since March 2022 until after the latest near miss. He said civilian controllers still have other means of communicating with their military counterparts through landlines. Still, the FAA insists the hotline be fixed before helicopter flights resume around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Defense department officials didn’t immediately respond to questions Wednesday about the near miss earlier this month and the steps it is taking to ensure helicopter flights in the area are safe. The FAA didn’t immediately answer follow-up questions after the hearing about how that hotline was supposed to be used. “The developments at DCA (Reagan airport) in its airspace are extremely concerning,” Cruz said. “This committee remains laser-focused on monitoring a safe return to operations at DCA and making sure all users in the airspace are operating responsibly.” The Army suspended all helicopter flights around Reagan airport after the latest near miss, but McIntosh said the FAA was close to ordering the Army to stop flying because of the safety concerns before it did so voluntarily. “We did have discussions if that was an option that we wanted to pursue,” McIntosh told the Senate Commerce Committee at the hearing. January’s crash between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter killed 67 people — making it the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil since 2001. The National Transportation Safety Board has said there were an alarming 85 near misses around Reagan in the three years before the crash that should have prompted action. Since the crash, the FAA has tried to ensure that military helicopters never share the same airspace as planes, but controllers had to order two planes to abort their landings on May 1 because of an Army helicopter circling near the Pentagon. “After the deadly crash near Reagan National Airport, FAA closed the helicopter route involved, but a lack of coordination between FAA and the Department of Defense has continued to put the flying public at risk,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth said. McIntosh said the helicopter should never have entered the airspace around Reagan airport without permission from an air traffic controller. “That did not occur,” he said. “My question — and I think the larger question is — is why did that not occur? Without compliance to our procedures and our policies, this is where safety drift starts to happen.” The NTSB is investigating what happened. In addition to that incident, a commercial flight taking off from Reagan airport had to take evasive action after coming within a few hundred feet of four military jets heading to a flyover at Arlington National Cemetery. McIntosh blamed that incident on a miscommunication between FAA air traffic controllers at a regional facility and the tower at Reagan, which he said had been addressed. (AP)
On Wednesday afternoon, a heartfelt Chalakah ceremony was held at the residence of HaGaon HaRav Moshe Sternbuch. The event, marking a young boy’s first haircut, brought together family and community members to celebrate this milestone under the esteemed guidance of the revered Posek and venerated Gadol. The children will have their hair cut on Lag BaOmer.
A former food delivery driver pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to steal more than $2.5 million from DoorDash by getting the company to pay for deliveries that never occurred, federal prosecutors said. Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in San Jose to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Devagiri, 30, of Newport Beach, California, admitted to working with three others in 2020 and 2021 to defraud the San Francisco-based delivery company, federal prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Devagiri used customer accounts to place high-value orders and then used an employee’s credential to gain access to DoorDash software and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts that he and others controlled. Devagiri then caused the fraudulent driver accounts to report that the orders had been delivered when they had not, and manipulated DoorDash’s computer systems to pay the fraudulent driver accounts for the nonexistent deliveries, officials said. Devagiri would then use DoorDash software to change the orders from “delivered” status to “in process” status and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts he and others controlled, beginning the process again, prosecutors said. The now-former employee in the scam pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in November 2023 and admitted to being involved in the scheme, prosecutors said. Devagiri is the third defendant to be convicted of his role in this conspiracy. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 16. (AP)
Argentine Supreme Court officials revealed Sunday that 83 long-forgotten boxes containing Nazi materials confiscated during World War II have been found in the court’s basement. The boxes, according to archival research conducted by the court, were originally shipped from the German embassy in Tokyo to Argentina in June 1941 aboard the Japanese steamship “Nan-a-Maru.” At the time, their arrival raised suspicions among Argentine authorities concerned that the contents could threaten the nation’s wartime neutrality. Though German diplomats claimed the shipment merely held personal belongings, customs officials opened five of the boxes and found Nazi propaganda materials, including photographs, postcards, and thousands of notebooks belonging to the Nazi party. A federal judge ordered the seizure of the cargo and referred the matter to the Supreme Court. What followed, however, remained a mystery—until now. Eighty-four years later, the boxes resurfaced as court staff began preparations for a new Supreme Court museum. “Upon opening one of the boxes, we identified material intended to consolidate and propagate Adolf Hitler’s ideology in Argentina during the Second World War,” the court said in an official statement. The boxes have since been relocated to a secure, restricted-access room, and the court has invited the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum to assist in cataloging and preserving the contents. Researchers hope the trove may shed light on lesser-known aspects of the Holocaust, including potential financial networks the Nazi regime may have maintained in South America. Argentina maintained neutrality for most of the war, only breaking ties with Axis powers in 1944 and formally declaring war on Germany and Japan in 1945. Between 1933 and 1954, roughly 40,000 Jews fled Europe and found refuge in Argentina, which today holds the largest Jewish population in Latin America. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Agudath Israel of America applauded the historic inclusion of the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) in a draft budget document unveiled yesterday in the U.S. House of Representatives. Agudath Israel said it looks forward to continuing to engage members of Congress as lawmakers debate and build upon this proposal in the days and weeks ahead. Following a model already operating successfully in more than twenty states, this game changing legislation will provide $5 billion in K-12 scholarships per year. It does this by allowing a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for donors who contribute to Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGO). These SGOs would then provide scholarships for a range of educational expenses, including private school tuition. Agudath Israel played a key role in the crafting and promotion of this legislation together with legislative sponsors and coalition partners over the last several years. Most recently, Agudath Israel organized a mission to Washington, DC bringing more than 200 community leaders from across the country to urge policymakers to include ECCA in the budget reconciliation bill that is moving through Congress. “We thank House leadership and bill the sponsors Rep. Adrian Smith (R – NE) and Rep. Burgess Owens (R – UT) for ensuring that ECCA was included in the House reconciliation draft,” said Rabbi Yossie Charner, Agudath Israel of America’s Director of Congressional Affairs. “This is a critical first step in becoming law this session.” “By prioritizing scholarships among the many competing tax policies vying for inclusion, the House leadership demonstrated why school choice is spreading across the nation,” said Rabbi Avi Schnall, Agudath Israel of America’s Director of Federal Education Affairs. “Parents want to choose the best educational setting for their child.” “During his campaign for president, Donald Trump promised to promote universal school choice in all 50 states,” noted Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudath Israel’s National Director of Government Affairs. “Agudath Israel and its allies will continue to urge Congressional leaders and the Administration to include ECCA in its broadest form in any budget deal so that it can help millions of children across the country including those wishing to attend yeshivas and other nonpublic schools.” For more information about the bill go to Agudah.org/schoolchoice.
Lawyers for a 2-year-old U.S. citizen who was deported with her mother to Honduras said on Tuesday that the family was lifting its lawsuit against the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The girl -– one of three U.S.-born children who were deported alongside their Honduran-born mothers -– had been at the heart of one of the mounting legal battles playing out in the United States weighing if the Trump administration broke the law in implementing its new deportation policies. “Given the traumatizing experiences the families have been through, they are taking a step back to have full discussions about all their options, the safety and well-being of their children, and the best ways to proceed so the harms they have suffered can be fully addressed,” said Gracie Willis, one of the family’s lawyers. The lawsuit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigration Project and several other allied groups, which said the deportations were a “shocking — although increasingly common — abuse of power.” Willis and the group of lawyers had argued that the families did not have a fair opportunity to decide whether they wanted the children to stay in the United States. Willis said the family of the 2-year old girl and their lawyers jointly decided to dismiss the case to give the family “space and time to consider all the options that are available to them.” A federal judge in Louisiana had raised questions about the girl’s deportation, saying the government did not prove it had done so properly. The Honduran-born mother — who is pregnant — was arrested in April on an outstanding deportation order along with the girl and her 11-year-old Honduran-born sister during a check-in appointment at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in New Orleans, lawyers said. The family lived in Baton Rouge. Lawyers for the girl’s father insisted he wanted the girl to remain with him in the U.S., while ICE said the mother had wanted the girl to be deported with her to Honduras. In a court filing, lawyers for the father said ICE indicated that it was holding the girl in a bid to induce the father to turn himself in. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Louisiana had scheduled a hearing for the case later this week, saying it was “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.” (AP)
U.S. Sec. of State Marco Rubio has arrived in Antalya, Turkey, for an informal NATO ministerial meeting, aiming to address the Russia-Ukraine conflict and strengthen Allied defense commitments.
A 2,000-year-old road—believed to have carried Yidden on their way to the Beis Hamikdash as they were being oleh regel—has been unveiled in Ir Dovid, just outside the walls of the Old City. Stretching some 2,000 feet from Maayan Hagichon (Pool of Shiloach) to the footsteps of Har HaBayis, the road would have been traversed by Klal Yisroel during the Shalosh Regalim: Pesach, Shavuos, and Sukkos. According to archaeologists, this was the very road used by our ancestors to ascend to the Makom HaMikdash b’tahara after immersing in the mikveh. “This is the road our ancestors—yours and mine—would have walked 2,000 years ago to go up to the Beis Hamikdash,” said Ze’ev Orenstein, Director of International Affairs at the Ir Dovid Foundation, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. The discovery came to light nearly by accident, when a sewage pipe burst in the area over a decade ago. What began as emergency infrastructure work quickly turned into a historic excavation. Years of archaeological digging and legal wrangling culminated in a landmark ruling from Israel’s High Court, declaring the site one of “national and international importance.” Archaeologists uncovered not only the road itself—paved with enormous stone slabs and measuring up to 100 feet wide in places—but also a bustling commercial district that lined its route. Evidence of this includes ancient market stalls, weights, coins, and pottery shards. “It’s like the Machane Yehuda of the Second Beis Hamikdash era,” Orenstein quipped. Beneath the road’s drainage channel was discovered broken oil lamps, pots, and bronze coins dating back to the Churban. Experts believe these belonged to Jewish fighters who hid in the underground passageways during the Roman siege of Yerushalayim during the Great Revolt of the 1st century CE. “Ir Dovid predates even the Old City,” Orenstein noted. “This isn’t just history—it’s Tanach coming alive. These aren’t just stories we tell at the Seder or in shul. These are real places, real paths, real footsteps etched into the bedrock of our nation’s memory.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
New Jersey’s attorney general said Tuesday chemical manufacturer 3M agreed to pay up $450 million to resolve lawsuits over natural resource contamination stemming from PFAS — commonly referred to as “forever chemicals.” The settlement is subject to court approval and a public comment period, Attorney General Matt Platkin’s office said. St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M is expected to pay $285 million this year, with additional amounts payable over the next 25 years. The total amount could reach $450 million, Platkin’s office said. “Corporate polluters must be held accountable when they contaminate our state’s water supply,” Platkin said in a statement. PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of chemicals that have been around for decades and have now spread into the nation’s air, water and soil. 3M said in 2022 it would end all PFAS manufacturing by the end of this year. In a statement, the company said it’s on track to do so. “This agreement is another important step toward reducing risk and uncertainty on these legacy issues, allowing 3M to focus on its strategic priorities,” 3M said. PFAS were manufactured by companies such as 3M, Chemours and others because they were incredibly useful. They helped eggs slide across non-stick frying pans, ensured that firefighting foam suffocates flames and helped clothes withstand rain and keep people dry. The chemicals resist breaking down, though, meaning they linger in the environment. Environmental activists say PFAS makers knew about the health harms of PFAS long before they were made public. The same attributes that make the chemicals so valuable – resistance to breakdown – make them hazardous to people. PFAS accumulate in the body, which is why the Environmental Protection Agency set their limits for drinking water at 4 parts per trillion for two common types — PFOA and PFOS — that are phased out of manufacturing but still are present in the environment. The New Jersey settlement stems from 2019 lawsuits at the nearly 1,500-acre (607-hectare) Chambers Works site in Pennsville and Carneys Point and another location in Parlin. The settlement also resolves all other statewide claims in litigation over PFAS in firefighting material used in the state. The lawsuits alleged the companies involved, including 3M, knew about risks from forever chemicals produced at the facilities but continued to sell them. The attorney general said that by agreeing to settle 3M would not go to trial next week in the Chambers Works case. New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection will use a portion of the settlement funds to “protect public health, safety and the environment from impacts caused by PFAS,” according to a joint statement from the attorney general and DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette. (AP)
