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Photo Credits: Jeff Cohn Photography
Agudath Israel of Maryland extends warm congratulations to Delegate Adrienne Jones on being elected and sworn-in as Speaker of Maryland’s House of Delegates.

Washington – Attorney General William Barr portrayed himself as an apolitical elder statesman at his confirmation hearing. He declared he’d rather resign than be asked to fire special counsel Robert Mueller without cause and insisted the prosecutor he’d known for decades would never involve himself in a witch hunt as the president claimed. But now [...]

Germany’s leading Jewish organization expressed alarm Thursday over footage of flag-waving neo-Nazis in self-styled uniforms marching through an eastern German town on May Day unhindered by police.
Footage of the march Wednesday prompted widespread outrage in Germany and calls for authorities in the state of Saxony, where far-right sentiment is particularly strong, to step in.

Jewish students had argued discussion featuring BDS supporter Roger Waters and others would be anti-Semitic and should be moved off campus

The head of Gaza-based Islamic Jihad (PIJ) on Thursday threatened rocket attacks on the Israeli homefront if the IDF conducted targeted killings of Palestinian terror operatives.
In an interview with the Arabic-language news outlet Dar al-Hayat, PIJ Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhaleh said, “I clearly state that we will respond with force and attack major cities, if any harm is done to [members of] the resistance or premeditated assassinations are carried out against them, regardless of their organizational roles.”
The comment came after the IDF blamed Iran-backed Islamic Jihad for the firing of a rocket on Monday that landed in the Mediterranean Sea off the southern Israeli coast. The IDF specifically named a senior Islamic Jihad commander, Bahaa Abu-Ala’ta.

New York – The increasing challenges posed by the New York area’s aging rail infrastructure came into sharp focus Thursday as a congressional delegation prepared to get a firsthand look at the country’s busiest station on the same day commuters learned about summer schedule disruptions due to track repairs. It’s the second time in three [...]

The repeal of ObamaCare’s individual mandate will result in 7 million more people without health insurance by 2021, according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
That number is far lower than the agency’s 2017 estimate that 13 million people would be uninsured by 2027, which came as Congress was debating the GOP tax bill.
The legislation, which was signed into law in December 2017, eliminated the financial penalty for Americans who don’t purchase insurance.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}

Rep. Ilhan Omar blamed the US for the political turmoil in Venezuela, saying we “helped lead the devastation” through the use of sanctions.
“A lot of the policies that we have put in place has kind of helped lead the devastation in Venezuela and we have sort of set the stage for where we are arriving today,” the Minnesota congresswoman said during an interview Wednesday with Democracy Now!. “This particular bullying and the use of sanctions to eventually intervene and make regime change really does not help the people of countries like Venezuela and it certainly does not help and is not in the interest of the United States.”

The campus has turned quiet. Flowers and candles fill the steps outside the building where two students were killed. Exams have been postponed or canceled.
For students, professors and administrators, Tuesday’s shooting that left two dead and four wounded at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte has altered what they thought was a safe space, a home away from home.