National

(JTA) — NASA has renamed the most distant object ever explored by a spacecraft after it was criticized for calling it by a name with Nazi connotations. It will now be called Arrokoth, which means “sky” in the Native American Powhatan language. The trans-Neptunian object’s official designation is 2014… Read more »

(JTA) — Adam Sandler is finally getting some competition in the Hanukkah music world. Haim, Jack Black, the Flaming Lips, Yo La Tengo and other prominent artists have recorded songs for a Hanukkah album titled “Hanukkah+,” the record label Verve Forecast has announced. The album is out Nov. 22 and also features contributions from folk… Read more »

AN FRANCISCO (J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — Voters here have elected progressive public defender Chesa Boudin, the Jewish son of 1970s anti-war radicals, as their new district attorney. Boudin, 39, won a close-fought battle with Suzy Loftus, who was appointed to the position on an interim… Read more »

(JTA) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg missed courtroom arguments on Wednesday due to illness. She was not on the bench for oral arguments in two cases, NBC News reported. Chief Justice John Roberts announced from the bench that Ginsburg was “indisposed due to illness.” A court spokesman… Read more »

(JTA) — Swastikas have been found painted on the shells of several turtles in a park outside Seattle, and local animal control officers are having trouble catching them. Federal help is now being called in to help apprehend the tagged turtles, according to KIRO, a local TV station. The… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and billionaire media mogul, appears to be preparing to run for president. Bloomberg, 77, flirted with presidential runs in past election cycles before declining to run. As recently as March, he ruled out a presidential campaign this… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Nita Lowey, who is retiring after 32 years in Congress, fields a question about her legacy as a Jewish lawmaker. No trouble there — she talks about Israel and her Jewish pride all the time. Then there’s one about her legacy as one of the pioneering… Read more »

(JTA) — Carol Kitman remembers meeting Alexander and Yevgeny Vindman nearly 40 years ago in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. The brothers were about 4 1/2 years old and dressed in matching blue sailor outfits with navy caps. Kitman was instantly taken with the twins and asked to take their photo.… Read more »

(JTA) — Several identifiably Jewish men and boys were attacked in a string of assaults in the Borough Park community of Brooklyn on the same night. Three of the attacks late Friday night involved the same passenger car over five blocks, the Yeshiva World News reported. Surveillance cameras captured each… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Trump administration quintupled to $25 million rewards for information leading to the return of Robert Levinson, the Jewish American last seen in Iran 12 years ago. The $20 million allocation from the State Department Rewards for Justice announced Monday is in addition to the $5… Read more »

(JTA) — Iran will inject uranium gas into 1,044 centrifuges at its underground Fordow nuclear enrichment plant. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made the announcement during a speech Tuesday broadcast live on national television, the state-owned PressTV reported. The centrifuges had been spinning without the gas to produce stable isotopes… Read more »

(JTA) — A time capsule from 1906 was unearthed at the site of the former home of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life congregation. The time capsule was removed from the cornerstone of the building located in the city’s Oakland neighborhood. The site was most recently the location of the Pittsburgh… Read more »

(JTA) — An umbrella group of more than 50 Jewish organizations from across the ideological spectrum condemned calls by Democratic presidential candidates to condition military aid to Israel on its approach to making peace with the Palestinians. “We are deeply troubled by recent statements that would place conditions, limitations,… Read more »

(JTA) — A white supremacist has been arrested for plotting to blow up a synagogue in Colorado. Richard Holzer, 27, was charged for planning to attack Temple Emanuel, a congregation in Pueblo of 35 families whose building dates to 1900. According to an affidavit describing the charges, Holzer is… Read more »

(JTA) — Presidential candidate Joe Biden says it would be a “gigantic mistake” to condition aid to Israel on stopping settlement expansion. The former vice president told a Wall Street Journal reporter it would be “absolutely outrageous” for the United States to take that approach — a position that… Read more »

(JTA) — An employee and a student of the University of Oregon have filed a federal complaint alleging that the school failed to report anti-Semitic hate crimes. According to the complaint filed in September, which was shared with the Register-Guard daily, the university listed only one hate crime in… Read more »

LIVINGSTON, N.J. (JTA) — A new 11,000-square-foot shopping center here is home to 15 storefronts, including a bank, pet shop and clothing store. There’s a health center with a dentist and doctor’s office and a ShopRite supermarket. A traffic guard monitors the crosswalk, which is bisected by a plant… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — When it comes to pressuring Israel, Elizabeth Warren doesn’t have a specific plan. The senator from Massachusetts, who has caught up in polling with front-runners for the Democratic presidential nomination, now faces intensified scrutiny as a newly viable contender. And what has emerged is that Warren… Read more »

(JTA) — Jewish astronaut Jessica Meir posted photos of Israel that she took from space. “My father’s globe spanning journey as a surgeon from the Middle East, to Europe, and eventually to the U.S. was an inspiration to many in my immediate and extended family. #TheJourney,” Meir tweeted on… Read more »

(JTA) — Since announcing his presidential run in May, Michael Bennet has been polling between zero and 1 percent. He didn’t qualify for the latest Democratic debate and he’s a long shot to make the next one. The Colorado senator raised only $2.1 million in the third quarter of… Read more »