Wednesday, December 7, 2011
"Lucy" Gets Stuck in Swimming Pool
Monday, June 22, 2009
ABC7 EXCLUSIVE: Rabbi Answers Accusations
Wednesday, June 17, 2009.
New York (WABC) -- The rabbi at the center of a New York City jailhouse scandal spoke out to Eyewitness News.
Rabbi Leib Glanz is accused of giving preferential treatment to Jewish inmates, and even planning a bar mitzvah behind bars. Now, he is defending his work as a prison chaplain.
On Tuesday, the rabbi resigned. Now, he says he is cooperating in the investigation and insists he did nothing improper.
"I've done everything I could to help people out without expecting anything back in return," he said.
The Orthodox rabbi says he's proud of his record, providing kosher meals, counseling and religious services to inmates in the New York City prison system.
But critics say he created an enclave of privilege exclusively for Jewish inmates and even booked an Orthodox rock star for a jailhouse bar mitzvah party.
A former prisoner at the Manhattan Detention Complex, more infamously known as The Tombs, spent nearly three years behind bars. "Murray" also spoke exclusively with Eyewitness News. His identity is being protected in case other might want to retaliate against him.
"Rabbi Glanz would say, "Are you Jewish?" Murray said. "And then, he would ask for the congregation. He would ask for the rabbi's name. He would ask certain questions about my mother or about my father, to confirm whether or not I'm really Jewish, or I'm just there saying that I am to get all the perks."
Those perks, he says, included playing dice games and poker, watching videos and making unlimited phone calls. All of it, he says, happened in the Jewish chaplain's office at The Tombs in Lower Manhattan or on Rikers Island.
"I think [the rabbis] did it, really, just to help other people," Murray said. "They're thinking in their minds that what they're doing is okay. I mean, technically, we did services for a couple of minutes."
Murray says the kosher food was catered, and that non-Jewish inmates kept quiet because they got the leftovers.
"And here I walked in with chicken dinners," Murray said. "Fresh chicken. So they adored me. They loved me."
So now we know why the non-Jewish inmates kept quiet. But what about everybody else? What was was in it for them? The city's Department of Investigation is determined to find out.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
News of the Day
Police say the man was trying to cross 44th Street when he was hit.
Click here for more.
Yeshiva Reopens After Closure Due to Flu Fears
(05/26/09) MIDWOOD - One of the four private Jewish schools in Brooklyn that chose to close because of swine flu fears reopened Tuesday.
Yeshiva Tiferes Yisroel, located on East 35th Street, was closed for just one day before administrators decided to reopen. Rabbi Rosenshein says there was one suspected case of swine flu at the school.
The New York City Department of Health says none of the schools' suspected cases have been confirmed. Parents say they respect the schools' decisions to voluntarily close in order to keep students from spreading germs.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Jon Stewart's Extended Interview with Cliff May
Warning! Video at times may contain some offensive language.
Part 1.
This part 2.
Part 3.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
More of CBS Interview of Flight 1549
Saving 155 Lives
How do you evacuate 155 people from an Airbus 320 sinking in just off the Manhattan shoreline? The crew of U.S. Airways Flight 1549 described how they were able to get every passenger back on dry land.
Part 3
An Emotional Reunion
150 people might not be alive today if it weren't for Capt. Sullenberger and the crew of U.S. Airways Flight 1549. 60 Minutes invited some of the passengers to reunite with them in, of all places, Charlotte N.C.