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New LAPD Programs to Combat Hate Crimes

After a recent upsurge in anti-Semitic violence, including the shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in June and a failed bomb plot targeting New York synagogues in May, Los Angeles city officials and community leaders are on alert for the approach of the High Holy Days season. More than 80 people representing Los Angeles synagogues and Jewish institutions attended an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) security briefing on Aug. 19, presented in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

State Budget Crisis Threatens Jewish Social Service Programs

Four Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles programs that serve the elderly, disabled and frail may end up casualties of the state budget crisis, which leapt to a new level of urgency Tuesday as California lawmakers failed to pass budget revisions before a July 1 deadline.

Madoff scheme deals new hit to FSU Jews

The Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Bernard Madoff is the latest in a string of financial blows to Jewish aid programs in the former Soviet Union, wiping out a major foundation that was the primary funder of Jewish higher education in Russia

Putting a question mark on Jewish earmarks

The new Democratic majority in Congress, backed by some conservative Republicans, is considering reforms that would curtail lawmakers\’ ability to anonymously insert funding for local projects into spending bills.

School Bond Measure Gets Failing Grade

I have a picture on the wall of my office. It was taken at about 4 a.m. in 1998. I\’m in the picture with a group of Democratic and Republican legislators. We look tired; we\’ve been up late for a number of nights. But there\’s also a glint of celebration.

That was a happy and proud moment. We had just negotiated Proposition 1A, which put $9.2 billion of school bonds on the ballot. This bipartisan breakthrough opened the way for three successful state school bonds that raised $34 billion for school construction.

I\’ve also supported local school bonds, and the state and local money that voters entrusted to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is being used to build schools all over the city.

I don\’t take this progress lightly or for granted. But building for seats is not the same as building for reform. To date, L.A. Unified has done the former but only paid lip service to the latter. And I find myself moving to an uncomfortable and unfamiliar position on the question of the school district\’s bid to pass $3.985 billion in school bonds this November.

Disaster Exposes Government Failures

President Bush and Congress talk a good game when it comes to homeland security, but the tragic truth is that the country is less able to cope with disasters than before Sept. 11, 2001. The proof is on the flood-ravaged streets of New Orleans, where an unprecedented natural disaster quickly produced violent anarchy and a flaccid government response that multiplied the suffering.

For all the money thrown at preparing for massive terror attacks and other disasters, the new Department of Homeland Security looked more like a Third World bureaucracy, as armed gangs roamed the city and people died for lack of food, water, sanitation and medical supplies.

Health – Take the Bite Out of Dental Health Pains

Since most Americans lose their dental insurance benefits when they retire, the majority of people over 65 pay out of pocket every time they visit a dentist. Medicare does not cover routine dental care (nor does Medicaid in most states) and more than 80 percent of older Americans have no private dental insurance, according to a recent report by nonprofit advocacy group Oral Health America.

Yet, older adults may need dental care more than any other age group.

\”Patients age 65 and over will have potentially an increase in cavities or decay on the root surfaces of the teeth,\” said Dr. Matthew Messina, an American Dental Association consumer adviser and practicing dentist in Cleveland. \”And that comes secondary to the medical condition of dry mouth — a decrease in the amount of production of saliva because of age and certain medications…. We also see periodontal disease in patients of that population.\”

Messina advises his older patients to see a dentist at least once every six months for an oral cancer screening and recommends an annual visit for denture wearers.

Half a Century on Reform’s Frontlines

When the Reform movement published its new \”Mishkan T\’filah\” last November, the prayer book looked comfortably familiar to Reform rabbinic students in Los Angeles. It was clear to them that a homemade siddur they had created for their own use had influenced the first official prayer book published by the Union for Reform Judaism since 1975.

Once again, the L.A. branch of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) had made its mark on the Reform movement. The new, official prayer book, like the homemade siddur, includes traditional prayers in Hebrew, as well as new alternative readings and meditations — changes in keeping with Reform\’s adoption of more traditional practices.

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Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.