News Sparks: NYC Schools Chancellor Steps Down; Holocaust Denial Remains on Facebook; WWII-era Bomb Explodes in Munich; and More

NYC Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross-Porter Steps Down

After serving in the city’s top post in the Department of Education since the somewhat abrupt resignation in March of former Schools Chancellor Richard Caranza, Meisha Ross-Porter announced today that she will be leaving the job at the end of the year when Mayor Bill de Blasio’s term ends.

The news comes as Mayor-elect Eric Adams is expected to soon announce his pick, who some say will be David Banks, the founder of the Eagle Academy for Young Men, for the city’s top job in the Education Department.

Porter took over last spring, while COVID was still raging and many public school classes were still remote, oversaw the city’s free summer school program, and led the full re-opening of public schools for in-person learning this fall, while also rolling out vaccine pop-ups for students.

ADL: Holocaust Denial Posts Still Found on Facebook

Despite Facebook officials banning Holocaust denial contest from being posted on its website, the Anti-Defamation League says such content is still found in groups and private posts, a year after the ban was set in place. 

“One year since they first implemented their policy, Facebook has taken some positive steps to address the proliferation of Holocaust denial, but that doesn’t mean that the problem has gone away,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “There’s still a lot of Holocaust denial on Facebook. We urge the platform to take additional steps to address these cracks in enforcement as well as to ensure that the ban is more consistently applied across the platform.”

World War II-era Bomb Explodes in Munich, Injures Three

A World War II-era bomb exploded today at a construction site in Munich, Germany, 76 years after the end of the war, and injured three passersby: one quite seriously, said German police.

Trains to and from the usually busy Donnersbergerbruecke station, where the explosion occurred, have been suspended.

Germany construction workers, as they are digging and working on sites often find unexploded bombs, which must be defused or disposed of in controlled explosions: a process that often involves large-scale evacuations to prevent anyone from getting injured.

Jewish Passengers Abused with Anti-Semitic Slurs on London Bus During Chanukah

Jewish teens riding on a London bus were spat on and abused with anti-Semitic slurs by a group of people on Monday evening, the second night of Chanukah.

A Jewish group, which was celebrating Yom Tov by playing music and dancing, exited the bus, when the vicious perpetrators started yelling, "Free Palestine," making the Nazi "salute," and cursing the Jewish passengers. 

The Yidden immediately returned to the bus, while their attackers tried to smash the windows of the bus with their shoes and hands, according to the Jewish Chronicle. 

Police officers have yet to make an arrest, but they are treating the attack as a hate crime and are further investigating the incident.