Latest news with #Kaminsky
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Northbrook residents demand removal of sign featuring Nazi symbol
NORTHBROOK, Ill. — In downtown Northbrook, a longstanding free speech zone is the focus of a new uproar with some neighbors saying it has now crossed the line into hate speech. 'It was terrible. It was just gut wrenching. It was shocking,' Jeff Kaminsky said. A sign at the corner of Shermer Road and Walters Avenue reads 'Northbrook stands with migrants' and shows a blue inverted triangle, which is a Nazi symbol. 'I live a block away. I can see it if I walk outside my door and come half a block up. I'm very upset by this,' Lisa Beth Gansberg with Friends of United Hatzalah said. 'This is a trigger. It just incites further violence.' As WGN was interviewing Gansberg, the man who created the sign, Lee Goodman, walked up to the corner. 'I just want to ask you what's your thought behind the triangle,' she asked him. Goodman turned away, saying he didn't want to speak with her on camera. But he did speak with WGN about the political message he's trying to send with the controversial sign. 'The blue triangle was worn by migrants in Nazi concentration camps in World War II and now that our president is sending people to a concentration camp in El Salvador, migrant groups have decided to adopt the blue triangle as a symbol of strength and resistance,' Goodman said. It's a symbol of hate and antisemitism, according to Kaminsky. 'He is weaponizing free speech, he's weaponizing the first amendment for shock, for Holocaust trauma,' Kaminsky said. A permanent sign at the corner tells anyone who reads it that the Village of Northbrook doesn't sponsor or endorse the temporary expressions. But anyone who wants to place a message there does have to submit it to the village manager's office for approval. 'They give a permit to virtually anyone,' Goodman said. Only adding to the offense, the sign is standing during Jewish American Heritage Month. 'If they truly believe hate has no home in Northbrook… that those words have meaning, to stand with the Jewish community, fight antisemitism, then they must take that sign down,' Kaminsky said. The Village of Northbrook issued the following statement regarding the sign: 'The Village President and Board of Trustees are aware of questions and concerns regarding a privately installed sign currently on display at the northwest corner of Shermer Road and Walters Avenue, a Village public forum area. For a half a century, the site has been a designated First Amendment Free Speech public forum for private individuals to display messages. There is a prominent sign on the public forum site clearly stating that the private display is not endorsed by the Village of Northbrook, and that no public funds have been used in connection with the display. All displays on the public forum are installed by private individuals or organizations at their own expense. The Village is permitted by law to restrict size and duration of displays, which it does. Northbrook is home to people of many backgrounds and communities of faith. As neighbors, we promote peaceful dialogue, dignity, and respect, and we reject hate and discrimination in all forms. We stand together as one community. At the regularly scheduled meeting of the Village Board on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, at 7:30 p.m., public comments are welcome by our residents.' The Chicago Jewish Alliance issued the following statement: 'Red Triangle. Blue Triangle. Nazi Symbols. Not Protest Props. In Nazi Germany, colored triangles weren't fashion statements. They were tools of state-sponsored dehumanization and precursors to murder. The red triangle marked political enemies targeted for destruction. Today, Hamas resurrects it to mark Israelis for death. The blue triangle labeled stateless refugees—people with no protection, no home, and no rights. Now in Northbrook, Illinois, both symbols are being grotesquely repurposed by Lee Goodman—a man who parades in a self-made Nazi prisoner uniform and exploits Holocaust imagery to cast himself as a modern-day victim on public land sanctioned by the Village. This is not remembrance. This is not protest. It is trauma theater. It is Holocaust appropriation. It is incitement. The Village of Northbrook has adopted resolutions against antisemitism and hate. Yet it allows this spectacle to remain. Tonight, we call on Northbrook to live up to its values: 1. Remove the display immediately. 2. Publicly condemn Lee Goodman for weaponizing Holocaust symbols. 3. Stop using public land to showcase provocateurs who harm and divide. 4. Stand with the Jewish community in action, not just rhetoric. Because when Holocaust trauma becomes street theater and hate hides behind free speech, it is not just offensive. It is dangerous. Speak out tonight at the Village Meeting. Make your voice heard.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Yahoo
Review of Sobotiak murder conviction revealed undisclosed police evidence, court filing says
The murder conviction stemming from the 1987 disappearance of an Edmonton woman has been thrown out, in part because there was undisclosed evidence from the police investigation. Roy Sobotiak's lawyers filed written arguments in support of his bail application on Friday, which shed light on issues they raised with the investigation and trial that ended in 1991, convicting Sobotiak of second-degree murder in the death of Susan Kaminsky. Namely, they outline issues around undisclosed evidence, an undercover "Mr. Big" police operation in the late 1980s and additional forensic evidence linked to the case — some of which was discovered after Sobotiak's conviction. "In 1991, the case against Mr. Sobotiak was seemingly very strong. He was with Ms. Kaminsky the night before her disappearance and it was believed that she never left his mother's house alive because of his confessions to [the undercover officer] and his further confession on arrest," the brief says. "Today, the factual landscape has fundamentally changed. There is a reasonable likelihood that the murder charge will be stayed on account of non-disclosure and/or due to the manner in which the Mr. Big operation was conducted." Kaminsky, a 34-year-old mother, vanished in February 1987 and her body was never found. Sobotiak, who was in his early 20s at the time, was the last known person to see her alive. He had told police that Kaminsky drove him home from his mother's house, where the two had spent time together after running into each other at a bar after midnight. The federal justice minister ordered a new trial for Sobotiak this year, nearly 36 years after Sobotiak was arrested and imprisoned. Court of King's Bench Justice Eric Macklin granted Sobotiak's release Friday. He is under a curfew and other court-ordered conditions. James Lockyer, a founding director of Innocence Canada and one of Sobotiak's lawyers, called him "the longest-serving wrongly convicted man in Canadian history." He noted the only other comparable case is Romeo Phillion, who spent nearly 32 years in prison before his murder conviction was quashed in 2003. A new trial was also ordered in that case, but Crown prosecutors in Ontario withdrew the murder charge against him in 2010. Sobotiak, now 61, applied for the justice minister to review his conviction, Lockyer told the court. A subsequent investigation by federal officials unearthed undisclosed evidence from police files, including evidence of other possible suspects in Kaminsky's disappearance, according to a written memorandum from Sobotiak's legal team. "Its impact on the outcome of the applicant's trial and the fairness of his trial had to be assessed," the brief says. The document, filed in the Court of King's Bench earlier this month, says the lawyers can't disclose specifics from the investigative report due to a confidentiality agreement. Sobotiak's lawyers argued the Mr. Big operation that was used to elicit Sobotiak's original confession was abusive, and can't stand up to legal scrutiny. In a Mr. Big sting, undercover police officers draw a suspect into a fictitious criminal organization. A Supreme Court of Canada ruling in 2014 set new standards for how this evidence can be used, with stricter rules about the legal admissibility of confessions made during these kinds of investigations. In this case, the written arguments say, the operation came with implicit threats of violence and induced Sobotiak to confess by portraying membership in the fake criminal group as a path to emotional and financial security. "The officers preyed on his vulnerabilities: his poverty, his mental health problems and his addictions," the brief says. "It is surprising that Mr. Sobotiak held out as long as he did." Sobotiak consistently denied any involvement in Kaminsky's disappearance over nearly 11 months of the Mr. Big sting — which started after police investigated Sobotiak through surveillance, wiretaps and a police informant who lived with him for several months. Details of the investigation were revealed in court during the original trial. Starting in October 1988, an undercover Edmonton Police Service detective befriended Sobotiak and took him along to staged drug deals and fake scouting trips to search for places to hide a dead body. The detective also bought Sobotiak food and alcohol, and paid him for being a "lookout" during drug transactions. By September 1989, police decided to try getting Sobotiak drunk "to see if it would cause him to 'say something.'" The undercover officer then pushed for details about Kaminsky's death in a hotel room, while Sobotiak drank an entire 26-ounce bottle of vodka. WATCH | Edmonton man gets bail with murder conviction overturned after 36 years in prison: In the videotaped meeting, Sobotiak becomes visibly intoxicated. The officer continued to press him with statements including, "'Our circle' knew he had killed Kaminsky and he needed to be honest if he wanted to be in their organization." Sobotiak then "adopted" the officer's suggestion that Kaminsky died by accident, the lawyers' brief says. He said she fell and broke her neck while he was trying to carry her down the stairs at his mother's house. The undercover detective prompted Sobotiak for details of Kaminsky's death in three more meetings over the following week. Sobotiak told a variety of stories, first repeating the death was an accident but adding that he'd transported her body from his mother's home in a duffel bag, dismembered it in his apartment, and disposed of it in two dumpsters. Then, he said he'd strangled her after a sexual encounter. The fourth and final time, after the officer told Sobotiak about "the importance of his confession as a means of entry into their criminal organization," he repeated the story, claiming he "just went berserk." Sobotiak was arrested the next day. The man he had been spending time with was officially revealed to him as a police officer. There's limited evidence about what was disclosed during Sobotiak's original trial, since the Crown and former defence lawyer's files have been destroyed, according to the brief filed in court. But the brief alleges "substantial" non-disclosure of evidence, saying the "most striking" examples are statements Sobotiak's mother and sister gave to police that suggested Kaminsky was alive when she left the home, before she disappeared. Another witness told police she saw a woman who resembled Kaminsky walking with a man, who wasn't Sobotiak, later on the day she disappeared — after the time police contended Sobotiak killed her. A young neighbour also told police about possible sightings of Kaminsky and her car on that day, later than the time Sobotiak told the undercover police officer he killed her. "Their statements would have undermined the veracity of Mr. Sobotiak's Mr. Big confessions and his further confession on arrest," the brief says. During the original trial, the defence received a police investigation report that mentioned "several ex-boyfriends" of Kaminsky had allegedly been violent to her, including one who an RCMP officer suggested should be considered a suspect in her disappearance. "No further information was provided about these partners of Ms. Kaminsky and what steps were taken to investigate them," the brief says. It adds that DNA analysis done in 2023 also doesn't support claims Sobotiak made during his confession in the Mr. Big sting, about putting Kaminsky's body in a duffel bag he owned and dismembering her in his apartment. The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service has yet to make a decision about whether they will put Sobotiak on trial a second time, nearly four decades after Kaminsky disappeared. The province has applied for a judicial review of the decision to order a new trial. There's no date yet when it might be heard in Federal Court, and Sobotiak's lawyers say it could take years to resolve.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Hillel Academy hosts Passover celebration
VESTAL, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – Students at Hillel Academy began celebrating the Jewish holiday of Passover today with a parade of flags and the traditional Seder meal. The parade was meant to symbolize the Jews flight from slavery in Egypt, which is the historical event commemorated by Passover. They also sang songs and discussed the symbolic importance of the seven items on the Seder plate, a shank bone, an egg, a vegetable, fruit and nut paste, two types of bitter herbs and Matzah. Student Jonah Kaminsky says it's like celebrating the Seder with an extended family. 'I think it's really nice because it's a whole Seder in one room and it's all organized,' said Kaminsky. The students also discussed the significance of following traditions that have existed for centuries. Passover begins Saturday at sundown. BU Students volunteer over 330 hours at local hippotherapy farm Empty Bowls fundraiser at Binghamton General tomorrow Binghamton University's $38 million library renovation Hillel Academy hosts Passover celebration Harpursville CSD employee facing serious criminal charges, fired by district Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Reuters
07-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
CoStar, real estate website competitor end trade-secret lawsuit
April 7 (Reuters) - Real-estate listing website owner Move Inc has agreed to end a lawsuit that accused rival CoStar Group (CSGP.O), opens new tab of poaching one of its former employees to steal its trade secrets, according to a Monday filing in California federal court. The filing said, opens new tab that Move's would dismiss its case with prejudice, which means it cannot be refiled. A spokesperson said in a statement that the company dismissed the lawsuit because it had settled with ex-employee James Kaminsky, who no longer works at CoStar. A spokesperson and attorneys for CoStar did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kaminsky's attorneys also did not respond to a request for comment and details of the settlement on Monday. said in its lawsuit last year that CoStar misused confidential information from Kaminsky, who ran its "News and Insights" platform, to bolster CoStar's competing real-estate listing website. The lawsuit said that is the second most-visited real-estate listing website in the United States, and that CoStar has been working "aggressively" to grow its rival website alleged that Kaminsky stole documents related to business strategy, industry contacts and "a vast array of other competitively sensitive and valuable information" for CoStar. CoStar responded in a court filing that the claims were "knowingly false" and part of a "flailing effort to stymie the success of which it said had surpassed in the marketplace. Kaminsky also denied the allegations in a separate filing. The case is Move Inc v. CoStar Group Inc, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 2:24-cv-05607. For Move: Brent Caslin, David Singer, Todd Toral and Carolyn Small of Jenner & Block For CoStar: Nicholas Boyle, Matthew Walch and Joseph Axelrad of Latham & Watkins For Kaminsky: Ethan Brown and Patricia Tenenbaum of Brown Neri Smith & Khan
CBS News
02-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
2 Jewish students sue DePaul University for negligence after antisemitic attack on campus
Two Jewish students have filed a lawsuit against DePaul University, accusing the school of failing to protect them from what police called a hate crime on campus last November. In a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Max Long and Michael Kaminsky said they were outside the Student Center on the school's Lincoln Park campus on Nov. 6, 2024, when two masked attackers punched them as they were showing support for Israel amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The lawsuit claims a DePaul public safety officer stationed just 10 feet away at the time did not intervene when Long and Kaminsky were attacked. "At that point, a different Public Safety Officer stopped one of the assailants, but then inexplicably let him go," the lawsuit claims. Long, a reservist in the Israel Defense Forces, was leading a campus discussion about the war between Israel and Hamas at the time, when two masked men began beating him, causing a concussion, according to the lawsuit. Kaminsky, a founding member of the DePaul chapter of Students Standing with Israel, stepped in to help Long, and suffered an injury to his wrist that required surgery. Chicago police have said the attackers shouted antisemitic remarks before attacking Long and Kaminsky and running off. "I shouldn't feel more vulnerable in a classroom in Chicago than I did in a combat zone," Long said. "DePaul has failed me, not just as a student but as a human being. Universities are supposed to be places of information, safety, and dialogue; but instead they've become platforms for fear, mob rule, and censorship." Long and Kaminsky claim the university was aware of growing complaints of antisemitism on campus ever since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but didn't do enough to protect them from the attack. The lawsuit claims Long had complained to the university about being harassed and threatened at prior campus discussions about the war between Israel and Hamas. The lawsuit also notes that a pro-Palestinian encampment that had been set up for more than two weeks in May 2024 led to more than 1,000 total complaints, including 34 reports of antisemitism, four credible threats of violence, and at least one death threat. Despite the prior threats and harassment against Long, the lawsuit claims the university ended a contract it had with a private security firm to help secure its campus just two days before the attack, did not replace them with other equivalent safety measures, only to rehire the private security firm after the attack. The lawsuit claims that, since the attack, Long has been the target of an ongoing hate campaign, with groups distributing flyers labeling him as a "wanted" person, referring to him as an "IDF butcher," and claiming he "got what he deserved." "Since October 7, DePaul University has allowed the violent antisemitic rhetoric on its campus to continue to escalate and go unchecked," Long and Kaminsky's attorney, Jaclyn Clark, said in a statement. "History shows us that violent rhetoric against Jews leads to violent action, and we have seen this play out on college campuses like DePaul across the country. DePaul must be held accountable not just to our clients for this attack, but to all Jewish students who are under daily threat of similar attacks on DePaul's campus." The lawsuit seeks more than $50,000 in damages from the university. DePaul officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. DePaul president Rob Manuel previously said the school "will not tolerate acts of hatred, violence, Islamophobia, or antisemitism."
