Loose change: Local papers continue Madoff coverage (and a few non-Madoff tidbits)

The Jewish newspapers continued to track the Madoff losses on the ground:

• The cover story in the Baltimore Jewish Times suggests that the Madoff scandal and how so many Jewish victims were lured into it indicates that Jews may have lost their moral way.
• Washington organizations that lost money in the Madoff scheme are looking to bounce back, writes the Washington Jewish Week.
• The New Jersey Jewish Standard talks to Burt Ross, the former Fort Lee, N.J., mayor who lost $5 million in the Madoff scheme, as well as to N.J. state senator Loretta Weinberg (D-37), who lost her life’s savings in the scheme.
• The L.A. Jewish Journal asks the four questions about the Madoff scandal: Who’s to blame, how much is lost, where’s the money and will it occur again? It also takes an in-depth look at the $25.5 million in losses at the Los Angeles Jewish Communal Foundation.
• The New York Jewish Week sheds some more light on how Hadassah, which lost $90 million with Bernard Madoff, became involved with him in the first place. The paper says Hadassah and some organizations that actually made money off of their investments with Madoff are afraid they could become targets of civil lawsuits brought by those who lost everything.
• The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle asks, “Will the Madoff scandal lead to anti-Semitism?”
• The Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas and the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation had no investments with any Madoff companies, writes the Texas Jewish Post.
• The Jewish Federation of St. Louis said that the agency’s investments were not affected by the Madoff scheme, according to the St. Louis Jewish Light.
• The Cleveland Jewish News says that Clevelanders could have learned from the scam of Frank Gruttadauria, the Gates Mills, Ohio, broker who pled guilty in 2002 to siphoning tens of millions of dollars from his clients’ accounts. The paper also offers tips on how to protect your money from scams.

In non-Madoff news, nonprofits are still dealing with the general economoic downturn:

• The Rose Foundation in Denver, which is one of the country’s most significant Jewish foundations, is expecting an estimated reduction in grants of 25-30 percent during 2009, which would amount to some $9.5 million in grants, according to the Intermountain Jewish News.
• The Koret Foundation gave the Jewish Family and Children’s Services in San Francisco $1 million to ramp up assistance for those suffering in the economic crisis.
• B’nai B’rith tells investors in a financially struggling senior living facility in Pittsburgh that their investments are safe, despite two foreclosure actions recently taken against it, according to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.