A fund dedicated to collecting reparations for Holocaust survivors from the German government was defrauded of more than $42 million over 16 years by a group that included six employees and custodians of the fund. [NYT]

The group used fake identification documents, doctored government records, a knowledge of Holocaust history and applicants recruited through Russian language newspapers, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday. In many cases the perpetrators would manipulate the stories of people applying for compensation from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany to fit the fund’s requirements, then accept kickbacks from the applicants. (Also see The New York Post.)

Education

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced that he would resign to accept an executive position with News Corporation. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appointed Cathleen P. Black, the chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, as Mr. Klein’s successor. The move created consternation in some circles because Ms. Black has no background in education, much like Mr. Klein, in keeping with Mr. Bloomberg’s preference for executives from the business world. [NYT] (Also see The Daily News, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post.)

In bad news for denominational education, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York announced on Tuesday that it might close 31 elementary schools and one high school in what would be the largest school reorganization in its history. [NYT] All have struggled for years with declining enrollment and have increasingly relied on the archdiocese for support. (Also see The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal.)

The New Haven public schools adopted a program called New Haven Promise, which would offer to pay tuition at any public college or university for eligible students. [NYT] The program, financed primarily by Yale, is open to students who live in the city and have attended its public schools, including charter schools, since at least ninth grade, regardless of family income, and who maintain a G.P.A. of 3.0 or higher and a 90 percent attendance record.

Weather Underground reports that Wedensday’s weather will be overcast and cold, with highs around 50.

Culture

Steve Kenny writes of a third-floor apartment window’s unique view of Broadway’s evanescence, represented by the ever-changing marquee over the Hirschfeld Theater across the street, in Wednesday’s About New York column.

Crime & Public Safety

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani’s lawyer told jurors that Al Qaeda used Mr. Ghailani on the periphery of their plot to bomb two United States Embassies in East Africa in his closing statements Tuesday. [NYT]

Carlotta Brett-Pierce, the mother of a drugged and malnourished 4-year-old girl who weighed 18 pounds when she died in September, was indicted on murder charges in Brooklyn on Tuesday. [NYT]

A report to be released Wednesday indicates that police officers fired their weapons at suspects fewer times last year than at any other time since the New York Police Department began thoroughly recording the number of discharges. [Wall Street Journal]