All I am trying to do is change a value if a checkbox is checked.  This is for if a user wants to receive an annual news letter

my code is is a document function along with the other functions that work.  When this code is in my jquery fails on the page and I get a firefox error of "missing ) after condition" with a pointer to the first brace.  Please let me know what I am not getting correct.

 var news = "no";
if ($('#check:checked') {
    news = "yes";
}