East Coast reels from massive, deadly storm

---

• East Coast reels from massive, deadly storm
• Lower Manhattan faces up to four days without power: ConEd
• New Yorkers take Sandy travel challenges in stride
• Travelers, cargo stranded as airports, rails assess damage
• Some train services resume along U.S. East Coast
• For some New York workers, storm meant a shared room or scary walk
• Huge fire in Sandy's wake destroys New York City beach community
• Ohio jury convicts teenager of Craigslist murders
• East Coast power outages from Sandy hit 8.2 million
• New York's post-Sandy divide: Those with power and those without
• A tiny, tight-knit beach enclave hammered by Sandy
• Colorado judge denies theater rampage victims access to criminal files
• Hurricane Sandy silences Atlantic City's casinos
• New England spared flooding as Sandy clean-up begins
• Ohio jury convicts teenager of Craigslist murders
• Trial opens for California boy who killed neo-Nazi father
• Washington D.C. escapes worst of storm Sandy
• Teen charged as adult in Colorado schoolgirl's murder, dismemberment
• Hurricane Sandy silences Atlantic City's casinos
• Trio of former California governors seeks to preserve death penalty
• Tidal surge on river floods three New Jersey towns
• Trial opens for California child who killed neo-Nazi father
• Mexican pleads guilty to U.S. agent's murder tied to gun probe
• Obama says storm not yet over, government to aid local authorities
• BP says no injuries in Texas City hydrotreater fire
• Hospitals battled to protect patients as Sandy raged
• Obama to travel to New Jersey Wednesday to view storm damage
• Federal agencies in Washington to be open on Wednesday
• Dead crew woman on sunken HMS Bounty claimed ancestry to mutineer
• New Yorkers take Sandy travel challenges in stride
• Ohio jury convicts teenager of Craigslist murders
• Some train services resume along U.S. East Coast
• For some New York workers, storm meant a shared room or scary walk
• A tiny, tight-knit beach enclave hammered by Sandy
• Colorado judge denies theater rampage victims access to criminal files
• Huge fire in Sandy's wake destroys New York City beach community
• Trial opens for California boy who killed neo-Nazi father
• Hurricane Sandy silences Atlantic City's casinos
• Hurricane Sandy losses may be triple those of Irene

East Coast reels from massive, deadly storm Posted: 30 Oct 2012 07:06 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Millions of people faced epic flooding and lengthy power outages on Tuesday after the massive storm Sandy wreaked havoc in much of the eastern United States with high winds and heavy rains. The storm killed at least 45 people, including at least 18 in New York City, and insurance companies started to tally billions of dollars in losses. The storm hit with just a week to go to the November 6 presidential election, disrupting campaigning and early voting and raising questions about whether polling stations in some hard-hit communities would be ready to open by next Tuesday. ...

Lower Manhattan faces up to four days without power: ConEd Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:48 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Residents of lower Manhattan faced up to four days without power on Tuesday as Consolidated Edison, New York City's power provider, scrambled to repair the damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy. Almost every street below Times Square in the city's Midtown district was plunged into darkness on Monday night after an explosion at a Con Edison power station on 14th Street threw the electricity provider's plans for controlled shutdowns into disarray. ...

New Yorkers take Sandy travel challenges in stride Posted: 30 Oct 2012 07:19 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - With New York City's subway system paralyzed by Sandy's crippling blow, millions of commuters are rethinking how they will get to work this week, and they are taking it one step at a time. The storm, which killed 23 people in New York state, closed roads and bridges and flooded tunnels, garages and rail yards, dousing the nation's largest mass transit system with saltwater, which is corrosive to its electrical system. ...

Travelers, cargo stranded as airports, rails assess damage Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:00 PM PDT (Reuters) - As rail, transit, airline and port workers dug through debris, dealt with power outages and assessed damage on Tuesday, one thing became increasingly clear: Restoring full transportation could take some time. Hurricane Sandy's assault on the eastern United States so brutally flooded tracks and roads, felled trees and downed power lines, it could be days or weeks before travelers and cargo are moving around normally again, officials said. ...

Some train services resume along U.S. East Coast Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:27 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Limited passenger train services will resume along the U.S. East Coast on Wednesday as transportation slowly returns to normal after Hurricane Sandy, but flooding in tunnels is still blocking access to New York City, Amtrak said on Tuesday. Services provided by rail company Amtrak along the busy Northeast corridor were suspended on Monday as the storm hit the eastern United States, flooding tracks and roads, felling trees and power lines. Amtrak said it would provide modified Northeast regional services south from Newark in New Jersey from Wednesday. ...

For some New York workers, storm meant a shared room or scary walk Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:27 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Workers who stayed late on Monday and kept parts of New York running while Hurricane Sandy brought the city to a standstill faced a dilemma: take a nerve-wracking walk home or find a floor space on which to bed down. Before Sandy made landfall, subways and buses shut down, cabs were scarce and bridges and tunnels closed. So the question loomed: could workers get home? At 99¢ Fresh Pizza on Broadway near Columbus Circle, Saleh Mohammad, 32, worked until past 6 p.m. on Monday - less than two hours before the storm touched down. ...

Huge fire in Sandy's wake destroys New York City beach community Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:10 PM PDT ROCKAWAYS, New York (Reuters) - Just before dinner on Monday night, 75-year-old Bruce Bavasso was slugging back sambuca with his neighbors in a private beach community in the Rockaways in New York City. There was a lot of pasta, some hurricane humor and a lot of ribbing about the storm. This was Belle Harbor, the same broad-shouldered, tight-knit beach community where an American Airlines plane crashed in November 2001, killing all aboard and five people on the ground. There was no way tragedy would strike the place again, or so Bavasso and his friends thought. ...

Ohio jury convicts teenager of Craigslist murders Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:39 PM PDT AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) - A jury convicted 17-year-old Brogan Rafferty of murder on Tuesday in the deaths of three men, two of whom were lured to Ohio by a Craigslist ad promising work on a farm. Rafferty and Richard Beasley, 53, were charged with murder in the deaths of the three men. Two men answered a social media ad for a $300-a-week job as a caretaker on a farm about 100 miles south of Cleveland. Although prosecutors said Beasley pulled the trigger, they accused Rafferty of assisting in the crimes and the attempted murder of a fourth man, Scott Davis. ...

East Coast power outages from Sandy hit 8.2 million Posted: 30 Oct 2012 01:50 PM PDT (Reuters) - East Coast electric companies report that outages from Hurricane Sandy have hit more than 8.2 million homes and businesses, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said in a report early on Tuesday. The impact was just shy of the 8.38 million homes and businesses that lost power during Hurricane Irene last year. Sandy made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey, at about 8 p.m. EDT on Monday, the DOE said. New Jersey was the hardest hit state with about 65 percent of customers, or 2.6 million, without power. ...

New York's post-Sandy divide: Those with power and those without Posted: 30 Oct 2012 03:41 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sandy split New York City in two. The massive storm left people damp, miserable and in the dark in the lower part of the city. Yet in much of the rest of Manhattan, life was almost normal, albeit without some of the usual urban comforts. Almost every street below Times Square in the city's Midtown district lost power on Monday night after an explosion at a Consolidated Edison power station, and it may not return for up to four days. A number of these areas had already been hit by flood waters. ...

A tiny, tight-knit beach enclave hammered by Sandy Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:18 PM PDT MATUNUCK, Rhode Island (Reuters) - "This is what I call salvage" said Chris Hannafin, jumping across what was once was the front wall of his friends' oceanside cottage. For hours, he and friends had been racing against the clock and the rising tide to claim mementos, bureaus, pillows and even a toilet and carry them to higher ground - away from the cottage now only inches from the encroaching sea. Neighbors and friends - some silently wiping away tears - surveyed the damage Hurricane Sandy had inflicted on a close-knit summer community called Roy Carpenter's Beach in Matunuck. ...

Colorado judge denies theater rampage victims access to criminal files Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:13 PM PDT DENVER (Reuters) - Survivors of the shooting rampage that left 12 moviegoers slain during the showing of a Batman film in Colorado lost a bid in court on Tuesday to obtain sealed evidence in the criminal case for review in their civil suit against the theater chain. The request for access to law enforcement's investigative files was brought by three individuals wounded in the massacre who have sued Cinemark USA in U.S. district court in Denver, accusing the company of lax theater security. ...

Hurricane Sandy silences Atlantic City's casinos Posted: 30 Oct 2012 05:05 PM PDT (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy has silenced the thousands of slot machines and high-rollers who normally crowd the black jack and roulette tables of Atlantic City, but the resort's casino companies wager they could be back in business within days. The storm that swept up the East Coast of the United States on Monday made landfall near Atlantic City, ripping up several blocks of its famous boardwalk and tearing roofing off casinos and hotels. ...

New England spared flooding as Sandy clean-up begins Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:36 PM PDT NEW BEDFORD, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Residents of the coastal areas of Massachusetts and Rhode Island ventured out on Tuesday to clear up the wreckage caused by powerful storm Sandy, which flattened trees, damaged homes and left hundreds of thousands in the region without power. Unlike in the greater New York area, where Sandy brought rising seas that flooded Manhattan and parts of the New Jersey shore, New England's misery came mostly from the storm's heavy winds. ...

Ohio jury convicts teenager of Craigslist murders Posted: 30 Oct 2012 03:14 PM PDT AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) - A jury convicted 17-year-old Brogan Rafferty of murder on Tuesday in the deaths of three men, two of whom were lured to Ohio by a Craigslist ad promising work on a farm. Rafferty and Richard Beasley, 53, were charged with murder in the deaths of the three men. Two men answered a social media ad for a $300-a-week job as a caretaker on a farm about 100 miles south of Cleveland. Although prosecutors said Beasley pulled the trigger, they accused Rafferty of assisting in the crimes and the attempted murder of a fourth man, Scott Davis. ...

Trial opens for California boy who killed neo-Nazi father Posted: 30 Oct 2012 05:43 PM PDT RIVERSIDE, California (Reuters) - A boy accused of murdering his neo-Nazi father when he was 10 years old went on trial in California on Tuesday, with prosecutors portraying the child as violent and troubled and a defense lawyer saying he acted to protect his family. Both sides agree that Joseph Hall, now 12, shot his father, Jeffrey Hall, at near point-blank range on May 1, 2011. He is being tried in juvenile court and could be sent to a juvenile facility until age 23. ...

Washington D.C. escapes worst of storm Sandy Posted: 30 Oct 2012 02:00 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The nation's capital appeared to have escaped the worst of the mammoth storm Sandy on Tuesday, although concerns remained about the potential for severe flooding along the Potomac River. Washington, D.C., suffered high winds and rains that brought down trees on some homes and flooded a few roads. But the area got off lightly compared to New York City and New Jersey, where Sandy came ashore on Monday night. More than 4 inches of rain fell over the course of the storm in Washington, the National Weather Service said Tuesday. ...

Teen charged as adult in Colorado schoolgirl's murder, dismemberment Posted: 30 Oct 2012 02:59 PM PDT GOLDEN, Colo. (Reuters) - A teenager who authorities said confessed to the abduction, killing and dismemberment of a 10-year-old Colorado girl was formally charged as an adult on Tuesday with first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault on a child. Austin Sigg, 17, appeared in Jefferson County District Court to hear the charges against him in the slaying of Jessica Ridgeway as prosecutors for the first time accused him of sexually assaulting the schoolgirl. ...

Hurricane Sandy silences Atlantic City's casinos Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:55 PM PDT (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy has silenced the thousands of slot machines and high-rollers who normally crowd the black jack and roulette tables of Atlantic City, but the resort's casino companies wager they could be back in business within days. The storm that swept up the East Coast of the United States on Monday made landfall near Atlantic City, ripping up several blocks of its famous boardwalk and tearing roofing off casinos and hotels. ...

Trio of former California governors seeks to preserve death penalty Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:11 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A trio of former California governors urged voters on Tuesday to preserve the death penalty in the state by defeating a ballot initiative seeking to abolish capital punishment on cost grounds, and a recent poll showed the measure gaining support but falling short of passing. The initiative, if passed by voters next week, would automatically commute the sentences of 725 death row inmates in California, which has nearly a quarter of the nation's condemned prisoners but has executed none in the last six years. "Prop. ...

Tidal surge on river floods three New Jersey towns Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:18 PM PDT TETERBORO, New Jersey (Reuters) - A wall of water, at times greater than 5 feet high, swept through three towns in northern New Jersey early Tuesday, a parting shot from Hurricane Sandy that prompted the evacuation of a few thousand people from their homes. The tidal surge up the swollen Hackensack River started just after midnight, and there was little time for the unprepared towns of Little Ferry, Moonachie and Carlstadt to rouse their roughly 19,000 residents and urge them to seek higher ground. ...

Trial opens for California child who killed neo-Nazi father Posted: 30 Oct 2012 02:34 PM PDT (Advisory: Please note strong language in paragraph 13) RIVERSIDE, California (Reuters) - A boy accused of murdering his neo-Nazi father when he was 10 years old went on trial in California on Tuesday, with prosecutors portraying the child as violent and troubled and a defense lawyer saying he acted to protect his family. Both sides agree that Joseph Hall, now 12, shot his father, Jeffrey Hall, at near point-blank range on May 1, 2011. He is being tried in juvenile court and could be sent to a juvenile facility until age 23. ...

Mexican pleads guilty to U.S. agent's murder tied to gun probe Posted: 30 Oct 2012 02:44 PM PDT PHOENIX (Reuters) - A Mexican man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to first-degree murder in the 2010 death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, a killing linked to a controversial U.S. attempt to track gunrunning to Mexico drug cartels. Manuel Osorio-Arellanes made a deal with prosecutors and entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Tucson in the shooting death of agent Brian Terry in the Arizona borderlands, federal officials said. He could face life in prison, but prosecutors will not seek the death penalty. Osorio-Arellanes, 36, was one of five Mexican suspects charged in Terry's murder. ...

Obama says storm not yet over, government to aid local authorities Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:48 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the federal government would do all it could to help local authorities cope with damage caused by the massive storm Sandy. The president, speaking at the national headquarters of the American Red Cross, said the storm, which slammed into some of the most densely populated areas of the eastern United States on Monday, was "not yet over" and that there were still risks. "It is still moving north," he said. "There are still communities that could be affected. ...

BP says no injuries in Texas City hydrotreater fire Posted: 30 Oct 2012 02:02 PM PDT HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc said a fire that broke out on Tuesday afternoon in a residual hydrotreater at the company's 400,780 barrel-per-day Texas City, Texas, refinery was extinguished in about 1-1/2 hours and resulted in no injuries. BP spokesman Scott Dean said a portion of the refinery was evacuated. The residual hydrotreater remained shut following the fire, but the rest of the refinery's units, including crude distillation and gasoline plants, were operating, Dean said. The blaze was fought by the refinery's fire department, Dean said. ...

Hospitals battled to protect patients as Sandy raged Posted: 30 Oct 2012 01:43 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - At one New York hospital where backup generators failed, staff carried premature babies down more than a dozen flights of stairs in one of the more dramatic moments for healthcare workers during powerful storm Sandy. Record flooding and power outages across the northeastern United States made for a long night caring for the most critically ill, as several hundred patients were evacuated in New York City, day-time hospital staff slept overnight on vacant beds and less urgent procedures were postponed. ...

Obama to travel to New Jersey Wednesday to view storm damage Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:10 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will travel to New Jersey on Wednesday to view damage caused by massive storm Sandy, the White House said in a statement. "Tomorrow afternoon, the president will travel to New Jersey where he will join Governor (Chris) Christie in viewing the storm damage, talking with citizens who are recovering from the storm and thanking first responders who put their lives at risk to protect their communities," the statement said. Obama canceled campaign appearances planned for Ohio on Wednesday because of the storm. ...

Federal agencies in Washington to be open on Wednesday Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:51 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal agencies in Washington, D.C., will be open on Wednesday, after massive storm Sandy essentially shut down the federal government for two days. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management also announced that federal government employees in Washington will have the option for unscheduled leave on Wednesday. (Reporting By Karey Wutkowski; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Dead crew woman on sunken HMS Bounty claimed ancestry to mutineer Posted: 30 Oct 2012 01:37 PM PDT (Reuters) - The crew member who died when the replica ship HMS Bounty sank during Hurricane Sandy had written on her Facebook page that she was a descendent of the original Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian. Claudene Christian, 42, was pulled from the sea and hoisted aboard a Coast Guard helicopter on Monday afternoon. She was taken to Albemarle Hospital in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, where she was pronounced dead. Coast Guard rescue swimmers plucked 14 other crew members from life rafts in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday and brought them safely ashore by helicopter. ...

New Yorkers take Sandy travel challenges in stride Posted: 30 Oct 2012 07:19 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - With New York City's subway system paralyzed by Sandy's crippling blow, millions of commuters are rethinking how they will get to work this week, and they are taking it one step at a time. The storm, which killed 23 people in New York state, closed roads and bridges and flooded tunnels, garages and rail yards, dousing the nation's largest mass transit system with saltwater, which is corrosive to its electrical system. ...

Ohio jury convicts teenager of Craigslist murders Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:39 PM PDT AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) - A jury convicted 17-year-old Brogan Rafferty of murder on Tuesday in the deaths of three men, two of whom were lured to Ohio by a Craigslist ad promising work on a farm. Rafferty and Richard Beasley, 53, were charged with murder in the deaths of the three men. Two men answered a social media ad for a $300-a-week job as a caretaker on a farm about 100 miles south of Cleveland. Although prosecutors said Beasley pulled the trigger, they accused Rafferty of assisting in the crimes and the attempted murder of a fourth man, Scott Davis. ...

Some train services resume along U.S. East Coast Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:27 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Limited passenger train services will resume along the U.S. East Coast on Wednesday as transportation slowly returns to normal after Hurricane Sandy, but flooding in tunnels is still blocking access to New York City, Amtrak said on Tuesday. Services provided by rail company Amtrak along the busy Northeast corridor were suspended on Monday as the storm hit the eastern United States, flooding tracks and roads, felling trees and power lines. Amtrak said it would provide modified Northeast regional services south from Newark in New Jersey from Wednesday. ...

For some New York workers, storm meant a shared room or scary walk Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:27 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Workers who stayed late on Monday and kept parts of New York running while Hurricane Sandy brought the city to a standstill faced a dilemma: take a nerve-wracking walk home or find a floor space on which to bed down. Before Sandy made landfall, subways and buses shut down, cabs were scarce and bridges and tunnels closed. So the question loomed: could workers get home? At 99¢ Fresh Pizza on Broadway near Columbus Circle, Saleh Mohammad, 32, worked until past 6 p.m. on Monday - less than two hours before the storm touched down. ...

A tiny, tight-knit beach enclave hammered by Sandy Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:18 PM PDT MATUNUCK, Rhode Island (Reuters) - "This is what I call salvage" said Chris Hannafin, jumping across what was once was the front wall of his friends' oceanside cottage. For hours, he and friends had been racing against the clock and the rising tide to claim mementos, bureaus, pillows and even a toilet and carry them to higher ground - away from the cottage now only inches from the encroaching sea. Neighbors and friends - some silently wiping away tears - surveyed the damage Hurricane Sandy had inflicted on a close-knit summer community called Roy Carpenter's Beach in Matunuck. ...

Colorado judge denies theater rampage victims access to criminal files Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:13 PM PDT DENVER (Reuters) - Survivors of the shooting rampage that left 12 moviegoers slain during the showing of a Batman film in Colorado lost a bid in court on Tuesday to obtain sealed evidence in the criminal case for review in their civil suit against the theater chain. The request for access to law enforcement's investigative files was brought by three individuals wounded in the massacre who have sued Cinemark USA in U.S. district court in Denver, accusing the company of lax theater security. ...

Huge fire in Sandy's wake destroys New York City beach community Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:10 PM PDT ROCKAWAYS, New York (Reuters) - Just before dinner on Monday night, 75-year-old Bruce Bavasso was slugging back sambuca with his neighbors in a private beach community in the Rockaways in New York City. There was a lot of pasta, some hurricane humor and a lot of ribbing about the storm. This was Belle Harbor, the same broad-shouldered, tight-knit beach community where an American Airlines plane crashed in November 2001, killing all aboard and five people on the ground. There was no way tragedy would strike the place again, or so Bavasso and his friends thought. ...

Trial opens for California boy who killed neo-Nazi father Posted: 30 Oct 2012 05:43 PM PDT RIVERSIDE, California (Reuters) - A boy accused of murdering his neo-Nazi father when he was 10 years old went on trial in California on Tuesday, with prosecutors portraying the child as violent and troubled and a defense lawyer saying he acted to protect his family. Both sides agree that Joseph Hall, now 12, shot his father, Jeffrey Hall, at near point-blank range on May 1, 2011. He is being tried in juvenile court and could be sent to a juvenile facility until age 23. ...

Hurricane Sandy silences Atlantic City's casinos Posted: 30 Oct 2012 05:05 PM PDT (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy has silenced the thousands of slot machines and high-rollers who normally crowd the black jack and roulette tables of Atlantic City, but the resort's casino companies wager they could be back in business within days. The storm that swept up the East Coast of the United States on Monday made landfall near Atlantic City, ripping up several blocks of its famous boardwalk and tearing roofing off casinos and hotels. ...

Hurricane Sandy losses may be triple those of Irene Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:53 PM PDT (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy appears to have easily caused twice or even three times the losses of last year's Hurricane Irene, but final totals will be hard to come by for some time because of the scale of the disaster, catastrophe forecasting companies said on Tuesday. One of the biggest questions now is who will pay for the extensive damage to municipal infrastructure -- subway tunnels, train tracks, electrical transformers, coastal boardwalks and piers -- that Sandy left behind along the East Coast. ...

You are subscribed to email updates from U.S. News Headlines - Yahoo! News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610