Fuel scarce, East Coast struggles to recover

Fuel scarce, East Coast struggles to recover
Frazzled New Yorkers fret about long road back to normalcy
Ex-Penn State president charged with perjury in Sandusky case
On the Jersey shore, emotion outweighs cost of rebuilding
Storm-hit New Yorkers uneasy about decision to hold marathon
On Staten Island, cries for help replaced by a loss for words
Airlines look to resume full flight schedules in New York area
On Delaware coastal island, gratitude to share after storm
Sandy forecasts were on target, but message was a bit garbled
Tempers fray as NY fuel crunch deepens, relief days away
In hipster Brooklyn, a fuel terminal padlocked as drivers steam
British millionaire pleads guilty in Iran missile scheme
Judge backs Catholic firm over contraception mandate
Jersey Shore residents wait to go home, assess Sandy's damage
Nine more cases of meningitis reported in outbreak
Officials fret about polling sites in storm-ravaged states
Gunman wounds four at college Halloween party in Los Angeles
Supreme Court weighs expanded warnings on deportation risk
California ballot holds credit risk for school districts
Sandy snarls NY Harbor oil logistics, NYMEX gasoline delivery
New Jersey natgas co shuts lines to devastated parts
ConEd says power to resume for most NY customers by November 11
Nearly 30 Air Force Academy cadets injured in annual ritual
Bloomberg endorses Obama for a second term, climate change a focus
Government to pay NJ, NY emergency power, transport costs
Judge to rule on accused mobster Bulger's bid for trial delay
Hospitals sue government over private Medicare audits
U.S. Coast Guard: no timetable to reopen NY Harbor's Arthur Kill
Memphis library cards acceptable as photo ID for vote: court
Cost of San Onofre nuclear outage in California reaches $317 million: Edison
Storm-hit New Yorkers uneasy about decision to hold marathon
Frazzled New Yorkers fret about long road back to normalcy
Fuel scarce, East Coast struggles to recover
Cell phone system recovering slowly after Sandy
New York's MTA has no plan for extra borrowing
Nearly 4.5 million still lack power after Sandy: DOE
On Delaware coastal island, gratitude to share after storm
Tempers fray as NY fuel crunch deepens, relief days away
Airlines look to resume full flight schedules in New York area

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:32 PM PDT

NEW YORK/SEASIDE HEIGHTS, New Jersey (Reuters) - Rescuers searched flooded homes for survivors, drivers lined up for hours to get scarce gasoline and millions remained without power on Thursday as New York City and nearby towns struggled to recover from one of the biggest storms to hit the United States. New York subway trains crawled back to limited service after being shut down since Sunday, but the lower half of Manhattan still lacked power and surrounding areas such as Staten Island, the New Jersey shore and the city of Hoboken remained crippled from a record storm surge and flooding. ...

Frazzled New Yorkers fret about long road back to normalcy

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:39 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York authorities have made a big push for normalcy after megastorm Sandy, but for many residents dealing with water-logged homes, power outages, gasoline shortages and painfully slow commutes, things are far from that. Officials have moved quickly to try to jump-start business and tourism after the storm. The New York Stock Exchange reopened after a historic two-day closure, with a smiling Mayor Michael Bloomberg ringing the opening bell. The subways began to rumble with limited service on Thursday. Broadway theater is back. ...

Ex-Penn State president charged with perjury in Sandusky case

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 02:27 PM PDT

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - A grand jury has charged former Penn State President Graham Spanier with participating in a "conspiracy of silence" to cover up child sex abuse by former football coach Jerry Sandusky, Pennsylvania's attorney general said on Thursday. The highest-ranking Pennsylvania State University official charged in the explosive case, Spanier, 64, was accused of child endangerment, perjury and criminal conspiracy, all felonies. He also faces misdemeanor counts of failure to report suspected abuse, conspiracy and obstruction of the administration of law. ...

On the Jersey shore, emotion outweighs cost of rebuilding

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 03:18 PM PDT

BAY HEAD, N.J./BOSTON (Reuters) - The people of the Jersey Shore may feel alone in the world right now, their homes destroyed and their beaches ruined by Hurricane Sandy. But they will soon face a decision familiar to others who have survived massive storms - do I rebuild? There is a reason New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called the destruction Sandy wrought on the shoreline "unthinkable." The one-time vacation paradise, familiar to fans of Bruce Springsteen, is now a twisted wreck, with remnants of a roller coaster floating in the ocean, and houses erased like they were temporary markings. ...

Storm-hit New Yorkers uneasy about decision to hold marathon

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:54 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A symbol of resilience, or tactless and ill-timed? New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's decision to proceed with the world's largest marathon on Sunday is stirring up controversy in the storm-ravaged metropolis. As emergency workers wade through flooded homes to look for survivors and millions of people remain without power in the Northeast, the death toll from superstorm Sandy has swelled to 95. "If they take one first responder from Staten Island to cover this marathon, I will scream," New York City Councilman James Oddo said on his Twitter account. ...

On Staten Island, cries for help replaced by a loss for words

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 03:23 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - On Hamden Ave, a storm-wrecked street on New York City's Staten Island, everyone was talking about the surge - a wall of water that came tearing down the street on Monday night. As families picked through mud-caked photo albums and couch cushions, and stared at ruined cars scattered across the neighborhood, they talked on Thursday about how a little bit of rain suddenly turned into pools of water. Then swelled and kept swelling until the water flooded the first floor of homes. ...

Airlines look to resume full flight schedules in New York area

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 05:55 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Major U.S. airlines moved to build up service in the New York area on Thursday, with the number of canceled flights easing as LaGuardia Airport re-opened for business in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Airlines had canceled about 750 flights for Thursday as of late afternoon, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.com. That was the lowest daily tally of halted flights since airlines began cutting their U.S. flying on Sunday ahead of the storm. Delta Air Lines expected to operate about half of its roughly 260 flights at LaGuardia on Thursday. At John F. ...

On Delaware coastal island, gratitude to share after storm

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 05:59 PM PDT

FENWICK ISLAND, Delaware (Reuters) - The usually tranquil beachfront communities along the Delaware shore were prepared for the worst from Hurricane Sandy and as luck would have it, they got something less. The damage from flooding is limited, compared to what might have been. The cleanup is ongoing. And relief, in the form of disaster assistance, is on hand. People here are grateful to Mother Nature, to local authorities-and to Barack Obama. Though he did not set foot here, television made him a presence. ...

Sandy forecasts were on target, but message was a bit garbled

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 05:27 PM PDT

(Reuters) - The first predictions of the monster storm that slammed into the East Coast of the United States came nearly a week before Sandy made landfall on Monday, giving state and local officials ample notice to issue warnings and make preparations for the threat. But in the aftermath of the storm that left a swath of destruction across 15 states and cut power to more than 8 million people, some meteorologists question the federal government's decision not to issue hurricane or tropical storm warnings for Sandy north of the Carolinas. ...

Tempers fray as NY fuel crunch deepens, relief days away

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:01 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The fuel supply crisis gripping the New York area deepened on Thursday as the city's iconic taxis started turning away business while drivers searched hours for a tank of gas, and there were growing signs that the worst of the crunch is not over. Long, increasingly ill-tempered lines of motorists snaked through New York and neighboring New Jersey, snarling traffic as motorists hunted for the few service stations still operating in the wake of the devastating storm Sandy. Less than half of the thousands of stations in the region are open, officials said. ...

In hipster Brooklyn, a fuel terminal padlocked as drivers steam

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 05:23 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - As drivers in Sandy-battered New York sit steaming in long lines to buy gasoline, a small fuel terminal on a remote road in a trendy Brooklyn neighborhood lies idle, gates padlocked - mute testimony to the root of the energy crisis now gripping the city. Motiva's plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, like so many fuel-receiving stations that dot the shores of New Jersey and the boroughs of New York City, has been closed since the superstorm struck, unable to receive or deliver fuel that could ease the growing squeeze on gasoline supplies. ...

British millionaire pleads guilty in Iran missile scheme

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 02:04 PM PDT

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - British millionaire Christopher Tappin pleaded guilty in federal court in Texas on Thursday to charges of attempting to sell missile parts to Iran, prosecutors said. Tappin, 66, from Orpington, Kent, who had previously pleaded not guilty, reversed that stance in federal court in El Paso as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors that calls for a sentence of 33 months in prison and a fine of more than $11,000, according to U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman. ...

Judge backs Catholic firm over contraception mandate

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 05:16 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A Catholic-owned family business in Michigan does not have to comply with the provision of the new U.S. healthcare law that requires private employers to provide employees with health insurance that covers birth control, a federal judge in Detroit has ruled. U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland, in a ruling late Wednesday, temporarily blocked the government from forcing the owner of Weingartz Supply Company, which sells outdoor power equipment, to include contraception in its health coverage of employees. ...

Jersey Shore residents wait to go home, assess Sandy's damage

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 01:40 PM PDT

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, New Jersey (Reuters) - Summer resort towns along the New Jersey shore by all accounts were devastated by the massive storm Sandy, but many residents still cannot see the extent of the damage for themselves. Under New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's orders, homeowners who evacuated to higher ground cannot yet return to much of the hard-hit coastal region. Roads are impassable, power is out and the possibility of open gas lines poses potential danger, authorities say. ...

Nine more cases of meningitis reported in outbreak

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 04:37 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Nine more cases of deadly fungal meningitis were reported from an outbreak tied to steroid medications shipped by a Massachusetts company, bringing the national total to 377 cases, U.S. health officials said on Thursday. No new deaths were reported on Thursday and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Virginia had revised down the number of deaths there to two from three, reducing the national fatality total to 28. The CDC gave no reason for the revision. ...

Officials fret about polling sites in storm-ravaged states

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 04:54 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Officials in New York, New Jersey and other states hit hard by the powerful storm Sandy are anxiously waiting to see when power will be restored in darkened areas and whether polling sites may need to be moved for next Tuesday's presidential election. "We're open for business November 6. That will be Election Day," said John Conklin, spokesman for the New York state Board of Elections. "We're doing everything we can to make sure that everyone who goes to the polls will have a poll site to go to. ...

Gunman wounds four at college Halloween party in Los Angeles

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 02:08 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A gunman opened fire outside a large Halloween party at the University of Southern California and wounded four people in the second major shooting incident involving the urban Los Angeles institution this year, police said on Thursday. The gunfire erupted late on Wednesday outside a party at the Tutor Campus Center, the university said in a statement, although the people wounded in the incident were not students, faculty or staff at the school. ...

Supreme Court weighs expanded warnings on deportation risk

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 01:02 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With the future of thousands of immigrants at stake, the Supreme Court on Thursday considered whether to extend a rule that requires lawyers to tell clients who are not citizens that they can be deported if they plead guilty to crimes. A decision could prove significant to non-citizens who had ineffective counsel before March 2010, when the court, in Padilla v. Kentucky, said immigrants deserve to be told at least some consequences of guilty pleas. Federal appeals courts have since divided on whether the decision should apply retroactively. ...

California ballot holds credit risk for school districts

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 01:50 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - If voters in California next week reject ballot measures to raise taxes, school districts in the Golden State will be among the first victims of spending cuts - a major concern not only for teachers and parents but also bondholders. According to the latest polls, support for Proposition 30, the measure Governor Jerry Brown proposed to raise personal income and sales taxes, stands at below 50 percent for the November6 vote. A rival measure - Proposition 38, which would also increase taxes - appears to be backed by even fewer voters. ...

Sandy snarls NY Harbor oil logistics, NYMEX gasoline delivery

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 12:39 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Logistical problems caused by power failures and navigational hazards from storm Sandy continued to roil New York Harbor on Thursday, threatening widespread delays in fuel deliveries off the New York Mercantile Exchange's futures contracts. With many New York and New Jersey gasoline stations running dry or without power, oil companies are scrambling to resupply their networks but cannot gain access to millions of barrels of fuel trapped in the region's terminals. A diesel fuel spill after the storm added to the woes, keeping a key waterway shut. ...

New Jersey natgas co shuts lines to devastated parts

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 03:07 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey Natural Gas on Thursday shut down part of its pipeline system that serves the state's barrier islands, one of the areas most damaged by Hurricane Sandy's high winds and storm surge. The company was able to assess damages only in the last 24 hours, after the storm hit land on Monday, and found damaged pipelines flaring natural gas from broken ends. "Literally digging through rubble, we have found some of our exposed, broken pipes with flare-ups on the ends of them," said Micah Rasmussen, a spokesman. ...

ConEd says power to resume for most NY customers by November 11

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:56 AM PDT

(Reuters) - Consolidated Edison Inc said Thursday most of its customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York, will have power back by November 10-11, after Hurricane Sandy slammed into the U.S. East Coast earlier in the week, causing widespread damage and flooding. The New York utility said it expected to restore power in lower and mid-Manhattan by Saturday, November 3. Earlier, the company had said it expected power to be restored to lower Manhattan by Friday or Saturday and that it would take at least a week to restore power to areas with overhead lines like Westchester. ...

Nearly 30 Air Force Academy cadets injured in annual ritual

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 01:57 PM PDT

DENVER (Reuters) - Nearly 30 Air Force Academy cadets required medical care, with six of them hospitalized, after an annual tradition to mark the first snowfall of the season turned into an out-of-control melee, school officials said on Wednesday. An unauthorized ritual last week called "First Shirt/First Snow," in which freshman cadets try to throw their cadet sergeant into a snowbank, grew violent and resulted in injuries, the academy said in a statement. "A relatively small number of cadets chose to take part in this unsafe activity," Brigadier General Gregory Lengyel said. ...

Bloomberg endorses Obama for a second term, climate change a focus

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 01:19 PM PDT

(Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday endorsed President Barack Obama for a second term, citing the importance of his record on climate change, particularly in the aftermath of the devastating blow dealt to the New York area by storm Sandy. Bloomberg said Obama has taken significant steps to reduce carbon consumption, whereas Republican challenger Mitt Romney has backtracked on earlier positions he had taken as governor of Massachusetts to battle climate change. "Our climate is changing," Bloomberg wrote in an opinion article for Bloomberg View, a section of Bloomberg News. ...

Government to pay NJ, NY emergency power, transport costs

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 01:27 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The federal government will cover 100 percent of emergency power and public transportation costs through November 9 for the areas of New York and New Jersey that were hit hard by superstorm Sandy, officials said on Thursday. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said that President Barack Obama directed the agency to provide direct federal support for power restoration and transportation operations for 10 days. Democratic U.S. ...

Judge to rule on accused mobster Bulger's bid for trial delay

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 01:35 PM PDT

BOSTON (Reuters) - A federal judge said on Thursday he would rule in the next few days on accused mobster James "Whitey" Bulger's request to delay until next November his trial on 19 counts of murder. "The case needs some firm management, which I intend to give it," U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns said during a hearing in which Bulger's lawyer argued that he did not have enough time to review more than 360,000 pages of evidence before the scheduled March 4 trial date. "If you ask me to high jump 10 feet, I couldn't do it. ...

Hospitals sue government over private Medicare audits

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:08 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A coalition of hospitals sued the U.S. government on Thursday, claiming that private auditors hired to crack down on improper Medicare payments are denying hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars in legal payments for necessary care. The lawsuit alleges auditors known as Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC) forced hospitals to repay Medicare for the cost of in-patient services by determining months and sometimes years after the fact that beneficiaries should have been treated as out-patients instead of being admitted. ...

U.S. Coast Guard: no timetable to reopen NY Harbor's Arthur Kill

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 10:39 AM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard has no timetable for the reopening of the Arthur Kill waterway, a key stretch of water in the New York Harbor lined with oil logistics infrastructure, a spokesman said on Thursday. The waterway is closed due to a diesel spill from a nearby fuel terminal. Debris also presents a hazard to navigation, Coast Guard Petty Officer Eric Swanson said. (Reporting by Robert Campbell; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Memphis library cards acceptable as photo ID for vote: court

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 12:55 PM PDT

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Voters will be allowed to use Memphis library cards as photo identification in the November 6 election, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in a blow to Republicans who wanted only ID issued by the federal and state governments to be allowed. Tennessee is among a number of states that have passed laws requiring voters to show photo ID. Republicans say the laws are needed to deter fraud, while Democrats say they are aimed at depressing turnout by voters who typically support their party. ...

Cost of San Onofre nuclear outage in California reaches $317 million: Edison

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:59 PM PDT

(Reuters) - The cost for the prolonged outage at the damaged San Onofre nuclear power plant in California has topped $317 million for the year, the plant's primary owner, utility Southern California Edison, said Thursday. Inspection and repairs of giant steam generators inside the two-unit nuclear plant - which has been offline since January when a radiation leak was discovered - have cost the utility $96 million, officials of SCE's parent, Edison International, said during an earnings call. ...

Storm-hit New Yorkers uneasy about decision to hold marathon

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:54 PM PDT

Frazzled New Yorkers fret about long road back to normalcy

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:39 PM PDT

Fuel scarce, East Coast struggles to recover

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:32 PM PDT

Cell phone system recovering slowly after Sandy

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:20 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cell phone towers knocked off line by superstorm Sandy were being gradually restored to service, but fueling generators for relay sites in areas without electricity is difficult, the Federal Communications Commission said on Thursday. Sandy knocked out about 25 percent of cell sites on the U.S. east coast this week, the FCC said. About 19 percent were still offline as of Thursday morning, the FCC said. Cell sites can be towers or smaller facilities which relay wireless calls. ...

New York's MTA has no plan for extra borrowing

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:20 PM PDT

(Reuters) - New York's Metropolitan Transporation Authority on Thursday quelled some market concerns that its already strapped finances could be further strained by cleanup costs after the massive storm Sandy flooded streets and subways. The chief financial officer of the largest U.S. mass transit system said that he does not expect to borrow extra money and the finance director added that debt issuance will proceed as planned. "At this stage, I am not anticipating the need for external borrowing," CFO Robert Foran said in a conference call with reporters. ...

Nearly 4.5 million still lack power after Sandy: DOE

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:20 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Nearly 4.5 million homes and businesses in 12 U.S. states remained without power on Thursday afternoon, three days after Hurricane Sandy battered the U.S. East Coast, federal data showed. That was down about 200,000 from the 4.7 million customers the U.S. Department of Energy reported as being out earlier on Thursday. In total, at its peak, Sandy left 8.48 million customers in 21 states from North Carolina to Maine and as far west as Illinois without power. That was slightly more than the 8.38 million that lost service during last year's Hurricane Irene. ...

On Delaware coastal island, gratitude to share after storm

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 05:59 PM PDT

Tempers fray as NY fuel crunch deepens, relief days away

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:01 PM PDT

Airlines look to resume full flight schedules in New York area

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 05:55 PM PDT