ABC News: U.S.: Storm Spins Death and 'A Lot of Tears' Along Path

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Storm Spins Death and 'A Lot of Tears' Along Path Oct 31st 2012, 23:35 Death blew in on the superstorm's wild winds and sea water torrents, claiming 90-year-olds and children with capriciously toppling trees, taking tall-ship adventurers in mountainous Atlantic waves and average folks just trying to deal with a freakish snowstorm. It felled both heroes rushing into harm's way and, ironically, people simply following advice to play it safe at home. At least 63 died as the shape-shifting hurricane and winter storm ravaged the eastern U.S., and searchers continued looking for victims Wednesday. In New York City, a college student went out to take pictures in the borough of Queens and was electrocuted by a downed power line, while across town on Staten Island, an off-duty policeman drowned after moving his family to safety. Lauren Abraham, who went by the nickname LolaDiva on YouTube, was a makeup artist who worked out of a studio in her parents' Queens home. The recent beauty school graduate was studying at City University of New York's Lehman College, according to her Facebook page. "In her time of reflection she learned to find the beauty in even the darkest situations," her online bio reads. As the superstorm ravaged New York and floodwater surged into his Staten Island house Monday evening, off-duty NYPD officer Artur Kasprzak, 28, shepherded six adult relatives and a baby to the attic. AP FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 file... View Full Caption FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 file photo, a firefighter leaves the destroyed home in Pasadena, Md where Donald Cannata Sr. was killed overnight when a tree fell on it during superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Close Then, according to police, Kasprzak, a six-year veteran of the force, told one of the women he was going to check the basement. When he didn't return, she called 911. Police came quickly with a SCUBA unit, but couldn't access the home because power lines had fallen into the water. "He went to the basement. And the water just started washing in," his sister Marta told the Daily News. "He was pushed into a window. ... The water just kept coming in." Bunting draped a firehouse in Easton, Conn., honoring another first responder who rushed to help. Lt. Russell Neary was killed when an enormous tree crashed down on his fire truck as he and others tried to clear storm debris. "We're a small volunteer department, and so everybody knew everybody," said Casey Meskers, the department vice president. Neary was the president. An insurance executive, he had volunteered for 13 years, and also helped with his children's sports teams. "We've been on the soccer fields with each other with our kids," Meskers said Wednesday. "There's been a lot of tears shed, I'll tell you." So many times, trees and heavy limbs that fell to the storm's powerful gusts left mourners along its path. Two people died when a tree fell on their vehicle in Morris County, N.J., and many others perished inside homes, where they thought they'd be safe â€" from North Salem, N.Y., where two boys, 11 and 13, were killed when a tree fell on their home, to Pasadena, Md. Donald Cannata Sr., 73, was at home in Pasadena, a leafy suburb between Baltimore and Annapolis, when the storm knocked a large tree into his house. The retired civil engineer lived alone with his cat and dog and had stepped into the kitchen just when the tree fell. He loved photography and opera and was considerate, hardworking and selfless, said his son, Donald Jr., an opinion shared by neighbors. Cannata's son said his father's death "shook me so to the core," partly because they had talked about taking down the tree. "We talked about it so many times. I said, 'Pop, the tree's getting pretty old,'" Cannata said.

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ABC News: U.S.: Big Apple Improvises to Reopen for Business

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Big Apple Improvises to Reopen for Business Oct 31st 2012, 23:40 Two days after Superstorm Sandy brought business in New York City to a standstill, stores that lost power are again serving customers, albeit by flashlight. Companies with closed offices are setting up shop in coffeehouses. And the owner of the Skylight Diner is borrowing bacon from his neighbors because the restaurant's cupboard is bare. The world's financial center is struggling to get back to work as it deals with a subway system that's still crippled by the worst damage in its 108-year-history and power outages in major sections of the city. That's kept both employees and customers at bay. As a result, big multinational banks are in the same proverbial boat as corner bodegas: looking for creative ways to get their businesses back up and running. New York City is home to roughly a million companies of all sizes. While the impact of Sandy varies, the city's businesses face billions of dollars in damages and lost sales. So while reopening quickly is a priority, it can require resourcefulness and a smidge of creativity. For Teddy Papaioannou, that meant calling in some favors. On Wednesday, the co-owner of the Skylight Diner was running low on supplies at his restaurant in the midtown section of the Manhattan borough, so he borrowed a few pounds of bacon from his neighbors who also are restaurant owners. AP Commuters cross New York's Brooklyn Bridge,... View Full Caption Commuters cross New York's Brooklyn Bridge, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. The floodwaters that poured into New York's deepest subway tunnels may pose the biggest obstacle to the city's recovery from the worst natural disaster in the transit system's 108-year history. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Close Papaioannou and his brother and father, who all own the diner jointly, were so eager to open that the three of them even chauffeured employees around on Tuesday and Wednesday. They picked up a total of 20 workers for various shifts over the two-day period. "Closing for three days would ruin us for a month," he said. Lost sales were a big motivator for other business owners too. William Badie, owner of Food Fair food market and deli, estimated he lost $8,000 because the store was closed on Monday and Tuesday. So he made sure he was open Wednesday. Only one of his usual three staffers could make it into work, so he paid for him to get there. The 40-minute cab ride into Manhattan from the Queens borough typically costs about $35, which wasn't a huge cost, he figured, especially considering that he expected to make about $1,500 on Wednesday. But by afternoon, only two customers were eating lunch at a small table and another man bought a turkey sandwich. Still, Badie said he's fortunate because he never lost power and didn't have to throw away anything. "It's very slow. There are no customers," he said. "But business is like that. You lose or you make. You can complain, but who is going to listen to you?" In the lower section of Manhattan, where a massive power outage persisted, things got even trickier for businesses that wanted to reopen. Most stores were closed, but a few found a way to get customers. Bareburger in the trendy Chelsea neighborhood in lower Manhattan was grilling burgers outside and giving them away, asking only for donations for the Red Cross. The restaurant, which has been in the neighborhood for a year, has lost several thousand dollars a day since losing power Monday. Workers iced down the restaurant's meat, but decided to grill after they realized it wouldn't be safe to eat after Wednesday.

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ABC News: U.S.: Shell Ends 2012 Arctic Ocean Drilling off Alaska

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Shell Ends 2012 Arctic Ocean Drilling off Alaska Oct 31st 2012, 21:14 Shell Oil's flotilla of Arctic Ocean vessels is heading for warmer waters. Royal Dutch Shell PLC announced that it concluded exploratory drilling on Wednesday, its mandatory cutoff date before winter. It completed preliminary drilling at one well at the Burger-A Prospect 70 miles offshore in the Chukchi Sea and one at the Sivulliq Prospect 18 miles offshore in the Beaufort Sea. "We're looking forward to revisiting these wells as soon as we can next year," Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith said by phone from Prudhoe Bay. The end of drilling by Shell's two drill ships and about 20 support vessels wraps up a tumultuous season that saw the company penetrate the ocean floor for the first time in more than two decades, finally making progress on an Arctic offshore investment of more than $4.5 billion, including $2.1 billion for Chukchi leases in 2008. Shell began initial drilling but was prohibited from extending the wells into petroleum reservoirs until it could stage a spill response barge near the exploratory wells. But there were problems getting the spill barge certified by the Coast Guard. Another complication was the continued protest by environmental groups that contend oil companies cannot clean up a spill in waters choked by, or covered by, sea ice. "This year showed to all of us that even one of the world's biggest companies wasn't ready to move forward in the Arctic," said Mike Levine, an attorney for Oceana, from his office in Juneau. A Shell drill ship pulled its anchor and nearly ran aground at an Aleutians Island port, Levine said, and the company damaged its new containment dome as it tested its spill response barge off the coast of Washington state. Less than 24 hours after drilling began Sept. 9 in the Chukchi, Shell moved it drill ship as a precaution because an ice floe 30 miles long and 12 miles wide was heading toward the prospect. "These problems don't give us confidence that this company is ready to pursue a massive industrial undertaking in one of the remotest places on the planet," Levine said. The company considers the season a success, Smith said. Moving off a well to dodge ice moving in from a hundred miles away demonstrated the company's Arctic preparedness, he said. Lessons learned from rotating hundreds of workers onto vessels and managing equipment in cold weather will be used to drill up to 10 exploratory wells during the multi-year project, he said. Shell this year completed two top holes that will be the foundation for a pair of exploratory wells. Top holes consist of mud-line cellars 20 feet in diameter and 40 feet deep that provide protection from ice for a blowout preventer, plus a hole drilled to about 1,500 feet. Drill ships next year will uncap the top holes and drill to oil-bearing rock. Shell contends that a spill is unlikely in the relatively shallow Arctic waters and that its response gear would quickly address a blowout. Levine said a response to a blowout like BP PLC's disaster in the Gulf of Mexico would be hindered by the Arctic's storms, wind, ice and darkness. The federal government, he said, is not keeping its commitment for safe drilling. "We're seeing a government agency that in large part has ignored those realities and bend over backward to allow Shell to undertake these activities," he said.

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ABC News: U.S.: Hoboken, NJ, Residents Wade in Flooded City

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Hoboken, NJ, Residents Wade in Flooded City Oct 31st 2012, 20:54 Across the Hudson River from storm-battered New York City, residents in Hoboken, N.J., waded through near waist-high water with their children and their belongings. "Our basement got completely flooded," said resident Susie Zuckerman. "The water started gushing through the garage door in our building. We're doing the best we can do. We're not going to leave -- there's nowhere to go." Superstorm Sandy's massive storm surge flooded the streets of Frank Sinatra's birthplace, where the water has receded 18 inches in the last 24 hours. The usually bustling downtown Hoboken area is now dotted with debris and broken storefronts, as the sounds of generators churns. Over 50,500 people live in the two-square-mile city, and many residents said they were told not to expect power for up to 10 days. In the meantime, Hoboken City Hall was set up as a shelter. The communal area of one apartment building was jammed with its residents all charging phones, making toast and playing with children as Halloween pumpkins lined the room. City councilman David Mello said he was weighing his options about whether to have his family leave. "I might get my family out of here, but I'm gonna stick around. This is obviously unparalleled," Mello said. "The biggest concern here is we might run out of gas for the generators. We only have more to last 48 hours. If that runs out, we'll have to evacuate." After Sandy, New York City Underwater, Cut Off Watch Video Sandy Wrath: Breezy Point, Queens in Smoldering Ruins Watch Video Superstorm Sandy: Extreme Weather Impacts Politics Watch Video The National Guard arrived on Tuesday night to help with search and rescue. Army personnel used boats to help get to people trapped in their apartments. "I've been waiting to leave for three days," said a woman named Rosie as she piled into the back of an Army truck with a smile on her face. At another apartment building on the corner of First and Harrison, a mother held her baby as they peered out of their third-flood apartment, waiting to be rescued. Hoboken is also home to many New York City commuters. Samantha Bennet, 26, works for an Internet start-up in the city called Passenger and left Hoboken today with her husband Steve Bennet for nearby Jersey City to stay with a friend after their apartment building flooded. "There was about eight feet of water in our basement," she said. "It has receded. We were actually pretty lucky...every basement apartment has at least four to six feet of water." Bennet said her apartment was on the third floor, so they weren't affected by flooding, but that they didn't have power or hot water. Although the storm surge came up Monday night, she didn't evacuate until today because only basement and ground floor apartments in Hoboken were ordered to evacuate. "It was like an exodus, people with backpacks and bags walking out of Hoboken," she said. Bennet said the standing water is starting to smell like oil from submerged cars on the streets, and sewage because the sewage system is backed up. "People were using half of fan covers to clean out the gutters so the water would go into the sewer," she said. "They were also using rakes, but they kept breaking ... and as soon as they got the leafs out, more would come back in." In the wake of the widespread damage in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie today issued an executive order to postpone all Halloween celebrations in his state until Monday. For those residents living on the New Jersey coastline, Christie described the damage as "unfathomable" and "unthinkable."

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ABC News: U.S.: Obama, Christie Tour Sandy's Devastation

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Obama, Christie Tour Sandy's Devastation Oct 31st 2012, 21:29 President Obama surveyed the devastation wreaked by the superstorm Sandy today with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in what both men said was a non-political event. But it was a powerful image of bipartisan cooperation just six days before the election. Following a helicopter tour of the state's battered shoreline, Obama expressed his sympathies and promised the full weight of his office and the federal government in providing aid. "We are here for you, and we will not forget," Obama said. "We will follow up to make sure you get all the help you need until you rebuild. "I don't want anybody to feel that somehow this is all going to get cleaned up overnight," Obama said. "But what I can promise you is that the federal government will be working as closely as possible with the state and local officials, and we will not quit until this is done." Obama was accompanied on the tour by Christie, a vocal supporter of Obama's challenger, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. However, Christie has praised the president for his oversight of federal emergency efforts. Christie again thanked the president today, saying the two men had a "great working relationship" and that the president "sprung into action immediately." Although it was not a political statement, Christie's comments were an unlikely endorsement of the president's leadership at crucial juncture in the presidential race. Together, the two men cut a surprising image of bipartisanship and cooperation ahead of next week's vote, as polls show the race in a dead heat nationally. New polls in three key swing states show Obama holding his lead in Ohio and wiping away Romney's advantages in Virginia and Florida. ABC News President Barack Obama and N.J. Gov. Chris... View Full Size Obama: Calls Recovery a Federal, State and Local Effort Watch Video Superstorm Sandy: Gov. Chris Christie on New Jersey Damage Watch Video Presidential Election 2012: Obama, Romney Reach Out to Young Voters Watch Video Obama leads 49 percent to 47 percent in Virginia and had a 48 percent to 47 percent edge in Florida, according to the Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News poll. Obama's leads in those two states were within the margin of error, meaning the candidates were essentially tied. But Romney was leading in those states just a few days ago in other polls. In Ohio, Obama is maintaining a five-point lead, with a 50-45 margin, according to Quinnipiac. In a new video today, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said he thinks Obama is in the dominant position heading into Election Day because, "We are ahead or tied in every single battleground state." (For more politics coverage check out abcnews.com/politics or, for lighter take, otusnews.com) The Romney campaign disputed the results of the Quinnipiac survey, claiming it overestimated the size of the Democratic turnout. Ohio, Virginia and Florida are among the most vital of the battleground states for both campaigns. The Quinnipiac survey was the first major poll of the swing states released since superstorm Sandy made landfall in Atlantic City, N.J., Monday evening, wreaking billions of dollars in damage and delivering an October surprise that no pundit predicted. The polling, however, was done before Sandy arrived and may have altered voter attitudes towards the candidates. Romney today went back to a day of full campaigning after a brief respite out of respect to the storm victims, and his campaign hoped that the momentum generated in the days before Sandy would hold through Election Day. He was to attend two "victory rallies" in Florida today with a number of high-profile conservatives, including former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Sen. Marco Rubio. Obama was to return to campaigning Thursday with events in Green Bay, Wis., Las Vegas and Boulder, Colo. Meanwhile, Romney and conservative Super PACs were spending big in the Democratic-leaning states of Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Republicans said Romney's slim lead in nationwide polls gave them the opportunity to go after Obama in blue-leaning states, which the president did not yet have fully locked up. The Democrats, however, said Republicans were spending money in blue-leaning states because the swing states were already saturated with political ads, and buying new ads would be prohibitively expensive for outside groups.

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ABC News: U.S.: Report Blames DOE for Compromised Security Test

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Report Blames DOE for Compromised Security Test Oct 31st 2012, 21:30 A federal investigation into how guards at a Tennessee nuclear weapons plant got copies of questions in advance of a written security skills test has called on the Department of Energy to improve its oversight of private contractors. DOE inspector general Gregory H. Friedman said in a report Wednesday the questions were widely distributed among security officers at the Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge. Similar compromises may have occurred at other DOE sites and not been discovered, the report concluded. "The failure to property safeguard the test prior to its administration, especially given the intense focus on Y-12 and the security concerns at the site, was, in our opinion, inexplicable and inexcusable," the report said. The plant came under scrutiny after it took hours for guards to respond July 28 when three anti-nuclear protesters cut perimeter fences, made their way to the building that houses the nation's bomb-grade uranium and defaced it with spray paint and blood. The report said the "eyes on, hands off" approach to contractor governance by the National Nuclear Security Administration, the DOE agency responsible for nuclear facilities, contributed to the security test being compromised in August when a copy was sent to security contractor WSI-OR. In a written response, DOE's Office of Health, Safety and Security challenged the oversight recommendation, saying the high cost would outweigh the benefit. A spokesman for DOE in Oak Ridge didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. NNSA spokesman Steve Wyatt declined to comment. The investigation into the leaked test began after a DOE security official inspecting operations at Y-12 found a copy of it in a WSI-OR patrol car Aug. 29. The written test was to be given to guards the next day. DOE canceled the exam and rewrote the test, the inspector general's draft report said. The test materials were sent to WSI-OR because the federal government's security official at Y-12, who wasn't identified by name, said he wasn't qualified to review the test and offer suggestions for improvements, the report said. The security office confirmed that federal officials overseeing the sites often lack detailed knowledge about security needs. "While one would expect that in normal situations testing materials would be withheld from the entity being tested, we learned that such was not the case in the Y-12 situation," the report said. The government sent the test in an encrypted email to Y-12's primary contractor, B&W Technical Services Y-12, which then forwarded it to a WSI-OR manager. The report found the test eventually went to shift captains and their subordinates, who treated the document as a "training aid." The report said claims by WSI-OR employees that there was no intent to cheat were questionable but it couldn't disprove them. The report found that the email didn't specifically instruct the recipient to keep the test secret. The security employees told the inspector general's office they hadn't noticed the document's headline, which read "Y-12 Protective Force Test Key." The inspector general also reported that B&W suspected WSI-OR of trying to cover up efforts to cheat on the test but the investigation couldn't prove that. WSI-OR was fired Oct. 1 because of the July intrusion.

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ABC News: U.S.: Obama and Christie Tour Sandy's Devastation

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Obama and Christie Tour Sandy's Devastation Oct 31st 2012, 19:06 President Obama surveyed the devastation wreaked by the superstorm Sandy today with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in what both men say was a non-political event, but was a powerful image of bipartisan cooperation just six days before the election. Obama was greeted on the tarmac by Christie, a vocal supporter of Obama's challenger Mitt Romney, and the two men boarded the president's Marine One helicopter to asses the damage along the battered New Jersey shore. Christie has praised the president for his oversight of federal emergency efforts. Although it was not a political statement, Christie's comments are an unlikely endorsement of the president's leadership at crucial juncture in the race. Together the two men cut an image of bipartisanship and cooperation ahead of next week's vote, as polls show the race in a dead heat nationally. New polls in three key swing states show Obama holding his lead in Ohio and wiping away Romney's advantage in Virginia and Florida. Obama leads 49 percent to 47 percent in Virginia and had a 48 percent to 47 percent edge in Florida, according to the Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News poll. Obama's lead in those two states are within the margin of error, meaning the candidates are essentially tied, but Republican rival Mitt Romney was leading in those states just a few days ago in other polls. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo President Barack Obama is greeted by New... View Full Size Superstorm Sandy: Gov. Chris Christie on New Jersey Damage Watch Video Presidential Election 2012: Obama, Romney Reach Out to Young Voters Watch Video Mitt Romney Shows Strength With Male Voters Watch Video In Ohio, Obama is maintaining a five point lead with a 50-45 margin, according to Quinnipiac. In a new video today, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said he thinks Obama is in the dominant position heading into Election Day because, "We are ahead or tied in every single battleground state." (For more politics coverage check out abcnews.com/politics, or for lighter take otusnews.com) But the Romney campaign disputed the results of the Quinnipiac surveys, claiming that it overestimates the size of the Democratic turnout. Ohio, Virginia and Florida are among the most vital of the battleground states for both campaigns. This is the first major poll of the swing states released since superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening, wreaking billions of dollars in damage and delivering an October Surprise that no pundit had predicted. The polls, however, were taken before Sandy arrived and may have altered voter attitudes towards the candidates. Romney today goes back to a day of full campaigning after a brief respite out of respect to the storm victims, and his campaign hopes that the momentum generated in the days before Sandy hit will hold through Election Day. He will attend two "victory rallies" in Florida today, with a number of high profile conservatives including former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Sen. Marco Rubio. Obama will return to campaigning Thursday with events in Green Bay, Wisc., Las Vegas, Nev., and Boulder, Colo. Meanwhile, Romney as well as conservative Super PACs are spending big in the Democratic-leaning states Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The Republicans say Romney's lead nationwide gives them the opportunity to go after Obama in blue leaning states, which the president does not yet have fully locked up. The Democrats, however, say Republicans are spending because advertising in the swing states is already saturated with political ads, and buying new ads is prohibitively expensive for outside groups.

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