This weekend's torrential rainstorm killed at least six people in New York and New Jersey, and the NYPD says it received the second highest volume ever of 911 calls in a 24-hour period (65,000)—even more than on 9/11. (The 2003 blackout still ranks number one in 911, with 96,000 calls.) The storm dumped up to 6 inches of rain on parts of the tri-state area, stranding hundreds of travelers in trains, cars and airports, and causing "tens of millions of dollars" in damage according to Senator Chuck Schumer, who called on FEMA to send damage assessment teams to parts of New York. As of last night, more than 57,000 Con Ed customers were without power. Guess which borough had the fewest power outages! more ›

Remember Monday's Brooklyn Heights electrical fire, with the gas leaks and the exploding manhole covers and the power outage and the subway shutdowns and the evacuations? We reported that it was caused by a contractor working for National Grid, who hit an underground MTA electrical line while installing gas service to a home on Willow Place. It turns out the contractor did everything he was supposed to do, including making the required "call before you dig" query, which every contractor must do before ripping into city streets. So what's to stop this from happening again? more ›

There is good news and no news today for New Yorkers with relatives still missing in Haiti following Tuesday's devastating earthquake. Two NYU doctoral students who arrived just a day before the earthquake have been located, following several tense days of waiting. Nathalie Pierre, 24, of Brooklyn and Greg Childs, from South Carolina, were found safe, and flown from Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Republic by the US Coast Guard. And Brooklyn cab driver Pierre Coimin, who had been agonizing over the fate of his 4-year-old daughter, finally heard word from his daughter through the NY Post, which sent a reporter to Coimin with a photo of the girl, her mother, and the message, "Tell Daddy I love him." Others were not so lucky. more ›

Incase the news managed to escape you, Jon Bon Jovi came, sang and conquered Central Park over the weekend. Of the over 60K tickets given away to fans, around 50K showed up to the Great Lawn...leaving a reported 150K plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The AP reports, "Major League Baseball, which sponsored the event, said that more than 100 volunteers worked into the next day collecting the recyclables," an effort made in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council -- there's no word yet on how the 13 acres of Kentucky bluegrass fared during the show. And if you weren't rocking, rolling and littering in the crowd on Saturday, some of the show has landed on YouTube. more ›