Two people are dead after a tragic accident in Farmingville, Long Island. Eduardo Vanegas-Fuentes, 16, and Edgar Calderon-Castro, 19, opened the cover to a backyard cesspool around 8 p.m. Vanegas-Fuentes apparently lost his footing, fell in, and lost consciousness. Then Calderon-Castro, in an attempt to save his friend, jumped in, but he too lost consciousness. more ›

Investigators think they've solved the mystery of the missing manhole cover that should have kept a LI teen from falling to his death on Sunday. Half the lid was removed by a worker from a neighboring pizza parlor, who tried to save Amiri Zeqiri. The rest has now been extracted from the cesspool 20 feet below, using a giant red magnet. Officials told Newsday that "the cover was in place and in some kind of shape that . . . when he stepped on it, it broke apart and he fell in." Zeqiri, who worked at Dunkin Donuts, was taking trash to the dumpster when he fell into the sewage pipe. more ›

Two Con Ed workers were injured when a manhole exploded at Broadway and Hart Streets in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. According to MyFoxNY, "one worker was struck in the head by the manhole cover after the explosion." He is in critical condition; both workers are at Kings County Hospital. WABC 7 says they "were working on a nearby service box when the explosion sent the manhole flying into the air." more ›

Long Island Congressman Peter King tried to take care of a campaign donor in the manhole cover business by sending $3 million in federal funds their way for covers that Con Edison refused to even use. Various people connected to the Long Island company Manhole Barrier have donated almost $17,000 to King, who requested the federal funding in earmarks for locking manhole covers they said would thwart terrorists. But Con Ed said no to the covers that would only cover 2% of their manholes, saying they would be an obstacle to firefighters as well. One Con Ed official told the News, "We said 'no,' it's impractical. What are you going to do? Have 250,000 keys for these things?" Con Ed says that security cameras plus the 300-pound weight of their covers should be more than enough to protect from any terrorist infiltration. King is gearing up for a Senate bid, in all likelihood against newly appointed Senate replacement Kirsten Gillibrand. more ›