Hurricane Sandy

PARK CITY, Utah — John Schoenfeld came to an exclusive resort here to do business with Mitt Romney. But he stayed for the politics. Schoenfeld spent most of Wednesday in a downstairs conference room of the Stein Eriksen Lodge assessing the investments of Solamere Capital, the firm co-founded by Romney's son Tagg and increasingly managed by Romney himself . Then he learned that several potential GOP presidential candidates would be...

OCEAN CITY, Md. — 2013 CAPBA Winners Washington Metro Radio Outstanding Year Round Local Sports:WTOP-FM, WTOP Sports, WTOP staff. Outstanding Editorial or Commentary:WTOP-FM, Core Values, Chris Core. Outstanding Public Affairs:WAMU, "This Week on Metro Connection: Survival," Rebecca Sheir, Tara Boyle, Kavitha Cardoza, Emily Berman, Jonathan Wilson, Sabri Ben-Achour, Martin Di Caro. Outstanding Photography (TV Only) Outstanding Specialty Reporting: WAMU, "Environment Reporter Sabri Ben-Achour," Sabri Ben-Achour.

The Nov. 3 editorial " Risky business " misplaced blame for the "underwater" condition of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and failed to offer a serious proposal for remedy. Americans will build houses on land they own, foolishly in some cases — but try stopping them. The NFIP has mitigated unwise construction practices and saved taxpayers billions of dollars in disaster relief since its inception. Hurricane Katrina created the deficit that now burdens the NFIP Fund, but that blame is more properly placed with the Army Corps of...

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. — Maryland has removed property buyouts on Smith Island from a Hurricane Sandy recovery plan. Housing and Community Development Secretary Raymond Skinner told Somerset County Commissioners at a special meeting on Thursday that the department decided against the buyouts because of overwhelming opposition to the idea in public comments. "The responses were overwhelmingly against the buyouts, so we are going to take them off the table," he said. The Daily Times of Salisbury reports...

Hurricane Sandy didn't aim at the Washington area, but even its sideways glance packed a lot of punch, and water. Even if you don't have the obvious damage that residents of New York and New Jersey are dealing with, a top-to-bottom check of your house can point out signs of damage that you might otherwise overlook, leading to a lot of grief and expense later. If you haven't already done so, walk around the outside of your house. If a tree crashed onto the roof, you probably already know — and with any luck you have at least temporarily...

Hurricane Sandy, what a beast: The flooding rains we'll see, the tree-toppling winds we'll feel, the hours or days we might endure without power — we'll blame all our weather-related upheaval this week on Sandy. And probably long afterward, we'll remember her name. In fairness, though, what's happening here isn't entirely her fault. The true culprits are a couple of other atmospheric conditions — a high-pressure system centered west of Greenland and a huge wave of cold air moving eastward...

Regarding the Oct. 29 front-page article " Sandy adds to political turbulence ": The unpredictable closure of early-voting polls in Maryland will prevent me and my partner from voting in this year's historic election. I knew I would be out of town on Election Day, as would he, on work-related travel. What we couldn't have predicted, however, is that on the days we had planned to vote early, the polls would be closed, and that by the time they had reopened, we would be gone, with no time even to file an absentee...

Face it, you're stuck. You're not going anywhere, at least until Hurricane Sandy gets tired of all this wind and rain and fussing about. As you've surely heard, the storm has gummed up transportation systems and services along the Eastern Seaboard. Hundreds of flights have been canceled , including itineraries to destinations where "sandy" refers to the quality of the beaches. Officials have also closed major roads and bridges, and Amtrak and bus lines have halted service.

Stuck in the storm without answers? We've taken some of the most frequently asked questions in your neighborhood and provided answers. But we need your input. Do you have more information and tips on these issues? Please use the comments section below to post them for your neighbors. Do you have questions of your own? Please post below; we encourage the community to help you with some answers. How do I call for help if 911 isn't working? The county says 911 service will not malfunction.

PARK CITY, Utah — John Schoenfeld came to an exclusive resort here to do business with Mitt Romney. But he stayed for the politics. Schoenfeld spent most of Wednesday in a downstairs conference room of the Stein Eriksen Lodge assessing the investments of Solamere Capital, the firm co-founded by Romney's son Tagg and increasingly managed by Romney himself . Then he learned that several potential GOP presidential candidates would be...

Mark DeMaria Supervisory Meteorologist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Center for Satellite Applications and Research Best known for: Considered one of the nation's top minds in storm forecasting, DeMaria has pioneered numerous hurricane and wind speed prediction models that have become the bedrock for the nation's meteorologists and the basis for National Hurricane Center forecasts. The results from the models he created are regularly used to make critical decisions about evacuations and...

ASBURY PARK, N.J. — Talk about a public display of affection. President Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's unlikely "bromance," sparked last fall amid a natural disaster and a presidential campaign, blossomed into full flush Tuesday on their very public second date. Obama was back in the Garden State to check up on the rebuilding effort seven months after he and the Republican governor took a helicopter tour to survey the destruction from Hurricane Sandy, which killed...

MOORE, Okla. — After days of grieving and cleanup along Eagle Drive, a battered community took a moment to rest Sunday and welcome President Obama, who after walking several blocks of one devastated neighborhood promised that the country would not turn its back on the residents' recovery. Speaking at what was until last week the brick campus of Plaza Towers Elementary School, where seven children were killed by the slam of a fearsome tornado , Obama offered equal measures of confidence and solace in the...

Many of the small businesses battered by Hurricane Sandy are still waiting for U.S. government assistance, raising concerns among some about Midwest businesses hit by devastating tornadoes. The U.S. Small Business Administration has approved loans to one out of every four business owners who applied for assistance after Sandy hammered the East Coast in October, according to analysis of data the agency submitted to Congress. In addition to the low approval rate, which...

Oklahoma has one of the most conservative congressional delegations of any state: seven Republican men, including fierce advocates for cutting federal spending. Five of those seven voted no in January on a bill to provide $50 billion in disaster funding for states hit by Hurricane Sandy. On Tuesday, the disaster was Oklahoma's instead , a deadly tornado that swept through the town of Moore on Monday afternoon. So those representing Oklahoma all faced the...

Large, gray tree limbs lie on the side of Deephole Point Road on the Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Prince William County. Occasionally, the road dips and the thin dust and gravel pathway gives way to grass. After a storm, those large tree limbs and other debris cut off parts of the key road for bird enthusiasts and other nature lovers who walk it, officials said. The road was recently slated for a $1.8 million upgrade after the Potomac River washed over it during Hurricane Sandy — leading to...

Hurricane Sandy sent 11 billion gallons of sewage from East Coast treatment plants into streams, canals and roadways, according to a report released last week, six months after the storm hit. That total is equal to New York's Central Park stacked 41 feet high with sewage. More than 90 percent of the spills occurred in New York and New Jersey. Of the total, 3.45 billion gallons was raw, untreated and unfiltered, said the report, which was based on state and federal data and on estimates in cases...