2.5M Without Power as Cold Snap Looms

A million customers have regained electricity in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, but a cold snap is coming while 2.5 million homes and businesses remain in the dark, report Reuters and the New York Times. From today's stories:

• All but roughly 5,800 people have power in Manhattan and crowds are flowing back into the city's parks. But people in the outer boroughs and suburbs say they are getting desperate with power outages and gas shortages. "I just keep waiting for someone with a megaphone and a car to just tell us what to do," said a Long Island resident.

• With temperatures headed for the low 30s tonight, New Yorkers may run short on fuel despite emergency government deliveries. "There's no heating oil around," said Vincent Savino, president of New York's Statewide Oil and Heating. "I don't know how much fuel we have left: maybe a day or two."
• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has told county clerks to stay open for early voting this weekend, reports Reuters. "Tired of cleaning stuff up?" he said. "Go there in person, you'll get a ballot, you vote and hand it in and you're done." He also promised that paper ballots would be available in voting stations that still lack power on Tuesday.
• Emergency responders have tethered a construction crane that was dangling in midtown Manhattan. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said 57th Street should be reopened tonight.
• Some of the storm's saddest stories are about elderly people who refused to evacuate, the AP reports. Bound by wheelchairs or just too stubborn or tired to leave, nearly a dozen were found dead in New York.

(More Hurricane Sandy stories.)