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PORTJERVIS, N.Y. – The first big snowstorm of the season in the Northeast closed sections of major highways Tuesday and blacked out more than 100,000 utility customers. The National Weather Service posted a winter storm warning for parts of New York state, in effect until 8 a.m. Wednesday, and issued winter storm advisories for parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Vermont. "It looked like a mini blizzard in October," said Joe Orlando, spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. "We're salting the roads and we haven't even gone trick-or-treating yet." Up to a foot of snow was possible in parts...

The Presidential Election of 2008 will mark the end of the Eastern wing of the Republican Party. The Eastern wing of the Republican Party has dominated the party since the founding of the GOP in the mid 1800s. However, since the 1960s the power base of the Republican Party has shifted West and South. This has left an increasingly orphaned Eastern wing of the Republican Party. They have had a mild resurgence in the mid 1990s when a swathe of North Eastern states including (incredibly!) Massachusetts fell under Republican Governorships. However in the last 8 years, state after state in...

Despite her efforts to portray herself as an average, small-town, "folksy" American, Sarah Palin's political views - ardently pro-gun, pro-censorship, antichoice and antigay - make John McCain's conservative credentials pale in comparison. What few observers have said, however, is these beliefs are not just extreme - they are radical, and even bear a comparison with some of the most notorious "rural radicals" of our time.

Battle for the ’Burbs How Republicans can compete for the upper middle class ROSS DOUTHAT & REIHAN SALAM It was only four years ago that conservatives — and a great many liberals — were convinced that the Democratic party was doomed to become a purely regional institution: “a national party no more,” to borrow the title of Georgia Democrat–turned–Bush supporter Zell Miller’s 2003 memoir. Pundits brandished county-by-county maps showing blue enclaves drowning in a sea of red; they talked up the growth of GOP-leaning regions and constituencies and the daunting demographic gaps (God, babies) facing the Democratic party; they murmured...

PORTLAND, Maine - Temperatures dropped to breathtaking levels, well below zero, in extreme northern sections of Maine early Monday. Thermometers registered 34 degrees Fahrenheit below zero at Van Buren, 27 below at Presque Isle and 26 below at Allagash, the National Weather Service reported. In the northern Rockies, Butte, Mont., registered 32 below at 8 a.m. — with a wind chill of minus 47, the weather service said. Another of the nation's usual cold spots, International Falls, Minn., ...

BOSTON (AP) - Motorists slid off roads Sunday across the Great Lakes states into New England as a storm already blamed for three deaths cut visibility and iced over highways with a wind-blown brew of snow, sleet and freezing rain. The National Weather Service posted winter storm warnings from Michigan and Indiana all the way to Maine. Nearly a foot of snow had fallen on the Chicago area and 10 inches in parts of Michigan and Vermont. Meteorologists said 18 inches was possible in northern New England and there was a chance of up to 14 inches in parts of...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A severe weather system blamed for five deaths plowed eastward out of the Plains on Saturday, leaving snow piled more than a foot deep and rattling the Gulf states with violent thunderstorms. The Northeast prepared for possible coastal flooding. The storm blew across the Plains on Friday, piling snow a foot deep in Kansas and raking Texas with high wind. "I felt my house start shaking like the wind and I ran in here and grabbed my little girl," Amanda Rymer, 21, said in Haltom City, Texas. "As soon as I moved her, the roof fell...

April 5, 2007 Population boom Just three Northeast metropolitan regions added more people this decade than the Lehigh Valley By Gregory Karp The Lehigh Valley smashed through the 800,000 population mark during 2006 and ranks among the very fastest growing regions in the Northeast, according to Census data to be released today. Population growth has caused a before-your-eyes metamorphosis of the region in a few years. Since the last full Census in 2000, the Lehigh Valley added 59,942 people, nearly the same as the Boston metropolitan area. The nearly 60,000 people are more than twice the population of Easton, and...

Airlines were forced to cancel hundreds of flights in the northeast United States Friday as a winter storm closed in, bringing a grim mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain. Up to 45 centimeters (18 inches) of snow were forecast to fall on Friday in upstate New York, while New York City was expecting 20 centimeters, said Kevin Lipton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Much of the United States has experienced a milder than usual winter, with many in the northeast thinking spring had sprung early this week, but Lipton said the flurries were not unusual for the...

Colder air is now moving in...the rain has shifted southward. The threat of flooding will diminish overnight. The Flood Watch remains in effect through Midnight. The Problem spots that we are watching due to Ice Jams are the following: Mettawee River-Granville Canajoharie Creek Mohawk River...Especially Ft. Plain Area A Heavy Snow Warning is in Effect for the Capital Region from 10AM Friday 'til 2pm Saturday. A Winter Storm Watch in Effect for the Adirondacks. A storm system will be developing on the North Carolina and the Virginia Coast around Daybreak. Snow will break out near Kingston around 7am and slowly...

NEW YORK: Crude oil fell below $59 a barrel Wednesday, registering its biggest drop in 20 months as mild U.S. weather curbed demand for heat and traders bet that fuel supplies had risen. Home-heating demand in the Northeast, the region responsible for 80 percent of U.S. heating-oil use, will be 43 percent below normal through Wednesday, said Weather Derivatives, a forecaster based in Belton, Missouri. And U.S. fuel stockpiles probably rose last week, according to a Bloomberg News survey. "The entire focus is on the weather," said Tom Bentz, an oil broker with BNP Paribas Commodity Futures. "It looks like...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27, 2006 – Iraqi security forces, supported by Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers, expanded their combined security effort into the Adhamiyah neighborhood of northeast Baghdad today in support of “Operation Together Forward.” The combined operations are being led by the soldiers of 1st Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division and 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, officials in Iraq said. They are supported by Iraqi National Police from 1st Brigade, 1st National Police Division and soldiers from 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The operations are designed to reduce the level of murders, kidnappings, assassinations, terrorism and sectarian violence in northern...

ICE & FBI agents arrest 31Korean nationals throughout the Northeastern United States in federal human trafficking case Korean women were smuggled to U.S. work as prostitutes in brothels NEW YORK, NY -- Michael J. Garcia, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Roslynn R. Mauskopf, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Mark J. Mehrson, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, today announced that 31 individuals were arrested yesterday and charged in a wide-ranging human trafficking ring...

NYISO now reporting a record system load of 33,250 MW (NYISO covers NY & LI) Current Heat index @ Albany = 104.4F

More Rain Likely for Soaked NortheastBy STEPHEN MANNING Tuesday, June 27, 2006 WASHINGTON - Workers pumped water from the IRS headquarters' flooded basement Tuesday and mopped up at other government buildings Monday after heavy rain swamped the nation's capital. A brief break from the two-day deluge gave crews a chance to reopen commuter routes and set up sandbags to prevent more water from getting inside buildings. More than 7 inches of rain fell on the nation's capital in a 24-hour period Sunday and Monday, shutting down several federal buildings and closing some of the city's busiest tourist attractions just days...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The tiny state of Rhode Island still ranks rock bottom in terms of driving knowledge, according to a national test conducted by GMAC Insurance. Oregon drivers answered the most questions correctly. The test revealed that about one in 11 licensed drivers in the United States would fail a state drivers test, according to GMAC Insurance. Rhode Island ranked last year, also, with an average score of 77. Last year, Oregon's average score was 89, which still placed at the top of the rankings that year. Based on average scores, northwestern states generally ranked highest while the...

Two former Fort Monmouth workers, and the daughter of one of them, are accused of scheming to have government contractors provide no-show jobs for the daughter. Accused in an indictment made public today are 55-year-old Michael Rzeplinski, a former programs director for the General Services Administration and former Army supervisory engineer; 61-year-old Connie Davidson, a former G-S-A employee who lives with Rzeplinski in Red Bank, and her 33-year-old Kirsten Davidson of Red Bank. All three are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Rzeplinski also faces two counts of mail fraud and three counts of tax evasion. Rzeplinski and...

In its annual estimate of the state and local tax burden that will be borne by residents in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the Tax Foundation found that five of the 10 least-friendly tax places in 2006 are in the Northeast: Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont. (See state-by-state rankings.) The Foundation, a nonprofit policy research group, comes up with its rankings by measuring what residents pay as a percentage of per capita income in property, sales, income and other personal taxes levied at the state and local level. It also factors in...

"Weather Disaster of Historic Proportions" Could Strike as Early as This Year... The northeast U.S. coast could be the target of a major hurricane, perhaps as early as this season, according to research announced today by the AccuWeather... Hurricane Center. "The Northeast is staring down the barrel of a gun," said Joe Bastardi, Chief Forecaster... "The Northeast coast is long overdue for a powerful hurricane...not a question of if but when." ... "If you examine past weather cycles that have occurred in the Atlantic, you will see patterns of storms," added Ken Reeves, Expert Senior Meteorologist and Director of Forecasting...

When Raymond C. Houghton Jr. was a kid, his father packed him in the back seat of the family sedan with his sister and brothers and drove them to Fort Ticonderoga and other Revolutionary War sites. Looking back more than 40 years, he still remembers walking alone across the deserted battlefield at Saratoga where Colonial troops won an unexpected victory. "There was nobody but myself," said Houghton, a Vietnam veteran. "With all that history, it seemed the sacrifices of all the soldiers who'd fought there had been forgotten." An educator, historian and author, he has been trying to keep American...

This is a great site for Christmas recipes.

CHHAYAGAON(KAMRUP, Assam, India, NOVEMBER 24: Eighteen months ago, on May 10, 2004, when two militants gunned down their favourite teacher just in front of their school, Ratul Rabha (15) and Rituparna Boro (16) didn’t think twice. With the innocence and instinctive courage of their age, they chased the two ULFA militants. They also made themselves eligible for the Bharat Award, India’s top bravery award. ‘‘We heard a gunshot outside our school. First we thought it was a tyre burst,’’ recalled Ratul, ‘‘but when we heard some of our teachers shout, we ran out of the examination hall, and saw two...

The chill in the Manhattan residential real-estate market is blowing across the city's suburbs and outer boroughs. From Westchester County to Fairfield, Conn., to Bergen, N.J., the tri-state area is seeing prices and numbers of sales stalling or dropping, while inventories of properties are starting to pile up. "Sales are drying up at the top," said one northern New Jersey broker. "And now homes on the lower end [of the price scale] are sitting for weeks and months." * * * "In Brooklyn, residential prices went up more than 40 percent between June 2004 and June 2005. But they dropped...

The head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has pledged to boost oversight of the Indian Point nuclear plants after the apparent leak of a radioactive isotope, aides to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday. Clinton, D-N.Y., met with NRC chairman Nils Diaz, who told her he would announce in coming days ``enhanced oversight ... with respect to both the leaks and the emergency notification system,'' said the senator's spokesman, Philippe Reines. Diaz didn't spell out exactly what the enhancements would be, but they could include additional reporting requirements and closer monitoring of the site. The NRC and Entergy Nuclear Northeast,...

Chase-Pitkin Home and Garden Centers, no longer able to successfully compete with the giant Lowe's and Home Depot chains, is going out of business, starting with the store on Chambers Road and another near Syracuse. Those two stores will close by the end of March, Chase-Pitkin's parent company, the Rochester-based Wegmans Food Markets Inc., announced Tuesday. Two remaining Syracuse stores and 10 others in the Rochester area also will close, but a timetable for those moves hasn't been established, said Jo Natale, media relations director for Wegmans. While 122 jobs will be lost when the Big Flats store closes, local...

Mexico immigration wave sweeps Northeast ERIN TEXEIRA Associated Press NEWBURGH, N.Y. - Sunday morning in this small, Hudson Valley city: More than 1,000 parishioners, most from Mexico, pack Spanish-language Masses at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. Afterward, many families flock to El Azteca for its authentic tacos. If somebody needs a ride home, there are at least a dozen local taxi companies catering to newcomers born in the Mexican states of Puebla and Jalisco.New residents from Mexico have, in the last four years, opened dozens of businesses that have begun to reinvigorate the ailing downtown district; they are the region's fastest...

Township Teen Tracks Geopolitical Threats By Jessica Bruder Back in high school, Ryan Mauro said, the kids nicknamed him “Government.” He was often spotted nose-deep in a folder of mysterious, international documents, and the habit had a whiff of intrigue. Sometimes, amid streams of teenage slang, the affable, sandy-haired teenager would drop a word like “Wahhabism” or “Baathist.” “Oh, that’s government talk,” his classmates would tease. Last month, Mr. Mauro, 19, put high school behind him. But even before his graduation he was, by his own reckoning, the Youngest Hired Geopolitical Analyst in North America. Early success had its costs....

June 26, 2005 -- THE old adage, what goes around comes around, certainly holds true for Bradley Campbell and New Jersey's bear hunting season. Campbell, the commissioner of New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection, approved the hunt in 2003 and, in spite of having canceled last year's hunt, Campbell said the state will likely reinstate hunting for black bears in 2005. The decision comes in the wake of months of protest by sportsmen's groups over the bear hunting cancellation, the airing of a documentary that showed the dangers of overabundant black bears in the state and a near attack on...

N.Korea, China to Build New Bridge Across the Yalu the current Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge North Korea and China have agreed to build a new bridge across the Yalu River below the railway bridge connecting the two countries, an official from the Chinese border city of Dandong revealed Thursday. "Because the current Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge is limited in its ability to cope with rising traffic, we need to build another bridge across the Yalu River,” the vice head of the Dandong Development and Reform Committee said during the first ever North-South Transport Forum in the city on Thursday. “North Korea...

Cuneiform tablets and royal stamp unearth in northeast Syria Syria, Local, 6/2/2005 The Syrian-Belgian joint excavation mission in northeast Syria has recently discovered some cuneiform tablets dating back to the neo Assyrian king in the Mesopotamia Shamshi Adad, 1800 BC, as well it unearthed the king personal stamp. Head of the Belgian team of excavations told SANA today that after the discovery of the king special stamp, the mission is doing her best to come across the full palace of the king, noting that the mission has started her excavation work this year at Shager Bazar hill in Hassaka, northeast...

AIZAWL, India, April 26 (Reuters) - Once every 48 years, throughout the misty forests of Mizoram in northeastern India, wild bamboo flowers in unison. When it does, famine traditionally follows. In 1959, in this hilly outpost of India's remote northeast, bamboo flowered and rats feasted on small green bamboo fruits and bred in their millions. When the fruit was exhausted, they swept like a plague through paddy fields, leading to widespread food shortages. In 2007, the government hopes to be better prepared. "In 1959, we forewarned the state government of Assam that there would be starvation, but they did not...

AIZAWL, India (Reuters) - In unison they dip their middle fingers into their plastic cups of grape juice, calling out in Hebrew the names of the 10 plagues they believe their God sent to curse the ancient Egyptians. Plastic Israeli flags and photographs of Jerusalem adorn the chipboard walls. Saturday's feast could have been a celebration of Passover anywhere in the Jewish world, but this is no ordinary celebration and these are no ordinary Jews. In India's remote hill states of Mizoram and Manipur, thousands of people who believe they belong to one of the Biblical 10 "lost tribes" of...

100 fastest growing counties Population Estimates for the 100 Fastest Growing U.S. Counties with 10,000 or more Population in 2004: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2004 Geographic Area Population estimates Change, 2000 to 2004 July 1, 2004 April 1, 2000estimates base Number Percent Loudoun County, VA 239,156 169,599 69,557 41.0 Flagler County, FL 69,005 49,832 19,173 38.5 Douglas County, CO 237,963 175,766 62,197 35.4 Rockwall County, TX 58,260 43,083 15,177 35.2 Forsyth County, GA 131,865 98,407 33,458 34.0 Henry County, GA 159,506 119,404 40,102 33.6 Kendall County, IL 72,548 54,544 18,004 33.0 Newton County, GA 81,524 62,001 19,523...

Ryan Mauro of WorldThreats.com was asked to present his own State of the Union address for his high school American Government class. Here it is: Congressmen and fellow citizens: The state of our union is strong, confident and determined. Despite everything the "Blame America First" crowd said, freedom is expanding around the world and the War on Terrorism continues. Our successes in the past year are likely to change the world. For over a decade, the United States ignored growing threats, and preferred to believe that groups like Al-Qaeda acted alone. With every attack it becomes clearer and clearer that...

MANCHESTER, NH – Today, in the face of John Kerry’s flipped position on the Northeast Dairy Compact, members of the New Hampshire Bush-Cheney ’04 Agriculture Leadership Team questioned John Kerry’s ability to make decisions which address the concerns of farmers in the state and across the country. “How can New Hampshire voters trust any decision John Kerry makes when he’s willing to change his position based on what’s politically advantageous? When he needed votes from Massachusetts farmers, John Kerry declared he would fight for the Northeast Dairy Compact. Now that he’s running for another office, he’s made it very apparent...

For the first time, soldiers from India and the United States have come together for a three-week long exercise in guerrilla warfare. It began on March 28 and will end on Friday, April 16. Involving a total of 120 personnel from both sides, it is the largest such exercise between the two countries. Photographs and reportage: Josy Joseph Soldiers no longer have the 'comfort' of their trenches to stare across at the enemy. Modern-day battles are fought with a faceless enemy in extremely treacherous terrain. Also Read:The New Terrorists http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/16spec.htm Also see: The Young Bravehearts http://specials.rediff.com/news/2004/jan/28speca.htm The Counter Insurgency and...

Winter's Last Gasp? Schools Close, Shovels Come Back Out as Snow Spreads Eastward Mar 16, 2004 By Wayne Parry/ Associated Press Writer NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A late-winter snowstorm blew out of the Midwest and into the Northeast on Tuesday, making driving treacherous and closing schools just four days before the start of spring. Up to 10 inches of snow was forecast overnight in parts of Ohio, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and New Jersey was expecting 9 inches. A foot of snow was possible in upstate New York and Massachusetts. Wet roads were blamed for numerous highway crashes, including one that...

With the latest blast of arctic air hitting the Northeast, We in Alaska, where these temperatures are rather normal, take great interest (and some pleasure) in those sharing a bit of the northern lifestyle. Post your location (General) Your Temperature (actual temperature, wind chill does not count) Your story

<p>BOSTON — The Northeast's first major snowstorm of the season grounded airliners, iced highways and sidewalks and kept some would-be holiday shoppers home as forecasters warned of coastal floods and power outages Sunday.</p> <p>At least nine deaths were blamed on the storm.</p>

Energy plan gets local push By JOHN FUQUAY AVALANCHE-JOURNAL A pair of West Texas congressmen are hoping last month's catastrophic blackout in the Northeast will open the door for a comprehensive energy policy that will benefit West Texas and other domestic oil production. U.S. Rep. Randy Neuge bauer, R-Lubbock, said Monday that he believes controversial drilling in the Arctic National Wild life Refuge (ANWR) will be tied to an energy bill, which, he said, would lessen dependence on foreign oil. "The House is currently conferencing that bill on some of the more noncontroversial issues to get some agreement on that,...

These are before and after photos of the blackout. Scroll to the post and click on the links... (Searched and did not find these posted, mods eliminate if it is a double post, please)

NOAA Media Contact: Greg Hernandez, NOAA (202) 482-3091, Gregory.Hernandez@noaa.gov Aug. 15, 2003 NOAA POSTS IMAGES ONLINE OF NORTHEAST BLACKOUT NOAA today posted online satellite images taken before and after of the historic blackout of the Northeastern United States, which plunged millions of people into darkness. NOAA processed the night lights data taken by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). NOAA archives the data from the satellite. * NOAA image of night lights before the blackout in the Northeastern USA taken Aug. 13, 2003, at 9:21 p.m. EDT. NOAA processed the data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. Please credit NOAA/DMSP.http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/images/nightlights-081403-0121z2.jpg...

I was surfing the TV channels when I watched a second of O'Reilly, and I heard a former Energy Sec. blame the SOUTHeastern Electric companies for the current Northeastern Blackouts. Something like that turns my stomach. It must a Yankee/Northeastern genetic trait to blame the Southerners in some way for their problems Well my reply to these arrogant Yankees is; unlike you Yankees, we Southerners in Georgia understand that if you need more power, YOU BUILD MORE POWERPLANTS!!!! We Georgians have no energy problems.

New Problems Arise Amid Historic Power Blackout As Transmission Line in Connecticut Fizzles The Associated Press Aug. 15 — A massive power blackout retreated stubbornly Friday as power officials struggled to understand why the historic outage spread in minutes through the northeastern United States and southern Canada. Lights flicked on and air conditioners restarted for some, but new problems arose as the power system struggled back to life. There were growing indications the original problem began in Ohio, rather than New York or Canada, as some had thought. In Connecticut, Gov. John G. Rowland issued an emergency plea for residents...

The largest power outage in U.S. history blacked out the Northeast yesterday afternoon, affecting an estimated 50 million people, including residents of New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut, Ottawa, Toronto, Cleveland and Detroit. A New York state official said the outage came when the Niagara-Mohawk power grid failed just after 4 p.m. Eastern time, CNN reported. Officials believe the cause is not related to terrorism. "This is most likely a natural occurrence," said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg said at a news conference just before 6 p.m. it would take hours rather than minutes to restore the system,...

<p>ROCKAWAY TWP. - In the 1990s, Scott L. Bach was becoming more and more active in the National Rifle Association. His girlfriend, a gun control supporter, was not thrilled.</p> <p>So Bach, an attorney, faced a choice - "love or freedom," the 40-year-old attorney recalled on Friday.</p>

"U. of Mass. Mascot, ''Minutemen,'' Offensive to Some" Posted by the ChronWatch Founder, Jim Sparkman Thursday, May 08, 2003 Ron Chimelis, writing in the Amherst Republican, tells us of the campaign to change the University of Massachusetts nickname for tis sport's teams. It seems the current name, the Minutemen, is offensive to some. AMHERST - Having stood up bravely to the British more than 200 years ago, the Minuteman is finding he may be no match for 21st century political correctness and marketing savvy at the University of Massachusetts. By September, the UMass Gray Wolves men's and women's teams may be charging onto...

VAZ052-053-232200- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED FLOOD WATCH...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 912 AM EST SUN FEB 23 2003 ...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TODAY AND TONIGHT ON THE LOWER OCCOQUAN RIVER... IN VIRGINIA PRINCE WILLIAM/MANASSAS/MANASSAS PARK FAIRFAX AS OF 830 THIS MORNING...THE DAM OPERATOR AT THE UPPER DAM AT OCCOQUAN REPORTED WATER RISING RAPIDLY...AND THEY WERE UNABLE TO CONTROL FLOW OVER THE SPILLWAY. NO FLOODING WAS OCCURING AT THIS TIME. THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING DOWNSTREAM OF THE DAM ON THE OCCOUQAN RIVER AT OCCUQUAN. RESIDENTS THAT LIVE DOWNSTREAM OF THE DAM AT OCCOQUAN SHOULD PAY VERY...

This week, as New England observes the 25th anniversary of the famous Blizzard of ’78, a number of readers wrote to The Telegraph to share their stories from the storm. One was Peter Fisette, who drove his sporty, low-slung 1976 Pontiac Trans Am to work in Wellesley, Mass., the morning of Feb. 6, 1978. After the blizzard hit, he took a company truck home, and made it, but he wouldn’t go to work again – or see his Trans Am – for more than a week.When Fisette was finally able to return to his office, he found only a path...

JAY, Vt. – The Northeast has been seized by extreme cold for more than a week now, with wind chill readings so low that even hardy Vermonters are thinking twice about going outside. “It will take a special attitude to be out there today,” said Bill Stenger, general manager of the Jay Peak ski area, where the afternoon temperature was 14 below zero.Arctic air has been blowing through the Northeast for the past week, creating wind chills as low as minus 60. The last time the mercury in New York City rose above freezing was Jan. 13 – eight icy...