"Federal officials Wednesday warned people not to come in contact with the water or eat any fish or shellfish from Newark Bay and the lower Passaic and Hackensack rivers because contamination levels remain dangerously high after Hurricane Sandy crippled a key sewage treatment plant."

"About 166,000 homes and businesses in the eastern United States were still without power on Sunday, after being battered first by Hurricane Sandy in late October and then by last week's Nor'easter storm, company and government data showed."

"ABOUT 100,000 homes and businesses in New York City and Long Island were so damaged by hurricane Sandy that restoring power to some of them may take months, the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has said."

"A northeaster threatened to unravel progress made since Hurricane Sandy ravaged the New York area, delivering a second angry serving of howling wind and high water on Wednesday in places where misery and frustration had yet to recede."

"Residents of Moonachie and Little Ferry, N.J., are beginning to clear the damage after their communities were inundated by floodwaters. The flooding occurred when a system of levees and berms was unable to control the storm surge pushed ashore by Superstorm Sandy."

Floods, sewage overflows, and power outages have made public drinking water supplies temporarily unsafe in many utility service areas across the states hit by superstorm Sandy. The best course of action for water users in those areas is to pay attention to messages from local utilities and state authorities.

"As Hurricane Sandy pushed floodwater through New York's streets and into its subways, many wondered how the city's infamous rat population would fare -- sink or swim?"

"The hillside vineyards of New York's Finger Lakes region make money producing fine Rieslings and inviting tourists to sip white wine by the water's edge. Now winery owners are worried about the prospect of a grittier kind of economic development: gas drilling."

"TARRYTOWN, N.Y. -- A federal hearing that could decide the future of a nuclear plant in the New York City suburbs began Monday on a less-than-dramatic note."

Efforts to remove 17 miles of dioxin-laced muck contaminating New Jersey's Passaic River seem to have failed.

"NEW BEDFORD -- A long-departed manufacturing company will pay $366 million to clean the PCB-laden harbor here, the largest cash settlement for a single site in the history of the federal Superfund program, government officials announced Wednesday."

"BINGHAMTON -- Broome County Executive Debbie Preston has been a consistent supporter of natural gas drilling in the Southern Tier, but challenger Tarik Abdelazim speaks passionately against hydrofracking until more studies are done."

"NEW BEDFORD -- The Evangelical Church of the Nations has spent five years waiting. Waiting to learn if it can move, waiting to learn if it can build an addition, waiting to learn if the church land is a safe place for children to play."

"ALBANY, N.Y. -- State regulators claim a strong record of oil and gas drilling oversight, but their own reports reveal thousands of unplugged abandoned wells and other industrial problems that could pose a threat to groundwater, wetlands, air quality and public safety."

"Seeking to reduce runaway obesity rates, the New York City Board of Health on Thursday approved a ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants, street carts and movie theaters, the first restriction of its kind in the country."