STORM

The storm arrived just as many farmers were planning to harvest corn, cotton, tobacco and other crops.

By Tuesday, the death toll from Irene had risen to at least 40. The sharp increase from initial reports of 25 casualties came as a number of drowned bodies were recovered and several more people electrocuted by downed power lines.

The federal government will distribute emergency supplies across Vermont to people and communities still feeling the effects of Hurricane Irene, which is threatening to become the state's worst natural disaster since the historic 1927 flood.

Nearly a quarter of Long Islanders are in the dark three days after Irene lashed the island

Massive flooding and widespread power outages continued to bother Vermont on Tuesday after Hurricane Irene hit the small Northern state on Sunday.

According to reports, these weary travelers may be stuck for days as airlines stagger to get back on schedule.

Long Beach, NY is getting ready to host the Quiksilver Pro New York Surf Competition, the world's first $1 million professional surfing event.

Maria Sharapova survived an early scare at the U.S. Open Monday after Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova had been knocked out of the year's final grand slam, which began on time and in perfect conditions after a week of wild weather in New York.

Amid a sluggish U.S. job market, a patch-work recovery in the housing market sector, and now damage from Hurricane Irene, it's understandable if U.S. investors are hesitant regarding deploying new money to the stock market. Where's the Dow Jones Industrial Average headed from here?

Lest anyone believe that SAG and AFTRA have lost interest in their latest merger go-around, the two labor groups put out an announcement Monday, touting the fact that their respective merger task forces had gotten together over the weekend for a videoconference bi-coastal chit-chat, despite severe storm conditions in New York.

Three people are confirmed dead in Vermont on Monday after flood waters from Hurricane Irene somewhat reshaped parts of that state ? and upstate New York ? in what is said to be the worst natural disaster since an epic flood in 1927.

Irene ran through 10 states on the East Coast, damaging several communities, including some in New York and New Jersey, with winds and floods. It is believed that Irene claimed 25 lives as of Monday and caused between $7 billion and $13 billion in damages.

Vermont Monday continued to fight back from what is rapidly becoming the state's worst natural disaster since the historic 1927 flood. Dozens if not hundreds of people remain stranded, provisions for food and water are dwindling in certain areas, and swollen rivers continued to be a threat.

Washington's never-ending budget battle threatened to snarl the recovery from Hurricane Irene as a top Republican said on Monday that any federal aid will have to be offset by spending cuts elsewhere.

Amazon is preparing to take on Apple's iPad in a head-to-head battle that promises to get interesting soon -- as soon as Amazon launches its new tablet, possibly as early as October. If you thought the discontinued TouchPad's brief success as a $99 fire sale product as the first realistic competitor to Apple's iPad was interesting, you haven't seen anything yet. Amazon has shown the company can be successful with a mass consumer tablet-like product -- the Kindle e-reader.

Energy firms along the Eastern Seaboard scrambled on Monday to resume operations after Hurricane Irene left 5.5 million customers without power.

After Hurricane Irene forced a massive shutdown of mass transit in New York City, subway service has been fully restored citywide, NBC New York reported.

Dominion Resources Inc., which generates 28,200 megawatts of electricity and operates 6,300 miles of electric transmission lines in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and New England, said Monday nearly all its customers who suffered Hurricane Irene-related outages will have power restored by the end of the day Friday.

The hard-working maids of The Help hung on to the top of a storm-battered box office over the weekend and beat a trio of new releases with $14.3 million in domestic ticket sales, studio estimates released on Sunday showed.

The New York Blood Center, which serves more than 20 million people in New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley and New Jersey, is the first blood bank to suffer from an urgent need of blood donors because it lost an estimated 2,000 donations during the Hurricane Irene storm.