NEW YORK

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.

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.

With U.S. job growth sluggish, renewed European debt concerns, and now the damage caused by Hurricane Irene, it’s not surprising that cautious investors are reluctant to deploy additional capital to stocks. However, one moderate-risk way to commit new money to equities is to consider stocks that also pay a decent dividend, and here are three options.

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.

LDK Solar Co Ltd suffered a quarterly loss as a sharp drop in solar wafer prices forced it to write down millions of dollars in inventories, but forecast revenue for the current quarter above estimates on stabilizing prices.

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.

Bank of America shares rose more than 6 percent after the banking company announced it agreed to sell Chinese Construction Bank Corp.

The hard-working maids of The Help beat three new releases to win the North American box office on a weekend dampened by Hurricane Irene, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.

Shares of large silver mining companies mostly rose Monday along with the broader stock market as investors ignored the falling price of the white metal on fresh optimism about the strength of the economy.

Jose Sierra, 68, was found floating in a City Island marina on Sunday morning, just a few hours after the hurricane tore through the area.

Shares of large gold mining companies fell Monday, along with the price of the yellow metal, in a sentiment shift away from precious metals and other safe havens toward riskier assets like stocks.

There's an axiom that says, A crisis brings out the best and the worst in the human condition. And that was certainly the case with Hurricane Irene.

Irene does damage to 1,400 cell towers, but for the most part, telecom infrastructure was left alone.

Experts say children and teenagers should not practice boxing because their brains are more vulnerable to acute, chronic injuries and concussions caused by blows to the head.

Gold and silver prices closed lower Monday as some precious metals investors took profit from recent gains and other investors decided fears of a double-dip recession were overblown and put their money in riskier assets like heavily discounted stocks.

Social gaming company Zynga is delaying its IPO, according to a report.

New York City was slowly getting back to business as usual on Monday after Hurricane Irene but hundreds of thousands of people who normally travel in from the surrounding area faced a hellish commute as flooding knocked out some transit routes.

Following Hurricane Irene, the MTA began operating Monday, offering limited service on subway, bus, and railroad.

Tropical Storm Irene battered Vermont state with heavy rains late on Sunday, forcing hundreds of evacuations even as the storm's winds lost strength.

In the wake of Hurricane Irene, airlines are struggling to resume a normal schedule, particularly in New York City.