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Stocks climbed on Tuesday as some investors bet that Republican Mitt Romney could pull off a surprise victory in the presidential vote, citing gains in defense and energy shares. Gains were fairly broad-based, but among S&P 500 sectors, energy led the market along with materials and industrial shares, all sectors that rise with the economy. Defense shares like United Technologies shot higher, raising some market speculation that Romney,, who has called for increased military spending, could be moving ahead of Democratic President Barack Obama in the vote.

Voted at 9:45 am-Longest lines I've ever seen at this polling place (probably because I normally vote at 6-7am) Election district has large population of Hispanics but something new I've noticed this time-I'm seeing a large amount of Eastern European and Irish voters-all no doubt new citizens to this area. Eastern Euros are mostly Russian and Polish. I would guess about a quarter of voters are older white voters (mostly home-owners who for whatever reason have decided to stay here-and who, for the record seem to be largely Romney voters)

New York state on Wednesday asked the U.S. federal government to pay all the costs of cleaning up and repairing damage from massive storm Sandy that tore through the Northeast this week and crippled New York City. Governor Andrew Cuomo said he is asking fellow Democrat, President Barack Obama, to pay 100 percent of the estimated $6 billion bill, at a time that state and local government budgets remain constrained by a weak economic recovery. … New York top finance official, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, said Washington should foot the bill, because of lingering financial pressures on state and local governments...

Hurricane-relief Guardsmen tossed out of armory - for Victoria's Secret show The Victoria’s Secret show must go on — even if it means kicking out hardworking men and women in uniform. Dozens of National Guardsmen, and Army and Air Force personnel who have been sleeping at Manhattan’s Lexington Armory in between hurricane-relief shifts are being booted — to make room for Victoria’s Secret models in anticipation of Wednesday’s runway show. About 300 uniformed personnel have been bunking down at the armory at various times since Sandy hit. But their numbers will be reduced to 60 by Wednesday for the event,...

Mayor Bloomberg’s Response to Sandy Leaves Many New Yorkers Out in the Cold The mayor has brilliantly stage-managed his handling of the storm, but outside the city’s affluent precincts numerous angry residents feel abandoned by his administration as days have passed and help has remained distant, writes Harry Siegel. “Are you from OEM? Or FEMA?” “No, we’re from Brooklyn.” That was the exchange when, after nearly six hours, the volunteer group I spent Sunday with finally managed to deliver supplies— flashlights, blankets, winter jackets, baby supplies, and pet food—to Staten Islanders who’d been rocked by Hurricane Sandy. On television, New...

Elliott Carter, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer who fused European and American modernist traditions in seminal but formidable works, and who lived to hear ovations for music that was once thought to be anything but listener-friendly, died Nov. 5 at his home in New York City. He was 103.

A new storm was expected to hit the New York-New Jersey region that's still shivering and cleaning up after last week's Superstorm Sandy, bringing the threat of 55 mph gusts and more beach erosion, flooding and rain by Wednesday.SNIPThe storm is currently projected to eventually pass within 50 to 100 miles of the wounded New Jersey coastline on Wednesday. The storm is expected to bring winds of up to 55 mph, coastal flooding, up to 2 inches of rain along the shore, and several inches of snow to Pennsylvania and New York. One of the biggest fears was that the...

With Election Day turmoil expected because of the ongoing problems caused by Superstorm Sandy, Gov. Cuomo has signed an executive order allowing displaced voters to cast ballots at any polling site. A person would go to a polling place, sign an affidavit and fill out a ballot anonymously, Cuomo said. The vote will count for the presidential race or the U.S. Senate race. But a person’s vote won’t count if they are voting at a site that is not their home state Senate or Assembly district. “It’s fair,” he said. “You can’t vote for a race that you’re not eligible...

A deeply religious New York man who believes a church's giant crucifix cured his wife of cancer had his own leg amputated after the same crucifix collapsed on top of him.

Today was National Dance for Obama Day, in which flash mobs were organized as part of a get out the vote effort in numerous cities. The weekend before Election Day, we’re turning up the heat and encouraging people to get out and vote with flash mobs across the country. In Manhattan, the flash mob took place at Herald Square, 34th Street and 6th Avenue in the heart of Midtown far from the chaos elsewhere in the city. Nonetheless, only about 12 dancers showed up in this GOTV effort.

As the contentious and divisive 2012 presidential campaign draws to a close, Cornell students and professors say that this year’s election has not generated nearly the same level of excitement on campus as the one in 2008. During the 2008 campaign, Cornell’s campus was “abuzz,” said Prof. Theodore Lowi, government. “There was a lot of talk, a lot of chatter, among both faculty and students, on the issues,” he said. But this year, Lowi said, he has seen far less enthusiasm about the upcoming presidential election. “Walking around campus, I’ve seen no excitement, nothing energizing. I see it as a...

What a run-around! The city left more than a dozen generators desperately needed by cold and hungry New Yorkers who lost their homes to Hurricane Sandy still stranded in Central Park yesterday. And that’s not all — stashed near the finish line of the canceled marathon were 20 heaters, tens of thousands of Mylar “space” blankets, jackets, 106 crates of apples and peanuts, at least 14 pallets of bottled water and 22 five-gallon jugs of water. This while people who lost their homes in the Rockaways, Coney Island and Staten Island were freezing and going hungry.

o Residents claim they are the 'forgotten victims' of Sandy o Also say that lack of power and law enforcement means more looting and violent crime o Those in stricken areas stockpiling weapons like kitchen knives, machetes, and bats to protect themselves o Coney Island residents say they are forced to 'scavenge for food like animals' o Power unlikely to be returned to Brooklyn, Queen's and Staten Island until sometime next week Almost one week after superstorm Sandy struck the East Coast with its ferocious force, power was still out to some 2.5 million customers due to damages, down from...

Shivering victims of Superstorm Sandy went to church Sunday to pray for deliverance as cold weather settling in across the New York metropolitan region -- and another powerful storm forecast for the middle of the week -- added to their misfortunes and deepened the gloom. With overnight temperatures sinking into the 30s and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses still without electricity, New York City officials handed out blankets and urged people to go to temporary warming shelters set up during the day at senior citizen centers. At the same time, government leaders began to grapple with a daunting,...

Sweet dreams: Jackie came up with the idea which has become so popular she has had to hire a second professional Spooning peacefully in a double bed, this pair could be any normal couple on a Sunday morning. But revisit the scene an hour later and Jackie Samuel will be curled up in the arms of another man. The 29-year-old is a professional cuddler. She turned to snuggling with strangers to help pay for her studies and provide for her young son. She can make $260 a day and cuddles with up to 30 men a week - including pensioners...

The damage done. (MTA/Flickr) The Broad Channel A-train crossing is at right. (Bing Maps) The Rockaways have been one of the hardest hit areas of the city following Superstorm Sandy, with lives lost, houses destroyed, crime on the streets. It has also been a remarkably resilient place, with diehard New Yorkers beginning the daunting work of rebuilding. It will be a long time before the Rockaways returns to normal, though, and it turns out that goes for subway service to the area, too.At a press briefing Thursday night, MTA chief Joe Lhota said it would be some time before A-train...

Storm-ravaged and weary Rockaways residents cornered Mayor Bloomberg yesterday to angrily demand more aid for their devastated neighborhood. “When are we gonna get some help?” blasted one desperate woman, who had to be held back by the mayor’s security detail as Bloomberg stood by with a deer-in-the-headlights look. “When are we gonna get some bleeping help?” she demanded. “There’s old ladies in my building that don’t got nothing,” lashed out a man on video caught by a NY1 reporting crew. Bloomberg’s trip to the Rockaways wasn’t announced and wouldn’t have been caught on cameras if the news crew hadn’t happened...

<p>Storm-ravaged and weary Rockaways residents cornered Mayor Bloomberg yesterday to angrily demand more aid for their devastated neighborhood.</p> <p>“When are we gonna get some help?” blasted one desperate woman, who had to be held back by the mayor’s security detail as Bloomberg stood by with a deer-in-the-headlights look.</p>

The disgusting, lynch mob mentality that has arisen from the Trayvon Martin shooting case places us several notches towards race riots this summer. To the balanced observer, Zimmerman really does appear to have likely shot Martin in self defense. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and Barack Hussein Obama started babbling before all the facts were in. These collectivist droids seldom retreat from any lie ... they simply magnify it further. If George Zimmerman is acquitted the fuse will light. Remember Rodney King? If you live in an urban environment, don't be stupid. Pay attention! -------------------------cut-------------------------- EXTRA - 10/31/12 watch the...

America’s heart, soul, brains and muscle — the middle- and working-class people who make this nation great — have been beset for too long by sapping economic decline. So, too, New York breadwinners and families. ~snip~ Revival of the U.S. as a land of opportunity and upward mobility is the central challenge facing the next President. The question for Americans: Who is more likely to accomplish the mission — Barack Obama or Mitt Romney? Four years ago, the Daily News endorsed Obama, seeing a historic figure whose intelligence, political skills and empathy with common folk positioned him to build on...