Category: blog

A crippling and potentially historic winter storm barreled toward the Northeast on Thursday, threatening tens of millions of people with 2 feet of snow. Boston canceled school and braced for one of its worst blizzards of all time.

The fate of New York City’s legions of rats remained something of a mystery in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Rodent specialists predicted that many rats would drown in submerged subway tunnels, but also that survivors would feast on the buffet of garbage strewed in the streets. Now, several exterminators say they know exactly what happened to the rats: Driven from shorelines, the rodents came inland, in droves.

Mr. Wong said he had been getting calls from schools and businesses, and from luxury buildings where rats have made warrens out of the planters. Shortly after the storm, his company received calls from several customers aghast to discover teeth marks and droppings in their cars. Mr. Wong’s advice: open the door. Though one woman, a BMW owner, refused, and instead hired his company to open the door for her, and shoo the rat out.

President Barack Obama agrees to turn over to Congress classified Justice Department legal advice seeking to justify the targeted killing of American citizens overseas, an administration official said.

A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” — even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.