Emmanuel Dunand / AFP - Getty Images

More than a million people convene at Times Square, where a ball is dropped at midnight at the start of a new year. Millions more watch the festivities on television.

As the blinking Waterford crystal ball dropped over Times Square at midnight, ushering in the new year, a peach dropped in Atlanta and an 80-pound MoonPie prepared to drop in Mobile, Ala. Noisemakers sounded, kissers kissed and those who knew the words sang, “Auld Lang Syne” and Frank Sinatra's version of "New York, New York."

Come morning, a brave few will strip down to their skivvies and run into nearby oceans and lakes for an invigorating polar bear dip. This, they say, in the name of resolution and renewal.

Happy New Year, America. Welcome to 2013.

The new year is also a time of anticipation. In Washington, D.C., this year, thousands lined up at the National Archives to honor the 150^th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the order signed by President Abraham Lincoln which declared an end to slavery. It went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863.

Traditionally, black churches have held Watch Night services, according to TheLeafChronicle.com, a nod to the night when slaves waited to hear the order had gone into effect. That night in churches across the South, Lincoln’s words were read aloud.  

“We will be calling back to an old tradition,” U.S. Archivist David Ferriero told theleafchronicle.com. “When you see thousands of people waiting in line in the dark and cold … we know that they’re not there just for words on paper.”

Tradition is often marked with food, and in the South, a place of tradition in general, black-eyed peas, rice and ham hocks are cooked together to produce a deliciously salty combination. Sometimes, according to a New York Times story from 1987, greens – representing money -- are added to the mix. The black-eyed peas represent coins.

Champagne is a given, usually accompanied by a pop, suds and a toast. Toasts are a “verbal souvenir,” npr.org says: "It's something you take home with you as sort of a remembrance of that time."

Some background on the less obvious of these traditions: The Polar Bear Club was founded on Coney Island in 1903, when it was believed that “a dip in the ocean during the winter can be a boon to one’s stamina, virility and immunity.”

The festivities in Times Square started in 1904 as a huge street party held by the owners of The New York Times who wanted to celebrate the opening of their new building on 42^nd Street, according to the Huffington Post.  

The Huffington Post also tells us that the Times Square ball drop, now a symbol of its own, was a nod to another tradition – the Royal Observatory in England would drop a ball every day at 1 p.m. so that ship captains and others in the region could synchronize time.

If you hear people singing – or mumbling, more likely -- "Auld Lang Syne," know that it was written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1796 who heard it sung by an old man near where he grew up. Here are the words if you want to impress at a party.

Other traditions across the country include the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., which began in 1890 to promote the city as “the Mediterranean of the West.” It has since been folded into the festivities surrounding the Rose Bowl football game.

Mobile, Ala. continues a now five-year-old tradition with an 80-pound MoonPie that was delivered in a huge box to the Mobile Convention Center, according to local15tv.com. That’s 45,000 calories of Moon Pie.

There are other, less boisterous traditions. Faithful Catholics attend a New Year’s Eve mass in honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus. And in Boston, 1,000 artists gather for First Night Festival of the Arts, a tradition started in 1976. The event, which showcases 200 performances, attracts more than a million revelers from throughout the region.

Slideshow: Celebrations as 2013 dawns

Damian Shaw / EPA

From Sydney to Siberia, revelers celebrate the arrival of a new year.

Launch slideshow

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The images out of Washington state toward the end of 2012 — all-night parties celebrating legalized pot and same-sex marriage — sparked hope among liberal activists that the tide has turned on these two issues.

Even though national polls show more openness to pot and gay marriage nationwide, it raised the question — why Washington?

Oregon, the state’s blue neighbor to the south, has not successfully mounted campaigns to approve pot or same-sex marriage. California has had a messy relationship with both issues, and Idaho swings solidly right.

There are a number of unique factors that made Washington ripe for these liberal reforms, experts say.

"There’s a libertarian streak in Washington, and there are more atheists. Religion is part of this," University of Washington Professor John Findlay told NBC News. The state is one of the least religious, with only about half of Washingtonians telling the Gallup poll in 2008 that religion plays a part in their daily lives.

Beyond pot and same-sex marriage, Washington also allows physician-assisted suicide (as do Oregon and Montana) and was one of four states that decriminalized abortion before Roe v. Wade in 1971. To top off its liberal cred: A Democrat has been in the governor's office since 1980 — longer than any other state.

Cliff Despeaux / Reuters

Washingtonians light up near the Space Needle in Seattle after the law legalizing the recreational use of marijuana went into effect in the state.

But to describe Washington as a purely liberal state is to oversimplify its politics. Outside of the Puget Sound area, Washingtonians have more in common with Red State residents than they do coffee-craving Seattleites.

"Without Seattle, we’d be Idaho," says pollster H. Stuart Elway. Seattle-area voters accounted for one-third of the state total.

Washington has no income tax, and the possibility of implementing one is rarely mentioned, even during tough economic times; in 1998, voters nixed affirmative action; two years later, they approved $30 license plate tab renewals, a dramatic fee reduction that cut into city and state coffers, hiking up bus fares and leaving potholes unfilled.

What ties all these measures together, beyond a "live and let live" ethos, is the state's initiative and referendum process, which gives voters, not lawmakers, the power to set policy much more directly than in other states.

Findlay says the initiative process can be traced back to the state’s early days, when Washingtonians, buoyed by the progressive and populist movements, didn't trust their politicians. While politicians in most other states manage what goes on the ballot, Washingtonians can pay $5 to submit an initiative or referendum. Get 241,153 valid signatures (120,557 for a referendum) and that measure is inked on the ballot.

"There’s a legacy of distrust of the Legislature stemming from 100 years ago that has continued to shape politics for more than a century," Findlay said.

Although 24 states and the District of Columbia have an initiative process, it has been most used by the Western states, particularly California, Oregon and Washington, making them laboratories for special interest groups.

Take marijuana, for example, where outside money was a big part of the campaign. Drug Policy Action in New York fronted $1.6 million; Progressive Insurance CEO Peter Lewis, who supports drug reform and lives in Ohio, donated about $2 million.

Elaine Thompson / AP

King County Executive Dow Constantine, right, embraces Pete-e Petersen as her partner, Jane Abbott Lighty, watches after Constantine issued the the county's first marriage license to a same-sex couple. On the night that same-sex marriage became legal in Washington state, many of the state's issued marriage licenses beginning at midnight.

Given their success in Washington and Colorado, Drug Policy Action is looking to push similar campaigns in California and Oregon in 2014 or 2016. Both states have legalized medical marijuana and in California, medical pot has becoming a booming business since it was approved in 1996. A 2007 federal study estimated that Californians consume one million pounds of pot a year.

"We have these results in Colorado and Washington under our belt, so that sort of fertilizes the ground," Dale Gieringer, who heads the California office of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, told Reuters. 

Outside money also played a role in the battle over gay marriage, but so too did some Washington billionaires, including Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, who collectively gave more than $3 million to the campaign to approve same-sex marriage.

"The populist and progressive movements are over, and the feelings are over, but there’s this tool," Findlay said. "A lot of us complain about those things, but it doesn't matter, because it’s going to shape politics in this state. This is the tool we have that most other states don’t have. It’s part of how we do things here. And it doesn't work exclusively for progressives or conservatives."

Other reasons floated for the state’s unique positions on issues: Unions have long had a stronghold in the state, as have female politicians -- the state was home to Dixie Lee Ray, the fiery former governor whose motto during her 1976 campaign was “Little lady takes on big boys.”

But, as Elway noted, Washington’s votes often come down to the Seattle area. Elsewhere on Election Day, conservative Washingtonians watch in dismay as their leads are turned upside down as results from the metropolitan area trickle in.

State Republican Party Chairman Kirby Wilbur told the Seattle Times that the votes speak for themselves.

"Washington has always been a socially liberal and economically conservative state," he said.

To be fair, Washington may not be so far ahead of the rest of the country on social issues such as pot and same-sex marriage, according to Mark Smith, who teaches political science at the University of Washington.

Smith noted that 53.7 percent of Washingtonians approved same-sex marriage. Polling figures show a similar, if slightly lower, level of support nationwide.

"We’re not that far ahead of the nation,” Smith said. "The whole nation is trending; we’re just further along than the rest of the country."

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Rich Pedroncelli / AP

California hunters will no longer be able to use dogs to hunt bobcats and bears. Here, Josh Brones, president of the California Houndsmen for Conservation, walks his hunting dogs, Dollar, left, Sequoia, center and Tanner right, near his home in Wilton.

With every new year comes a hodgepodge of fresh local laws — many serious, some silly, and others so obvious it makes you wonder what took legislators so long.

The National Conference of State Legislatures has compiled a year-end list of some of the laws that go on the books Jan. 1.

Among the winners: California bobcats and Illinois residents who overshare on Facebook. Losers include randy police officers and sex offenders with Santa suits.

In Maryland, same-sex couples will get the right to marry. In California, clergy who oppose gay unions don’t have to perform them.

California also outlawed hound-hunting of bobcats and bears after deciding it isn’t a fair fight.

"There is nothing sporting in shooting an exhausted bear clinging to a tree limb or a cornered bobcat," state Sen. Ted Lieu said when the bill he authored was passed.

Also now prohibited in California: law enforcement officers having sex with anyone in custody, including prisoners who have been arrested but not yet booked.

California and Illinois have both gone to bat for social networkers who want to keep snarky status updates and bikini photos under wraps, barring employers from forcing job applicants or workers to hand over passwords for Facebook and Twitter.

New Year kicks off on Christmas Island, begins rolling west
Beer now considered alcohol, not food, in Russia

Illinois is also looking out for military re-enactors, expanding an exemption from gun laws to include weapons with barrels less than 16 inches long.

Other new Illinois laws: a ban on shark fins and a law prohibiting sex offenders from handing out Halloween candy or dressing up like Santa or the Easter bunny.

Florida is putting the brakes on swamp buggy drivers who want to tool around on state roadways; they can’t, unless local law explicitly allows it.

But the Sunshine State has some good news for drivers who flash their headlights to let oncoming motorists know that police have set a speed trap up ahead. They can no longer be ticketed for it, come the first of the year.

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LA GRANDE, Ore. -- Nine people were killed and at least 20 others hospitalized on Sunday after a tour bus veered out of control on an icy stretch of freeway in eastern Oregon and rolled nearly 200 feet down an embankment, state police said.

State police reported that the driver apparently lost control of the charter bus around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84 and crashed through a guardrail before plunging down an embankment. The Oregonian newspaper reported that the bus  tumbled nearly 200 feet before coming to a halt.

Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings told the newspaper that about 40 passengers were on the bus at the time of the crash, which occurred near milepost 227 on Interstate 84 near Deadman Pass, according to the East Oregonian newspaper. 

Hastings told the East Oregonian that he learned the bus was returning to Las Vegas from British Columbia, Canada.   

Rescue workers used ropes to help retrieve the injured from the scene. Westbound lanes of I-84 were closed.

The Oregonian said 18 passengers were transported to St. Anthony's Hospital in Pendleton, about 13 miles northwest of the crash scene. Hospital spokesman Larry Blanc would not say if or how many passengers sustained life-threatening injuries, it said.

Three fixed-wing aircraft also were on standby at the Pendleton airport if needed to transport injured to hospitals elsewhere, state police said.

Authorities did not immediately identify the operator of the charter bus.

Oregon State Police / Reuters

Rescue personnel respond to the scene of a charter bus crash on I-84, east of Pendleton, Ore. in this photo released on Dec. 30. Police said the bus may have gone out of control on the highway before crashing through a guardrail and down an embankment.

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A report released Monday by the Senate Homeland Security Committee lambasted the handling of security around the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in September when a deadly attack took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

In the months leading up to the Sept. 11 attack, there was a "rising crescendo" of evidence from U.S. intelligence sources and State Department personnel that the situation was becoming dangerous and unstable, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, one of the report's authors, said in a press conference on Monday.

"The tragedy is, however, that the reaction to the flashing red indicators was woefully inadequate," said Leiberman.

The 31-page report, "Flashing Red: A Special Report On The Terrorist Attack At Benghazi," paints a picture of a vulnerable outpost in Libya’s second-largest city, where it was clear that the new post-Gadhafi government was unable to provide full protection to diplomatic staff.

Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking Republican member, said the congressional investigation found that "terrorists essentially walked right into the Benghazi compound unimpeded and set it ablaze, due to extremely poor security in a threat environment."

Collins said the State Department failed to take adequate steps to reduce the facility's vulnerability to a terrorist attack of this kind.  

"While the Department and the Intelligence Community lacked specific intelligence about this attack, the State Department should not have waited for — or expected —specific warnings before increasing its security in Benghazi, a city awash with weapons and violent extremists," she said. 

Both of the senators said the U.S. facility should have been closed, given the absence of sufficient security.

Esam Omran al-Fetori / Reuters

The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames, Sept. 11. Armed gunmen attacked the compound, clashing with Libyan security forces before the latter withdrew as they came under heavy fire.

The report noted that as the security situation deteriorated in eastern Libya in 2012, "the Department of State did not provide enough security to address the increased threats and did not adequately support field requests for additional security."

The congressional report follows a separate investigation by the State Department Accountability Review Board (ARB), which blamed State Department officials for "systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies" that led to "grossly inadequate" protection for the Benghazi facility. In response at the time, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said the problems highlighted by the ARB were unacceptable, "problems for which — as Secretary (Hillary) Clinton has said — we take responsibility."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in a hospital being treated for a blood clot, the result of a concussion suffered earlier in December. Collins said she hopes that after Clinton recovers, she will carefully review the congressional report and see if there are officials that "need to be held accountable."

Collins said that she did not see the tragedy as the fault of the Pentagon, but an indication that the Defense Department has insufficient assets to mount an effective response.

Among the report's recommendations:

• U.S. intelligence agencies need to "broaden and deepen their focus in Libya, and beyond, on nascent violent Islamist extremist groups in the region that lack strong operational ties to core al Qaeda or its main affiliate groups."
• If a host nation can’t provide adequate security for a diplomatic facility, "the Department of State must provide additional security measures of its own, urgently attempt to upgrade the host nation security forces, or decide to close a U.S. Diplomatic facility and remove U.S. personnel until appropriate steps can be taken to provide adequate security."
• The State Department needs to establish a "mandatory process" to determine what security standards are applicable to temporary facilities, such as the Benghazi consulate, to ensure that they are "adequately protected."

"Flashing Red" was the final joint investigation by Collins and Leiberman, who is slated to retire on Jan. 2.

'Inconsistent' statements from the administration
As for the controversy over what the administration knew about the attack — and when — the report said officials in the State Department and the intelligence community were "inconsistent" in stating that the deaths in Benghazi were the result of a terrorist attack.

The candidacy of Ambassador Susan Rice to the post of Secretary of State was scuppered after allegations by Republican lawmakers that she misled the public about the attacks during an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press on Sept. 16.

The administration said Rice, the current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, was repeating talking points provided by the intelligence community when she initially characterized the Sept. 11 assault as a spur-of-the-moment response to a crude, anti-Muslim film.

In her interview, Rice said that "what happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of — of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, which were prompted, of course, by the video."

Independent panel: 'Systematic failures' within State Department

In a letter to President Obama on Dec. 13 withdrawing her candidacy for the top diplomatic post, Rice said she wanted to avoid a "very prolonged, very politicized, very distracting and very disruptive" confirmation process.

For its part, the congressional report said Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had offered to provide the committee with a detailed timeline regarding the development of the intelligence community's talking points on Benghazi. "At the time of writing this report, despite repeated requests, the committee had yet to receive this timeline," the report notes.

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Brennan Linsley / AP

Not much more than a week back from Afghanistan, 1st Lt. Aaron Dunn smiles while holding his baby, Emma, at home in Fountain, Colo. on Dec. 8, 2012.

Brennan Linsley / AP

Aaron Dunn kisses his wife Leanne as they reunite during an arrival ceremony for soldiers returning from a deployment in Afghanistan, at Ft. Carson, in Colorado Springs on Nov. 30, 2012. 1st Lt. Dunn, with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, had not seen his wife and baby since he deployed in March.

Brennan Linsley, a photographer with The Associated Press, spent time with the family of First Lt. Aaron Dunn over the past month as they adjusted to Aaron's homecoming from Afghanistan.

"Emma was 5 months old when I deployed, and 14 months old when I returned," explains Dunn, pictured above holding his daughter beside the Christmas tree at his home in Fountain, Colo.

Emma had little clear memory of him when he came home, Dunn explains, though he had been able to witness her growing up during his 9-month deployment thanks to the wonders of modern communication. "I was able to stay in touch with the family and had the luck to watch Emma begin to crawl via Skype," he says.

Nevertheless, it has taken some weeks for her to accept his role as a parent after so long away. "I have basically let Emma set the pace with what she is comfortable with," Dunn says. 

Brennan Linsley / AP

Aaron Dunn removes his belongings from his army duffel bag on the morning of his return from a deployment in Afghanistan, Nov. 30, 2012. Dunn's combat team was charged with engaging Taliban fighters in Kunar Province and mentoring Afghan government soldiers.

Asked what he'll miss about Afghanistan, Dunn says: "Probably getting to do my job. It's one thing to train, but it's a whole different thing when you are actually doing what you have worked so hard at during training. The rewards are there."

Soldier who lost 4 limbs in Afghanistan returns home to hero's welcome

"In my opinion, its tougher on the families, especially after the unit takes a casualty. I personally can't imagine waiting, not knowing if your loved one is alive or even alright, and having a panic each time a car drives by your drive way thinking it's the military chaplain and escort coming to see you."

Brennan Linsley / AP

Aaron Dunn tries to feed his baby Emma as his wife Leanne watches, at home in Fountain, Colo. on Dec. 9, 2012.

Brennan Linsley / AP

Aaron Dunn cuts a Christmas tree in an area of National Forest reserved for seasonal cutting, as his wife Leanne carries their baby Emma in a backpack, outside Woodland Park, Colo. on Dec. 8, 2012.

Asked about switching gears from fighter to family man, Dunn says: "A lot of people seem to think that 'quality time' will make up for a long absence. It doesn't. Its 'quantity time' that does that. It's the time spent doing things that are fun, but also the time spent doing the daily chores, and other routines that firmly bring a family together."

Brennan Linsley / AP

Aaron Dunn and his wife Leanne, left, look at photos of Dunn's fellow soldiers in Afghanistan as baby Emma vies for their attention, at home in Fountain, Colo. on Dec. 9, 2012.

Brennan Linsley / AP

Three weeks back home from the war in Afghanistan, Aaron Dunn and his wife Leanne pray during services at their church, in Colorado Springs on Dec. 23, 2012.

"War and coming home are going to mean different things to each soldier," Dunn says. "For me it was God and family. I get my security in life from my hope in God, and my companionship and support from my family."

Brennan Linsley / AP

Aaron Dunn and his wife Leanne cook at home in Fountain on Dec. 9, 2012.

Asked what's the best thing about being home, Dunn says: "Family - at the risk of sounding cliched, I really don't care about much else but being with family and the ones I love... and the ability to decide on a whim to go somewhere without any concerns or restrictions - like getting shot at." 

Brennan Linsley / AP

Aaron Dunn watches as his wife Leanne reads a bedtime story to their baby Emma on Dec. 9, 2012.

More from Brennan Linsley: In harm's way: Photographer documents moments of relief, heartbreak in Afghanistan

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A Kansas man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple three years ago is fighting the state’s demand that he pay child support.

The two women raising the 3-year-old girl say they support the man, who responded to an ad they posted on the Craigslist website in 2009, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

The issue of child support arose when the two women broke up, and the couple applied for state services. Workers at the Kansas Department for Children and Families demanded the donor’s name and then filed a child-support claim against him, the newspaper said.

Angela Bauer, one of the mothers, told the Capital-Journal that she and her former partner, Jennifer Schreiner, support the donor, William Marotta, “in whatever action he wants to go forward with” to fight the state's demand.

"This was a wonderful opportunity with a guy with an admirable, giving character who wanted nothing more than to help us have a child," the newspaper quoted Bauer, 40, as saying. "I feel like the state of Kansas has made a mess out of the situation."

When Bauer and Schreiner, the 34-year-old birth mother, reached a deal with Marotta that did not include any payment for his sperm donation, he signed a written agreement that relinquished all parental rights and held him harmless “for any child support payments demanded of him by any other person or entity, public or private ... regardless of the circumstances or said demand,” it said. 

The state argued in court papers that because the insemination wasn’t performed by a licensed physician, the contract was null and void.

When the two women split in 2010, they had eight children, including some they adopted, whom they now co-parent. 

Marotta, a 43-year-old mechanic, was dragged into the dispute when the couple filed for state assistance. The state insisted that they reveal the donor’s identity, saying that if they refused to do so, their daughter would no longer be eligible for health care coverage. The women reluctantly complied, the Capital-Journal reported.

The girl’s birth certificate does not include her biological father’s name, and the Capital-Journal said that he had no contact with the girl, other than receiving occasional email updates from Bauer. Both women adopted the girl, although they had to file for adoption separately because the state does not recognize same-sex unions, the newspaper said. This means that the state also cannot collect child support from same-sex parents.

"More and more gays and lesbians are adopting and reproducing, and this, to me, is a step backward," said Bauer, who formerly supported the family financially but is no longer able to work due to a "serious illness." "I think a lot of progressive movement is happening currently in the world as far as gays and lesbians go. Maybe this is Kansas' stand against some of that."

The Capital-Journal could not reach Marotta for comment and the Kansas Department for Children and Families declined to discuss the case, citing privacy laws.

This isn’t the first time states have demanded child support from sperm donors. But in most of those cases, the sperm donor was known to the birth family – usually a man who was friendly with a lesbian couple and who agreed to help them out.

Court rulings vary
Sperm donors who donate through a sperm bank are typically protected by state parenting shield laws. But in less straight-forward cases, courts have differed on whether the men should pay up.

A Massachusetts court ruled this year that a Nigerian immigrant had to pay child support for twins conceived through artificial insemination a year after he and his wife had separated, the Patriot Ledger reported.

And In Vermont, a man who donated sperm to a female friend was required to pay child support because he maintained a relationship with the children.

Explained one of the mothers to The Associated Press in 2007: "Part of the decision came down because he was so involved with them. It wasn't that he went to the (sperm) bank and that was it. They called him Papa."

In New York, a married doctor agreed to donate sperm to a young resident and her partner in the late 1980s, only to be asked 18 years later for child support, the New York Post reported.

His undoing was sending money and cards to the child, which he would sign, “Dad” or “Daddy.” The biological father’s name was also on the birth certificate.

But in Washington state, the Court of Appeals ruled in 2004 that a donor can’t be required to pay child support unless he and the mother have signed an explicit contract.

And in Texas, an appeals court ruled in favor of a former policeman who donated sperm to a woman he had been formerly connected with. He had paid thousands of dollars in child support for twins until the court ruled in his favor.

When the lawsuit was filed in 2008, the man told McClatchy: "I was totally blown away. I was already married and had moved on with my life."

NBC's Isolde Raftery and The Associated Press contributed reporting. 

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Joshua Lott / Reuters

New York City police officers escort 31-year-old Erika Menendez to a waiting car as she screams in Queens, New York City, on Saturday.

Updated, 10:42 a.m. Sunday -- NEW YORK — A 31-year-old Bronx woman charged with pushing an immigrant to his death from a New York City subway platform has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

Erika Menendez was arraigned Saturday night on a charge of murder as a hate crime, the Associated Press reported. Judge Gia Morris ordered that she be held without bail and be given a mental health exam, it said 

Menendez is charged in the death of Sunando Sen, who was crushed by a train in Queens on Thursday night

Menendez, who was seen muttering to herself before shoving a man onto subway tracks in front of a speeding train, said she did so because, "I hate Hindus and Muslims," prosecutors said on Saturday.

Menendez admitted to investigators that she pushed Sunando Sen, a 46-year-old Queens resident, on Thursday because of her hatred of Hindus and Muslims, a feeling that stems from Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Sen was born in India and ran a printing shop. He died Thursday night after being knocked onto the tracks. Police released security camera video showing a woman running from the station.

Police said that Menendez was recognized on the street in Brooklyn by a passer-by who called 911. Patrol officers found and arrested her.

In a statement, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said that while in custody Menendez made incriminating statements, saying that she "pushed a Muslim" onto the tracks. Brown also said:

"The defendant is accused of committing what is every subway commuter's worst nightmare - being suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncoming train. The victim was allegedly shoved from behind and had no chance to defend himself. Beyond that, the hateful remarks allegedly made by the defendant and which precipitated the defendant's actions can never be tolerated by a civilized society."

The attack was the second time this month that someone was pushed to their death in a New York City subway station. A homeless man was arrested in early December and accused of shoving a man in front of a train in Times Square. He is awaiting trial, and claimed he acted in self-defense.

Further details on how police managed to identify Menendez were not immediately available.

Investigators had been following up on tips from people who had seen the security video and were checking homeless shelters and psychiatric units in an attempt to identify the woman.

It was unclear whether Menendez had any connection to Sen. Witnesses told police the two hadn't interacted on the platform as they both waited for the train.

This article includes reporting by The Associated Press and Reuters.

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Staff / Reuters

A sprinkler is used near Dodge City, Kansas, in this Nov. 26 photo. Residents of the Great Plains over the last year or so have experienced storms reminiscent of the 1930s Dust Bowl. Experts say the new storms have been brought on by a combination of historic drought, a dwindling Ogallala Aquifer underground water supply, climate change and government farm programs.

LIBERAL, Kan. - Real estate agent Mark Faulkner recalls a day in early November when he was putting up a sign near Ulysses, Kansas, in 60-miles-per-hour winds that blew up blinding dust clouds. 

"There were places you could not see, it was blowing so hard," Faulkner said. 

Residents of the Great Plains over the last year or so have experienced storms reminiscent of the 1930s Dust Bowl. Experts say the new storms have been brought on by a combination of historic drought, a dwindling Ogallala Aquifer underground water supply, climate change and government farm programs. 

Nearly 62 percent of the United States was gripped by drought, as of Dec. 25, and "exceptional" drought enveloped parts of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. 

There is no relief in sight for the Great Plains at least through the winter, according to Drought Monitor forecasts, which could portend more dust clouds. 

A wave of dust storms during the 1930s crippled agriculture over a vast area of the Great Plains and led to an exodus of people, many to California, dramatized in John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath." 

Drought worsens in High Plains; winter outlook grim

While few people believe it could get that bad again, the new storms have some experts worried that similar conditions -- if not the catastrophic environmental disaster of the 1930s -- are returning to parts of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas and Colorado. 

"I hope we don't talk ourselves into complacency with easy assumptions that a Dust Bowl could never happen again," said Craig Cox, agriculture director for the Environmental Working Group, a national conservation group that supports converting more tilled soil to grassland. "Instead, we should do what it takes to make sure it doesn't happen again." 

Handout / Reuters

Webcam views show South Loop 289 before and during a dust storm in Lubbock, Texas, in these National Weather Service handout images dated December 19.

Satellite images on Dec. 19 showed a dust storm stretching over an area of 150 miles from extreme southwestern Oklahoma across the Panhandle of Texas around Lubbock to extreme eastern New Mexico, said Jody James, National Weather Service meteorologist in Lubbock. Visibility was reduced to half a mile in places, stoked by high winds, he said. At least one person was killed and more than a dozen injured in car crashes. 

"I definitely think these dust storms will become more common until we get more measurable precipitation," James said. 

'Dirty 30s' 
The Great Plains is a flat, semi-arid, area with few trees, where vast herds of buffalo once thrived on native grasses. Settlers plowed up most of the grassland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to create the wheat-growing breadbasket of the United States, encouraged by high commodity prices and free "homestead" land from the government. 

The era known as the "Dirty 30s" -- chronicled by Ken Burns in a Public Broadcasting Service documentary that aired in November -- as when a 1930s drought gripped the Great Plains and winds carried away exposed soil in massive dust clouds. 

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Bill Fitzgerald, 87, a farmer near Sublette, Kansas, remembers "Black Sunday" on April 14, 1935, when a clear, sunny day in southwest Kansas turned black as night by mid afternoon because of a massive cloud of dust that swept from Nebraska to the Texas panhandle. 

"My older brother and I were in my dad's 1927 or '28 Chevy truck a mile north and a mile west of the house and we saw it rolling in," Fitzgerald said. "It was about 10 p.m. when it cleared enough for us to go home." 

Farming practices have vastly improved since the 1930s. Farmers now leave plant remnants on the top of the soil and less soil is exposed, to preserve moisture and prevent erosion. 

Irrigation beginning in the 1940s from the Ogallala aquifer, a huge network of water under the Great Plains, also made land less vulnerable to dust storms. 

Drying 
But the Ogallala aquifer is drying up after years of drawing out more water than was replenished. 

Many farmers have had to drill deeper wells to find water. Others are giving up on irrigation altogether, which means they can no longer grow crops of high-yielding and lucrative corn. They will instead grow wheat, cotton or grain sorghum on dry land, which depends completely on natural precipitation in an area that typically gets 20 inches of rain a year or less. 

Near Sublette, Kansas, farmer Gail Wright said he would probably give up irrigating two square miles of his land and would plant wheat and grain sorghum instead of corn because of the diminishing aquifer. Drilling deeper wells would cost $120,000 each, Wright said. 

Slideshow: America's farmland baking in drought

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Drought conditions plague much of the United States after a summer of scorching temperatures and a lack of rain. The dryness is affecting America's farmland, threatening crops like soybean and corn.

Launch slideshow

"When we drilled those wells in the 1960s and 70s, we were doing 1,500 or 1,600 gallons per minute," said Wright. "Now, they are down to anywhere from 400 to 600 gallons per minute. We probably pumped out 200 feet of water." 

Another farmer in Sublette, 79-year-old Lawrence Withers, whose family farms land his grandfather settled in 1887, is resigned to a future without irrigation. 

"We have pumped 170 feet off the aquifer, that's gone. There's just a little tick of water at the bottom," he said. 

The Ogallala supplies water to 176,000 square miles of land in parts of eight states from the Texas panhandle to southern South Dakota. That amounts to about 27 percent of all irrigated land in the nation, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. 

60 percent of lower 48 states now in drought

The volume of water in the aquifer stood at about 2.9 billion acre feet in 2009, a decline of about 9 percent since 1950, according to the Geological Survey. About two-and-a-half times as much water was drawn out in the 14 years ended 2009 as during the prior 15-year period, data shows. 

The water may run out in 25 years or less in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and southwest Kansas, although in other areas it has 50 to 200 years left, according to the Geological Survey. 

Rationing has been imposed on irrigation in the region but it may be too little too late. 

"It's a situation where across the Plains the demand far exceeds the annual recharge," said Mark Rude, executive director of the Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management District. 

Record drought 
The worst drought in decades has exacerbated the situation. The semi-arid area around Lubbock, which typically gets about 19 inches of rain a year, received less than 6 inches in 2011, the lowest ever recorded. This year was better but still far below normal at 12.5 inches, meteorologist James said. 

Climate change is also having an impact on the region, said atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe, co-director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. 

Grain prices soar as drought impact deepens

"It is definitely hotter in the summer and drier in the summer because of climate change," she said. 

The average annual temperature in Lubbock has increased by one full degree over the last decade, according to National Weather Service data, and the average amount of rainfall has fallen during summer months by about .50 inch over the decade. 

Some say government policies are making things worse. 

Federal government subsidized crop insurance pays farmers whether they produce a crop or not, encouraging farmers to plant even in a drought year. 

Another subsidized U.S. government program that pays farmers to take sensitive marginal land out of crop production and put it into grassland is gradually shrinking. 

In a possible case of history repeating itself, high commodity prices are encouraging farmers to break up the land and plant crops when the 10-year conservation contracts with the government expire, said environmentalist Cox. This is similar to what happened in the 1920s when vast areas of grassland were plowed up. 

The government also has imposed restrictions on how much land can go into conservation reserves to save money at a time of massive U.S. budget deficits, he said. 

The amount of land in conservation reserves has declined by more than 2.3 million acres over the last five years in five states of the Great Plains -- Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico, according to U.S. Agriculture Department data. 

If most of that land is plowed up for crops it could lead to more dust storms in the future. 

"I think you are probably going to see increased erosion if that happens," said Richard Zartman, Chairman of the Plant and Soil Science Department at Texas Tech, adding that it was unlikely to get as bad as the Dust Bowl days. 

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A long-lost relative of the reclusive heiress Huguette Clark, who could have inherited $19 million of her $300 million fortune, has been found dead under a Union Pacific Railroad overpass in Wyoming.

Children sledding found the body of Timothy Henry Gray, 60, Thursday afternoon in Evanston, a small mining town in southwestern Wyoming near the Utah border. The coroner said it appeared he died of hypothermia. The low temperature that day was 10 degrees, and had hit zero in the previous week. Lt. Bill Jeffers of the Evanston Police Department said there was no evidence of foul play, and Gray was wearing a light jacket. Gray's siblings said they hadn't heard from him since their mother's funeral in 1990, when he disappeared without a word.  It wasn't clear whether Gray was living under the overpass, where transients have been known to camp.

Tim Gray was an adopted great-grandson of former U.S. Sen. William Andrews Clark, known as one of the copper kings of Montana, a banker, a builder of railroads and the founder of Las Vegas. The senator's youngest daughter, Huguette Clark, was a recluse who died in 2011 in New York City at age 104, after living in hospitals for 20 years while her palatial homes sat unused. Gray was her half great-nephew.

In her will, Huguette Clark left no money at all to her family, leaving it instead to her nurse, goddaughter, attorney, accountant, hospital, doctor, favorite museum and various employees, as well as  to an art foundation to be set up at her oceanfront estate in Santa Barbara, Calif.  None of her relatives had seen Clark in at least 40 years, though some had been in touch with her through holiday cards and occasional phone calls.

Nineteen of Clark's relatives have stepped forward to challenge her will in a New York court. A public administrator joined the challenge on behalf of Gray. When lawyers tried to find him to let him know about the Clark estate battle, they found his belongings had been abandoned in a storage locker, according to court records, and private investigators were not able to find him.

If the relatives win their court challenge, Gray's estate would be entitled to about $19 million before taxes, or 6.25 percent of Clark's copper mining fortune, which has been conservatively estimated at $307 million by the administrator of Huguette Clark's estate. If Gray, who apparently had no spouse or children, died without a will, his siblings would receive his share in addition to their own.

Gray was not using the money he already had. The coroner said Gray's wallet contained a cashier's check, from 2003, for "a significant amount."

Gray's older brother, Jerry, said Tim had worked as a cowboy and lived in the Rocky Mountain states. "He was homeless essentially. If we had proper mental health services in this country, we could have been notified and known to do something."

Huguette Clark attracted the attention of NBC News in 2009 because of her vacant but well-manicured mansions and questions about the management of her money. The battle over her estate could go before a jury in 2013, though settlement talks have begun.

The archive of Clark stories, photos and videos is at http://nbcnews.com/clark/.

Do you have information on the Clark family?
Reporter Bill Dedman is co-authoring "Empty Mansions," a nonfiction book about Huguette Clark and her family. If you have documents or information, you can reach him at bill.dedman@msnbc.com.

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A divided federal appeals court has temporarily barred the U.S. government from requiring an Illinois company to obtain insurance coverage for contraceptives, as mandated under the 2010 healthcare overhaul, after the owners objected on religious grounds.

More than 40 lawsuits are challenging a requirement in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that requires most for-profit companies to offer workers insurance coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices and other birth control methods.

Friday's 2-1 order by a panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago in favor of Cyril and Jane Korte was the second by a federal appeals court to temporarily halt enforcement against people who said it violated their faith, said Edward White, a lawyer for the Roman Catholic couple.

The 7th Circuit suggested that the couple's legal challenge might eventually prevail.

Its order came two days after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined to block the provision's enforcement against companies controlled by the family of Oklahoma City billionaire David Green.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which had defended the contraceptives provision, did not immediately respond on Saturday to a request for comment.

The Kortes, who own the construction firm Korte & Luitjohan Contractors, had sought to drop a health insurance plan for 20 non-unionized workers that included coverage for contraception, and substitute a different plan consistent with their faith.

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But the Obama administration's healthcare law did not allow the change, and the Kortes said that violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA.

In issuing an injunction, the 7th Circuit majority said the Kortes had established a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of their RFRA claim, and that the government had not yet justified the apparent "substantial burden" on their religious exercise.

The court also said the couple had established irreparable harm, because absent an injunction they would have to choose between maintaining insurance coverage they considered inappropriate or facing substantial financial penalties.

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"Business owners who are objecting to the mandate are not objecting to people using contraceptives, but that they have to arrange for and pay for it," White, a lawyer with the American Center for Law and Justice, said in a phone interview. "The federal government shouldn't tell business owners they have to contract to buy what they see as immoral services and goods."

Judges Joel Flaum and Diane Sykes comprised the 7th Circuit majority.

High court declines to block contraceptives coverage in health care law

Judge Ilana Rovner dissented. She said the Kortes were "multiple steps" removed from the contraceptives services because it was their company paying for the coverage, and because it would be a worker, her doctor and the insurer involved in the decisions about the services and their funding.

The Kortes' case is expected to continue in the 7th Circuit.

Neither the 7th Circuit nor Sotomayor ruled on the merits of their respective cases. The legal standard for obtaining an injunction from the Supreme Court is much higher.

The case is Korte et al v. Sebelius, 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 12-3841.

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Darrell Gulin / Corbis file

A flock of dunlin stand on a Washington state beach in 1990.

Nearly 100 shorebirds were killed when a vehicle was driven into a flock on a beach in southwest Washington state, NBC station KING of Seattle reported.

Wildlife officers and sheriff's deputies who were called to the scene Thursday afternoon found 92 dunlin dead on Long Beach. The Wildlife Center of the North Coast said the trauma was consistent with a collision with a motor vehicle, KING reported.

Seabirds and shorebirds are protected by law. Wildlife officers have shown that a vehicle must be traveling much faster than the posted 25-mph speed limit on the beach in order to hit these types of birds, KING said.

The dunlin is a type of sandpiper known for large flocks that exhibit swift, synchronized flights and can hit speeds up to 110 mph,  according to the Audubon Society website. 

A $500 reward was offered by Wildlife Center of the North Coast for information leading to the person who hit the birds. Information can be reported to Sgt. Dan Chadwick of the state Fish and Wildlife police at 360-581-3337, KING said. 

This article is based on reporting by Susan Wyatt of KING 5 News.

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University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky police officers Emily Smith, left, and Jennifer Ockerman followed what their instincts when they noticed a toddler improperly dressed for a frigid winter night on the campus.

NBC Los Angeles

Alouette Day-Moreno-Baltierra, 17 months, was spotted in Kentucky by two officers.

When two University of Kentucky officers noticed a toddler in nothing but a short-sleeved onesie being pushed in a stroller on a windy, frigid night, they had a “gut feeling” that something was amiss, said University of Kentucky Police Chief Joe Monroe.

That hunch led to the discovery of a 17-month-old girl who was reported abducted from Los Angeles, possibly by a family member, on Oct. 15.

A woman who police believe is the toddler’s grandmother was taking the child – without shoes, gloves, hat or anything to protect her face – on a stroll through the University of Kentucky campus Thursday night, when the temperature had dropped to 29 degrees and the wind was blowing about five miles per hour, Monroe told NBC Los Angeles. 

Read more at NBC Los Angeles

Campus police officers Jennifer Ockerman and Emily Smith spotted Maria Baltierra-Dejesus, 62, pushing Alouette Day-Moreno-Baltierra in a stroller through a campus parking lot.

"This is an example of where the responding officers followed a gut feeling that something just wasn’t right with the situation," Monroe said in a press release.

Baltierra-Dejesus, who lives in New York, was booked in Kentucky on suspicion of endangering the welfare of a minor and custodial interference. She was receiving medical treatment Friday night, though Monroe would not say why.

Monroe said it was not clear where the girl’s parents are, and that she apparently belonged to the State of California.

For now, Alouette is in custody of the Kentucky Child Protective Services, which is working with LAPD and the FBI to return her to California, Monroe said.

JACKSON, Miss. -- Five young siblings and one adult died early Saturday when a sport utility vehicle went off an eastern Mississippi road and plunged into a rain-swollen creek, authorities said.

Neshoba County Sheriff Tommy Waddell said the victims appear to have drowned after their Dodge Durango left a county road 20 miles southeast of Philadelphia just after midnight Saturday.

Deputy County Coroner Marshall Prince identified the five children who died as  Dasyanna John, 9; Duane John, 8; Bobby John, 7; Quinton John, 4; and 18-month-old Kekaimeas John. Family friend Diane Chickaway, 37, also died. The sheriff said all were members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and lived in the Pearl River community east of Philadelphia, where the tribe operates a large casino complex.

The father of the children, Dewayne John, escaped the vehicle and remains hospitalized for hypothermia and water inhalation. The children's mother, Deanna Jim, and Chickaway's husband, Dale Chickaway, also survived. The group was traveling to Conehatta, another Choctaw community, with Dewayne John driving. Waddell said he has been tested to see if he was under the influence of alcohol, though he said official results aren't in. If officials decide to file charges, Waddell said they probably wouldn't act until Wednesday.

It appears none of the nine occupants of the vehicle were wearing seat belts or were in child restraints, the sheriff said.

"It's always sad to hear of the death of a tribal member, but today our tribe experienced a great tragedy with the loss of six beautiful Choctaw souls. I cannot begin to imagine what the friends, relatives and loved ones are feeling," Tribal Chief Phyliss J. Anderson said in a statement. "There are no words that can express our sincere condolences to such a horrific accident. I join many of you in the outpouring display of love and support shown to the families during this difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with them."

The crash happened on County Road 107, in a rural area near the Neshoba-Newton county line. Heavy rains have deluged the area in recent days, raising the water level of what Waddell described as a normally small creek. The SUV ran off the left side of the road into the creek near the Kitchner community.

The sheriff said it wasn't raining and there was no ice on the road. "This accident is not weather related at all," he said.

Divers from the Philadelphia fire department had to be called to find the submerged vehicle. Prince said the vehicle was pulled from the water after 3 a.m. In addition to the 30 emergency workers, about 20 Choctaw tribal members gathered at the site, he said.

"It looked like he has just run off the road and went into the water," Prince said. "It was deep and swift. The vehicle was completely submerged."

Waddell said the bodies have been sent to Jackson for autopsies. The Mississippi Highway Patrol will reconstruct the accident starting Sunday to learn more.

Tribal spokeswoman Misty Dreifuss said funeral arrangements would likely be made Sunday. She said the children are expected to be buried together. Dreifuss said word of the deaths spread quickly through the 10,000-member tribe and that members "definitely have been hit pretty hard."

Waddell said that he can't recall a deadlier accident in the county in his 26 years of law enforcement.

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Several hundred flights were canceled and several thousand delayed by midday Saturday as a storm moved into the Northeast that's expected to dump several inches of snow on big cities and up to a foot in other areas.

Most of the flight disruptions were at the Boston and New York area airports, according to the tracker service FlightStats.com. By 4:25 p.m. ET, it had counted 446 flights canceled so far Saturday across the country, and nearly 5,600 delayed.

New York City could see 3 to 5 inches, as well as hazardous driving conditions from the short-lived storm, NBCNewYork.com reported.

The brunt of the storm was likely to hit southern New England, according to NBC meteorologist Dylan Dreyer. "It's from Boston back into Rhode Island where we'll see the heaviest of the snow," she said on TODAY.

Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel, speaking on MSNBC, called the storm a "quick hitter" that nonetheless was having an impact on air travel before it clears out Saturday night.

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An adult man and a 9-year-old child died Friday after they were swept out to sea in the cold waters off the Golden Gate Bridge. 

The coroner's office released the identities of the victim's Saturday morning.

 The Marin County Sheriff's Office said Juan Escamillo-Rojas, 37, and his son Juan Carlos Escamillo-Monroy died after being swept out while fishing. They were both residents of San Francisco.

The U.S. Coast Guard found the two between Point Bonita and the Marin Headlands. A Coast Guard rescue boat and a Tiburon fire boat responded to the call for help, but with the water temperature a cold 53 degrees, the man and his son did not survive.

Officials says initially three people were swept out by the waters at Lower Fisherman’s around 4 p.m. Only one family member made it back to shore.

“It appears that one subject was able to get out of the surf and make a 911 call who coordinated the rescue units to a more precise location,” Randy Lavasseur, Law Enforcement Deputy Chief with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, said.

A Tiburon fire crew headed to the area for training and the U.S. Coast Guard searched the cold  water and found the pair 25 minutes later.

Locals call Lower Fisherman’s “Black Sands Beach.” Signs at the trail head warn of dangerous conditions. Park police say the picturesque spot turns dangerous quickly.

“If you look at the terrain right now, it’s very rocky, uneven, it’s slippery,” Lavasseur said. “If you go down into the water’s edge, the tides can move up and down and even before you know it your feet are up in water and you can be climbing rocks because that tide moves up so quickly.”

Investigators are still piecing together exactly how the incident happened. 

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A second, smaller winter storm will hit the Northeast Friday night and into Saturday, dumping up to 6 inches of snow in major cities and up to a foot and a half of snow in less populated areas. But it won’t pack nearly the punch of the one earlier this week that brought twisters, high winds, icy roads, power outages and record snowfall, and that led to at least 17 deaths and thousands of grounded flights, affecting tens of thousands of holiday travelers.

"This storm will move at a rather brisk pace, so we don't expect any overwhelming snow amounts," weather.com reported.

The corridor from Philadelphia to New York City and Hartford, Conn., is expected to see snow totals in the 2 to 5 inch range, and more in the suburban and outlying areas, weather.com added. Boston could see 4 to 6 inches of snow "if the low-pressure system tracks close enough to the coast."

For New York City, the snow should be just enough to create a "postcard" setting for sledding and strolling, NBCNewYork.com reported.

More storm coverage at weather.com

Washington, D.C., is looking at 1-3 inches, NBCWashington.com was forecasting. Some of that snow is likely to mix with rain.

Freezing rain -- making for treacherous travel conditions -- was predicted for parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia while significant rain was likely along the New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland coasts, the National Weather Service said.

The weather service forecast 12 to 18 inches of snow for northern New England, accompanied by freezing rain and sleet.

Tom Olney, a 50-year-old stay-at-home father of two, was making plans to go sledding with his children in their hometown of Wayland, Mass. 

"We love snow," Olney told Reuters. "What else are you going to do when it's this wet and cold out?" 

Western Massachusetts, like much of the Northeast, had an uncharacteristically mild winter last year, but residents such as Olney say they are ready for a more typical cold season. 

"Mother Nature doesn't usually give you two in a row," he said. "We've still got a lot of supplies from last year, so I guess we're ready for it now." 

Eleven inches of snow was forecast for Buffalo, N.Y., where some 8 to 12 inches of snow fell overnight into Thursday. Prior to that, Buffalo was 23 inches below average for this time of year, the weather service said.

"It's just a reminder: Winter is here," said Tom Paone of the National Weather Service in Buffalo.

The earlier winter storm was tied to at least 17 deaths and forced the cancellation of thousands of airline flights. It dumped record snow in north Texas and Arkansas before sweeping through the South on Christmas Day and then veering north, where the Adirondacks got 20 inches of snow.

It also triggered tornadoes and left almost 200,000 homes and businesses in Arkansas and Alabama lost power on Wednesday.

In Arkansas, 106,000 homes and businesses were still without power Friday afternoon, and the state's largest utility said many might not get it back until after Jan. 1. 

Deena Brazell spent a night in her car for warmth, though she hadn't planned it that way.

"Everything in the apartment is electric. I stayed in the apartment the first night. After that, it got cold really quick," she told The Associated Press. "I went out to charge the phone and fell asleep, then I just decided to stay." 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Slideshow: Winter's frozen splendor

Ice and snow changes our environment, as winter engulfs our world.

Launch slideshow

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