. >> reporter: it is a crown, atop the new york city skyline, made of cables and steel beams.e in the world. almost a mile long, towering more than 600 feet high. suspended over the hudson river. the george washington bridge is painted by workers balancing and walking, sometimes sliding down the beam. it takes them more than a year and a half just to finish the job. hardly any journalists have ever been allowed to the top of the bridge. but we were. it is a rare look at life atop this marvel of american engineering. so rare and exclusive, potential bridge painters need to ace a series of tests. and this is the final exam. >> a large portion of them, when they get to this height, it's a better way for them to make a living. >> that's the bridge painter test right there. that beam up there. >> reporter: 90% of them fail that? >> some people fail that halfway out. the rest of them fail. they have to move to the next section. >> reporter: to go any further, we had to take the test and prove we wouldn't panic. this is certainly not for the feint of heart. but for a once upon a time

. >>> the empire state building added flare to the new york city skyline. alicia keys flipped the switch on the inaugural light shows which were synchronized to her songs. the new lighting system displays over 16 million colors with various effects. >>> and, finally, one texas man is using his noggin for a novel idea. hey. the 27-year-old has hired a team of human billboards for baldlogo.com. for 327 bucks a day clients can temporarily tattoo their logo or brand name on employees' scalps. a portion of his profits will go toward helping kids with alopecia. that's a hair loss disease that he suffers from so a great cause there. in sports, we begin with the nba. sixers and mavs. philadelphia's defense forced five straight turnovers to build a ten-point lead in the fourth quarter and they held off a dallas rally for a 100-98 win. >>> in college basketball, cody zeller of top ranked indiana scored 20 points as the hoosiers rolled over number 14 north carolina, 83-59. >>> number three michigan got 16 points from tim hardaway jr. including a lay-up in the closing

. >>> the empire state building has added flare to the new york city skyline.he switch on the light show which was synchronized to her songs. the new lighting system displays over 16 million colors with various effects. >>> and finally, one texas man is using his noggin for a novel idea. the 27-year-old has hired a team of human billboards for bald logo.com. for 327 bucks a day, clients can temporarily tattoo their low go or brand new on on employees' scalps. a portion of profits will go towards helping people with alopecia, a hair loss disease that he suffers from. >>> for sports, let's begin in the nba with 6ers and mavs. they held off a dallas rally for a 100-98 win. to college basketball, cody zeller scored 20 points as the hoosiers rolled over number 14 north care scakacarolina 83-59. and michigan got 16 points from tim hardaway jr. the wolverines held on to beat north carolina state 79-72. >>> and the former leader of the major league baseball players association, marvin miller, has died at age 95. he won free agency for players in 1975 that created the e

. >> reporter: across the bay from the brightly lit new york city skyline, a donated generator powers meeting of the gray beards. >> just knocking on every single door is not impossible. >> reporter: over a can of bud, this home grown charity is plotting a rockaway comeback. >> we have to remind people, we're all in the same boat. >> the group of 180 firefighters, cops, executives and lawyers are the guys who make new york city work. keep things safe, and since 9/11, the guys who have made it their duty, even while off duty to help. the man who answered the call for help need help themselves. nearly every one of these guys lost something in the storm. some, everything. >> i'm not the type of person who's ever going to ask for anything. nor would anybody else in this community. sometimes it's necessary. >> three weeks later, blackened streets, skeletons of homes and trash as far as the eye can see are still the norm here at rockaway. colleen mercer is minutes away from the first hot shower she's had in her house since sandy. all because she knows this guy, literally named guy, who know

the special show lighting up the new york city skyline. >>> good morning.lenty of cloud cover, a couple of problems in terms of fog up towards novato, quarter mile visibility, looking good with no delays at sfo or oakland reduced visibility towards livermore. we are going to talk about more cloud cover today, overall mostly to partly cloudy this afternoon, temperatures on the cool side upper 50s to low 60s. >>> 6:25. four california cities have earned perfect scores for their anti-discrimination efforts to protect lesbian, gay, buy sexual and transgender -- by sexual and transgender employees and residents. san francisco, long beach and los angeles were given per scores of 100 by the human rights campaign. the group examined cities nationwide. california cities scoring lower include vallejo, 52. concord, 64. richmond 66 and santa rosa scored 59 which is the average score for all u.s. cities. >>> today the assassination of mayor mosconey and supervisor harvey milk will be remembered on the steps of city hall, 4:30 followed by a candlelight march, 34 years ag

it's hard to believe that breezy point is a part of new york city, an idyllic seaside community within sight of a towering new york city skylines own. >> we say it is the anti-hamptons, if you will. >> reporter: michael gar jewgul an anchor, lived here. they weathered their share of disasters. on 9/11, it lost more than 30 residents, many of them police and firefighters. >> one of the most beautiful parts of breezy point is our 9/11 memorial, which is on the bay side, looking back towards where the twin towers stood. >> reporter: so as hurricane sandy bore down on the east coast this resilient community took it in stride, just as he had for hurricane irene last year, 20-year resident rick resner protectively boarded his house up, but he took some ribbing for it. >> i'm boarding up and people are making fun of me while i'm boarding up. the reporters are reporting the storm and they're telling us it is going to be bad. i'm not taking my chances. >> reporter: by sunday night, breezy point was under a mandatory evacuation order. but many, like tom and patricia rahm, whose family lived here for generations, refused to leave. >> we

normally seeing the entire new york city skyline. you can't see a thing.e right side, that's point pleasant, new jersey. we know that's one of the communities still= dealing wit tremenus damage as a result of hurricane sandy. the nor'easter is expected to hit full force tonight. more than 600,000 people are right now still without power and the storm could cause even more outages. plow crews are on stand by. flights in and out of airports in the northeast being nceled. forecasters expect high winds, heavy rain and snow and eight to 12-foot waves along the coast. incredible. >>> and back to toll picks and article says republicans are facing a crisis. the country's growing less white and the coalition more white. republican jonathan, democrat chris and real clear politics erin mcpike will join me next. plus, today's gut check. here it is for you to answer today. a lot of you on twit we are the thoughts. just explod÷e. do you think the president's victory will break the partisan fever in congress? check out the tumblr page. this is my executive producer ha

take a look here at a lovely shot here of the new york city skyline. building just around the corner from our officers in new york where that crane had collapsed during the storm, the big superstorm sandy. we're glad you're with us in the aftermath. getting the lights back won't come soon enough. new numbers coming in, 280,000 you tulty customers are still out power with 142,000 just on long island. emotions are high and tempers are flaring. susan candiotti is joining us this morning. i suppose you're hearing a lot from angry residents? >> they're angry, they're frustrated, and they're cold, because as you know, the temperatures plummeted over the last week. where is the power, and where are the answers? that's what people are saying over and over again. i'm in a makeshift help center where fema is handing out water meals ready to eat, here is clothing, baby supplies, pet food, so people with problems can drive think here and pick up supplies, it's being manned by members of the parks department here including life guards, sanitation workers, and mainly

. >> you're not in new york city, that skyline behind you is mountain view, california.ric schmidt, it sounds like you were in that closed door meeting, we know you weren't, but thank you for joining us. >>> there was a story that went unreported on election night. mitt romney's landslide, he actually had many of them across the country in his loss to barack obama. we went to king county, texas where president obama suffered his most severe shellacking. >> reporter: what do you think of barack obama's first term? >> ain't worth a damn. i don't agree with anything he done. >> reporter: it was a sentiment that was also common after president obama's first run for president. 3.4% chose obama, the lowest for any county in the country. if you could tell barack obama to do one thing, what would you tell -- king county is not only barack obama's lowest vote percentage, it's also the county where he received the lowest total number of votes. nationwide, the president tal tallied more than 62 million votes. but here in this county, he got 5 votes. mitt romney winning 139 to 5, ma

super storm sandy, a crane that you're seeing on the screen snapping and dangling over the new york city skyline t-fpd to a hirise construction site. what is said to be one of the most expensive hirise highrises in america called 157. the crane has been secured so the traffic in the neighborhood can reopen. you can't forget that, can you? that 157 building is 75 stores stories o. $95million for one suite. what does this tell us about the real estate market? if you can sell an apartment for $95 million, what does it say about it overall. >> david kaufman is a relance journalist. wrote an article on this piece of property. what is buying these apartments. >> there wasn't just one $95 million sale there were actually two. two penthousess went between 90 and $95 million. jenna: they are gone off the market. >> gone off the market. jenna: who is behind it. >> american and i international buyers are coming into the market. in the $50 million range we had some of the founders of tommy hilfiger as well as an internet investor. jenna: the lower range is the $50 million apartments. >> exactly, starter apa

watch the right side of your screen as the new york city skyline is plunged into darkness. there it goes. today, nearly 5 million homes and businesses are still without power. the death toll is inching up again. superstorm blamed for 56 deaths in the united states. half the victims just in new york city. the mayor says he expects that number to rise. officials say it is a miracle no one died in the firestorm that burned 111 homes to the ground in queens. likely cause? broken lines of natural gas. dozens of those fires still burn in several states. we'll have more on that in a minute. >>> last of the patients are now evacuated from new york's bellevue hospital. national guard troops lined the stair dels well to usher out more than 700 patients. soldiers call themselves, quote, a human bucket brigade. >>> jersey shore's fragile barrier islands weren't even a speed bump. ferocious winds and surging floodwaters have left towns and lives in ruins. michael holmes has the latest from the coast. >> reporter: these communities holiday meccas, unrecognizable. surf club pounded into p

above the city of new york in a police chopper today to see the damage and the challenge that now lies ahead. here now, some of that vantage point. >> reporter: from here, you can see the skyline the iconic image. new york city, surrounded by water, and now partly under water. there are the pumps, you see the pumps. at the tip of manhattan, the south ferry subway station is simply out of commission. >> from where we are at the top of this water, the top of the flooding to the very bottom, how deep is this pool? >> i would say we have about 20 feet to get to the platform. >> reporter: there is a plan to get the water out. so you're sending a train that also pumps water? into the under water tunnels? >> we'll bring it in, submerge it slightly, and we'll have a hose. and we'll begin sucking the water up this is the longest of its kind in america >> reporter: this now holds 40 million gallons of water that must be removed with care. >> some places we could probably pump out quicker but we don't want to collapse the tunnel, so we have to do it slowly so the pressure is equalized, so the tunnel doesn't collapse. >> reporter: even the dock has been washed away, the area renovated, an

new yorkers is life on a friend's couch or just life in the dark. nbc's richard engel got a look from the sky. >> reporter: from here you can see the skyline, that iconic image. new york city surrounded by water and now partly under water. >> there's the pumps. >> reporter: at the tip of manhattan, the south ferry subway station is simply out of commission. >> from where we are at the top of this water, the top of the flooding, to the very bottom, how deep is this pool? >> i would say we have about 20 feet to get to the platform. >> reporter: there is a plan to get the water out. >> so you're sending a train that also pumping water into the tunnel. >> we'll bring it in, submerge it slightly. it will have a hose and suck the water up. >> reporter: and the tunnel connecting manhattan and brooklyn, the longest of its kind in north america, now holds 40 million gallons of water that must be removed with care. >> some places we could probably pump out quicker, but we don't want to collapse the tunnel. so we have so pump it out somewhat slow since pressure is equalized and the tunnel doesn't collapse. >> reporter: even the dock on liberty island has been washed away. the statue

cities. behind you you can see the skyline of new york but we know there's a huge swath of the city still operatinghout power, without juice, without anything that approach what is you describe as normalcy. as you were traveling around the city today, how did that manifest itself? >> the thing that was aazing waseople standinground fire hydrants gtingwat in y container they could manage because they haven't got water in their homes. we even saw kids in halloween costumes with their halloween buckets held up to the fire hydrant to get water because they'd run out of buckets at home. >> ifill: how about gas lines? we've been hearing gasoline is getting harder to come by. >> we hear gasoline is harder to come by. i didn't see any gas lines but i wouldn't be surprised. awfully difficult to deliver gasoline under these circumstances. >> ifill: are any officials at this point other than the reopening we saw late this afternoon of laguardia and the partial opening of the other two irpos, are any official giving timetables of when we'll see full operation of subways, other transit lines, bridges, tunnels?

news, new york skyline is expected to be lit up tonight. new jersey governor chris christie has given the a go head for atlantic city casinos to reopen. >> disney and abc making monday a day of giving. disney kicking off with a $2 million donation to the american red cross. you can help by texting to give $10 to efforts. you can donate by falling 1-800-help now. >> your voice, your vote. the presidential candidates putting tier own sin on the latest jobs report. picked up a tenth of a percent to 7.9% in october. that is about 50,000 more than had been expected but say the rate went up because more people without jobs started looking for work again. >> president obama tried to sway voters told them this report proves the job market is gaining momentum. >> today our businesses have created five and a half million new jobs, companies hired more in octoberl time in the last eight months. >> mitt romney spin numbers another way in wisconsin calling the report a sad reminder the economy is a virtual stand still. he blames the president. >> they said he's going to lower unemployment rate down to 5.2% now. today, we've learned it's 7.9%. that is nine m

new york city marathon has been cancelled. the decision that this is just not the right time to hold the race. power coming back to the skyline. the mayor says conedison hoping to have most of the outages resolved by tonight. 3.8 million homes and businesses in the east are still without power, down from 8.5 million. california is helping to get power back on. trucks are being loaded on to aircraft in riverside county. pg&e announced it's sending 100 workers to the zaft yefr zone to help in efforts. 150 others sent out this week. >> tensions running high among those affected by the hurricane. and the suburbs may have to wait for a week with a cold front coming up. death toll now stands at 97. 40 fatalities occurred in new york city. the damage could hit $50 billion, second only to hurricane katrina. >> dozens of red cross volunteers from the bay area in new york now helping with disaster relief. 50 volunteers on 10 day to three week missions servinging people displaced or without supplies thousands landed in new york providing relief and organization. >> we're working in logistics and immediate yachl we're working in what we

city, where you have the monolithic buildings. >> reporter: he suggested new york avenue could be away from neighborhoods. some citizens in the district worry the iconic skyline would be changed by the higher builds. they stress that residential neighborhoods and the city's extensive monumental core would be protected from larger buildings that could change the character of the city. >> if you built a 20-story building, which is going to impact the air, light, things of that nature, would that have a detrimental effect on your quality of life and hence you wouldn't build it. st. elizabeth's, people talk about it all the time. if people do not support the idea, i wouldn't support it either. >> reporter: the study is expected to take about a year. in the district, tom sherwood, news4. >>> coming up on news4 at 6:00, police are asking you to listen up. ♪ crooks left behind a big clue after a robbery in maryland. a teenager crashed in a ravine and was stranded for days. >> i was praying to god to take my life. >> reporter: but this is a survival story. and the driver who repeatedly drove up onto a sidewalk to go around a stopped school bus now has to face her pun

almost all of lower manhattan in new york city without power for two full days now and counting. if you have ever looked at the manhattan skyline at night, it's always studded with light. right? like the empire state building in all her glory earlier tonight. but if you pan from north to south, suddenly it seems as if the video has gone black. look at this. oh. this was shot this evening by an nbc cameraman standing on a rooftop on the demarcation line between the half of the island that has power and the half of it that does not. here's what the manhattan bridge connecting lower manhattan to brooklyn looks like right now. most if not all of brooklyn did not lose power. so the brooklyn half of the bridge is illuminated. and then slam, the manhattan side is not. frank sinatra never sang any songs about a new york city that looks like this. we will be right back. mobile is. [ "everybody have fun tonight" plays ] really catching on! people can do it all! get a quote, buy and manage your policy! -[ music stops ] -it's great! well, what's with the... -[ music resumes ] -music? ♪ have fun tonight dude. getting a car insurance quote.

city. the rainfall is so heavy at times, the manhattan skyline almost disappears from view and as night falls the power goes out, a rough night for many residents and many in new york are returning home to total devastation. some areas don't have power. there are long lines for gas and some hospitals are struggling to stay open and operate. sherrie johnson abc2 news. >>> we're 10 minutes away from 7:00, the same sex marriage issue is getting hollywood attention. brad pitt is donating up to $100,000 to the human rights campaign. same sex marriage is on a ballot here in maryland as well as maine, minnesota and washington state. pitt says he will match contributions from members of the human rights campaign up to $100,000. the group has spent about $5 million in the four ballot measures this year. >>> five things you may want to know as you head out the door. president barack obama on the campaign trail today. he's going to hold rallies in wisconsin, nevada and colorado. the president is trying to make up some of the appearances that he canceled during sandy. and meanwhile republican nominee mitt romney is going to be campaigning in virginia. >>> gnaw web site for job

skyline. power outage on one end of the island and farther uptown, i say apparently because manhattan, new york cityor new york region won't be back to normal for a while. because of that, just moments ago, new york governor andrew cuomo declared a transportation emergency announcing that from now until the end of the week all travel on public transit, buses, subways, any subways that are running, and commuter trains will be free. the idea being to get people who need to come in to manhattan to work out of private cars and off the streets. we know a number of people have obviously lost their lives. 28 people lost their lives in new york city. 56 across sandy's deadly path in the u.s. as we are seeing, both at ground level and especially from the air, the worst physical destruction is along the jersey shore. some of the images have been extraordinary. as you saw at the top, president obama and governor christie toured the devastation area. more on that from jessica yellin right now. >> crisis makes unexpected political bedfellows. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern for hi

city and crowds are lining up to see it. here is cnn's jeanne moos. >> reporter: there's a new addition to new york's skyline, making it hard up. >> that's insane. >> it's amazing it hasn't fallen down yet. >> it seems to just be dangling in the wind. >> reporter: the crane that has pedestrians craning their necks was caught on camera during its partial collapse hanging over manhattan's 57th street. it had newscasters riveted. >> it's so eerie that this is happening. >> they are afraid when that crane goes, it could be bouncing off of other buildings around here. >> reporter: destined to be the tallest residential apartment building in new york city, with $90 million penthouses, it now has the infamy. police have closed off the street below when engineers figure out when the weather makes it safe to strap the boom to the building. cathy and her husband were across the street from the crane. >> i was telling my mom i was safe and i heard the crane go over. i heard, crunch. >> reporter: the steps were evacuated to another hotel. donald trump has a view of the crane out his window. he's even with it, but he told cnbc, it was l

. >> reporter: from here you can see the skyline, that iconic image. new york cityer. and now partly under water. the pumps. you see the pumps. we were down in that subway. at the tip of manhattan, the south ferry subway station is simply out of commission. from where we are at the top of this water, the top of the flooding to the very bottom, how deep is this pool? >> i would say we have about 20 feet to get there. >> reporter: there is a plan to get the water out. so you're sending a train that also pumps water into the tunnel, into the underwater tunnel. >> we'll bring it in, submerge it slightly. it will have a hose and we'll begin suck being the watsucking water up. >> reporter: the tunnel now holds 40 million gallons of water that must be removed with care. >> some places we could probably pump out quicker, but we don't want to collapse the tunnel. so we have to pump it out somewhat slow so pressure is equalized so the tunnel doesn't collapse. >> reporter: even the dock on liberty island has been washed away. the statue just recently renovated and nearby ellis

of housing projects when the city put thousands of families way out there, an hour's ride from the manhattan skyline that everybody e thinks of when they think of new york. half a century ago when the projects went up, the urban planners thought the elderly and poor people didn't need to be near town or near jobs, so they put them way out there in the rockaways. now working poor families making long commutes from the beach to their jobs in the city and conversely in the summer, you can find surfers toting their surf boards on the subway out to the part of new york city where the word swells means waves. it's thanks to that miraculous and very long subway route that you can move between the rockaways and town. it just takes awhile. that was the deal before hurricane sandy. i'm sorry to tell you these trusty tracks with the families and the surfers and the commuting pigeons, they got washed out last month by hurricane sandy. the storm surge swamped the tracks and twisted them and they are not expected to get fixed for many, many long months, which means tens of thousands of people are logistically stuck out there in the rockaways. lots of them still witho

new york city and crowds are lining up to see it. here's joan moos. >> there's a new addition to new york's skyline making it hard to resist looking upe just dangling in the wind. >> the crane was caught on camera during its partial collapse like a modern day sword hanging over manhattan's 57th street. it had newscasters riveted. >> they are afraid when that crane goes, it could be bouncing off of other buildings around here. >> destined to be the tallest residential building in new york city with $90 million penthou s penthouses. police have closed off the streets below as engineers figure out when the weather makes it safe to strap the drooping boom to the building. cathy and her husband were in a hotel room. >> i was telling my mom i was safe and at that minute, i heard the crane go over. crunch. i said, honey, you've got to look out the window. >> they were evacuated to another hotel. donald trump has a view of the crane out his window. he's even with it and told cnbc it was left too upright. >> they didn't tie it down. >> they're not supposed to be tethered. >> somebody made a big mistake. >> it's conceivable it was just a stran

skyline living for loren and dark. this is rockaway queens where there is no light, no power nothing. this story is going to hurt mayor bloomberg badly in his legacy in new york cityicane katrina the news then about that storm was how president bush and fema and michael brown and everybody failed. you never heard about mayor nagan and governor belong could he. now the situation is reversed and it's bloomberg taking the blame for the storm and not doing better for it as opposed to president obama. if this were bush right now you'd be seeing a split screen of bush campaigning, and then people being miserable in their wrecked houses back home in queens. jon: what about that? we heard from david lee miller earlier today, a hispanic woman getting up there in years complaining how absolutely miserable it is where she's live. why should that not be president obama's fault as it was president bush's fault? >> katrina was a much larger national issue than with all due respect to queens. jon: why? >> because katrina was -- the magnitude of katrina in terms of what it represented nationally was not specific to a neighborhood in new york. overall the reaction to sandy has bee