NPR Blogs

Here's what's happening today in the New York-New Jersey area, nearly a week after Superstorm Sandy devastated the region:

-- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said tens of thousands of people whose houses were damaged by the storm will need other places to live because of the falling temperatures.

The two sisters, Kaytlynn and Heather Welsch, have competed in over 70 endurance events, including rugged 13-mile trail runs, triathlons, and half-marathons. They are earning national attention, even more for their youth than their impressive athletic performances: They are 12 and 10 years old.

Sometimes it's good to see how other folks (or other planets) do it. Here are some websites that explain what the weather is like on other worlds in our solar system.

From hurricanes the size of a moon to the methane rains of Titan things can get pretty hairy out there.

JPL low level description

NASA site at a bit higher level.

New York City's canceled marathon left thousands of runners who had traveled to the storm-damaged city with nothing but free time and a good pair of shoes.

The result: Sunday morning's hastily arranged mercy run in which hundreds of would-be marathoners are expected to jog through Staten Island with backpacks full of food and other supplies.

China's Communist Party will introduce a new slate of leaders this month to run the world's most populous country for at least the next five years. Their to-do list will include dealing with the nation's opaque and politicized court system.

"China's judicial system urgently needs to be reformed, improved and developed," a government planning paper acknowledged last month.

The news for patients who had injections of fungus-tainted steroids just keeps getting worse.

Today scientists working on the Mars Curiosity Rover mission made an important announcement: The rover used its lasers to "sniff" for methane. As NASA explains, methane is a "precursor chemical" for life, because creatures like us produce methane.

The Rover came up empty, or rather the most sensitive measurements ever taken in the planet's atmosphere reveal "little to no methane."

One lasting image of Superstorm Sandy will be very sick patients being evacuated from flooded hospitals. But less visible are thousands of patients who rely on visiting nurses and home health aides for care ranging from bathing and feeding to oxygen and ventilators.

NPR's Zoe Chace made her way to Coney Island in Brooklyn this afternoon. There she found residents making line at a FEMA processing center.

Zoe spoke to DeQuan Franklin and Roberta Johnson, who wanted to apply for emergency relief. They said in all their time living in New York they've never seen anything like this. Franklin says he's had to walk 20 minutes to find an open store. He said she had to walk almost 70 blocks to find a laundromat.

"The neighborhood doesn't look nothing like it did a few days ago," DeQuan said.

The Playboy bunny is coming to India — even though the magazine is still banned.

India, like many other conservative countries, has not permitted Playboy to appear on newsstands. But the brand still plans to come to India in a big way.

Over the next 10 years, around 120 Playboy venues are expected to open across India, including bars, clubs, fashion cafes and stores. The first Playboy club will open next month in the holiday destination of Goa.