Sandy Victims Sue to Stay in Hotels

New Yorkers left homeless after Hurricane Sandy were supposed to leave their city-funded hotel rooms today—but they've sued to extend their stay. The suit, which argues that the city hasn't kept its promise to help them find new homes, seems to have some traction: A judge yesterday blocked the city from ending the hotel program as intended, the Wall Street Journal reports. The city plans to "vigorously challenge" the court order, says a city lawyer. Of the 196 households due to exit the hotels today, 71 were shown and rejected income-appropriate apartments, says an official; the rest didn't qualify for city-controlled housing. Plaintiffs, however, say the city barely helped them. The program has cost NYC $40 million thus far.

That's not the only unfortunate Sandy-related news out today: The AP reports on a new study that finds the superstorm released 11 billion gallons of sewage from treatment plants into bodies of water along the East Coast; one-third of it was untreated. The nonprofit science journalism group Climate Central says that amount of sewage could cover Central Park—in a layer 41 feet deep. (More Hurricane Sandy stories.)