Times Square Gossip

Times Square Manhattan Blackout ABC NEWS -- Parts of midtown Manhattan in New York City were hit with a power outage on Saturday evening, causing Times Square billboards to go dark, leaving people trapped in elevators and shutting down a Jennifer Lopez concert at Madison Square Garden. Just before midnight on Saturday, Consolidated Edison Inc, New York City's power provider, said that power had been restored to all of the 73,000 affected customers, though some lingering issues continued, such as darkened traffic lights. The utility's news conference at one of its Upper West Side locations was briefly interrupted by whoops and cheers as lights came back on. "This is something that we have plans for -- every precinct has plans for. ... We've been through this and we really know what we need to do," New York Police Commissioner James O'Neill said at a late Saturday press conference. The outage began just before 7 p.m. and initially impacted ...

**** TENANTS FLEE IN TERROR FROM COLLAPSING BUILDING **** East Village Explosion 30 people were injured when an explosion caused a building collapse and a huge fire in the East Village on today., Preliminary investigations indicate that a worker at the Second Avenue location accidentally “hit a gas main” and touched off the devastating explosion. Flames also gutted two adjoining apartment buildings at 121 and 123 Second Ave., with 123 collapsing and 121 in danger of doing so,  the FDNY told the NY Post .. The blaze also spread to 119 Second Ave., the FDNY said. As much as a dozen people were rushed to local hospitals, including four victims in critical condition and another with serious injuries, sources said. Two civilians who also suffered burns were rushed to the New York Hospital, while a civilian who was knocked unconscious was taken to Bellevue Hospital, sources told the NY Post. Gas service was also being shut off...