Good evening.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Frank Malloy.
And I'm Leah Johnson.
This is Eyewitness News at 11.
Nearly 48 hours after Superstorm Sandy blasted the Northeast.... the Big Apple is slowly getting back to business..
For the first time in two days.. there was trading at the New York Stock Exchange...
Crowded buses crept along in snarled traffic.. because the city's subway trains aren't rolling yet.
Planes even took off again from JFK and Newark airports..
LaGuardia will have limited service starting in the morning..
So far the storm has killed at least 63 people...and more than six million homes and businesses..many in the New York area..still don't have power..
Today was also the first time that President Obama got an up-close look at the devastation caused by Sandy.
He toured New Jersey by air...with Governor Chris Christie..
And met with storm victims on the ground...
The Garden State was one of the areas hit hardest by Sandy.
----------------------------------------------
Katelyn Heck and Suzanne Lawler have also been getting a first hand look at the damage from Sandy..
They have this report from the Jersey shore...
As you can see much of the damage left in the wake of Sandy is water... With cars and trucks sitting in several feet of it..
Two days later.. people are still using canoes to get around.
Areas that aren't underwater are covered in sand...
Firefighters say it could take 24 hours to pump out water in neighborhoods in Belmar, New Jersey.
They say power won't be restored until then.
Sandy left behind uprooted trees, downed power lines and moved entire buildings.
But people told Suzanne Lawler and Katelyn Heck, even though the storm shook their homes, it didn't wash away their high spirits.
Now you may want to you how you can help aid those affected by Sandy... There are a few things you can do...
If you text the word "REDCROSS" to 9-0-9-9-9 .... that will donate 10 dollars to relief for Sandy victims...
You can also visit your local red cross to donate blood or platelets....
And you can always make donations to any charitable organization like the Salvation Army... Humane Society or Feeding America...
---------------------------------
Some streets were packed with trick-or-treaters this evening-- but one group wasn't allowed to take part in the festivities.
The state board of pardon and paroles banned paroled sex offenders from even leaving their homes tonight. Candace Adorka went out to find out more.
Of all the things parents worry about on halloween night...
<Make sure we hold hands when we cross the street, look both ways>
sex offenders maybe somewhere on that list.
<that is something I do think about but for halloween I don't really check into that first, I just go to the areas I'm familiar with>
One agency is working to minimize that risk.
<it's a time when sex offenders could potentially prey on children, so we wanna make sure we're watching those children very closely to make sure they're not in a position where they can violate a child.">
Chief parole officer James Bergman says paroled sex offenders were on house arrest during trick or treat hours. He says his officers were checking to make sure parolees didn't put up decorations or hand out candy.
<So those that are actually under probation and parole supervision are probably less danger than the general sex offender population out there that are not under some sort of supervision.>
<Bergman says there are about 350 registered sex offenders in macon alone, and they could be anywhere in your neighborhood. He says its up to you to stay informed.>
<one thing they can do is check the GBI sex offender website, there's a registry they can access and see who the sex offenders in their area are, they can access the exact addresses where they live.>
Candace Adorka joins us now to talk about how to stay safe on halloween or any other night..
you saw at the end there the georgia sex offender registry, it gives you a list of all the sex offenders in the country, or if you have a specific name or address, you can check that, but I couldn't really find a reliable map feature that shows you where sex offenders might be in any given neighborhood.
Easiest way I found was an app for your smart phone or tablet... There are several that are free, and you want to find one that updates regularly from the sex offender registry.
Here's one example, shows a bubble wherever a registered sex offender lives, handy on halloween if you're going to different neighborhoods, or really on any other night.
But as you well know, best policy is just to use common sense and keep an eye on the young ones.
--------------------------------------
Every time you fly there's always a risk that your bag could get lost. But did it really just get misplaced or was it stolen?
Our sister station in Atlanta..WXIA... investigated how thieves are taking off with luggage at Hartsfield Jackson Airport..
Ross McLaughlin explains how the airline you fly could increase your chances of becoming a victim.
There are all kinds of security measures at the airport. Atlanta police are doing what they can and so is the airport, but what about the airlines? We discovered a difference in how they handle security in the baggage area.
(PACKAGE)
(Nats)
Take a look at this...security camera video, at Hartsfield Jackson Airport, catching this woman stealing a bag. This was in 2010 at the South Terminal.
This video is from this past August. See that man? Police say he's stealing a bag. Again, at the South Terminal. That's why we went in with a hidden camera, to get the inside story about what's going on at ground level. A security officer keeping an eye on the baggage carousels in the North Terminal gives us her perspective about what's going on at Delta's carousels in the South terminal.
UNC 2 24:02 "The thieves, most of them go over there, because there's nobody checking over there at all."
This is the South Terminal baggage area. This is the North Terminal. See a difference? Take a closer look. The North Terminal has uniformed security officers stationed around the carousels. And the South Side?
(ross and Shawn walk over) Ross: "If you look around you see no security guards over here."
The six times we were here we never saw extra security officers stationed at the South side baggage carousels.
INT 09 Major Lane Hagin *12:52:03 "As a police officer it's really disheartening and disgusting that we had someone that came in and committed such a brazen theft right in front of us and you feel for the victim."
In this case, the bag being stolen belonged to Jacob Giannantonio from Texas. He contacted us, which is why we flew him back to Atlanta to tell his story.
Nats (thanking detective Woods)
And while here he wanted to thank Atlanta police for looking out for him but he wants Delta Airlines to do more.
INT 02: 11:34:24 "So that they treat this like a secure area, where somebody who's authorized to travel only comes here to pick up their luggage, not people off the street, who come in here and steal bags."
UNC 2 24:14 "These are bag tags that I've already checked."
On the North Side extra security officers hired by the airlines do random tag checks to verify the bag belongs to the person who picks it up.
24:30 Ross: "So you stop every time one of these things is going around?"
Officer: "Right. Whenever a carousel brings off a bag somewhere, we go to that carousel."
But we don't see that happening at Delta's carousels in the South Terminal.
26:29 "They're paying out a lot of money over there for a lot of luggage and golf clubs that's getting stolen."
Delta wouldn't tell us how many bags go missing and when we asked about hiring extra security officers we got a written statement.
Delta writes: Our security tactics involve overt and covert components and we'll continue to work with all the airport stakeholders, especially the APD airport precinct who patrols the baggage claim carousels....
Fortunately both Terminals are monitored by Atlanta Police. They caught this woman, Rozena Washington, AKA, Bridgett Denise Washington Smith who went to jail for her crime and they have now flagged this suspect, who walked off with Jacob's bag but that's only because Jacob reported it stolen, even though, he says, the airline told him it was just missing.
INT 09 12:54:37 Ross: "So a lot of those cases could bags actually have been stolen that may have just been treated as a lost bag."
12:54:42 "Right, yes sir, now I can't speak for the airlines but as a police department, I can certainly say we want these crimes reported."
*12:53:41 "Typically, when they commit a theft, they don't just do it once. They come back maybe even the next day or two and when we see that we put people in these areas where we believe they are going to commit their crimes.
(ROSS)
So far all the thefts we've heard about have been in Delta's terminal on the south side. Police have made 8 arrests and have had 28 complaints this year but haven't shared with us where the bags were stolen.
Tomorrow night.. .we'll find out where a few of those missing bags landed,.. thanks to a tip from a viewer..