Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 121, No. 260 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
TOP EXECS LEAVE APPLE NEW YORK (AP) — Apple Inc. shook up its executive ranks Monday, saying the head of its store operations is leaving after just six months on the job and the long-serving head of its iPhone software development operations is exiting next year. - PAGE A3
TOP 5 WEB For The Past 24 Hours
• Home Depot hosts Kids Safety Day • A Thriller of a day • Local briefs: Broncos topple ‘Chokes • Bulldogs down Coyotes 58-13 • Hagerman blows by Fort Sumner
INSIDE SPORTS
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Sandy slams into New Jersey coast www.rdrnews.com
Superstorm disrupts political campaign
GIANTS EXACT REVENGE ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Osi Umenyiora and the New York Giants were feeling awful, believing they had just suffered a monumental collapse. Upon further review, a replay ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
HIGH ...79˚ LOW ....41˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B7 COMICS.................B4 FINANCIAL .............B5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ......A10 LOTTERIES ............A2 NATION .................A6 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ............A10 WORLD ...............B10
INDEX
TUESDAY
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Superstorm Sandy slammed into the New Jersey coastline with 80 mph winds and hurled a record-breaking 13-foot surge of seawater at New York City on Monday, roaring ashore after washing away part of the Atlantic City boardwalk and putting the presidential campaign on hold. Just before its center reached land, the storm was stripped of hurricane status, but the distinction was purely technical, based on its shape and internal temperature. It still packed hurricaneforce wind, and forecastAP Photo ers were careful to say it remained every bit as A row of houses stands in floodwaters at Grassy Sound in North Wildwood, N.J., as Hurricane Sandy pounds the East Coast dangerous to the 50 mil- Monday. lion people in its path. boarded-up big cities of The National Hurricane the Northeast corridor — Center announced at 8 Washington, Baltimore, p.m. that Sandy had come Philadelphia, New York ashore about five miles and Boston, with stinging from Atlantic City. The sea rain and gusts of more surged a record of nearly than 85 mph. 13 feet at the Battery, at At least four deaths the foot of Manhattan. were blamed on the storm In an attempt to lessen in Maryland, Pennsylvadamage from the storm, nia, Connecticut and New New York City’s main utili- York. Among them were ty cut power to about two people killed by falling 6,500 customers in lower trees. Manhattan, which inAs Sandy made its way cludes Wall Street. toward land, it converged Authorities worried that with a cold-weather sysseawater would seep into tem out of the west that the subway and cripple it, tur ned into a fearsome along with the electrical superstorm, a monstrous and communications sys- hybrid consisting not only tems vital to the nation’s of rain and high wind but financial center. of snow. Forecasters As it closed in, Sandy warned of 20-foot waves AP Photo knocked out power to more than 1.5 million peoHeavy surf crashes over a seawall on the Atlantic Ocean during the early stages of HurriSee SANDY, Page A8 cane Sandy, Monday, in Kennebunk, Maine. ple and smacked the
Can’t catch me!
• Michael Gonzales - PAGE A6
October 30, 2012
Mark Wilson Photo
A coyote casts a wary glance before beating a hasty retreat into the surrounding brush near Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, recently.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight days before the election, President Barack Obama switched from campaigner to hands-on commander of the federal response to Superstorm Sandy as it barreled across the Eastern Seaboard. Republican Mitt Romney scaled back his appearances and urged supporters to “do your very best” in donating to relief efforts. The political pace quickened on Monday even without the customary clash of rallies and rhetoric. Romney’s allies put down $1.2 million for a last-minute television ad campaign designed to make Pennsylvania competitive — or at least appear so — and the roll of early voters swelled past 15 million in scattered states. With the race in its final full week, most national polls showed the two presidential rivals separated by a statistically insignificant point or two, although others said Romney had a narrow lead for the overall popular vote. But the election will be won or lost in the nine most competitive states. Republicans claimed momentum there, but the president’s high command projected confidence. And Romney’s increasingly narrow focus on Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio suggested he still searched for a breakthrough in the Midwest to deny Obama the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. The president changed roles quickly during the day, highlighting the advantages of the incumbency — as long as events go smoothly. He scrapped a morning campaign appearance in Florida, boarded Air Force One for a bumpy flight to the nation’s capital and appeared before reporters in the White House not long afterward.
New Mexico voters will get to decide Syrian regime launches on five constitutional amendments nationwide airstrikes
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — New Mexico voters will consider approving five constitutional amendments and tens of millions of dollars in general obligation bonds when they fill out their ballots. Far down the ballot are three amendments dealing with reforming the Public Regulation Commission, one of the state’s mos t power f u l, h igh est paid and most scandalplagued commissions. The five-member panel regulates utilities, insurance companies, transportation companies and transmission and pipeline companies. “I think most people at
this point know who they’re going to vote for as pr esident but ar en’t even aware these amendments are on the ballot and are going to affect everyone who pays for electricity or gas or landline telephone service or buys insurance,” said Fr ed Nathan, executive director of Santa Febased Think New Mexico, a think tank that is supporting the three amendments. The three proposals would allow lawmakers to str eamline PRC duties, move some of the commission’s oversight to the secretary of state, and allow lawmakers to adopt
minimum standards for PRC candidates. The other amendments call for creating an independent public defender’s of fice and adding members to the state Judicial Standards Commission, which investigates complaints against judges and judicial candidates. As for the more than $140 million in proposed general obligation bonds, senior citizen centers around the state, libraries, and the state’s colleges and universities would stand to benefit. Bonds are backed by See VOTERS, Page A8
See CAMPAIGN, Page A8
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian fighter jets pounded rebel areas across the country on Monday with scores of airstrikes that anti-regime activists called the most widespread bombing in a single day since Syria’s troubles started 19 months ago. The death toll for what was supposed to be a four-day cease-fire between the regime of President Bashar Assad and rebels seeking his overthrow exceeded 500, and activists guessed the government’s heavy reliance on air power reflected its inability to roll back rebel gains. “The army is no longer able to make any progress on the ground so it is resorting to this style,” said activist Hisham Nijim via Skype from the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun. Activists said more than 80 people were killed nationwide Monday while videos posted online showed fighter jets screaming over Syrian towns, mushroom clouds rising from neighborhoods and residents searching the See SYRIA, Page A8