MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. – Residents began digging out of their homes a day after a raging storm blanketed parts of the East Coast with as much as 16 inches of snow and closed schools from South Carolina to New Hampshire.
In New Jersey, the weather could also lead to a legal storm for districts and school board candidates.
Monday was the deadline for candidates to register to run in the April 21 school board elections. But with nearly every school closed because of the heavy snowfall, many candidates did not have a place to file their papers on time.
State Education Commissioner Lucille Davy sent a memo to school districts warning them that it's against state election law to extend the filing deadline. The districts will have to go to court and ask judges to allow candidates to file after the deadline, Davy said.
It was not clear how many candidates or districts may have been affected by closed offices.
Many towns up and down the coast remained in the dark and bitter cold Tuesday as the aftermath of the storm sent mercuries plummeting to single digits. Some schools canceled or delayed classes for thousands of kids for a second straight day.
Duke Energy said about 40,000 customers in North and South Carolina still had no service Tuesday morning. Electricity might not be restored until Wednesday night, the utility said.
Dominion Virginia Power reported about 30,000 customers still without electricity Tuesday morning, including nearly 18,000 in the Richmond area.
Five county school systems in northeastern Georgia remained closed for a second day as more than 14,000 customers were left in the dark by the storm. Utilities expected power to be restored Tuesday afternoon.
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