"Ms. Lipson tried to get a meeting with Madison Marquette's president, Gary Mottola, for weeks to make her pitch. She finally got it on a recent morning in a sunbaked conference room. Ms. Lipson was in a black skirt and sleeveless top and big sunglasses, Mr. Mottola in a Stone Pony T-shirt; a reporter attended. Ms. Lipson noted that while New Jersey had many regional museums, it had nothing that drew international tourism. 'Except Madam Marie,' Mr. Mottola interjected, referring to the stand of a former boardwalk fortuneteller made famous by Bruce Springsteen in his '4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).' Ms. Lipson said the museum would be an economic [...]

President Obama has declared four counties in Tennessee Federal disaster areas after floodwaters washed through them over the weekend and into Monday. Residents who had been evacuated by the waters returned to their homes yesterday. Power in much of downtown was shut off thanks to a main circuit failing at approximately 3:15 a.m. Tuesday; it's estimated that electricity won't be restored to the area, which includes the closed-until-further-notice Hilton and the 33-story AT&T Building. Meanwhile, local residents are getting somewhat aggravated by the downplaying of the floods in the national media, especially in relation to the weekend's foiled Times Square car bomb: