Hurricane Sandy busted through the Northeastern U.S. this week like a good girl-gone-bad chasing after Danny Zuko. Thankfully, the worst of the weather has passed and we Americans can work on repairing damage, helping those in need and recounting evidence of how our country comes together during crisis. The hurricane-meets-nor’easter was revving up Sunday but meteorologist and (way too) frequent IJCGE reference Lindsay Lohan just wanted everyone to calm the hell down. I mean, hasn’t anyone else read The Secret? Don’t you people know the power of positive thought? Twitter became a useful source of photos and updates, as it often does in times of crisis, but unfortunately many of the messages and images tweeted were false or doctored (as they often are in times of crisis). Go here to check out some incredible popular images (and find out if they're real or fake). At this point you’re probably wondering when beloved superstar Coco is going to weigh in on the storm. Don’t worry, Mrs. Ice-T reported live from their New Jersey home: While Hurricane Sandy was ruining homes and shutting down electricity, the creators of The Jersey Shore continued their own assault on America. With the MTV hit ending after this season (not to mention the destruction of Snookie and Co.’s stomping grounds, the iconic boardwalk at Seaside Heights) 496 Productions has reportedly set its sights on Bengals cheerleader and teen-banger Sarah Jones for a new reality series. Cameras will follow the 27-year-old former teacher and her relationship with the now 18-year-old Cody York. Jones began an affair with York when he was a 17-year-old student at the high school where she taught. So, for the record, the woman cheated on her husband with an underage student and not only does she not get jail time or have to register as a sex offender, she will actually profit from it. Yes, I will obviously be watching this show. Since it is Halloween, check out these pics of the best Canadian bitch move in history, aka Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley and his girlfriend dressed as D’s ex, Avril Lavigne, and her current piece, Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger. (Most vomit-inducing sentence ever?) OK, enough destruction and anguish for one day. Enjoy this video of a pug hopping up stairs.

In-person early voting is underway in Ohio. Find your nearest polling booth here. Hurricane Sandy slammed the East Coast last night. At least 16 people are believed to have died from the storm, and as many as 7.5 million were left without power. Areas of New York and New Jersey also faced major flooding. It took until 4:30 a.m. for Sandy to go from hurricane to tropical storm.  The Anna Louise Inn will be in court at 9 a.m. today arguing in front of the First District Court of Appeals, which could overturn a May ruling and allow the Inn to move forward with its renovation. CityBeat will have online coverage for the hearing later today. Hamilton County’s probation department is facing sexual harassment charges. The charges are coming from a county worker who said her promotion was denied due to her actions “for opposing discrimination and encouraging others to exercise their right to be free from acts of discrimination.” The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes filed a lawsuit Friday in an attempt to reverse the August reworking of the Blue Ash airport deal. For COAST, the lawsuit is mostly to stall or stop the financing for the $110 million Cincinnati streetcar. City Council will vote next week to decide whether the city should borrow $37 million to fund development projects and a portion of the Homeless to Homes program. But Homeless to Homes is generating some concern due to its requirement to move three shelters. Three Cincinnati charity groups are coming together to help veterans with disabling injuries. The organizations will pool available resources to hopefully find jobs for veterans. Mitt Romney is running a new ad against President Barack Obama in Ohio that says Chrysler is moving Jeep production to China. The ad, which Chrysler says is false, warranted a snarky response from the car company: “Despite clear and accurate reporting, the take has given birth to a number of stories making readers believe that Chrysler plans to shift all Jeep production to China from North America, and therefore idle assembly lines and U.S. workforce. It is a leap that would be difficult even for professional circus acrobats.” The Obama team also responded with its own ad. It is somewhat understandable Romney would be getting a bit desperate at this point in the race. Ohio is widely considered the most important swing state, but aggregate polling has Romney down 1.9 points in the state. Romney is up 0.9 points nationally. State Republicans are refusing to pull an ad that accuses William O’Neill, Democratic candidate for the Ohio Supreme Court, of expressing “sympathy for rapists.” This is despite the fact that Justice Robert Cupp, O’Neill’s Republican opponent, has distanced himself from the ad. At this point, even the most nonpartisan, objectives watchers have to wonder why the Republican Party can’t keep rape out of its messaging. In comments aired first on Aug. 19, U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin of Missouri said on pregnancy after rape, “If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” On Oct. 23, Richard Mourdock, the Senate candidate for Indiana, said, “I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God. And, I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.” Ohio is getting closer to the health exchange deadline with no plan in sight. Obamacare asks states to take up health exchanges that act as competitive markets for different health insurance plans. States are allowed to either accept, let the federal government run the exchanges or take a hybrid approach. As part of the health exchanges, the federal government will also sponsor a heavily regulated nonprofit plan that sounds fairly similar to the public option liberals originally wanted in Obamacare. Meanwhile, Ohio and other states still haven’t decided whether they will be expanding their Medicaid programs. In the past, state officials have cited costs as a big hurdle, but one study from Arkansas found Medicaid expansions actually saved money by reducing the amount of uncompensated care. Some states that expanded Medicaid also found health improvements afterward. An inspector at the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) was caught not doing her job. The inspector was supposed to do 128 site visits for in-person safety inspections, but she apparently never showed up to some of the schools and filed fraudulent reports. Peter Cremer North America could add 50 jobs in Cincinnati over three years in an expansion. A San Francisco firm bought a major stake in Cincinnati Bell.