Lights out

February 7, 2011 (WABC) -- It's not exactly a where-were-you-when-the-lights-went-out moment, but it was scary if you got caught in the power outage that affected thousands of people in and around Newark airport this afternoon.

Several terminals were without power, as was the Air Train (a couple were stuck). Talk about weird science: PSE&G was upgrading a switching station in Elizabeth when there was some kind of equipment failure, and just like that, electric service went kaput at the airport, and in parts of Hillside, Elizabeth, Union, Newark, Roselle, Linden, Kenilworth and Irvington.

There was a ground stop at Newark - and incoming flights were diverted.

The tower was on backup power, but this once again shows how dependent key hubs are to single-source suppliers. Power is now restored, but the residual back-ups will last for a while.

We'll have the latest on the outage - and the fix - tonight at 11.

Also at 11, open up your wallets.

That was the not-so-subtle nudging today from Pres. Obama to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Obama urging businesses to "get in the game" by coughing up trillions they're holding in reserve. He wants them to start hiring - so the economy can get into gear.

No question the President is trying to build bridges with the business community - and mend fences especially with the Chamber, which has lobbied against Mr. Obama the past two years, especially against his health care plan.

"I'm here in the interest of being more neighborly," Obama said, joking that, "Maybe if we would have brought over a fruit cake when I first moved in, we would have gotten off on a better foot. But I'm going to make it up."

We'll see.

We're also looking into a remarkable revelation from the folks at Consumer Reports. And for everyone who uses one of those travel sites on the Internet, this is eye-opening. That comparison shopping you've been doing might not be so great; in fact, the investigation reveals that you might be getting sucked into paying more money.

We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Lee Goldberg with his AccuWeather forecast, and Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11.

BILL RITTER

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