An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8 hit the New York and New Jersey region on Friday morning, followed by an aftershock in the evening, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), stunning and shocking people who felt its tremors and rumbles.
Why it matters: This appears to be the strongest earthquake to hit the New York area since a 5.2 magnitude quake in 1884, according to a tracker from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
The East Coast's ancient rocks allowed the Friday morning earthquake to rattle an estimated 42 million people in several states, giving it a much wider reach than its West Coast cousins, geologists said.
Why it matters: If an earthquake of the same magnitude happened on the West Coast, it's likely that it wouldn't have been felt as far away, because seismic waves in the eastern half of North America behave differently than those out West.
Why it matters: Fresh inquiries to the IEA and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm are seeking data on U.S. funding for the international body, which produces influential analyses about the future of fossil fuels.
Tesla's stock partially recovered from a sharp drop in midday trading Friday after CEO Elon Musk refuted a report that the company is killing off a long-planned affordable electric car.
Why it matters: Tesla and other automakers need to make affordable, mass-market electric cars in order to stay competitive — especially with cheaper Chinese EVs knocking on America's doorstep.
A powerful, deadly storm that's dumped several inches of snow across New England and other parts of the U.S. Northeast disrupted travel and caused widespread outages into Friday morning.
The big picture: Well over a foot of snow has fallen in parts of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Nearly 290,000 customers had no power in Maine alone, with nearly 116,00 in the dark in neighboring N.H. on Friday morning.
