We noted earlier that some people were wondering why New York Cityschools -- with its roughly 1 million students -- were open duringThursday's snowstorm, even as the mayor declared a city emergency. NewYork City Mayor Bill de Blasio gave some answers in his newsconference minutes ago:1) It was a tough decision, but officials believed children could get to school safely Thursday morning. Snow later came down sooner and faster than expected, which could make departures tricky, but, "within the information we had," city officials made the right decision to open the schools, he said.2) Huge numbers of New Yorkers still had to go to work, and they needed a safe place for their children to be during the day.3) De Blasio said he believed that since 1979, New York City schools have closed only 11 times.He also took an indirect swipe at other cities, saying New York doesn't typically shut down in the face of adversity. After-school programs are canceled today, he said.  Hold your noses for this news, New York City residents: Because of a combination of the snow, the weekend and Presidents Day, trash and recycling collection won't resume "in earnest" until Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.There might be a few exceptions, he said at a news conference, and people still should put out their trash as usual. "Where we have the opportunity to get at it (before Tuesday), we will," he said.  Snow, snow and more snow! The National Weather Service reports daily maximum snowfall records Thursday at the following locations (in inches): JFK International – 5.5; LaGuardia – 7.7; Islip, New York – 8.1; Newark, New Jersey – 9.4 and Bridgeport, Connecticut – 9.5.  “We’re storm warriors here in Philadelphia," Mayor Michael Nutter told CNN. "No one controls the weather so you just deal with it."He said the city, so far, is not seeing much in the way of downed trees and power lines.“We’ve been fortunate but we take nothing for granted. We know that there’s another round of snow coming this evening. It’s going to start a little earlier than originally predicted and last a little longer. We’re still under a snow emergency,” Nutter said.“We’re taking this very, very seriously. We’re not out the woods yet.”  A little over 91,000 customers are without service, Eric Boomhower, with South Carolina Electric & Gas, told CNN. That's down from around 120,000 earlier. "Certainly this has been a major weather impact event for our system. It may be the biggest weather event that’s hit us, from a utility standpoint, since Hurricane Hugo back in 1989," he said.  What happens to the homeless? District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray speaks to CNN's Wolf Blitzer about those who might not have anywhere to go when it gets cold.“The people who have mental health or substance abuse problems who won’t come into the shelters, what we’ve done now is we’ve put out what we call warming buses – where the buses are located in places where people congregate on the streets. And we’ve actually gotten several hundred homeless people to come and be on the buses, who would not go into the shelters otherwise," Gray said.  At least 627,761 customers are without power from Louisiana to Connecticut this afternoon, multiple power companies tell CNN. North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia are among the hardest hit.  The death toll climbs.Three men in Maryland -- ages 45, 55 and 57 -- have died of suspected cardiac arrest suffered "while in the act of shoveling snow," said Howard County, Maryland, spokesman Mark Miller. Including those men, officials have tied at least 16 deaths to the winter storm now affecting the East Coast.
White Out Conditions in Freehold, New JerseyCNN iReportNick Andreacci, a teacher from Freehold, New Jersey, woke up to this winter white out this morning....