NPR Blogs

Yes, we already made one child cry. In that spirit, here's more bad news for the shorter demographic: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has signed an executive order postponing Halloween until Nov. 5.

Coming from any other governor, the decision would have immediately been met with sensible nods. But Christie has made his name by being tough and blunt.

Vampires and monsters will be out in force tonight, but some of the darkest creatures out there might be your little angels inside those Halloween costumes.

The first computer game that really frightened me to the bones was 1994's The 7th Guest. It's certainly primitive compared to today's games, but parts of it were indubitably scary. Even early on, when a kind of Steadicam slowly led me up a Victorian mansion's stairs, there was a feeling of uncomfortable dread. Don't go there, I said to myself. Yet, like so many ill-fated protagonists in the movies, I went there. And when ghosts moved about on the second floor — damn — that was eerie. It was like that "cold spot" in Robert Wise's The Haunting.

We want to note the death of Letitia Baldrige, who as The Washington Post writes "was social secretary to first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and also became known as a 'doyenne of decorum' and chief arbiter of good manners in modern America."

Baldrige died Monday at a nursing facility in Bethesda, Md. She was 86.

It's elementary: London's Metropolitan Police needs to trim spending and rather than cut staff, senior officials are suggesting selling the iconic New Scotland Yard building.

The force needs to make huge budget cuts; getting rid of the building (which isn't in Scotland and doesn't have a yard) could save more than 10.5 million dollars, according to the Telegraph.

Well, now that Lucasfilm is being bought by Disney and a new set of Star Wars films is allegedly on the way, there's only one thing to do: look into the future and realize that we already know what a lot of the coverage will look like when the next film comes out in 2015.

"Blood-drinking festival." Reading those words, it's hard not to get either creeped out or curious — especially around Halloween.

I opted for curiosity. Which is how I discovered photojournalist Jana Asenbrennerova's stunning photo essay on an obscure custom that takes place each year in the remote, mist-wrapped highlands of Nepal. These festivals are actually a reflection of the complex relationship that Nepal's Buddhists have with eating meat.

Good morning - here are our early stories:

Latest On Sandy: Death Toll Rises, Wait For 'Normal' Life Continues.

There's No Contingency Plan If Disaster Strikes On Election Day.

And here are more early headlines:

"The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night."

That's how Joseph J. Lhota, the chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, explained the damage caused by Superstorm Sandy to the venerable mass transit system on Tuesday.

The problem is so big that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had deployed an elite 12-member team to help out.

The center of Superstorm Sandy passed less than 25 miles from Philadelphia. In most cases that would mean that the city of brotherly love would have been whipped with the strongest of winds from the weather system.

But Philly, the country's fifth-largest city, emerged today fairly unscathed.