Long road to recovery

November 13, 2012 (WABC) -- They are the literal lifelines for hundreds of thousands of people, but there's word today that two New York City-run public hospitals may not be fully operational till next year.

Bellevue and Coney Island were shut during Sandy, and it will be weeks before they start accepting patients again. The City Council today ponied up $500 million in extra funding, in part to help pay for the damaged hospitals. But in the meantime, the patients and doctors who rely on these facilities - well, what are they to do? Also not open yet: NYU/Langone Medical Center.

Tonight we take a closer look at how people are dealing with the hospital closures. There was already something of a shortage of hospitals. This certainly hasn't helped.

Also at 11 - pets took a beating from Sandy, and now many of them, like many people, are homeless. Tonight we look at the pets that have been rescued - but their owners have no home to take them to.

And we're in the Rockaways to look at the hard-hit public housing projects where people are still without power - and for those who have absolutely no money and no other place to go, well, it's just horrible.

Meanwhile, Gov. Cuomo late today throwing down the gauntlet again - and saying LIPA is broken and it can't be fixed. So what does that mean for the Long Island Power Authority - under intense criticism for its handling of the power outages after Sandy?

We'll also have the latest in the Peyton Place soap opera involving the highest ranking members and former members of the U.S. military. And what's up with these four-star generals, right? Now the woman who blows the whistle on Gen. David Petraeus' mistress, has gotten tens of thousands of emails and "documents" from the man who took Petraeus' place as the commander in Afghanistan - Gen. John Allen. He's now under investigation for having "inappropriate communications," some of which were "flirtatious."

What's with these guys? Does power and rank suddenly make these guys with all the medals Adonis-attractive? And how big is this military groupie scene? Is it just like rock star groupies or pro sports groupies? Nothing new here of course - think "Officer And A Gentleman," and "Top Gun." Makes one wonder why some thought that gays openly serving in the military were going to be a problem? Seems the hetero-four-star generals are providing plenty of problems - for their families and for the Pentagon. I'm just sayin'.

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

BILL RITTER

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