E ight months ago, people left this place in haste. Families raced from their homes without closing the front doors. They left half-finished wine bottles on their kitchen tables and sneakers in their foyers. They jumped in their cars without taking pets, and left cows hitched to milking stanchions. Now the land stands empty, frozen in time, virtually untouched since the March 11 disaster that created a wasteland in the 12-mile circle of farmland that surrounds the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Read full article > >

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Around the Fukushima plant, a world left behind

Airbnb, the company matching travelers with people willing to rent out their homes or a room or a bed, isn’t perfect but it is economical.

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Your Money: Airbnb Gets Five-Night Test in Manhattan

Many North Dakota residents flooded out by the Souris River have yet to return to their homes, and now winter is almost here.

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North Dakota Flood Victims Brace for Winter

The initial verdict on the administration’s new mortgage-refinancing plan was that it will have a fairly modest impact. Yes, it would likely help out struggling homeowners in states like Nevada and Florida, where home prices have plunged so deeply that many people now owe more than 125 percent of what their homes are worth. But it’s hard to see how the plan can boost the economy to any noticeable degree. Read full article > >

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More complaints, quibbles and advice for Obama’s housing plan

Training Afghans to protect their homes and fight the Taliban seems to be working. The problem is that it’s also allowing them to fight their own personal wars.

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Magazine Preview: Bad Guys vs. Worse Guys in Afghanistan

Valerie Green-Thomas sees them every day in her classes at the Bronx middle school where she is a special education teacher. Kids hungry, anxious, living in the dark because the electricity in their homes has been turned off. “I really wanted to come to this country, but I am so disappointed,” she said in her Jamaican accent. “To realize that the dream is not the dream.” Read full article > >

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D.C. marchers rally for jobs and justice

Prepare your MP3 devices and smartphones, ladies and gentlemen, because Alec Baldwin has announced a new venture: Public radio podcast host. The “30 Rock” actor will helm “Here’s The Thing,” a podcast interview series at public radio station WNYC. Baldwin will chat with interesting people in their homes, offices and other rooms they frequent, beginning with Michael Douglas on Oct. 24. Read full article > >

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Alec Baldwin to host WNYC podcast, ‘Here’s The Thing’

BALI, Indonesia — A powerful earthquake struck off Indonesia’s popular resort island of Bali on Thursday, sending people fleeing from their homes and hotels in panic. No tsunami alert was issued, and there were no immediate reports of injuries. Some roofs collapsed, and witnesses told local radio and television stations they saw cracks in the walls of buildings. Read full article > >

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Powerful quake rattles Indonesian resort island of Bali

Not everyone eligible for the new Warm Homes Discount may receive it because of limited funding

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Fuel poor could miss out on help

People in Fairfax County’s Huntington community who waded from their homes during last month’s devastating flash floods have had it up to their necks with something more than water. Every time Cameron Run floods their homes, government officials show up, tour the wreckage and promise remedies. New studies of the flooding are undertaken. Solutions such as levees, dredging and floodwalls are proposed. Yet, nothing gets done. Read full article > >

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Fairfax County flood victims at a crossroads

The time is limited for homeowners who want to ensure they aren’t hit with a big tax bill because they had to walk away from a mortgage obligation. At the height of the housing crisis, when foreclosures across the country began a troubling increase, Congress passed the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, designed to provide at least some consolation to folks who had lost their homes. Read full article > >

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For homeowners in trouble, a tough decision to make

Imagine purchasing all of the elements that go into building a house — pre-cut boards, nails, hinges, doorknobs, pipes, wiring, shingles and all — by mail, then using a detailed, 75-page instruction book to put them together yourself. Then imagine that you did such a good job of it that 80 years later, the house is not only standing and functional, but it’s also coveted by home buyers. That’s the novelty of the Sears “kit” home, a product that was common to the Washington area during the early part of the last century. Today, thousands of the homes can be found in in Arlington County, Alexandria, Silver Spring and the District’s Chevy Chase and Palisades neighborhoods. Read full article > >

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Sizing up Sears ‘kit’ homes for today’s living style

Torrential rains across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast triggered flood warnings Thursday that forced authorities to order the evacuation of nearly 100,000 people and close numerous roads, bridges and schools. With the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee continuing to dump rain on the region, the National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for parts of the East Coast from Virginia and Maryland to New York. Among those ordered to flee their homes were residents along the rapidly rising Susquehanna River, which broke a flood record at Binghamton, N.Y., and overflowed downtown retaining walls. About 20,000 residents of the city and neighboring communities were told to evacuate, as were more than 70,000 residents downstream in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and nearby Kingston and hundreds of others farther south in Harrisburg. The river was forecast to crest at 41 feet later Thursday at Wilkes-Barre, the same height as the city’s levee system, the Associated Press reported. Read full article > >

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Flood warnings issued in Washington area, East Coast; evacuations ordered in N.Y., Pa.

About 100 people are moved from their homes and a main road is closed after a fire at a fuel depot containing gas canisters.

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Homes evacuated after depot fire

Forest firefighters in eastern Arizona said on Monday they had made major progress by containing 10 percent of the wildfire that has burned for 16 days and displaced thousands from their homes. Firefighters said they had managed to stop the advance of…

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Firefighters Get Upper Hand in AZ