Post-Irene Power Outages Down, But Not Gone Yet

BOSTON (AP) -- The number of Massachusetts homes and businesses still without power after Tropical Storm Irene is down to about 68,000.

National Grid reported Thursday that about 54,000 of its customers are still without electricity after Sunday's storm.

NStar says more than 14,000 of its customers are still blacked out.

Most of the outages are in communities in the southeastern portion of the state and Cape Cod.

The utilities have said it could be the weekend before some areas have power restored.

More than 500,000 customers statewide were without power at the height of the storm.