Good Night, Irene

Today's appearance on NewsChannel 8 will be posted shortly. Meantime, a summary:

Washingtonians with plans to travel to nearby beach areas (Ocean City, Virginia Beach, Delaware) should be in good shape Labor Day weekend. My main piece of advice is that if you are renting a condo or a vacation home, touch base with the owners or the rental agency to make sure everything is okay. This advice is especially key for anyone who is renting in the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach, which experienced a double whammy of a hurricane and a tornado.

As the Irene clean-up continues, particularly in Vermont, my big concern is what's next. Vermont is a state heavily dependent on tourism, and more than 25 percent of its tourism revenue comes during fall foliage season. With the beginning of autumn just five weeks away, Irene's wrath is likely to leave much of the state high and dry during the normally-lucrative fall foliage season.