Okay, a week or so without electricity in Queens is one thing. But now we're hearing that there's an outage on — gulp! — the Upper East Side this afternoon. The Con Ed Website says nothing, but we've received two three unconfirmed reports. Plus the lights in the office dimmed for a second like twenty minutes ago, and we think we just heard a fire truck going up Madison. That's good enough for us. UPDATE: Yup, various local news sources say there's an outage across a swath of the Upper East Side (though different sources say different swaths), that parts of the Bronx have lost power, too, and that subway service is affected on some if not all of the Lexington Avenue lines, and maybe on the E and/or V as well. UPDATE 2: Sewell Chan, naturally, has the most comprehensive info. "An explosion this afternoon at an electrical substation in the Bronx has knocked out power to 136,700 customers in the Bronx and Manhattan and disrupted subway service on several of the city’s busiest subway lines — the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 and E and V lines on the East Side and the D line in the Bronx — according to officials with the city government and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority," he writes. There's also apparently some trouble with the D and with Metro-North trains into Grand Central.

• Con Ed might want to change its slogan from "On It" to "In It." State regulators, in what even the Times calls "a devastating condemnation," place full blame on the utility giant for last July's Queens blackout. (Even better: Regulators determined Con Ed also lied about the number of affected customers.) [NYT] • In a Dickensian tableau of class inequality, an Upper East Side antiques dealer is suing a homeless man — for a million dollars! — for loitering in front of his windows and obstructing the view of the wares. Be sure to catch the A-grade Post prose ("dingy socks, soiled shoes and layers of odorous old clothing"). [NYP] • Carlton Ingleton, a well-known local sculptor who taught art at Medgar Evers College, is dead after a violent confrontation with his son. Cops say the artist was beaten to death "with a pipe and a hatchet." The son, Carl Assawa, is undergoing psychiatric evaluation after attacking police officers while in custody. [amNY] • Mayor Bloomberg's expectedly upbeat State of the City speech — the state of the city is "alive with hope" — included a novel law-enforcement initiative: Crime witnesses and victims will be able to send camera-phone pictures straight to 911 operators. Also, the property tax goes down 5 percent. [NYDN] • Also on the hopeful techy note: OMG Internet over power lines! "Broadband over power lines is coming to New York, says the City Council's technology commission. Get ready for Web-enabled toasters, blenders, and hair dryers. [GG]