STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: On the day after the Fourth, it's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.</s>LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST: And I'm Linda Wertheimer.</s>LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST: It was especially easy for some Americans to see the fireworks last night. They had no competing source of light.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Brilliant displays lit up cities like New York and Washington, but across Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey, about a quarter of a million homes still have no electricity.</s>LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST: Some smaller celebrations had to be cancelled in Eastern states after last week's powerful storms, which caused havoc from Iowa to the East Coast.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Officials blame the storms for at least 26 deaths, many from falling trees.</s>LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST: In the Midwest and the Western U.S., dry, hot weather is still causing trouble. Officials in some cities in Indiana and Missouri did not want to take any chances with fireworks.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Many communities in Colorado scrapped their displays as huge wildfires continued to burn.
The lack of power in many areas hit hard by last week's storms put a damper on festivities. For some, the power may not return until this weekend. Some of the worst damage occurred in and around the nation's capital.