Andrew Mills / The Star-Ledger

LEFT: One of the most iconic images of Hurricane Sandy, the lemon yellow home in Union Beach split in half, but remained standing. RIGHT: The same property 100 days later.

By Amy Ellis Nutt, The Star-Ledger

Published 11:30am ET -- Too cold even for the seagulls, the Jersey Shore in winter is a desolate place. Up and down the abandoned beaches a fringe of snow and ice, like the frayed hem of an old wedding dress, sketches the edge of the last high tide. Only a handful of well-bundled souls, and a black Lab with no birds to chase, roam the ocean’s edge. Shuttered and silent, the Jersey Shore in winter is supposed to be bleak, but today, paused between storm and summer, 100 days after Hurricane Sandy and 110 days until Memorial Day, the shore remains a mournful place — struggling not to be.

Continue reading: 100 days after Sandy, a crippled Jersey Shore stutters back to life

More photos: The Jersey Shore 100 days later on nj.com.

Andrew Mills / The Star-Ledger

LEFT: The Atlantic Ocean has breached the Ocean County barrier island in three places in the borough of Mantoloking, and created a new inlet at the base of the Mantoloking Bridge. RIGHT: This is what the Mantoloking Bridge looks like 100 days later.

Andrew Mills / The Star-Ledger

LEFT: Work begins to clean up Ocean Avenue between 17th and 16th Avenues in Belmar on Wednesday after Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on the Jersey Shore. RIGHT: How Ocean Avenue looks today.

Andrew Mills / The Star-Ledger

LET: A destroyed sport utility vehicle at the intersection of Brielle Road and First Avenue on the Manasquan beachfront was one of the first images to be transmitted from the Jersey Shore after Sandy's storm surge subsided. RIGHT: The same intersection 100 days later.

Slideshow: Recovering after Sandy

Mario Tama / Getty Images

Residents of the Northeast are still picking up the pieces after Superstorm Sandy.

Launch slideshow

Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger

Gianna Antico and the rest of the Twinkles compete in a local competition, the Cheersport Philadelphia Grand Championship on Dec. 11. 2011, at the Liacouras Center at Temple University.

Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger

Andrea Lipkus doesn't wait till she's at practice to start her stretching exercises as her mom, Valerie, drives her to the World Cup All Stars Gym in Freehold in October 2011.

Below is an excerpt from a 9-month project by New Jersey's Star-Ledger on the Twinkles - Chasing perfection: A tumble into the world of competitive cheerleading 

Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger

Andrea Lipkus, Gabby Cignetti, Camryn Sycoff and Samantha Santaniello pass the time giving massages as the Twinkles wait to perform on Nov. 20, 2011, at the Universal Cheerleading Association Northeast Championship in Toms River, NJ.

Jackie Freidman / The Star-Ledger:

The Twinkles, ages 8 through 12, train at the World Cup All Stars Gym in Freehold, where they are redefining what it means to be a cheerleader. Forget right now about what you see on the sidelines at football games. This is cheerleading as a high-flying sport whose soaring participants work like professionals, often devoting six or seven days every week to training.

They attend formal practice on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, take private lessons and flock to the gym for open tumbling sessions. Not even the slightest flaw is tolerated — they will repeat their 2-minute, 25-second routine with mind-numbing devotion for six months before performing it in front of an audience.

Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger

During the second day of the Athletic Championships on Jan. 29 in Providence, R.I., Gianna Antico and her stunt group take their turn practicing stunts in a small convention hall room.

But the Twinkles also act their age, chatting about "Toddlers & Tiaras," how much they hate hair spray and how blueberries turn their teeth purple — all while doing backflips.

"Cheerleading’s taken over the world," World Cup co-owner Elaine Pascale says. "It’s on TV. It’s in magazines. Our community has really grown to be very, very vast as far as encompassing a lot of lay people that never knew such a thing existed."

The girls are aware they are phenoms, devoting their unnaturally chiseled bodies, their time, their emotional capacity and their parents’ money — some more than $10,000 a year — to being the best. Because when you’re a Twinkle, nothing else matters.

Read the complete story -- Chasing perfection: A tumble into the world of competitive cheerleading

Related links:

• nj.com/twinkles
• Photo gallery: Twinkles at practice - Part 1 & Part 2
• Photo gallery: Twinkles in competition - Part 1 & Part 2

Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger

Lauren Preston gets some help stretching from her mother, Lori, as other Twinkles look on and her teddy bear sits nearby at the Rebel Classic Cheer Championship at Howell High School on Jan. 15. The teddy bear, which she has had since birth and goes everywhere with her, was always close by, until she lost it on a competitive trip to Florida later in the season.

Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger

Gianna Antico hugs Andrea Lipkus to cheer her up after Andrea had a "mind block" and wasn't able to tumble during Twinkles practice in February at the World Cup All Stars Gym.

Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger

Brighid Gibney reacts to the cold spray as she is spray-tanned by cheer mom Dorn Stephenson in a hotel stairwell the night of Jan. 27, before the Twinkles compete at the Athletic Championships in Providence, R.I.

Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger

Nikki Ryan kills time by throwing her American Girl doll into the air while waiting for all the World Cup cheerleading teams to finish on the first day of the NCA All-Star National Championship on Feb. 25.

Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger

Bella Matrone, center, and Brighid Gibney carry the NCA All-Star National Championship trophy and banner offstage after the Twinkles won in Dallas on Feb. 26.

Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger

Alexis Adamo couldn't wait to go to sleep in her NCA All-Star National Championship jacket after the Twinkles placed first in Dallas on Feb. 26.

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John Munson / The Star-Ledger

Painting supervisor Kevin McSweeney walks out onto one of the cables on the George Washington Bridge to inspect the painting operations in Fort Lee, NJ, on July 10.

John Munson / The Star-Ledger

Obed Gonzalez paints one of the large cables on the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, NJ, on July 10.

It was as he was selecting his harness that New Jersey Star-Ledger photographer John Munson realized that he, too, would be joining the George Washington Bridge painters high above rush-hour traffic on the cables suspending the bridge over the Hudson River. As he and reporter Steve Strunsky headed to the span's midpoint, Munson focused on shooting the Port Authority workers and tuning out the vibrations from morning commuters heading into New York City below them.

For the painters, it is just another day at the office. They work on maintaining the bridge year-round, completing a full paint job in approximately 18 months. The Star-Ledger's Steve Strunsky reports:

Kevin McSweeney stood 330 feet above the Hudson River on one of four 36-inch diameter cables strung between the twin towers of the George Washington Bridge.

Manhattan-bound cars and trucks whooshed 100 feet below him as his crew of five bridge painters worked on a narrow platform. Clipped to safety wires, they used rollers to coat the cables with an aluminum-based protective layer.

It was 9 a.m. and already hot under a blazing July sun. But the small gang of adrenaline junkies applied the silvery coating with amazing speed and coordination, seemingly oblivious to the dizzying height.

Read the complete story.

Related links:

• Star-Ledger gallery: Painting the George Washington Bridge
• PhotoBlog: Exploring the offbeat of the Golden Gate Bridge
• Slideshow: The Golden Gate Bridge's 75-year history

John Munson / The Star-Ledger

Keith Schmitt paints the top of the south cable on the George Washington Bridge. Fort Lee, NJ, on July 10.

Andrew Mills / The Star-Ledger

Asbury Park firefighter Brett Nielson pauses as he prepares to enter the surf to search for the body of a 23-year-old man who disappeared while swimming after lifeguards had gone off duty yesterday. The body was recovered after a short search by divers.

Andrew Mills / The Star-Ledger

Asbury Park firefighters, NJ State Police Troopers and US Coast Guard personnel work to recover a body about 200 yards offshore at the 2nd Avenue beach in Asbury Park where a 23-year-old man disappeared while swimming after lifeguards had gone off duty yesterday.

Jim Gold, msnbc.com -- One swimmer who vanished off the New Jersey shore was found drowned Thursday morning while the search continued for a second caught by rip currents.

Both incidents occurred at beaches where no lifeguards were on duty.

Garrett Giberson, public information officer for the Asbury Park fire department, told NJ.com, website of the Star-Ledger newspaper. “Basically the bottom line is this: When lifeguards are off duty, stay out of the water. Rip tides are dangerous and obviously deadly. It's not worth your life."

Read the full story.

See more images of search and rescue efforts in the Star-Ledger's photo gallery.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger

A United Shuttle Air Express passenger plane with hydraulic problems made an emergency landing at Newark Liberty International Airport Monday evening, forcing the temporary closure of the airport. No injuries were reported.

The Star-Ledger's Tomas Dinges reports:

As a passenger plane with hydraulic problems was getting ready to make an emergency landing at Newark Liberty International Airport Monday evening, passengers thought they were going to die.

"We were saying our prayers because we just thought it was the end," said Steve Parowski, a passenger from Franklin Lakes. "I sent a text to my sons letting them know that I love them, and I hope everything works out."

Parowski was among the 71 people aboard the United Shuttle Air Express traveling from Atlanta to Newark — a flight that was uneventful until the commuter jet was preparing for landing and its front landing gear failed to deploy, authorities said. Parowski said as soon as he got off the plane and he knew he was fine, he called his sons on the phone and told them "I landed and I'm alive."

Read the the Star-Ledger's full story.

Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger

A neighbor takes a peek at a Nissan Pathfinder which crashed and landed in the house belonging to Gloria Sinclair, 74, late on Dec. 8, 2011, near the intersection of West Market Street and Wickliffe Street in Newark. No one was injured, but Ms. Sinclair was home at the time with her daughter and 2 year-old grandson. A few short minutes before the accident, her grandson had left that room, a computer room, which the SUV crashed into.

Well. That's one way to find a parking spot. I hope disgruntled New York City drivers out there - myself included - don't take this as inspiration when circling the block for the hundredth time after a long night of looking for that elusive spot.

According to the Star-Ledger, this scene occurred after a driver lost control of her SUV when driving in Newark, N.J. Fortunately, after landing in the second story of a home, no injuries were reported.

“You thought it was a bomb, maybe it was an explosion downtown,” said Evelyn Sykes, 28, who lives several houses away from the accident scene. “The house shook and the windows were shaking.”

“Of course,” she added after she saw the SUV, “I wasn’t expecting to see that.”

A dark Nissan Pathfinder was deeply embedded inside the room on the second floor of the house, leaving a clean, gaping 10-foot-by-10-foot hole where two windows once were.

Five minutes earlier, Gloria Sinclair’s grandson and daughter had been in the room where the SUV was. Sinclair had been watching television in the next room over when the vehicle struck. Read the full story.

For more images from the scene see the Star-Ledger's photo gallery on the accident.

Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger

A Nissan Pathfinder crashed and landed in the house belonging to Gloria Sinclair, 74, late on Dec. 8, near the intersection of West Market Street and Wickliffe Street in Newark.