TIMES UNION | Twenty years after 2003's Northeast blackout, challenges remain

Rich Dewey was half a continent away when his pager started beeping persistently. It was Aug. 14, 2003 and Dewey, who at the time worked in IT at the New York Independent System Operator, was in Houston helping to test a new software program for the organization. Also known as NYISO, the not-for-profit agency operates the state’s vast power grid, directing the flow of electricity from generating plants to where it's needed at any given moment.