President George W. Bush arrived at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla., on a clear September Tuesday in 2001 to celebrate a surge in reading scores. Teacher Kay Daniels’ second-graders were eager to meet him. “It was a beautiful start of the day,” Daniels said. “Moms had done hairs, and uniforms were pressed,…
The small Canadian town of Gander isn’t near much. Located on the island of Newfoundland, Gander is home to around 12,000 residents. Even fewer people lived here on September 11, 2001, when Gander’s far northeast positioning made it an ideal landing spot for grounded flights. “Once you leave Europe in the morning, once you get…
Film legend Robert De Niro has lived or worked in Lower Manhattan for years. “You know, the East Side is another world to someone like me who’s Lower Manhattan,” he said. So, for De Niro, the attacks on 9/11 hit especially close to home: “I was just about to fly to California. I was at…
One of the most affecting stories to come from the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 – one that instills a faith in humanity in spite of the horrifying events of that day – was about the generosity of the residents of a small Canadian town towards several thousand stranded, anxious travelers. In the wake…
Illinois Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin harshly criticized FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford for holding up a pay raise for air traffic controllers that Congress approved as part of legislation President Trump signed into law in April. The Homeland Security and Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act set aside $140 million to give controllers a…
A British estate used as a filming location in Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” may be taken from its owners if repair work, including bat surveys, does not commence, according to local council notices. The stately home was built between 1852 and 1854 in Buckinghamshire, a region in southeast England. It stood in for Wayne Manor in…
“A sweetgrass braid is meant as an emblem, a marker, a metaphor, if you will,” said Robin Wall Kimmerer. “We are committed to braiding Mother Earth’s hair, i.e., we are committed to helping her be at her best.” Kimmerer’s book, “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants” (published by Milkweed Editions),…
Twenty-four years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, firefighter Bill Spade still remembers every detail of being the last firefighter to escape the collapsing North Tower of the World Trade Center. “I started getting buried and I said goodbye to my wife and I said goodbye to my two boys. And, almost 6-year-old at the…
New York City is pausing to remember the 9/11 terror attacks that forever altered the city and the country. The annual reading of names and moments of silence were held Thursday morning at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in Lower Manhattan. It’s a somber ceremony when New Yorkers and the nation vow to “never forget” what…
A New York woman is accused of plotting “a major attack” on the state capitol building in Albany, authorities said Thursday. In a criminal complaint, federal prosecutors in the Northern District of New York charged Jessica Bowie, 35, with attempting to provide material support for foreign terrorist organizations. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence…
