On the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, it was hard for me to comprehend that a decade had passed since I watched the towers burn in Lower Manhattan. I could still picture the bodies free-falling through the sky like broken twigs. I could still remember the feeling of white tower dust in my […]
A new study finds that children who lost a parent on 9/11 are suffering a disproportionate share of anxiety and stress disorders.
On September 11, 2001, Karen Ann Martin, the head flight attendant of American Airlines Flight 11, perished when her plane collided with the World Trade Center’s North Tower. But it wasn’t until this year that the New York City medical examiner identified some of her remains. Karen’s younger brother, Paul, spoke with Julie Scelfo.In October. […]
For New Yorkers living in lower Manhattan, the abandoned, black-shrouded 40-story building across from Ground Zero has for years been a reminder of how the collapsing twin towers emitted a vast blanket of environmental contamination that may still affect nearby residents and workers. On the morning of September 11, 2001, a falling section of 2 […]
Millions were touched by the events of September 11, and now they’re getting a chance to understand the tragedy up close. A new exhibit by the New York State Museum, “Recovery: The World Trade Center Recovery Operation at Fresh Kills,” debuted in August at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland and will travel across […]
After stepping down this summer as the head of the EPA, the embattled Christine Todd Whitman is once again in the hot seat. This time it’s over her role in the downplaying of health hazards for New York City residents after 9/11. A report by the EPA inspector general says that Whitman assured the public […]
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the chance of a terror attack is high. Which is why attendance is soaring at American Red Cross disaster-preparation classes around the country. “I’m not freaked out,” says Linda Velez, who recently attended “Preparing for the Unexpected” in New York. “I just want more information.” Counterterrorism professionals are […]
As the first anniversary of the 9-11 attacks draws nearer, victims’ families are quietly waging a letter-writing campaign asking TV networks to provide warnings before airing graphic footage of the attacks. Carie Lemack, a 27-year-old from Boston whose mother was on American Airlines Flight 11, says that when she sees the plane going into the […]
The site is two boroughs and more than a dozen miles away from what used to be the World Trade Center. But for hundreds of workers who spent the last 10 months at the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, the horrors have been the same. More than 1.8 million tons of debris was brought […]
Six months after they were crushed, burned or covered with debris, New York City is ready to dispose of more than 1,000 vehicles recovered from the World Trade Center attacks. The city had planned to hand the cars and trucks over to insurance companies or owners as early as Monday. But at the last moment, […]
The first thing I notice is the smell. It isn’t just the caustic scent of burnt steel and jet fuel, familiar from the World Trade Center. It’s something human, the odor of death. The next things I notice are the mountains of gray dirt, stretching as far as I can see. A crane scoops from […]