Free Republic

NEW YORK — The agency building the new World Trade Center has let costs get out of control, with the estimated price tag soaring nearly $4 billion over the last four years, auditors said today. Navigant Consulting said the project is now expected to cost $14.8 billion, 35 percent more than the last estimate, of $11 billion, in 2008. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ordered the review of the World Trade Center site's owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, after the agency's board voted to raise bridge and tunnel tolls...

<p>The Port Authority is sweatin’ on the dock of the bay.</p> <p>The underground loading dock to 1 World Trade Center, future home of Condé Nast, can’t be finished in time for the media company and other tenants to use the planned 13 cargo bays to move in equipment to build out their space, Realty Check has learned.</p>

Newt speaking on his rejection of a Ground Zero Mosque. Will post link in thread so clickable in thread as well.

When it is completed, it will be the tallest building in Manhattan and one of incredible poignancy for New York City. One World Trade Center reached its 90th floor this week - with just 14 more floors to go until the top. The structure can now be seen from all five boroughs of the city. Stunning pictures showed how the area has been reborn since the 9/11 attacks more than a decade ago where almost 3,000 people lost their lives in the worst ever terrorist attack on American soil. Towering symbol: The fog rolls out across downtown Manhattan, captured from the...

The unveiling of pictures of planned luxury residential towers scheduled to be built in Seoul, South Korea, has sparked instant controversy. The reason is obvious. The towers, which include a so-called “cloud” feature connecting them around the 27th floors, clearly resemble the World Trade Towers in the process of collapsing following the 9/11 attacks.The designers of the towers, Dutch architectural firm MVRDV, have responded to the controversy by quickly publishing an apology in English. “It was not our intention to create an image resembling the attacks,” the designers insist, “nor did we see the resemblance during the design process.”They did...

Its dramatic collapse several hours after the Twin Towers fell triggered a decade of conspiracy theories. Those who believed that the September 11 attacks on America were not carried out by Al Qaeda terrorists pointed to the fall of World Trade Center Building 7 as proof of their wild claims. But a newly released video appears to finally prove once and for all that Building 7 was brought down by the intense heat of the blazing World Trade Center - and not explosives, as conspiracy theorists claim.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today traveled to New York City and honored the memory of Richard Rescorla with the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Department's highest honor, for his heroic actions on September 11, 2001. "Since the 9/11 attacks, we have seen exceptional models of resilience all around us," said Secretary Napolitano. "By honoring Richard Rescorla with the Distinguished Public Service medal, we remember his heroism and commitment to the preparedness of the thousands of employees under his watch." On September 11, 2011, Richard Rescorla was Second Vice President for Security at Morgan...

Molten aluminum mixing with water could have ultimately brought the towers down. More than ten years after the fact, a scientists based at the Norwegian research institute SINTEF is proposing that a well-documented chemical reaction spelled the ultimate demise of the Twin Towers after the attacks of September 11, 2001. This isn’t another conspiracy theory, nor is it proven fact. But Christian Simensen theorizes that a mix of molten aluminum from the aircraft bodies mixed with water from the sprinkler systems could have catalyzed secondary blasts that brought the World Trade Center towers to the ground. Simensen’s idea, presented at...

Simensen claims that it is overwhelmingly likely that the two aircraft were trapped inside an insulating layer of building debris within the skyscrapers. This leads him to believe that it was the aircraft hulls rather than the buildings themselves that absorbed most of the heat from the burning aircraft fuel. The SINTEF scientist believes that the heat melted the aluminium of the aircraft hulls, and the core of his theory is that molten aluminium then found its way downwards within the buildings through staircases and gaps in the floor – and that the flowing aluminium underwent a chemical reaction with...

I've never seen this before, it's a tear jerker.

Members of the group 'Muslims against Crusades' hold placards as they gather during an anti-U.S. rally, held close to the memorial ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11 U.S. attacks at the Memorial Garden, adjacent to the U.S. Embassy in central London, Sunday Sept. 11, 2011.

Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued? Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd. What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. Te atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all...

Nearly six years ago, in November 2003, a design called 'Reflecting Absence,' conceived by NYC Housing Authority architect, Michael Arad, was selected as one of the finalists for the World Trade Center Memorial. Arad's poignant design featured two pools in the footprints of the destroyed WTC's towers, each an acre in size, with waterfalls cascading down their sides, representing endless tears shed for the victims. In January 2004, the design, now-revised with landscape designer Peter Walker's eastern white pine trees, was chosen as the winning design slated to open on September 11, 2011, for the tenth anniversary. WIKI Michael...

Tonight's Saturday Night Cinema is 9/11, the day of horror caught by chance by a French film crew documenting the 9-month rite of passage of a newbie firefighter. Instead, we witness firsthand the actions the heroes who gave their lives to save their countrymen in the worst-ever attack on American soil in our nation's history. Jihad had come to America. This is a searing historical document. I have seen it many times. It shakes me still and reminds me how monstrous and evil the enemy is. Also, please see also the documentary on how the victims trapped in the World...

Video collection of 9-11 news broadcasts from WTC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVhhu5OjMf8&feature=share

People are discussing the geopolitical implications of 9/11 and how the tragedy changed our country, and most of what's been said has been worthy and serious. But my thoughts, as we hit the 10th anniversary, are more local and particular. I'm in a New York state of mind. There were two targets, Washington and New York. Washington saw a great military institution attacked, and quickly rebuilt. In Washington people ran barefoot from the White House and the Capitol. But New York saw a world end. New York saw the buildings come down.That was the thing. It's not that the...

He's been called a "prophet" for being so ready for the attacks, "the Man Who Predicted 9/11" in a History Channel special, and a true American hero by countless others. As tragic as the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, was, the sky-blue day still held unexpected miracles, and Richard "Rick" Rescorla was at the center of one of the greatest -- the evacuation of financial-services behemoth Morgan Stanley. Rescorla , a 62-year-old retired and decorated U.S. Army colonel, had focused on security at the World Trade Center for years. Prior to the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993,...

The cousin of a British-born hero of 9/11, who died in the Twin Towers, has spoken of his continuing sadness and pride at what his relative did that day. Rick Rescorla, who was head of security for banking firm Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, is credited with saving 2,700 people ten years ago by making sure they left the World Trade Centre's South Tower before it collapsed. The 62-year-old Cornishman, who became a US citizen in the 1960s and was decorated during service in the Vietnam War, foresaw the terrorist attacks, with his warnings featuring in a Channel 4 documentary in...

Former New York City computer manager Natarajan Venkataram had repeatedly apologized for stealing $10 million from federal grants to help identify the remains of 9/11 victims. But he wasn’t sorry enough to return more than $400,000 stashed in his bank account in India. Venkataram — now serving 15 years in federal prison — had actually been fighting in court to try to block authorities from seizing his ill-gotten loot.

THE FIREFIGHTER MENTIONED IN THIS STORY IS A PERSONAL FRIEND OF MINE. I TRUST HIM IMPLICITLY. HE IS ALSO THE FIREFIGHTER THAT SUED TO STOP THE GROUND ZERO VICTORY MOSQUE AND IS THE FATHER OF A SERVING U.S. MARINE.

The bone-chilling wail of bagpipe playing &quot;Amazing Grace&quot; echoed through a Queens church yesterday as yet another fallen firefighter from the World Trade Center tragedy was memorialized in death. It was yet another day &#151; of many more to come &#151; for Masses and memorial services for both heroic rescue workers and innocent civilians lost in the flames and collapsing towers. At the memorial Mass for 49th Battalion Chief John Moran, his younger brother, Firefighter Michael Moran of Ladder 3, recalled how he spoke to his brother by cell phone after the second plane crashed into the Trade Center. &quot;I ...

On TLC now

There is nothing wrong — and much that is right — with building a national monument to memorialize the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 9/11 attacks a decade ago. The awful events of that day traumatized the country — and changed it. The dead deserve to be remembered. Far be it from me to suggest otherwise. What I do want to suggest, though, is that what’s being built in the name of 9/11 — a staggering $11 billion worth of government-sponsored construction on the 16 acres we now call ground zero — is an example of just about everything...

There are times when the church makes you feel proud. Priests' response to 9/11, ten years ago, is one of them.This became evident as the U.S. Bishops' Office of Media Relations interviewed and sought reflections from a few persons for "The Catholic Church Remembers," a website memorial of video clips, photos and print that can be found can be found here.Cardinal Edward Egan, retired archbishop of New York, was one of the first responders that fateful morning. He headed for Ground Zero when he heard of the attack. As he was on the way Mayor Rudolph Giuliani called and asked...

The New York City medical examiner’s office said on Tuesday that it had identified the remains of Ernest James, 40, a victim of the World Trade Center attack. The remains were identified “within the last few days” through DNA testing, said Ellen S. Borakove, a spokeswoman for the office. She declined to disclose more specifics about what type of remains were tested. Mr. James, who worked for the professional services company Marsh & McLennan, was one of nearly 300 members of the firm who died on Sept. 11, 2001. In addition, more than 60 consultants working with the firm that...

Eleven days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Debra Tosch arrived at Ground Zero with her partner Abby to search for survivors. “We turned this one corner and there it was: the collapsed towers. It was overwhelming, like, where do you even start?” Tosch recalls. Abby, a black Labrador trained to lead rescue teams to trapped victims in disaster areas, was more assured. “She knew it was time to search,” says Tosch, the executive director of the Search Dog Foundation. As one of 13 SDF teams deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the Trade Center...

Ground Zero hardhats are hitting the hard stuff at lunch -- guzzling beers and shots at nearby bars before stumbling back to their dangerous jobs on the hallowed site, The Post has learned.With cost overruns crossing the $2 billion mark and the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, some reckless workers were seen on midday breaks last week filling their bellies with enough booze to become legally drunk. The men then stumbled back to the site, where workers have reached the 78th floor of 1 World Trade Center as they attempt to build a virtually indestructible skyscraper.

IIRC, I was asleep through most of that morning and woke up around 11:30 or so to have family members tell me what happened. I think both towers were already collapsed by that point. I guess the 9/11 anniversary has displaced earlier events like Pearl Harbor in the mind of Americans since anyone who remembers the latter would have to be in their 70s at least. Seems to me that you have these disasters every 20-25 years or so. PH, JFK assassination, Challenger disaster, 9/11, etc.

Speed at Ground Zero in New York City is finally picking up steam. One World Trade Center AKA The Freedom Tower is rising higher and higher into the Manhattan Skyline. The Freedom Tower will rise 1776 feet above the ground and become the tallest building in the United States.

Hundreds of unionized concrete workers refused to work Monday at the World Trade Center and a smattering of other sites, setting the stage for a possible strike in the coming days. The work action stopped construction on part of the World Trade Center's 800,000-square-foot transit hub, according to a person familiar with the matter. Some construction tradesmen continued work there Monday, but a prolonged work stoppage could affect all construction that needs concrete to proceed, according to that person. Construction proceeded at other sites where workers didn't show up Monday, including the new basketball arena at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn....

It served as a symbol of comfort to both survivors and first responders following the terror attacks that occurred at the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001. But now, an atheist group has deemed a cross formed out of two beams from the rubble offensive and are suing to have it removed from the Ground Zero Memorial Museum.

<p>A group of atheists has filed a lawsuit to stop the display of the World Trade Center cross at a memorial of the 9/11 terror attacks.</p>

The September 11 cross is lowered by crane into a subterranean section of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, Saturday, July 23, 2011 in New York. NEW YORK  -- A cross-shaped steel beam found amid the wreckage in the days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack was a symbol of hope for many working on rescue and recovery there, so much so that the construction worker who discovered it believes he stumbled on to a miracle. "I saw Calvary in the midst of all the wreckage, the disaster," Frank Silecchia recalled Saturday. "It was a sign ... that God...

There's less than 2 months to go before the 10th anniversary of 9-11. These buildings are suppose to be completed by then. By the looks of the construction photos, I don't see that happening.

The agency that owned and operated the World Trade Center urged the state's top court Wednesday to reject remaining negligence claims for the 1993 bombing by terrorists who detonated a van of explosives in the public garage beneath its twin towers, killing 6 people and injuring about 1,000. In lawsuits citing security concerns since 1984, a jury found that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey failed as a landlord to maintain reasonably safe premises and was 68 percent at fault, blaming the terrorists for the other 32 percent. A midlevel court upheld the verdict. In arguments Wednesday,...

A special shipment of 8,200 pounds of steel that once held up the World Trade Center arrived Monday morning at Miramar City Hall amid clapping and some tears. The two beams were salvaged from the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks and will become part of a 9-11 memorial to be completed in 2012 behind City Hall. The design will encompass all three crash sites, with the steel as the centerpiece. Miramar police officer Michael Yepez, a New York City police officer at the time of the attacks, said he saw the second plane hit the tower as he was...

Live pictures of World Trade Center building progress.

A look back at that horrific day.

He placed a wreath at Ground Zero, met with 9/11 firefighters and vowed that, “when we say ‘we will never forgot,’ we mean what we say.” But it seems like the president did overlook one detail — putting names on the invitations to 9/11 families. The administration apparently sent out form-letter invites to 50 hand-picked relatives of 9/11 victims, which began “Dear 9/11 family member.” At least one family has turned down the request, saying that they felt the letter was impersonal. “If this form letter was the invitation, it was kinda lame,” said John Vigiano, who lost two heroic...

NEW YORK (AP) - Victor Wald and Harry Ramos did not know each other until Sept. 11, but they died together trying to flee down a stairwell of the World Trade Center. Their names will be next to each other's on the national memorial at ground zero, one of hundreds of arrangements that emphasize victims' connections, not in alphabetical order. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum on Thursday announced the final arrangement of the nearly 3,000 names around the waterfall-filled pools formed in the footprints of where the original World Trade Center towers stood.

In the fall of 2001, a nation reeling from the horror of 9/11 was rocked by a series of deadly anthrax attacks. As the pressure to find a culprit mounted, the FBI, abetted by the media, found one. The wrong one. This is the story of how federal authorities blew the biggest anti-terror investigation of the past decade—and nearly destroyed an innocent man. Here, for the first time, the falsely accused, Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, speaks out about his ordeal.

Still Looking for a Bounce, Obama Raises Stakes for Ground Zero Trip "President Bush will not be in attendance on Thursday. He appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight. He continues to celebrate with all Americans this important victory in the war on terror." -- David Sherzer, spokesman for former President George W. Bush. It’s clear that the White House team is thinking very big when it comes to President Obama’s Thursday visit to Ground Zero, his first since taking office. Obama invited former President George W. Bush and former New...

A New York City construction worker who witnessed the terrorist attacks on 9/11 is very pleased the proposed "Ground Zero Victory Mosque" project has been stopped dead in its tracks. Recently The Associated Press reported that Daisy Kahn, wife of Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, said that they were "pursuing a new vision for the future."

NEW YORK (AP) — Work on the World Trade Center site is thundering forward with just six months to go until a memorial opens on the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks. During the busiest times of day, some 2,800 workers are on the site. One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, is nearing 60 stories high.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Greek Orthodox church damaged in the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York on Monday said it had sued local authorities on grounds they seized its land and prevented it from rebuilding. Should the church of St. Nicholas prevail in court it could send authorities back to the drawing board in a World Trade Center rebuilding project already years behind schedule due to clashes over design, security and control. The law suit centers on land the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is using for a vast underground parking garage that is part...

NEW YORK – A Muslim scholar recently named as the new senior imam at the Islamic center being built near the World Trade Center site has given up the job, just a few weeks after his appointment. Shaykh Abdallah Adhami said Friday in a joint statement with the center's developer that he will no longer serve as a religious adviser to the center.

The organization planning to build an Islamic community center near the World Trade Center said the imam who has been the public face of the project, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, will be playing a reduced role in the facility. The nonprofit group Park51 announced Friday that it had named a new imam to help lead religious programing so that Rauf could focus on other initiatives. (snip) The group named another New York City imam, Abdullah Adhami, as its senior adviser. Adhami was born in Washington, D.C., and earned an architecture degree from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He has already...

September 21, 2001 AFTER THE ATTACK Berkeley's Removal of U.S. Flags From Firetrucks Sparks Outrage Free speech: The city manager orders the action, fearing protests at an antiwar rally. Irate calls come in from around the nation. By JOHN M. GLIONNA, TIMES STAFF WRITER SAN FRANCISCO -- The stars and stripes became a center of controversy in Berkeley on Thursday when city administrators removed American flags from all firetrucks. Citing the banners as a possible irritant to some who live in this diverse and historically opinionated city, Berkeley City Manager Weldon Rucker ordered them removed from the department's seven fire...

Suhail Khan, a major Republican sup porter of the Ground Zero mosque, has been lobbying GOP leaders on the Hill to back off their opposition. He's got their ear, mainly because he portrays himself as a moderate, patriotic Muslim. Yet newly surfaced videos contradict that. Khan, a Bush administration vet who sits on the board of the American Conservative Union, assures skeptics that "Park 51 community center" imam Feisal Rauf is a "moderate." Fears over the mosque are overblown, he insists, fomented by "anti-Muslim bigotry." In a recent letter to fellow Republicans, he warned the party was "alienating millions of...

The 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center towers' felling on Sept. 11, 2001, is approaching. The San Francisco Opera will commemorate the date with the world premiere of an opera based on what happened that day. The two-act opera "Heart of a Soldier" was written by Christopher Theofanidis and mines still achingly raw subject matter. Its world premiere is scheduled at the War Memorial Opera house on Sept. 10. The opera, commissioned by San Francisco Opera general director David Gockley, is described by the company as as a tale of "war, love and heroism." The work is based on...