FBI releases newly declassified record on Sept. 11 attacks
WASHINGTON — A declassified FBI document related to logistical support given to two of the Saudi hijackers in the run-up to the Sept. 11 attacks details contacts the men had with Saudi associates in the United States but does not provide proof that senior kingdom officials were complicit in the...
Photos: Ceremony at Flight 93 National Memorial marks 20th anniversary of 9/11
“We can never move on, but we must continue to move forward,” said Gordon Felt, president of Families of Flight 93. Felt, who lost his brother, Edward, in the crash addressed about 650 fellow family members and invited guests at a ceremony marking the 20th anniversay of the terrorist attacks...
The Pittsburgh Shrine Center in Harmar hosts tribute to first responders on 9/11 anniversary
The Pittsburgh Shrine Center in Harmar hosted a tribute to first responders Saturday on the 20th anniversary of the events of 9/11. Organizer and Shriner Robert Addleman began the ceremony introducing The Rev. John Piper from Castle Shannon, who let the crowd underneath the outdoor Shrine Pavilion in prayer, calling...
Ex-President Bush slams U.S. violent extremists as ‘children of the same foul spirit’ as 9/11 terrorists
Former President George W. Bush used the occasion of a 9/11 speech to take a thinly-veiled slam at the Jan. 6 insurrectionists and other U.S. political extremists. “We have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders but from violence that gathers within,”...
Unity a theme as 3 presidents commemorate 9/11 in New York
Three American presidents stood somberly side by side Saturday at the National September 11 Memorial in New York, sharing a moment of silence to mark the anniversary of the nation’s worst terrorist attack with a display of unity. Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton gathered at the site...
The heroes of Flight 93 live on as visitors flock to National Memorial
At first, they worried their story would be lost. The families of the passengers and crew members of United Flight 93 knew they held a precious piece of American history. The efforts of 40 people who lost their lives on a rural Pennsylvania mountaintop thwarting a terrorist plot to crash...
Leechburg holds parade, remembrance of 9/11 attacks, salute to first responders
Leechburg area Rev. Gary Lyon spent Saturday morning carefully crafting his words for a 9/11 dedication ceremony held later that day in Leechburg. Rev. Lyon serves as co-pastor alongside his wife, Lisa, at Cross Roads Community Presbyterian Church in Leechburg. He serves as a longtime volunteer firefighter with the Leechburg...
‘Don’t focus on hate’: World marks 20th anniversary of 9/11
The world solemnly marked the 20th anniversary of 9/11 on Saturday, grieving lost lives and shattered American unity in commemorations that unfolded just weeks after the bloody end of the Afghanistan war that was launched in response to the terror attacks. Victims’ relatives and four U.S. presidents paid respects at...
Tim Benz: Dawna, the 3 horses and Flight 93’s ‘ambassadors’ of heroism
There is a language at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stonycreek Township. A way of talking. No one actually whispers, but no one uses their full voice either. Every conversation is in hushed tones. Emotions seem to be communicated in the silence in between thoughts. And that’s just the...
Ceremony marks 20th anniversary at Flight 93 National Memorial
Remember. That was the common theme at Flight 93 National Memorial on Saturday: Americans should emulate who they and the nation were the day after Sept. 11, 2001. “We remember the vast majority of Americans were unified in purpose … that time reminded us of the significance of our unity...
Editorial: To honor the losses of 9/11, remember together
For 20 years, America has had one shared cultural touchstone. Every Sept. 11, we are transported to the day when the whole country held its breath, watching and waiting to see what would happen next in an unbelievable day where things couldn’t possibly get worse, and yet they did, over...
How 9/11 impacted the lives of Western Pennsylvanians at World Trade Center, Pentagon, ShanksvilleVideo
Frank Monaco was too busy to get emotional on 9/11. Capt. Monaco had been a Pennsylvania State Trooper for over 25 years when United Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Somerset County, killing 40 passengers and crew members on Sept. 11, 2001. If Monaco felt anything when he arrived at the...
20 years later, fallout from toxic WTC dust cloud grows
NEW YORK — The dust cloud caught Carl Sadler near the East River, turning his clothes and hair white as he looked for a way out of Manhattan after escaping from his office at the World Trade Center. Gray powder billowed through the open windows and terrace door of Mariama...
Former Pa. Gov. Tom Ridge makes 1st appearance since stroke, reflects on 9/11 attacks
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge made his first public appearance since he suffered a stroke earlier this year, speaking about the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. On Thursday morning, Ridge released a statement and a short video filmed in Erie, his hometown. Ridge, 76, suffered a stroke...
Lori Falce: Look back to lessons of Sept. 10, 2001
Sept. 11, 2001, was not just a day. It wasn’t a simple Tuesday. Kids went to school and people went to work and the day still started with alarm clocks and cereal and morning commutes, but the differences between that day and what came after were apparent as people took...
From 9/11’s ashes, a new world took shape. It did not last
In the ghastly rubble of ground zero’s fallen towers 20 years ago, Hour Zero arrived, a chance to start anew. World affairs reordered abruptly on that morning of blue skies, black ash, fire and death. In Iran, chants of “death to America” quickly gave way to candlelight vigils to mourn...
Ground zero rebuilding still unfinished, 20 years later
NEW YORK — Two decades after its destruction in the Sept. 11 attacks, the work to rebuild the World Trade Center complex remains incomplete. Two planned skyscrapers, a performing arts center and a church are still unfinished at the site, which plays host Saturday to the annual ceremony honoring nearly...
Tim Benz: Colby Armstrong will never forget his 1st full day in America as a Penguin — Sept. 11, 2001
For former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher, remembering Sept. 11, 2001 will always bring him back to his office on the South Side. Hanging up the phone after speaking with his friend Marty Schottenheimer. Ruminating over tape after a season-opening loss in Jacksonville. Preparing for the Cleveland Browns in...
From election to covid, 9/11 conspiracies cast a long shadow
Korey Rowe served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and returned to the U.S. in 2004 traumatized and disillusioned. His experiences overseas and nagging questions about Sept. 11, 2001 convinced him America’s leaders were lying about what happened that day and the wars that followed. The result was “Loose Change,” a...
The day the school shook: 20 years later, former Shanksville area students recall 9/11Video
The morning of Sept. 11, 2001, started out like any other for those in the Shanksville-Stonycreek School District. The yellow building in Stonycreek Township bustled with the start of a new school year as elementary and high school students went about their lessons in the combined building, completed art projects...
Teachers rely on Flight 93 Memorial, personal experiences to teach about 9/11
For those who were alive on Sept. 11, 2001, the memories are often vivid. Many remember where they were when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Most remember watching the news, learning of the attacks as they happened. But today’s students weren’t alive to witness the events as...
Explainer: What was, and is, al-Qaida?
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Born out of the 1980s war against the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan, the terror group al-Qaida under Osama bin Laden grew into a generational threat to America that culminated in its Sept. 11, 2001, attack that brought down the World Trade Center in New...
NYPD cops at ground zero still dealing with 9/11 emotional scars
NEW YORK — It seems like yesterday: The smell of death, the gray ash that looked like snow, the falling bodies that sounded like bombs as they smashed into the pavement. For the NYPD cops who responded to ground zero, sifted through the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island or...
On TV, 9/11 was last huge story for ‘Big 3’ network anchors
NEW YORK — “Turn on your television.” Those words were repeated in millions of homes on Sept. 11, 2001. Friends and relatives took to the telephone: Something awful was happening. You have to see. Before social media and with online news in its infancy, the story of the day when...
Two decades after 9/11, Muslim Americans still fighting bias
NEW YORK — A car passed, the driver’s window rolled down and the man spat an epithet at two little girls wearing their hijabs: “Terrorist!” It was 2001, mere weeks after the twin towers at the World Trade Center fell, and 10-year-old Shahana Hanif and her younger sister were walking...
