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 3,000 people killed in the attacks. Visitors to the commemoration will find a place that no longer has the feel of a construction zone, though, even as the work continues. The memorial plaza with its twin reflecting pools opened in 2011. One World Trade Center — the spire originally known as the Freedom Tower — opened in 2014, as did the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum. An underground transit hub and shopping mall opened in 2016.

The Dommar family of Manville, New Jersey, gave a tour Tuesday to the president of the United States of their home, devastated by the torrential leftovers of Ida: That’s the roof down the block. The baby’s room is in two pieces on the west and east sides of their property. Just about every material possession Meagan and Caesar Dommar had was destroyed in the flood and subsequent fire that leveled their house to the water line and left much in cinders. They left last Wednesday evening before the flood waters rose, taking their 4-month-old daughter Lila and returning just as warning sirens blared for their pet cat Trinity. “We literally lost everything,” Meagan Dommar said. President Joe Biden’s visit Tuesday afternoon alongside Gov.

The remains of two people who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack at the World Trade Center were positively identified this week, as officials continued the difficult and heart-wrenching task of returning victims to their families. The announcement came days before the 20th anniversary of an attack that killed nearly 3,000 people when hijacked commercial jets flew into the twin towers, struck the Pentagon and crashed into a Pennsylvania meadow. “No matter how much time passes since September 11, 2001, we will never forget, and we pledge to use all the tools at our disposal to make sure all those who were lost can be reunited with their families,” said Dr. Barbara A. Sampson, the chief medical examiner of the City of New York.

Rudolph Giuliani was a hero before he was a punchline. Lisa Beamer was a wife and mother before she became a symbol of Sept. 11 — and though her celebrity passed, her widowhood cannot. In the aftermath of the planes falling from the sky, America and the world were introduced to an array of personalities. Some we had known well, but came to see in different ways. Others were thrown into public consciousness by unhappy happenstance. Some, like Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar, are dead. But others have gone on to lead lives that are postscripts to Sept. 11, 2001. Here are a few of the boldface names of that tumultuous time — what they were then, and what has happened to them since.

The conviction of one of ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aides for fraud and accepting bribes was affirmed by a federal appeals court Wednesday. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the case against Joseph Percoco required it to again consider the reach of federal fraud and bribery laws. Percoco was a longtime friend and top aide to Cuomo, a Democrat who recently resigned as governor amid sexual harassment allegations. The appeals court also upheld the conviction of Steven Aiello, a Syracuse real estate executive who was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in funneling bribes to Percoco to gain his influence in an ambitious Buffalo Billion development project aimed at encouraging economic development upstate.

New York has delayed its requirement that state employees get vaccinated against the coronavirus or undergo weekly tests by more than a month to Oct. 12, the same day telecommuting workers are now scheduled to return to their offices. In-person state workplace rules were scheduled to restart this past Tuesday, and the vaccinate-or-test mandate was to go into effect this week for about 130,000 state workers. But Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office of employee relations quietly outlined the changes in an internal memo sent Friday. The memo also broadens mask mandates for vaccinated workers.

YWN regrets to inform you of the Petira of Reb Boruch Bendet Fischman Z”L, who was struck and killed by a vehicle on the first night of Rosh Hashanaha. Police say a car struck him as he walked along Haverhill Road in West Palm Beach, Florida, at around 8:45PM. The crash report did not indicate that its driver is facing any charges. The Niftar was from Boro Park and then Lakewood, and had a condo in West Palm Beach where he was for Yom Tov. The Niftar was a legendary Baal Chesed. He was one of the very first Misaskim volunteers after the organization was founded, and ran a major Bikur Cholim room in Florida. Additional information will be published when it becomes available to us. Boruch Dayan HaEmmes… (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

President Joe Biden declared climate change has become “everybody’s crisis” on Tuesday as he toured neighborhoods flooded by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, warning it’s time for America to get serious about the “code red” danger or face ever worse loss of life and property. Biden spoke after walking streets in New Jersey and then Queens in New York City, meeting people whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged by flooding when Ida barreled through. The storm dumped record amounts of rain onto already saturated ground and was blamed for more than a dozen deaths in the city.

This morning Hatzalah of Passaic/Clifton responded to a call at about 5:00AM for a “person down”. While getting out the stretcher from the back of the ambulance, a family of about 6 bees snuck into the back requiring Hatzalah to put the Ambulance out of service and call for another one. B”H with the help of a local exterminator and a service unit, Hatzalah was able to get the bees out just in the nick of time to be available for another call. This all comes after a hard week where Hatzalah of Passaic/Clifton lost one of their three ambulances while on a call due to flooding from Hurricane Ida. During the storm Hatzalah of Passaic/Clifton responded to dozens of calls with people stuck in and on top of their vehicles with water filling up, that had to be rescued.

As the exodus of Orthodox Jewish families from the New York area’s more established Jewish communities continues, branches of Hatzolah have been opening up in new areas, with the eastern portion of Bergen County one of the latest communities to get its own volunteer ambulance corps. Bergen Hatzalah became operational at midnight on September 3rd, launching alongside Hatzalah of West Orange and Livingston in nearby Essex County.  Its core coverage area includes Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Fort Lee, Hackensack and Tenafly, with approximately 32 volunteers going out on calls.