Good morning, it’s Friday.
Twenty-five years is a veritable lifetime. But there are some experiences that are simply unforgettable.
I remember my dad once telling me that he vividly recalled where he was and what he was doing when he heard the news that President Kennedy had been shot. (I can’t for the life of me remember what it was, exactly, that he was up to at the time, but I clearly remember the conversation).
Similarly, I remember with a significant degree of specificity where I was and what I was doing on Sept. 11, 2001 when the first plane hit the Twin Towers and the world turned upside down.
I was in Cambridge, MA, that day and remember frantically calling everyone I knew in New York City to try to figure out what the hell had happened and if everyone was OK. Of course, I couldn’t get through, thanks to a combination of infrastructure failure and an unprecedented surge in call volume as untold millions of other people were doing exactly what I was.
I remember the fear and horror and disbelief that lasted for days on end. I was lucky, arguably, not to have been a reporter in New York at that moment, because I likely would have been dispatched to Ground Zero, and been among those who to this day are still paying the emotional and physical price for the time they spent in Lower Manhattan.
It baffles my mind that an entire generation has grown up since the Sept. 11 attacks and have no real-life recollection of that day, and we are now fighting about the best way to teach them about a moment in history that we (my generation, I mean) witnessed.
Today’s weather will be much the same – bright, sunny, and warm – as that fateful fay 25 years ago when New York City residents headed out to work, or to school, or to vote in the mayoral primary and instead were met by inexplicable evil and terror.
It’s the one day when I almost wish for rain. But, it will be a really fabulous late summer (remember, the Autumnal Equinox isn’t until Sept. 22)/early fall day. If you can sneak out early – I know summer Fridays are over for most people, but maybe you can squeeze a last one in? – to stock up on Vitamin D, I suggest you do it.
Who knows how many more of these days we’ll get? And there’s nothing more life affirming than being outside in the sun and feeling the wind on your face and recalling just how lucky you are to have made it this far.
The rest of the weekend will be mixed, weather-wise.
Saturday will bring mostly sunny skies, though there will be some clouds about in the afternoon, with highs in the high 70s. Sunday is where things start to take a turn for the worse. There will be rain showers in the morning, followed by scattered thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. It will again be on the warm side, with highs flirting with 80 degrees.
In the headlines…
Vice President JD Vance assailed the Democratic Party as the “party of hatred” in a fiery keynote speech at the Republicans’ convention on Thursday, setting battle lines for his party in the midterm elections and beyond.
Vance focused specifically on two Democratic candidates this fall in Michigan: Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed and Will Lawrence, who is seeking a House seat. Vance seized on Lawrence’s since-deleted social media posts that were critical of the nuclear family.
President Trump closed out the final night of the Republican midterm convention by asking thousands of attendees to raise their hands and pledge to vote — cautioning them of eternal damnation if they failed to do so.
Senator Susan Collins, the only Republican seeking re-election in a state President Trump lost, steered clear of his convention as she distances herself from him and his record.
Erika Kirk paid tribute to her slain husband, Charlie Kirk, Thursday by posting a wedding photo on social media with a poignant message on the one-year anniversary of his murder.
Mounting fears in the markets that clashes in the Middle East could escalate and further disrupt energy supplies briefly pushed the price of oil to $110 a barrel today, while U.S. diesel rose above $6 a gallon.
Blue state leaders are ramping up their push for federal regulations over AI after a spate of recent safety incidents and the much-publicized resignation of an Anthropic researcher.
Hochul signed three bills to support 9/11 victims, responders and family members, preserving eligibility for retirement and workers’ comp benefits and extending filing windows for National Guard members and others impacted by rescue, recovery and cleanup.
A top New York hospital system has seen a stunning 75% spike in 9/11-related cancers over just the last three years — with 132 new cases in the first half of 2026 alone.
The GOP roasted Democratic Reps. Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen, calling them 9/11 hypocrites for voting against a budget bill that included funding for the World Trade Center health program.
In a NY Post op-ed, Hochul wrote: “A quarter-century later, those two words, ‘never forget,’ still mean something to us. They still demand something of us.”
Hochul’s vision for the proposed Interborough Express light-rail between Brooklyn and Queens includes a hell of a lot more housing — despite the caterwauls of opponents who’d rather the city not make room for more people.
New York employers are preparing for a new law granting workers access to personnel records and requiring notice when negative information is added to those files.
The families of 9/11 victims opposed to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s attendance at the 25th anniversary memorial have received celebrity support from Adam Levy, son of world-renowned Judge Judith “Judy” Sheindlin.
Each year on the anniversary of Sept. 11, politicians of various stripes join victims’ families for a commemoration ceremony in downtown Manhattan, putting aside partisan beef and pledging to “never forget.” This year is different.
As New York’s first Muslim mayor, Mamdani has been forced to navigate a delicate dynamic. He must speak about Sept. 11 as the city’s top elected official, but also as a member of a religious group that has faced hostility and suspicion since the attacks.
“From my vantage point, I don’t think he should be there, and I think most New Yorkers agree that he should not be there,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Fox News. “Certainly, the 9/11 families and the first responders believe he should not be there.”
The City Council is rolling out 26 new 9/11 street and public place co-namings and urging the state to adopt 9/11 curriculum in schools as the city prepares to mark 25 years since the attacks.
Plans to build 5 World Trade Center, the site of the former Deutsche Bank building was to be the only residential project in the redevelopment, are now in flux.
Mamdani’s controversial nominee to lead a city zoning board, John Mangin, was approved by the City Council yesterday, after the body had previously indicated it might not approve his pick.
Mangin, the city Planning Department’s housing director and a key architect of recent citywide zoning changes, was tapped to chair the Board of Standards and Appeals by the City Council in an overwhelming 40-6-4 vote.
Roughly 2,000 children started their first day of school on Thursday at New York City’s new free child care program for 2-year-olds.
Mamdani bragged about eliminating unneeded spending in the Big Apple’s bloated school budget as kids returned to class Thursday — even though the savings added up to a fraction of a percent.
New York City students returning to class found themselves bracing for a bold new world with limited screen time under the Department of Education’s new effort to cut down on younger children’s use of electronic devices.
A bill in the City Council, backed by Council Speaker Julie Menin would amend the process to suspend or revoke press credentials, making it easier for the city to rescind the cards that allow reporters greater access behind police lines and City Hall and courthouses.
One person is dead and five others infected after a new outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease has hit the South Bronx, the city health department announced Thursday night.
An out-of-control flatbed truck driver struck three people on a lower Manhattan sidewalk Thursday, leaving one pedestrian dead, cops said.
A man who piloted a charter boat that overturned in New York Harbor last month, killing a woman and her infant daughter, pleaded not guilty to federal charges connected to the deaths.
A state appeals court forbade U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand — and more than 1,000 other attorneys — from practicing law after they allegedly failed to submit new registration forms in New York.
The SEC is pursuing a civil complaint in U.S. District Court in Albany against a purported New York firm whose overseas operators allegedly used an elaborate online scheme to lure and defraud investors of at least $2 million.
GlobalFoundries and the U.S. Commerce Department finalized the government’s $375 million grant for GlobalFoundries’ new quantum computing division earlier this week.
Residents in multiple school districts may have received the incorrect address information in their bill packets, including some property owners in Albany, Gloversville and Shenendehowa, Capital Region BOCES said.
NY-21 candidate Anthony Constantino appeared at a Labor Day Solidarity Parade in Massena wearing a United Steel Workers shirt; the union’s vice president says he wasn’t invited.
The Nightlife Economy Council in Albany has revealed its final report, sharing its recommendations with Mayor Dorcey Appl
Former Miss Hall’s School science teacher Matthew Johnson appeared at the Berkshire County Superior Court Thursday, pleading not guilty to one count of assault with intent to rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery over age 14.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
