Educating a generation born after 9/11 and more news from the states

Hello on this solemn morning. Today we feature an emotional story about the ongoing efforts at the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania to keep the memory of 9/11 victims alive, while also helping educate a new generation about the attack 25 years ago that changed the course of history. 

Later today, we’ll have live coverage of memorial services across the country. 

President Donald Trump wrapped up the GOP’s two-day midterm convention in Dallas on Thursday night, urging Republicans to vote in November so the party could make additional changes to immigration and implement nationwide changes to voter identification requirements. Vice President JD Vance also spoke to the crowd, which chanted “48” as he spoke. And the Republican National Committee decided Iowa’s caucuses will again kick off the national presidential nominating calendar in 2028.

Also new this morning, our D.C. Bureau has a story about concerns from some corners that Republicans in the U.S. House could use a series of self-governing rules and laws to change the outcome of the midterm elections if they don’t agree with or believe in the results.

Ohio: Some state officials and candidates are calling for policy changes following the death of a 20-year-old Haitian immigrant who died by apparent suicide after being bullied because of his immigration status and the ankle monitor he was required to wear.

Maryland: Immigrant and legal advocacy groups sued the Trump administration Thursday for violating the Fourth Amendment and other laws with what they called the government’s “arrest first, ask questions later” policy of immigrant arrests.

Missouri: The state Supreme Court found Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt for directing local election officials to use an illegal congressional map, but ultimately ruled he remedied the contempt by reversing his directive — following a second U.S. Supreme Court order. 

Nebraska: The state Supreme Court ruled that a ballot measure seeking to make it harder for lawmakers to amend voter-approved laws or add more hurdles to petitioning is too broad and won’t appear on the November ballot.

Rhode Island: Democratic U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner held a press conference with law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after Republicans nominated Vic Mellor, a defiant “J6er,” for his seat. Mellor watched on. 

Wisconsin: Planned Parenthood is challenging state laws that restrict abortion access, arguing they unconstitutionally infringe on Wisconsinites right to “liberty and bodily autonomy.” 

Utah: A year after conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University, campus safety reviews are still in the works. 

Oklahoma: A federal appeals court upheld and limited the interpretation of a controversial state law limiting public school teaching on race and gender.

Louisiana: A survey of higher education faculty in the South found professors are concerned about the political environment around higher education, with some fearing for their physical safety.

Arizona: A state appellate court upheld a sweeping law that punishes immigrants who cross the state’s southern border with jail time and lets state officials exercise federal immigration enforcement authority.

See the rest of the news of the day from all 50 states, plus our D.C. Bureau and Stateline, on News From The States.

Twenty-five years after the attack on the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, the memory of the day is still strong with those who lived through it. 

But for around 100 million Americans born after 9/11, and millions more born in the years shortly before, that day that shifted the nation’s course is an abstract day in history, Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports. 

That drives the work of educators and employees at the Flight 93 National Memorial, who strive to help keep the memory of 9/11 victims alive and help a new generation connect with their stories. 

Artifacts at the memorial museum include a passenger’s Far Side day planner and a pair of blue baseball-patterned boxer shorts — items chosen by families to highlight the full lives lost to the terror attacks. Other exhibits include recordings of the passengers’ last messages left via the credit card-activated seatback AirFones that many airliners had before cellphones were ubiquitous.

”I just want people to see something that will help them relate to the story, that will tie them in,” said Betsy Keene, curator at the memorial. 

Stephen Clark, superintendent of the Flight 93 memorial, said that even newer members of the federal law enforcement and intelligence communities, with whom the park staff work regularly, sometimes don’t have vivid memories of 9/11. 

“I want them to come here and feel this place, and understand what happened here and the bravery aboard that airplane, to motivate them for their entire career to ensure that they do everything they can to never have another 9/11,” he said. “It’s a daunting task.”

When United Flight 93 crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001, Tim Lambert was on his way to work at a public radio station. In the newsroom, he saw the televised images of the wreckage in a field near Shanksville and thought the trees looked familiar. Later that night, his dad left a message on his answering machine saying, “Those are our trees.”

Lambert and his family, by chance, became a part of the story of Flight 93.

In Episode 45, you’ll hear from Pennsylvania Capital-Star Editor-in-Chief Tim Lambert. For 25 years, he has reported on Flight 93, kept in contact with many of the victims’ families and shared their stories. 

Listen to Stories From The States below, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Youtube.

(D.C. Bureau) Suit challenges Trump administration move to allow some ICE presence at polling places

(D.C. Bureau) Trump plan to send $5K to every adult projected to cost $1.2T and 'explode' the deficit

(Stateline) Schools, libraries sound alarm over potential changes to federal internet program

(Stateline) Divorce becomes next battleground as states debate family values

With New Jersey students now banned from using their cell phones during the school day, one state lawmaker wants his fellow legislators to follow in their footsteps and stop scrolling during legislative sessions, New Jersey Monitor reports.

Republican Assemblyman Brian Bergen introduced a bill Thursday he cheekily dubbed the “Practice What We Preach Act” to bar legislators from using or even possessing their phones or other digital devices during voting sessions and committee meetings.

“The argument for banning phones in schools was that these devices are distracting, corrosive to attention spans and harmful to engaging with the people in the room,” Bergen said. “...I have watched members shop, scroll, post and play games while we spend billions of dollars of other people’s money. A kid on a phone in algebra misses a formula. A legislator on a phone during a vote misses a budget.”

Bergen was one of just three legislators — all Republican — who voted against the bell-to-bell phone ban for students, which took effect in K-12 public schools at the start of this current academic year. He has complained that New Jersey’s 1989 law banning beepers on school property remains on the books.

As a Republican in a legislature long controlled by Democrats, Bergen knows his bill is unlikely to advance.