Remembering Sept. 11 and more news from the states

Good evening. We begin with the solemn remembrances of Sept. 11, 2001 and the current efforts to teach younger people what that day was like. 

In Tennessee, a court denies that an immigrant reporter was detained in a form of retaliation.

In Maine, conservationists worry a precious wilderness may be lost, while in South Carolina, historians display a remarkable piece of Civil War history recovered from the ocean floor.

In national news, experts warn that House Republicans could seek to overturn an unfavorable midterm election result and election officials and Democrats scramble to defend mail-in voting.

With the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, our outlets across the country are reflecting on that terrible day.

Powerful U.S. officials past and present faced families, survivors and first responders at ceremonies to honor the 25th anniversary of the day 2,977 Americans died in terrorist attacks in Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau and Stateline report.

At the Pentagon, Condoleezza Rice, who was serving at the time under President George W. Bush as national security advisor, told the crowd she wanted to share something “deeply personal.”

“Those of us in authority on that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attack of 9/11. We did what we knew to do, but by definition, it was not enough. … I will always carry deep personal remorse for the pain that you, the families of the fallen, still feel, and for the trauma that our country endured,” she said.

Speakers at all three Sept. 11 milestone anniversary events recounted stories of courage and loss as people found themselves in an unimaginable circumstance. 

Some also flared with frustration at what they say is a lack of justice for those who planned the attacks.

“My husband Tom Strada, you are missed more with each year that passes. But how can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?” his widow Terry Strada said to loud cheers from the crowd at Ground Zero in New York.

Meanwhile, at least 6,900 New Jerseyans who survived the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York City have received free treatments for cancers, lung diseases, mental health issues, and other health conditions linked to the terrifying and toxic soup at Ground Zero. Their care is coordinated through the World Trade Center Health Program at Rutgers University, New Jersey Monitor reports.

In Rhode Island, more than 100 people attended a 45-minute ceremony with state leaders, first responders, and Gold Star families. They remembered the nine state residents who died in the terrorist attacks and more than 20 service members who died in the subsequent wars, Rhode Island Current reports.

“We will always remember their valor, and we are stronger for it,” Democratic Gov. Dan McKee said. 

In several states, survivors and educators are working to keep the events of Sept. 11 alive for a generation too young to remember.

“Fifteen years ago, I think everybody knew about it. Somewhere along the line, the school system decided it wasn’t necessary to recognize that day,” said Sharon Linton, who lost her son in the World Trade Center, Maryland Matters reports.

Roughly one-third of the country wasn’t alive when the attacks took place, which means it’s even more important to make sure students understand the significance of the attacks and their consequences worldwide, educators told South Carolina Daily Gazette.

“It is increasingly moving out of (students’) lived experiences, into their historical memory,” said advanced government teacher Patrick Kelly. “It is incumbent on schools to make sure that memory is vivid and alive.”

In Pennsylvania, the Flight 93 National Memorial museum is making itself a vehicle to teach, in addition to commemorating, how the passengers and flight crew made a desperate decision to fight for their lives and succeeded in preventing an attack on American democracy itself, Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports. 

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 Sept. 11, said Stephen Clark, superintendent of the Flight 93 memorial.

“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.”

More Sept. 11 coverage:

A federal judge has dismissed a petition by a Nashville Spanish-language news reporter that alleged her detention by federal immigration agents this year was an unconstitutional retaliation for her critical reporting on immigration raids, Tennessee Lookout reports.

Estefany Rodriguez, a reporter for Nashville Noticias, was the subject of a targeted arrest on March 4 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who surveilled her leaving her home with her husband and 7-year-old daughter in a car displaying the news outlet’s logo before pulling the couple over to make the arrest after the child had been dropped off at school.

Rodriguez was held for two weeks in federal facilities in Alabama and Louisiana before her release was secured by attorneys. She has alleged mistreatment during her detention.

More immigration coverage:

Colorado: A Denver children’s hospital is facing a contempt of court hearing, examining whether it did enough to comply with anti-discrimination laws in restoring gender affirming care services.

South Carolina: Even as public backlash over privacy grows, state legislators approved $365,000 for law enforcement agencies seeking to add automated license plate readers.

Nebraska: The state Supreme Court blocked a cannabis opponent from again challenging the state’s voter-approved medical marijuana law.

Florida: The governor and his cabinet approved a rule governing the Department of Law Enforcement’s designation of various groups as domestic or foreign terrorist organizations.

Wisconsin: Regulators told the oil and gas company Enbridge to halt construction on the Line 5 pipeline across the north of the state after a massive spill of natural gas liquids last month.

Nevada: Boulder City residents will get to decide this November whether an additional 14,000 acres of city-owned land should be opened to data center development.

Oregon: A Democratic lawmaker wants an investigation of a state-backed anti-terrorism center currently facing a lawsuit alleging it violates free speech protections.  

West Virginia: A powerful lawmaker wants to reinstate the death penalty and expand it to serious sexual crimes against children.

South Dakota: A staffer for the state’s junior U.S. senator responded to conflict of interest allegations against him by posting an image of an obscene gesture on social media.

Michigan: A federal appeals court blocked an effort by the Trump administration to keep an aging coal plant in operation.

North Dakota: A company building a solar farm west of Fargo has plans to add a battery storage facility and potentially a data center in the area.

Alaska: The wartime oil price surge may be hitting consumers hard, but it means hundreds of millions in extra revenue for the state budget and the annual oil dividend paid to residents.

Jeff Swayze, a mental health counselor and registered New Hampshire guide, stands in a stream bed along the Wheeler Brook trail in Maine. The area is currently protected from development by the federal roadless rule. (Photo by Kaitlyn Budion/Maine Morning Star)

It’s one of the few unbroken stretches of land in New England, reaching across the White Mountains that straddle the border of Maine and New Hampshire. And the unique ecosystem is under threat.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture filed to rescind “in its entirety” the national 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which prohibits road construction, logging and mining on about 30% of lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

Swayze joined other conservationists this week at the trail to emphasize the importance of the area for local plants, animals and surrounding human infrastructure. 

“The attempt to rescind this is not just an attempt to remove robust protections for healthy habitat, animal migration, healthy soil — it’s really an attempt to try to steal a public health resource,” he said. “It’s a way to try to steal agency from the American citizens who own these lands.” 

Read more from Maine Morning Star.

More environment coverage:

With concern mounting among GOP lawmakers they may lose control of the House of Representatives following November’s midterm elections, it is not a stretch to imagine state election officials could, as they did in 2020, find themselves under pressure from the White House or powerful Republicans in Congress.

What’s less understood is that the House itself has the ability to investigate and potentially overturn the results of any of its 435 races, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports. In a House narrowly controlled by one party or the other, disputes over a handful of seats could become significant. 

“The House and the Senate, they are the final judge of their own elections,” explained John C. Fortier, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

“So, in theory, if a state went through a process and counted all the votes and certified the votes and sent in the results, it still could be questioned by Congress,” he added. “The House has done this in the past. It is much less common today. There was a time in the 19th century where it became extremely common.”

More election coverage:

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.

You can also read Lambert’s written account of his relationship with the land and the families of Flight 93: Remembering Flight 93 through the lens of healing.

A silk bandana worn around a crew member’s neck. A boot that still bears the footprint of the man who wore it. And a brass oil can with oil still inside.These are among items recovered and preserved from the Confederate submarine, the H.L. Hunley, which was lost at sea for more than a century.

It’s an exhibit more than 25 years in the making, with the articles of clothing and bits of cloth worn by members of the eight-man crew going on display for the first time at The Charleston Museum next month, South Carolina Daily Gazette reports.

“History can feel distant until something brings you closer to the people who lived it,” said Kellen Butler, executive director of the Friends of the Hunley nonprofit. “These remnants of clothing do just that, offering a remarkably personal connection to the men of the Hunley.”

The Hunley made history as the world’s first attack submarine on Feb. 17, 1864, when the volunteer crew boarded the ship and used it to sink the USS Housatonic, one of the Union’s mightiest naval blockade ships, off the coast of Charleston.

But after completing its mission, the Hunley mysteriously disappeared. It remained missing until 1995, when novelist and underwater explorer Clive Cussler found the shipwreck 4 miles off the coast of Sullivan’s Island after 15 years of hunting.

In August 2000, crews finally hoisted the sub from the ocean floor and transported it to Clemson University’s Warren Lasch Conservation Center at the former Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston, where it remains submerged in a chemical bath for preservation.

Excavation of the Hunley’s interior began in 2001, with the remains of the crew buried at Magnolia Cemetery. Working with the Friends of the Hunley, Clemson scientists spent the next 25 years preserving the ship’s contents.

“They didn’t take a lot of things because they thought they had a mission to go out and come back,” Butler said of the crew. “They weren’t planning on staying.”