The quarter-century milestone brings together those who witnessed the events in Lower Manhattan, families who lost loved ones and younger generations learning about one of the most significant days in modern American history. The observance continues the nation’s pledge to never forget the victims and legacy of Sept. 11.

During the observance ceremony on Friday, an additional bell and moment of silence was held to honor first responders, recovery workers, survivors and residents who have died from 9/11-related illnesses. Moments of silence were held to mark the timings of the attacks and the names of nearly 3,000 people who died were read out.

President Donald Trump attended a ceremony at the Pentagon. In New York at the site of the World Trade Center among the dignitaries, every living former U.S. president and first lady, members of the Congress, Vice President JD Vance, the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as Mayor Zohran Mamdani. George W Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks, was joined by former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at Friday’s ceremony at the World Trade Center site.

“Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago,” Trump said. “We will never, ever forget. That’s why we fight today.”

He sought to link the “war on terror” that followed 9/11, which sparked years of US involvement in Middle East wars, with his current conflict in Iran.

Trump told the crowd that the Islamic Republic “will never, ever have a nuclear weapon”.

IN New York City, two beams of light illuminated the Manhattan sky for a Tribute in Light on Friday evening, as other landmarks in the state lit up in blue in commemoration.

Commemorations were also held in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 crashed after passengers fought back against the hijackers.

As the names of the dead were read out for nearly four hours at the ceremony in Manhattan, a 9/11 widow criticized Saudi Arabia and what she characterized as failures by US officials to hold the kingdom accountable.

“And 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,” Terry Strada said in her remarks broadcast live worldwide.

The comments by Strada, national chairperson of 9/11 Families United, drew applause from the audience.

The majority of those who carried out the 9/11 attacks were from Saudi Arabia and planning were led by al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin-Laden, scion of a prominent Saudi family.

But Saudi officials have repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks, and in 2004 the 9/11 Commission Report “found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded” al-Qaeda.

Several tributes took place throughout the morning to commemorate the victims of the attacks. At 8:46 a.m., the first moment of silence was held at the ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum ceremony. This marks the time American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower.

The remembrance ceremony included several moments of silence corresponding with key events of Sept. 11, 2001. The second followed at 9:03 a.m., when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.

Additional moments of silence marked the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

For the first time, this year’s ceremony also added a silent moment to honor people who were exposed to the clouds of toxic dust released by the twin towers’ fiery collapse and have since died of cancer and other illnesses

There were no speeches. That is a time-honored tradition. The voices Friday belonged to the families who stepped to the podium to mourn their fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters and sons and daughters.

There was a demand for accountability and a demand for tolerance

“I’ve had to grow up and spend the past 25 years seeing people use it to hate on our Muslim brothers and sisters, to hate on people who don’t look like them, and that’s wrong, and that does no honor to the victims here,” said one victim’s son, Michael Massaroli Jr.

“The world changed that day. And I just think about the scale of how many people were affected who didn’t come home that day, looking at the water,” said Brian Kim.

Twenty five years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, 100 million Americans are too young to remember the day that changed our city and nation forever. It is our shared promise — made 25 years ago — to never forget so those born after 9/11 learn its significance and enduring legacy.

In statement released Friday afternoon, a White House spokesperson said, “President Trump is leading the most transparent administration in history, which is why he authorized the declassification and release of hundreds of pages of documents related to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.”

“The President will always pay tribute to the American heroes we lost in the tragic September 11 attacks, their beautiful family members, and to the acts of heroism that defined that fateful day when the unbreakable spirit of the American people prevailed,” the statement said.

On Friday, the CIA released 71 presidential briefs related to the 9/11 attacks, ranging in dates from 1998 to Sept. 12, 2001.

“The products trace the story of CIA analysts’ evolving understanding of al-Qa’ida and efforts to highlight and warn of Osama Bin Ladin’s attack plotting despite sparse, vague, and imperfect information,” the agency said in a statement.

Brett Eagleson, the president of 9/11 Justice, the coalition of victims’ families suing the Saudi government over its alleged role in the attacks, welcomed the documents’ release but pointed out that the records omit key documents they’ve requested as part of their suit.

Most notably missing are phone records belonging to Omar al Bayoumi, a Saudi national, Eagleson said in a statement. According to a lawsuit filed by the some of the 9/11 families, Bayoumi allegedly provided logistical and financial support to two of the hijackers.

“Families have asked both past and current administrations to release the records that will help expose the full truth,” Eagleson said.

“It is time for the Trump administration and Congress to do their part in helping the 9/11 Families get the justice we have fought for by holding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia accountable for its proven role in the attacks that changed all of our lives so deeply and irreparably 25 years ago,” he added.

The post ‘Never, ever forget’ – America observed 25th anniversary of 9/11 attacks appeared first on NEWSMAN.

A 911 caller reported a man who was walking on the beams of the Brooklyn Bridge at around 3:30 a.m. on Friday, according to Gerard Dowling, commanding officer of the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit.

The entire incident was captured on body cameras, Dowling said. The identity of the man has not yet been released.

At the scene, officers saw the man walking along the bridge cables, and Emergency Services Unit members climbed onto the cables and tried to speak with him for almost an hour, Dowling said.

Officers told him they were there to help and observed that he was holding a knife, officer Dowling said.

“He stated to them, ‘I want to die. I want you to kill me. I have a bomb. You’re not going to make me do something bad to the cops,'” Dowling said.

After about an hour and following repeated commands by officers to drop his knife, the man began to work his way down the cable of the bridge, toward the officers, Dowling said.

They were not able to move away from him as quickly as he was approaching them. When he was within three feet of a member of the Emergency Services Unit, the man raised his knife-wielding arm, Dowling said.

Another officer located on the roadbed of the bridge opened fire, striking him, Dowling said.

Once down from the cables, officers began rendering aid. He was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, Dowling said.

This incident comes days after police fatally shot an apparently emotionally disturbed woman after she allegedly stabbed two people in Times Square in a “random and unprovoked” attack on Monday.One of the victims, 32-year-old Erin Piacenti of Chester, New Jersey, died at a hospital, according to the NYPD.

The post Police fatally shoot knife-wielding man on Brooklyn Bridge appeared first on NEWSMAN.

In July, a federal judge in New York decided that the couple will stand trial on June 1, 2027.

“No American court has ever presided over the criminal trial of a foreign leader who was recognized by their own country as the sitting head of state at the time the charges were brought,” Barry Pollack, a lawyer for Maduro who filed the declaration in federal court on Wednesday, said.

Heads of state are “exempt from the criminal process of any national court” except in their own country, reflecting “a rule older than the common law” He said.

“That immunity flows not from goodwill that can be withdrawn on a whim, but from the perfect equality and absolute independence of sovereigns,” he said. “Thus, this Court lacks jurisdiction with respect to Mr. Maduro, who is recognized by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as its head of state.”

The lawyer argues that even if immunity were not given, the charges against Maduro would be moot because the Justice Department alleges the conduct he is charged with took place while he was a head of state.

“This Court cannot defer to the Executive Branch’s apparent view that Mr. Maduro is not entitled to sovereign immunity — either status or conduct-based,” Pollack said. “Complete immunity for sovereign heads of state is a bedrock principal of customary international law and is firmly embedded within the common law. Foreign official immunity is analyzed through the application of common law. This unprecedented prosecution is in flagrant violation of common law principles.”

The United States dramatically plucked Maduro and Flores from their bunker in Venezuelan capital Caracas in January and unsealed narcoterrorism charges against them.

Federal prosecutors accuse Maduro and Flores of conspiring with drug cartels to facilitate the flow of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S.

When Maduro and Flores appeared in court in March, Maduro’s lawyers unsuccessfully pushed to have the case thrown out because the Treasury Department had blocked the Venezuelan government from paying his defense attorneys.

The post Maduro seeks claims immunity, dismiss charges appeared first on NEWSMAN.

Among the changes, the mayor said the city will Synergize Health Department and Building Department tracking systems of cooling towers on buildings. The towers are where Legionella bacteria, which cause the disease, form. Legionnaires’ disease is contracted when the bacteria are breathed in, typically through water vapor produced by buildings’ cooling towers.

The City will add a map feature to the city’s cooling tower lookup tool, which is already accessible online here. And explore faster and newer testing approaches; assign the earliest dates possible for hearings on penalties for buildings that violate rules requiring monthly testing for Legionnella, Mayor said.

‘Convene a scientific advisory panel to look at new cooling system technologies

The new measures were met with general approval by members of the Harlem’ Legionnaire’s Coalition. However, said the organization’s founder, one thing has to be emphasized if any of the new steps are going to be effective.

“How will we enforce things?” Smith asked. “What are the regulatory adherence issues that need to be taken care of?”

She pointed out that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene admitted earlier this summer to only having about two-thirds of the number of inspectors they needed to fully enforce rules for inspecting buildings’ cooling towers.

Without a full inspection force, Smith said, “It can be akin to busywork.”

The post Mayor Mamdani announces new measures to combat Legionnaires’ disease appeared first on NEWSMAN.

The victim  Erin Piacenti worked at Bank of America.The bank said in a statement that it is “shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague,” adding, “our hearts go out to her family and all of her loved ones.” “She was a valued teammate who will be greatly missed statement said, Our hearts go out to her family and all of her loved ones.”

She and her husband both graduated from Fordham Law School in 2021, according to school officials, who said they are “heartbroken to learn of the tragic and senseless loss of our alumna.”

The other victim, a 68-year-old man from Rhode Island, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries and is in stable condition, officials said.

Erin Piacenti is the Vice President of Business Selection and Conflicts, who was killed in a knife attack in Times Square on Monday, A spokesperson for Bank of America confirmed to PIX11 News on Wednesday.

The victims were stabbed within 20 seconds of each near 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

The 68-year-old from Rhode Island had just exited the subway and was waiting to cross the street with his wife when the suspect pulled two knives from a bag, waved them and then allegedly stabbed him in the abdomen “in what appears to be a random and unprovoked attack,” Police commissioner Tisch said at a press briefing.

The suspect then went up Seventh Avenue toward 42nd Street, where she approached the second victim, who was similarly stabbed in the abdomen in an apparently random, unprovoked attack, Tisch said.

The suspect allegedly then fled north toward the NYPD substation, authorities said. Witnesses flagged down officers who confronted her for four minutes and “gave her numerous commands to drop the knife,” which she refused, Tisch said.

“During the encounter, she told the officers, ‘I’m not dropping anything. I would rather kill both of you.’ She repeated, ‘I will kill you,'” Commissioner Tisch said.

Officers deployed Tasers before two officers discharged their service weapons, Tisch said.

The suspect, identified by police as 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros of Queens, was pronounced dead at a hospital. She had a “documented mental health history,” Tisch said.

Police officials stressed the woman appears emotionally disturbed and the incident is not terror-related. The NYPD will conduct an internal investigation and body-worn camera footage will be released to the public, the mayor said.

Two knives were recovered from the scene. The NYPD also released a photo of the recovered weapons.

“I want to thank the NYPD officers who stepped in and prevented a horrific attack from becoming even worse,” NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani said during the press briefing. “This is what the men and women of this department do every single day to keep our city safe.”

The post Women killed in ‘unprovoked’ Times Square stabbing identified: Police appeared first on NEWSMAN.

The operation, called “Operation Rotten Apple,” ran from late July through late August and targeted individuals across New York State, according to federal officials at the news conference.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin held the news conference in New York on Tuesday where the  ICE Field Office Director Genalo emphasized that even though the arrests may not all be the “worst of the worst,” they all represent people who “choose to take a shortcut,” rather than use legal immigration means.  

 “It was precise, it was effective,” he said. “Make no mistake, this is personal for me.”

“These arrests included gang members, rapists, murderers, and child predators, which I believe there is a special place in hell for those individuals,” Mullin said. They claim all 2,100 were criminals.

Mullin said criminal history is not a determining factor in enforcement actions involving people who are in the country illegally.

“If you are here illegally, regardless of your status, if you are a convicted criminal or not, you are still in this country illegally, and it is our job to hunt you down and to deport you,” he said.

New York Governor Cathy Hochul challenged the characterization of those taken into custody and questioned whether federal authorities were continuing to target serious offenders.

“It seems like in the last year and a half, you would have already moved the worst of the worst and the baddest of the bad. And now, to make your quotas, you’re going after innocent people. People who are not committing crimes,” Hochul said.

Hochul, meanwhile, said she is seeking $87 million in federal funding designated for police enforcement and counterterrorism efforts.

“Over the last three years, the teams that use these funds have been responsible for 145 major arrests, disruptions and leads across 10 states. You know what that translates into? Lives saved,” Hochul said.

DHS secretary Mullin argued that New York City’s and New York state’s sanctuary provisions make federal enforcement efforts more difficult and more dangerous because of what he described as a lack of cooperation between federal agents and local police. He said that position is one reason he does not believe New York should receive federal funding.

In the past, many New York judges have issued decisions to the contrary, allowing the release of people arrested by ICE with protective status or applying for asylum. ICE’s own data shows that only about 31% of people in ICE detention have been convicted of a crime.

Since then, community organizations have said ICE has surged enforcement in many neighborhoods, including across Queens and Brooklyn.

Hochul reacted to Mullin’s address Tuesday saying,

“There’s no way that that number constitutes people who committed crimes [in a] way that we consider a crime in New York State. They consider anyone who crossed the border a criminal,” Hochul said. “So don’t fall for that.”

The post ‘Operation Rotten Apple’: 2,100 arrests in NY appeared first on NEWSMAN.

A 13-year-old and an 18-year-old were at the intersection of 103rd Street and 38th Avenue in Corona when they were shot shortly after 8 p.m., authorities said. Video from the incident appeared to show the two scooters alongside the teens.

Officials say the 13-year-old was struck in the arm while the 18-year-old was hit in the ankle.

Both were taken to the hospital, where they were expected to survive. An investigation into the incident is underway.

The post Two teens hospitalized after Queens shooting: NYPD appeared first on NEWSMAN.

“If you do not know of your rights, you cannot use those rights,” Mamdani said Monday. “Small businesses deserve a partner in city government.”

Every sector will benefit from Monday’s reforms, from bodegas to child care providers, Mamdani said. He noted reforms like streamlining barbers’ licenses and removing caps on bingo prizes.

Standing outside La Bodega Studio in the Bronx, the mayor signed an executive order creating the government body to execute small business reforms, dubbed OPEN, and expanding NYC BEST, a city program that helps business owners navigate permits and violations. The executive order expands education through the “business owner bill of rights.”

Mayor Mamdani on Monday, announced over 50 reforms to simplify small business regulations, including removing the city’s additional permits to sell frozen treats like ice cream. Together, the reforms will “cut red tape, eliminate redundant fees, and streamline the permitting process,” Mamdani said.

The post Mayor Mamdani signs executive order to help NYC small businesses appeared first on NEWSMAN.

“It is with great sadness that I report a third person has died in connection with the Legionnaires’ disease community cluster on the Upper East Side,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Alister F. Martin said in a statement on Sunday. “Our hearts are with their family and friends as they mourn their loss.”

Health officials advised that anyone who has spent time in the affected zip codes 10028, 10075, 10128, including Carnegie Hill and Yorkville, should seek medical attention if they develop flu-like symptoms.

Legionnaires’ disease symptoms can appear up to 14 days after exposure, the NYC Dept. of Health said.

The department said it believes the source of the bacteria has likely been eliminated and that it will continue inspecting every cooling tower that tested positive for the bacteria.

Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by inhaling the Legionella bacteria in small droplets of water mixed in the air or contaminated water accidentally going into the lungs.

The bacteria are found naturally in freshwater, but amounts generally don’t lead to disease. The bacteria typically grow best in warm water and in warm to hot temperatures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The disease does not generally spread from person to person, but infections can occur if the bacteria get into a building’s water supply, including in shower heads, sink faucets, hot water tanks, heaters, cooling towers and other plumbing systems.

Legionnaires’ disease has increased in prevalence over the last decade, reaching a peak of 2.71 cases per 100,000 in 2018, the CDC said. Cases dropped during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and then rebounded in 2021.

The post Three dead from Legionnaires’ disease in New York City appeared first on NEWSMAN.

A 35-year-old man was shot in the head, a 28-year-old man was hit in the shin and a 22-year-old woman was shot in the arm when shots rang out in the court in the back of 70 Lenox Ave. just before 10:30 p.m., authorities said.

All three victims were rushed to the hospital, where the 35-year-old was pronounced dead, officials reported. The 28-year-old and 22-year-old were expected to survive.

Kinu Rochford, 35, was shot and killed during a basketball tournament in Harlem, authorities said on Saturday. Rochford’s former school, Fairleigh Dickinson University, confirmed his role in a social media post.

 “FDU is devastated to hear of the tragic passing of former men’s basketball player Kinu Rochford (‘13),” read the social media post on Saturday. “A standout Knight and leader, Rochford built a legacy in Hackensack.”

Rochford was one of three people shot on the basketball court behind 70 Lenox Ave. in Harlem on Friday just before 10:30 p.m., police reported.

A 28-year-old man who was shot in the shin and a 22-year-old woman who was hit in the arm were also taken to the hospital and expected to survive.

What led up to the shooting remains under investigation. The identity of the man killed was also not immediately made known.

The organizer of the local tournament, known on social media as Kingdome Basketball, acknowledged “the tragic loss of life” during the opening game of the 2026 season.

“Our hearts are with the individual’s family, loved ones, teammates, and everyone affected by this devastating tragedy,” read a social post from Saturday. “The Kingdome Games were founded to unite our community through faith, fellowship, and sportsmanship. We unequivocally condemn all forms of violence and remain steadfast in our commitment to providing a safe and positive environment for our youth and community.”

Rochford was a Brooklyn native who began his college basketball career at the Globe Institute of Technology before transferring to FDU, according to the school’s athletics website. As an FDU Knight, he served as the team’s forward and appeared in 53 games, averaging 14.8 points per game, totaling 96 blocks and securing ten double-doubles.

He was recognized with the FDU George Braun Leadership Award in 2013 for displaying exemplary leadership skills among their peers, officials from the university say.

Rochford went on to play internationally for the Netherlands, France, England, Switzerland, Iceland and Lithuania.

“Our hearts are heavier today hearing the tragic news,” said Director of Athletics Jason Young. “Those who knew Kinu described him as a fierce competitor with a big heart who made many positive contributions to the FDU community. Today is another reminder to value each other and every day that we have.”

The post One dead after multiple shot on NYC basketball court: NYPD appeared first on NEWSMAN.