Aircraft hijacking

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear visited New Hampshire to promote his new book, "Go and Do Likewise," and campaign for fellow Democrats. During an interview and book signing in Concord, Beshear said he wrote the book out of frustration with faith being used to justify harmful policies rather than to help people, citing cuts to food benefits and rural hospital closures.

Beshear also criticized President Donald Trump's political style, saying it fosters division by framing issues as "us versus them" and invoking rhetoric about an "enemy from within," which he called contrary to the golden rule. As chair of the Democratic Governors Association, Beshear said his immediate focus is on winning governors' races in November, arguing they will shape the electoral map for 2028. He said he plans to finish his DGA term in December before deciding on any national ambitions, including a potential presidential run.

The United States commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks Friday with ceremonies at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. President Donald Trump attended the Pentagon observance, while former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden joined Vice President JD Vance at the New York ceremony, where victims' relatives read the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed. For the first time, organizers added a moment of silence honoring those who later died of cancer and other illnesses linked to toxic dust from the towers' collapse.

The anniversary drew attention to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city's first Muslim mayor, who faced criticism from some Republicans and victims' families for attending the ceremony but said he wanted the day focused on victims' families and first responders. The attacks reshaped U.S. security policy, air travel and foreign policy, launching wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Sept. 11 remains observed nationally as Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

A personal recollection describes the morning of September 11, 2001 from the perspective of a high school senior at Staten Island Technical High School, roughly 20 miles from the World Trade Center. Word of a plane hitting the towers first arrived as classroom rumor before spreading into confirmed reports of a second crash and an explosion at the Pentagon. Students watched the first tower collapse live from the school library; cell service failed locally even as long-distance calls occasionally connected. A classmate's father, working in one of the towers, could not be reached and later was confirmed to have died.

The account details the days that followed: a school counseling room filling with grieving students, many with ties to Staten Island's large firefighter and police community; the acrid smell over the borough the next morning; talk of war and a possible draft; and months of lingering trauma, including families waiting for word on missing loved ones and a neighbor who kept a nightly vigil for a firefighter husband who never returned. The essay reflects broader themes of loss, memory, and how the attacks reshaped daily life for New Yorkers.

Coastal Orange County communities are holding free public events Friday to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people and reshaped American security and daily life.

In Costa Mesa, the nonprofit 9/11 Day — founded by relatives of a volunteer firefighter lost that day — will host its annual "Honor Through Action" meal-packing event, with hundreds of volunteers aiming to pack more than 200,000 meals for families facing food insecurity, part of a nationwide effort seeking to top 50 million meals across all 50 states.

Huntington Beach will hold its annual Patriot Day celebration at Pier Plaza, led by Mayor Casey McKeon in partnership with American Legion Post 133, honoring fallen first responders and civilians. In Newport Beach, the Newport Harbor Elks Lodge and Sons of the American Legion Squadron 291 will host a remembrance ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park, open to the public with refreshments and a no-host bar for lodge members.