This July 4, celebrate America’s freedom, but don’t forget the brave dogs who help us keep it. More than 100 bomb-sniffing bowsers hit the streets of New York every day at such high-profile targets as the Staten Island Ferry terminal, the 9/11 museum, government complexes, the Empire State Building and sporting events, with superagent noses that can can detect explosives down to a few parts per billion. More.

The city is finally replacing hundreds of worn-down seats in Stuyvesant High School’s auditorium — more than a decade after Ground Zero dust filled the space and sparked concerns about contamination and students' health. The upholstered seats became a flashpoint after students returned to Stuyvesant High less than a month after 9/11, with some parents and students claiming the school had not been sufficiently cleaned. More.

The U.S. Supreme Court gave the go-ahead Monday to a lawsuit by victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the government of Saudi Arabia, alleging it indirectly financed al-Qaeda in the years before the hijackings. The justices declined to hear an appeal by the Saudi government of a lower-court ruling that the lawsuit could go forward. More.

Thousands of victims of the 9/11 terror attacks have lost their bid to revive a class-action lawsuit against various banks, financial officials, and members of Osama bin Laden’s family for allegedly providing material support to Al Qaeda. The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a case examining whether lower courts properly dismissed a significant portion of their lawsuit. More.

Over 300,000 people have visited the Sept. 11 museum since it opened little more than a month ago, exceeding expectations, officials said this week. Organizers see it as a strong start for the ground zero museum, which had faced questions about its $24 ticket price. The attendance total has topped projections by about 5 percent since the institution opened to the public May 21 and to 9/11 survivors and victims' relatives six days earlier, President Joe Daniels said.

As the days following 9/11 turned into passing years, park rangers at the Flight 93 National Memorial began to face an unplanned challenge. Parents reliving the tragic day terrorists attacked the nation were approaching park staff, asking them to explain the sometimes dark, difficult subject matter in a way their young children would understand, park Superintendent Jeff Reinbold said. In most cases, the youngsters weren’t alive the day Flight 93 crashed, killing its 40 passengers, he said.

The Mercer Island Fire Department will this Thursday, June 26, receive artifacts from the September 11, 2001 bombing of the World Trade Center — a part of the floor and ceiling sections of one tower garage, and a post between the two that will eventually be incorporated into an art installation and placed in front of the newly remodeled Fire Station 92. A small ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. at the North Fire Station. More.

Advocates for 9/11 responders are calling on the state and its Workers' Compensation Board to vigorously track down World Trade Center volunteers who might have been wrongly denied benefits.