The Department of Justice announced today that since it reopened in 2011, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) has paid over $1.52 billion to first responders, recovery workers, and residents who suffered physical harm or were killed as a result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of Sept. 11, 2001 or the debris removal efforts that took place in the immediate aftermath of those crashes. More.

From 1966 to 2012, nearly a third of the world's mass shootings took place in the U.S. This is according to a 2016 study that used the FBI definition of 'mass shooting' below. It surveyed 292 incidents and found 90 of them occurred in America. Put another way: While the U.S. has 5% of the world's population, it had 31% of all public mass shootings. More.

CIA Director John Brennan said on Saturday that he expects 28 redacted pages of a congressional report on 9/11 to be published and supports their release. "These 28 pages I believe are going to come out and I think it’s good that they come out, but people shouldn’t take them as evidence of Saudi complicity in the attacks," Brennan said in an interview with Saudi television station Arabiya TV, which was highlighted by Reuters. More.

The Obama administration believes that at least 12 detainees released from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have launched attacks against U.S. or allied forces in Afghanistan, killing about a half-dozen Americans, according to current and former U.S. officials. In March, a senior Pentagon official made a startling admission to lawmakers when he acknowledged that former Guantanamo inmates were responsible for the deaths of Americans overseas.

Military lawyers prosecuting alleged 9/11 plotters are asking that family members of the victims be allowed to testify in court before the trial begins because of their "advanced age and general health concerns." Prosecutors argue the testimony about the human toll of the attacks could be key in deciding whether plotters would face the death penalty if they are eventually convicted. More.

To his family, friends and FDNY brothers, Capt. John Graziano seemed larger-than-life. Now he'll remain so for all time, at least in their hearts, and certainly in the Eltingville neighborhood where he raised his family. Graziano, who worked at Ground Zero, was memorialized Saturday in a street-naming ceremony. More.

Thirty of Guantánamo’s war-on-terror prisoners are now approved for release to security arrangements following an interagency parole board’s disclosure Friday that it was clearing an Afghan “forever prisoner.” Bostan Karim, 46, “expressed support for the Government of Afghanistan, the Constitution of Afghanistan and reconciliation,” the board wrote in a brief statement declaring him approved for transfer to security arrangements that satisfy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.

A final decision may be near on a permanent home for the World Trade Center Sphere, the battered sculptural survivor of 9/11. According to several Community Board 1 members, a Port Authority official has encouraged them to support the siting of the 45,000-pound brass orb in Liberty Park. Due to open this summer, the park is an elevated, one-acre green space atop the Vehicle Security Center that overlooks the Sept. 11 Memorial Plaza. More.