In a significant scaling back of national security policy formed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Senate on Tuesday approved legislation curtailing the federal government’s sweeping surveillance of American phone records, and President Obama signed the measure hours later.

The first time I experienced what I now understand to be post-traumatic stress disorder, I was in a subway station in New York City, where I live.

It was almost a year before the attacks of 9/11, and I’d just come back from two months in Afghanistan with Ahmad Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance. I was on assignment to write a profile of Massoud, who fought a desperate resistance against the Taliban until they assassinated him two days before 9/11. More.

May 30 marks the anniversary of the end of the recovery and cleanup operations at the World Trade Center site when the last piece of debris - a misshapen steel column - was cleared in 2002. Thirteen years later, workers, volunteers and survivors can’t clear their bodies of the toxic effects of 9/11.

My memory returned with jagged edges, raw nerve endings, and a panic attack as I filled out the 2015 World Trade Center Health Registry survey this week. I revisited the apocalyptic sights, sounds and smells rising from Ground Zero that rivaled - not surpassed - the graphic movie trailers for the release of "Mad Max Fury Road."

Advocates hope to make a federal law that funds health care for 9/11 first responders permanent, as the program is set to expire later this year.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said he plans to introduce a bill that would extend the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act indefinitely prior to its October expiration date. The current legislation was approved in 2011 for a period of five years. More.

Spokane Fire Department Capt. Roger Libby was on a mission Monday. He would complete his 343rd stair-climb, in honor of the 343 New York firefighters who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center’s twin towers.

Never Forget, a mobile exhibit created to be a tool to help educate America’s youth about the tragic events that took place Sept. 11, 2001 and to also serve as a vivid reminder for others, will be anchored at the State Fair in Nashville from Sept. 11-20.

The traveling exhibit, which continues to be in great demand, was secured for the fair’s opening date several weeks ago, according to Scott Jones, state fair manager.

After vigorous debate and intense last-minute pressure by Republican leaders, the Senate on Saturday rejected legislation that would curb the federal government’s bulk collection of phone records.