On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on US soil rocked the nation. Now, more than 12 years after the event, the recently opened 9/11 memorial and museum has been erected at ground zero in New York to help us remember the individuals and families affected that day. It also helps make sense of the terrible tragedy from a cultural and human perspective. More.

To get into the 9/11 Memorial Museum, you have to pass through a world-class security arrangement—a conveyor belt for shoes, belt buckles, cell phones; a three-second hands-above-your-head body scan—overseen by a notably grim private-security corps. “Stand there!” uniformed guards shout at those in line moseying ahead. “Don’t advance.” A terrorist planning to commit an atrocity at a museum devoted to the horrors of terrorist atrocities might seem unduly biddable to his enemy’s purpose, but then perhaps the security apparatus is itself a museum installation.

A modern-day “band of brothers,” nine soldiers and Marines who survived catastrophic injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan, spent part of their Independence Day remembering the bravery of others. Marine Sgt. Ben Tomlinson is paralyzed with limited mobility below his chest. More.

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.