A NATION RAVAGED, A CITY MOURNS: The Ports

By: Stephanie Clare
In the latest round of recriminations over the attacks on New York City and Boston, Congressional Democrats demanded accountability over the state of U.S. port security. As Senate Republicans called for bipartisan hearings, a coalition led by Senators Kerry and Clinton called for the resignation of Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff, claiming this latest calamity represented a “pattern of incompetence.”

THE FINANCIAL FALLOUT: Non-US Markets Rally; Wall Street Volatile

By: David T. Leonhardt
Asian and European markets extended their rally today even after Wall Street received its most serious beating since the U.S. markets reopened four days ago. Dow Jones hit its biggest ever one-day point decline since September 17, 2001, to 9,234, but soon recovered, closing at 10, 831. The Nasdaq composite registered similar volatility. Analysts agree that the recovery was due in part to recent statements from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Federal Reserve Chair Benjamin Bernake.

THE ARTS: Offcials Lament “Massive Loss of Cultural Treasures”

By: Theodore Leo
A group of artistic directors and museum curators representing a brain trust of some of the world’s most storied cutlural institutions issued a joint statement yesterday, bemoaning the loss of artistic treasures lost to the attacks on New York and Boston. Led by Harvard President Drew G. Faust and Philippe de Montebello, the CEO and Director of the Metrpolitan Museum of Art, the group called for roaming salvage teams of rescue workers and art experts to search the remains of museums, libraries, and universities in the blast sites, citing additional risk from contamination, structural failures of buildings, fire, and looters.

Fairway Markets, Whole Foods to Offer Food Aid

By: Peter Falk
Fairway Markets announced plans to offer Manhattan residents free groceries for the foreseeable future. The food, mostly produce, will be available at Fairway stores in Red Hook and on 2328 12th Avenue, a mere ten blocks from the second blast site. In response to Fairway’s announcement, Whole Foods posted on its website that it was prepared to extend a similar offer to residents living in affected areas on the East Side of Manhattan. While worries persist about food safety, officials assert that the risk of radiation or other toxins is minimal.

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AMERICA AT WAR

Congress Grants President Use of “All Appropriate Force”

Post-Nuclear, a “Nuclear Option?”

By: Les Andrews

Relations between the United States and both Pakistan and Afghanistan continued to strain this week, as Congress passed a near-unanimous resolution allowing President Bush to use “all appropriate force” in retaliation for the attacks of one week ago. In a joint statement from Pakistan’s embattled President Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, both leaders stressed their staunch loyalty to the Bush administration and the massive collateral damage likely to result from a proposed nuclear strike on the Hindu Kush region.

As the body count in New York and Boston threatens to rise into the seven figures, administration officials, Congressional leaders, and presidential candidates from both parties continued to assert the appropriateness of such a strike. Many, however, disagreed. In the largest protests New York has seen in decades, dwarfing even those of 2003 and 2004, crowds estimated between 500,000 and 1.5 million amassed on the Bronx side of the Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil bridges. Barred from entering Manhattan by New York City police, National Guard troops, and contractors from the private security firm Blackwater USA, demonstrators sought audiences with Presidential candidates Rudolph Giuliani and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, both of whom were scheduled to speak in Upper Manhattan and have advocated the strikes. While protests were largely peaceful, about 150 demonstrators were arrested, and minor skirmishes resulted in the use of tear gas and rubber bullets by police and soldiers. Some protesters cited unconfirmed accounts of the use of live ammunition by Blackwater security guards.

Controversy Over Manhattan Redevelopment Plan

By: Serena Kolbert
With molten midtown asphalt still at temperatures reaching nearly 200 degrees Fahrenheit, Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a redevelopment plan for midtown Manhattan driven largely by private investment. Posing with a group consisting of private investors, members of the Bush administration and New York City’s congressional delegation, and think tank and university economists, the Mayor outlined a detailed plan by which much of Manhattan’s water, power, transportation, and communications infrastructure would be rehabilitated and maintained by for-profit companies. While Mr. Bloomberg celebrated New Yorkers’ resilience and entrepreneurial zeal, critics dubbed his new plan “disaster profiteering.”

A WORLD DEVASTATED, A CITY MOURNS: U.N. Responds to Crisis

By: Melina Baker
From its makeshift headquarters in Queens, just east of Roosevelt Island, the United Nations Security Council issued a release today condemning “in the strongest terms” the events in New York and Boston. Council members departed from from tradition and stood to unanimously adopt resolution 18793 by which they expressed their readiness to respond to the mounting crisis in New York City and to provide humanitarian aid in accordance with its Charter. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for humanitarian and financial assistance from all United Nations members. While representatives of almost every nation expressed support for the United States in this difficult time, the tone was markedly different from the similar response to September 11, 2001. Many officials leavened their expressions of support with marked displeasure over U.S. foreign policy, principally the war in Iraq.

A NATION RAVAGED, A CITY MOURNS: The Refugees

by Jon Wurster

Thousands of refugees continued to crowd the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on the West Side of Manhattan yesterday, as attempts by officials to control entry into the complex again faltered. While the need for potable water outstripped available supply, small groups of refugees kept the peace by creating distribution networks for dwindling supplies of bottled water and other beverages supplied by the center and city officials. “We’re managing about as well as can be expected,” said one of the ad hoc organizers, retired high school principal Tom Scharpling. “We haven’t seen any rioting yet, though things have definitely been tense.” In other areas of the Center, officials reported a minor but still unresolved fracas over a group of refugees demanding to keep possession of their pets. Reports of rape, assault, and property crime, similar to those in the New Orleans Superdome in 2005, proved largely unfounded.

EPA Details Ongoing Efforts to Monitor Disaster Sites; Air and Water Deemed Unsafe

by James Hendrickson

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson announced today that results from the Agency’s air and drinking water monitoring midtown Manhattan and the Upper West Side indicate that, while final results were unclear, these vital resources are probably unsafe. Mr. Johnson also announced that the EPA has requested up to $90 million from congress to support purification activities and ongoing monitoring of air conditions in New York City. “We are very concerned about these results and encourage the public to stay away from these areas,” Johnson said. “Given the scope of the recent tragedy, I am saddened to advise New Yorkers, particularly those in the areas between 14th Street and 110th Street in Manhattan, that their air is not safe to breathe and their water is not safe to drink.” This marks a departure for the agency, which was roundly criticized for its unduly positive statements after September 11, 2001. Other Bush administration officials declined to comment specifically on Mr. Johnson’s assessment, issuing a blanket statement that “the Environmental Protection Agency has and continues to prioritize the health and safety of all Americans in the wake of this or any other event.”