USA Today Friday

0:00This now presents a reading of articles and features from USA Today for Friday, September 11th, 2026. You read it for this hour as me, Chat Wallsick. Happy that you were able to join us. And as you might expect, we have quite a few pieces honoring 25 year anniversary of that terrible event. So we'll head on one or two of them. And try to give you what else was going on in the world. Where were you, Americans of all ages remember? Where were you on September 11th, 2001? For many Americans, that question recalls searing memories that remained vivid 25 years later. They remember the classroom, office, airport, or city street where they first learned the United States was under attack. They remember who told them whether it was the today show or a loved one on the phone.

1:04They remember the fear and confusion as they watched the country's deadliest act of terrorism unfold. For some, it's one of the earliest memories. For more than a third of Americans, it's a day they're too young to remember, but one that shaped the world they grew up in. USA Today spoke with Americans whose lives intersected with September 11th in different ways, from those who witnessed the attacks, to those whose paths were altered by their aftermath. Together, their stories reveal how a single day continues to echo across generations. And we'll give you a sample of some of these people's feelings. Gen Xers who were born in 1965 to 1980 and aged 21 to 36 at the time of the attacks. We have Felicia Rios. Rios gave birth to her first child, a son on September 10th, 2001, and was sitting in her

2:05hospital room in New Mexico when she saw the news come across the TV. Holding her baby, she watched live as the second plane hit the World Trade Center. I literally was there holding my new son and just thinking, what kind of world did I bring this kid into? Rios then 22 was discharged in the hospital hours after the attacks. She remembers the drive home, scared of what was going to happen to our country. And then we have Hal Hinton. Hinton, then a 36 year old pilot for American Airlines, heard the news from a fellow aviator during a layover in Honolulu. Turn on your TV. It's the end of the world. Hinton recalls his co-worker telling him. Hinton realized he didn't know what route his wife, Beth, a United Airlines flight attendant, was scheduled to be flying that day. First and foremost, it was trying to find her, he said. I was scared. I didn't know where she was.

3:06We obviously didn't know what else was going to happen. It took hours for them to connect over the phone, the couple said. Over the next several days, they hungered down until commercial flights resumed. They both remember the flood of phone calls and voicemails from worried loved ones. It was such a feeling of helplessness, of disconnection, and just being unable to rat my head around their tremendous loss of life Hal Hinton said. On that day, he added, one thing was clear. This was certainly going to change our lives. And now we look at the millennials who were born in 1991 to 1996, and were 5 to 20 years old at the time of the attacks. And this from Reat Taylor. Taylor said his elementary school in Virginia Beach went into a pause when word of the attacks spread among teachers and administrators. We went outside on the bleachers, and all did the Pledge of Allegiance, he recalled.

4:10I guess there was a way to keep us from thinking about how heavy of a thing had just happened. Pete, who was 7 at the time, said there was a look on the teacher's faces that I had not seen before. The level of concern on their face, the disbelief, the dismay, the processing, they were definitely trying to hold it together. And this from Amanda Barbierra. Just two weeks into her freshman year at Delphi University in Long Island, New York, Barbierri watched the chaos unfolding in Laura Manhattan from her dormitories common area. The school had many commuter students, and she said many of them were terrified because they had family members who worked in or around the twin towers. Looking back, the behavioral therapist said attacks had a profound influence on her outlook on life. As a kid, I don't know if I really understood it yet, she said, trying to keep her emotions under control.

5:11But I know as I've gotten older, nothing is ever promised. And now we take a look at boomers who were born between 1946 and 1964, and were aged 37 to 55 at the time of the attacks. This from Frayner Cadet. Cadet was working inside the kitchen of a Manhattan office building when he heard a loud boom. Everyone in the building ran out, he said. Uncertain of what was happening, we started walking right away. He kept walking for more than three hours as he made his way past the United Nations headquarters, then into Brooklyn where he lived. Cadet, then 43, returned to his office building a week later, but everybody was different in New York, he said. People were scared of each other. The trust we had before, after 9-11, it was completely dead. Cadet later developed asthma once, and he had a seizure.

6:14He has always wondered if it was because of the overpowering smells he remembers in the city. I try not to think about that day, Cadet said, it was horrible. And then we have Scott Worth. Worth was teaching a high school law class in rural Phillips, Wisconsin when a fellow teacher knocked on his door with a startling news. A plane had hit the World Trade Center. Worth initially pictured a small aircraft accident. Then he turned on the classroom television. As images of the building tower filled the screen, the mood in the room shifted. When a second plane struck, Worth and his teenage students realized they were watching, not just some random occurrence. The students turned to the teacher for answers. Mr. Worth, what's happening they asked? Well, he didn't have an answer. More than two decades later, Worth, now retired from teaching, still remembers that moment.

7:15The moment his students were looking to him for an explanation, but he had none to give. It's a very empty feeling. I am supposed to be able to answer their questions in the classroom, right? And I could not. And then we have the silent generation who were born from 1928 to 1945, in age 56 to 73 at the time of the attacks. And this from Anthony Fasolo. Fasolo had just finished calling his wife to tell her about the attacks at the World Trade Center when he heard a boom. At the time, he worked for the Department of the Army in a first floor office on the Pentagon's north side. Fasolo didn't know what happened until he fled the building and saw black smoke building into the blue sky. He watched stunned as a nurse helped a six foot tall soldier limp out of the building. Authorities on the scene told everyone another aircraft was inbound and they had to get

8:15as far away as they could. He walked in the days, unsure of how to get home to Leesburg, Virginia. The city was quiet. The door to bumper traffic filled the streets of Pentagon City, but nobody honked their horn. Fasolo remembered. The only sound he heard was from television in a shop window. By the time his wife Anna picked him up at a metro stop near their home, it was close to 5 pm. He got a call from his boss that evening telling him two colleagues, Sandra Taylor and Cheryl Sincock were missing. Later, he learned the two women had died in the attack. Fasolo's wife tells him that they changed him. Made him more empathetic. Fasolo, now 89, does not disagree. My first thought coming out of the building was we have to learn to live with each other. And this from Carolyn Golhoffer. With 30 minutes to go before Tuesday's classes began at the Missouri Vocational School

9:20where she taught health occupation, Golhoffer relaxed over a cup of coffee in the teacher's lounge. Then, word spread that a plane hit one of the twin towers in New York. The teachers all headed to classrooms equipped with TV's to see what happened. We were all just kind of stunned, said Golhoffer, then 59. Of course, no one studied that day. They all hovered around the TVs. A few wept. She recalls setting in after the shock that anyone could do such a thing within American borders that gave way to sadness and the responsibility of consoling students. It was hard to know what to say. And then we have the greatest generation members who were born in 1901 to 1927. The youngest members were 74 at the time of the attacks. And this from Don Graves. Graves was 17 when he joined the US Marines amid the thrills of World War II.

10:25Two years later, the kid from Detroit found himself wielding a 72-pound flame thrower and praying for his life on the beaches of Iwo Jima. More than 300 of his fellow battalion members perished. He was among just 18 who survived. At 101, the decorated veteran still wonders why God spared him while so many others lost their lives. The question led him to become a pastor, which is how we came to be at a mission in Tucson, Arizona, dishing out breakfast to homeless and troubled young men on the morning of September 11th. All of a sudden, the kid said to me, Don, that can't be real. Look, Graves glanced at the TV and saw smoke pouring from the North Tower of the World Trade Center over Manhattan. Then he saw the second plane hit the South Tower. That really shook these boys up. They stood there and they watched it happen.

11:26And I watched it with them. You are listening to Reading of Today's issue of USA Today on the Niagara Frontier Reader Reading Service and the time is 12 minutes after the hour. And we continue with a related 9-11 story. Kavanaugh recalls White House role on 9-11. As attorney, he worked on legislation after the attacks. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a 36-year-old White House attorney when his world, the George W. Bush presidency and the nation changed on September 11th, 2001. After planes hijacked by terrorists struck the World Trade Center, Secret Service officers learned of another plane headed for Washington. Kavanaugh and other aides outside the White House were ordered to evacuate.

12:29Born in his memory are agents yelling at female staffers to throw off their high heels and sprint. The agents were screaming at us to run out the gate. He recounted in an exclusive interview with USA Today. Regrouping with others from the White House Council's office at a nearby office building, the future of Supreme Court Justice was directed to research the emergency powers Bush Kutap. In the weeks ahead, Kavanaugh would work on legislation to help the airline industry and create a federal terrorism insurance program later credited with reviving commercial development in New York City and the nation. Years later, as a judge, Kavanaugh would rule on cases involving the war on terror, a legal saga that continues. And every September, Kavanaugh rewatches key moments from that time, especially Bush's address and Washington National Cathedral three days after the attack and remarks at ground zero that followed.

13:30It's the day of my life that I consider the most memorable, searing, important day in my life for the country and for me, Kavanaugh said. He keeps a copy of the 9-11 Commission's report on a nearby bookshelf. Hanging in his chambers is a signed photo of Bush throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium a few weeks after the attacks. One of the ways the president demonstrated, he would not let the terrorist alter our way of life, Kavanaugh said. Kavanaugh remembers thinking, as he watched Bush's wind up, please God, let him throw a strike this time. He can throw in the dirt some other time. Well, Bush threw a perfect strike. Kavanaugh will be speaking about his experience for a panel discussion at the University of Notre Dame on September 11th in honor of the 25th anniversary. He spoke in advance with the USA Today about how that day changed him.

14:33Among other things, he said, it strengthened his religious conviction. The only way to make sense of all this tragedy and death was to go back to your faith, Kavanaugh said. And while national security had always been a top concern, the terrorist attacks made him more realistic about threats America faces from other nations and groups. When Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court in 2018, opponents complained he had an expansive vision of executive power and a tendency to overestimate national security claims. His record on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit had offered mixed evidence when it came to September 11th related cases. Kavanaugh wrote an opinion in 2020-12 overturning the terrorism conviction of a driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden. He wrote that Salim Hamdan could not be prosecuted for providing material support to terrorists

15:36because his actions were not recognized as a war crime under international law at the time and the military commission that tried him could not rely on a law passed by Congress in 2006. In other cases involving suspected terrorists held at the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Kavanaugh sided with prosecutors. On the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh was part of the 7-2 majority that in 2022 ruled against a Guantanamo Bay detainee who had been tortured by the CIA abroad and sought information about his treatment. The justices will be deciding soon whether to weigh in on the long-running death penalty case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man accused of plotting the attacks and one of his cold conspirators. Kavanaugh said he brought to the cases about terrorism suspects an understanding about

16:38how Al-Qaeda operated but still held the executive branch accountable to the Constitution. He also said he knows how hard it is to be president. There are a lot of no-win decisions that presidents make, he said. When I think with Obama and Trump and Biden, I try to, as a judge, understand the difficulty of being president, but at the same time, the importance of abiding by the law. The message Bush communicated to his staff on September 12 was, this will not happen again. This will never happen again in the United States, Kavanaugh remembers. For him, every day was September 12th for the next seven plus years. Even when he was doing other things and doing other things of government, economic negotiations, dealing with all the other issues in the world, he felt very responsible for making sure it never happened again, Kavanaugh said.

17:41And if something did happen, they would say, Bush, why didn't you prevent this? It was a huge responsibility for him to carry. Having seen September 11th up close, the weight it placed on the president and the ability of the country to recover gave Kavanaugh perspective. People talk about this is a crisis and that's a crisis. Well that was a crisis, he said. America has lots of legal and policy debates, which are important. It's a different level than what I think we felt on the night of September 11th and the morning of September 12th. Rewatching Bush's remarks this week alongside his wife Ashley, who also was working in the White House that day, Kavanaugh said he paused the recording several times to see the emotion in the faces of the blurry eyed first responders. When the president yelled into the bull porn, I can hear you.

18:45The rest of the world here is you. The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. I think that moment is the moment of the Bush presidency he said. It was such an important moment for the country. You are listening. You are listening to reading of today's issue of USA Today on the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service, where the time is 19 minutes after the hour. And we switch gears here significantly to some a crime related story. Menendez brothers will get a rehearing. Next California governor will decide on parole. The Menendez brothers, in prison 37 years in the gruesome murder of their parents, are getting a second shot at freedom. Lyle and Eric Menendez have been granted an early parole hearing from March 20, 2027,

19:52California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Records show. The move came after an administrative review to advance their next parole suitability hearing date was approved on September 3rd. Health are serving life sentences without parole for the slangs. The brothers were convicted of in 1996 of killing Jesse of killing Jose and Kitty Menendez after their highly publicized and televised first trial ended in a mistrial. Lyle was 21 and Eric was 18. They are now 58 and 55 respectively. The brutal shotgun killings took place in 1989 inside the family's Beverly Hills home. Jose Menendez was a successful music executive and Kitty Menendez was a socialite. As of September 9th, online records showed the brothers remained incarcerated at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.

20:54During a previous parole suitability hearing in August 2025, the brothers were denied parole for three years. California's next governor will ultimately determine whether to accept or reject the board's recommendation. So will the brothers be granted parole? In October 2024, former Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascone filed a recommendation to resent the brothers, asking for the possibility of parole to be put back on the table in light of new evidence. The penalty for two murders is 50 years to life in prison, but since the brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, Gascone said they would be immediately eligible for parole under California law. Gascone sent letters to California Governor Gavin Newsom, noting the brothers' credible allegations of sexual and physical abuse from their father. The letter also cited years of dedication to rehabilitation.

21:59Gascone has met with family members who have been pleading for the brothers' release, and previously told reporters he believes the brothers have paid their debt to society. Gascone lost his bid for reelection in 2024 to Nathan Hockman, a former federal prosecutor who in court last year said he opposed recentencing. During an April 11, 2025 hearing, the prosecutor tried to convince Superior Court Justice Michael Jessica that the state should be allowed to withdraw the petition for recentencing. In the end, the judge denied Hockman's motion and ruled to go forward with recentencing hearing, and in May 2025, reduced the brother's sentences from life without parole to 50 years to life. Missouri map is blocked again. High court ends the GOP's redistricting maneuver. The Supreme Court, for the second time, cited with opponents of a GOP-drawn congressional

23:04map in Missouri in a ruling that prevents that map from being used in the November elections. The court, on September 10, suspended a federal judge's order that would have required the map that was drawn at the request of President Trump to be used in the midterm elections, which will decide the control of Congress. There were no noted dissents from the court's brief, unsigned order, which was not explained. The ruling ends the confusion that had unfolded when the judge issued his order, soon after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on September 8, declined to block the Missouri Supreme Court's ruling that the disputed map must be approved by voters before it can take effect. The map would have turned a seat held by Democrats into one that Republicans are expected to win and help Republicans hold on to their slim majority in the House. The legal battle stemmed from Trump pushing red states to rejigger maps midway through

24:07the normal redistricting cycle. The map approved by the Missouri legislature last year breaks up a Democratic Hall district in Kansas City, giving Republicans an advantage in seven of the state's eight-house districts. A group formed to oppose the new map, people, not politicians, Missouri collected enough signatures to put the changes to a public vote through a ballot measure. But Missouri's Secretary of State, Republican Denny Hoskins, said the state's constitution does not allow ballot measures over congressional redistricting. The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously disagreed in a decision headed down days before the state's ballot was scheduled to be finalized and after the August primary map had been held using a new map. Republicans argued that state court decisions had inflicted unprecedented chaos on Missouri.

25:20Smithsonian Secretary Bunch plans to retire. Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III on September 8th announced his retirement after months of the Trump administration attacking the National Museums for the Portrayal of American History. Bunch, the Smithsonian's first black secretary, has led the prestigious institution that includes 21 museums and the National Zoo for seven years. A statement from the Smithsonian said Bunch will depart before the end of the year. In a statement, Bunch said his departure comes with mixed emotions and heartfelt gratitude. It is my time for my next chapter, a chapter that will allow me to continue to protect the integrity of the Smithsonian and to champion the importance of a history that illuminates and celebrates the complex story of our nation, Bunch said. His departure comes as the Trump administration has ramped up attacks on the institution

26:25for presenting what it described as a biased, woke view of U.S. history that downplays the country's greatest achievements while over-enphasizing themes like racism and inequality. Bunch said it wasn't the Trump administration that led him to step down, but he did acknowledge the role has been stressful. It was really just saying, now's the time he told the outlet, adding, I'm a fighter. I have to be honest. It has been stressful, he continued. And at a certain point, I like to wake up in the morning and not look at my cell phone. Bunch 73 has earned a reputation as a historian, unafraid of confronting some of the darkest periods in U.S. history and an adept political operator who maintained strong bipartisan support

27:25during his tenure. Bunch served the Smithsonian Institution for 38 years and oversaw some of the Smithsonian's most ambitious projects, including the construction of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which he founded. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., who was head of the Board of Regents, said Bunch pursued excellence in the telling of our nation's story and the institution benefited greatly from his wisdom, vision, and leadership. We look forward to working with him in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition for his successor, Roberts said in a statement. President Trump previously praised Bunch for his enthusiasm for his role leading the nation's flagship museum system. I am very, very proud of Lonnie Bunch, he said in 2017. But while he didn't interfere with the Smithsonian during his first term, Trump has increasingly

28:26sought to remake the institution to his liking in his second term. Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 restoring truth and sanity to American history, objecting to what he called a concerted effort to downplay American successes and to cast historical milestones and the nation's founding principles in a negative light. In August 2025, the Trump administration launched a review of the Smithsonian beginning with eight of its most visited and highest profile museums. Federal officials also identified a series of exhibits and programs they said reflected ideological or divisive interpretations of American history. Tensions reached a fever pitch in July, when the White House released a report that accuses leaders of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History of embracing extreme

29:26political activism and using the nation's flagship history museum to advance that, to advance what the agenda describes as ideological thinking. The organization of American historians, the nation's largest group of scholars of US history issued a scathing statement condemning the report as part of an ongoing and multi-prime assault by the Trump administration against accurate and evidence-based history and American public life. You're listening to reading of today's issue of USA Today on the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service. The time is 30 minutes after the hour and we turn over to the opinion section for September 11th. And we have a piece written by Lane Schill and Stephanie Trendel.

30:27Ms. Schill is the director of the parent center at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. Stephanie Trendel is a communication specialist at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and their piece is entitled, Why You Should Keep Fones Out Of Your Kids Bedrooms. This school year, millions of American students are returning to classrooms under a new rule. No phones. 36 states now ban or limits student cell phone use and Kansas recently implemented its first statewide ban while Indiana's bell to bell law took effect, keeping phones out of sight from the first bell to the last. The research behind these bands is solid, devices capture attention even when they're off. Classrooms are calmer without them. This is good news for parents.

31:28During the school day, one major source of distraction is being removed, while a phone ban may solve a classroom problem, it doesn't solve what happens when kids take their phones home. Imagine a 14-year-old on a Tuesday night, bedroom door closed, homework finished. Someone she's been talking to online asks for a photo. She said no before. This time she's tired and it feels easier to block the person and move on than to explain what happened to anyone else. One about her day looked unusual. Nothing about it will come up at dinner. This is the kind of moment that can happen quickly and quietly behind a closed bedroom door. Thorns' most recent national survey of young people published in July found that more than one in four minors, ages 9-17, reported experiencing a sexual interaction online.

32:28It means specifically that already rises to one in three. When the research expands to include sex distortion, deep fake news, and the sharing or resharing of nude images, the number climbs to nearly one in two. The most troubling number in the report isn't about how often these things happen. It's the data that reveals what the kids do afterward. When something goes wrong online, minors are nearly twice as likely to quietly block or report the person than to tell a parent or another trusted adult. One in five who had an online sexual interaction told no one at all. And when researchers asked why, the leading reason has shifted. It's no longer that kids think it isn't a big deal. It's that they are afraid of being judged. Just the part a school policy can't touch.

33:28You can take the phone out of the classroom. You can't take away the hour after school when the one's watching or the hour before bed when a kid is alone with a decision about whether to tell you something happened. If you feel bombarded by conflicting parenting advice right now, you're not imagining it. One Atlantic writer described her feed as a constant stream of contradictory rules, banned social media, but also read your kids' texts, but also respect their privacy. All delivered with a caveat that every kid is different anyway. But when she asked experts what actually mattered, one answer kept surfacing regardless of who she asked. No screens in the bedroom ever. Psychologist Jonathan Hate, author of the anxious generation, named it as the rule he most regrets not following with his own kids. Adolescent psychologist Lisa Demore has called it the single tech rule to implement if you only implement one.

34:35And the data backs it up. A study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health tracked more than 9,000 adolescents for a year and found that bedtime screen use predicted worse sleep outcomes 12 months later, including more sleep disturbances and less total sleep. Simply having an internet connected device in the bedroom, whether or not it was actively being used, was enough to predict the decline. Two experts, a year of data, one overlapping answer. So what can we do? Implement the household version of what schools just did. No phones in bedrooms overnight. Charge it in the kitchen. Charge it at a docking station by the front door. Anywhere but behind a closed door. Alone at night. This is not about seeing everything your kid does online. It's about making sure your child isn't completely alone with it.

35:38A phone charging in a common space means the phone isn't beside your child's pillow at midnight. It creates a natural point of contact. A moment when a parent might walk by, notice a change in mood, ask a question, or simply be there when a child decides tonight is the night to say something. It's a small rule. It's also when you can start tonight, which is more than you can say for most advice aimed at parents in this space. Schools decided the classroom doesn't need a phone in it. Parents can decide the bedroom doesn't either. And now we move on to the money section for September 11th. And as we all know, on Fridays, the money section becomes travel and tourism. And we have a 9-11 related story. Change the skies. If you flew before 9-11, you probably struggle to believe it.

36:39And this is written by Kathleen Wong and Nathan Diller, who are USA Today Travel Editors. Modern air travel comes with a well-established pre-flight routine. A traveler typically checks in via the AirBlinds app or at a station near the airport entrance, walks to security to present their ID, and drops their bag on the conveyor belt, removing certain items like laptops, depending on the lane. Transportation Security Administration officers screened those while the passengers spreads their arms out mannequin-like inside a body scanner. Once they're allowed past security, passengers can browse shops, grab a bite to eat, or head straight to their gate, where they eventually scan their boarding pass to get on their flight, typically passing a reinforced cockpit door on their way in. Many of those steps flyers consider commonplace now were not part of the travel experience 25 years ago.

37:39The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 reshaped modern aviation's security infrastructure. As the 25th anniversary is upon us, here's how much of the way Americans fly today can be traced back to that morning. Looking before 9-11, looked far different than a dusted day, said Katsuki's, founder of goings of going. Security was much more relaxed than it would soon become, with travelers able to breeze through, and even non-passengers permitted to greet travelers at the gate when they de-borded. He told USA Today. Chelsea Dullman began flying alone from Rhode Island to Texas to visit her dead at 10 years old, after her parents split up roughly 3 years before 9-11. I flew down, and the security is very light, the now 38-year-old recalled. You know, I think that they put your bag through an X-ray, and you didn't have to do liquids

38:42or anything like that. Cell phones and portable laptop computers were not so widespread, and you didn't have to take everything out of your bag pretty much. There was a state on two, and Dullman remembered simply walking through a metal detector, unless you had anything that flagged you, pretty much just walked through security, said Dullman, who now works in real estate. It was very easy. An airline employee escorted her through the checkpoint into the gate as part of the airlines program for unaccompanied minors. Her father was able to meet her at the gate upon arrival. Safety protocols weren't the only things that changed. Those who worked in aviation before 9-11 also recall how different the atmosphere was on flights. Sarah Nelson was five years into her career as a flight attendant when 9-11 happened. We used to play games on the flight.

39:43We would do trivia, and give away a bottle of champagne. We used to cut roast in the aisle in first class, said Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendance. After the attacks, the industry faced a downturn and focused on revenue. We work longer days. We have fewer tools to take care of people. We're de-escalating conflict more than ever before she said, adding that flight crews are also now the last line of defense and aviation safety. flight availability is also now much more robust, said Keys, with larger planes on the majority of routes and a significantly higher number of international departures. Prices have changed too. Cost-wise flights were nominally 23% cheaper than today, but when you adjust for overall inflation, flights in September 2001 were actually 43% higher, said.

40:45Their first have generally become much more affordable in what he described as a veritable golden age of cheap flights. The attacks quickly prompted major changes to aviation security, the biggest of which were the creation of the Transportation Security Administration, later in 2001, which Keys said centralized nationwide airport security. The Department of Homeland Security came the following year. Delman flew to Texas in December of 2001, encountering a much longer line than usual in the National Guard Station at the airport. She found their presence intimidating because she saw much stricter things about names on her ticket exactly matching one's ID, something that used to be given wiggle room. TSA deployed explosive detection systems across the country for screening luggage.

41:47All carriers met requirements to reinforce cockpit doors on commercial airport. New rules required passengers and standard lanes to place electronics larger than a cell phone and bins at security checkpoints. The agency began enforcing real ID requirements after multiple delays. Other threats and technology innovations also affected security procedures. Richard Reed tried to ignite explosives in his shoes on a flight from Paris to Miami in December of 2001. The TSA began requiring passengers to remove their shoes at security checkpoints in 2006 because of intelligence pointing to a continuing threat according to his website. The agency also enacted its 311 liquids policy, limiting liquids, gels and aerosols to 3.4 ounces and under for each item in 2006.

42:48The agency earlier that year had banned all liquids from carry-ons after a thwarted terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives on flights led them to take that action. So what has worked and what remains controversial? It's difficult to measure how effective the TSA truly is. Hundreds of millions of passengers pass through airport security checkpoints each year. In 2024, the TSA screened more than 904 million passengers with over 6,600 fire arms intercepted. Over the past decade, covert tests have revealed vulnerabilities at security checkpoints. And such tests in 2015 showed a nearly 96% failure rate at screening fake explosives. Years later, the government accountability office recommended that the TSA collect data and create baseline goals to track its performances.

43:52Advancements and security screenings have also brought challenges, including potential discrimination against certain passengers. In 2022, GAO released a report that advanced imaging technology could result in some people being flagged for additional screenings, like those for a transgender or rare religious headwear. Facial recognition technology was first piloted in 2018 and meant to streamline screening and increase security, which is now found at airports across the nation. According to the American Civil Liberties Union in 2020, this technology can result in bias and inaccuracies. There's also controversy over a push to expand privatized airport security screenings. Under the program announced earlier this year, called TSA Gold Plus, airports can partner with third-party contractors for security screening services.

44:52Reports such as the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA officers and more than 400 US airports, cites potentially dangerous to public safety and the job security of TSA officers. So how does the next 25 years look like? Officials don't believe the airline industry will ever slow down. The world is more connected than ever before. For his part, Keith said he anticipates major improvements in scanner technology that may let travelers once again bring larger liquids in their carians, as well as the universal proliferation of facial scanning and other biometric security measures that will make winds at security and immigration zoom by. At the same time, to keep the sky safe, those in the aviation industry are pushing for more investment in staffing, especially to address a shortage of air traffic controllers.

45:55There is so much human handling that goes on in security that it is so necessary, Nelson said. A lot of things are up in the air for the future of air travel. You are listening to a reading of today's issue of USA Today on the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service, where the time is 46 minutes after the hour. And we continue. And well folks, as you might expect, being the travel and tourism section, we have another somewhat 9-11 related piece written by USA Today Travel Editor, Christopher Elliott. AI screens and travel are quietly making us more isolated. Have you ever taken your seat on a plane and had a strange realization that you haven't spoken to a single person since you got to the airport? Not at the check-in kiosk, where you silently printed your bag tag.

46:58Not at security, where you scanned your boarding pass and faced a camera instead of an agent. Not at the gate, where you flashed your boarding pass on a machine. Then you sit in your seat and plug in your noise-canceling headphones, effectively hanging a do-not-to-serve sign around your neck. Welcome to modern travel. It's efficient, frictionless, and incredibly lonely. Walk through any airport, hotel lobby, or train station today, and you will see it. While moving efficiently through space, eyes down, earbuds in, interacting with screens instead of humans. The gate agent? There's an app for that. The concierge, ask AI. The stranger at the bar? Look closely, they're wearing noise-canceling earbuds. Places that once buzzed with humanity feel more like transit corridors than destinations. Instead, Lawrence Quill, co-director of San Jose State University's loneliness project.

48:01We travel with earbuds in, eyes on screens, and purviews to our surroundings. Call it the Great Disconnect. We have engineered humanity right out of travel. But why is travel so solitary? And what can we do about it? As artificial intelligence continues to strip the human touch from travel, there's no better time to ask these questions. Why does travel feel so lonely? The shift did not happen overnight. Ecrafted in gradually, accelerated by a pandemic that taught us to fear proximity and trust screens. What started as convenience morphed into something else entirely. Isolation on the move. We built technology to make travel effortless. Said Francis Hellier, CEO of Ticadoo, an AI-powered travel platform. But in the process, we stripped away the human warmth that made it meaningful.

49:02The silence you feel in airports and hotels is the sound of efficiency. The numbers tell part of the story. Travel data shows the average group size for trips has decreased since COVID began. The percentage of trips with more than two travelers plugged in from nearly 20% to just over 15%. Squirmalt.com told me. Thomas Plant, a psychology professor at Santa Clara University, sees this shift mirrored in his clinical practice. Our culture has evolved with technological advances and conveniences to the point where you don't have to interact with real people at all, he said. A major downside is that we avoid human interactions. We lose our skills to do so and our social lives and skills atrophy. Reality check. For some people, being able to travel without talking to anyone and enjoying the silence is a bonus.

50:04If you're new dad, you know what I mean. For others, it is kind of maddening. Which travel technology cut out the human contact? The culprits are at heart to spot. They're in your pocket, on your wrist, around your neck. Christian Petzel, a travel expert at BCN Travel, said he can now breeze through airports and hotel lobbies with minimal human conflict. I mean human contact. I can go from the curb to my room without a word to any staff member he said. As much as it's convenient, I feel a bit empty because I miss because I'm. I can go from curb to my room without a word to any staff member he said. As much as it's convenient, I feel a bit empty because I'm missing out on the human element that once made the traveling experience so much richer.

51:05The technology itself isn't. Well, it isn't the villain. It's how we're using it. Smartphones, we can't seem to get off them. Says frequent traveler Molly Stroll, walking down the street at dinner at the beach, it's happening everywhere she said. Apps and kiosks, self-checkins, AI concierge, QR code menus, digital tip systems, each innovation removes another moment where humans might connect. It's particularly noticeable in Asia where efficiency is highly valued and technology is seen as a solution to every problem. Anna Sceverney, a 25 year old nomadic traveler who's visited 38 countries in three years, experienced it in Japan. Ticket machines everywhere she recalled. iPads instead of waiters. QR codes instead of front desk staff. I spent a week in Osaka.

52:06I had less real conversation than one day in an Italian village. In noise, canceling headphones. They are brilliant along flights, but they have become an all the time accessory. A sign that says, leave me alone. These habits started during the pandemic and never went away according to experts. There's nothing wrong with a little solitude when you're traveling. Sometimes it can give you time to relax or focus on work. But research shows that prolonged loneliness can raise the risk of serious physical conditions like dementia, heart disease or a stroke. It can also lead to depression and anxiety. So how to have a real conversation while traveling? Ask for a person even if you don't have to. This would Andy Abrinson, one of the most experienced travelers I know, does when he checks into a hotel.

53:07He always emails the general manager before he arrives. I tell them a bit about who I am and what I like. In return, they share local tips with me. Next, leave the headphones off. It's a simple signal that you're available for conversation. Choose your counter or the app. Richard Herbst, an attorney from large mountain New York, makes this his policy. On a recent trip, he ignored several emails from his car rental company to check in online. I always want to get the local lore and recommendations of routes, restaurants, etc. from rental agents, desk clerks and the like. Sit at the bar. Struly, the marketing manager swears by this. I am very intentional about not using my phone at a bar or restaurant. And I always sit at the bar when it's an option because you just never know who you're going to meet. Funny story.

54:07In 2019, Struly sat at an oyster bar in Ho Chi Minh City and watched the stranger next to her order spring rolls and a beer. Good choice, she said. She ordered the same thing. Seven years later, that stranger is her husband. The goal isn't to return to some imaginary golden age of travel. Smoking sections on flights? Hard pass. It's to design experiences where efficiency and empathy coexist. Technology should be a naveler of connection, says Hellier, the Tickadoo CEO. Not a replacement for it. There are plenty of opportunities for human contact. From the Southwest Airlines flight attendant cracking a joke during the Inflite announcements to wingle an app that lets you chat with other passengers on your flight. There are more opportunities than ever to make a human connection. Travel is many things, but it should never feel as lonely as this.

55:11You're listening to reading articles and features from USA Today on the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service. We will return for more readings after the short break. Your reader for the sour has been shot while sick. I thank you for joining me, and I hope you have a memorable weekend and never forget. We'll see you next time. Coming up next on the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service, we have the blindness and disability news hour from our friends at Minds High. At 2 o'clock, it's episode number one of the Futurist Peace by Aziz Abu Surah and Moaz and Nan. And following that, at 3 o'clock, it's Smithsonian Magazine. Stay with us.

59:54We'll continue now with our reading of articles from today's issue of the USA Today. Your reader for the sour is Nancy. Section B, which is life, and today is Friday the 11th. Streaming, 9-11 stories, people showed up for each other from Cali Richardson. When two hijack planes hit the twin towers on September 11, 2001, Firefighter Bill Spade reported to the North Tower to help evacuate survivors. He tried to make a Mayday call over his radio, but received no answer. With help from emergency service police officer John Delara, he broke down a jam door, allowed people to escape onto the street level. Shortly after, Delara, an officer from Harlem, and Spade, a firefighter from Stanton, Island,

1:00:54found themselves discussing family. Delara mentioned his wife, Carol, his seven-year-old son, John, and his two-year-old son, Nicholas. Spade compared it to writing each other's obituaries in real time. Our two units never really meshed together before. Spade tells USA Today. And here we are, working together, in the middle of the towers. Of all this catastrophe that's going on, talking about our wives and kids. That doesn't happen. Then the North Tower collapsed, bearing them and civilians under suit and debris. Spade made an airway to breathe by sticking his finger in his mouth. He later learned that Delara was killed during the Tower collapse. And 9-11 reunited a three-part docuseries, now streaming on Hulu and Disney Plus. Spade sits down with Delara's family for the 25th anniversary and recounts the terrorist

1:01:56attack that killed more than 2,900 people. Their reunion is one of six stories highlighting the life-saving connections made among rescuers and survivors on that fateful day. Some three men who used a squeegee to escape a stalled elevator to a first responder who spent nearly 24 hours buried under the rubble. Julian Jones directed the National Geographic Docuseries and tells USA Today he felt a responsibility to treat the survivors with the utmost care and respect, providing a team of psychologists and choosing filming locations they felt comfortable with. Jones, who worked on the project with the 9-11 Memorial and Museum and production company 72 Films, says the participants faced survivors guilt and felt an obligation to live life unabashedly. And as evidenced by Spade and that Delara family reunion, the emotional connections fostered

1:03:00on that perilous day have persisted through two decades. We wanted to focus on a terrible tragic horrifying event where people just showed up for each other. Jones says adding the whole team was moved to tears during takes. There was something about the human spirit there. People were willing to act sufficiency for people they didn't know and that created lifelong bonds. John J. Delara, a marine reservist who shares the same name as his late father, says most of his memories of his dad come from second-hand accounts, but he does recall gleeful moments playing with toys or visiting Sesame Street. What I have heard from other people is that he was a great person. Somebody you'd want on the job with you, Delara, age 32, tells USA Today. Things that make you proud to be in his family.

1:04:02At home, the Delara family commemorates the fallen patriarch through a shrine decorated with an NYPD medal and diploma, Juno trophies from his childhood and family photos. But the docu-series gave his family a chance to honor him in a different way. By meeting up with Spade at his Staten Island, New York home to recount officer Delara's final moments and lasting legacy. The whole process of us meeting Mr. Spade in his family, with my whole family, was pretty monumental, Delara says. Especially because hearing stories about our dad and seeing the connection there, him being one of the last people to see him alive, my family is extremely appreciative. The reunion was equally a special for Spade. I was with their dad for the last half hour of his life, he says. I always wanted to relate to them their dad's last moments. Officer Delara ultimately helped save 20 lives on September 11th, according to the docu-series.

1:05:09He was among the 441 first responders who were killed during the attacks. The most emergency responder deaths on a single day in the US, according to the 9-11-11 Memorial and Museum website. Meanwhile, Spade is the only surviving member of his 12th person rescue 5 team. He says the lead up to the anniversary each year is always a difficult time, but he holds a Thanksgiving-style dinner with his family every September 11th. It's all about family. When those towers were coming down, the only thing I thought about was my wife and my two boys. Spade says. Right before that, John was just thinking about his wife and his two boys. So we had that in common. And since that day, it's been a goal of mine to never forget. Though 25 years have passed, Spade has stayed true to his word. He gives talks at the 9-11 Memorial and Museum about 12 times per year, where he discusses

1:06:15Officer Delara's legacy. Spade's son, Billy and Delara's son have even become friends, completing humanitarian work as part of a 9-11 nonprofit Tuesday's children and have a photo featured in the museum to show for it. And though Spade still struggles with his grief, he maintains his lifelong vow to never stop talking about the day that changed America forever, and the people he met along his journey. I relieve, relieve it every day of my life since 9-11, Spade says. I'm sure John has thoughts of his father every day. So it's the same thing. I always tell people I went to counseling for four years, but it doesn't really leave you. By talking about it, I feel it's better than keeping it inside. Through me, the legacy of John Delara will always live, he adds, holding back tears. Even though we were only together for half-hour twenty minutes, it was a lot of comattery

1:07:17between us. We saved a lot of lives. Television. Strayon recalls finding brotherhood, healing after 9-11, from Ralphie Versa. Michael Strayon has enlisted a number of big names for a new documentary, including a celebrity that he refers to as his little brother. The Good Morning America co-anchor leads a new ABC News special 9-11, United We Stand, 25 years later. On September 1st, 9pm Eastern, on ABC Streaming the next day on Disney Plus. The program, which Strayon co-produced with his company SMAC Entertainment, brings invoices from throughout news, sports, and entertainment to recall how the country healed with the help of comedy, Broadway, live music, and sporting events following the terrorist

1:08:22attacks of September 11th. 9-11, United We Stand, 25 years later, includes interviews with entertainers, Jimmy Fallon, John Stewart, John Bonjouvi, Billy Crystal, and Matthew Brotterick, plus a slew of sports stars led by former New York Yankee, Derek Jeter, who also is an executive producer through his CAP-2 Productions company. Strands, ABC colleagues, Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, and Martha Raditz also appear in the two-hour production. Later in comedian Pete Davidson also contributes to the 9-11 documentary. Davidson was 7 when the attacks happened. His father Scott was a New York City firefighter who died while responding to the September 11th attacks. I'm just so happy to see where he is, what he's built his career into being, because he's had to deal with a lot.

1:09:24Strand, age 54, tells USA Today about Davidson. I don't know if about that pain or that hurt ever goes away, but I think he's found his way through comedy to deal with it. At the time of the attacks, Strand was a 29-year-old in the midst of an eventual Hall of Fame football career as a defensive end for the New York Giants. The year would prove to be a pivotal year for Strand in more than one way. Strand and Davidson share a unique bond. On September 10th, 2001, the Giants lost the season opener in Denver to the Broncos. Following the game, the team boarded a red eye flight back to Newark Liberty International Airport. Strand recounts in the ABC special that the Giants played Cross Paths with the United Airlines Flight 93, one of the four commercial jetliners, a terrorist hijacked on the morning of September 11th.

1:10:24On the flight, which the terrorists originally had on a path to Washington, D.C., instead crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. All 44 people on board died, however, had it not been for the heroic acts of the passengers who fought back against the hijackers, the casualties may have been greater. After the September 11th attacks, Strand served as a voice for his teammates, who along with the New York Jets and eventually other teams, successfully lobbied the NFL to postpone a week of games after the tragedy. Strand recalls the days following September 11th, 2001, with a piercing amount of clarity. So many teams stepped up who couldn't visually see what we could see, Strand aged 54. The other teams couldn't see the cars that were left over in the parking lot from the commuters at the stadium, who didn't return.

1:11:25Strand recalls watching the smoke rise from where the towers once stood, which could be seen from the Giants practice facility across the Hudson River in New Jersey. And there were so many other teams who said, if they feel this way, we're not playing. We're standing with our brothers, Strand continues, and that meant a lot to all of us. I think it brought the league together. The league resumed its schedule on September 23rd, 2001. The Giants won in Kansas City before returning to the metallands in New Jersey for a game against the Saints on September 30th. Before kickoff, first responders who lost their lives on September 11th and their families were honored. Davidson was there and met Strayhan during the ceremony. Just forward to 2018, Strayhan is interviewing Ariana Grande, who just became engaged to Davidson for ABC News.

1:12:26After the interview, Grande's fiancee comes into the recording studio to say hello to Strand. It's that moment, 17 years later, that Davidson reveals he met Strayhan as a child at Giants Stadium. I'm very proud of him, Strayhan says of Davidson, noting the two texted before Strayhan's interview with USAIDA. I'm happy to call him my friend, and I refer to him as my little brother. Strayhan said an NFL record in 2001 that stood for 24 years. On the field, the Giants 2001 season was rather forgettable. The team finished with more losses than wins and didn't make the playoffs. But Strayhan's individual numbers cemented his status as an all-time NFL star. He set a league record with 23.5 quarterback Sachs. The record was tied in 2021 and broken in the 2025 season.

1:13:27Strayhan also earned defensive player of the year honors. He remembers a trip with his teammates to ground zero in lower Manhattan as a turning point. We went around and tried to just see as many people as we could, hoping that would help with morale, he recalls. And I had experienced exhaustion on the football field, but I'd never experienced exhaustion like I saw with these first responders and everyone who was down there to help. Strayhan says the experience changed his mindset for the rest of my career. I just remember thinking to myself, what I've experienced is not being tired he continues. If someone's going to take the three hours that we could give them of a distraction, I wanted to give them the best I could give them personally out of those three hours. Throughout the two year program, sports and entertainment figures echo the sentiment of providing New York in the country with a distraction through their respective professions.

1:14:29The common thread is American helping one another grieve and heal. It was so heavy to do it by yourself, Strayhan says. It was helpful to deal with our teammates, with people who I'm in the middle of working with, who understood and could feel the same things that I felt. You need other people to get through it, he adds. You need love. You need hope. You need help. You need all those things. And the sooner you realize that, the better you were going to be for it. You're listening to a reading of today's issue of USA Today on the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service, the times 33 minutes after the hour. Bullock Kidman recaps your magic even years later. From Brian Truitt. Don't bother asking Sandra Bullock or Nicole Kidman about their first day making practical

1:15:34magic nearly 30 years ago. Or would it was like meeting each other? They both draw a blank. We don't remember it, not at all, Bullock confesses. That is so bad isn't it, Kidman quips. No trip in the way back machine powered by midnight margaritas? That's okay. The two Oscar winners remember the important stuff. How much they've grown and how much they've remained the same since starring as witchy sisters in the 1998 Romantic Fantasy. Now they're re-anniting for the sequel Practical Magic 2. Bullock who plays the grounded Sally Owens is incredibly resilient, open and strong, and brilliant at sort of speaking her mind and advocating for herself says Kidman age 59. But that was at the beginning too. Since Kidman first played Free Spirit, Jillian Owens, she's always been that person that I see now. The person who just without a thought just goes for things.

1:16:36Bullock age 62 gushes. She's fearless, inner art, inner life, inner choices. And that's very opposite of me. She's in full ownership of her person and her spirit and why she's here on the planet. And doesn't give a damn what anybody else thinks. She came out of the womb this extraordinary artist's period. Her soul has grown into the vehicle. Practical Magic 2 not only brings Bullock and Kidman back together but also their characters. Who start out a bit estranged as Sally has foresaid in the family magic and focused on raising her daughters. Kylie, played by Joey King and Antonya, played by Maisy Williams. When the Owens love curse strikes again and Kylie heads down a dangerous path. To save her boyfriend, Jillian is key to Sally getting her groove back and helping her

1:17:36daughter. Bullock loves how Sally and Jillian have the most emotionally heart-runching moments with or against each other. And yet the thing that never breaks is that they love each other the most, she says. I don't think we see that enough in cinema with women. You're supposed to fight. You're supposed to disagree. We're not all made of the same thing. Even sisters and twins have different DNA. Sometimes you separate, but boy, when you come back together, there's nothing sweeter than that. Kidman needed something light and fun in her life. Practical Magic 2 came into Kidman's life when I needed something light and fun, she says. A lot of times I am the dramatic anchor of the film, so to be able to be the one that isn't and to let Sandy take that lane was fun for me. It also was the right time for Bullock after having stepped back from the spotlight to care for her longtime partner, photographer Brian Randall, who died in 2023 after a three-year

1:18:41battle with ALS, also known as Lugerig's disease. The sequel opens with Sally grieving alongside her children after the death of her second husband. Had this come across her paths, five years ago, there would be a different Sally, Bullock says. By the nature of what we do, you get to exercise and use and talk about journeys in our own personal life that come out. Wherever we go, there we are, even though we're playing a character, your essence is still arriving on screen, and hopefully that's felt. I thought I might as well use what I know. As we were writing the script, I said, use whatever I've said, whatever I do, whatever isms I say, just take it because I don't know what I'm doing. But if you've noticed something, run with it. But Bullock hopes she never passes on to her kids. One of the main themes that practical magic too explores is the power parents pass on

1:19:44to their children. Though Bullock notes there are also things you shouldn't pass on. A lot of my fears are not theirs. She says of her two kids, son Lewis, age 16, and daughter Lala, age 13. I did, unfortunately, pass on a fear of flying to my son. He was fine until he watched me panic. I hope I have grown up enough to allow these extraordinary human beings to grow up to be exactly who they are born to be. And that's not an easy thing as a parent, because we have expectations and wants. But they've already exceeded them. They teach me more now than I could ever teach them. Kidman says her children, including daughters, Sunday, age 18, and faith, age 15, who she shares with ex-husband Keith Urban are so their own beings, and she's let them unfurl and discover and blossom, basically. Bullock adds that her co-star is really good with her daughters, because you see who they

1:20:49are, they're busting at the seams, and confidently so. The A-listers adore their on-screen kids as well. They're going to take a huge bite out of this world, Kidman says of King and Williams. Kidman adds that both have such a respect for the material, and the practical magic franchise needs to continue for them. They already have a third movie in mind with youngsters. Since in Alice Hoffman's book series, there's a storyline for Maisie's character that's so beautiful and complex and delicious and dark and wonderful, that has to happen, Bullock says. We just didn't have an eight-hour film that the studio was willing to make, but we'll in the future for them so they can carry on. Will it be another 28 years until the next one? Oh God, no one wants to see us on scooters and walker, Bullock says with a laugh. It would be the slowest film in cinematic history.

1:22:17Now, it's the sports section, which is section C. Backup quarterback rewards Seahawks for keeping faith in him from Nate Davis. Nearly three years removal from his last meaningful snaps for the Seattle Seahawks, backup quarterback Drew Locke would often resort to drawing a plays on the whiteboard, not in the team's suburban lakeside training facility, but the one next to his bed. After two kids, you kind of realize there's a lot of quiet time in the bed and you just lay there, Locke-Grend, after leading Seattle, to a 13-10 comeback win over the New England Patriots and a Super Bowl 60 rematch that also kicked off the 20-26 season, such as the life of a dad and quarterback second. The reigning champion Seahawks certainly didn't design a start to their season that included starting quarterback Sam Donald, leaving the September 9th game with a hip-in after

1:23:19five plays. The durable Donald, who has started 34 regular season games in a row winning 28 of them, only surrendered 38 plays to Locke in 2025. That didn't mean Seattle didn't have unwavering confidence in Locke. We trust Drew, we know Drew, Seahawks linebacker, and Captain Ernest Jones IV told USA Today. He likes us up and practiced throughout the week, so we know he's going to do it to other people too. He played a statement given Seattle formable, dark side defense permitted the fewest points in the league on its way to capturing the Lombardi Trophy last season. Yet it seemed to be a universal one inside the locker room. Still, it did take time for that faith to be rewarded against the Patriots.

1:24:21The Seahawks offense spotted in a scoreless first half under lock, who had last started a game in 2024. For the New York Giants, and hasn't been a fixture anywhere under center since 2020, when he'd hoped to become the long-term answer at the position for the Denver Broncos. But early in the fourth quarter, on fourth and one from the New England 45-yard line, he rewarded his teammates conviction. Hitting 2025 offensive player of the year, Jackson Smith-Night, with a quick strike near the line for the first down. Before JSN zipped through a few cracks in the Patriots' defense, all the way to the end zone for the game tying touchdown. Fantastic. Do the word for me. Lock set of Smith, NIGMA's play. As for the Shirtty Coach Mike McDonald showed in lock, on a play they both admitted, lock

1:25:22had probably never run for the Seahawks, and in a situation when Seattle would typically try to bullet-sweigh to a fresh set of downs on the ground. That was sweet, said lock, who immediately recognized Smith-Nayba Hara-Mismatch, to exploit in New England's coverage. It was cool, it was awesome. Now the Seahawks can steadfastly move ahead, with or without Donald in the short term, knowing there's no need to go back to the drawing board. Archmaning has the name, needs the moment, from Matt Hayes. This is judgment, and there's no avoiding it, especially with the undeniable family connection. But made no mistake, this isn't about rivalries. It's about playing big and memorable games. Forget about Archmaning's performance against Unbeaten, Texas A&M last season, or a second

1:26:25half of the season where he clearly developed into one of the games' best quarterbacks. The only thing that matters, the only thing that lasts, are losses and ugly performances to Ohio State in Georgia. Not a lot of good memories a year ago, Manning said. Not a lot of good memories for the Manning family in big games against the elite of college football. Uncle Peyton Manning famously failed to beat Florida three times, and Uncle Eli was one and two versus LSU. Florida and LSU were not only at the top of the SEC in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They were at the top of college football, just like Ohio State in Georgia now. Archmaning gets another shot at Ohio State on September 12th, in Austin. A year after a forgettable performance in a season opening loss. He completed 17 of 30 passes for 170 yards and was routinely confused by Ohio State's

1:27:29defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, while Texas scored a measly seven points. Texas coach Steve Sarcasian, sent after the game and any time asked since, he didn't do enough to help Manning and too much is made from one game. A fair point, no question. But there also comes a time when Manning has to play better against the elite of the game. He struggled against SEC champion Georgia last season two. A performance that evoked memories of the first time he faced the dogs. That was two years ago in Austin, a red shirt freshman thrown into replacing an effective starter Quinn Uers in a route of a game. It went about how you'd expect a humbling deer in the headlights moment and the everlasting memory of Manning in a big moment. Forget about the win over Oklahoma last season or his critical play again, in beating the Aggies or that he had 19 touchdowns, five were rushing and only two interceptions over

1:28:36the final seven games of last season. The Ohio State and Georgia losses have defined Manning's career. I get it, that's the nature of the position. But it's also unfair Sarcasian told me earlier this spring. We didn't play well as a team and we didn't help as coaches and either game. When told some quarterbacks play beyond team issues and carry the moment, Sarcasian said, I really believe he's ready for that moment. So here we are, with Ohio State rolling into Austin and Manning surrounded by a complete team on both sides of the ball. Texas added elite, White Out, Cam Coleman and now has four legitimate threats in the past game, including receivers, Ryan Wingo and Emmett Mosley, the fifth and tight end, Spencer Shannon. The offensive line may be the best Sarcasian has had in his six seasons of Texas and the defense is deep and talented.

1:29:37Sarcasian even added longtime SEC defensive coordinator will must chump to the equation, leaving no doubt about an all-in moment. It's not all the time you get a second chance to play another team after a rough loss, Manning said, I'm a year better. Anytime you go through a season and get reps, get game experience and get a whole off-season to get better. But how much better? Enough to carry a team, no matter the circumstances, with so much on the line. This game last year likely caused Texas a college football playoff spot. Had the Longhorns played a body-bad game like most Power 4 conference teams, the 10 wins would have been enough. Considering what awaits Texas later this season, the Longhorns may need to win over Ohio State in case a heavyweight 9-game SEC schedule results in two or three losses.

1:30:38Road or neutral games against Tennessee, Oklahoma, LSU and Texas A&M, and home games against Ole Miss and Florida will be Texas most difficult SEC schedule in three seasons in the league. The win over Ohio State could also change the dynamics of a team, a quarterback and a family history, and redefine the remainder of the season. In July during SEC media days, Manning was asked about the importance of the big games, and the importance both he and Texas playing at a high level in the moment. For sure we all know that, he said, we're all judged by these types of games. I don't think that's unique to this team, but fair or not, it's unique to the Manning family name. You're listening to a reading of today's issue with the USA Today on an Agra Frontier

1:31:42Radio reading service, times 51 minutes after the hour. Here's one from the WNBA. Call your sets tone in USA's World Cup Quarters win. Team USA punched its ticket to the FISA Women's World Cup semi-final round in convincing fashion. The Americans dismantled Hungary in a 108-56 quarter-final blowout in Berlin on September 10, where they led all but 18, all but 19 seconds to extend their World Cup winning streak to 34 straight games. It was their largest margin of victory in the tournament thus far, with every USA player scoring for the third time. This is one of our most complete performances, coach Carol Lawson said. The Americans move on to face the winner of Spain, Australia on September 12.

1:32:44USA forward Nafisa Collier. After the American scare against Italy in the preliminary round, Nafisa Collier and Brianna Stewart said it was their responsibility as veterans to get Team USA made up of seven newcomers off to a good start. Obviously, we're two of the older people on the team. We have to be able to set the tone and set an example Collier set on Monday. That's exactly what she did in Thursday's quarter-final game against Hungary. Collier came out aggressive with 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 block in the first quarter. She rejected Minnesota Lynx teammate Dorka Gems shot by the third quarter. Collier improved her stat line to 19 points and 7 rebounds while shooting 9-13 from the field and 1-2 from the 3-point line. After 15 minutes of play, her job was done.

1:33:46It was Collier's highest scoring game in a USA jersey, including the 2020 and 2024 Olympics. Will Collier help the Americans win gold? She started playing again in July after having off-season surgery on both ankles. The Caitlin Clark Angel Reese connection. The college rivals, turned teammates, were a two-woman show. Clark found Reese under the basket early, and often, and Reese found the bottom of the net on Thursday's win. Clark assisted on six of Reese's nine points, and Reese returned the favor. Reese secured a steal and set Clark up for a transition layup in the third quarter. We've played against each other so many times. I'm sure we know each other's games like the back of each other's hands. Reese said after the win. But easily dishing it off to her, she dishes it off to me. She knows my spots. I kinda got one to her today, maybe two.

1:34:50So it's fun. We just continue to build a chemistry because we know we're going to be USA teammates for a while. Clark finished with 10 points and 9 assists. Just one assist shy of her second double-double of the tournament. Reese said nine points, six revows, three assists, and two steals. The hugged shade that defines X-Mets 9-11 from Kristi Accord. Thinking back about that moment in time, Todd Zill doesn't talk about the at-bats. The Mike Piazza home run or even the nervousness from the September 21st, 2001 game. The first major league baseball contest played in New York City after the September 11 terror attacks has been boiled down to these video clips over the years. But Zill, who started at first base that night for the New York Mets, remembers the hugs.

1:35:54The Mets first came back at Chase Stadium after the attacks was a huge moment for a city that hadn't any normalcy in the 10 days since two airliners, two airliners hit the World Trade Center and set them crumbling to the ground. Piazza's home run that gave the Mets a 3-2 win that night became a signature image for the nation in history, but for the players on the field it was the emotions. Brazil, it was an impromptu moment long before them. Nobody planned it, but after the moment of silence and the national anthem, the players all walked to the middle of the field. The braves and Mets players met and hugged before the game began. It was completely improved organic hugs in the middle of the field, with guys that were all archnonymous. It became less about the competition of that game and more about sportsmanship and camaraderie of guys from all over seeing the same thing.

1:36:58The beauty of the moment, Zill said. The moment or really the emotions of all the moments, days, weeks, months and even years after the shock of the attacks is what Zill, looking back now 25 years later as an executive producer on MLB's networks when America took the field, which premiered September 10. Zill took about a decade off after retiring in 2004 to build his production company. He spent two seasons as a co-executive producer on FX's anger management with Charlie Sheen. He got back into baseball as a guest analysis for SNY's Mets coverage. That was the time for him to combine both his baseball and film experience to make sure those moments are preserved, as well as the Piazza Home Run and George W. Bush first pitch at the 2001 World Series.

1:37:58This, not just the documentary, just us being alive and going through this period, is the closest thing to the history being made in real time, he said. People are going to read about it and know about it, and I'm like, oh yeah, I was there for that. I saw that. I felt that. That's why every anniversary, Ian is Mets' teammates, who are at Ground Zero in New York City Firehouses in the days after, keep telling their stories so people don't forget. Zill wants to make sure his children and the next generation learn what happened, afterward and the small part baseball played in the recovery. That brought him back to New York, so he returned to the firehouses he visited in the aftermath of the attacks. He met the young firefighters who were the kids of the firefighters who were at Ground Zero. He saw their pride of carrying on that tradition and keeping the memories alive. That sparked his motivation about getting this on film, while those who lived through it

1:39:02are still here to tell the stories for these kids. Andrew Brenner directed the documentary and had to figure out how to tell the story of one of the most infamous events in history with the fresh lands. With Zill and Brenner wanted from the film, wasn't another retelling of the 10 days everybody knows about. Shay Stadium as a staging area for rescue workers and the Piazza Home Run. The piece that he was interested in were the ones that had been at least lost or never told. He wanted to make sure the story was about the months and years after the continued involvement and the continued passion that baseball as a whole has had for the 9-11 community. That's the community he lived through, in 2001 and the families who are still connected to it now. That thread is what made the collaboration with MLB feels so different to them. Zill admits he wasn't sure baseball should have been played so soon after the attacks.

1:40:07Nobody was. What changed his mind is the trip the players took to ground zero. I recognized that the fire department and police department needed a little bit of a break from what they were doing and baseball gave them that reprieve he said. It gave us more confidence to not feeling we were intruding or doing something that could be deemed inappropriate. And after as the match hit the road something unusual happened. There certainly was a sense of pride because we were representing New York and wherever we went guys from other teams would ask us what's it like there or say I like that you're wearing the NYPD and FDNY hats or house the city. Zill said. It gave us an identity that was a little bit different maybe in responsibility in our interactions with the other teams.

1:41:08Those moments in the community that came out of the tragedy is what he hopes people remember from this film. They found the three families with connections to baseball who were affected by the tragedy. They told the story of John Madden who was on the west coast and who lost a dear friend on one of the planes. And they found the story of the secret service agent who dressed up as an umpire and went on the field for George W. Bush's emotional first pitch of game three of the 2001 World Series at Yankee Stadium. Brenner who was 22 and in Hoboken New Jersey on that day remembers driving out of town and listening to the news on the radio. He said he and Zell use these memories and emotions but also wanted to zoom out from just those moments in New York that have been so well documented. One moment from making the film that has stayed with Brennan more than any of the others

1:42:10was of a boy who was nine at the time. He is one of the families woven through the documentary and he told the film crew that he can no longer separate that he actually remembers about that day from what he's simply been told happened. When he said that it really struck me that putting together a film like this gives people like that a chance to learn he said it's so personal so raw they share these gut-wrenching emotions with us but at certain times they don't really know exactly what happened. It's a great way for people to learn some new stories and never forget. College football, pressurizing on Ohio State in Texas. It's week two and we're talking Heisman Trophy, hot seats, buyouts in the college football playoffs. The pressure is on the best teams, programs and coaches in the football, bowl, subdivision

1:43:11to start fast or face early elimination from the national picture. We've seen how a bad performance can lead to a quick reevaluation of where things stand. Here's looking at you, Dave O'Swini and Clemson. Let's get ready for September 12th by looking at the coach, quarterback, coordinator, playoff contender and program under the most pressure. That conversation begins with the biggest game of the weekend and what may end up being the most impactful game of the regular season. Number one Ohio State at number three Texas. Coach, Steve Sarcajian, Texas. Six years, 14 to seven loss at Ohio State, cost the lawn horns in at-large playoff birth. Assessing this year's matchup in Austin, the buck eyes enter with more room for error than Texas, which will face six teams in SEC play currently in the US LBM coaches' bowl.

1:44:14This is a must-win game for Sarcajian, given the potential fallout. From another year's short of the playoffs, in the expanded format era, Texas is one of the handful of programs expecting to be in the bracket annually and those expectations are even higher in 2026, given what the lawn horns acquired in the transfer portal and the fact that this is expected to be Archmannings final year. Quarterback, Bryce Underwood, Michigan. No quarterback heads into week two under more pressure to deliver than Underwood and that includes Manning, who is clearly under a bright spotlight. The controversy over number 24, Michigan's last second escape, a guest western Michigan, has infued Underwood's critics, who point to a continued lack of development after an

1:45:16off-season under Kyle Woodingham and the Wolverines' new coaching staff. Against the Broncos, Underwood completed his first five attempts and then his last, that 47-yard bomb to win on Michigan's second Hail Marriott attempt. But when six of 16 in between, with an interception and a fumble, going back to last season, the sophomore has completed 59.9% of his attempts with 12 touchdowns against 10 interceptions. You can see the reasoning behind Winningham's non-committal to Underwood's future as the starter. It's not something that's infinite, he says, on Monday. At some point, we've got to turn a corner and we've got to see improvement, as we've got to do with a bunch of stuff. Just about winning Ham's remarks, a clearly less than thrilled Underwood said, there were comments about that, that's cool, I didn't see that.

1:46:18It's clear that his time as the starter is coming to a head, just as the Wolverines prepare for a crucial match up at home against number 10 Oklahoma and one of the nation's toughest defenses. Playoff contender, Oklahoma. Oklahoma has turned a corner under Brent Venable, who responded to being placed on the hot seat, heading into the last season by leading the tuners to a playoff birth. As expected, he's built an elite level defense. Since the start of last year, OU has given up more than 5.1 yards per play, just twice, in wins against Tennessee and Alabama, and began this season by holding Texas Al Paso 298 yards, which is 3.5 yards per play. But the tuners will go only as far as their offense, which struggled down the stretch of last season, after an injury to quarterback John Maier.

1:47:20Healthy and playing in a tweaked scheme under second year coordinator Ben Arbuckle, Maier had 225 passing yards and three scores without an interception. There's still reason for septicism. The Wolverines may have deficiencies on offense, but the defense has the pieces to be one of the big 10's best. Baking this a revealing, for an OU team picked in the preseason as one of the favorites for an at-large playoff bid. Coordinator A. Smith, Ohio State. The other former NFL head coach on Ryan Day's staff, along with defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, Arthur Smith is working with the NFL Ready lineup, headed by Jeremiah Smith and quarterback Julian Sain. The early returns are terrific. Ohio State gained 671 yards, 237 rushing and 434 passing in the opener against Ball State,

1:48:25and averaged 9.3 yards per play. Smith's NFL background already seems like a strong fit for the Buckeyes' wealth of skill talent. One advantage of opening against an Mac opponent is the chance to look at the second tier of your depth chart. Fourteen players made at least one catch while four players had at least five carries. That could pay off down the line. For this weekend, however, Smith Blueprint will be put to the test by a Texas defense that gets far less attention than a claim than the Longhorn's offense, but has similarly boasted by a strong transfer class, including preseason All-American linebacker Rashim Biles. Program Clemson. Clemson should win. Though the team that lost to number eight, LSU by 41 points, could probably lose to anyone,

1:49:25Georgia Southern included. There's enormous pressure on Debo Swinney to quickly turn around the Tiger season, but how we plan to do that, or even if that's a possibility, remains an unknown. One immediate issue is the play at quarterback. After long time backup, Christopher Vazina looked overwhelmed and unready for the moment in Death Valley. That means the time could be coming for freshman Tate Reynolds, who made six pass attempts versus LSU and didn't look much better than Vazina. And more changes could come onto the offensive line as soon as Saturday. To be facing the prospect of an early season personnel shuffle is the latest indictment of the way Clemson has approached roster management in the transfer portal error.

1:50:43You've been listening to a reading of the USA Today. For September 11th, we read the USA Today Weekdays at noon. For more information, call us at 716-821-5555. Your reader for this hour has been Nancy. Coming up next in the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service, we have episode number five of the futurist piece by Aziz Abu Suram al-Azizan. Following that three o'clock is New York magazine that four o'clock is a rearing of the above four news. Stay with us.

1:55:57Your listening to the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service. Radio reading serves people who are blind or of a print disability throughout Western New York and Southern Ontario's Niagara Peninsula. From his broadcast studios at 1189 Harlem Road in Cheek to Alga just north of Clinton Street. Almost 40 years and more than 300,000 hours of radio readings to those unable to reprint and matter on their own. Our broadcast signal is provided at no charge by WNED. Volunteer radio readers broadcast daily readings of newspapers, magazines and books. For more information on the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service, call us at 716-821-5555. Your listening to your Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service. A volunteer radio readers broadcast daily readings 24 hours a day of newspapers, magazines,

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1:58:01Our reading service studios are at 1189-Harlem Road in Cheek to Alga. The Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service website is provided at no charge by WNED. Our reading service studios are at 1189-5555.

1:59:18Our reading service studios are at 1189-Harlem Road in Cheek to Alga. The Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service now presents a...