New York City: Ground zero flag heads home

The flag that three weary firefighters raised from the ruins of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 was returned to them Tuesday in a solemn ceremony aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

The flag had been sent to the aircraft carrier in October as the ship steamed toward waters near Afghanistan. It flew on the carrier and six other ships in the war against terrorism.

As a sailor sang the Navy Hymn, three other sailors handed the folded flag to two of the three New York City firefighters, George Johnson and William Eisengrein, who hoisted the flag at Ground Zero. The image was caught in a newspaper photograph seen around the world.

Florida: Family of missing pilot wants to pursue Iraq’s offer

The family of a Navy pilot missing since the 1991 Gulf War believes he is still alive and wants the United States to accept an Iraqi invitation to send a delegation to investigate his disappearance, their lawyer said Tuesday.

Lt. Cmdr. Scott Speicher, then 33, became the first listed American casualty of the war when his Navy FA-18 Hornet was shot down in Iraq on Jan. 17, 1991.

There is a good chance that he survived by ejecting from his plane and is imprisoned, said attorney Cindy Laquidara, who represents Speicher’s family in Jacksonville.

Speicher was a Kansas City native whose family moved to Florida when he was 15.

Boston: Judge warns attorneys in shoe bombing case

A federal judge eased restrictions on defense lawyers’ access to accused shoe bomber Richard C. Reid, but banned them from repeating the conversations, saying “we are engaged in a war on terrorism.”

Chief U.S. District Judge William G. Young said Monday that federal prosecutors did not have the authority to limit contact between Reid and his defense, as the Justice Department wanted, but agreed that the sensitive nature of the case required careful handling of information.

Reid has been in U.S. custody since Dec. 22, when he allegedly attempted to light explosives hidden in his shoes during a trans-Atlantic flight. He has pleaded innocent to nine charges that include attempting to murder the 197 passengers and crew members.

New York City: Cleanup crews tackle asbestos near WTC site

Dozens of contract workers in protective suits will spend about two months in lower Manhattan cleaning potentially hazardous World Trade Center debris from surrounding buildings, officials said Tuesday.

The solid debris poses no immediate health threat, but city testers found possibly dangerous levels of asbestos on about half of the buildings they examined, officials said.

Over time, that solid debris could erode into dust, which could blow into homes and businesses, officials said.

More than 200 buildings in a six-block radius of the World Trade Center site have been found to have caked debris on them consisting of concrete and other materials pulverized when the twin towers collapsed Sept. 11.