Tag: terrorists

25 years after 9/11, Massachusetts to mark attacks with statewide moment of silence and “Tribute in Light”

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Massachusetts is marking 25 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks with a statewide moment of silence on Friday and special tributes that include illuminating Boston buildings in remembrance of the tragedy. Gov. Maura Healey said she is directing flags in the state to be lowered to half-staff. She’s also “calling on residents, schools, businesses and organizations to observe a statewide moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. on Friday, September 11, marking the time the first plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.” Reading of the names After the moment of silence, there will be a reading of the names on the State House front steps of the 206 people from Massachusetts who were killed in the attacks.  You can watch it live on CBS News Boston.      

The two planes that terrorists hijacked and flew into the World Trade Center, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, both took off from Logan Airport in Boston. Madeline Amy Sweeney Award Every year on 9/11, the Madeline “Amy” Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery is awarded inside the State House to a local resident. Last year’s recipients were Jesse Winocour and Jason Papa, two Everett Department of Public Works employees who rushed into a burning home to save 14 people from a fire. Sweeney was a flight attendant from Acton working on Flight 11. She contacted the airline’s ground crew with information about the hijackers just minutes before the plane crashed into the World Trade Center. Tribute in Light The State House will be lit up with red, white and blue colors on the evening of 9/11. 

Several other Boston landmarks will be lit up in “Memorial Blue” as part of a worldwide “Tribute in Light” that represents the clear blue sky over New York City on the morning of 9/11. Participating buildings include the JFK Presidential Library, the Prudential Tower, Fenway Park, South Station Tower, The Hub on Causeway, the Hynes Convention Center, State Street – One Congress and the old Hancock Building. A 9/11 tribute featuring twin light beams on the summit of Mount Washington may also be visible in parts of Massachusetts, organizers say.  Boston 9/11 events At 11 a.m., there will be a rededication of the 9/11 memorial at Boston’s Logan Airport.

A wreath-laying for families who lost loved ones in the attacks will be held at Boston Public Garden at 1 p.m. in the 9/11 Garden of Remembrance.  The American Red Cross is hosting its annual Day of Remembrance blood drive all day at Fenway Park.  At 3:30 p.m. in Ashburton Park at the State House, the annual Massachusetts Fallen Firefighters Memorial ceremony will honor the first responders who gave their lives trying to help others in the attacks. 

Source: 25 years after 9/11, Massachusetts to mark attacks with statewide moment of silence and “Tribute in Light” – CBS Boston

Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Colossians 3:13

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How teachers are keeping the lessons of 9/11 alive for a new generation of students

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Empty elementary classroom with colorful learning displays and arranged desks

In West Des Moines, Iowa, roughly 1,100 miles from Ground Zero, history teacher Ann Krois is tackling one of the most defining moments of the past half-century. “Teaching students about 9/11 is critical,” Krois told CBS News. “I want them to understand what their previous generation experienced, that trauma, and how an event like that brought millions of people, not even just in the United States, but globally, together.”

Krois was in the third grade and had never even seen a skyscraper when terrorists turned four airplanes into weapons, killing almost 3,000 innocent people — a catastrophe that’s now history class for eleventh graders like Fitz Carpenter. “I actually learned some new stuff. I didn’t know how many people were evacuated on the boats,” Carpenter said. To develop her lesson plan, Krois joined a group of teachers from all over the country this summer at New York City’s 9/11 Memorial and Museum. It’s part of a program designed to teach teachers what happened at Ground Zero from those who were there.

That includes people like retired firefighter Bill Spade, the sole survivor of Staten Island’s elite Rescue 5. He was one of the last men to evacuate the north tower before it collapsed. “I can see the smoke coming from that first tower, that North Tower,” Spade said at one of the sessions for educators. “I hear the chief say, ‘We need four more rescues here and we have jumpers.'” In Alabama, Chris Theilacker carries a different perspective. Just age 25 on Sept. 11, 2001, the young Army officer deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan following the attacks. Today, he’s a high school teacher, passing along lessons of the global war on terror and of the resilience that followed. “It’s one of those watershed moments in U.S. history,” Theilacker said.

“It must be taught, the patriotic side of it, the messy side of it. It’s a great rallying moment for what we can achieve when we decide to work together.” Krois believes that every teacher in the U.S. should be required to talk about 9/11. “I know it’s hard to try to teach on September 11th to students, because, you know, some of them, it’s just their second week of school. But at some point, it definitely needs to be every state’s standard,” Krois said.

Source: How teachers are keeping the lessons of 9/11 alive for a new generation of students – CBS News

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

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Leader of Antifa Cell Members in North Texas Sentenced to 100 Years in Prison for Terrorist Attack on ICE Facility

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Judge holding gavel in courtroom with man and supportive woman standing before him

Seven Additional Defendants Also Sentenced Before One-Year Anniversary of Attack to a Combined 450 Years in Prison Today, the Justice Department announced that eight North Texas Antifa Cell operatives were sentenced for their roles in rioting, using weapons and explosives, providing material support to terrorists, obstruction, and the attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer at the Prairieland Detention Center on July 4, 2025.

This is the first sentencing of defendants affiliated with Antifa following President Donald J. Trump’s executive order designating the group as a Domestic Terrorist Organization in September 2025. Benjamin Hanil Song, who was convicted of the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Together, the Prairieland terrorists received a combined sentence of 450 years in prison: 

  • Maricela Rueda was sentenced to 70 years in prison;
  • Cameron Arnold was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Savanna Batten was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Zachary Evetts was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Bradford Morris was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Elizabeth Soto was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

“The sentences handed down today make clear that Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Their violent extremism has no place in our country, and the Department of Justice will continue to aggressively investigate, disrupt, and prosecute those who threaten law enforcement officers or undermine the rule of law.”

“Today’s sentencings show the FBI remains committed to identifying, locating, and dismantling Antifa and its funding networks across the country,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Acts of violence against our law enforcement partners will not be tolerated, and we continue our work to protect communities across the country from domestic terrorism.” “These sentences justly punish the vicious, armed attack that these Antifa cell members planned and executed against law enforcement and detention center officers on the night of July 4th last year,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas.

“Their terrorist acts, attempted murder, vandalism, and explosives launched at a detention facility were a far cry from a peaceful protest or First Amendment expression.  Because of the prompt action of first responders that night and tenacious work of our law enforcement partners, in tandem with the prosecutors in my office, eight people have been rightly punished for these violent acts and their attempts to conceal them.  We will continue in this mission to hold others accountable who perpetrate such violence and fund these ANTIFA groups in the Northern District of Texas.” “The sentences handed down today send an unmistakable message: Attacks on federal officers and facilities will not be tolerated. The men and women of ICE serve with integrity and courage, often in challenging and dangerous environments. 

The calculated violence carried out by these Antifa cell members at Prairieland was an assault on law enforcement and an attack on the rule of law itself,” said Acting ICE Director David J. Venturella. “Nearly one year after this cowardly act, justice has prevailed. ICE will continue to stand firm against those who threaten our officers, our facilities and our mission.” The sentences follow a 12-day trial that began on Feb. 23, where jurors heard testimony from 46 witnesses and considered over 210 exhibits supporting the charges against nine indicted defendants: Cameron Arnold, also known as Autumn Hill; Zachary Evetts; Benjamin Song; Savanna Batten; Bradford Morris, also known as Meagan Morris; Maricela Rueda; Elizabeth Soto; Ines Soto; and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada. 

All were convicted. Ines Soto was granted a continuance and will be sentenced on July 1. Seven others, Seth Sikes, Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Susan Kent, Rebecca Morgan, Lynette Sharp, and John Thomas, pleaded guilty prior to trial to one count of providing material support to terrorists and they will be sentenced on July 1.  Testimony and other evidence at trial established that the defendants were members of a North Texas Antifa Cell, part of a larger militant enterprise made up of networks of individuals and small groups primarily ascribing to an ideology that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and the system of law.

An expert testifying in the government’s case told the jury that ANTIFA’s coordinated efforts involve obstructing Federal law through organized riots, violent assaults, and armed confrontations with law enforcement officers, increasingly targeting agents and facilities related to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement in opposition to the agency’s deportation actions.   Evidence at trial revealed that most of the ANTIFA Cell involved in the Prairieland attack looked to Benjamin Song as a leader. Song acquired firearms that he distributed to co-defendants and recruited members at gun ranges and combat sessions he conducted, as well as from various ideologically aligned groups.

For example, defendants Ines Soto, Elizabeth Soto, and Savanna Batten were part of a group that created and distributed insurrectionary materials called “zines,” according to trial evidence. Trial testimony reflected that, late at night on July 4, 2025, at least eleven of the defendants rioted and attacked the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was using to house illegal aliens awaiting deportation.  The defendants dressed in “black bloc”—dark clothing with head and face coverings that concealed their identities—designed to hide each individual’s identity but also to aid and abet those members engaged in illegal acts by making members indistinguishable from one another to law enforcement. 

Evidence introduced at trial revealed that the defendants brought eleven firearms, body armor, and eleven military-grade first aid kits with tourniquets and other items to treat gunshot wounds to the scene of the attack.  Many of these items were introduced by the government as exhibits.  Additionally, DNA and fingerprint evidence linked many of the defendants to the items at the scene, and evidence obtained on phone locations supported that those who participated in the attack all turned off their phones or placed them in Faraday bags to prevent tracking on the night of the attack. After ANTIFA Cell members arrived at the detention facility, they began shooting off and throwing fireworks (explosives) at the facility and vandalizing vehicles and a guard shack on Prairieland property:

Source: Office of Public Affairs | Leader of Antifa Cell Members in North Texas Sentenced to 100 Years in Prison for Terrorist Attack on ICE Facility | United States Department of Justice

Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Luke 12:32

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