Featured Memorial
The Third Annual Joey Doyle Football Sunday

Memorial Updates
Prince Charles and Camila Visit WTC Site
WTC Memorial Architect to Answer Questions Online
NIST to Follow Up on Twin Towers Report

Mental Health Updates
VOICES Offers Special Drop-In Holiday Teleconference Group
US DOE Offers Tips for Helping Students Cope With Disaster Trauma

Legislative Updates
9/11 Public Discourse Project to Present Foreign Policy Report Card
NJ's "Straight Talk"
Large States vs. Small States Over Preparedness Funds

Join the friends and family of Joey Doyle to celebrate a football Sunday together in memory of Joey. All proceeds benefit the Joseph Doyle Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Please click here to send us information on your memorial or foundation event. The information will be posted on the VOICES website and included in upcoming e-Newsletters.

Charles, Prince of Wales and next in line for the British Throne visited the WTC site on Tuesday with his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. In New York on their first official visit to the U.S. as a couple, Charles and Camilla paid their respects at Ground Zero and dedicated a memorial park at Hanover Square to the 67 British Citizens who died in the attacks. At the reception for the memorial, Charles noted the outpouring of American support after the July 7 London Transit bombings, which killed 56 people. "Both our nations have been united by grief and strengthened by the support we have given each other," Charles is quoted in an article from the Bergen Record which offers more details of the royal visit.

Peter Walker, the landscape architect working with Michael Arad on the World Trade Center Memorial, will chat live with visitors on the WTC Memorial Foundation website next Tuesday, November 8th at 12:00 pm EST. He will answer questions on topics ranging from his approach to landscape design to the tree selection process for the Memorial to your specific landscape challenges. Simply go to the Foundation’s homepage and click on the chat link to the hour-long discussion. For a biography of Peter Walker with descriptions of his past projects, please click here.

The National Institutes of Safety and Technology released their final report on the Twin Towers collapse last week. The report, which totals over 10,000 pages, is available in an executive summary on the NIST website. Some members of Congress and safety advocates criticized the report for lacking concrete recommendations for future buildings and for failing to strike a balance between safety and cost concerns. Click here to read testimony given before Congress by Sally Regenhard of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign. NIST has promised to work towards integrating the recommendations into building codes.

The holidays are often a hectic time but there can be added stress for those affected by 9/11. To help you cope and share your thoughts, feelings, and plans, VOICES has scheduled a drop in teleconference group on Friday November 18 from 12:00 -1:00 pm EST facilitated by Judy Stotz, LPC. The group is open to any family members, witnesses, and survivors. Prior registration is required by calling the VOICES office at (203) 966-3911 or toll-free at (866) 505-3911. An additional call in time will be scheduled if needed.

A new brochure from the U.S. Department of Education offers advice to parents, teachers, principals, coaches and others for dealing with students' disaster-related trauma. To read the brochure in a PDF file please visit click here or call (877) 4ED-PUBS to request a copy.

SAVE THE DATE
9/11 Public Discourse Project to present Foreign Policy Report Card

Who: 9/11 Public Discourse Project (the former 9/11 Commissioners)
What: Report card on government reform based on the Commissions recommendations in
the areas of foreign policy, public diplomacy, and nonproliferation.
When: Monday, November 14, 10:00 am
Where: 6th floor auditorium at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars,
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW in Washington, DC

The issue of state preparedness has loomed large in the New Jersey Governor’s race between Senator Jon Corzine (D) and Doug Forrester (R). Earlier this year, New Jersey released “Straight Talk about Preparedness”, an informative and easy to use guide to personal and family preparedness. Though produced for New Jersey residents, “Straight Talk” is a valuable resource for all Americans to augment their preparedness measures.

This week U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said personal preparedness is more than a good idea, it’s a civic virtue as well. In reference to recent natural disasters, Sec. Chertoff said in an interview with the Associated Press: "We're all dependent on everybody else. Everybody has their role to play, and if people fail in their role, it's going to have a cascading effect."

President Bush signed the 2006 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill late last month after a long struggle over the distribution of federal grants that pitted large states against small states. The $32 billion spending bill boosts overall funding for homeland efforts by five percent. However, it has been criticized for including fewer grants for local first responders and a freeze in funding for security on passenger rail and subway systems. About two-thirds of the grant money will be directed to state and local first responders according to the risk of terrorist attack or natural disaster. Though the ratio falls short of the recommendation by the Sept. 11 commission that all monies be distributed according to risk analysis, the provision will significantly increase grants to states such as New York and California.

The House version of a reauthorized Patriot Act would require the government to distribute grants based solely on a risk and vulnerability assessment. The House measure is opposed by a small but powerful group of Senators from states that stand to lose money under the risk-based system. A Newark Star-Ledger article outlines how populous states like New Jersey would benefit from the funding overhaul.

The former 9/11 Commissioners have written an open letter to the House Homeland Security Committee in support of the Patriot Act spending measure, claiming “it creates a transparent process that equitably weighs all risk, vulnerability, and consequence factors to arrive at a rational assessment of homeland security priorities.”

http://www.voicesofsept11.org/artman/publish/Editorials/article_002126.php

http://www.voicesofsept11.org/artman/publish/homeland_security/article_002111.php