He Wanted Revenge for Brother's 9/11 Death, Found Something Else

As the US remembers the 9/11 attacks that took place 17 years ago, the Louisville Courier Journal relays the remarkable story of a young girl's note to those helping in the aftermath. Emily Ernspiker, then a 7-year-old in Kentucky, donated a pair of work gloves that made their way to Manhattan and into the hands of trucker Dave Triola, who was hauling debris from Ground Zero. When he put them on, he found a note inside: "Dear Fireman, These gloves are to help you when you search for bodies. Thank you for helping other people." Triola broke down and has saved the note all these years, leading to a reunion of sorts this year. Details and related coverage:

• A meeting: This summer, Triola got in touch with a Journal reporter who tracked down Ernspiker, and the pair met for the first time. “My Nana told me to tuck it deep into the glove so it wouldn't get lost,” says Ernspiker of the note. Triola, meanwhile, plans to give it to the Smithsonian. "I've heard it called the 9/12 attitude," he says of the unity in the US after the attack. "And it lasted for a little while. Not long enough. And hopefully sharing this story will bring a little piece of that back."
• Army vet: After Joe Quinn's brother died in one of the towers, Quinn joined the Army to exact revenge, filled with hatred for hijacker Mohammad Atta, he writes in the New York Times. It "has embarrassingly taken me 17 years to realize something, and what I realized was this: Seventeen years ago, staring at that picture of Mohammad Atta, I wanted revenge against the people who killed my brother. But what I finally realized was that the people who killed my brother died the same day he did." Which leads him to the essay's final words: "End the war."

• A plea: At the New York Daily News, Rita Lussier implores visitors to the 9/11 Memorial site to stop taking smiling selfies. Have we all forgotten so quickly? she wonders. "Put your camera down. Put away your selfie stick. Just stand still for a moment. Look around. Feel this," she writes. "There are so many things to take away from here. A snapshot of smiling faces is not one of them."
• Raw footage: CNN presents a chronology of Sept. 11, 2001, in video clips.
• Cancer cases: The Guardian illustrates the health problems still emerging as a result of the attacks with a report on a cluster of breast cancer cases among men who breathed in the toxic New York City air of 2001. At least 15 are known to have the disease, and more almost certainly do, which is way out of whack for such a rare ailment.
• Money for victims: The 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund of $7.3 billion could run out of money before it officially expires at the end of 2020, reports PIX11. More than 1,000 firefighters have been diagnosed with cancer or a respiratory illness, and 182 have died from an illness linked to 9/11.
• Dangers lurk: Two members of the 9/11 Commission warns that "violent extremists are regrouping and will strike again." Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton write in USA Today that terrorist attacks are actually up fivefold from 2001, and they say the US needs to bolster its support for "fragile states" in vulnerable and volatile regions.
• Al-Qaeda: The terrorist group behind the attack might be stronger than ever 17 year later, per an analysis at the Los Angeles Times. Al-Qaeda has largely shifted from headline-grabbing attacks to a more subtle strategy of embedding itself in war-torn countries and winning the support of Sunni Muslims. The analysis has a country-by-country breakdown.

(More 9/11 anniversary stories.)