The lead article in today’s New York Times, “After 10 Years, Names and Memories Echo,” describes our nation’s commemoration of September 11th, the dedication of the new national memorial at Ground Zero, and the honoring of the occasion by the victims’ families and our country’s leaders.

President Obama and President Bush and their wives walked together in a picture of the unity that we had after that terrible event. And the victims’ families had the solace of the reading aloud of the names of their departed loved ones on this solemn day of remembrance.

It’s hard to know what else to say about this 10th anniversary; it’s really all been said in the faces of the stricken families. The flags and the words don’t really get at the heart of the matter, but I was struck by one observation of President Obama. To paraphrase, that the debate about how to respond, our civil liberties, waterboarding and Guantanamo has been fierce, but that it’s the fierceness of the debate itself and how we resolved it in a democratic manner, at the ballot box, and in the halls of Congress, that has proved to be the strongest reaffirmation of our values and the best response to the terrorists actions.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “The Whole Building Just Came Apart,” provides a retrospective of 9/11 based on a new multimedia document, containing 114 recordings, to be published by the Rutgers Law Review later this week.

The recording provide a stunning real-time view of events as they unfolded and contradicts some commonly held descriptions of the day, often promulgated by senior officials.

For example, many have portrayed fighter jets chasing down the hijacked airlines, with the pilots waiting for a heart-rendering decision by the President to shoot them down. In reality, fighter jets were sent out over the Atlantic to chase a plane that had already crashed into the World Trade Center. In fact, the fighter pilots only knew about one potential crash nine minutes in advance; the others were all learned about after they had hit the ground.

The recordings paint a picture of confusion more than anything else. Not everyone at the FAA was up to speed with the rapidly developing situation, and the coordination between the military and the FAA was abysmal.

The recordings, if nothing else, seem to drive home the horror of living through the day. One controller just looked out the window and saw the second jet about to hit the second tower. His amazement at the occurrence, “the whole building just fell apart,” is a chilling account of the event.

The lead story in today’s New York Times, “Congress Passes 9/11 Health Bill,” is remarkable in two respects, the success of the legislation itself and the impact of New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in getting it passed.

The bill will provide $4.3 billion over a five-year period for first responders and others who were sickened by the toxic brew of vapors after 9/11, a poisonous mixture of the molten building and who knows what else. Again, the Republicans seem to have taken the uncompassionate side, trying to reduce the amount of relief as much as possible. In fact, it was remarkable that right after the legislation suceeded, when Democratic Senators came into a room to celebrate, the attendees chanted, “U.S.A., U.S.A.,” a cheer Republicans previously liked to claim for their own.

The second remarkable element of this story involves the tireless efforts of the junior Senator from New York, Kirsten Gillibrand, in getting it passed. I admit that I was originally opposed to her nomination as I’ve been a long-time Kennedy fan, and Caroline Kennedy in particular, who was also considered for the seat and treated poorly by Governor David Paterson in the process. But Ms. Gillibrand deserves kudos for her persistence on this legislation and apparently many other bills as well.

The lead story in The New York Times this morning, “Sept. 11 Workers Agree to Settle Health Lawsuits,” describes a reluctant agreement by New York City to compensate September 11 rescue workers who suffer from deteriorating health as a result of breathing the smoky air from the smoldering remains of the World Trade Center.

The settlement took more than seven years to reach, an inexcusable foot-dragging by the city, and it will incorporate more than 10,000 workers. The size of the settlement is more than $625 million, and it received the 95 percent agreement required from the workers in order to validate it.

Awards are divided into four tiers depending on the severity of the injury and amount of exposure to the air, and the lawyers will receive a 25 percent share, down from one-third after the judge intervened regarding a previous settlement in March.

According to the article, Judge Alvin Hellersttein emerged as a champion of the 9/11 victims, unlike New York City who was responsible for their exposure in the first place when it asserted at the time that there was no danger. The Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, tried to insert himself to get credit for the settlement, but he deserves none because his administration fought the workers every step of the way.

Meanwhile, there is another bill going through Congress regarding national healthcare for the 9-1-1 workers, but with the Republicans in control of the House, it has little chance of passage.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Deal is Reached on Health Costs of 9/11 Workers,” describes the agreement and settlement of the claims of clean up, police and firemen rescue squads from a general fund of up to $657 million.

Mayor Bloomberg praised the settlement, perhaps because the city was the defendant in many of the cases, and the judge said he would monitor the individual awards to ensure fairness.

The settlement must be ratified by at least 95 percent of the plaintiffs to go into effect, resulting in total awards of $575 million. If 100 percent agree, the number rises to $657 million.

The whole situation is actually an outrage. Here we had a tremendous loss of life from the collapse of the twin towers, and we compounded that tragedy with a further ticking health bomb from those who were good enough or specially trained to help with the situation.

Still, the settlement does close the book on the issue and is modeled after a similar fund used to compensate the victims on the planes themselves. Negotiations went on for two years, and it’s important to provide a sense of closure for the rescue squads’ families.

There will also be a special insurance fund for those who have not yet fallen sick, and that seems to be a particularly crucial piece of the puzzle, especially with diseases such as cancer with a longer incubation period.