Laura Bush to speak at fundraiser for Flight 93 memorial in Pa., attend Sept. 11 service

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. Former first lady Laura Bush will speak at a National Park Service fundraiser in Pittsburgh on Friday, a day before joining Michelle Obama in rural Pennsylvania to remember the victims of Flight 93, which crashed there in the Sept. 11 attacks.Bush’s appearance is part of a wider effort to raise money for the memorial to the 40 passengers and crew who died after they fought back against their hijackers.Just $40 million of the $58 million needed for the memorial has been raised, and the first phase of the project is scheduled to be dedicated in time for the 10th anniversary of the attacks next year.

A memorial plaza is under construction in these rolling hills, part of a long-awaited 2,200-acre national park that will eventually honor the victims. The finished memorial will include a 93-foot tower at the entrance with wind chimes for each of the victims and a grove of trees.The project’s planners say they hope Bush’s and Obama’s efforts help bring attention and much-needed cash to the project.

“In a world where there’s so much politics, one thing we have always found is that our story and our efforts resonate across the board. And this is just one more indication of that,” said Gordon Felt, the president of the Families of Flight 93, whose brother died aboard the flight.Patrick White, whose cousin, Louis “Joey” Nacke II, died in the crash, called donating to the memorial “a patriotic thing to do.”

“This is America’s memorial, certainly primarily to the 40 heroes of Flight 93, but indirectly to the events of the day as well,” he said.More than 1.2 million people have visited the temporary memorial since the crash. Planners predict that about 250,000 people will visit the permanent memorial each year.

The park foundation has recently stepped up its efforts to raise money, including a new public service campaign encouraging people to make a $10 donation by texting the word MEMORIAL to 90999, or to contribute online at http://www.honorflight93.org .Flight 93 was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when hijackers seized control and diverted it toward Washington, D.C. But the passengers fought back and the hijackers responded by crashing the plane about 60 miles southwest of Pittsburgh.

It’s imperative to honor the victims, said David Beamer, whose son Todd was believed to have led the revolt with the words “Let’s roll.” He said some textbooks only casually reference Flight 93 as the fourth plane to crash on Sept. 11, with no details.”That’s not sufficient,” Beamer said.(AP)

High school students across New Jersey walked out of class to protest proposed budget cuts

MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. High school students across New Jersey walked out of class Tuesday to protest proposed budget cuts.Walkouts, organized on Facebook, were reported from Rancocas Valley High School in Mount Holly to West Orange High School, with more planned throughout the day. Students in Newark were planning to leave class and march to the district offices.It wasn’t clear how many of the state’s roughly 400,000 public high school students would join the walkout, but a Facebook page used to organize the protest had some 17,000 fans by Tuesday.

Organizer Michelle Lauto, who graduated last year from Old Tappan High School in Bergen County and is now a student at Pace University in New York, said she wanted to join the cause because her mother is a teacher and her sister is a school secretary.”What we want to do is get attention to the issue and show primarily that the youth is not apathetic to the issue,” said Lauto, 18, an actress who’s especially concerned that arts programs could be eliminated.

The protest comes one week after voters in 59 percent of the state’s school districts rejected property tax levies to pay for schools, leaving municipal governing bodies to make cuts.

It was the first time in 34 years that the majority of budgets were defeated.

The battle over school funding has been especially acrimonious this year since Gov. Chris Christie’s budget proposal last month called for schools to see their combined direct state and federal aid decreased by about 11 percent on average with many districts getting bigger reductions that that.Most of the state’s school districts planned teacher layoffs and tax increases to make up for the lost aid.Christie says layoffs can be avoided, though, if school employees agree to one-year salary freezes and to start paying 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health insurance premiums.

Most of the state’s teachers unions have balked at the notion, though, saying Christie is unfairly trying to balance the state’s budget at their expense. Christie has been unapologetic, consistently criticizing the leaders of the New Jersey Education Association for being selfish.The NJEA says students are “engaging in civil disobedience” but shouldn’t walk out of classes.