The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 80

Fiterman Hall is finally coming down, and is now several stories lower than it had been just weeks ago. That stands in stark contrast to the often delayed demolition of the former Deutsche Bank building. Deconstruction was supposed to resume over the summer, but further delays have meant that the hulking ruin continues towering over the Southern side of Ground Zero and delays the rebuilding efforts throughout the site.

Meanwhile, Governor Paterson signed into law a provision allowing Ground Zero workers to sue over medical claims.

The law immediately allows more than 3,000 Ground Zero workers to revive lawsuits that were thrown out by a federal judge in July on the technical ground that they were not filed within 90 days of the workers' conditions being diagnosed.

-- PHOTOS: Ground Zero immediately after 9/11

-- PHOTOS: Ground Zero today

It will also allow new lawsuits from an untold number of workers who never even filed claims.

One of them is Chris Klein, 38, a carpenter from Broad Channel, Queens, who worked for three months at Ground Zero in 2002 and is now on disability with a lung condition. Attorneys told him he waited too long after his diagnosis in 2004 and couldn't file a lawsuit.

"I put my life on the line to help the city and the state, and we were lied to that the air was good to breathe," said Klein, who said he also has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and chronic sinusitis.

Klein said he will now join a separate group of about 10,000 police, firefighters, construction workers and others who worked at or near Ground Zero in the months after 9/11 and who filed lawsuits seeking compensation for subsequent illnesses. They contend the government had told them, falsely, the air conditions were safe.

UPDATE:
A convoy of trucks from Maryland is heading to New York's JFK Airport with a batch of steel recovered from Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks. The steel was tested and examined by NIST, and is on its way back to a hanger at the airport pending its use in the 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero or for use at a memorial or monument elsewhere in the country.