The road to Sept. 11 began here on Highway 15 in Al Baha, Saudi Arabia, which stretches from Mecca into a barren desert landscape and up into the winding, rocky passes of the Asir province bordering Yemen.

Osama bin Laden's father, a Saudi construction magnate, built this highway in the 1960s connecting the kingdom to his ancestral homeland of Yemen, and it was along this same stretch of asphalt that Osama bin Laden recruited 12 of the 15 Saudi youths who were among the 19 hijackers to carry out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Good morning.

A lot's been happening since last evening, and we've already posted about:

-- Terror Threat Is 'A Tip,' And Isn't 'Rock-Solid'

-- Power Coming Back On In San Diego; Human Error Blamed

Today is a big day for Medicare Chief Donald Berwick. He turns 65. And now he is the first head of the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled to also be a beneficiary.

"I'm excited," he told Shots in a pre-birthday interview Thursday. "I feel like I'm in my 20s still. I don't feel 65. It's going to be a great day to celebrate."

Moments ago on Morning Edition, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that if the Obama administration's latest jobs plan is enacted it should have a "substantial, powerful effect" on the economy.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Friday defended President Obama's new jobs plan. In a Morning Edition interview, Geithner said that if passed, the plan unveiled Thursday night "would have a substantial, powerful effect on strengthening the economy." He said that tax cuts aimed at small businesses who hire new workers would boost employment quickly.

The $447 billion package of tax cuts, infrastructure spending and aid to states "is designed to make the economy stronger now and get more Americans back to work," Geithner told host Steve Inskeep.

SYRACUSE, NY (wrvo) - This weekend, a group of women will perform several community service projects in Syracuse.

WRVO's Ellen Abbott tells us the community service began with the terrorist attacks of September 11. © Copyright 2011, wrvo

WATERTOWN, NY (wrvo) - We take a close look at life at the tip of the spear. America has been at war for nearly 10 years now.

While the changes brought about by the 9/11 attacks have affected us all, the effects have been the harshest for members of the military and their families.

WRVO's Joanna Richards spent time this wee with soldiers and their families at Fort Drum in Watertown to talk about ther lives in the years since 9/11.

© Copyright 2011, wrvo

SYRACUSE, NY (wrvo) - Most people remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on 9/11/01. Many were glued to a radio or a television. They called family and friends.

No matter where they were or what they were doing, the memory of that day rmains strong.

WRVO's Ellen Abbott caught up with some central New Yorkers recently, who told us where they were on 9/11.

The international police agency Interpol today issued "red notices" — arrest warrants, in effect — for ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his son Saf Al-Islam Gadhafi, and Libya's former director of military intelligence, Abdullah Al-Senussi.

President Obama's jobs speech on Thursday had been characterized in the wide world of punditry as his "Moment of Truth." His "Last Chance." His "Big Speech." His ... well, you get the picture.

There was a lot riding on the president's address to a joint session of Congress, in which he laid out an expansive and expensive — nearly $450 billion — plan to "jolt" the nation's anemic employment market.

To gauge Obama's performance in a speech pivotal to his efforts to win re-election next year, we turned to a couple of political media consultants for their takes.