On April 15, thousands gathered on Boylston Street in Boston to solemnly mark the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings, the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001. more

At 2:49 p.m. on April 15, two pressure-cooker bombs loaded with ball bearings and nails detonated near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, on Boylston Street, shrouding two blocks of multistory brick buildings in white smoke and sending shrapnel hurtling in all directions. Three people were killed and 264 injured in the terrorist attack. Merokean Kara Iskenderian, 20, who is now a junior at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., and a member of the school’s marathon team, was a third of a mile –– or less than three minutes –– away from finishing the race when the crudely constructed, homemade bombs exploded. more

If New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly were trying during an April 25 news conference to reassure the public that the city’s security infrastructure was tight enough to stave off a terrorist attack, they weren’t doing a very good job of it. more

Every community needs police officers, teachers, sanitation workers and elected leaders. But every community also needs volunteers, the people whose contributions mean so much yet so often go unnoticed. more