Final beam falls at Ground Zero
NEW YORK -- The last steel beam left standing at the World Trade Center site was cut down Tuesday and draped in an American flag in the first of a series of ceremonies marking the end of the sorrowful, 8-month cleanup. The 30-foot girder survived when the twin towers collapsed into a mountain of 1.8 million tons of rubble Sept. 11. For months it was covered by debris, but as the pile shrank the column was revealed, still standing where it was erected when the south tower was built three decades ago.

