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NEWS BRIEFS

Date Posted: January 9 2004

'Freedom Tower' planned for NYC
NEW YORK - The "Freedom Tower" has been chosen as the design to replace the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan, and if constructed, would be the tallest building in the world.

The $1.5 billion building is designed to rise 1,776 feet, symbolic of the year the United States declared its independence from Great Britain. A broadcast tower attached to the tower would bring the structure's height above 2,000 feet. The World Trade Center towers were 1,368 feet tall.

The tower's tapered and twisted shape is controversial, and critics have suggested it is the result of a collaboration and compromise between the two architects involved in the project. Still, the New York Times architecture critic said the design, "with some shrewd editing… could become one of the noblest skyscrapers ever realized in New York."

New York Gov. George Pataki wants to break ground on the structure by September, which coincides with the Republican National Convention.

The tower includes 2.6 million square feet of office space on approximately 60 floors.
Above the occupied spaces would be 1,500 feet of a lacy structure of tension cables that brace the building. Within the structure, wind harvesting turbines are proposed to provide 20 percent of the building's energy. Above that there is a 276-foot spire.

The building's designers said they were looking to highlight the "resiliency and spirit" of American democracy, while serving as a monument to the 2,752 people who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 attack which resulted in the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Renderings of the new building were released with views of the structure at a distance, reflecting the early stage of the design.

Labor seeks block on reporting rules
As expected, the AFL-CIO filed a lawsuit in federal court to block new Labor Department rules that place a higher bookkeeping load on unions when it comes to filing financial reports, the Construction Labor Report said.

The new regulations require unions with receipts of more than $250,000 to provide the federal government with detailed expenditure information.

The AFL-CIO's lawsuit claimed that the Labor Department's rules are "arbitrary and capricious" and exceed the department's authority. The federation and its member unions have also complained that there is little time to make the changes, and the costs associated with the new record-keeping rules are exorbitant. In addition, unions wonder why the same accounting requirements weren't instituted for corporations - especially in light of accounting scandals at companies like Enron and MCI WorldCom.