Freedom Tower takes root with steel beams and iron will

NEW YORK (AP) -- Two 25-ton steel columns -- one bearing signatures of American steelworkers who helped make it -- rose at ground zero Tuesday, a milestone in the prolonged effort to build the skyscraper that will replace the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

As construction workers, politicians and architects applauded, a massive crane lifted the first 31-foot-high column, which was painted with an American flag and the words "Freedom Tower," and set it over steel bars on the southern edge of the tower's base.