Parting Shot — 4.30.12

Ironworkers connect steel beams at the top of One World Trade Center in New York. One World Trade Center. The giant monolith being built to replace the twin towers destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, laid claim to the title of New York City’s tallest skyscraper today, as workers erect steel columns that will make its unfinished skeleton a little over 1,250 feet, just high enough to peak over the observation deck on the Empire State Building. The milestone is a preliminary one. The so-called “Freedom Tower,” isn’t expected to reach its full height for at least another year, at which point it is likely to be declared the tallest building in the U.S. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)