When a 151-car Norfolk Southern Railway freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 near the Pennsylvania border, the smoke plume could be seen for miles. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported 38 rail cars derailed, fire damaged an additional 12 cars, and of the train’s 20 total hazardous material cars, 11…

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio—Until Feb. 3, most Americans had never heard of East Palestine, the village of 4,700 residents in eastern Ohio about a mile from the Pennsylvania border. Most people could not even identify it on a map, or accurately pronounce it, lifelong resident Gregory Mascher admitted. “East Pali-steen, not East Pali-stine,” Mascher said with…

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio—Until Feb. 3, most Americans had never heard of East Palestine, the village of 4,700 residents in eastern Ohio about a mile from the Pennsylvania border. Most people could not even identify it on a map, or accurately pronounce it, lifelong resident Gregory Mascher admitted. “East Pali-steen, not East Pali-stine,” Mascher said with…

An organization raked in $141,000 but “pocketed” nearly all of that amount instead of using it to help East Palestine, Ohio, residents struggling with toxic fumes and contaminated water after a train derailment and fire, the state’s top law official says. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit alleging that a Leetonia, Ohio, man named…

A truck carrying 40,000 pounds of contaminated soil from the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment clean-up site crashed in Columbiana County on Monday. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the incident occurred around 1 p.m. on state Route 165 near Waterford Road, just north of East Palestine. Troopers arrived at the scene for a…

Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), co-sponsor Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio), and other Ohio U.S. representatives introduced the Reducing Accidents in Locomotives (RAIL) Act at a March 30 press conference hours after a BNSF Railway train carrying ethanol derailed and caught fire in Raymond, Minnesota. Residents near the crash site were evacuated. No injuries were reported and…

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw on March 22 offered his “full-throated endorsement” for “many provisions” in a bipartisan Senate bill to strengthen railroad safety regulations but he would not commit to promoting the legislation’s passage. Shaw’s testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation was similar to the remarks he delivered at the Senate…

Since the toxic derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train in eastern Ohio on Feb. 3, Democrats and Republicans have pointed fingers at each other about the disaster and subsequent derailments. Yet bi-partisan cooperation on railroad safety legislation has emerged in both chambers on Capitol Hill. Following the Railway Safety Act of 2023 announced by…

Since the toxic derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train in eastern Ohio on Feb. 3, Democrats and Republicans have pointed fingers at each other about the disaster and subsequent derailments. Yet bi-partisan cooperation on railroad safety legislation has emerged in both chambers on Capitol Hill. Following the Railway Safety Act of 2023 announced by…

As he did before a U.S. Senate committee hearing on March 9, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw apologized to residents in East Palestine, Ohio, and surrounding communities during a hearing before the Pennsylvania state senate on March 20. Unlike his appearance at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in Washington, Shaw faced in-depth questioning…