Class action lawsuits are being filed by those displaced by a massive train derailment and fire in East Palestine, a village located in Columbiana County on the border with Pennsylvania.
A Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in the village on Friday and caught fire. The governor issued an evacuation order on Sunday over concerns that five of the cars, carrying the chemical, vinyl chloride, could catastrophically explode. Residents were cleared to return home on Wednesday.
The train was traveling from Madison, Illinois on its way to Conway, Pennsylvania. The derailment underscored concerns safety advocates have expressed about the transport of chemicals through populated areas. Although the Federal Railroad Administration says trains are the safest way to move dangerous cargo over long distances.
The arrest of a reporter at Governor DeWine’s media briefing on the derailment on Wednesday is now the focus of coverage. Police pushed reporter, Evan Lambert of NewsNation, to the ground and handcuffed him during the briefing. Lambert spent several hours in jail before being released. He faces charges criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct.
The government’s lead investigator has been testifying this week in the racketeering trial of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges. FBI Special Agent Blane Wetzel spent days laying out various aspects of the government’s complicated case against Householder and Borges, including recorded phone calls, text messages and hidden camera video. Thursday, the defense had the chance to begin cross-examination.
Householder and Borges are accused of accepting $60 million in bribes through a dark money group to pass House Bill 6 which contained a bailout for two Ohio nuclear power plants, then-owned by FirstEnergy Solutions.
Governor DeWine says the state will apply for federal money to study whether its feasible to expand Amtrak passenger rail service in Ohio. The federal government set aside $66 billion in its 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for rail service. Ohio will apply for $500,000 grants from the Federal Railroad Administration to study each potential route. The state is still deciding how many new or expanded routes to study.
Guests:
-Anna Huntsman, Akron-Canton Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
-Abigail Bottar, Akron-Canton Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
-Karen Kasler, Statehouse News Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio/TV
-Andy Chow, News Editor, Statehouse News Bureau