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☆ Prosecutors Detail Pittsburgh Synagogue Killings in Trial Opening
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A courtroom sketch of the opening of jury selection in a federal court in Pittsburgh in the trial of Robert Bowers. Photo: Dave Klug/Associated PressPITTSBURGH—Prosecutors seeking the death penalty for the man accused of killing 11 people at a synagogue here in 2018 described a scene of chaos and terror to a jury Tuesday, recounting how each of the victims was shot, many as they tried to hide or protect loved ones.

☆ State Lawmakers Take Aim at Voter-Led Ballot Measures
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Shannon Najmabadi | Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Supporters and opponents of a GOP-backed measure that would make it harder to amend the Ohio constitution packed the statehouse rotunda last week in Columbus, Ohio. Photo: Samantha Hendrickson/Associated PressLawmakers in Republican-led states are backing measures to make it harder for voters to amend state constitutions, as partisan fights play out over abortion access and other issues. Momentum behind such bills has reached new levels since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June. Lawmakers this year have been explicit in making the ballot-initiative issue a proxy war on abortion access.

LAKE ELMO, Minn.—Inside a locked storage container near the Twin Cities, 200 gallons of concentrated PFAS await an executioner. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency harvested the chemicals from a nearby aquifer and has invited companies to demonstrate an array of destructive technologies on samples of the liquid. The goal is to kill the PFAS, which have been linked to cancer and other health problems, by dicing up molecules that have some of the strongest bonds on Earth.

☆ Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre Trial Set to Begin in Pittsburgh
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Tree of Life synagogue was the site of the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. Photo: Gene J. Puskar/Associated PressPITTSBURGH— Carol Black has honored the memory of her brother who was killed in the Tree of Life synagogue attack by taking on roles he once performed at services and by attending Pitt football games in the seat he had occupied for 35 seasons beside hers. The three congregations that lost 11 members 4½ years ago in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history have largely grieved and tried to heal in private, supporting one another even as they joined the widening community of people scarred by mass shootings.

DIGHTON, Mass.—The house on Maple Street where Airman First Class Jack Teixeira was arrested Thursday sits on a thickly wooded lot set far back from the road. By Friday, after law-enforcement agents and media descended on this small town, a loader backhoe blocked the driveway entrance near an empty flower cart. A 2020 graduate of Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School in southeastern Massachusetts, Airman Teixeira, 21 years old, was viewed by those who know him as a military enthusiast from a family who supports the military and its causes.

☆ EPA Missing Scale, Scope of PFAS in Drinking Water, Study Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ EPA Standards Miss Many Chemicals in Drinking Water, Study Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Norfolk Southern Derailment Spurs Questioning of Turnaround King’s Strategy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The late E. Hunter Harrison , who ran four of North America’s major railroads, is credited with transforming the railroad industry by spreading a philosophy of aggressive cost-cutting. But criticism of that philosophy, known as precision-scheduled railroading, or PSR, has grown since the February derailment of a Norfolk Southern Corp. train that released hazardous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.

In the world of railroading, keeping the trains moving is paramount, and Norfolk Southern Corp. has little tolerance for late departures. Supervisors can be penalized for trains that are ready to leave but instead sit in rail yards, according to current and former employees of the Atlanta-based railroad. Train inspection time frames are tight. Employees who seek more-stringent reviews of rail equipment or slow down transport can face discipline.

☆ EPA Proposes Regulations for ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Drinking Water
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Known as forever chemicals because they take a long time to break down, PFAS have been found throughout the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed the first federal limits on so-called forever chemicals in public drinking water, a move that is expected to cost water utilities billions of dollars to filter out substances that have contaminated the water supplies of millions of people. The agency is proposing maximum allowable levels in the nation’s public drinking-water systems for two compounds in a class of chemicals known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which were used for decades in carpeting, clothing, food packaging, firefighting foam and other consumer and industrial products. The EPA also said it would regulate four other PFAS chemicals by requiring treatment if the combined level reaches a certain concentration.

☆ EPA Proposes Limits for ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Drinking Water
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Known as forever chemicals because they take a long time to break down, PFAS have been found throughout the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed the first federal limits on so-called forever chemicals in public drinking water, a move that is expected to cost water utilities billions of dollars to filter out substances that have contaminated the water supplies of millions of people. The EPA is proposing maximum allowable levels for two compounds in a class of chemicals known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Known as forever chemicals because they take a long time to break down, they were used for decades in carpeting, clothing, food packaging, firefighting foam and other consumer and industrial products.

☆ Railroad Group Warns of Loose Wheels on Some Railcar Models
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Kris Maher | Esther Fung | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The American Association of Railroads issued a rare advisory Thursday calling for certain rail cars to be taken out of service and inspected amid concerns that loose wheels might increase the risk of derailments. The industry group said one of its railroads had experienced three loose wheels in the cars. The cars in question had wheels that were mounted between August of last year and March by National Steel Car, an Ontario-based rail car manufacturer, according to AAR. It said that any cars, loaded or empty, that are found to have these wheel sets must be removed immediately from service.

☆ Trump Visits Train Derailment Site to Deliver First Salvo of 2024 Presidential
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Kris Maher | Alex Leary | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Former President Donald Trump visits the site of a contaminated waterway in East Palestine, Ohio, on Wednesday. EAST PALESTINE, Ohio—Residents of this small town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border who are recovering from a train derailment that is now an environmental cleanup site are also becoming featured players in one of the first political skirmishes of the 2024 presidential campaign. President Biden was briefed on conditions in East Palestine while he was rallying Europe to Ukraine’s aid in Warsaw, Poland, while former President Donald Trump visited the disaster area Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Trump is running for president again and Mr. Biden is expected to announce a re-election bid soon.

☆ Ohio Train Derailment: EPA Orders Norfolk Southern to Clean Up Site
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Environmental Protection Agency said it issued a formal order requiring Norfolk Southern Corp. to clean up chemicals spilled in a derailment earlier this month in East Palestine, Ohio, that has drawn concerns from residents about long-term health risks. EPA Administrator Michael Regan appeared in East Palestine on Tuesday alongside Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, as all three pledged that federal and state officials would remain in the village of 4,700 people until the site was fully cleaned up and residents’ concerns were allayed.

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio—Shelby Walker said she was watching a movie with her family on the evening of Feb. 3 when a 150-car Norfolk Southern train skirting the edge of town came off the tracks, sending 38 cars into a jumbled mass that caught fire and sent orange flames and black smoke into the sky. On Tuesday, she watched as a machine with a scissor-like attachment shredded a scorched railcar that had fallen near the bicycles, trampoline and plastic play toys in her backyard. Over the clanging of steel being torn apart, Ms. Walker, 48 years old, said her family is still haunted by the accident, which sent chemicals into the air, ground and creeks leading to the Ohio River.

☆ Inside the Last Factory Making U.S. Washboards
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Kris Maher | Photographs Maddie Mcgarvey For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The company churns out roughly 11,000 washboards a year in the basement of a former G.C. Murphy discount variety store. A popular pail-size model sells for $27.49. “The market is small, but if we can make enough to keep in business, we really want to keep the business going,” said Larry Gerstner, one of the co-owners.

☆ Residents of Village Near Ohio Train Derailment Begin to Return Home
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Many residents of an eastern Ohio village started to return home Thursday, days after toxic chemicals from derailed tanker cars were burned to prevent an explosion in their area. Residents of East Palestine, a village of nearly 5,000 people on the border with Pennsylvania, had been forced to stay away since Sunday night, following a Norfolk Southern Corp. train derailment Friday that caused a chemical fire.

☆ Residents Not Yet Permitted to Return Home After Ohio Derailment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Drone footage shows an overhead view of the freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Residents in an eastern Ohio village were unable to return to their homes Tuesday, amid continued air and water monitoring a day after a controlled burn of chemicals at a train derailment. Mike DeWine had issued a mandatory evacuation on Sunday for residents within a one-mile radius of East Palestine, a village of nearly 5,000 people on the border with Pennsylvania, after 50 cars of a Norfolk Southern Corp. train derailed Friday night, causing a chemical fire.

☆ Ohio Officials Warn of Danger of Explosion After Train Derailment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Mike DeWine told residents in an eastern Ohio village living within a mile of a train derailment to stay away from their homes, because of the possibility that a tanker car could explode. Mr. DeWine’s warning Sunday night was the latest for residents of East Palestine, a village of nearly 5,000 people on the border with Pennsylvania, after 50 cars of a Norfolk Southern Corp. train derailed Friday at about 9 p.m., causing a chemical fire, which continued to smolder Monday morning.

☆ Team Flares Chemical Gas From Derailed Train Cars in Ohio to Prevent Explosion
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A team of experts released a chemical from five tanker cars and ignited it Monday afternoon to prevent a potentially catastrophic explosion following a train derailment Friday along the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Mike DeWine maintained a mandatory evacuation Monday for residents within a one-mile radius of East Palestine, an Ohio village of nearly 5,000 people, after 50 cars of a Norfolk Southern Corp. train derailed Friday at about 9 p.m., causing a chemical fire. Rising temperatures in one car had posed a risk of an explosion, the governor said.

☆ Pennsylvania Battle Re-Enactors Up in Arms Over Fighting Ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A new rule in Pennsylvania that will require re-enactors of a 1763 battle to lay down their weapons is drawing fire from a local historical society, the latest skirmish in the re-enactment world, which has been diminishing as hobbyists get older and sensitivities about restaging historical events have grown. The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission said last month that it will no longer permit re-enactments on the 23 sites it owns in the state that involve the exchange of fire from weapons, the taking of casualties and hand-to-hand combat, “or any other form of simulated warfare or violence between opposing forces.” The commission said it made the change to align with National Park Service policy.

☆ Firefighters Union Pushes to Rid Protective Gear of ‘Forever Chemicals’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

PFAS compounds have been used in firefighting gear. The so-called forever chemicals have been associated with cancer and other illnesses. Growing concern among firefighters across the country that high rates of cancer in their profession are linked to chemicals in protective gear they wear has led to a sharp change of course in the union that represents them. The chemicals, known as PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have been associated with cancers and other illnesses and are coming under greater scrutiny from environmental regulators. After years of playing down concerns about the chemicals, the International Association of Fire Fighters is now urging that gear with PFAS be removed whenever possible.

☆ America’s Last Washboard Factory Isn’t Ready to Throw in the Towel
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Kris Maher | Photographs Maddie Mcgarvey For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LOGAN, Ohio—The Columbus Washboard Co., founded before the first electric washing machines put a new spin on laundering in the early 1900s, has dodged extinction for 128 years. As America’s last washboard-maker, the company controls the market, holding a monopoly with a steely grip and so far clean of antitrust scrutiny. Four employees churn out roughly 11,000 washboards a year in the basement of a former G.C. Murphy discount variety store. A popular pail-size model sells for $27.49.

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