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REUTERS/Gaelen MorseCompanies Norfolk Southern Corp FollowMarch 14 (Reuters) - The state of Ohio sued Norfolk Southern (NSC.N) Tuesday over the Feb. 3 derailment of a freight train that released over a million gallons of hazardous materials and pollutants into the environment around the town of East Palestine. Since the Ohio derailment caused cars carrying toxic vinyl chloride and other hazardous chemicals to spill and catch fire, Norfolk Southern has been under pressure over a number of train derailments. Last week, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw was sharply questioned at a U.S. Senate hearing and will appear at another March 22 rail safety Senate hearing. Those suits claim Norfolk Southern was negligent and has created a nuisance for residents, among other claims for liability. Last week, Norfolk Southern agreed to create a new first responders training center and expand a training program in Ohio.

☆ Live updates: East Palestine, Ohio train derailment Senate hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Chris Isidore | Aditi Sangal | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

In the lead-up to a Senate committee hearing on the toxic train derailment that spilled chemicals in the Ohio town of East Palestine last month, a bipartisan group of senators is introducing a new bill aimed at shoring up rail safety. The Railway Safety Act of 2023 will be introduced by Republican Sens. Vance of Ohio, Marco Rubio of Florida and Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Democratic Sens. It has a provision requiring “well-trained, two-person crews aboard every train.” And it boosts the maximum fines for rail carriers for wrongdoing. Data compiled by the nonprofit OpenSecrets show that Norfolk Southern, the company involved in the Ohio derailment, spent $1.8 million on federal lobbying last year.

☆ Norfolk Southern CEO to tell senators how he plans to 'make it right' after Ohio derailment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Noah Sheidlower | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Drone footage shows the freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, U.S., February 6, 2023 in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released by the NTSB. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw will tell a U.S. Senate panel Thursday how he plans to "make it right" after one of the company's trains derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, last month. Other committees in Congress are also investigating the East Palestine derailment. On Saturday, another Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio, after which residents near Springfield were ordered to shelter in place. Hours after that derailment, internal emails obtained by CNBC indicated that Norfolk Southern was making broad safety adjustments to prevent future incidents.

☆ Despite East Palestine toxic train disaster, railroads still want single-person crews
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The rail safety legislation, introduced in Congress Wednesday with bipartisan support, would include a prohibition on single-person crews. There is no such existing law or federal regulation requiring both an engineer and a conductor to be on a train. The Association of American Railroads confirmed that its position in favor of one-person crews has not changed. “No data shows a two-person crew confined to a cab is safer, and train crew size should continue to be determined through collective bargaining,” a statement from UP. But it might have one or two provisions which are deal breakers for the unions, such as allowing single-person crews.

☆ Ohio Senators Lead Rail-Safety Push After East Palestine Train Derailment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Natalie Andrews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Two Ohio senators are leading a bipartisan effort to respond to last month’s train derailment in their state, proposing legislation that would subject railroads to a series of new federal safety regulations and increase fines for wrongdoing. Vance of Ohio, along with Sens. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), Josh Hawley (R. ), Bob Casey (D., Pa.) and John Fetterman (D., Pa.), introduced legislation on Wednesday intended to prevent future train disasters like the Feb. 3 derailment of Norfolk Southern Corp. railcars near East Palestine, Ohio. The incident has raised concerns about the long-term health risks near and around the village of 4,700 people.

☆ Nikki Haley heads to fundraiser hosted by Wall Street executives
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Nikki Haley, a Republican who jumped into the 2024 presidential race this month, is set to attend a fundraising event for her campaign hosted by Wall Street executives in New York on Tuesday, according to an invitation first reviewed by CNBC. The Tuesday fundraiser for Haley's campaign is one of her first trips to New York as a candidate for president. Morning Consult's GOP primary tracker shows Haley has 6% of support from potential Republican voters. Former President Donald Trump garners support from about 50% of GOP primary voters, according to Morning Consult. Finance executives have played key fundraising roles for political campaigns of both parties for well over a decade.

☆ Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says 'he'll do some thinking' on whether he should have visited East Palestine, Ohio sooner
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Pete Buttigieg said he could have expressed concern "sooner" for East Palestine, Ohio, after a train derailed. He said he'll "do some thinking" on whether it was a mistake to wait to visit. Asked on Thursday whether it was a mistake to have held off on visiting the community, Buttigieg said he'll "do some thinking" on that. "I felt strongly about this and could have expressed that sooner," he said. Buttigieg acknowledged earlier in the week that he could have spoken out sooner about the derailment.

☆ U.S. senators question rail oversight after toxic Ohio derailment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Two Republican senators sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday questioning U.S. freight rail system oversight in the aftermath of a toxic train derailment in Ohio on Feb. 3. Vance questioned Buttigieg about railroad safety, saying "it is not unreasonable to ask whether a crew of two rail workers, plus one trainee, is able to effectively monitor 150 cars." The Department of Transportation (USDOT) did not immediately comment but Buttigieg addressed the criticism in a series of tweets. Buttigieg responded to Cruz on Twitter that "we could start by discussing immediate steps Congress could take to address rail safety & reduce constraints on USDOT in this area. After railroad crews drained and burned off a toxic chemical from five tanker cars, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Feb. 8 said that residents could return to their homes.

☆ Trump’s Best Foreign Policy? Not Starting Any Wars
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( J.D. Vance | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

A few days before America’s 2022 midterm elections, Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelensky accused Russia of firing a rocket into Poland. In making the accusation, Mr. Zelensky was pushing on the dominoes that could start the world’s first war between nuclear powers. The rocket attack, it turns out, came not from Vladimir Putin’s Russia but from Ukrainian air defenses. Even after NATO made that assessment and acknowledged that Russia hadn’t fired the rocket, Mr. Zelensky continued to deny Ukrainian responsibility. The story faded from the headlines, and Mr. Zelensky enjoyed a hero’s welcome in Washington in December.

CLEVELAND — Matt Dolan, who lost a raucous Republican Senate primary in Ohio last year, will run again in 2024, this time seeking to unseat longtime Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown. Dolan will announce his candidacy this week, he told an Ohio GOP official in a voicemail Sunday that the official shared with NBC News on the condition of anonymity. Dolan, a state senator whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians, would likely be the first candidate on the GOP side to officially declare. Other Republicans closely looking at the race include Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Bernie Moreno, a businessman who briefly was a Senate candidate in 2022. Ohio State Senator Matt Dolan, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, speaks in Cleveland, on April 28, 2022.

☆ How Trump’s legacy became ‘pure poison’ for independents
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Ronald Brownstein | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

Among female independents, Trump’s ratings were even worse: just 23% favorable and 72% unfavorable, according to previously unpublished exit poll results provided by the CNN polling unit. Trump’s unfavorable rating hit a comparable 69% among independents with at least a four-year college degree. That was a significantly smaller advantage than the double-digit lead among independents Democrats enjoyed in both the 2020 presidential race and the 2018 contest for the House. While Democrats held the presidency, Republicans won independents by double-digits in House elections in the midterms of 2014, 2010 and 1994. Gretchen Whitmer won 59% of the independents with degrees and 56% of women independents.

☆ Elon Musk may be luring Apple into a fight with Republicans
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Vance, both Republicans, made remarks about Apple's situation that show how Musk could put Apple in a tough spot. It's just one of a vast number of apps on the App Store, and it isn't a huge moneymaker for Apple through in-app purchases. He also accused Apple of threatening to pull the Twitter app from the App Store . Over the past week, Twitter owner Elon Musk has been poking Apple , the big bear of Silicon Valley, which controls app distribution to every iPhone. But Apple would be much more likely to pull the Twitter app if it tries to cut Apple out of its platform fees.

Another focus of the conference was “electability,” with many Republicans expressing increased interest in making sure that candidates who emerged from primaries were best positioned to win in November. Pete Ricketts, who just finished a term as RGA co-chair, suggested that the group could get more involved in primaries. The RGA did spend to defend incumbents facing primaries but now may consider spending in open races. “The idea that Trump would make an announcement yesterday — and I’ve been proven right, because it’s barely a story — it was just stupid,” he said. It’s clearly from a position of weakness, and for his own self-serving purposes, whatever they may be legal or otherwise.

They won a narrow House majority, having won the 218 seats needed, with eight still uncalled. McConnell and Scott both addressed the gathering, which included newly elected Trump-backed Senate Republicans, including J.D. [1/5] U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell walks to his office at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, U.S., November 15, 2022. In the House, conservative Republicans continued to bash party leader Kevin McCarthy, a day after he overcame a challenger for the chamber's top job of House speaker. While Senate Republicans met in the morning to vote for party leaders, House Republicans met later in the day to consider chamber rules for the next Congress.

Despite Republican hopes for a "red wave" of support in the Nov. 8 elections, they failed to reverse Democrats' razor-thin Senate majority. They appear to be on course to win a narrow House majority, having won 217 of the 218 seats they would need, with 10 still uncalled. McConnell and Scott both addressed the gathering, which included newly elected Trump-backed Senate Republicans, including J.D. [1/5] U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell walks to his office at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, U.S., November 15, 2022. While Senate Republicans met in the morning to vote for party leaders, House Republicans were due later in the day to consider chamber rules for the next Congress, assuming they succeed in capturing the House.

In the 13 races in six battleground states where an election denier was on the ballot for governor, secretary of state or attorney general, 12 lost, according to the latest NBC News projections. Arizona — along with Michigan and Alabama — was one of three states where election deniers advanced to be the GOP nominees for governor, secretary of state and attorney general. In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, Republican Doug Mastriano — who was one of the most high-profile election deniers — lost the race for governor to Democrat Josh Shapiro. “But voters sent a very clear message that Americans deeply care about democracy and don’t want extremists running our nation’s elections.”The defeats of election deniers spanned well beyond swing states. All 14 races where election deniers won were in states that voted to elect Trump in both 2016 and 2020.

Speaking to reporters this week, Brown reaffirmed that he intends to seek a fourth term. Jai Chabria, Vance’s chief campaign strategist, said he expects the “floodgates to open” with candidates eager to take on Brown. Dolan’s pitch to county chairs this week leaned into frustrations that Republicans have vented toward Trump after disappointing midterm results. For Brown, this year’s midterm elections in Ohio have yielded a more unpleasant set of questions than the last. “He is a different beast than Tim Ryan, because Tim Ryan was a Xerox of a Xerox of Sherrod Brown,” Chabria said.

☆ Drive Capital's Mark Kvamme is raising a fund that's like a sovereign wealth fund for Ohio, one month after stepping down from the $2.2 billion venture-capital firm he cofounded
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In October, Mark Kvamme said he was stepping down at Drive Capital, the venture firm he founded. The so-called Ohio Fund will raise money mostly from Ohio institutional investors, sources said. The new fund — whose working title is "Ohio Fund" — has drawn comparisons to a sovereign wealth fund, because Kvamme plans to raise capital from mostly Ohio institutions. Unlike the venture firm he founded, the Ohio Fund will invest in multiple asset classes, including other funds, public stocks, private companies in Ohio, and infrastructure, sources said. He stayed one year before striking out on his own with ambitions to start a venture firm.

“Personalities come and go,” said Dave Ball, the GOP chair in Pennsylvania’s Washington County, who has supported and defended Trump. Trump is preparing to do just that, with a Tuesday announcement expected at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. In Illinois, Republicans had threatened to take two state Supreme Court seats and flip state Senate and House seats. In Pennsylvania, GOP leaders had hoped to at least hold on to the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Pat Toomey. Trump lost the state by narrow margins in 2016 and 2020.

☆ Walker's campaign tells Republicans to stop 'deceptive fundraising' in Georgia runoff
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Marc Caputo | Marc Caputo Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Walker’s campaign, which has trailed Warnock’s in fundraising throughout the election, is now asking fellow Republicans to stop their fundraising practices — or at least start sharing more with the candidate. "We need everyone focused on winning the Georgia Senate race, and deceptive fundraising tactics by teams that just won their races are siphoning money away from Georgia,” Walker campaign manager Scott Paradise told NBC News on Monday. After the 90:10 split was highlighted on Twitter, Trump’s committee changed the allocation to a 50:50 split. A Vance spokesman declined to comment, but subsequent fundraising emails for Walker have defaulted to a 50:50 split as well. Those new donors' emails and their money are then shared along with the cash raised in the joint fundraising endeavor.

☆ As Trump readies possible 2024 White House run, GOP megadonors back DeSantis, Youngkin, other Republicans
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Sabin contributed $55,000 this year to a pro-DeSantis PAC, Friends of Ron DeSantis, which supported the Florida governor's successful bid for reelection, according to state campaign finance records. Trump, meanwhile, has scheduled a primetime announcement Tuesday night, heavily hinting that it will be his presidential campaign launch. Trump also endorsed dozens of winning House candidates, but many of those Republicans were in firmly red districts without a serious competitor. Ross hosted a fundraiser for Trump at his Hamptons home in 2019 to raise money for Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee. While Levine didn't personally donate to Trump's races, he helped raise campaign cash for several other candidates Trump endorsed in the last cycle.

☆ J.D. Vance — who Trump once joked was 'kissing my ass' — comes to his defense as GOP points fingers for their disappointing midterm results
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Vance has come to the defense of former President Donald Trump. Vance, the Republican senator-elect from Ohio, defended Donald Trump for the GOP party's losses in the 2022 midterm elections as critics place the blame largely on the former president. Vance was one of the many Republican candidates endorsed by Trump, who also quipped that Vance was "kissing my ass" for support. Vance declared that the Republican Party "more than ever" needs Trump who is expected to launch a 2024 presidential run on Tuesday. "Our party has one major asset, contra conventional wisdom, to rally these voters: President Donald Trump," the senator-elect said.

Hassan did betterthan Biden democrats have won control Arizona › Mark Kelly (D) wins D+5.7 D+0.3 +5.4 pts. Kelly did betterthan Biden democrats have won control Pennsylvania › John Fetterman (D) wins D+4.4 D+1.2 +3.2 pts. Warnock did betterthan Biden democrats have won control Nevada › Catherine Cortez Masto (D) wins D+0.7 D+2.4 +1.7 pts. Welch did betterthan Biden democrats have won control Maryland › Chris Van Hollen (D) wins D+26.4 D+33.4 +7.0 pts. Rep. Van Hollen did worsethan Biden democrats have won control Connecticut › Richard Blumenthal (D) wins D+14.9 D+20.1 +5.2 pts.

☆ Peter Thiel's picks Masters, Vance split key Senate races in Arizona, Ohio after billionaire spent $32 million on 2022 midterms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Peter Thiel, president and founder of Clarium Capital Management LLC, speaks during the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, Florida, on Thursday, April 7, 2022. Billionaire and Republican megadonor Peter Thiel's $32 million investment in the 2022 midterm elections saw mixed results, as two of his former employees split U.S. Senate races that will help to decide control of the chamber. Thiel instead opted to pile more money into Republican Blake Masters' bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in Arizona. Thiel jolted Masters' Senate bid early on with a $15 million donation to a pro-Masters super PAC during Arizona's primary election, according to Federal Election Commission records. Records show that Thiel contributed similar amounts to Republican Reps. Mike McCaul, Chris Stewart, Michael Waltz, Tom Cole and Mario Diaz-Balart.

☆ Republicans who questioned the 2020 results are bringing back an old norm: Admitting defeat
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Seitz-Wald-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alex Seitz-Wald | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

WASHINGTON — The losers of this year’s midterm elections are winning praise for doing something that would be entirely unremarkable in another era — admitting defeat. Of course, dozens of Republican candidates who questioned the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s election won on Tuesday and will end up in Congress, including Ohio’s J.D. This year, Trump helped Cox defeat a well-connected moderate in the GOP primary to run for governor of Maryland. “I will pray for them and their new role for all of us.”Most losing Republican candidates followed scripts more like Cox’s than Trump’s. Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon initially said Tuesday night that she wanted to see more results before admitting defeat.

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