Midwest

Rail safety reform efforts stalled in Congress a year after Ohio train derailment

Published

2 years ago

February 8, 2024

Rail safety reform efforts stalled in Congress a year after Ohio train derailment

Congress has yet to take significant action on railroad safety reforms despite ongoing concerns following last year’s train derailment in Ohio.
The railroad safety act, which proposes federal standards for two-person crews on freight trains, has not advanced to a full Senate vote.
Despite bipartisan support for the bill, opposition from the railroad industry, which is lobbying against certain provisions.

The changes railroads announced after last year’s fiery crash in East Palestine, Ohio, haven’t yet made a major difference, statistics show, and reforms have stalled in Congress.

A few key measures in the latest Federal Railroad Administration statistics, including the total number of train accidents, worsened over the first 11 months of last year compared to the same period in previous years. Meanwhile there were some improvements with other numbers, like total derailments.

The overall picture is that rail safety hasn’t significantly improved in recent years — and as the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine last Feb. 3 and others demonstrate, just one derailment can be disastrous when hazardous chemicals are involved. The small town near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border is still struggling to recover a year later.

BIDEN TO TRAVEL TO EAST PALESTINE NEARLY ONE YEAR AFTER TRAIN DERAILMENT DISASTER

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said there was a meaningful 15% decrease in derailments along mainline tracks after Congress responded to a number of high-profile train crashes involving crude oil in the early 2010s. “Progress has plateaued as derailments and preventable incidents are happening at an unacceptable rate,” Buttigieg said, urging Congress to pass the reforms now.

Portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed on Feb. 3, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio, are seen here. The major freight railroads all promised safety improvements after the fiery derailment, but they have yet to make a meaningful improvement in the safety statistics and efforts to reform the industry have stalled in Congress. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

The railroad industry defends its record as the safest way to transport hazardous materials over land — something the head of the National Transportation Safety Board agreed with in recent testimony in the House — though officials acknowledge the railroads need to continue improving safety. And the Association of American Railroads trade group says most of the measures railroads promised to take last spring weren’t completed until late last year, so they aren’t yet reflected in the numbers.

What’s the industry’s safety record?

Safety statistics are mixed for the six biggest freight railroads that dominate the industry — Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific, CPKC, Canadian National and BNSF.

For the majority of 2023 the total number of train accidents increased slightly to 4,845, including more than 600 deaths.

When comparing 2022 and 2023, the total number of derailments declined about 2.6% — but there were still nearly three derailments a day nationwide. Railroads point out that roughly two-thirds of those crashes happen at slow speeds in railyards and don’t cause significant damage.

How many costly derailments are there?

There were 53 major derailments last year causing damage over $1 million, a surge of nearly 33%. Norfolk Southern has said the cost of the East Palestine derailment has already topped $1.1 billion, and that total will continue to grow with cleanup costs and lawsuit settlements.

The number of total crashes caused by the same issue as the eastern Ohio derailment more than doubled nationwide last year to 19. Overheating bearing failures remain a small fraction representing less than 2% of all accidents.

Are railroads getting riskier?

All 13 railroad unions have sounded the alarm about the dangers of the lean operating model that has cut roughly one-third of the industry’s rail jobs. The unions say that as a result of these cuts, inspections are rushed — or done by less qualified workers — and everyone remaining is overworked. They also say companies may be neglecting to do preventative maintenance.

“East Palestine was no surprise,” said Jared Cassity, the safety chief at the SMART-TD union, which represents conductors. “The next East Palestine, at least at this pace that we’re going, is imminent to some degree.”

The railroads defend their operating model — which relies on fewer trains that have grown much longer — as simply helping them make the best use of their locomotives, tracks and crews without jeopardizing safety, and the Federal Railroad Administration says safety statistics haven’t gotten significantly worse since they started using it.

But Tony Cardwell who leads the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division union, which represents track maintenance workers, said the railroads are under pressure to cut costs from “vulture capitalist” investors.

Over the past year, the railroads have agreed to provide paid sick leave to most of their workers for the first time and improve the way engineers and conductors are scheduled in order to help reduce fatigue.

What have railroads done to improve safety?

Last year, the major freight railroads installed hundreds of new trackside detectors to spot overheating bearings, as part of their goal of adding roughly 1,000 of those nationwide to make the average spacing between them 15 miles (24 kilometers) in most places.

All railroads will now stop trains when bearings detect a gap of more than 170 degrees from the outside air, and there are new standards to help them better track when bearings start to heat up to catch issues sooner.

Railroads have also been installing complex portals filled with cameras, other sensors and advanced detectors to spot problems as they’re moving.

Norfolk Southern also took additional steps like hiring a consultant from the nuclear power industry to review its safety practices, establishing a pilot program so employees can anonymously report safety concerns and changing rules for train assembly to better balance the weight of heavy cars and hazardous materials.

“We’re always going to strive to get better at safety,” Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw told The Associated Press. “There’s no one thing that you do. It’s a bunch of different things.”

Why hasn’t Congress acted?

The railroad safety act has yet to get a vote in the full Senate — or even a hearing in the House. The measure would call for the creation of federal standards for those trackside detectors, increased inspections by qualified employees and two-person crews on every freight train.

Ian Jefferies with the AAR trade group says railroads haven’t opposed the bill outright — but they are fighting several provisions like the two-man crew requirement and locomotive inspection rules. They say such changes aren’t related to what caused the East Palestine wreck. After all, that train had three crew members, and the railcar — not a locomotive — had the flaw. The railroads also want a cost-benefit analysis to be done on the rules.

OHIO RESIDENTS GRAPPLE WITH LONG-TERM IMPACTS OF EAST PALESTINE TRAIN DERAILMENT

House Republicans say they want to wait for the final NTSB report before they act, so they can be sure that any new regulations are directly related to the cause of the East Palestine derailment. The report won’t be out until sometime this summer.

Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who was part of the bipartisan group that proposed the bill, blames railroad industry lobbying from keeping the act from advancing.

“It goes down to the power of the rail industry. I mean the fact that Norfolk Southern and other railroads have continued to oppose this bill,” Brown said. “They’ve always put profits over people.”

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Midwest

Walz slams Trump admin for temporarily halting Medicaid funding to Minnesota: ‘Campaign of retribution’

Published

1 hour ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Walz slams Trump admin for temporarily halting Medicaid funding to Minnesota: ‘Campaign of retribution’

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accused the Trump administration of unleashing a “campaign of retribution” against his state after Vice President JD Vance announced a temporary pause in Medicaid funding there.

Vance’s announcement was made after President Donald Trump railed against fraud in Minnesota on Tuesday evening in his State of the Union address.

Vance said Wednesday that he is giving Walz 60 days to clean up how the state doles out funding, adding, “We are stopping the federal payments that will go to the state government until the state government takes its obligations seriously to stop the fraud that’s being perpetrated against the American taxpayer.”

“This is a campaign of retribution. Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota,” Walz, a Democrat, wrote in response on X. “These cuts will be devastating for veterans, families with young kids, folks with disabilities, and working people across our state.”

Vice President JD Vance, left, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz, center, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. (Tom Brenner/AP; Steve Karnowski/AP)

“This has nothing to do with fraud. The agents Trump allegedly sent to investigate fraud are shooting protesters and arresting children,” Walz added. “His DOJ is gutting the U.S. Attorney’s Office and crippling their ability to prosecute fraud. And every week Trump pardons another fraudster.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

The administration and Congress have zeroed in on rampant abuse of federal taxpayers’ funds since December 2025, when details of Minnesota’s fraud relating to social and welfare programs stretching back to the COVID-19 pandemic first came into the national spotlight. Investigators have since estimated the Minnesota scheme could top $9 billion.

HEAVILY REDACTED AUDIT FINDS MINNESOTA MEDICAID HAD WIDESPREAD VULNERABILITIES

Gov. Tim Walz has 60 days to respond to a letter from Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said Wednesday that the pause marks “the largest action against fraud that we’ve ever taken” at the federal agency, before launching into how the administration is deferring funds to the state.

“It’s going to be $259 million of deferred payments for Medicaid to Minnesota, which we’re announcing, as I speak, to Gov. Walz and his team,” Oz said. “That’s based on an audit of the last three months of 2025. Restated, a quarter billion dollars is not going to be paid this month to Minnesota for its Medicaid claims.”

Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks beside Vice President JD Vance during a news conference on efforts to combat fraud, in the Old Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Tom Brenner/AP)

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“We have notified the state and said that we will give them the money, but we’re going to hold it and only release it after they propose and act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem,” Oz also said. “If Minnesota fails to clean up the systems, the state will rack up $1 billion of deferred payments this year.”

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

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Detroit, MI

Terrion Arnold ‘maintains complete innocence’ in kidnapping, theft case

Published

3 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Terrion Arnold ‘maintains complete innocence’ in kidnapping, theft case

I represent Mr. Terrion Arnold in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred on February 4, 2026, in Tampa, Florida, which resulted in the arrest of five individuals on serious felony charges.

To be clear, Mr. Arnold had no involvement whatsoever in the activities that led to those arrests. He did not participate in, nor was he present for, any conduct related to the alleged offenses. There is no evidence in police reports, text messages, or witness statements that implicates Mr. Arnold in any way.

In fact, after direct communication with the lead prosecutor, it has been confirmed that no charges have been filed against Mr. Arnold in connection with this matter.

Recent media coverage has referenced an Order issued by Circuit Judge J. Logan Murphy, which improperly suggests Mr. Arnold’s involvement in the incident. That same Order also incorrectly identifies Ms. Devalle as Mr. Arnold’s girlfriend. Both assertions are false, misleading, and entirely unsupported by the record.

Mr. Arnold categorically denies these unfounded claims and maintains his complete innocence. He was not involved in the crimes allegedly committed on February 4, 2026, in Tampa, Florida.

We strongly urge members of the media to refrain from perpetuating inaccurate or speculative narratives. The facts are clear, and they do not support any claim of wrongdoing by Mr. Arnold.

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Milwaukee, WI

Sheriff’s Office backpedals on controversial facial recognition deal

Published

4 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Sheriff’s Office backpedals on controversial facial recognition deal

The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office has decided against a contract for facial recognition technology.
Sheriff Denita Ball cited community concerns and the importance of public trust in the decision.
The move follows similar pushback that led the Milwaukee Police Department to pause its own pursuit of the technology.
Local officials and advocates have raised concerns about racial bias, surveillance, and civil rights violations.

The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office will not move forward on a potential deal to use facial recognition technology, Sheriff Denita Ball announced Friday.

In a statement on Feb. 27, Ball said after “thoughtful evaluation” and “meaningful dialogue” with community stakeholders and leaders, she decided to stop pursuing a contract with Biometrica, a Las Vegas-based company whose technology allows authorities to compare photos to a large database of photos for matches.

“While we recognize the potential of this software as an investigative tool, we also recognize that trust between the MCSO and the people we serve is important,” she said.

“My discussions with local advocates highlighted valid concerns regarding how such data could be accessed or perceived in the current national climate. This decision is not a retreat from innovation but rather an understanding that timing matters, too,” Ball said.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on Feb. 17 that the Sheriff’s Office was on the verge of signing off on the use of facial recognition technology after news broke at a community advisory board meeting held by the office.

The update on the office’s sign-off on an intent to enter into a contract with Biometrica blindsided local officials and advocates because it contradicted earlier claims that the office had not moved forward with a controversial contract.

At the time, supervisors on the county’s judiciary and legislation committee called for more information from the Sheriff’s Office about the nature of the then-potential contract.

Supervisor Justin Bielinski, who chairs the committee, said Ball’s decision to step away from the deal was good news, but said he was still feeling wary.

“I would like to see more I guess,” he said of the two paragraph statement from Ball. “At what point would she reconsider, right?”

County Executive David Crowley, who is running for governor as a Democrat, had also voiced concerns about a possible contract when news came to light earlier this month.

After learning of Ball’s decision to not move forward with Biometrica, Crowley thanked community members who voiced concerns about facial recognition technology, saying he will “continue doing everything in my authority to ensure our residents’ First Amendment rights, civil liberties, and personal data are protected.”

In recent months, Milwaukee politicians and residents rebuffed local law enforcement’s efforts to pursue the use of such technology at both the city and county levels, with many citing concerns over racial bias and unjust surveillance of residents.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted last summer to recommend the development of a policy framework for the use of facial recognition technology as worries about its use by local law enforcement grew in the community.

The policy emphasized that the use of such technology doesn’t “suppress First Amendment-related activities, violate privacy, or otherwise adversely impact individuals’ civil rights and liberties,” and called for a pause on acquiring new facial recognition technology until regulatory policies were in place to monitor any existing and new surveillance technology.

In early February, the Milwaukee Police Department paused its pursuit of facial recognition technology after almost a year of pushback from activists and some public officials at public meetings. The department also noted that community feedback was a part of its final decision as well as a volatile political climate amid the federal government’s immigration crackdown.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

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