Ohio
Ohio teen admits to causing car accident, chemical spill that killed 5: ‘Totally my bad’
Chemical spill from train in Ohio caught on camera
“You can smell but I don’t know what it smells like.”
The East Palestine train derailment and styrene leak near Cincinnati happened within Ohio.
Now, an Ohio teen has admitted to cutting off a tanker semi-truck in central Illinois that overturned and killed five people from a chemical spill caused by the crash.
Here’s what we know.
Ohio teen admits triggering crash; resulting chemical spill killed five people
A report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shows that the 2023 tanker truck collision released hazardous chemicals that prompted evacuations in Teutopolis, Illinois. The truck carried around 7,500 gallons of anhydrous ammonia. More than half of the toxic chemical from inside the tank leaked out. Of the five who died from the exposure, three were members of a family that included an adult and two children under 12-years-old.
The 17-year-old Ohio girl—whose name was concealed since she was a minor—admitted that she passed the truck when driving a minivan. “Oh, (expletive). Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Yep, totally my bad. Wow. Holy (expletive),” she said during an Oct. 2023 Illinois State Police interview, the Associated Press reports.
Inside the minivan were the Ohio teen, her mother and her brother headed to St. Louis. She admitted fault for the accident and estimated she was driving about 90 mph to make sure she had enough clearance to pass the truck. The posted speed limit on US-40 was 55 mph, according to the NTSB.
“It was totally my fault,” she said to NTSB investigators. “I’ve honestly in the past had times when I just don’t use good judgment in judging, like, distances and whether I have enough time for something.”
Throughout the interview, the teen maintained that she had no idea the crash happened until they were preparing to return home. “Nobody said, ‘Oh, the guy behind you drove off the road.’ That would’ve been a huge deal for everybody. We would’ve been like, ‘Oh, (expletive), I just caused something really bad to happen.’”
According to the NTSB, the tanker truck driver attempted to avoid a collision but skidded off the road and ultimately struck a utility trailer, where the hitch punctured the tank and released the anhydrous ammonia, a known lung-damaging agent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
POMEROY, Ohio (WCHS) — A fire destroyed one home and damaged two others Wednesday evening, but then rekindled early Thursday morning and destroyed another home, police said.
The fire was first reported just after 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday night in the 300 block of Wetzgall Street in Pomeroy, according to a press release from the Pomeroy Police Department.
According to police, the fire spread to the two homes on either side of the original home on fire. Firefighters contained the fire and saved the two surrounding homes, but the home that first caught fire was deemed a total loss.
Then, just after 3 a.m. on Thursday morning, the fire rekindled and spread to one of the other homes, resulting in a total loss of that home as well, police said.
Pomeroy police said both homes were occupied at the time of the fires, but all occupants of each home were able to exit their homes safely. Police also said that there were no reported injuries, though both families lost everything they owned due to the total losses of the homes.
The cause of the fire has not been determined, and the incident is still under active investigation by the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office, according to police.
What we know about student loans and the Education Department
Will Education Department restructuring affect your student loans? Here’s what we know know.
Student loan borrowers under the Biden-era student loan repayment plan, Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE), may soon have to select a new repayment plan after the U.S. Department of Education agreed to a measure to permanently end the program.
A proposed joint settlement agreement announced Tuesday between the DOE and the State of Missouri seeks to end what officials call the “illegal” SAVE program, impacting more than seven million SAVE borrowers who would have to enroll in another program. The settlement must be approved by the court before it can be implemented.
Ohio borrowers carry some of the nation’s highest student loan debt. Here’s how the proposed change could affect them.
What is the SAVE plan?
Originally known as REPAYE, the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan was created to deliver the lowest monthly payments among income-driven repayment programs. Under the Biden administration, it became the most affordable option for borrowers.
According to USA TODAY, the SAVE plan was part of Biden’s push to deliver nearly $200 billion in student loan relief to more than 5 million Americans. It wiped out $5.5 billion in debt for nearly half a million borrowers and cut many monthly payments down to $0.
But officials in President Donald Trump’s administration claim the Biden plan was illegal.
Why does the Department of Education want to end the SAVE plan?
The DOE says the SAVE plan aimed to provide mass forgiveness without congressional approval, costing taxpayers $342 billion over 10 years. In a press release, the Department said the administration promised unrealistically low payments and quick forgiveness without legal authority.
“The Trump administration is righting this wrong and bringing an end to this deceptive scheme,” Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in a release. “Thanks to the State of Missouri and other states fighting against this egregious federal overreach, American taxpayers can now rest assured they will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for illegal and irresponsible student loan policies.”
If the agreement is approved by the court, no new borrowers will be able to enroll in the SAVE plan. The agency says it will deny any pending applications and move all SAVE borrowers back into other repayment plans.
Borrowers currently enrolled in the SAVE Plan would have a limited time to select a new repayment plan and begin repaying their student loans.
The DOE adds that it is working on the loan repayment provisions of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, which created a new Income-Driven Repayment plan called the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), that will be available to borrowers by July 1, 2026.
How many people in Ohio have student loan debt?
Numbers from the Education Data Initiative show that there are about 1.7 million student loan borrowers in Ohio, carrying over $60 billion in debt. The average student loan debt is approximately $35,072.
Ohio also ranks No. 10 among the states with the most student debt, according to personal finance site WalletHub.
How much money does Ohio get from the Department of Education?
The DOE budget for Ohio for fiscal year 2025 is estimated to be more than $5.65 billion, The Columbus Dispatch previously reported.
President Trump announced his intentions to eliminate the Department of Education earlier this year, meaning that Ohio could lose more than $5 billion in annual funding.
An employee of a Papa Johns restaurant in Cincinnati, Ohio, is accused of shooting and killing a man inside the store on Tuesday night.
Police in Cincinnati said Murphy Tilk, 21, fatally shot 23-year-old Nawaf Althawadi inside the West Price Hill restaurant around 11 p.m., CBS affiliate WKRC reported. When first responders arrived at the restaurant on West Eighth Street, they performed life-saving measures on Althawadi, who died at the scene. Officials said the 21-year-old Tilk, who was taken into custody without incident and charged, is a Papa Johns employee, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Tilk booked into the Hamilton County Justice Center on a first-degree murder charge, the center’s records show. During Tilk’s initial court appearance on Wednesday, he was held without bond. The 21-year-old man has a bond hearing set for Saturday.
Law enforcement has not said what led up to the shooting or if Tilk and Althawadi knew each other. Police are investigating the shooting.
KDKA reached out to Papa Johns on Wednesday evening for comment, but has not heard back.
Papa Johns is a pizza chain with 6,000 locations globally, according to its website. It has 15 locations in Cincinnati.
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