Seeking payment, Ohio sues Norfolk Southern over train derailment
Ohio filed a lawsuit against railroad Norfolk Southern to make sure it pays for the cleanup and environmental damage caused by a fiery train derailment on the Ohio-pennsylvania border last month, the state’s attorney general said Tuesday.
The federal lawsuit also seeks to force the company to pay for groundwater and soil monitoring in the years ahead and economic losses in the village of East Palestine and surrounding areas, said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
No one was hurt in the Feb. 3 derailment, but half of the roughly 5,000 residents of East Palestine had to evacuate for days when responders intentionally burned toxic chemicals in some of the derailed cars to prevent an uncontrolled explosion, leaving residents with lingering health concerns. Government officials say tests over the past month haven’t found dangerous levels of chemicals in the air or water in the area.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw apologized before Congress last week for the impact the derailment has had on the area, but he didn’t make specific commitments to pay for longterm health and economic harm.
The railroad has promised more than $20 million so far to help the Ohio community recover while also announcing several voluntary safety upgrades.
Norfolk Southern said Tuesday in a response to the lawsuit that it was listening to concerns from the community and planning to take additional steps to deal with some of those.
The railroad is working on creating a long-term medical compensation fund, a way to provide protection for home sellers if their property loses value because of the derailment, and improving drinking water protections, it said in a statement.
The lawsuit also asks for the railroad to reimburse first responders and state agencies for the costs of dealing with the disaster.
How much money the state is seeking isn’t known yet because the response is ongoing, but Yost made it clear the cost will be enormous.
“This was an epic disaster. The cleanup is going to be expense, ” he said.
China to reopen: China will reopen its borders to tourists and resume issuing all visas Wednesday as it tries to revive tourism and its economy following a three-year halt during the COVID-19 pandemic.
China is one of the last major countries to reopen its borders to tourists. The announcement Tuesday came after it declared a “decisive victory” over COVID-19 in February.
All types of visas will resume from Wednesday. Visa-free entry also will resume at destinations such as Hainan island as well as for cruise ships entering Shanghai that had no visa requirement before COVID-19.
Foreigners holding visas issued before March 28, 2020, that are still valid will be allowed to enter China. Visa-free entry will resume for foreigners entering Guangdong in southern China from Hong Kong and Macao. The notice didn’t specify whether vaccination certificates or negative COVID-19 tests would be required.
Italy gay rights: Gay rights activists Tuesday denounced as homophobic moves by Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-rightled government to limit recognition of parental rights to the biological parent only in families with same-sex parents.
In a move that is expected to impact hundreds of families, the government has told the city of Milan to stop automatically recording both parents in same-sex couples on city registers.
Milan was the last major city to continue the practice that had been briefly adopted in Rome, Turin, Naples and elsewhere after Italy’s high court in 2016 made it easier for gays to adopt a partner’s biological child.
The piece of bureaucracy is key to recognizing parental rights for a range of everyday situations like authorizing medical treatment or participation in class outings.
The president of Rainbow Families, Alessia Crocini, charged that Rome’s order to Milan exposed the government’s homophobia. The government has issued no official statements on the move.
Weinstein retrial: Los Angeles prosecutors told a judge Tuesday that they will not retry Harvey Weinstein, who was convicted in December of the rape and sexual assault of one woman, on counts involving two others that left jurors deadlocked.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson announced the decision to Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench at a hearing in downtown Los Angeles. The judge granted a defense motion to dismiss the charges and said Weinstein would be returned to New York, where he was convicted in a similar case.
Weinstein attorney Jacqueline Sparagna said he maintains his innocence of the charges.
Nkorea missile launch: North Korea test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles Tuesday, a day after the United States and South Korea began military drills that Pyongyang views as an invasion rehearsal.
The missiles launched from the southwestern coastal town of Jangyon flew across North Korea before landing in the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It said both missiles traveled about 385 miles.
The reported flight distances suggest the missiles target South Korea, which hosts about 28,000 U.S. troops. South Korea’s military called the launches “a grave provocation” that undermines stability on the Korean Peninsula.
The U.S. Indo-pacific Command said Tuesday’s launches don’t pose an immediate threat to its allies. But it said the North’s recent tests highlight the “destabilizing impact” of the North’s unlawful weapons programs and that the U.S. security commitment to South Korea and Japan remains “ironclad.”
Israel politics: Hundreds of Israeli writers, artists and intellectuals Tuesday called on Germany and Britain to cancel upcoming visits by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying his plan to overhaul Israel’s judicial system has put the country on a destructive course.
Netanyahu’s coalition, a collection of ultranationalist and ultra-orthodox parties, has barreled ahead with legislation that aims to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court and give them control over the appointment of the nation’s judges.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to protest in the past two months. Protests last week were so large that Netanyahu was forced to take a helicopter to the airport in order to catch a flight for an official visit to Italy.
In a letter addressed to the German and British ambassadors in Israel, some 1,000 Israeli figures said Tuesday that Israel is in the midst of the most extreme crisis in its history and that Netanyahu is trying to turn the country into a “theocratic dictatorship.”