Free Republic

Norfolk Southern reached a $600 million settlement in a class action lawsuit filed after a toxic train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. The deal, announced Tuesday, resolves all claims within a 20-mile radius of the accident in East Palestine, Ohio, that unfolded in February 2023. It is pending federal court approval. The Center Square reached out to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office for comment but did not receive a response before this publication. Both the governor’s administration and President Joe Biden have been openly critical, however, of Norfolk Southern’s response to the derailment and accused the railroad of prioritizing profits over...

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) may have publicly berated Norfolk Southern Railroad after the East Palestine Disaster, but privately he lavishly directed federal funds their way only days after accepting a campaign donation from their high-powered lobbyist. The donation and grant announcement occurred after the February 23, 2023, rail disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, which sits on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. A Norfolk Southern train more than a mile long derailed, scattering dozens of train cars and toxic chemicals which spewed columns of black smoke for days.

An object uncovered by archaeologists in Norfolk, England, is “completely unlike” anything else ever discovered, experts said Monday. The tiny 19.4 mm (o.7 inch) object is a gilded silver relic, adorned with intricate designs appearing to show an animal looking over its shoulder, according to The Telegraph. The piece is believed to be at least 1,200 years old and archaeologists reportedly can’t determine the purpose of the mysterious object. Detectorists found the piece in a crumpled condition, but it appears to be a round object with shallow sides, making it somewhat dish-shaped. “It was made by someone with a real...

President Joe Biden has issued an executive order holding Norfolk Southern accountable for its involvement in the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, seven months ago. Issued Wednesday, the executive order, which comes seven months after the crash on February 3 of this year, says it is “critical that Norfolk Southern continue to be held fully accountable under the law for this disaster, and continue to provide resources to address the effects in East Palestine and surrounding communities.” “My Administration has mobilized a robust, multi-agency effort to support the people of East Palestine, Ohio, and surrounding communities,” Biden’s order adds.

A Virginia woman is still fighting to hold her city accountable after a sanitation truck damaged her car five months ago. Chavonne Grant said the city’s trash truck hit her 2007 BMW 328i parked outside her home in Norfolk, Virginia and caused major damage, but nobody has been held responsible so far. “There’s a gaping hole right here, the whole tire rod, the tire was flattened. The bumper was pushed up, but the bumper was on the ground. It’s completely cracked. … The hood had to be pushed down,” Grant told WAVY. “There’s a gaping hole right here, the whole...

Norfolk Southern - the railway company whose train derailed last month in East Palestine, Ohio, contaminating the surrounding area with toxic chemicals - announced Thursday night that it had determined that some of its railcars, of a specific make and model, had loose wheels. During its cleanup of the derailment site, Norfolk Southern investigators discovered that a "specific model and series of railcars had loose wheels," the company said in a news release Thursday night, calling the discovery "an urgent safety issue." The wheels came from "a series of recently acquired cars from a specific manufacturer," Norfolk Southern said. Norfolk...

Hours before Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw appeared before Congress on Thursday, another of the rail operator's trains derailed in Alabama. Around 37 train cars came off the tracks in Calhoun County, according to the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency. "There are no injuries and no reports of leaks of hazmat also, we have no road blockages," it said in a Facebook post. Norfolk Southern told FOX Business in an emailed statement that the incident occurred in Piedmont.

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) pressed Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw Thursday on the railroad’s history of lobbying against stricter safety regulations at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio. Whitehouse specifically cited a 2015 Obama-era regulation that required more modern electronic brakes for trains carrying hazardous materials, which Norfolk Southern called “not in the public interest” and lobbied to weaken before the Trump administration scrapped it outright in 2018.

A U.S. union official alerted the Biden administration to health problems caused by the Norfolk Southern derailment in February, saying that some workers have become sick. In a letter obtained by CNBC, union representative Jonathon Long said Wednesday that rail workers have fallen ill at the East Palestine, Ohio, crash site. "Many other Employees reported that they continue to experience migraines and nausea, days after the derailment, and they all suspect that they were willingly exposed to these chemicals at the direction of NS [Norfolk Southern]," the letter reads.

Experts believe that the "exceptional" treasure trove could lead to more discoveries in the area. The front and back of a gold coin from the ancient Roman empire. The front shows Augustus Caesar and the back shows his grandson on a horse. One of the gold coins from the Roman empire found in the English countryside. Augustus Caesar is featured on the front, and his grandson Gaius on horseback is depicted on the back. (Image credit: Two of the 11 gold coins from the Roman empire found in the English countryside. Photo by Adrian Marsden) A cache of gold coins...

Set in a remote, windswept salt marsh next to the sea, 54 wooden posts 10ft high stood lashed into a circle, so tightly bound together it was almost impossible to see through the cracks. At the circle's centre was an upturned tree, its roots reaching toward the heavens like branches... Now the mysterious structure, known as Seahenge, will go on display for the first time as part of the British Museum's blockbuster exhibition, The World of Stonehenge, which opens in February. Like the mythical lost city of Atlantis, Seahenge lay silently waiting to be discovered for thousands of years... Imagine...

The trans Old Dominion professor who defended pedophiles by saying society should refer to them as 'Minor Attracted Persons' has finally resigned after 15,000 people signed an online petition to have them removed from their teaching role. Dr. Allyn Walker, 34, who goes by the pronouns they/them, was placed on leave by Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, last week after a swell of outrage over their remarks and views.

The Virginia police officer who abruptly lost his job after it was revealed he donated to Kyle Rittenhouse's defense fund wants his job back after a jury concluded that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense and declared him not guilty of murder. What is the background? Norfolk Police Lt. William Kelly was fired in April after the Guardian revealed the names of police officers and other public officials who donated to Rittenhouse's legal defense fund. Kelly reportedly donated $25, and used his department-issued email address while making the donation. Kelly also left a message on the crowdsourcing website that read, "God bless....

The Norfolk Virginia Police Department fired Sgt. William K. Kelly III for donating anonymously $25 to Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense. The department only found out because a hacker group released the information of the anonymous users.A jury found Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts.Kelly wants his job back.Kelly told The Daily Mail he thought Rittenhouse was innocent based on videos. He also explained why he donated:‘Everything I’m saying is just my personal opinion. I’ve been a homicide detective, a violent crimes investigator for years. I have a background. I watched the video of the shooting and I’d seen the video of...

An assistant professor at a Virginia university is taking heat for saying it isn’t necessarily immoral for adults to be sexually attracted to children — prompting college officials to put out a statement clarifying the claim. Allyn Walker, who teaches sociology and criminal justice at Old Dominion University, made the controversial comment while discussing “minor-attracted persons” and pedophiles during a Nov. 8 interview with the Prostasia Foundation, a San Francisco-based child protection organization. Walker was discussing their book, “A Long Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity,” when he insisted it’s important to use that terminology instead of...

A “non-binary” associate professor at Old Dominion University has called for the “stigma” of pedophilia to be ‘delegitimized’.Yes, really.The Prostasia Foundation, a registered 503c which has called for child-like sex dolls to be legalized, posted an interview with Allyn Walker, a female-to-male transgender, who outlined her views on “minor attraction.”Walker, an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, is the author of a book called ‘A Long, Dark Shadow: Minor Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity’.In the interview, Walker insists that the term “minor attracted people” should be used in preference to...

Some Americans may be unaware that efforts to create a sovereign country in the New World began a century before our Founding Fathers fought a revolution to give form to that desire.Without fully understanding its long term implications or its ultimate impact upon the entire planet, the American colonists knew instinctively, as if directed by divine guidance, that in order to free themselves from the strangling yoke of the British Empire, they had the right, the duty to establish their own country based on natural law, to define their own borders, to create their own laws and their own authority.Little...

Joint Force Command Norfolk, has reached Full Operational Capability (FOC) and held a ceremony on Thursday at 10 a.m., to mark the occasion. This new command is part of the allied command operations structure, the Navy said. It will provide a United States-led, joint multi-national operational command, supported by component, Allied and partner commands, responsible for the North Atlantic and the High North.Its mission is to protect the Strategic Lines of Communication across all domains, and enable the reinforcement of Europe, according to the Navy.Military leaders said China and Russia are upping their presence in the Atlantic. "Both have increased...

After a Norfolk, Virginia, police officer was fired for donating $25 to Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal defense fund when a hacker-connected group gave “breached” data about anonymous donations to the media, the Christian crowdfunding site that processed his donation is now collecting donations for him. Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDOS), which the Department of Homeland Security deemed a “criminal hacker group,” obtained the email addresses of anonymous donors to various crowdfunding campaigns on the site GiveSendGo, an alternative to GoFundMe that allows people to send prayers or money to people. The Guardian, a British newspaper, used the data to dox rank-and-file...

Click here to read the full articleA Vir­ginia cop has been fired for anony­mous­ly donat­ing $25 to Kenosha shoot­er Kyle Rit­ten­house­’s legal fund with a note say­ing ‘you’ve done noth­ing wrong’.Nor­folk Police Lt. William K. Kel­ly lost his job after a hack revealed the names of those who gave mon­ey to help with the 18-year-old’s costs.Rit­ten­house is accused of killing two pro­test­ers and wound­ing a third dur­ing a demon­stra­tion against police bru­tal­i­ty in Wis­con­sin last August 25.