Month: February 2024

It was a year ago this month that a Norfolk Southern freight train with 38 cars derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.

Twenty of those train cars carried hazardous materials. In the days after the crash officials, decided to burn off one of those hazardous materials, vinyl chloride. The burn and massive plume of smoke it created caused environmental problems and concerns about the health and safety of residents.

A year after that devastating derailment and chemical burn the train company Norfolk Southern and the EPA say the air and water are safe.

The people who have to go on living there aren’t so sure.

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More than 100 people are killed on U.S. roads every day — more than 40,000 people a year. So, it seemed bold, if not crazy, when city leaders across the country began to set their sights on eliminating traffic fatalities completely.

It has now been 10 years since U.S. cities began to adopt the approach known as Vision Zero.

NPR’s Joel Rose reports on what has worked and what hasn’t.

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More than two decades of growing internet use has surfaced fears about the social and psychological impacts of nearly unfettered access to pornography. But many researchers and sex therapists worry that the online communities that have formed in response to these fears often endorse inaccurate medical information, exacerbate mental health problems and, in some cases, overlap with extremist and hate groups.

NPR’s Lisa Hagen speaks about her reporting with NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe.

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Former president Donald Trump is facing dozens of criminal charges, including four felony counts on charges of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump says he’s being persecuted, and that idea resonates with his Christian base.

For people in the US, 2020 was one of the most dangerous years in decades. The first year of the pandemic saw a huge spike in violence. The number of homicides in the country rose about 30 percent from 2019.

Fast forward a couple of years – and things look very different. According to crime analyst Jeff Asher, “2023 featured one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the US in more than 50 years.”

In big cities and small, from the East coast to the West, violence has dropped dramatically.

Despite a significant and measurable drop in violent crime, Americans feel less safe. According to a Gallup poll released in November, more than three quarters of Americans believe there’s more crime in the country than there was last year.

We explore the reasons why the good news on crime isn’t getting through.

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Fox News has been the Republican Party’s biggest cheerleader almost since it premiered in 1996.

Nearly three decades later, many Republicans perceive Fox as the de facto kingmaker for all kinds of Republican candidates — including presidential.

That kingmaker status brought Fox News power, ratings and billions in profits and has spawned a succession of imitators and competition.

But for Fox, that synergy with Trump and the Republicans has come with significant risk and significant consequences.

Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox for defamation after network anchors amplified Trump’s false election claims. The company settled, at a cost of nearly $790 million.

Nevertheless, Fox News still has the power to shape Republican politics as the country heads into another presidential election cycle. But is that power diminished in 2024?

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