Kickstart: NTSB hearings have started on Ohio train derailment

East Palestine, Ohio, is back in the news.

The city in southern Ohio was the site of a February train derailment involving rail cars carrying resin as well as vinyl chloride monomer, a PVC feedstock. Fire in the cars prompted emergency officials on-site to release the VCM to avoid a possible explosion, which then led to evacuation orders in the town.

The National Traffic Safety Board began two days of hearings June 22 to try to get to the bottom of what caused the freight cars to derail and whether the aftermath was handled properly.

You can watch the hearings on C-SPAN and NTSB's YouTube page and also access records and interviews with witnesses and experts. There's a lot to try to keep track of, and people with a lot more expertise than me will obviously have conclusions they can draw. For one example, an interview with an expert from Oxy Vinyls LLC — the company shipping the VCM — questions whether the company thought venting the chemical was needed.

The hearings will also cover: communication problems between emergency responders; freight car bearing failures; detection systems that were slow to pick up a fire in the moving train; and the damage and crashworthiness of the rail cars.

That unwanted plastic fork in your takeout from a New York City restaurant may cost the business at least $50 and as much as $250 soon.

The city previously passed a "skip the stuff" rule, which will stop restaurants and food delivery services from including condiment packets, plastic cutlery, straws and other items into takeout meals, unless they're specifically requested.

Now the city has set fines for violating the regulation, ranging from $50 to $250, depending on how many violations a business has had. Those fines won't begin until July 1, 2024.

"New York City is the takeout capita of the world, and nearly all of us are familiar with the kitchen drawer full of old takeout forks, spoons and long-forgotten condiment packets," the city says on a website about the rule. "This new law will move us closer to cutting down on our plastics waste while making this a cleaner, greener city."

The summer months are a good time to get outside, play some golf — and raise money for charities by getting outside and playing a round of golf. A lot of organizations and individual companies sponsor golf tournaments during the warm months.

Wisconsin's Orbis Corp. — a maker of reusable packaging — has raised $750,000 through its annual golf tournament to support a children's medical care program that has trained more than 100 pediatric intensive care doctors since 1985, covering doctors operating in 20 states.

The most recent tournament, on June 13 in Lake Geneva, Wis., raised $330,000 for Children's Wisconsin Pediatric Simulation and Resuscitation Program.

"The impact Children's Wisconsin has on families is profound, and we are grateful to be part of their journey," Orbis President Norm Kukuk said in a news release. "We extend our heartfelt appreciation to our dedicated suppliers for joining forces with us to raise these crucial funds."