Train derailment, fire prompts evacuation in Tennessee
A car on a CSX train carrying a flammable and toxic substance derailed and caught fire in eastern Tennessee, prompting the evacuation of thousands of people within a 2-mile radius.…
Accidents
NTSB says Amtrak engineer didn’t use cellphone before crash
By JOAN LOWY The engineer driving an Amtrak train wasn’t using his cellphone to talk, text or download data just before the train derailed in Philadelphia last month, safety investigators…
Motorcycle gang shootout started with parking dispute
By EMILY SCHMALL A deadly weekend shootout involving rival motorcycle gangs apparently began with a parking dispute and someone running over a gang member’s foot, police said Tuesday. Waco police…
House speaker decries ‘stupid question’ about Amtrak funds
By ALAN FRAM House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that this week’s fatal Amtrak crash wasn’t caused by a lack of federal funds and mocked a reporter for even asking…
Investigators recover black boxes after train wreck kills 6
By GEOFF MULVIHILL Rescue crews searched the mangled wreckage for victims Wednesday as investigators tried to determine why an Amtrak train hurtled off the tracks in a crash that killed…
AP Essay: Of a plane still missing, and a planet still vast
By TED ANTHONY BANGKOK (AP) — The towering Danish ship Kobenhavn set sail from Argentina one December day, bound for Australia with five dozen souls aboard. Eight…
AP Exclusive: Fuel-hauling trains could derail at 10 a year
The federal government predicts that trains hauling crude oil or ethanol will derail an average of 10 times a year over the next two decades, causing more than $4 billion…
‘American Horror Story’ actor hit by vehicle, badly hurt
Ben Woolf, an actor on “American Horror Story: Freak Show,” was in critical condition Friday after being hit by the side mirror of a passing vehicle in Hollywood. The accident…