The head of the Environmental Protection Agency Michael Regan made a stop in East Palestine, Ohio, to speak with residents who continue to raise concerns about the health and safety of their town after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed there two weeks ago.
"Since the fire EPA air monitoring has not detected any levels of health concerns in the community that are attributed to the train derailment," Regan said at a press conference.
The latest reassurance from an official comes following reports of sudden animal deaths, complaints about headaches, and images of ominous skies reported on social media over the last two weeks.
Residents of the village with a population of about 5,000 people have said local, state, and federal agencies have not been forthcoming about the fallout of the derailment and controlled burn of the leaked toxic chemicals in the soil, water and air.
While stating that the Biden administration would support Gov. Mike DeWine with "anything the state needs" in order to recover from the derailment, Regan also emphasized how the rail company itself would be held accountable by the government.
"I am asking that [residents] trust the government, And that's hard. We know that there is a lack of trust, which is why the state and the federal government have pledged to be very transparent," he said.
Blame geography for the U.S. getting hit by stronger, costlier, more varied and frequent extreme weather than anywhere on the planet, several experts said. But that's only part of it.
Residents across a wide swath of the U.S. raced Sunday to assess the destruction from fierce storms that spawned possibly dozens of tornadoes from the South and the Midwest into the Northeast.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved selling overdose antidote naloxone over-the-counter, marking the first time a opioid treatment drug will be available without a prescription.
Millions of Americans could lose access to Medicaid on April 1, and Joe Dunn, senior vice president of public policy at the National Association of Community Health Centers, joined Cheddar News' anchor Shannon LaNier to discuss what this means for public health.
One third of Americans don't have access to primary care providers in their communities, according to a study from the National Association of Community Health Centers published last month.
Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain implant venture, is reaching out to major U.S. neurosurgery centers to potentially begin testing its devices on humans, according to a Reuters report.
