Train Carrying Oil Derails, Explodes — Threatens Alabama Wetland

Investigations look into what went wrong on the rails, but another community still suffers cost of oil accidents while the industry makes billions.

Trisha Marczak
By Trisha Marczak

A train carrying North Dakota crude oil derailed and exploded in Alabama Friday, shooting flames hundreds of feet into the air and polluting wetlands in what could be recognized as one of the most significant oil-related train disasters in the U.S. No injuries were reported in the incident and the cause remains unknown, yet the oil involved in the

Read Full Article

Report: Hastings Was Investigating CIA Director John Brennan Before Deadly Crash

The veteran journalist claimed in an email that he was under federal investigation just hours before his death.

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke

Investigative journalist and war correspondent Michael Hastings, 33, who died in a car-wreck earlier this June, was working on a story for Rolling Stone about CIA Director John Brennan, according to his widow Elise Jordan. Hastings, a reporter for BuzzFeed and Rolling Stone, became well-known after he wrote a piece for Rolling Stone in which he

Read Full Article

New Crash Footage Fuels Rumors Surrounding Journalist Michael Hastings’ Death

Newly released surveillance footage shows what appears to be an uncharacteristically bright explosion from the crash.

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke

New surveillance footage from Los Angeles restaurant Pizzeria Mozza, which captured the single-vehicle car accident that killed investigative journalist and war correspondent Michael Hastings, 33, earlier this year in June, confirms reports from at least seven neighbors that they heard multiple large explosions. According to San Diego 6 News,

Read Full Article

Lac-Mégantic Victims Challenge Industries Behind Deadly Explosion

Death toll climbs to 42 as the environmental costs of the train-derailment disaster continue to mount.

Lauren McCauley
By Lauren McCauley

Two residents of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec have filed a class action lawsuit against the corporations behind the July 6 train derailment and explosion which killed nearly fifty people and devastated the small Canadian town. Yannick Gagne and Guy Ouellet, who together own the Musi-Cafe — a bar that was crowded with people the night it was destroyed by

Read Full Article

Officials Investigating Texas Chemical Plant Explosion Find Lax Regulations

A federal agency investigating an explosion at a fertilizer plant reported outdated rules that are far weaker than those of other countries.

Associated Press
By Associated Press

HOUSTON — A federal agency investigating a deadly explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant told a Senate committee Thursday that regulation of the dangerous chemicals used in the industry fall under a "patchwork" of standards that are decades old and are far weaker than rules used by other countries. The U.S Chemical Safety Board is the first

Read Full Article

Catholic Church, FBI Blame Cult For Perpetuating Drug War

The Vatican and Mexico are debating the merits of a cult operating under the guise of Christianity.

Trisha Marczak
By Trisha Marczak

The Vatican and Mexico are debating the merits of a cult operating under the guise of Christianity -- one that the FBI has deemed a dark religion playing a role in drug-related violence that has led to the deaths of more than 70,000. At the forefront of the debate is Santa Muerte, revered and worshipped by Mexican Catholics as a supernatural

Read Full Article