Iowa, Osceola County, Sibley City Welcome Monument Sign. (Photo by: Bernard Friel/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
An evacuation order remained in place Monday for part of a northwest Iowa town as firefighters worked to extinguish a burning train after a weekend derailment.
About 47 cars derailed Sunday afternoon near Sibley, including several cars that were carrying hazardous materials. The resulting fire created a thick plume of black smoke but no injuries were reported.
Sibley is a town of about 3,000 people roughly 200 miles (322 kilometers) northwest of Des Moines. The west end of the town was evacuated after the derailment.
Union Pacific spokeswoman Robynn Tysver said the railroad's hazardous materials experts worked with first responders through the night to contain the blaze.
Tysver said several cars involved in the derailment were carrying hydrochloric acid, potassium hydroxide and asphalt. An empty tank car on the train had been carrying liquid ammonia nitrate.
The railroad said the cause of the derailment remains under investigation, but witnesses reported that a bridge had collapsed underneath the train.
Robin Eggink told the Des Moines Register that she and her husband noticed the train slowing down followed by a big cloud of smoke as they were eating at a Pizza Hut outside of Sibley on Sunday. The family drove near the site of the smoke and saw the train split in two on both sides of a bridge that had collapsed before firefighters ordered them out of the area, Eggink said.
Members of the Kappa League mentoring program at Wyandanch Memorial High School in Long Island, NY are preparing for an educational trip to Ghana. Principal Paul Sibblies is on a mission to enrich his students' lives to put some of them in touch with their roots. "When you invest in young people, then it's the greatest investment you can make," he said.
A group of 15 students recently graduated from SANYS U., a six-week program held by the Self Advocacy Association of New York State. The course helps people with disabilities to advocate on their own behalf, learning more about their rights, legislation and issues that matter most.
The minivan is turning 40 years old this year. While it made up just 1.8 percent of the car market in 2022, that number could begin to tick up, as more families increase interest in the car's advantages. Cheddar News' senior reporter Michelle Castillo takes a deeper look at the minivan's lineage.
