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.
After the gymnastics world was rocked by a major sex abuse scandal, the sport's most decorated Olympic athlete says education for child athletes can protect them from similar abuse in the future. The Magnificent Seven's Shannon Miller told Cheddar that fear of abuse should never prevent young athletes from pursuing their sport.
The latest Instagram trend isn't sponsored content, it's fake sponsored content. Yes, fake ー and it's called "sponcon." As the market grows more crowded, small and mid-level influencers are scrambling to gain credibility, grow their following, and partner with brands.
Securly is a start-up with a simple mission: to keep kids safe online. And the artificial intelligence company has just raised $16 million in series B funding to expand the reach of its social media tracking capabilities to more parents and schools. “We are going to take this money and invest in research and development and scaling up sales and distribution across America,” CEO and co-founder Vinay Mahadik told Cheddar.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018.
Subscriber boxes beware. The business model made popular by companies like Blue Apron, Stitch Fix, Birchbox, and Dollar Shave Club is being put to the test as it tries to prove to investors is it a sustainable strategy.
Facebook can add another problem to its tally: a disappointing update to a civil rights audit the company posted on Tuesday, just hours before The New York Times published an explosive report on the company's mishandling of user data. The audit has been a "black box," according to Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change, one of the groups that has strongly criticized Facebook over civil rights issues on the platform.
This year marked the first voyage for Cheddar's weekly series Cheddar Rides, covering the changes happening in transportation and the future of getting from here to there. To celebrate the last episode of its inaugural year, Rides is looking at the road ahead.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo may have radically changed his stance on marijuana ー but his former Democratic primary opponent Cynthia Nixon shouldn't be congratulated for his shift, according to New York State Assembly Health Committee chair Richard Gottfried. "On this particular issue, I don't think she gets any credit," Gottfried, who has been working on marijuana policy reform since the 70s, told Cheddar Wednesday.
What started with a joke on Twitter two years ago finally became a reality on Tuesday, as The Boring Company unveiled its first tunnel to the public under the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. The big reveal of the 1.14-mile-long tunnel reflected both Musk's eccentric nature and the glitz and glam of Los Angeles, living up to the billionaire's promise that the event would be "more than a tunnel opening." Cheddar's Alyssa Julya Smith got a test ride in the first section of tunnel underneath L.A.
Facebook is doing damage control again after a New York Times report claims the company gave big tech companies such as Amazon and Microsoft more access to user data than previously disclosed. Plus, all eyes are on the Federal Reserve today, as the central bank is poised to raise interest rates for the fourth time this year. And Big Sean tells Cheddar what motivates him to give back to his community.
