There is at least one story that Hurricane Katrina has barred from entering the national stage. Since Katrina is likely to hold onto the attention of mainstream national media outlets for the next day or two, this other story is likely never to make it beyond the local news market of Cincinnati, OH. Since approximately 6:30pm EDT yesterday, a rail car has been spewing gas into the atmosphere; evacuating several neighborhoods and closing businesses and an airport.
What is so remarkable about this you ask? The rail car is filled with a chemical, styrene that degrades into, in part, the highly volatile chemical benzene. To top it all off, the car has been sitting in this same spot, abandoned, for 9 months. Yes, 9 months, and no one seems to be able to answer how that could have happened. The homeland security aspect to having an abandoned rail car with a dangerous cargo parked next to an airport for 9 months is truly staggering.
Read more here (front page so updates will be current).
