After derailment, toxic burn, student-athletes seek normalcy

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) — On the surface, everything looks normal.

There's the East Palestine High School baseball team learning the finer points of baserunning at one edge of Reid Memorial Stadium. At the other, a handful of sprinters dart through the mild March air, the blue parachutes attached to their waists mushrooming behind them as they pick up speed.

Same as it ever was at East Palestine as it transitions from winter to spring sports. Only, not really.

A little over a mile east of the small school — student population 285 — tucked near the Pennsylvania state line, cleanup crews are still dealing with the aftermath of the Feb. 3 train derailment. While no one was hurt, concerns over a potential explosion led state and local officials to approve releasing and burning toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars that forced the evacuations of half the village and closed schools for a week.

More than a month later, the cleanup is ongoing. The legal wrangling over who to blame just starting.

Workers in reflective yellow vests are everywhere you look. There are road closures and a seemingly never-ending series of press conferences and photo ops by state and federal officials, the CEO of rail operator Norfolk Southern, and politicians, including former President Donald Trump. Not to mention all kinds of interlopers — from media to attorneys to environmental activists — who have come to poke and prod a community that wouldn't mind simply getting on with things.

“Sometimes it’s like no offense to you guys, but like, when are we going to have our privacy back?” high jumper Mia Lee, who is a senior, told The Associated Press.

While the dark noxious plumes from the accident are gone, a sense of uncertainty remains.

Residents worried about lingering environmental and...