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A massive train derailment in Illinois — which saw 14 freight cars fly off the tracks — led to a numerous evacuations and a giant chemical fire on Tuesday, according to reports. Footage captured at the scene shows large flames and plumes of smoke shooting up into the air and out from several train cars, which were said to have been carrying a flammable liquid called methyl isobutyl ketone for the Union Pacific transport company. No injuries were immediately reported. The cause of the derailment, which happened around 12:45 p.m. local time, was under investigation. “Approximately 14 rail cars derailed in Union Pacific’s Dupo Yard,” the company said. “A tank car caught fire…The fire was extinguished around 3:15 p.m.” Schools and residencies in the area had to be evacuated due to the exposure to methyl isobutly ketone, which can reportedly cause skin rashes. “Following an air quality test, area evacuations were lifted,” officials said. “Out of an abundance of caution, CTEH, our env...

Shares of L Brands — owner of Victoria’s Secret — bounced 3.8 percent on Tuesday after management promised change is coming to the out-of-favor lingerie maker. But details of the turnaround plan were as skimpy as the retailer’s lingerie itself. At an investor presentation in Columbus, Ohio, L Brands executives freely used buzzwords such as “inclusivity” and “diversity” without laying out how these concepts would be applied to the company behind the Victoria’s Secret Angels. “There’s an opportunity to step back, whether it’s MeToo, inclusivity or rethinking the [fashion] show,” L Brands Chief Financial Officer Stuart Burgdoerfer told investors. “The point is it’s a fine line of rethinking the evolution of the brand.” Behind the scenes, the company appears to be taking baby steps to address criticisms that it has been alienating women by refusing to hire models of different shapes and sizes. Earlier this year, Victoria’s Secret quietly added Barbara Palvin, a Hungarian model, to it...

Mayor Bill de Blasio talked a big game Tuesday about cracking down on Elmo and other costumed creeps harassing tourists and New Yorkers alike in Times Square — but offered no concrete plans for how to do it. “We are going to be all over the situation,” Hizzoner huffed at an unrelated press briefing, held one day after a Post front-page story on troubling new statistics about the handsy hawkers at the Crossroads of the World. The pesky pervs molest 24 passers-by per hour during peak traffic, according to a study by the Times Square Alliance. The statistic was revealed days after Elmo-dressed Inocente Andrade-Pacheco was arrested for allegedly groping a 14-year-old girl as she posed for a photo. “We’re going to make sure the NYPD has everything they need there to very aggressively enforce the law,” said de Blasio, insistent that alleged attacks such as Andrade-Pacheco’s would not become commonplace. “I don’t accept that kind of reality, and we have issued enough warnings to the folk...

A high-priced NFL player isn’t always safe. That’s what Aaron Colvin found out Tuesday after he struggled in a high-profile, nationally televised game. The Texans, who dropped a heart-breaking 30-28 loss to the Saints on Monday night in New Orleans, released the veteran cornerback, a little more than a year into his four-year, $34 million contract, according to NFL Network . He will get $7.5 million for 2019, which was guaranteed. Colvin was the weakest link on a secondary which allowed 362 yards passing in the game. He gave up two touchdowns in the second half. The first came on a 9-yard score by Taysom Hill in the third quarter before he got beat on a 14-yard TD reception by Tre’Quan Smith later in the period. Colvin was also on the coverage when Ted Ginn grabbed a 9-yard reception that set up the game-winning field goal for New Orleans and Drew Brees. After the game, Colvin acknowledged his struggles, but still believed the Texans had a “special defense”. “[Brees is] a great p...

The standoff between the Rangers and restricted free agents Tony DeAngelo and Brendan Lemieux continues as the club prepares to report Thursday for training camp, The Post has learned. President John Davidson thus is faced with the prospect of opening his first camp at the Blueshirts’ helm without two of his projected young, important roster pieces in attendance. The Rangers, we’re told, are standing on their respective one-year qualifying offer of $874,125 to each player. Neither 23-year-old has indicated the slightest interest in signing for that number, which, by the way, represents less than the entry-level cap of $925,000 at which the team signed neophytes Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov, Adam Fox, Igor Shesterkin and Yegor Rykov this summer. According to calculations provided by Capfriendly.com, only one player with as many games experience as Lemieux (72 games), much less DeAngelo (132), has signed a QO coming off entry level this summer. That was the Blackhawks’ Brendan Perlin...

New England Patriots receiver Antonio Brown allegedly raped and sexually abused a woman who worked with him as a personal trainer, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Florida. The woman, Britney Taylor, claims in the suit that Brown abused her twice in 2017 and once in 2018 while playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the first incident, the wide receiver allegedly exposed himself to her and forcibly kissed her without permission during a training session in June 2017. At another training session weeks later, Brown allegedly snuck up behind Taylor as she was watching a church service on her iPad at his home, she charges in the lawsuit. Brown then masturbated and ejaculated on her back, the lawsuit states. “Ewww!” Taylor told Brown after the incident. “oh ‘B’…you know, I’m sorry,” he responded to her before leaving the room. Brown and Taylor cut ties for months after the incident, but eventually reunited when he reached out to her in 2018. In the last incident, Taylor alleg...

Quality of life on the subway is going to hell, Gov. Andrew Cuomo fumed Tuesday. The governor raged about reports of increased fare evasion, filthy trains and worker assaults on the state-run subway system. “It’s this quality of life [issue] that has now walked down the stairs from the street into the subway, and that is a new set of issues that the MTA is going to have to deal with,” he told reporters at an unrelated press conference. He offered a vivid account of deteriorating conditions underground — attributed to an unnamed waiter at New York City restaurant, who purportedly told Cuomo he was randomly slugged on a platform waiting for a train. “That is a new and difficult challenge for the MTA,” said Cuomo, who declined to provide any additional details about the interaction. The governor — who appoints the MTA’s chairman and the plurality of its board — said it was up to the agency to deal with the problems. “The MTA is responsible for the MTA. That’s why they’re called the...

Did that not look better? The Giants did not come close to winning in Week 1, but there is no doubt they have put together a far upgraded product on their offensive line. Eli Manning was sacked one time in 44 drop backs, and that was on a poorly designed fourth-down rollout. There were 151 rushing yards, a robust average of 8.9 yards per attempt. Take away Saquon Barkley’s 59-yard jaunt on his first carry of the season and the average stands at a still-strong 5.8 yards. Kevin Zeitler (who came out of the game with a shoulder issue) and Mike Remmers are clear improvements on the right side. “I think the offensive line did a great job,’’ Manning said. “They did a great job in the run game and the pass game. They protected well all game against a good defensive line, a lot of movement, some blitzes, so I thought the offensive line did a great job. They gave me time to get through my progressions and gave us a chance to be successful.’’ The line graded out as the top run-blocking unit...

Kids are being put to the test before they can even take them. Teacher and public school parent Melanie Kletter has penned an essay for education news site Chalkbeat about NYC’s controversial gifted and talented programs. The tests are currently under fire from Mayor Bill de Blasio and a school-diversity panel created by him, with both considering abolishing the tests for the city’s 4-year-olds in the near future. Children take the test, a screening for admittance to elite academic programs, at such a young age, it is administered in one-on-one sessions with the teacher — and the tots can barely concentrate, according to Kletter, who spent two years as an administrator. “I spent a lot of that time refocusing the child since kids at that age are easily distracted,” she writes, noting that kids would often begin discussing their family, dog, soccer or other off-subject topics. They could, “barely sit still,” she goes on. No surprise, really: Some of them had never even been in a scho...

A Republican state legislator has won an eastern North Carolina congressional seat and will succeed the late GOP Rep. Walter Jones Jr. Physician Greg Murphy defeated Democrat Allen Thomas and two other candidates on Tuesday in the 3rd Congressional District race. Murphy is a state House member who survived a 17-candidate Republican primary in April and a July runoff. Jones died in February after 24 years in Congress. The GOP-leaning district extends from the Virginia border and Outer Banks to the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune, and inland to Greenville. President Donald Trump won the district vote comfortably in 2016, and Murphy said at a Trump rally that he would have the “president’s back” if elected. Thomas is a former Greenville mayor who questioned Murphy’s “blind loyalty” to Trump. Credit: Source link The post GOP’s Murphy wins seat in North Carolina special election appeared first on Fox USA Live . from Fox USA Live https://ift.tt/2Q6crhd

Dramatic photos of FDNY firefighters battling the 2015 East Village gas explosion were shown to jurors in Manhattan on Tuesday. Photos show the smokeeaters barely escaping moments before the blaze reduced a row of historic buildings to rubble. FDNY Lt. Matthew Cassidy can be seen climbing from a bucket onto the 5th-floor fire escape of 121 Second Ave., according to the shots, which were taken by a New York Post photographer. Cassidy testified Tuesday that he entered the top-floor apartment through the window, as prosecutors displayed pictures of the heroic effort at the manslaughter trial of three people charged in the blast that killed two and injured 13. The lieutenant told Manhattan Supreme Court jurors that he used his hand to feel his way along the wall of the smoke-filled room looking for victims when he heard an alarming rumble. “It sounded like a collapse going on,” he testified of the March 26 conflagration. “I heard the floor moving and went to the fire escape and jump...

The Port Authority has called off the Oculus’ annual skylight tribute to 9/11 victims due to the building’s ongoing leaks. Officials quietly dropped the news at the bottom of a press release last week, saying the World Trade Center’s $4 billion transit hub’s skylight will not be opening on Sept. 11 as designed “due to continuing engineering analysis necessary to repair the skylight operating systems.” The Oculus’ skylights were designed to open each year on Sept. 11 at 10:28 a.m. to mark the anniversary of the collapse of the World Trade Center’s second tower. The agency still plans to honor the 84 agency employees killed during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks with a memorial service at St. Peter’s Church on Wednesday afternoon, and display a flag on the George Washington Bridge for all of six hours. The terminal has been plagued by leaking ceilings since it opened in October 2016. In 2017, Post reporters spotted drops coming from the ceiling when it wasn’t even raining. Earlier this ...

US warplanes dropped more than 40 tons of bombs on a ISIS-infested island in Iraq on Tuesday, authorities said. The operation, which targeted the Qanus Island in the Tigris River, was carried out by the US and a coalition of other countries in the fight to permanently erase ISIS strongholds in the country. The extremest group previously controlled large swaths of land in Iraq and Syria when they declared a caliphate in the region. They were defeated in 2017 by a coalition of forces who battled them in northern Iraq. But since their defeat, ISIS cells have sprung up in the region and carried out deadly bombings. Video of the US-led bombing on Tuesday was posted to Twitter by the combined joint task force fighting the militants. It shows an aerial view of the island and spurts of explosions dotting the landscape. “Here’s what it looks like when @USAFCENT #F15 and #F35 jets drop 36,000 Kg of bombs on a Daesh infested island,” the task force wrote on Twitter. With Post Wires Cr...

A high school swimmer from Alaska was disqualified from a race on Friday because the referee ruled she could see “butt cheek touching butt cheek” during the girl’s victorious race, according to a report. The young Dimond High School swimmer was faulted with breaking a National Federation of High Schools rule in her match against Chugiak that states boys must conceal their buttocks and girls must cover their buttocks and breasts, according to The Anchorage Daily News. The meet’s referee explained to Annette Rohde, who was working as an official, that the swimmer’s suit “was so far up I could see butt cheek touching butt cheek,” the report said. The Anchorage School District said in a statement to the paper that they’re reviewing the incident. “The disqualification appears to stem from a difference of opinion in the interpretation of the rules governing high school swim uniforms,” the statement said. “We intend to gather all the facts surrounding the disqualification so we can accu...

There’s been reports of a “monkey” being on the loose in Texas for the past two days, according to local officials. “We do not know type of monkey. We have not set eyes on the monkey,” said Bayou Animal Services, the town-run animal control agency in Santa Fe, Texas, in a Facebook post on Tuesday afternoon. “Do not approach, chase or try and catch a primate if you have sighted said loose monkey,” the agency explained. “Do not go searching for the monkey. Extra people looking for this animal is going to cause a risk of someone getting hurt. A Team that is certified in dealing with primates is on the ground now helping us locate the animal. Do not interfere. Do not attempt to help. They are professionals and know what they are doing.” A number of residents have reported seeing the alleged monkey swinging from trees. Some believe it’s a chimpanzee that escaped from someone’s home. There have been at least two sightings reported since Sunday and two unconfirmed “attacks” so far — inclu...

Cops are on the hunt for a thief who is more strong man than cat burglar — with investigators saying he uses nothing but brute force to break into businesses. The powerful perp’s first feat of strength came on Aug. 6 in Greenwich Village, when he forced his way through the security gate of Madame X, a bar at 94 West Houston St., then busted open the front door, according to police. Video obtained by The Post allegedly shows him in action. The man’s next move was to take a safe from an office in the bar, and heave it, unopened, out the front door. The safe was found on the sidewalk – still unopened – outside of bar. The thief repeated his act on Aug. 26, this time at a laundry at Park’s Laundry at 628 Kings Highway in Sheepshead Bay, cops said. He once again forced his way through both the rolling security gate and the front door before swiping about $300 from the cash register and fleeing the scene, according to police. Cops say the same unidentified man is a suspect in 2 simila...

DETROIT — At a steamy Comerica Park, definitely a ballpark and possibly weather conditions that won’t factor into the Yankees’ postseason, Aaron Boone offered his vision of Domingo German’s October. “I view Domingo playing a really big role for us in the postseason, hopefully,” the Yankees’ manager said on Tuesday, before his team opened a three-game set with the worst-in-baseball Tigers. “I could see it being a lot of different things. I could see him absolutely starting and being that guy for us. I could see him coming into a game in a huge spot and picking up innings both short and [long]. “Nothing has been defined yet there, and it’s something that will probably remain fluid until we’re finished playing.” Yet one could argue that a term already exists for German’s role, courtesy of the 2018 Brewers: The right-hander, like virtually everyone else on the Yankees’ pitching staff, will be an out-getter. The closer we get to these playoffs, the more it looks like the Yankees’ bes...

An Arizona state trooper was arrested Tuesday and hit with a slew of sexual abuse charges after several women said he assaulted them during traffic stops in the state, reports said. The trooper, 43-year-old Tremaine Jackson, was put on desk duty after a woman accused him in June of sexually assaulting her during a traffic stop, Fox 10 Phoenix reported. While they were investigating the claim, police identified eight other women who had been victimized by Jackson, according to the report. All of the women were either stopped or cited by Jackson while he was on-duty as a state trooper, authorities said. Arizona’s Department of Public Safety said they believe more victims may be out there. Col. Frank Milstead, the director of the department, asked any possible victims to come forward. “I implore anyone who had contact to Trooper Jackson who may have been affected by him, who may have been victimized either commentary or through physical action by Trooper Jackson to please come forw...