Ron Arter and his wife paid cash for the three-bedroom, two-bath house in East Palestine two years ago, a pit stop before their forever home in the countryside.

They hired workers to repave the driveway and paint all the rooms as part of $25,000 in renovations before they would put their home on the market in the fall.

All of that changed last month when a train carrying hazardous materials derailed a mile away from their house in Northeastern Ohio, sending a tall cloud of smoke and chemicals over the town.

“We’re stuck. We’re not going to be able to sell it,” Arter, a 46-year-old engineer, told The Washington Post. “We went all in. We’ve put all that we’ve worked all of our lives for into this house.”

The Feb. 3 derailment has become a political flashpoint...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Placards identifying hazardous materials carried in train cars involved in the fiery East Palestine derailment melted in the heat, preventing first responders from easily identifying what chemicals they were encountering.

Making the problem worse: A railroad company phone app designed to provide emergency crews with up-to-the-minute information about train cargo could not be accessed by emergency crews, 6 On Your Side was told by Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board. The only information available was one paper copy of what was in each car, carried by a fire chief, she said.

But in a derailment where train cars are strewn everywhere, wouldn't the placards have helped far more? "Absolutely. That’s absolutely a problem. That’s right – especially when they’re all bunched up there," she said. "Clearly those placards are incredibly important for emergency responders who are on scene and need to know what’s in tank cars."

Noting that even aluminum placards would have melted just like the plastic ones in the intense heat, she said the ongoing NTSB probe of the Feb. 3 wreck will address the issue of making the standardized warnings sturdy enough to survive the heat of a crash and ensuing blaze.

But that was just one of a pair of revelations Thursday during what Homendy said was her first interview with an Ohio news organization.

On the heels of revelations that Fox News executives shared Democratic ads and debate strategy with Republicans in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, Democratic strategists are urging the party's leadership to cut the network off at the knees.

According to a report from Politico's Christopher Cadelago, the brief submitted by Dominion Voting Systems as part of their $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit not only showed that on-air personalities spewed election lies when they knew better, but "... a related deposition of the media empire’s chair, Rupert Murdoch, revealed that he shared private intel about Joe Biden’s campaign TV ads and provided debate strategy with top Trump advisers."

With that in their minds, Democratic strategists say there is no reason for any Democrats to ever run ads on Fox or make guest appearances -- and they are also questioning whether Fox reporters should be given White House press credentials.

According to Democratic adviser Doug Gordon, "There is nothing in those documents to show they operate like a real news organization. If you are running a campaign in 2024, how do you in good faith hand your ads to Fox when you know they handed them over to Republicans? If there are any general election debates, how do you let Fox be a moderator?”

A white woman who was captured in a viral video spewing angry anti-immigrant, anti-Spanish bile in a Philadelphia-area pizzeria has been charged with ethnic intimidation and harassment. A video, originally uploaded to TikTok by @kellyflores765, received millions of views online after being reshared by multiple users.

In the clip, a white woman, identified by local authorities on Friday as Rita Bellew, stands at the counter at Amy’s Pizzeria speaking with Omar Quiñonez, one of the owners, after apparently being triggered by a TV playing a show in Spanish. “You wanna have Spanish on your TV?” she says, after detailing her family’s alleged history in America. “You’re not American, dude. I will look you the fuck up and get you the fuck out of our town.”

Then, she demands a refund instead of taking her food. “I’m not giving my money to some illegal immigrant,” Bellew says disgustingly. “You’re in America. You’re supposed to learn English.”

On Friday, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele and Hatboro Police Chief James Gardner said they had charged Bellew, 55, for the Feb. 23 disturbance. In a press release, police said they were called to de-escalate the ordeal that involved a “profane, racially fueled tirade.” Quiñonez and his wife and shop co-owner Kelyn Flores, who are Latino, told WHYY Philadelphia that business has only increased since the incident with Bellew went viral.