President Biden to visit East Palestine.

President Biden will visit the eastern Ohio community that was devastated by a fiery train derailment almost one year ago, accepting an invitation from the East Palestine mayor to see firsthand how the cleanup of spilled toxic chemicals and the recovery are coming along. Mayor Trent Conaway, a conservative who does not support Biden, says he extended the invitation to the Democratic president because he thinks the visit will be good for his community. The White House says the President would visit sometime in February. The Feb. 3, 2023, derailment forced thousands of people from their homes near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Area residents still have lingering fears about potential health effects from the toxic chemicals that spilled in the crash and from the vinyl chloride that was released a few days after the crash to keep five tank cars from exploding. The absence of a visit by the President, who is campaigning for reelection in November, had become a subject of persistent questioning at the White House, as well as among residents in East Palestine. He ordered federal agencies to hold Norfolk Southern accountable for the derailment and appointed an official from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to oversee East Palestine’s recovery.