Norfolk Southern refused to attend the public meeting, afraid that the locals would riot and hurt the railroad representative (thank you Robert K!)

Residents were expecting a representative from Norfolk Southern to answer their questions at the town hall meeting. But in a statement, Norfolk Southern said it would not send anyone to the meeting due to concerns about employees’ safety.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3861036-norfolk-southern-backs-out-of-east-palestine-public-meeting-citing-worker-safety-concerns/

FWIW, 

the NTSB has identified the initial rail car to blame for the incident, and said in a statement on Tuesday that a video from a residence showed the car’s wheel bearing was “in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment.” 20 miles before the crash... at 40 mph, that's 30 minutes AT LEAST that the problem could, should, ought to have been noticed IF the railroad company were safety conscious, and were as capable as aa ring camera on someone's porch, of spotting a burning rail car bearing.