Eight people were killed – and more than 200 injured, when an Amtrak train crashed in Philadelphia in 2015. Brandon Bostian, the engineer at the time of the derailment, underwent a trial this week and was just acquitted on all counts. We’ll talk with a WHYY reporter who followed the case from the courthouse.

Guest: Laura Benshoff, reporter for WHYY (@LEBenshoff)

The U.S. House of Representatives just passed a bill that would help veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. Our guests are Chad Baer, Army National Guard veteran who was exposed to burn pits and local advocate for fellow vets & their families, and Kelly Kennedy, managing editor at The War Horse, author and combat veteran who first broke the story about the toxicity of military burn pits in 2008.

The recovery of the once endangered bald eagle is a huge success story, but a recent New Jersey state report found they’re facing another challenge: lead poisoning. We’ll talk about what’s causing lead-related illnesses for the birds.

Kathleen Clark, supervising biologist for the Endangered and Non-Game Species Program at the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife

We Recommend

WHYY: Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian found not guilty in 2015 deadly train derailment “We’ve said from the beginning that this was a terrible accident,” said defense counsel Brian McMonagle. “A couple hundred people were forever changed by it, and a good man has been living the ordeal of being asked to pay for a crime he didn’t commit.”

The Washington Post: House passes bill to expand health care for veterans exposed to toxins; 174 Republicans vote against “The bill would expand health-care eligibility for veterans who were exposed to burn pits and other toxins; it must now be reconciled with the Senate’s version of the legislation”