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The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday stopped what would have been the first publicly funded religious charter school in the U.S., turning back conservatives and the state’s GOP governor who have welcomed religious groups into public education.

The high court determined the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board’s 3-2 vote last year to approve an application by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma for the St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School violates the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” The ruling also says both the Oklahoma and U.S. constitutions, as well as state law, were violated.

The case is being closely watched because supporters of the school believe recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have indicated the court is more open to public funds going to religious entities.

Conservative-led states have targeted public schools: Louisiana required them to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms, while others are under pressure to teach the Bible and ban books and lessons about race, sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Under Oklahoma law, a charter school is a public school,” Justice James Winchester, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Frank Keating, wrote in the court’s majority opinion. “As such, a charter school must be nonsectarian.

“However, St. Isidore will evangelize the Catholic school curriculum while sponsored by the state.”

The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and Diocese of Tulsa said in a statement they will “consider all legal options” in response to the court’s ruling.

The court’s decision was 7-1, with one member concurring in part and one member, Chief Justice John Kane IV, recusing himself. Justice Dana Kuehn dissented.

Five of Oklahoma’s nine Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republicans, four by Democrats.

In her dissent, Kuehn wrote that excluding St. Isidore from operating a charter school based solely on its religious affiliation would violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Oklahoma Constitution does not bar Oklahoma from contracting with religious schools as long as state-funded, nonreligious options are available, Kuehn wrote.

Oklahoma’s Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who urged the board not to approve the contract, had asked the state’s high court to intervene and rule on the case. He praised the court’s decision.

“The framers of the U.S. Constitution and those who drafted Oklahoma’s Constitution clearly understood how best to protect religious freedom: by preventing the state from sponsoring any religion at all,” Drummond said in a statement.

The K-12 online public charter school was set to start classes for its first 200 enrollees in the fall, with part of its mission to evangelize its students in the Catholic faith. The archdiocese is seeking guidance from attorneys on whether to open, said Brett Farley, the executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma.

A group of Oklahoma parents, faith leaders and a public education nonprofit sued to stop the establishment of the school.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who supported the board’s decision, said he was disappointed Drummond challenged it and remained hopeful the U.S. Supreme Court would consider the case.

“I’m concerned we’ve sent a troubling message that religious groups are second-class participants in our education system,” Stitt said in a statement. “Charter schools are incredibly popular in Oklahoma – and all we’re saying is: we can’t choose who gets state dollars based on a private entity’s religious status.”

Tesla is recalling its futuristic new Cybertruck pickup for the fourth time in the U.S. to fix problems with trim pieces that can come loose and front windshield wipers that can fail.

Tesla has recalled the stainless steel-clad Cybertruck four times since it went on sale Nov. 30.

The new recalls, announced in documents posted Tuesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, each affect more than 11,000 trucks.

The company says in the documents that the front windshield wiper motor controller can stop working because it’s getting too much electrical current. A wiper that fails can cut visibility, increasing the risk of a crash. The Austin, Texas, company says it knows of no crashes or injuries caused by the problem.

Tesla will replace the wiper motor at no cost to owners, who will be notified by letter on Aug. 18.

In the other recall, a trim piece along the truck bed can come loose and fly off, creating a hazard for other motorists.

Tesla says in documents that the trim piece is installed with adhesive, and that may not have been done properly at the factory.

The company will replace or rework the trim piece so it stays on. Owners will be notified by letter also on Aug. 18.

Three Wrigleyville buildings whose iconic rooftop signs and bleachers overlooking the ballpark were blocked a decade ago when the Cubs added massive outfield video boards are now on track to be redeveloped into a new apartment building.

The buildings between 3627 and 3633 N. Sheffield Ave. long had seating and views of Wrigley’s right field, along with the “Eamus Catuli” sign and the famous Torco billboard. But the buildings’ icons are no longer viable, and the City Council Zoning Committee voted Tuesday to allow the structures to be torn down.

In their place, owners plan to build a five-story, 29-unit apartment building complete with rooftop pickleball courts.

Zoning Chair Ald. Bennett Lawson acknowledged the connection many fans have to the old outfield outcroppings after the committee vote, but said the blocked view made the change necessary.

“There’s always a connection that goes far beyond the four corners of Wrigley Field,” he said.  “But we’ve also seen a lot of change around Wrigley in the last 20 years.”

The two dozen-plus units replacing the three-flats will add “smaller, more accessible” housing for would-be Wrigleyville residents, Lawson said. Most of the new building will not be visible from the ballpark, and the development includes a covenant preventing rooftop seating and signage, he added.

A petition calling for the 103-year-old buildings to be preserved garnered over 2,300 signatures. But with the sight line between the buildings’ rooftops and the field severed, the properties no longer make economic sense, Lawson said. He hosted three community meetings about the project, he added.

“They really have no commercial viability left,” he said. “You can’t see the sign over the scoreboard, can’t see anything on the field, except for maybe other seats.”

The full City Council is set to vote on the development next month.

The Zoning Committee had also been scheduled to weigh a controversial 615-unit Lincoln Park development opposed by Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, but supported by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration. But it got delayed.

Waguespack considers the Sterling Bay development blocks away from the mostly unbuilt Lincoln Yards site to be too big and dense for the area. Johnson’s support of the project had set up aldermen to vote Tuesday against so-called aldermanic prerogative, potentially teeing up a rejection of the customary final say aldermen get over developments in their ward.

Both Waguespack and a Sterling Bay attorney separately requested the project not come up Tuesday, Lawson said. The project must be considered within the next six months and could face a vote at the committee’s next meeting in July.

The anticipated debate still loomed over the committee Tuesday, however. When an unrelated basic zoning change in Waguespack’s ward came up for consideration, Ald. Brendan Reilly made a point to nod to the tradition of only moving forward with a local alderman’s support as he called for a vote.

“Because Ald. Waguespack supports this zoning change, I move to pass,” he said.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com

Norfolk Southern and its contractors botched the decision to blow open five tank cars and burn the vinyl chloride inside after last year’s disastrous derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and trackside detectors that might have prevented the crash failed to accurately detect the temperature of a burning wheel bearing 20 miles beforehand, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Area residents, rail industry representatives and local and state officials packed East Palestine High School’s auditorium Tuesday to hear the NTSB’s investigation findings and recommendations to prevent similar disasters.

Dozens of freight cars derailed Feb. 3, 2023, on the outskirts of East Palestine near the Pennsylvania border, including 11 carrying hazardous materials. Some residents were evacuated that night but days later more had to leave their homes amid fears of an imminent explosion. Despite potential health effects, officials intentionally released and burned toxic vinyl chloride from five railcars three days after the crash, sending flames and smoke into the air.

“On behalf of the entire agency I want to recognize the significant impact this derailment has had,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said at the beginning of the hearing. She added that while some have tried to minimize the wide-reaching effects of the crash because there were no deaths, “the absence of fatality or injury doesn’t mean the presence of safety.”

The NTSB had said early on that an overheated bearing on one of the railcars that was not caught in time by trackside sensors had likely caused the crash. Investigative hearings since then highlighted other possible contributors including widespread rail job cuts and rushed inspections, and also delved into why officials chose to deliberately vent and burn the vinyl chloride.

After confirming on Tuesday the trackside detector failure, NTSB investigators aid that Norfolk Southern and its contractors compromised the integrity of the vent and burn decision by withholding accurate information from Oxy Vinyls, the company that made the vinyl chloride, including evidence that the tank cars were cooling after the crash.

“Norfolk Southern and its contractors continued to assert the necessity of a vent and burn, even though available evidence should have led them to re-evaluate their initial conclusion,” investigator Paul Stancil said.

The railroad defended the decision again Tuesday and said it was based on more than just temperature readings. Officials also had concerns about the way the pressure relief devices malfunctioned on the tank cars. It added that nothing kept Oxy Vinyls from joining the discussion in the command center and sharing its opinion about the tank cars.

Oxy Vinyls experts testified at earlier NTSB hearings they were certain a feared chemical reaction that could have caused those tank cars to explode wasn’t happening. Oxy Vinyls didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

East Palestine resident Jami Wallace said it was striking to hear investigators say officially that the vent and burn wasn’t necessary.

“To hear that they purposely and premeditated the poisoning of thousands of people, of my daughter, my husband, my mom, my dad, my nieces, my nephews, everyone I ever knew or loved,” Wallace said. “How are they allowed to do that and get away with it?”

Ohio’s governor, first responders and the hazardous materials experts who made that decision have said the information they had made them believe an explosion was likely imminent, making the burn the best option despite the risks of unleashing cancer-causing dioxins in the area.

NTSB staff recommended Tuesday that new guidance be developed for deciding when first responders use the vent and burn tactic and that federal standards should be developed for trackside detectors. They also recommended that the Federal Railroad Administration establish rules governing trackside detectors and railroad responses to bearing failure alarms.

At the time of the East Palestine derailment, only one person in Atlanta was monitoring alerts for Norfolk Southern and doing so from home. That person didn’t see the Salem alert about the elevated bearing temperature, but under the railroad’s rules, no action would have been taken because there was only one elevated reading.

Homendy said the analyst that night said he did not get formal lunch or bathroom breaks, but numerous times would run to get his lunch and quickly return to monitoring. She said that’s “certainly not a way to run a railroad.”

Norfolk Southern has since put two people on duty and is trying for three, NTSB investigators said.

The company also announced last week that it will lead an industrywide examination of how to improve the way vent and burn decisions are made in future derailments. That was part of its settlement with the federal government.

Though NTSB recommendations aren’t binding, Congress may be willing to enforce some of them because of the crash’s spotlight on rail safety.

More than a year ago, a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Ohio’s two senators proposed a package of reforms including requiring two-person crews and setting standards for the inspections and detectors that help prevent derailments. The bill ultimately stalled in the U.S. Senate under resistance from Republicans and the railroads. GOP House leaders have said they didn’t want to consider new rail safety regulations until after the final NTSB report was released.

With limited success, federal regulators also pushed for the railroads to make changes like signing onto an anonymous government hotline to report safety concerns. The industry responded to the crash by promising to install more trackside detectors, review the way they are used and help first responders improve their handling of derailments with more training and better access to information about the cargo.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw pledged to “make things right” in East Palestine with more than $100 million in aid to residents and the community. Shaw also hired a consultant from the nuclear power industry to recommend changes and tried to work with labor. Still, critics said Norfolk Southern was too often satisfied in the past with doing only the minimum required for safety and workers reported no big changes in day-to-day operations.

After the derailment, all the major freight railroads pledged work to improve safety by adding hundreds more trackside sensors to help spot problems like overheating bearings and by re-evaluating how they analyze the data from those detectors. The Association of American Railroads trade group said the industry will review the NTSB report and look for additional ways to improve safety.

Federal officials finalized a new rule Monday that will require railroads to inform first responders about what is on a train immediately after a derailment — something that was lacking during the East Palestine derailment. The industry says more than two million first responders now have immediate access to that information via an AskRail app that allows them to look up any train’s cargo.