More details emerged yesterday about what caused the Norfolk Southern train derailment earlier this month, an accident that's captivated public attention and drawn partisan ire, Emily writes.

Why it matters: Accusations, speculation, conspiracies and finger-pointing flourished in the information vacuum following the Feb. 3 derailment — turning it into a kind of Rorschach test for politicians, industry insiders and the public. Yesterday's report offers a more fact-based understanding of events.

The latest: The report by the National Transportation Safety Board found that a wheel bearing, which connects the wheel to its axis, overheated on a hopper car toward the front of the train.

• That set off an "audible alarm" on the train. The crew tried to slow the train, with the goal of inspecting the bearing, according to the NTSB's preliminary report.
• During the deceleration, the wheel bearing failed and the train derailed, said NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy during a press conference Thursday.
• "This was 100% preventable," she added.

Zoom out: There's finger-pointing all around. Republicans are accusing President Biden of not reacting swiftly enough — with some in the party leveraging populist arguments criticizing public health regulators and corporate elites who don't care about regular people.

• Conspiracy theorists are also running with this news, spreading misinformation on TikTok.
• Meanwhile, Democrats are pointing at the railroad companies and at the Trump White House for relaxing certain safety regulations around trains and chemicals.
• The rail unions, still smarting from the bruising labor negotiations of last year, are accusing the railroad industry of sacrificing safety for profits (see the chart below).

For the record: "Safety is critical to all the industry does and any suggestion to the contrary is categorically false," a spokesperson for the Association of American Railroads, which works with all the freight operators, told Axios.

• "We and the rail industry need to learn as much as we can from this event," Norfolk Southern said in a statement Thursday.

What's next: The NTSB will investigate how the bearing failed. It's known in the industry that bearings can cause catastrophic failures, she said.

• It’s also looking into the response to the accident, which has been widely criticized, as well as staffing, maintenance and a host of other issues.
• Crucially: Regulators will examine how Norfolk Southern uses alerts like the one that went off here. (Workers have said they've cut too many corners in this area, as FreightWaves reported Thursday.)
• The investigation will take 12–18 months, but if the agency sees something urgent, it will act. There are at least eight other agencies, unions and companies conducting fact-finding alongside the NTSB.

What to watch: Lawmakers and many inside, or close to, the industry hope the accident will spur regulatory changes.

• "I gotta tell you, ever since I came into this job, I have seen the power that multibillion-dollar railroad companies wield — and they fight safety regulations tooth and nail. That's gotta change," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on "Good Morning America" earlier this week.

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✈️ Boeing temporarily halts deliveries of 787 Dreamliner jets. (Reuters)

🎨 The DOJ is prepping an antitrust suit to block Adobe’s $20 billion acquisition of Figma. (Bloomberg)

🚔 Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson arrested on fraud charges. (NYT)

It was another rough day for one-time celebrity crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.

• Driving the news: A fresh indictment unsealed yesterday in the Southern District of New York includes four new charges against the founder of the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX — on top of the eight counts he was charged with in December, Axios Crypto co-author Brady Dale reports.

Why it matters: The latest document appears to offer up more evidence that Bankman-Fried knew exactly what was happening as FTX and its hedge fund affiliate, Alameda Research, unraveled — and even directed much of the alleged illegal activity — contrary to Bankman-Fried's public insistence that he was simply asleep at the wheel, unaware.

• "Bankman-Fried falsely projected ignorance about Alameda's affairs," the indictment reads.

Go deeper: The document details how Bankman-Fried allegedly directed Alameda executive Caroline Ellison on ways to hide the fact that Alameda's venture investments were coming from FTX customer funds.

• It alleges that while FTX was using Alameda bank accounts to house FTX customer deposits, Bankman-Fried and company insiders hid that from their banking partners.
• Moreover, during audits, Bankman-Fried expressed confidence FTX could hide alleged misappropriation of funds from auditors, the indictment says.

The kicker: The indictment quotes a text message Ellison sent Bankman-Fried as the companies fell. "I just had an increasing dread of this day that was weighing on me for a long time, and now that it's actually happening it just feels great to get it over with one way or another."

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The employment rate for Americans with disabilities hit a new record last year, according to government data out Thursday, Emily writes.

Why it matters: This is a big surge. Folks with disabilities face extraordinary obstacles when it comes to getting jobs.

• High levels of bias and discrimination have long kept unemployment levels high for this group.

Zoom out: There are a few reasons for the employment increase over the last few years. For one, remote work has made it possible for more people with disabilities to work.

• And, less heartening: The COVID pandemic, and especially long COVID, led to an increase in the number of Americans with disabilities.

A warm winter, strong production and rising inventories have clobbered U.S. natural gas prices, Matt writes.

Why it matters: The tumble in natural gas prices — which should translate into lower electricity and heating bills for many consumers — is another helpful force pushing inflation lower.

• Searing natural gas prices have been key contributors to inflation: Over the last year, consumer gas prices were up nearly 27%.

The latest: Benchmark futures prices for U.S. natural gas — the so-called Henry Hub contract — are down roughly 40% since the start of the year.

• The drop from the August peak is nearly 80%.

What they're saying: "Although latest weather forecasts show colder days on the horizon, particularly in the Pacific and Mountain regions, this is unlikely to cause a material uptick in demand. So, we should expect moderate demand at best," wrote analysts with Rystad Energy, a research firm.

The bottom line: Lower gas prices look likely to hang around, helping in the battle against inflation.