The biggest Pittsburgh stories of 2021

It is the final day of 2021, so we’re taking a second to look again on the greatest tales of the yr, from the WESA newsroom.

COVID-19, yr two

The yr dawned with concern and hope, as instances and deaths neared their peaks, whereas vaccinations had been beginning for well being care employees. There was a short second in early summer when cases slowed and life virtually went again to regular. That second was quashed by the delta variant, which drove up cases this fall. Now, as WESA’s Sarah Boden reported, omicron is here in Allegheny County, exams are onerous to seek out, eating places are as soon as once more closing resulting from constructive instances and even Ed Gainey’s mayoral inauguration is going virtual.

Well being consultants say we’re doubtless on the cusp of a local omicron deluge, however vaccines — and particularly boosters — stay protective against severe illness. Fortuitously, Allegheny County boasts one of many highest full-vaccination charges within the state, with 66% of the inhabitants totally vaccinated (and 85% of the inhabitants over 65 years previous totally vaxxed), per the CDC.

12 months three, right here we come. (Additionally, your mom known as, and he or she stated to get your booster.)

Katie Blackley

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90.5 WESA

Colleges battle

It was a rollercoaster for faculties in every single place, as educators, faculty boards and fogeys fought about digital schooling, curriculum and masks mandates. However no native district confronted greater challenges than Pittsburgh Public Colleges. As WESA’s Sarah Schneider reported, PPS had no fast solutions for a bus driver scarcity that left hundreds of students with out transportation, and was hit by a drop in enrollment in early grades. After which Superintendent Anthony Hamlet resigned amidst an ethics controversy on Oct. 1.

The newest: The PPS board accepted a 3% property tax increase and $668 million budget — with a $56 million deficit — in late December.

The state’s cloudy political future

The previous yr was a doozy for Pennsylvania’s political scene, thanks in no small half to an ongoing disinformation marketing campaign by former President Donald Trump and his supporters about how the 2020 election was conducted in Pennsylvania. We requested WESA’s authorities and accountability editor Chris Potter to look again and forward:

“Change is inevitable, and few locations noticed extra of it than Pittsburgh. Town elected its first Black mayor, Ed Gainey. That historic achievement is all of the extra notable as a result of it occurred as town’s Black inhabitants has dwindled — a years-long decline that was itself a driving difficulty in his primary victory over Invoice Peduto. Peduto palms over a metropolis that he led out of fiscal austerity: Gainey’s challenges will embrace increasing that prosperity so all Pittsburghers can share in it.

Gainey’s victory was no outlier: Black candidates — ladies particularly — had unprecedented success this yr, main a Democratic sweep of local judicial races. As WESA’s Ariel Worthy reported, ladies of shade are taking part in key roles on Gainey’s transition team.

Looking forward to 2022, the prospects of a conservative restoration loom giant, as battles to manage state and federal authorities await. President Joe Biden’s approval scores are dismal, which can assist Republicans retake Congress: Pennsylvania’s personal U.S. Senate seat could possibly be an important think about deciding the destiny of the Biden administration, and maybe the id of the subsequent U.S. Supreme Courtroom justice. And whereas Democrats seem solidly behind 2022 gubernatorial contender Josh Shapiro, they’ve very little margin for error. Republicans haven’t united behind a candidate but, but when they do — and if they will unify their management of Harrisburg — it may have implications for a variety of points that embrace abortion and voting rights, in addition to the result of the 2024 presidential race.

But when the local weather is hard for Democrats, the political panorama could also be a bit much less treacherous than they feared, due to new political maps being drawn after final yr’s U.S. Census. A fee chaired by former College of Pittsburgh chancellor Mark Nordenberg has drawn state legislative district strains that could help Democrats eat into — however doubtless not erase — the GOP’s present benefit within the state House and Senate. A map of congressional districts, in the meantime, is more likely to find yourself earlier than a state Supreme Courtroom that has beforehand drafted a map that put the 2 events on a extra even footing. However Republicans seem able to contest each sq. foot of floor.

We won’t be sure about what 2022 will convey, aside from ongoing disputes about who we’re as People and who we hope to be. And a boatload of political adverts on TV.”

Kiley Koscinski

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90.5 WESA

Social justice motion turns to the poll field

Following a yr of social-justice demonstrations in Pittsburgh and throughout the nation, introduced on partly by the homicide of George Floyd, native activism and requires policing modifications continued in 2021. After eight folks had been killed in Atlanta in March, together with six ladies of Asian descent, Pittsburghers gathered in solidarity with the Asian group. In April, after police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of Floyd’s homicide, crowds gathered within the Hill DIstrict to cheer and specific aid on the verdict.

WESA’s Kiley Koscinski caught up with the young activists behind Black, Younger & Educated, and Pittsburgh I Can’t Breathe, who rose to prominence throughout 2020 and targeted on justice points. In Could, Pittsburgh voters emphatically accepted ballot initiatives to ban no-knock search warrants and restrict using solitary confinement on the Allegheny County Jail. The BLM mural on the Allegheny River was repainted with portraits of 12 present-day Black Pittsburghers in August. In November, native activists mourned the death of Nique Craft, an outspoken presence at lots of the 2020 demonstrations.

Tenant cities

Jay Manning

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PublicSource

Extra Pittsburgh households now hire than personal their properties, and landlords management a rising share of the housing market countywide. COVID-19 is testing the well being of this market, bringing eviction curbs, hire aid and a revived tenants’ rights motion. WESA’s Kate Giammarise and PublicSource’s Wealthy Lord partnered on a year-long series of stories exploring these modifications and analyzing responses of the federal government and different civic establishments.

Substandard housing within the Hill: Seniors in an apartment building in Pittsburgh’s Hill District are worn out: they are saying lax safety and poor maintenance have made their dwelling a supply of stress moderately than a refuge. In October, WESA’s Margaret J. Krauss reported the residents at Western Manor felt like there was nobody to go to bat for them.

Three takeaways from our collection on farming

WESA’s An-Li Herring spent a very good chunk of 2021 reporting “Farmers Wanted,” a multipart collection exploring how Pennsylvania’s agriculture sector hopes to draw extra employees because the state’s farming inhabitants ages. The anticipated labor scarcity displays financial and historic tendencies that restrict outsiders’ alternatives to interrupt into the business.

We requested An-Li to share her takeaways from reporting on the important farming sector:

• “The excessive value of land typically shuts out would-be, first-generation farmers. The consultants and farmers I interviewed agree that land entry represents the No. 1 barrier to starting a farm.
• Past taking a bodily toll, operating a farm can contain great monetary danger as a result of uncertainty of climate and market circumstances. The farmers I spoke with had been constant in saying {that a} passion for the work keeps them going.
• By making agricultural work much less grueling, new technology may assist to attract extra folks to the sector. Nevertheless it’s costly to make such modifications. Advocates and farmers say the federal government ought to do extra to assist new farmers, and that communities which have been overlooked of the business, presumably resulting from racial discrimination, should pull together to encourage farming close to home.”

An-Li Herring

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90.5 WESA

Cultural establishments and eating places started their return

The area’s cultural institutions and festivals tiptoed again to live performances as vaccinations started to realize maintain, WESA’s Invoice O’Driscoll reported. Museums drew robust crowds of individuals wanting to get out, whereas live performance venues and a few restaurants began requiring proof of vaccinations. Omicron, although, has some hitting pause once more.

The eagle has landed

Pittsburghers took flight with the story of Kody, the Steller’s sea eagle with a 6-foot wingspan who escaped his enclosure on the Nationwide Aviary in late September and was on the lam for greater than per week, making appearances on the North Facet. WESA’s Katie Blackley reported that Kody was ultimately present in Pine Township and returned to the Aviary. He has not but returned to public view.

Hen flu: After a mysterious bird disease hit songbirds in Pennsylvania and 9 different states this yr, state officers requested folks to take away their feeders and birdbaths. Researchers are nonetheless making an attempt to figure out the cause, however by August, WESA’s Julia Zenkevich reported that instances had been declining. A short while later, the state Sport Fee stated it was OK to put feeders back outside.