A first-grader at Barrett Elementary School prepares to show off his drumming skills in front of his classmates while wearing a T-shirt honoring the Homestead Grays, considered one of the best Negro League baseball teams (and named for the borough in which the student attends school). The students celebrated Black History Month with a "living interactive museum" on Feb. 23, 2024.
This year was a busy one for the WESA newsroom. We saw months of conversations about the future of Pittsburgh Public Schools, numerous visits by presidential candidates and a solar eclipse that captured the attention of the nation. Here are some of the visual representations of the stories you've read by our reporters throughout 2024.
Oliver Morrison
/
90.5 WESA
Jess Conrad, a resident of East Palestine, Ohio, said that one of her sons developed asthma after the derailment and another son had a serious eye irritation that wouldn't go away. February of 2024 marked one year since a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, unleashing tankers full of toxic chemicals and forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents.
Oliver Morrison
/
90.5 WESA
Arthea Jetter said her bill went down by more than $100 per month after a plumber fixed a leak in her sink and lowered her water pressure. The cost of providing water and sewage across the country has been increasing by more than triple the rate of inflation — and that cost is increasing even faster in the Pittsburgh area, as the region undergoes generational infrastructure improvements. Some water and sewage utilities are doing better than others at helping vulnerable customers keep their water on.
Kathryn Sellers makes calls to families on Wednesday, Feb. 14. Sellers is part of a program that provides students at Pittsburgh Arlington school with free van rides to and from school each day, as well as caring nanas who check in with families daily.
Katie Blackley
/
90.5 WESA
Educators say action must be taken at the state and district levels to recruit and retain Black teachers, who research shows are leaving the classroom at rates far higher than their white peers. The call was relayed on March 20 at a gathering inside the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, where over two dozen Black educators from across western Pennsylvania gathered for a teach-in hosted by Research for Action.
"Those Black teachers are why I'm standing here," said Kathy Wilson Humphrey, the first Black president of Carlow University.
Katie Blackley
/
90.5 WESA
Erie, Pa. around the time of totality during the 2024 solar eclipse. Pittsburgh experienced 97% totality, while Erie saw full totality, with the sky turning dark for nearly four minutes. The next total solar eclipse in the United States won't take place until 2044.
Bill O'Driscoll
/
90.5 WESA
In Highland Park, artist Marlana Adele Vassar has created the first statue of a woman of color, called "Flora." It's a bronze sculpture of a beatific Black girl cradling a rabbit, sited in a flower garden near the entrance.
Jakob Lazzaro
/
90.5 WESA
Charles Jones, a professor in the University of Pittsburgh Department of Geology and Environmental Science, says flat land in Pittsburgh that's not right along a river is usually an ancient river bed. The largest example, in the East End, marks where the Allegheny and Monongahela once flowed.
Thomas Riley
/
90.5 WESA
Greenway Middle School flooded with green Pittsburgh Public School Pride shirts on May 30. The school hosted the fourth annual Gender Inclusive Schools Community Summit, attracting over 100 students, faculty and community members.
A panel of drag entertainers took questions from summit participants and discussed how they got into drag, what they hoped to accomplish and their individual drag families. From left to right: Lynnae O’Connor, Dezzjustdezz, Lavender Hayes, Austin Tashus, Leshy.
Thomas Riley
/
90.5 WESA
Demonstrators march through Oakland as part of a pro-Palestinian protest on June 2. Some of the demonstrators erected barricades near the Cathedral of Learning and announced intentions to reestablish a "Palestine Solidarity Encampment" on the lawn of the campus landmark.
Oliver Morrison
/
90.5 WESA
Snipers crouch on the roof of a building adjacent to the rally in Butler, Pa. at which shots were fired at former President Donald Trump on July 13, 2024.
Kiley Koscinski
/
90.5 WESA
On Aug. 22, nurses at West Penn Hospital represented by SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a strike notice amid contract negotiations with the owner of the hospital, Allegheny Health Network.
Susan Scott Peterson
/
90.5 WESA
On the first day of school at Pittsburgh King PreK-8, teachers and students alike were nervous and excited about the start of the new year.
Oliver Morrison
/
90.5 WESA
Charleroi was adapting to an influx of migrants. Then former President Donald Trump weighed in weighed in. Pictured is Joe Manning, manager of Charleroi, who said many of the statements made by state and national political figures are not true.
Oliver Morrison
/
90.5 WESA
Vice President Kamala Harris visited Classic Elements, an independent bookstore in Johnstown, on Sept. 14, 2024.
Jillian Forstadt
/
90.5 WESA
Pittsburgh Public Schools parents gathered at the district’s administration building in Oakland on Sept. 23 to protest what they are calling a rushed process to close 16 schools. Their calls come in response to a plan consultants for Pittsburgh Public Schools presented to school board members last month.
Jakob Lazzaro
/
90.5 WESA
The Panther Hollow Bridge was closed in October based on the recommendation of bridge inspectors. In a release, the city said it was acting "amid an abundance of caution," pending further study of the bridge's condition.
Jakob Lazzaro
/
90.5 WESA
In the past decade, luxury apartment complexes have sprouted up around Pittsburgh like mushrooms, promoting websites that boast about all of the amenities that lie within their walls. Research shows supply of more housing, even if it’s just luxury apartments, decreases pressure on the overall market.
A University of Pittsburgh study pointed to a host of potential ill effects from large-scale corporate home purchases: chief among them is a reduction in the supply of single-family homes available for individuals, particularly would-be first-time homebuyers.
Oliver Morrison
/
90.5 WESA
Supporters of former President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the candidate's final Pittsburgh campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena on Nov. 4, 2024.
Ed Woodruff, or Woody for short, is Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s oldest bus driver. At 84, he’s been busing people around town for more than two decades and plans to keep driving for a few more years. Behind the wheel of a 28X bus, Woody has quite a few tales to tell from his long route in Pittsburgh.
Oliver Morrison
/
90.5 WESA
Hundreds of U.S. Steel workers gathered in the frigid cold at the Clairton Coke Works Thursday to rally support for the company’s sale to Nippon Steel on Dec. 12, 2024.
Fewer than a dozen searchers, including state police and excavator operators, returned Thursday to the spot where 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard is thought to have plummeted through a freshly opened sinkhole.
The search for a woman who is believed to have fallen into a sinkhole in western Pennsylvania has become a recovery effort after two treacherous days of digging through mud and rock produced no signs of life.
