COVID-19 pandemic leads top stories list of 2020
Courtesy of Dave Rhome
Cars line up with in Canonsburg awaiting food distribution over the summer.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Volunteers load boxes of food into a car during the Truck to Trunk food distribution held at Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church.
Andrew Baugh of South Strabane Township is led an effort to produce face shields for WHS-Washington Hospital employees and other health-care workers and first responders who were on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in April.
Courtesy of Melanie Wolfe
Community Circle Food Pantry in Washington provided meals to those in need three days a week in April. Demand at the pantry skyrocketed as Washington County residents lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wolf and Levine
Associated Press
Gov. Tom Wolf and Dr. Rachel Levine are pictured at a May 29 news briefing.
Harry Funk/Observer-Reporter
Protesters march in June along East Pike Street in Canonsburg. The idea for the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force was developed following peaceful Black Lives Matter protests in the borough.
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
Eric Trump greets hundreds of President Trump supporters during a September campaign stop in Washington.
Barbara S. Miller/Observer-Reporter
St. Louis, Mo., residents Patricia McCloskey, who is a native of East Liverpool, Ohio, and her husband, Mark, were part of a bus-stop tour in Peters Township before embarking for similar President Donald Trump reelection campaign gatherings in Uniontown and Monroeville. Speaking to a group of supporters in the 4100 block of Washington Road at the headquarters of the Washington County Trump campaign, Mark McCloskey described how he and his wife emerged with guns drawn from their home on a private street as a Black Lives Matter mass protest made its way June 28 toward the home of the city’s mayor.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Peaceful protesters march from the Washington County Courthouse along East Beau Street on June 6. City of Washington Chief of Police, Bob Wilson, is among those leading the march.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Protest leader Ahmad Morris Walker and Washington police Chief Bob Wilson share a moment of celebration as the marchers return peacefully to the county courthouse June 6.
Scott Beveridge/Observer-Reporter
Those at the “Black Lives Matter” rally in Washington held silent in memory of the late George Floyd.
Scott Beveridge/Observer-Reporter
A group of protesters at a “Black Lives Matter” rally outside Washington County Courthouse in Washington in June.
Barbara S. Miller/Observer-Reporter
Frank Scandale admitted to stealing cash and checks from the Washington County clerk of courts office.
Farley Toothman
Sullivan
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
Police tape blocks off the sidewalk in front of the Ruschel Studio on North Main Street in Washington.
Courtesy of Lisa Lane
Crews work on an apartment fire in Canonsburg.
Barbara S. Miller/Observer-Reporter
The Courthouse Square office building is on the right and the Crossroads Center is at left in this view from the intersection of North Franklin and West Beau streets.
Scott Beveridge/Observer-Reporter
Scott Beveridge/Observer-Reporter
The parking garage at California University of Pennsylvania has been closed since concrete fell from a ceiling in 2016. The garage will reopen Monday after repairs were made.
1. COVID-19 pandemic
To fully understand the extent to which COVID-19 has infiltrated our lives, consider that when Jan. 1, 2020 dawned, terms like “super-spreader event” and “contact tracing” were not part of everyday parlance, and Dr. Anthony Fauci could have walked down just about any street in America and gone unrecognized.
That an octogenarian epidemiologist is now a celebrity of sorts and we all have learned a thing or two about contagion only hint at how COVID-19 upended the world and all our lives in 2020. It’s hard to think of any other event since World War II that has had such a broad-based impact. There is probably not a corner of our planet that has not been touched by it.
Schools were shuttered in this region, as they were elsewhere. Businesses closed and workers lost jobs. Sporting events, concerts, festivals, plays, weddings, just about any event that would bring large numbers of people together were either canceled or drastically modified. As the pandemic has dragged on and on, no small amount of fatigue has set in. In recent days, some restaurant owners in this area have rebelled against mandates by Gov. Tom Wolf that they close their doors or offer only takeout service. Even after the pandemic ebbs, questions surrounding the power of government to take drastic steps in an emergency are sure to linger.
What can’t be forgotten, of course, is COVID-19’s horrific death toll: It has killed more than 300,000 Americans, with close to 200 of those in Washington, Greene and Fayette counties. Across the world, it has claimed 1.7 million lives.
- Brad Hundt
2. 2020 Presidential election
As the 2020 election season began, many prognosticators forecast that Pennsylvania would be the “tipping point” state in the contest – the state that would determine who would be the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., for the next four years, and who would have to return to private life.
The prognosticators were right.
Four days after the voting was done, Joe Biden was declared the winner of Pennsylvania and, with it, the White House. It turned out to be closer in Pennsylvania than most polls predicted, with Biden flipping a state that President Trump narrowly took in 2016. When all the votes were finally tallied, Biden won the commonwealth with 3.4 million votes, edging out the president by roughly 80,000 votes.
The southwestern corner of the state received a great deal of attention from the Trump campaign, with the president making stops at the airports in Moon Township and Westmoreland County, and a host of surrogates flooding the area. Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, spoke to about 300 of his father’s supporters at the American Legion post on Park Avenue in North Franklin Township in September. Other Trump officials and Cabinet members also found their way to Washington County.
In the end, Trump carried Washington County, winning it with 60% of the vote, identical to his winning percentage in 2016. He also won Greene County, with 71% of the vote, and Fayette County, with 66%. The only county Biden carried in Southwestern Pennsylvania was Allegheny County, which he won with 59% of the vote.
-Brad Hundt
3. Black Lives Matter protests
The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery in 2020 fueled protests and sparked the Black Lives Matter movement across the nation and locally.
During the summer – following Floyd’s death on Memorial Day at the hands of Minneapolis police – peaceful protests were held throughout Washington County.
One of the largest was held in the city of Washington in early June, when more than 400 peaceful protesters gathered in downtown Washington and marched through the city, chanting, “Black lives matter here.”
At the rally, Dr. Andrew Goudy, president of the Washington branch of the NAACP, said, “This is not just a Black problem, this is an American problem. Social injustice touches everybody.”
Other rallies were held in Canonsburg and the Mon Valley, and physicians at Washington Health System Washington Hospital knelt in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds – the length of time a Minnesota police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck.
In an effort to move from protest to policy change, a group of young Black activists met with local legislators to discuss issues that impact racial equality and justice.
- Karen Mansfield
4. Former Washington County Clerk of Courts sentencedFormer Washington County clerk of courts Frank Scandale pleaded guilty in October to stealing nearly $100,000 from the office he oversaw.
Scandale was charged by state police in November 2019 after an audit showed money missing from the office. The charges came shortly after Scandale lost his reelection bid for clerk of courts as the investigation into the missing funds hung over his candidacy.
Scandale, 52, of Canonsburg, pleaded guilty to all charges Oct. 15 and was sentenced to seven years of probation, including two years of home confinement. He is also being ordered to pay $101,876 restitution to the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania Insurance Program.
“I am sorry, and I would like to apologize to all and for the events that transpired,” Scandale said at his sentencing.
Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi said the Scandale case broke the “sacred public trust” that government officials should have with the people they serve.
“Today is a sad day for the people of Washington County,” Maggi said.
- Mike Jones
5. Judge Farley Toothman resigns from bench in Greene County
In May, Greene County Judge Farley Toothman was accused of judicial misconduct in the handling of several cases, including one in which he allegedly interfered with a retail theft investigation into his law clerk at a Waynesburg convenience store three years ago.
Less than five months later, Toothman said he was taking a “temporary” leave of absence that eventually would become permanent when he announced earlier this month he was resigning from the bench Jan. 4.
Toothman, 64, of Waynesburg, was nominated in 2009 to fill a vacant seat on the bench, and won a full 10-year term on the bench in 2011. He was elevated in 2015 to president judge, a position he stepped down from in October in the midst of the judicial misconduct case against him.
Toothman announced his “early retirement” Dec. 7 after it was clear he would not be permitted to enter a diversionary program in his case in which he could have faced suspension or even removal.
A pretrial conference is scheduled for Jan. 19 with the Court of Judicial Discipline to discuss evidence and witnesses.
- Mike Jones
6. Coal Center mother facing death penalty
A Coal Center woman is facing the death penalty after her 3-month-old baby died Oct. 26 from injuries he sustained in September, when police were alerted to the alleged abuse.
Symantha Sullivan, 25, is accused of punching the infant, Isaiah Sullivan, in the back of the head Sept. 10, when he wouldn’t fall asleep. Sullivan allegedly admitted to police that she had dropped the child on its head in a bathtub a few days prior.
The baby became unresponsive Sept. 11 after additional alleged abuse and was flown to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where he was placed on life support. He suffered a brain injury, skull fracture, spinal damage and several other fractures.
Sullivan entered a “not guilty” plea and awaits trial in jail without bail.
-Katie Anderson
7. Ruschel’s Studio, Canonsburg and Greene County fires
Three apartment fires in the region kept the Red Cross busy this year, as more than 80 residents were displaced.
Six residents were able to escape second-story apartments during a February fire that destroyed the Ruschel Photo Studio on North Main Street in Washington. Two of them were treated for minor injuries at Washington Hospital. More than 60 years’ worth of work and photographs were destroyed with the 87-year-old William Ruschel’s studio.
In late September, more than 30 residents were displaced when the 21-unit Summit Avenue Apartments in Canonsburg were destroyed in a fire. No one was injured. Fire crews from a dozen different companies responded.
About 45 Greene County residents were displaced earlier this month, when fire broke out at the Parkview Knoll Apartments in Carmichaels. A 12-year-old boy, who was found unconscious in a burning hallway, was flown by helicopter to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for smoke inhalation injuries. Another resident suffered an ankle injury, after she jumped from a second-floor window to escape the flames.
-Katie Anderson
8. Crossroads sale
Washington County commissioners approved by 2-1 vote to purchase Crossroads Center at a cost of $10 million to house county offices that have been located at the Courthouse Square office building for the past 40 years.
Courthouse Square has been severely damaged by pyrite, which has destabilized the parking garage that serves as the building’s foundation.
The move to Crossroads Center, at 95 W. Beau St., is expected to be complete by mid-2021.
-Karen Mansfield
9. Cal U. settles parking garage issues
California University of Pennsylvania reached a $3.7 million agreement with Manheim Corp. of Pittsburgh and Travelers Casualty and Surety Corp. of America that calls for the contractor and bond holder to repair an unsafe parking garage.
Cal. U closed the five-level Vulcan Garage in August 2016 after a large chunk of decking fell while people were nearby on move-in day.
The garage, which was built with precast concrete instead of steel-reinforced concrete that was specified in project proposals, is expected to reopen in the spring.
- Karen Mansfield
10. Cal U. begins process of merging administrative functions
The State System of Higher Education has been beset by declining enrollment and decreasing state subsidies for years, and, in 2020, a plan was hatched that would integrate senior staff, faculty and budgets for California University of Pennsylvania in Washington County, Edinboro University and Clarion University.
The plan, which was dubbed “regionalization on steriods” by Clarion president Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson, entered the developmental stage in October. It is hoped that if the merger is approved, it will boost enrollment and save money.
A similar integration plan is being explored for Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield universities in the northern tier of the state.
- Brad Hundt