Supporters of President Donald J. Trump stand in a moment of silence along the Lincoln Highway on the 19th anniversary of 9/11 in Stoystown, Pa., just outside of the Flight 93 National Memorial on September 11, 2020. A crowd of Trump supporters lined the road in front of the site of United Airlines Flight 93’s September 11th crash site as the President and family members of the victims held a service inside.
Photojournalism
"Every Voice Heard" /
People march through Pittsburgh’s streets as part of the “Every Voice Heard, Every Vote Counted,” rally to call for an accurate count of votes in Pennsylvania and to celebrate Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden winning the presidency, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020. The rally which was organized by Pennsylvania United and the Alliance for Police Accountability drew several hundred people.
Food Distribution /
Barbara Peden, 56, of Clairton, Pa., sits in her car as she waits for a weekly food distribution on October 29, 2020 at the Clairton Family Center in Clairton, Pa. Peden arrived hours before the distribution began to secure her place in line. 'In recent weeks it has become increasingly difficult to get something. Sometimes the parking lot is just full," she says. Often there is not enough food for everyone waiting.
Peden, who lives on disability and relies on the food to survive says, “I live in poverty. Without this food I would be hungry.” She is voting for Joe Biden in the upcoming election. "Trump has made our lives unbearable. He's destroying America. The residents of Pennsylvania won't forget that when they vote,” she says.
Fayette County /
Kids ride their bikes past a church along Pittsburgh Street in Connellsville, Pa., part of Fayette County, on October 25, 2020. Democrats in Fayette County lead Republicans with 39,857 voters compared to 34,460 Democrats, with another 8,028 independents. However, Democrats once held a 3-to-1 advantage in the county just 10 years ago. In the 2016 election, Trump won Fayette County with 64.4% of the votes over Hillary Clinton’s 33.4%.
U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works /
Steam billows out of U.S. Steel's coke plant on October 25, 2020 in Clairton, Pa. President Trump placed tariffs of foreign-made steel in an effort to revive the steel industry. His efforts have drawn the support of many who work in the plant. While the tariffs succeeded for a short time to push down steel imports, create higher prices for domestic steelmakers, and to expand the workforce by about 6,000 jobs, by the following year those gains nearly disappeared.
Guns in America /
Bill Perkins of Gibsonia, Pa., stands with his wife, Marilyn Boulet, carrying their AR-15 style rifles, as they join a rally of 150 people to show their support for the Second Amendment and Rostraver Township Police Officer Martin Palla on April 22, 2018 in the courtyard of the Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greensburg, Pa. Officer Palla came under intense criticism last month when he stood across the street from the March for Our Lives event held at the same location with an AR-15 style rifle over his shoulder
U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works /
Steam billows out of U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works on March 5, 2019 in Clairton, Pa. The coke plant has come under scrutiny after a Dec. 24 fire triggered an air quality alert from the release of sulfur dioxide.
The @lungassociation released its “State of the Air 2019” report and gave Pittsburgh’s metro area an “F” grade for air quality. According to the report, Allegheny County remains the only county in the United States, outside of the state of California, to get failing grades in both soot and ozone categories.
Shell Cracker Plant /
Shell’s petrochemical refinery, a massive complex that sits along the Ohio River about 30 mies outside of Pittsburgh, will pay nearly $10 million for violations in air emission limits that occurred in the first months of operations at the plant which opened in November. The company suspended production in March for repairs, but planned to restart operations yesterday. When fully operational, the ethane cracker plant will produce 3.5 billion pounds of plastic a year by converting ethane, a component of natural gas, into polyethylene, a common plastic.
East Palestine Derailment 1 of 3 /
A mannequin is displayed on a porch with a sign that reads ‘We Are Fine’ on February 28, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.
Carly Tunno of Darlington, Pa., stands outside of Sprinklz on Top, a restaurant where EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan was meeting with community business leaders and Trent Conaway, mayor of East Palestine, on February 28, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. She hoped to ask them questions about issues that deeply concern her.
“I get it. Somebody messed up. I don't care. Somebody messed up. I get nobody's going to take blame for this. I get that, but somebody needs to tell people it is dangerous. It's dangerous to be here. It is dangerous to live and raise your children here,” she said as she wiped tears from her eyes.
Toxic chemicals float on the surface of Leslie Run creek on February 25, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. On February 3rd, a Norfolk Southern Railways train carrying toxic chemicals derailed causing an environmental disaster. Thousands of residents were ordered to evacuate after the area was placed under a state of emergency and temporary evacuation orders.
“Every morning I get up and my chest's killing me. I never did have chest pains. Now I got chest pains, and my nose is always running… Burning all the time,” says Lee Jenkins, 71, of Negley, Ohio, as he picks up water for his elderly neighbors with Matthew Mazza, 61, of Negley, (left) in the neighboring town of East Palestine on February 28, 2023. “I know what's going to happen. The railroad company going to go bankrupt. They ain't going to pay nobody. What can you do? You can't do nothing. It happened. It's over with. You know, you got to live from day to day.”
Contractors with Norfolk Southern work on cleaning toxic chemicals from Sulphur Run on February 28, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.
Trent Conaway, mayor of East Palestine, (center) sits with EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan as they meet with community business leaders at Sprinklz on Top, a popular restaurant, on February 28, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.
Courtney Miller gets her blood drawn for Dr. Beatrice Golomb Research Group as her children, Eliana, 6, and Mathias, 10, watch on at the Main Street Theater in Columbiana, Ohio on February 3, 2024. The study’s title is: Uncovering the Public Health Impact of Toxin Release in East Palestine, Ohio. The lab checked blood, urine, hair, fingernails and lung capacity as well as gathering other stats and info.
A Norfolk Southern train passes though the center of East Palestine, Ohio on Wednesday, March 1, 2023.
Wayne O’Connell, 66, and his wife, Lori, 59, sit in the kitchen of their home in Darlington, Pa., on January 19, 2024.
Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600 million in a class-action lawsuit settlement related to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in February 2023.
The settlement, if approved by a court, would pay class action claims within a 20-mile radius of the accident and personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius.
Residents, many of which still complain about respiratory issues, anxiety, unexplained rashes, and nosebleeds, fear it isn’t enough and doesn’t take into account potential costs from long-term health impacts of the derailment that spilled more than a million pounds of hazardous chemicals into the soil, water and air.
View full gallery here.
East Palestine Derailment 3 of 3 /
Purdue University professor Dr. Andrew Whelton, an expert on disasters, environmental chemistry, public health and water quality, climbs down the bank to take water samples of Sulfur Run on March 24, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. The stream was heavily contaminated by the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment.
Jet Walker, 13, holds a sign in front of his East Palestine home as President Biden drives by in his motorcade to visit the site of the Norfolk Souther train derailment on February 16, 2024.
George Rockenberger, 84, and his wife, Janet, sits on a bench as over 150 people wait in line for the Norfolk Southern Family Assistance Center to open on February 17, 2023 at the Abundant Life Church in New Waterford, Ohio. Residents who qualify can receive a $1000 payment as well as reimbursement to cover costs related to the evacuation from Norfolk Southern.
Tyson Tunno, 4, holds a coloring book ‘Coping After a Disaster’ that was given to him at the Health Resource Center in Darlington, Pa., on March 1, 2023. Tyson’s mother, Carly Tunno was visiting the center to have questions answered about soil contamination and possible testing. She has limited her children’s time outdoors with concerns after the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The Pennsylvania Department of Health opened the center on Feb. 28 at the Darlington Township Building to see residents with concerns following the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
People fill the auditorium of Blackhawk High School at the East Palestine Justice’s town hall meeting on March 23, 2023 in Beaver Falls, Pa. East Palestine Justice, a team of attorneys and activists headed by environmental advocate Erin Brockovich, has hosted several town halls in Ohio and Pennsylvania since the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine. Blackhawk High School, which is 9 miles from East Palestine, was evacuated over concerns of an explosion. A mandatory evacuation order was in effect for anyone living within one mile of the scene.
Courtney Miller, 35, stands near a pile of paperwork she’s gathered about the Norfolk Southern train derailment, as she stands in the kitchen of her home in East Palestine, Ohio on Saturday, March 4, 2023.
Contractors with Norfolk Southern work on cleaning toxic chemicals from Sulphur Run on February 24, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.
The railroad tracks have been removed through an area that is being remediated as efforts continue the clean-up from the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment on March 15, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.
Christa Graves, 49, of Unity Township pokes at Sulfur Run to see if she can still see the sheen on the one-year anniversary of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024.
Snow falls along North Market Street as seen through the photographers windshield in East Palestine, Ohio on January 18, 2024.
Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600 million in a class-action lawsuit settlement related to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in February 2023.
The settlement, if approved by a court, would pay class action claims within a 20-mile radius of the accident and personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius.
Residents, many of which still complain about respiratory issues, anxiety, unexplained rashes, and nosebleeds, fear it isn’t enough and doesn’t take into account potential costs from long-term health impacts of the derailment that spilled more than a million pounds of hazardous chemicals into the soil, water and air.
View full gallery here.
Tree of Life /
Nearly six years after the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, a groundbreaking ceremony was held on Sunday at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 worshippers were murdered in the 2018 mass shooting. The new building will include a museum to combat antisemitism and a memorial to the victims of the attack: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil and David Rosenthal, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger. This collection of images is from the transformation of the Tree of Life building over the last few years.
Decline of Small Town Life /
“I’ll probably be one of the next ones to go,” says Lee Goldthwaite, 79, the caretaker of the Sheffield Township cemetery, as he walks through the tombstones.
Sheffield, the small Warren County town that sits along the edge of the Allegheny National Forest, shares a similar story to other rural Pennsylvania towns as the number of deaths outpace births and population loss accelerates. The town, which once was a hub for timber had the largest sawmill east of the Mississippi River, has lost nearly a quarter of the population it had 20 years ago. Many expect the decline of small-town life to be a topic in this presidential election.
Along Main Street, few businesses remain. The local bank and liquor store have closed, the town’s daycare shuttered as the number of children dwindled to the single digits. The local ambulance service was discontinued, and the town’s beloved Johnny Appleseed Festival doesn’t have enough volunteers or money to continue this year. When asked if the town has a doctor, Goldthwaite points through the cemetery. “The last doctor we had is buried right up the hill,” he says. While he sees the town’s decline firsthand, Goldthwaite isn’t ready to give up, “we’re gonna make it work,” he says.
Published in @washingtonpost.