Sara Vance, 33, a third-generation coal miner, holds her 11-month-old daughter, Alexis, at her home on October 12, 2020, in Tridelphia, W.Va. Vance voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and will do so again on Election Day. “I look at my job as patriotic. What I do powers office buildings and homes, the grocery stores where people get their food, as well as schools and churches and companies that build things that build our country. We help keep the lights on and keep people warm as well,” she says
Pennsylvania
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%.
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.
Coal Miner /
“Where Trump goes we all go,” says Kevin Backus, 32, of Mt. Lookout, W.Va., a coal miner at CONSOL Energy’s Harvey Mine in Sycamore, Pa. Backus has worked in coal mining for 10 years.
At the Harvey Mine, most of the miners are supporting President Trump, believing that his rollback of regulations has helped their industry survive.
In the early 1920s, coal miners accounted for 2% of the country’s workforce with over 800,000 miners. Today, there are about 45,000 coal miners left in the U.S. Pennsylvania is one of the nation’s largest coal producing states behind Wyoming and West Virginia, producing about 7% of the the coal.
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 2 of 3 /
Jami Cozza yells, “Help us,” as President Biden’s motorcade passes by on February 16, 2024 in East Palestine, Ohio.
David Lonsbrough, 40, loads his suitcase into a friend’s truck after finishing packing to move from his apartment on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. Lonsbrough who lives and works just blocks from the site of the Feb. 3 derailment says “It took about two weeks, once the evacuation was lifted and we came back and it still smelled terrible. But the trains were running. So as soon as that happened, I was like, they don't care about us, so I'm leaving. I'm getting out of town." Lonsbrough is staying with a friend for a few days in Warren, Ohio before moving to Texas.
David Lonsbrough, 40, gives the middle finger to a Norfolk Southern train as it passes in East Palestine, Ohio on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
U.S. Congressman Bill Johnson (OH-6) stands with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and U.S. Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17), take questions from media at a press conference on February 16, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.
Lonnie Miller becomes emotional as she stands in the living room at her home along East Clark street in East Palestine, Ohio on February 2, 2024. She has put her home on the market; although, it has gotten no interest in 100 days.
Jami Wallace, 46, holds a container that holds the ashes of her father, best friend and sister-in-law, as her daughter, Kyla, 3, watches her from the steps at a B&B where she is staying on March 23, 2023 in Columbiana, Ohio. Wallace and her husband are fearful of returning to their home after the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio on Feb. 3. The remains of her loved ones was one of the few things she took with her when she evacuated her home.
Local newspapers sit on the counter of Sprinklz on Top, a popular restaurant in East Palestine, Ohio on Friday, March 3, 2023.
Crews continue to cleanup at the site of a Norfolk Southern train derailment on February 24, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.
Tracy Hager, 44, talks with Greg Kildare, senior director of claims and risk management for Norfolk Southern, at an open house for East Palestine residents on March 23, 2023 at the East Palestine High School in East Palestine, Ohio. The open house gives residents a chance to speak with agencies involved in the Norfolk Southern train derailment cleanup as well as community resources.
Hager was concerned about getting reimbursed for purchases of clothing, shoes, and cat food as she stays at a cabin in a campground with her family while they are fearful of returning to their home.
“I cried everyday for three weeks,” she says.
“We R Sick” is painted on the front of Courtney Miller’s old home along East Taggart Street in East Palestine, Ohio on January 21, 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.
Cracker Plant /
An ethane cracker plant sits under construction along the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pa on Thursday, January 17, 2019.