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It’s been a long year. If the whole year feels like a blur, we’re here to lift the fog with the top 10 stories of 2020.
The stories listed here were the most viewed stories on our site, according to Google Analytics.
From elections coverage and COVID-19 data to mitigation efforts and closures, we covered it all in 2020.
The top 10 stories are below.
- COVID-19 outbreak in Pa.: What’s open and what’s closed, Capital-Star Staff
Written in May and updated over the course of a month as counties across the state began to slowly reopen, this story provided regular updates on what was open and what was closed during the COVID-related shutdowns.
- Former Gov./DHS boss Ridge: ‘It’d be a cold day in hell’ before he’d let ‘uninvited’ federal agents into Pa., John L. Micek
In a July interview with Sirius XM’s Michael Smerconish, former Gov. Tom Ridge said he did not support unilateral intervention from the federal government in the country’s biggest cities. Ridge, who served as the first Secretary of Homeland Security under George W. Bush said, “it would be a cold day in hell before I would consent to an uninvited, unilateral intervention into one of my cities.”
Graphics Guru Elizabeth Hardison developed a set of maps and charts using Department of Health data to help readers better understand COVID-19’s spread in Pennsylvania.
State Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine has had to fend off numerous transphobic comments since the start of the pandemic in March. In May, on a call with reporters, Levine had to ask Pittsburgh radio host Marty Griffin to “stop misgendering” her.
With seven names in the hat for the up-for-grabs Office of the Auditor General, the Capital-Star assembled a guide to help readers learn more about each of the candidates.
- Pa. lays out COVID travel restrictions ahead of holidays, without guarantee of enforcement, Stephen Caruso
A week before the Thanksgiving holiday, state health officials rolled out new guidelines aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19. Included in the new guidance was a requirement for out-of-state travelers to have a negative COVID-19 test before entering Pennsylvania and a call for hospitals to reschedule elective procedures as COVID cases continued to grow.
This story. which came to the Capital-Star by way of our partners at the Philadelphia Tribune, broke down COVID-19 cases by Philadelphia’s zip codes.
- ‘We are already at a tipping point,’ Wolf says, as Pa. imposes new health restrictions on bars and restaurants, Elizabeth Hardison and Stephen Caruso
In July, Gov. Tom Wolf announced a new set of restrictions for Pennsylvania’s bars, restaurants and nightclubs due to a month-long surge in COVID-19 cases.
Letters sent to Pennsylvanians who were potentially exposed to COVID-19 and contact traced were issued a warning of legal action if they chose not to cooperate with the directives laid out in the letter following exposure.
- Want to hand-deliver your ballot in Pa.? Here’s a map of election offices and drop boxes, Elizabeth Hardison
With questions swirling about whether mail-in ballots delivered via the United States Postal Service would arrive on time to be counted, Reporter Elizabeth Hardison created a map showing the state’s mail-in ballot drop box locations and the locations of County Election Offices to help voters get their ballots where they needed to be.
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