This week, y’all.
More specifically, last week. Last week ticked off almost all the boxes, many of the scenarios, for which journalism professors try to prepare their students.
“Last week” began like this: I was asleep for one hour after covering Friday night football when I was called to a 1 a.m. fatal crash involving a bus of high school football players. Eleven hours later, I reported on a local veteran’s homecoming. After my weekend, I returned to: cover a mayoral candidate debate, preview a local Christmas attraction, photograph a highway median for a follow-up of the earlier bus crash, interview an ex-con who’d served 9 years for attempted murder, report on the unveiling of a new public mural, cover a fender-bender involving another school bus, cover a multiple-casualty interstate accident, shoot high school football and livestream/photograph Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to a local plant.
The variety of stories I covered last week is precisely why local journalism matters. People outside our coverage area may not be affected by or care about the three crashes I covered or the new mural or the football games, but York Countians may wonder why they were stuck in traffic for hours or be interested in the city’s public art or want to know if their alma mater won — and local journalists are the ones who work to provide those answers.
Pence’s visit and interactions with local business owners may resonate with business owners in other areas. Every year, the local Christmas attraction brings people from outside the county’s borders, who may want to know what to expect this year. The ex-con’s story about his working to redeem himself in his own way may help shift perceptions for folks in and out of York County.
York County isn’t the center of the universe. No one place is. But for the people who live here, and for many others who don’t, what happens here matters.
Local journalism matters.
Photos from every single assignment and spot news event I covered last week:
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Kennard-Dale and Susquehannock football players warm up before playing a YAIAA football game Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, at Kennard-Dale. Susquehannock defeated Kennard-Dale 49-21.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Denis Moyer Jr., far left, watches as his son Denis Moyer III is greeted by American Legion Rider Wade Melvin of Red Lion and other riders Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017, at the Interstate 83 welcome center in Shrewsbury Township. Denis Moyer Jr., a member of the Raised & Square Chapter of the Pennsylvania Widows Sons Masonic Riders Association, organized a bike ride to greet his son Denis Moyer III upon his arrival in Pennsylvania and to escort him back home in the Reading area. Denis Moyer III completed a tour in Iraq with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and will ship out to Fort Carson, Colorado, in a month.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. The remains of a charter bus sit in the eastbound lanes of U.S. 30 just west of the Wrightsville exit early Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017. Hellam Fire Company chief Eric Strittmatter said a 1:02 a.m. call reported a westbound Ford Explorer crossed the median and collided with a charter bus transporting the Eastern York varsity football team back to the school after they played against Central High School in Martinsburg, Pa. Strittmatter said the driver of the Ford Explorer was killed, while two coaches and the bus driver were transported to York Hospital and Lancaster General Hospital. No students were transported for medical care.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Eastern York football players wait for their parents to retrieve them from the scene of a crash in the eastbound lanes of U.S. 30 just west of the Wrightsville exit early Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017. Hellam Fire Company chief Eric Strittmatter said a 1:02 a.m. call reported a westbound Ford Explorer crossed the median and collided with a charter bus transporting the Eastern York varsity football team back to the school after they played against Central High School in Martinsburg, Pa. Strittmatter said the driver of the Ford Explorer was killed, while two coaches and the bus driver were transported to York Hospital and Lancaster General Hospital. No students were transported for medical care.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Emergency personnel work the scene of a crash in the eastbound lanes of U.S. 30 just west of the Wrightsville exit early Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017. Hellam Fire Company chief Eric Strittmatter said a 1:02 a.m. call reported a westbound Ford Explorer crossed the median and collided with a charter bus transporting the Eastern York varsity football team back to the school after they played against Central High School in Martinsburg, Pa. Strittmatter said the driver of the Ford Explorer was killed, while two coaches and the bus driver were transported to York Hospital and Lancaster General Hospital. No students were transported for medical care.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Kim Bracey, Dave Moser and Michael Helfrich are introduced during a York mayoral candidate debate hosted by the Rotary Club of York Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017, at the Country Club of York. The three candidates — Democratic incumbent Kim Bracey, Republican candidate Michael Helfrich and Libertarian candidate Dave Moser — are running for mayor of York in the Nov. 7 election.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. About 80 percent of decorations for Christmas Magic: A Festival of Lights are set up, as of Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017, at Rocky Ridge County Park in Springettsbury Township. York County Parks’ Christmas Magic: A Festival of Lights will open for its 34th year Nov. 24.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. From left, York County Parks group leader Rick Detter and volunteer Derek Straub install fixtures for Christmas Magic: A Festival of Lights Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017, at Rocky Ridge County Park in Springettsbury Township. York County Parks’ Christmas Magic: A Festival of Lights will open for its 34th year Nov. 24.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. The grass median of U.S. 30 is seen from Shoe House Road in Hellam Township Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Budhi Blair relaxes with his dogs Ryder, left, and Layla, right, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017, outside Blair’s Windsor Township home. While serving 9 years in state prison, Blair joined a veterans’ program where he learned to train rescue dogs. Blair, who said he endured childhood abuse and has PTSD from his service in Iraq, said working with dogs in the prison program helped him sleep at night and gain a new outlook on life after prison.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Local artist Ophelia Chambliss, left, laughs during the unveiling of the “York Community of Color” mural on the side of the Voni B. Grimes Gym in York Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017. Chambliss designed the six panels of the mural, which just under 200 members of the York community painted over a period of three months. “It’s rough, but kids painted it,” Chambliss said. “People in the community painted it.”
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. A Red Lion Area School District bus was involved in a crash Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017, at Short Street and Freysville Road in Windsor Township. No students were aboard the bus, according to Red Lion Supt. Scott Deisley. One person was transported from the scene with minor injuries.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Emergency responders work the scene of a single-vehicle crash on I-83 South, north of the North George Street exit in Manchester Township, Friday, Nov. 3, 2017. Patients were transported by ambulance and a medical helicopter, while southbound traffic was restricted to a single lane.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Pennsylvania State Police officers comb the field near the scene of a single-vehicle crash on I-83 South, north of the North George Street exit in Manchester Township, Friday, Nov. 3, 2017. Patients were transported by ambulance and a medical helicopter, while southbound traffic was restricted to a single lane.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. I-83’s southbound lanes, left, are congested as vehicles merge to a single lane ahead of the scene of a single-vehicle crash on I-83 South, north of the North George Street exit in Manchester Township, Friday, Nov. 3, 2017. Patients were transported by ambulance and a medical helicopter, while southbound traffic was restricted to a single lane.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Dallastown students cheer as the team enters the stadium for a YAIAA football game Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, at Dallastown. Dallastown defeated Red Lion 40-27.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Dallastown’s Nyzair Smith leaps over Red Lion’s Zachary Crossland on his way to a touchdown in the second half of a YAIAA football game Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, at Dallastown. Dallastown defeated Red Lion 40-27.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Dallastown’s Raymond Christas kisses the Football for Freedom trophy after the Wildcats won a YAIAA football game Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, at Dallastown. Dallastown defeated Red Lion 40-27.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence takes a tour with Military & Commercial Fasteners Corp. operations manager Jason Siewert Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at the plant in Manchester Township, York County, Pennsylvania. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited the plant with U.S. Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta and U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-York County, to promote President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Maple Donuts owner Charlie Burnside smiles at his wife as other business owners applaud during a round table discussion with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta and U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-York County, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Military & Commercial Fasteners Corp. in Manchester Township, York County, Pennsylvania. Pence visited the plant with Acosta and Perry, R-York County, to promote President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan.
© 2017 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. From left, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence consult each other while U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-York County, greets a small crowd before a round table discussion featuring local business leaders Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Military & Commercial Fasteners Corp. in Manchester Township, York County, Pennsylvania. Pence visited the plant with Acosta and Perry, R-York County, to promote President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan.
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