Explore the photography, video, photo illustration, social media and illustration that PublicSource’s photojournalists and social media team produced to illuminate the stories of Pittsburgh in 2024.
Howard Ramsey stands in the patch of moonflowers he loves outside of his new Squirrel Hill apartment on Sept. 17. After bouncing from living in tents and shelters, the Pittsburgh homelessness advocate finally found an apartment to call home. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
(1) Wrestlers brawl near the crowd at the Brawl Under the Bridge on July 13. After more than a century and a half of smackdowns, Pittsburgh’s professional wrestlers carry on a steel city tradition of slapping chests. (2) Tony Fahling practices a drop kick on James Cleaver, reflected in a mirror framed by posters of famous pro wrestlers pasted to the wall at T2T Wrestling Academy on July 1, in New Kensington. (Photos by Quinn Glabicki/PublicSource)
(Top left) Abby and Scott Tennant embrace on Feb. 16 in the home in Paden City, West Virginia, to which they relocated. Abby, Scott and their daughter, Piper, left their home near EQT’s fracking operations in Knob Fork, West Virginia, after the family documented years of illnesses consistent with exposure to volatile organic compounds of the type emitted at the well pad. (Top right) EQT’s Sizemore Pad in Knob Fork, West Virginia, on Feb. 17. (Bottom) On Feb. 17, Jozlyn Kennedy, 11, donned an angel costume at the Kennedy family’s abandoned log home while packing her belongings to bring to the house in New Martinsville to which the family relocated after EQT increased operations next door. “I felt like a ghost,” she remembered of her time living there. (Photos by Quinn Glabicki/PublicSource)
Lead art for the Spot Check series in which PublicSource and WESA analyzed the political advertising Pittsburghers saw on air and online during the 2024 election season. (Photos via Wikimedia Commons and candidate social media accounts. Photo illustration by Natasha Vicens/PublicSource)
Darrell Palmer, Jr. lays for a portrait in UPMC Magee-Women’s Hospital days after surgery for a large ventral hernia that was protruding from his abdomen on March 17, in South Oakland. While incarcerated at Allegheny County Jail, Palmer was told, three times, by jail medical staff that he was scheduled for hernia surgery that never occurred, a reflection of the painful process of arranging procedures for people in the jail. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
The July attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show grounds brought anxiety about our civic and political polarization to a boil. PublicSource invited readers to share their reactions. (Graphic by Natasha Vicens/PublicSource)
Stephanie Grimes of the Oakmont Democrats pulls campaign signs from a hillside along Freeport Road on Oct. 21, in Harmar. A weeks-long political yard sign war took place on the suburban patch of grass as signs promoting both parties were mangled or removed leading up to the election. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
Nicholas Ditmore, 18, center left, of the University of Pittsburgh College Republicans, and Anthony Cacciato, center right of the Carnegie Mellon University Republicans, celebrate the announcement of president-elect Donald Trump’s win at Republican U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick’s election night watch party early on Nov. 6, at the Fairmont Pittsburgh in Downtown. McCormick also won. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
A crowd waits for Vice President Kamala Harris to speak at her rally on Nov. 4, at Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark in Swissvale. Allegheny County saw the election-eve convergence of presidential candidates in the most unusual election in more than half a century. (Photo by Anastasia Busby/PublicSource)
From left, Asa Brooks, 7, Dylan Pareso, and Pareso’s son, Braxton, 2, all of Houston, pause their parade watching for a photo along the Canonsburg 4th of July Parade route on July 4. On a holiday that celebrates America, amid a polarizing political season, the town came together to get its red, white and blue on. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
The New Horizons Majorettes from Clairton prepare to dance their way through the Canonsburg 4th of July Parade. The girls were part of 125 units of people marching in the hours-long parade. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
Instagram reel by Stephanie Mirah based on environment and climate reporter Quinn Glabicki’s January story “Slip sliding away: Federal funds buy out Pittsburgh homes under threat from landslides.”
Instagram reel by Evans Toviave based on reporter David S. Rotenstein’s story “‘We all stayed.’ Penn Hills, once a suburban landing pad for Black households, now risks disinvestment and erasure of history.”
Instagram reel by Stephanie Mirah with videos by Stephanie Strasburg. Voiceover by Steve Hanson, the author of his first-person essay “Pittsburgh’s decaying ‘Death Stairs’ are an indictment and an inspiration” published in May.
Tuhin Das, a refugee from Bangladesh, at City of Asylum on Jan. 31, in the North Side, backed by colors of the flag of Bangladesh — green for the country’s fertile lands, and red honoring the blood of the people who were killed in its liberation war. Das was stabbed, kidnapped and interrogated for writing against Islamists in Bangladesh, and now continues the fight for free expression from his new home in Pittsburgh. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
From our series Opening the Books: Investigating how Pittsburgh’s wealthiest universities invest their billions. (Photo illustrations by Natasha Vicens/PublicSource)
Qiyam Ansari, of West Mifflin, stands for a portrait in front of U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works on Feb. 27, in Clairton. After a 2011 air inversion nearly killed him, Ansari joined Valley Clean Air Now, an air quality advocacy group based out of Clairton, as fires at the facility were impacting the health of the community. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
Panel drawings by Pittsburgh artist John Peña included in his story “Facing tremors, insomnia and pain, I searched for answers — and came to blame the noxious air” published in September.
“Keep rolling no matter what” says PGH SK8 in face of roller rink shortage Rico Rucker uses a roll-in movie to inspire the skate community as PGH SK8 works toward opening their own roller rink in the city. The PGH SK8 collaborative works to provide accessible and safe spaces for the skating community. Rucker, president of PGH SK8, has been devoted to finding these spaces for three years, and hopes to turn the Greater Pittsburgh Coliseum into a rink.
Protestors lock arms and yell at police blocking access to an encampment constructed by Pitt Apartheid Divest organizers, who led a 32-hour occupation outside of the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning on June 3, in Oakland. Organizers said the mayor’s warning of the prospect of forcible removal by state troopers was key to their decision to disband. (Photo by Quinn Glabicki/PublicSource)
Symphany Valencia performs her last fire performance of the night on Nov. 1, at Burghers Brewery in South Side. The event marked the start of the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, the first day of which honors children who have passed away. The day holds great meaning for Valencia, who chose to have an abortion two years ago. (Photo by Anastasia Busby/PublicSource)
Hundreds of U.S. Steel workers braved freezing temperatures as they rallied outside of the company’s Clairton Coke Works in support of the company’s sale to Nippon Steel on Dec. 12, in Clairton. Speakers at the event, which included a handful of mayors from Mon Valley mill towns, expressed anger with politicians for blocking the deal. President Joe Biden and president-elect Donald Trump both say they oppose the deal. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
David Meckel, a resident of Glassport and environmental activist, gestures toward the billowing stacks of U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, on Feb. 1, in Clairton. U.S. Steel settled a lawsuit for a historic $42 million stemming from a 2018 fire at the Clairton plant, the largest penalty extracted under the Clean Air Act in Pennsylvania history. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
Instagram reel by Evans Toviave based on a first-person essay, “Yes, there is a Central Park in Pittsburgh. Could gentrification threaten the work I and others have done?” by Joseph Szabo, as told to Venuri Siriwardane published in August.
Instagram post by Stephanie Mirah based on Molly Campe’s first-person essay “NYC never measured up to the bar set by Pittsburgh” published in April.
Dena Stanley, executive director of TransYOUniting, dances at the inaugural Rebirth Kiki Ball, on Oct. 11, at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty. The event was presented by Project Silk in collaboration with the QMNTY Center, TransYOUniting and Proud Haven. Trump’s hostility toward gender-affirming care thrust trans rights into the center of a contentious election. (Photo by Anastasia Busby/PublicSource)
Mark Steidl, 29, right, is moved to his wheelchair by his aide, Christina Galia, as he prepares for his day of meetings and physical therapy on Sept. 27, at his Highland Park home. Mark, who uses an electronic communication device and a series of blinks to communicate because of his cerebral palsy, has written an opera based loosely on his life. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
Olivia Durant looks in a broken mirror for a portrait on July 25, in Beechview, in which she was raised. Born blind, Durant struggled to make sense of the world around her as a child, growing up in the isolation of an abusive household and a world not built for her disability. Eye surgery gave Durant sight, and she draws from the bright spots in her youth and the Pittsburgh institutions that were there for her. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
From left, Jerien Perry, 15, and Ace Nuttall, 16, of Brighton Heights, watch as Poette Badamo, 15, of Fineview, gives a hug to Silas Sawyer, 15, of Manchester, as they all suit up to perform in Perry Traditional Academy’s newly relaunched marching band on April 18, at the school in Perry North. The reopening of new clubs and programming is all part of a school-led effort to transform Perry into a premier option for the North Side. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
A Salvation Army band plays music for Light Up Night revelers in front of a vacant storefront at Smithfield Street and Fifth Avenue on Nov. 23, in Downtown. The city’s once-premier shopping corridor is plagued with vacancies and decline, and was not a focus of the Downtown revitalization announcement. But it’s poised for a rebirth. (Photo by Quinn Glabicki/PublicSource)
