As we review last year’s top stories, the two at the VERY top carry over from 2020. Last year at this time I noted “a bizarre slow-motion coup” attempt. It became violent on January 6, when a Trump-incited mob attacked our Capitol to force Congress to throw out the election, and somehow keep Trump in the White House. Trump officials badgered Members of Congress by phone even as they were under attack. Multiple people died, but Congress reconvened later that night and completed the ceremony of certifying the election.
Even so, some two-thirds of Republicans in the House voted against doing so. According to Tom Reed, numbers of them told him that they know perfectly well that Biden won the election, but they’re afraid of people back in their home districts.
Trump finally left town, and Biden was inaugurated with Pence on hand, but in numerous states Republican legislatures, looking ahead to THIS year’s elections, are taking steps to limit voting, stop many people from voting, gerrymander districts even further, and (in some proposals) give themselves broad power to rewrite election results. Trump was impeached for an unprecedented second time, and 60 senators, including 10 Republicans, voted against him, but 67 total were required to convict.
The other big story, of course, is the still-ongoing COVID pandemic. Vaccines at last became available, but the Delta and Omicron variants pushed numbers up again, as did growing laxity in preventive measures such as masking. In November and December Steuben County saw a thousand new cases every two weeks. About 67% of Steubeners have had either had the virus or the shots, so about two-thirds should have some level of immunity. Even so, hospitals remain swamped, begging people to stay away except in direst need.
In other local news, convicted child-killer Eric Smith was paroled after 25 years. Joshua Horein, who pleased guilty to killing a 15 year-old classmate, was not. The Village Tavern in Hammondsport went up for sale. Acela railroad cars rumble out of Hornell, while Bath trembles on the brink of a possible new factory, possible new Amazon facility, and possible apartment conversion in the old Lyon school.
Family Life Ministries announced plans to build an extensive new facility in Gang Mills. Powerful summer storms caused severe flooding along the Pennsylvania state line. The disused Greenwood school had to be reopened to accommodate students from the damaged Troupsburg school.
Father afield, an unusually powerful and long-lasting tornado left a trail of deaths and destruction across several states. Kamala Harris, a child of immigrants, became the first vice-president to be a woman, OR of Asian descent, OR of African descent. Andrew Cuomo resigned his office under sexual-harassment charges, making Kathy Hochul our first female governor. After 20 years the U.S. pulled our troops out of Afghanistan, followed by a Taliban takeover. Biden labored to repair international relations damaged under Trump. America’s drift away from organized religion seemed to become a rush. Ninety year-old William Shatner went into space (the final frontier!).
The National Rifle Association sought bankruptcy protection. Vigilantism got a boost when Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of having committed any crime by killing two people and crippling a third while he was “defending” against a Black Lives Matter demonstration. Texas enacted a harsh new anti-abortion law, evading constitutional law by giving enforcement power to vigilantes and civil courts, rather than government officials. On the other hand, police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of having murdered George Floyd as he pleaded for breath. Three men were convicted for killing Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.
Last year we said goodbye to sports titans Tommy Lasorda, Hank Aaron, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Leon Spinks, and John Madden; performers Cicely Tyson, Christopher Plummer, Gavin McLeod, Ed Asner, Tommy Kirk, Mort Sahl, Betty White, and Hal Holbrook; commentators Larry King and Rush Limbaugh; newsman Roger Mudd; controversial publisher Larry Flint; Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy; civil rights fighter Vernon Jordan; government and political leaders Bob Dole, Ramsey Clark, and Harry Reid; authors bell hooks, Eric Carle, Anne Rice, Joan Didion; convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff; committed lawyer F. Lee Bailey; and songster Stephen Sondheim.
Locally we were left without community spark plugs Marcia States, Laura Jones, and Harry Reynolds; former county legislators Don Creath and John Walsh; museum professionals Frank Starr and Jane Shadel Spillman; Barney Hubbs, from the wine and tourism industries; and Hazel Rittenhouse… godmother of many publications, and guiding light of the Bath Area Writers Group. Safe journey, old friends. And a safe voyage THIS year, for us all.