Top stories of the semester: Editors’ picks

Backlogged

Thousands of rapekits — or sexual assault evidence collection kits — go untested in the United States, and one Allegheny County lab found a short-term solution to fixing the problem. The story that took more than a semester to report follows the journey of Natasha Alexenko’s rapekit and why a backlogged list of rapekits across the nation needs to be addressed.

Relief of Pitt wrestling coach Jason Peters

Jason Peters was let go as Pitt’s head wrestling coach with no clear explanation in January. After he was fired, assistant head coaches Matt Kocher and Drew Headlee stepped into to fill the position jointly until Pitt hired Keith Gavin was hired in April.

The Pitt News also followed an incident that occurred during the wrestling team’s trip to Evanston, Illinois, for the Midlands Championships over winter break. The event involved police responding to a call within the hotel where the Pitt wrestling team was staying.

Inauguration and Women’s Marches coverage

Two of the most influential events of 2017, TPN reporters scoured the streets of Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., for the full scoop.

No Wall, no ban, no silence

Shortly after assuming the presidency, Donald Trump signed executive orders banning people from entering the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries — Libya, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan and Yemen — for 90 days, all refugees for 120 days and Syrian refugees indefinitely. Although no one was detained at Pittsburgh International Airport the day the orders were signed, people still went to protest in solidarity with other protests around the country. Since then, the federal appeals panel rejected Trump’s bid to reinstate the travel ban in February.

PWSA coverage

In recent months, Pittsburgh residents experienced high levels of lead in their water, high water bills and other problems with the PWSA. Everything came to a breaking point when the organization declared a water crisis after a test showed low levels of chlorine at the Highland Park water filtration plant. PWSA told locals to either buy or boil their water, but the precautionary measure only lasted a couple days. Since then, Mayor Bill Peduto ordered PWSA be audited and nominated three new people to the board, including two Pitt professors.