Jeffery Fraser is Pittsburgh Today's senior editor, a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer and frequent contributor to Pittsburgh Quarterly. His magazine and newspaper reporting has won numerous awards. Bill O’Toole is a staff writer with Pittsburgh Today. His beats include public safety, transportation, government and housing. Before returning to his native Pittsburgh, he spent several years reporting in Myanmar.
Municipal Nightmare
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought municipalities across southwestern Pennsylvania face to face with the prospect of steep financial losses as stay-at-home orders, business closures and soaring unemployment choke off streams of revenues vital to paying their bills and providing the day-to-day services their residents rely on, such as police, garbage pickup and road repair. The …