This is our home. Local news is vital to us all. Here’s how you can help The Herald.
Nobody in York, Chester and Lancaster counties knew in March what would happen after coronavirus cases started to appear here.
Some people, our neighbors, have died from COVID-19. Hundreds have become sick. Schools shut down and transitioned to E-learning. Businesses had to lock doors and thousands became unemployed almost overnight. The courts slowed almost to a halt and the county jails dropped their populations by half.
We still don’t know how the COVID-19 pandemic will end.
But local news — about coronavirus and the court system and how the police handled an unprecedented state of emergency that banned gatherings and forced people to stay at home — has never been more important.
Who has been affected? You. Where you can go, when, and with whom.
I cover public safety, the courts and breaking news for The Herald. For 20 years, I have covered those topics and also have written articles about people and equality and justice.
And now, I’m asking for your help to continue covering these stories.
Since the pandemic started, York County has seen a double-murder suicide. There have been traffic fatalities, the arrest of a Kansas City Chiefs football player at a Fort Mill gas station. Beatings with a baseball bat and fists, and the arrest of accused drug traffickers who live in our neighborhoods.
We’ve written about how local law enforcement would handle a state of emergency order that granted police increased authority to ticket or arrest. The public needed the police to explain what the laws were and how they would be enforced. We wrote about that for you.
The Herald has done articles that focus on whether first responders — cops and firefighters and others — had the equipment they needed to stay safe.
They live here too.
I found a Fort Mill company that has donated 50,000 masks — for free.
The Herald has provided all this information to you because this is where you live and work and raise your kids. I live here and work here and raised my kids here too. It’s important to know what’s going on locally.
Every day, I, and others at The Herald, have worked hard to keep you informed during coronavirus — and the parts of life that aren’t COVID-19. Gun violence and teens. Domestic violence. Child endangerment. Murder. Other reporters at The Herald continue to tell you about your roads, schools, government, and how health care is being dispensed.
Local news has never mattered more. That’s why we ask you to support us.
If you’re not a subscriber, we ask that you subscribe.
If you’re already a subscriber, and you want to help, you can make a tax-deductible donation to preserve local journalism. We have partnered with the nonprofit Local Media Foundation, which is accepting contributions on our behalf.
As newsroom staffs have shrunk, so has coverage for some areas. We want to continue providing relevant, compelling, fair, accurate news in all three of our counties.
It’s your home. And mine, too.
Support The Herald today by making a donation to our Coronavirus Reporting Fund at givebutter.com/heraldonline. All donations will directly fund the newsroom and its journalists.
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
