![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fet-simpson.webp.jpeg\")
Credit: Jeff Schreckengost<\/p>\nAs 2025 draws to a close,\u00a0Pittsburgh City Paper\u2018s editorial staff members select their favorite stories from the year. Relive news editor Colin Williams\u2019 2025 highlights below:<\/p>\n
Credit: Jeff Schreckengost<\/p>\n
Will the real John Fetterman please stand up?<\/a> \/\/ Mar. 5, 2025<\/p>\n It hardly needs to be said that 2025 was a seismic year in politics. While grassroots activists and some elected officials stood tall<\/a>, others lined up to grease U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s palms<\/a>, and one U.S. Senator in particular caused a wave of local disappointment and outrage \u2014 I\u2019m talking, of course, about former Braddock mayor and Pa. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. Far from being a pugilistic progressive, Fetterman has become \u201cTrump\u2019s favorite Democrat<\/a>.\u201d I was proud to see Pittsburgh City Paper ahead of the curve on concerns about Fetterman\u2019s behavior and health, and we did it with an irreverence befitting our alt-paper status.<\/p>\n Under pressure from Trump, UPMC canceled a trans patient\u2019s scheduled top surgery<\/a> \/\/ Mar. 31, 2025<\/p>\n The flipside of so much politics in 2025 was the human cost of Trump and his ilk\u2019s policy decisions. This year saw far too much suffering, with immigrants<\/a>, people of color, and our LGBTQ community taking the brunt of the Trump administration\u2019s second-term aggression. This isn\u2019t my \u201cfavorite\u201d story because it was fun to write, but because it was important to break this news and put a face on the local impact of anti-trans policies. Unfortunately, trans Pittsburghers, especially minors, continue to face barriers<\/a> to life-saving care, so this will continue to be a story in 2026.<\/p>\n Jenn Taiga talks swords, sadomasochism, and synthesizers ahead of new album and tour<\/a> \/\/ June 18, 2025<\/p>\n Covering<\/a> extreme<\/a> music<\/a> is how I got my start in journalism, and it\u2019s a subject matter I return to with glee. I had a blast talking to dungeon synth mistress Jenn Taiga and sharing her music with our readers. It feels like goth culture has been having a moment this past decade, and it\u2019s glorious how many ways musicians have found to channel the darkness. Taiga is truly a one-of-a-kind Pittsburgh artist, and I\u2019m stoked to see what she and others have in store next year.<\/p>\n Vision Zero Summit proves Pittsburgh is a rising star in the world of mobility<\/a> \/\/ Oct. 17, 2025<\/p>\n In a year of difficult news, there were nonetheless bright spots, including Pittsburgh\u2019s ongoing transit makeover. The city has undeniably gotten safer<\/a> for non-drivers, and October\u2019s Vision Zero Summit proved we\u2019re just getting started. I frequently push<\/a> for dreaming bigger when it comes to mobility, but it\u2019s worth celebrating the fact that we\u2019re already thinking bigger than we used to. Here\u2019s to more safety improvements and bike lanes in 2026!<\/p>\n RELATED\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As 2025 draws to a close,\u00a0Pittsburgh City Paper\u2018s editorial staff members select their favorite stories from the year.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[991,992,993,73,75,74,994],"class_list":["post-73188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-features","tag-home-feature","tag-new-releases","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-section-feature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1767050592_10_032725_TransHealthcare-1.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
Cori Fraser hugs their kid, Salem at home on Mar. 27, 2025.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/061225_jenntaiga-2.webp.webp.jpeg\")
Synth musician Jenn Taiga Credit: CP Photo: Mars Johnson<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_1777.jpg\")
Claudia Adriazola-Steil delivers keynote remarks during the Vision Zero Summit on Oct. 17, 2025. Credit: Colin Williams \/ CP<\/p>\n