The week in pictures in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas as seen through the eyes of our photojournalists. Check back regularly as we update from across our region throughout the week.
The student section for Quaker Valley cheers against Lincoln Park during their WPIAL Class 4A game, Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021, at Quaker Valley High School in Leetsdale. Quaker Valley won 77-74. (Barry Reeger/For the Post-Gazette)Joy Faulkner, of Robinson Twp., Pa., meets first graders at Langley K-8 School on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021, in Sheraden. Faulkner’s son, former Pitt and now Buffalo Bills player Dane Jackson, provided lunch and backpacks to students at the school. (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)First graders, from left, Kendal Kates and Ryan Kenney are excited about the contents of their boxed lunches at Langley K-8 School on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021, in Sheraden. Former Pitt and now Buffalo Bills player Dane Jackson provided lunch and backpacks to students at the school. (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)Pre-K student Maelaun Ebbins, 4, enjoys lunch at Langley K-8 School on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021, in Sheraden. Former Pitt and now Buffalo Bills player Dane Jackson provided lunch and backpacks to students at the school. (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)The UPMC Rink at PPG Place has a giant Christmas tree in the center Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021, Downtown. (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)A coal barge headed up the Monongahela River on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021 in Pittsburgh. (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)Cousins , from left, Caitlin Kocak and TJ Goodman look at the Christmas tree from the edge of the UPMC Rink at PPG Place on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021, downtown Pittsburgh. (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)With temperatures in the mid 30s, a man makes his way riding a one wheel electric skateboard Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021, on the North Shore of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. (Post-Gazette)Volunteers Linda Hagen-Kalinoski, left, and husband Joe Kalinoski help load boxed food items into vehicles lined up next to Heinz Field as part of a special drive-up distribution hosted by Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Northside Food Pantry Advisors on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021. A total of 275 families reserved food for the distribution, the last before Christmas. Each family received boxes of frozen meat, produce and non-perishable pantry items such as spaghetti and macaroni and cheese. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)Volunteers load boxed food items into vehicles lined up next to Heinz Field as part of a special drive-up distribution hosted by Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Northside Food Pantry Advisors on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021. A total of 275 families reserved food for the distribution, the last before Christmas. Each family received boxes of frozen meat, produce and non-perishable pantry items such as spaghetti and macaroni and cheese. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)Artist Lori Hepner, left, chats with fifth-grader Phoenix Nicholas, center, and other students from Lincoln Elementary School during after the unveiling of work Hepner’s work “Larimer Caryatids” at Bakery Square in East Liberty on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. Nicholas appears in the installation, which Hepner said was inspired by her residencies at Lincoln Elementary and Urban Academy, where students used light painting and created silhouette portraits of each other. The work, rising 18-feet high at Galley Bakery Square is part of a public art program that’s being expanded to include artist Curtis Reaves. He will begin working with students this spring, and his work will be installed in June 2022. The program debuted last summer with the installation of Janel Young’s “Heroes on the Horizon” exhibit. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)The Allegheny River photographed from the Century Building, at 130 7th Street on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, in Downtown. (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)Flowers and candles are seen by plaques memorializing people who died while experiencing homelessness during a vigil in honor of National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day organized by Pittsburgh Mercy, Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, at the intersection of Fort Pitt Boulevard and Grant Street, Downtown. National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day is recognized nationally on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)Danielle Schnauber, of Latrobe, a nurse with Pittsburgh Mercy, touches plaques memorializing people who died while experiencing homelessness during a vigil in honor of National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day organized by Pittsburgh Mercy, Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, at the intersection of Fort Pitt Boulevard and Grant Street, Downtown. National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day is recognized nationally on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)Resident Skim McAdams skates on the new rooftop rink at Kaufmann’s Grand on Fifth, Downtown, on Monday, Dec. 20, 2021. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)Matt Alamo, right, owner of 17 area McDonald’s restaurants, delivers toys with others to the Ronald McDonald House Monday, Dec. 20, 2021, in Lawrenceville. A truckload of toys was delivered for families whose children are undergoing medical care in Pittsburgh. The toys were donated by employees of McDonald’s restaurants operated by the Alamo family. (Post-Gazette)Steelers running back Najee Harris carries against the Titans in the third quarter, Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, at Heinz Field (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt wears Christmas-themed custom cleats before taking on the Titans, Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, at Heinz Field (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger greets Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill after their game, Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, at Heinz Field (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)Steelers teammates celebrate after stopping the Titans on a fourth down at the end of the game, Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, at Heinz Field (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)A Steelers fan holds a cutout of head coach Mike Tomlin as the team takes on the Titans in the third quarter, Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, at Heinz Field (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick celebrates with fans after recovering a fumble against the Titans in the second quarter, Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, at Heinz Field (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)Sunrise Miyares, 18, of Swissvale, a senior at Woodland Hills Senior High School, and Cathy Welsh, of Turtle Creek, who helps run the HOOP Alliance, a grief group for community members who lost a loved one to gun violence, set up lanterns with messages of hope from local school students to bring the message of hope and healing to communities affected by loss and violence Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, at Woodland Hills Senior High School in Churchill. The event was organized by the Caileigh Lynn McDowell Foundation, a non-profit created in honor of its namesake, who was 17 when she died of undiagnosed Crohn’s disease. Volunteers will transport the display of luminaries to other local high schools this week to spread the message. Ms. Welsh lost her 16-year-old son Jerame Turner to gun violence in 2017. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)Sunrise Miyares and Courtney Henderson, both 18, of Swissvale, and seniors at Woodland Hills Senior High School, talk while helping to set up lanterns with messages of hope from local school students to bring the message of hope and healing to communities affected by loss and violence Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, at Woodland Hills Senior High School in Churchill. The event was organized by the Caileigh Lynn McDowell Foundation, a non-profit created in honor of its namesake, who was 17 when she died of undiagnosed Crohn’s disease. Volunteers will transport the display of luminaries to other local high schools this week to spread the message. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)Brooke Corey, 10, of Jefferson Hills, gives Santa one of her Christmas peach cookies on Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, during Beverly Birthdays’ fourth annual Great Birthday Bake – A Kids Cookie Competition at Antonelli Event Center in Irwin. The bakers’ cookies were judged based on appearance, creativity, and flavor in four different categories – fruity and fun, chocolatey cheer, birthday nut, and classic Christmas cookie. (Emily Matthews/Post-Gazette)Melissa Yancec, left, and her daughter Ariel Strach, 9, both of Charleroi, share cookies on Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, during Beverly Birthdays’ fourth annual Great Birthday Bake – A Kids Cookie Competition at Antonelli Event Center in Irwin. The bakers’ cookies were judged based on appearance, creativity, and flavor in four different categories – fruity and fun, chocolatey cheer, birthday nut, and classic Christmas cookie. (Emily Matthews/Post-Gazette)
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