LYNN — COVID-19 thrust the city into the state-designated “high-risk” red zone for escalating case rates even as local officials worked throughout the year to channel state and federal money into small business owners’ hands.
Entrepreneurs, in return, reached out to help the community with sign makers Obed and Maribel Matul preparing school study packets for students marooned at home by spring school closings.
City Councilors and other residents in May mobilized a food collection at the Salvation Army on Franklin Street to feed residents who lost jobs and income. Lynn entered the COVID case rate red zone in the fall and 2020’s end brought rise holiday case rates and a depressing winter sports cancellation.
Other major stories included:
— An era ended in January with the Porthole Restaurant’s demolition.
— The city unveiled a $100 million Pickering Middle School replacement plan on Feb. 10.
— A fatal Feb. 24 shooting on Jones Terrace marked the city’s first murder in 2020. A police-involved shooting following a Revere robbery on Nov. 2 left a Somerville man dead and a Lynn man was shot to death on Dec. 26 on Washington Street.
— Former City Councilor and School Committee member, community activist and Lynn Community Health Center benefactor Deborah Smith Walsh died March 27.
— George Floyd’s murder sparked Lynn police reform protests and a summer’s-worth of meetings between reform advocates and City Council members culminating in the council passing reform suggestions in October onto Mayor Thomas M. McGee. Money to pay for police body cameras was budgeted by year’s end.
— On August 11, Good Samaritans Jose Toro and Jeff Hurley risked exposure to COVID to save the life of a woman who collapsed on Union Street.
— The topsy-turvy school years triggered by the pandemic prompted public school administrators in November to seek suspension of the MCAS state comprehensive assessment test.
— On Dec. 11, Cal’s News, a long-time local Lottery agent, finally sold its first $1 million winning ticket.
