In mid-August, a trailer carrying a massive, metal mill cold box drove through Main Street on its way to the AK Steel plant in Butler Township. Oncoming traffic, corners and overhead lines presented obstacles as the 120 ton box was hauled from Allegheny Ludlum in Brackenridge.

The year just past produced locally important and memorable news. What follows is an overview of those events broken down by topic areas.Educators forced to re-examine their budgetsPublic school administrators were forced to re-examine their budgets during 2010, challenged by new labor contracts and campus reconfigurations. Potential federal and state funding cuts loomed large, another casualty of a shrinking tax base.In 2010, four school districts welcomed new superintendents. Four settled teachers contracts. Four are in the midst of reconfiguring their buildings. Four started their own cyber charter schools.At the same time, students in eight school districts — Butler, Freeport, Karns City, Mars, Moniteau, Seneca Valley, Slippery Rock and South Butler — met reading and math proficiency targets mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.Only Butler High School's economically disadvantaged students did not meet reading proficiency targets, although the Butler School District did so overall.New superintendents took the lead in three school districts, Freeport, Moniteau and South Butler, and a fourth has been hired in Karns City.The superintendents are Chris DeVivo, Freeport School District, who was hired Aug. 11 at $124,000 per year; George Svolos, Moniteau School District, who began Oct. 25 and earns $100,000 annually; Dale Lumley, South Butler School District, who began Dec. 1 at a salary of $132,000; and Eric Ritzert, Karns City School District, who will begin July 1, 2011.Although no salary was announced, Ritzert's salary now is $95,382 as assistant to the superintendent in Karns City.Teachers contracts also were settled this year in South Butler, Freeport, Karns City and Seneca Valley school districts.South Butler teachers were awarded a contract with an average 3 percent increase over each of six years of the contract.Freeport teachers received a 4.7 percent increase per year in each of five years of their contract.In Karns City, teachers received 3.6 percent increase for each of five years.In Seneca Valley, an early bird contract, which takes effect July 1, 2011, will give teachers a 3.48 percent average increase in each of five years.All four districts asked teachers to pay more for health care, but still agreed to shoulder the lion's share of the cost.Shifting demographics created pressure to reconfigure campuses in Karns City, Freeport and Mars school districts, as well as the Butler County Vocational-Technical School.

With declining enrollment in rural areas, Karns City School District may close and sell the Bruin Elementary School. It would consolidate grades in Chicora and Sugarcreek elementary schools. Parents by and large oppose the plan since some children would spend two hours per day on their school buses, and class sizes may increase.Meanwhile, in more populous areas near major thoroughfares, schools are expanding and new schools are being built.In the Mars School District, ongoing enrollment increases have resulted in two expansions.In July, the board agreed to add eight classrooms to its elementary school, which houses second through fourth grades, for $3.5 million.In November, the board voted to add 12 classrooms to its Centennial School for fifth and sixth grades, at a cost of $5.6 million.As its offerings expand, Butler County Vocational-Technical School also is experiencing growing enrollment. The school began an $8.3 million expansion in October to accommodate its students. The school was built for about 600 students and now has about 900.Freeport School District enrollment is holding steady. That board is deciding whether to build a new junior-senior high school since it agreed to close the aging junior high school in September.New construction is expected to take place on the Buffalo Township campus, but no board vote has been taken.Facilities improvements are in the planning stages at South Butler County School District and in the Butler School District, too.As an alternative to bricks-and-mortar schools, four districts created cyber charter schools to keep money in the districts that otherwise would go to outside providers.The online programs were on the agenda in Seneca Valley, South Butler, Butler and Mars.Public schools pay tuition for students who attend cyber charter schools, which offer students online courses. However, students are not required to attend a cyber charter school in their own district.Seneca Valley School District is in the third year of its cyber charter program. Seneca had 116 cyber charter students in March, ranging from seventh through 12th grades.South Butler opened a cyber charter school for senior high school students in fall 2010. Last February, 80 students there attended cyber schools, including 43 in high school.The Butler School District had 191 students enrolled in cyber schools in May, when the board decided to begin its own program. At the same time, the district cut funding for a bricks-and-mortar charter school, Transitions High School, set up for students who return to school from drug and alcohol recovery programs. Again, the district created its own program instead.In Mars, the board is collaborating with representatives of the Pennsylvania Digital Learning Network to develop goals for a cyber charter school there, where 120 students go to online schools.Parochial school enrollments also are growing, further stressing public school budgets. Public schools pay for students' transportation to parochial schools.There are numerous parochial schools in the county, of various religious denominations. This year, the Diocese of Pittsburgh moved forward with plans to build the county's first Catholic high school. It would accommodate 1,000 students and be located in Cranberry Township. More than $4 million has been raised for the $60 million project.

For Butler County, 2010 was a particularly violent year.Two of the three killings last year happened in November — only eight days apart.State police continue to seek the killer of Steven Russo, 48, a popular Seneca Valley High School math teacher who was shot in the head Nov. 24 at the Lancaster Township rental home he shared with his girlfriend.Investigators say they have no suspects but are looking into a number of clues, including a typewritten note found next to the body.Meanwhile, 18-year-old Eric Rutledge is in the Butler County Prison without bail in the Nov. 16 fatal shotgun shooting of a childhood friend from out of state who was staying at his Seven Fields home.He is charged with homicide.Rutledge told Cranberry Township police he believed the shotgun was unloaded and its safety on when he accidentally fired the gun.On July 28, state police nabbed Thomas Nathan Smith, 49, who was suspected of fatally shooting his sleeping roommate, Clifford Stevenson, 56, purportedly after a fight over stolen marijuana at their Mercer Township home.Smith's attorney is seeking a possible mental health defense for his client in the homicide case.Butler Township police in April, meanwhile, arrested 35-year-old Kevin Edward Campbell on first-degree murder charges in the Christmas Eve 2008 slaying of Shawn Murphey.Murphey, 24, of Butler was shot in the head with a .357-caliber revolver in the building that housed Campbell's tattoo shop on Bessemer Avenue.But Murphey's body for four weeks lay undetected hidden under a tarpaulin in the building's basement.Investigators believe Campbell killed Murphey, a customer, during a robbery gone awry.Campbell's trial could get under way this month.

Throughout the year, change swept the political landscape.Riding the national wave of voter discontent, Butler businessman Mike Kelly on Nov. 2 won the seat for the 3rd District in the U.S. House of Representatives.Kelly, a Republican, defeated Democratic incumbent Kathy Dahlkemper of Erie with 55 percent of the vote.He is the first Butler County resident to be elected to Congress since the 1970s. Kelly, the owner of Kelly Automotive, is a former Butler councilman.The 3rd District was one was one of five congressional seats picked up by Republicans across the state. A U.S. Senate seat also was captured.At the state level, the GOP reclaimed the majority status of the Pennsylvania House.During a year when there was a shift in political power, there also was turmoil for one state senator.Republican Jane Orie and her sister Janine Orie, in April were charged with political corruption. Janine Orie is a former administrative assistant to another sister, state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin.The women allegedly committed theft of services by using state employees to work on political campaigns for Orie and Melvin.An Allegheny County judge in July ruled the charges against the Ories would go to trial.Despite the controversy, Jane Orie won her re-election bid in November.At the county level, the longest serving commissioner announced in August he would not run for re-election. Commissioner James Kennedy, 66, said he would retire at the end of 2011.

There also were a few major fires destroying historic, and not so historic buildings.Wendell August Forge, which had been in its location in Grove City since 1932, burned down March 6. There were no injuries.Nearly 100 firefighters from 25 departments battled the blaze at the 25,000-square-foot facility. The fire started in the spray room, caused by a malfunctioning fan.The company is considering building a new, larger facility in Springfield Township, Mercer County, expected to be open in fall 2012.The historic “Plantation” apartment building on the corner of Monroe and Pearl streets, burned down April 6, causing nearly $1 million in damages and leaving 10 people homeless. No serious injuries were reported.The accidental fire was caused by one of the tenants smoking in bed. No charges were filed.The building dated back to the Civil War, and may have been part of the Underground Railroad.A less historic building, the Allied Dental Center in Slippery Rock was destroyed by an accidental electrical fire Sept. 14, causing around $500,000 in damages. Five dentists practiced at the building.

December began where February left off, with the first snows and frigid temperatures hitting the region on the first day of the month.A snowy January became a stand still February with record snowfalls with below normal temperatures paralyzing Western Pennsylvania for several weeks.The weekend of Feb. 5 saw more than 17 inches bury Butler County with a second traffic-stopping snowfall coming on Feb. 9, closing schools and knocking out power to thousands. A total of 30 inches of snow fell in February resulting in federal disaster aid being doled out to municipalities in April.

A Pennsylvania Army National Guardsman from Lyndora, Staff Sgt. Bryan Hoover, was killed in a suicide bomber's blast while on foot patrol in the Bullard Bazaar in Zabul province of southeastern Afghanistan on June 11.Multiple fatalitiesFour vehicle accidents in Butler County this year each claimed more than one person's life.On Jan. 6, a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 80 in Clintonville killed Thomas Hugh Munsell, 66, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Pesha Leah Azoulay, 23, and Avrohom Liberow, 10, both of Brooklyn, N.Y.On Jan. 27, three teens died after an SUV carrying Zelienople volunteer firefighters Sam Bucci and Elijah Lunsford, both 18, along with their friend, Trevor Barkley, 17, of Lancaster Township, skidded off Ben Venue Road into a tree before flipping upside-down in the Zelienople-Harmony Sportsmen's Club Lake in Zelienople.On Nov. 19, Zachary Bombalsky, 19, of Natrona Heights and Donald Robinson, 20, of Tarentum died in a crash along Silverville Road in Buffalo Township. Two other passengers survived.Four people died on Nov. 23 when a van and a pickup truck collided just south of Moniteau High School on Route 308.Fanny Detweiller, 72, of Emlenton, Eli Coblentz, 77, and A. Lewis Sweetapple, 76, both of Kennerdell, as well as Charles Roxberry Jr., 30, of Hilliards were killed in that crash, which injured four others.

For one weekend, starting Sept. 24, more than 10,000 Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Venture crews descended upon Moraine State Park's South Shore, participating in about 100 different activities to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Boy Scouts of America.Throughout the year, county residents and community groups combined to raise money and other donations for victims of the Feb. 12 earthquake in Haiti, and one family hosted a Haitian student.The Zelienople and Portersville Rotary clubs collaborated to collect more than 100 wheelchairs and other walking aids for earthquake victims.The Butler Rotary Club raised $36,000 to rebuild a school in Gonaives, Haiti.Members of Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cranberry Township sent to Haiti 132 hygiene kits containing soap, washcloths, combs and toothbrushes.A Mega Millions lottery ticket worth $1 million for the Feb. 9 drawing was sold at the Giant Eagle on Route 19 in Cranberry Township. A Baden, Beaver county, woman claimed the prize in March. She and several other people had gone together to buy the winning ticket.<I>Eagle staff writers Jim Smith, Ed Biller, John Bojarski and Tom Victoria contributed to this report.</I>

Butler Memorial Hospital's new seven-story, $150 million patient tower, shown here in June, opened Aug. 2. The project came in on time and under budget.

In late September, more than 10,000 Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Venture crews descended upon Moraine State Park's South Shore for Campaganza, an event celebrating the Boy Scouts of America?s 100th anniversary.

Santa waves to the crowd in the Butler Christmas Parade on Friday November 26, 2010.

In November, Butler businessman Mike Kelly won the 3rd District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The first weekend of February saw more than 17 inches of snow bury Butler County. A total of 30 inches fell during the month, closing schools and knocking out power to thousands. At right traffic and pedestrians struggle along Main Street on the night of Feb. 5.

Last January a wrong turn became a public spectacle when a Ford Explorer became stuck on a railroad trestle 65 feet above ground in Chicora. It took about two hours for the vehicle to be winched off the trestle and driven off the tracks. The incident drew a crowd of a few hundred onlookers.