AUSTIN, Texas — 2020 has truly been a year unlike any other.
From a global pandemic that changed nearly every aspect of our lives to nationwide protests and a historic presidential election, it has been a year where staying informed has been more important than ever.
As we finally reach the finish line of 2020, we are reflecting on the top stories that made headlines this year. And like most things in 2020, some of them are a little unexpected.
Here's a roundup of the top 10 Austin-area stories you clicked on this year.
By mid-March, the COVID-19 pandemic had become the No. 1 thing on everyone's minds. KVUE created this story on March 22, as many Central Texas counties began reporting their first confirmed cases. In the months since, the story was updated nearly every day to reflect the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the 12-county KVUE viewing area.
On July 25, an Austin man named Garrett Foster was killed in a shooting at a Black Lives Matter protest in Downtown Austin. According to police, Foster was carrying a rifle when he approached the suspect's vehicle. The suspect – later identified as Daniel Perry, an active-duty U.S. Army sergeant who was working as a rideshare driver at the time of the shooting – then shot out of his car at Foster.
Police said Perry shot at Foster after he said Foster pointed a weapon at him. Witnesses told KVUE that Foster approached Perry's car after he tried to drive through the crowd of protesters.
In early September, the Travis County Sheriff's Office responded to "many boats in distress" during a boat parade in support of President Donald Trump's campaign. A total of five boats sank during the event at Lake Travis, causing a stir on social media. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
News of Tesla's move to Austin has made headlines all year, starting in February when CEO Elon Musk posted a cryptic tweet. This story was published in May, when tensions continued to brew between Musk and Alameda County, California, where Tesla's Fremont plant is based. Musk tweeted that Tesla would move its headquarters and future programs to Texas and/or Nevada, fueling speculation that Tesla would move to Austin.
The rest is history: The company later announced it would build its new gigafactory in southeast Travis County and Musk himself has since moved to Texas.
About midway through the year, Austin ISD dealt with an outbreak among employees. Fifty-one people tested positive for the virus, resulting in around 698 employees being asked to quarantine. The cases impacted several major departments and forced the temporary closure of 11 facilities.
On June 15, Austin and Travis County extended the local "stay home" orders for a second time as the area entered Stage 4 of the risk-based COVID-19 guidelines. Mayor Steve Adler said at the time that the spike in cases was a reminder that "this virus is going to be with us for a while." At the time, the order was extended to Aug. 15.
This story, originally published in September 2018, frequently pops up as one of the most popular stories on KVUE.com and, in 2020, it was one of the most clicked-on stories of the year yet again. In the video that went viral, a gate attendant at a park near Lake Georgetown can be seen standing in front of a car, yelling that the driver is "running over her."
It was one of Austin's earliest big COVID-19 stories. On March 9, KVUE confirmed that a Dell employee returning to India from Austin had tested positive for the coronavirus. Austin Public Health was aware of the case but wasn't concerned about it at the time. It wasn't believed the man contracted the virus in Austin because the city didn't have any "reported person-to-person cases."
Three Cedar Park police officers were shot and injured responding to a house call in mid-August. The suspect, later identified as Joseph Desean Taylor, released his brother and sister after 16 hours of negotiating before coming out himself. The officers all suffered non-life-threatening injuries, though one officer wasn't able to return to work until November.
Approximately three months into the pandemic, Austin's seven-day moving average for hospital admissions eclipsed 20, sending the city into Stage 4 of its COVID-19 risk-based guidelines for the first time. Austin would move back down to Stage 3 in August, then back up to Stage 4 in November. Officials warned in December that the city was dangerously close to entering Stage 5.
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