The cover of the Butler Eagle last Monday was not the cover we had planned.

And the coverage during the week that followed was driven by ongoing and evolving information in the wake of the attempted assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump during a rally July 13 at the Butler Farm Show grounds in Connoquenessing Township.

Here we are a mere week later, and the coverage on the front of the Eagle is again not what we planned.

President Joe Biden on Sunday announced another change in plans: he will not continue his bid for reelection against Trump.

The people gathered at the Trump rally at the farm show grounds had planned for an afternoon of camaraderie.

The doctors at Butler Memorial Hospital who tended to Trump’s wounds and the people who were locked in or out of the hospital all had different plans.

The family of slain former Buffalo Township fire chief Corey Comperatore and those of the two men injured at the rally must plan new lives.

Malphine Fogel — the mother of Marc Fogel, the Butler man who has been in a Russian prison for three years — was finally going to have a national audience to make a plea for the release of her son. That plan was dashed by the gunman at the rally.

The attendees at the Republican National Convention that began mere days later surely had different speeches planned before the attempted assassination of their candidate.

The people planning for the upcoming Democratic National Convention were expecting a vote to nominate Biden for reelection.

As plans fall apart and we adjust, the world and the next generation are watching how we as a nation handle change.

— RJ