Jamie Martines stories, Page 11

Beto O’Rourke will bring his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination to Western Pennsylvania this week, with stops scheduled for Pittsburgh and Erie. O’Rourke, a former U.S. congressman from Texas, will hold a town hall event Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 11:30 a.m. at Schenley Plaza in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood before...

Details of a $2 billion plan to manage sewer and storm water issues throughout Allegheny County were released Thursday by officials from Alcosan. The long-awaited Clean Water Plan has been in development since 2008, when the federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a consent decree. It mandated that Alcosan make improvements...

Mayors from two Monongahela River communities in Southwestern Pennsylvania signed on to a letter this week endorsing Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind. Mayor Matt Shorraw, of Monessen in Westmoreland County, and Mayor Ross Swords Jr., of Brownsville in Fayette County, were among the over...

Republican candidate for Allegheny County Chief Executive Matt Drozd has challenged Democratic incumbent Rich Fitzgerald to a series of five debates this fall. Drozd, a former two-term Allegheny County councilman, ran unopposed in the May primary to win the Republican nomination. Both Drozd and Fitzgerald will appear on the ballot...

Sen. Amy Klobuchar is scheduled to visit Pittsburgh on Wednesday as she kicks off her “Blue Wall Tour,” visits to states President Donald Trump flipped from blue to red in 2016. Klobuchar, of Minnesota, is one of 20 hopefuls vying for the Democratic presidential nomination. She’ll host a meet-and-greet in...

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has signed off on a long-awaited plan for managing storm water issues, Allegheny County Health Department officials announced Wednesday during a Board of Health meeting. The details of the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority’s Wet Weather Plan, which has been in the works since a 2008...

A grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will help the Allegheny County Health Department expand staff and resources dedicated to tackling the opioid crisis, officials announced Wednesday. The county will receive about $15 million over three years through the Overdose Data to Action grant. “Although overdose deaths...

A search committee tasked with finding a new director for the Allegheny County Health Department could present a recommendation this fall, committee co-chair Edith Shapira, M.D., told the county Board of Health on Wednesday. “We’ve received a large number of applications, some of which are from highly qualified individuals,” said...

Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark will serve as the interim chair of the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board. Clark replaced Allegheny County Judge David Cashman, who resigned in August, at the board’s meeting Thursday. “We have to give the jail credit for the good...

A demonstration of how parked cars can protect bicycle lanes and their users may be a sign of things to come in Pittsburgh and other communities along the region’s three rivers. Local lawmakers and bike advocates will hold a demonstration Sunday in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood to teach residents about...

Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday announced that the state Department of Education will enact new fees directed at charter schools. The “fee-for-service model” will charge charter schools to resolve payment disputes with local school districts. It is part of a sweeping charter school reform plan that Wolf announced earlier this...

The Allegheny County Board of Elections committee in charge of searching for a new voting system decided Friday to spend the next month working with vendors to test prospective systems, seeking confirmation that they can handle the high volume of complex contests in the county. A report submitted Aug. 19...

The Allegheny County Board of Elections committee in charge of searching for a new voting system decided Friday to spend the next month working with vendors to test prospective systems, seeking confirmation that they can handle the high volume of complex contests in the county. A report submitted Aug. 19...

The controversial billboard that sits atop Mt. Washington — previously, ads for Bayer and Sprint, and currently an American flag — is legal, according to a decision issued Thursday by a three-judge panel of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. In a lengthy legal battle, the City of Pittsburgh argued that...

U.S. Steel is facing a second federal lawsuit in connection with a December 2018 fire that damaged pollution controls at the company’s Clairton Plant. The Philadelphia-based environmental group Clean Air Council alleges that U.S. Steel violated the federal Superfund law, also known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability...

Members of Allegheny County Council held a hearing Wednesday to review an ordinance that would establish an independent, countywide police review board. Michelle Kenney, the mother of Antwon Rose II — a 17-year-old shot and killed by former East Pittsburgh Police officer Michael Rosfeld in June 2018 — was among...

Allegheny County Council on Tuesday endorsed enforcement actions taken by the county health department to curb air pollution at U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock and Clairton Coke Works in Clairton. The endorsement was intended to support the Allegheny County Health Department in its efforts to maintain the standards...

Over a year after Allegheny County Council took the first steps to form an independent, countywide police review board, the council is moving toward a vote on the ordinance to establish the body. The Special Committee on Independent Police Review, chaired by District 10 Councilman DeWitt Walton, D-Hill District, will...

Bruegger’s Bagel Bakery on Forbes Avenue in Oakland reopened following an inspection by the Allegheny County Health Department earlier this week. The restaurant was closed after a health department inspection Aug. 9 found raw sewage backed up in the basement of the restaurant, grimy floors, overhead leaks and water damage...