Tom Davidson stories, Page 16
Pittsburgh officials to review Alcosan improvement plans
The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority faces a challenge as it works to implement a $2 billion plan to upgrade its system by 2036 — and it has nothing to do with sewage. Alcosan’s sprawling complex at its Woods Run treatment plant in Pittsburgh’s Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood is squeezed between the Ohio...
Jim Brewster waits, works as 45th Senate race remains unresolved
Jim Brewster, the McKeesport Democrat who was a Pennsylvania senator until Tuesday, was working as usual for people who live in the 45th Senate District. “My staff is functioning with constituent issues,” Brewster said Thursday. But, he said, “I can’t do anything official.” On Tuesday, Republican leadership took control of...
FNB to donate $200 to Pittsburgh food bank for each Penguins goal this season
The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank will be one of the big winners in a collaboration between the Pittsburgh Penguins and FNB Corp. For every goal the Pens score in the upcoming season, FNB will donate $200 to the Duquesne-based food bank, the team and FNB Corp. announced Thursday. The...
Pittsburgh officials look to improve snow removal plans
The next time it snows, Pittsburgh’s public works employees will be more prepared to keep the city’s streets clear, officials announced Monday. The White Christmas, or at least its aftermath, left some city residents seeing red after they failed to spot a plow or salt truck for two days in...
Pittsburgh named a ‘reforestation hub’ by startup that aims to use, plant urban trees
Pittsburgh will be going greener this year. The Steel City is one of four cities across the country selected to receive an assessment about how it can be reforested. A national startup, Cambium Carbon, is leading the effort. The company launched last year and has lines of products made from...
Sleep interruptions warranted $35K in back pay for ambulance workers, feds say
A private ambulance service based in Jefferson Hills that has stations in Clairton and Elizabeth has paid more than $35,000 in back wages to 12 employees after violating federal labor laws, the U.S. Department of Labor said Monday. Investigators with the department’s Wages and Hour Division found that 12 employees...
Pittsburgh police investigating explosions in Lawrenceville, Hill District
Pittsburgh police were investigating explosions Sunday night in the city’s Lawrenceville and Hill District neighborhoods. Police and firefighters went to the 3600 block of Penn Avenue in Lawrenceville in response to reports that an improvised explosive device was thrown from a moving vehicle just after 9 p.m. A parked vehicle...
Gov. Wolf: New Pa. covid restrictions to end Monday
Come Monday, it won’t just be a new year. It may be a new start for the beleaguered restaurant and bar industries that have borne the brunt of coronavirus restrictions in 2020. “It will be good to get people back to work,” Bill Fuller, corporate chef and president of Big...
Pittsburgh officials to New Year’s revelers: Stay home this year
Although a crowd of people isn’t expected — or allowed — to gather in Downtown Pittsburgh for New Year’s Eve celebrations, public safety officials issued their annual reminder Wednesday advising revelers to put safety first. “I know that we all want — and absolutely deserve — to celebrate New Year’s...
Longtime Black activist feels ‘sense of hope’ regarding police reform in Pittsburgh
The founding leader of a Black activist organization that has lobbied for minorities in Pittsburgh for more than three decades says, as 2020 comes to a close, there is hope for substantive police reform in the city. “As we end the year, there is some positivity in the air with...
Pittsburgh projects, including Lower Hill development, awarded $7.5M in state grants
A long-planned development in Pittsburgh’s Lower Hill District, a commercial development in Larimer and an industrial development project in Fairywood are among projects that were awarded $7.5 million in state grants, the city announced Tuesday. Mayor Bill Peduto called the awards “critical investments” by Gov. Tom Wolf and the city’s...
Pittsburgh council creates fund for controversial parks taxVideo
More than a year after a parks tax was approved by Pittsburgh voters, council members Monday passed legislation that means the city will start to collect the tax in 2021. “With today’s approval of the Parks Trust Fund, our city is taking another step forward in our commitment to equity...
Some in Pittsburgh’s South Hills waited days for city snowplow, councilman saysVideo
It took two and a half days for some Pittsburgh residents to see a plow or salt truck after the region had the heaviest Christmas snowfall on record. By the time Carrick resident Lucy Barrone saw a truck Sunday on Merritt Avenue near the city’s border with Brentwood, she said,...
Pittsburgh police brass tell city council they’re committed to reform
Pittsburgh police Chief Scott Schubert has walked a beat in about 30 of the city’s 90 neighborhoods in a quest to hear from the people about how they feel he’s doing the job. When he gets to all 90, he plans to start over because he wants to know what...
Peduto: ‘$600 is not enough’ to help families struggling during pandemic
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said he is “profoundly disappointed” that funding for cities and states was left out of the $900 billion pandemic relief package Congress passed Monday night. “With the exclusion of cities from this stimulus package, our first responders and front-line essential workers who have worked tirelessly during...
Affordable housing project planned in Polish Hill to help battle gentrification
A plan to build eight new affordable homes in Pittsburgh’s Polish Hill neighborhood received a $750,000 boost in a grant from a government-sponsored bank. The City of Bridges Community Land Trust was awarded the money from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh’s affordable housing program. Each federal home loan...
Overbrook woman announces bid to challenge Anthony Coghill for Pittsburgh council seatVideo
Describing herself as a “public servant and single mom,” Bethani Cameron announced Monday she will challenge Pittsburgh City Councilman Anthony Coghill in the May 2021 Democratic primary for his District 4 council seat. Cameron, 38, of Overbrook, said she has “the experience and grit to fight for South Pittsburgh.” A...
Pittsburgh to pursue cultural competency training for public safety
Pittsburgh will spend $50,000 to provide cultural competency training under a proposal Mayor Bill Peduto’s office introduced Monday. The city and Peduto’s Office of Equity plan to partner with Pittsburgh-based Cultural Humility and Equity Collaborative to create a program for the city’s Department of Public Safety. The idea is to...
Pittsburgh council adopts 2021 budget, could be revised depending on federal covid reliefVideo
A 2021 Pittsburgh budget adopted by city council Monday is a “stop-gap” plan that is balanced and will need to be revised depending upon whether federal covid relief is ever approved for cities, Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle said. Although it doesn’t include a 50% cut in funding to the police...
Regional energy consortium’s efforts net Pittsburgh top climate protection award
Pittsburgh’s efforts to purchase all of its energy from renewable resources using the Western Pennsylvania Energy Consortium have netted the city top honors among large cities in the 2020 Climate Protection Awards presented Friday by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Mayor Bill Peduto was called a visionary by San Jose...
Giant Eagle’s pharmacists prepared to step up to administer covid-19 vaccines in Pa.
Giant Eagle is offering up its staff of pharmacists to help distribute the initial doses of the covid-19 vaccine, the O’Hara-based chain said Friday. The company assisted in administering the vaccine to long-term care workers Thursday and Friday in Morgantown, W.Va., its Vice President of Risk and Chief Compliance Officer...
Pittsburgh council sets weekend meeting for people to comment on 2021 budget
Dozens of Pittsburgh residents who have provided Pittsburgh City Council with comments on the 2021 budget have lamented when the meetings are generally scheduled – on weekday mornings. They’ve said many more people would offer input on the budget and what programs people would like to see the city prioritize...
Pittsburgh council on track to adopt 2021 budget that doesn’t cut police fundingVideo
Pittsburgh City Council is set to vote Monday on a 2021 budget that doesn’t make any of the cuts to police funding that some residents have repeatedly requested. The $564 million spending plan introduced Nov. 9 by Mayor Bill Peduto doesn’t increase taxes. However, if federal coronavirus relief packages are...
‘Stop the Violence Fund’ shifted from Pittsburgh police budget after outcryVideo
About $5.3 million in the 2021 Pittsburgh budget will be moved from police to public safety to fund a new Stop the Violence initiative spearheaded by city councilmen Ricky Burgess and R. Daniel Lavelle. The initiative is among the police reforms adopted by council this year and is in part...
Dr. Rachel Levine: ‘Today is a great day,’ but vaccine’s arrival doesn’t end pandemic
As Pennsylvania officials on Monday celebrated the first vaccinations of health care workers against covid-19 , Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine reiterated warnings this is the first step in a long road to the end of the pandemic. “Today is just a great day, when we start immunizing people,”...
