News

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sportswriter Emeritus Bob Dvorchak discusses the death of Uniontown native and NFL great Chuck Muncie of heart failure at age 60, concussions in the NFL and the strange case of hockey player Derek Boogaard. 

Airing Monday at noon on 90.5 WESA

Rico Gagliano, arts and culture journalist, producer, and host is best known for his work in public radio. He spent several years reporting for the business show Marketplace, filing stories from all over the world and across the U.S. 

Rico currently co-hosts and co-produces The Dinner Party Download for American Public Media.  The Pittsburgh native talks about his show and his favorite hometown haunts, past and present.

Airing Monday at noon on 90.5 WESA

In his latest column, Pittsburgh Tribune columnist Eric Heyl gives Mayor Ravenstahl the moniker Captain Distraction, referring to his overshadowing presence in this year's Democratic mayoral primary. On this day before the election we'll discuss how the mayor's travails continue to hold public fascination.

The head of the state's Office of Open Records is pointing a finger at public charter schools for being the "cancer" of the state's Right-to-Know law.

The testimony comes as lawmakers are in the midst of an effort to tweak the state's five-year-old law, which lets citizens request government records starting with the presumption that all such documents are public, putting the burden of proof on agencies, not citizens.

An empty lot in the Wilson neighborhood of Clairton will be transformed into a playground this weekend.

More than 200 volunteers will gather in Clairton Saturday to build a playground designed entirely by local children.

Volunteers from the Clairton Fire Department, the Unity Group of Clairton, local residents and organizers from KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit, are getting together to build the playground in just one day.

Wayde Killmeyer, superintendent of the Clairton City School District, said the new playground is long overdue.

A Pittsburgh Veterans Affairs clinic in a suburban mall has been closed so crews can superheat its tap water to kill bacteria that cause Legionnaire's disease.

Officials don't believe anyone has become ill from water at the clinic in the Washington Crown Center mall in North Franklin Township, about 20 miles southwest of Pittsburgh in Washington County.

That's according to Brandon Blatt, a vice president of Sterling Medical Corp. of Cincinnati, which leases and runs the clinic under a contract with the VA.

"Meet me under Kaufmann's Clock" has been said for decades — 10 to be exact — by friends, families and lovers as a rendezvous in downtown Pittsburgh.

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the installation of the clock on the department store at Fifth and Smithfield.

While Kaufmann's is gone, Macy's made sure it kept the Pittsburgh icon when it acquired the department store chain. On Friday dozens of people with special memories of "meeting under the clock" gathered to mark the centennial.

As part of National Bike Month, hundreds of Pittsburghers and cyclists from outlying areas commuted to work on two wheels Friday. It was the fifth year for Bike to Work Day in Pittsburgh.

Last year’s event saw about 550 people participate, numbers for Friday won’t be available until a later date. Russell Duff is from the Baldwin area and was at a relief station on the South Side for this year’s Bike to Work Day.

“I’ve been biking since I was 5-years-old," Duff said. "I’ve done BMX, freestyle, and I just can’t stay off a bike.”

A southwestern Pennsylvania woman has been charged with endangering her two young daughters who, police say, were in a van with the woman when she overdosed on heroin.

Online court records don't list an attorney for 33-year-old Clara Bass, of Uledi.

Emergency crews in Uniontown thought they were responding to a woman in cardiac arrest after Bass' friend called 911 to report finding her passed out in a van in a shopping center lot on Wednesday night. But police say they instead found a syringe in the arm of Bass who had turned blue.

On a recent Thursday morning, Antoinetta Lassiter is playing with roller skates she has just gotten for her fifth birthday. She’s in her Beechview home with her mother and grandmother, asking an endless stream of questions.

Her mother Melinda Lassiter said it's nice to have her home, but if things had gone as planned, her daughter would still be enrolled in her Head Start program.

"I went to pick her up from school, and the teacher told us the school was closing on the 19th of April … and that was kind of shocking actually," she said. 

Gov. Tom Corbett and his allies in the state Legislature have introduced controversial legislation to reform the pension systems for state employees and public school teachers.

The sponsors say the bills make necessary cuts to reduce the state’s massive liability problem. Unions argue that the measures are illegal because they cut current workers’ future benefits.

Family, friends and fixtures of state politics are remembering former Pennsylvania Gov. George Leader for being a tireless tinkerer — a man inspired by new ideas and always ready to go on to the next thing.

Leader died at age 95 last week. At a memorial service Thursday in Hershey, Dauphin County, his children recounted stories of their father and poked fun at his memory, at turns resisting and then contributing to a growing legend about one of the state’s most beloved governors.

If 736 chief executive officers had their druthers, they’d rather operate in 41 other states before setting up shop in Pennsylvania.

Each year, Chief Executive magazine asks hundreds of CEOs to evaluate the national business climate on a state-by-state basis. The magazine’s editor-in-chief, J.P. Donlon, said that the annual ranking feature provides a holistic, qualitative view of states’ ability to attract and maintain businesses.

In an ongoing effort to connect multiple bicycle trails and communities with one another, the plan for the Ohio River Trail has been completed.

Community leaders from around Allegheny County gathered at a Rite Aid store in McKees Rocks Thursday to outline the plan.

“This project is going to connect the City of Pittsburgh to McKees Rocks, along Route 51, along the McKees Rocks Bottoms, and finally connecting to the Montour Trail, which now has a spur to the airport,” said Bike Pittsburgh Executive Director Scott Bricker.

Sister Helen Prejean, has been an advocate for the abolishment of the death penalty, and a spiritual advisor for death row inmates and their families for decades.

Her bestselling book, Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States inspired an Oscar nominated film of the same name. This week, Sister Helen comes to Pittsburgh's Rodef Shalom Congregation to speak about capital punishment and the nation's criminal justice system.

The Marcellus Shale boom in western Pennsylvania has gained the attention of oil and gas companies, and they are seeing new opportunities in Pittsburgh.

One of the businesses making a move to Pittsburgh is Swift Worldwide Resources.

The outplacement company opened an office in Robinson. The new office will focus on hiring people for management and supporting roles in the oil and gas industry.

These roles include positions in technical shale drilling along with safety and environmental consulting.

The demolition of the Civic Arena wrapped up in March of 2012, and a broad stretch of parking spaces now occupies the space where the Igloo once stood.

Now, the gears of redevelopment could soon begin to turn for the 27-acre site in the lower Hill District, as Pittsburgh City Council is moving legislation to apply for a $20 million federal grant for the project.

On Wednesday, Council unanimously approved the legislation necessary to apply for the so-called TIGER grant, readying Hill District Councilman Daniel Lavelle's bills for final passage on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that his administration had sought and accepted Steven Miller's resignation as interim commissioner of the IRS. The announcement came after news that IRS employees inappropriately targeted conservative and Tea Party advocacy groups.

Jennifer Stefano, tried to start an advocacy group, The Loyal Opposition. It was one of at least three conservative groups in Pennsylvania to receive extra scrutiny from the IRS.

The City Spree is a citywide race with no course and no boundaries. Find your own path, explore, and check in, the further you are from the starting point the better. The unique event encourages Pittsburghers to race beyond their comfort zone and explore new neighborhoods. Remember the carefree days of youth and playing outdoors with kids in your neighborhood? Now you have an excuse to run amuck again.

If you own a pet chances are you consider them a member of the family. So why wouldn’t you take them on the family vacation? This week contributor Elaine Labalme offers tips on traveling with your pet.

Gov. Tom Corbett says he'll name a central Pennsylvania public school superintendent as his new education secretary, with outgoing Ron Tomalis becoming an adviser on higher education issues.

Corbett said in a statement Wednesday that he'll nominate Cumberland Valley School District Superintendent William Harner as education secretary.

Corbett's statement didn't explain the reason for the change.

The Western Pennsylvania Humane Society has landed a $30,000 grant to save more cats'  lives.

The WPHS is the second shelter in the nation to be a part of the Purina Cat Chow “50 Years. 50 Shelters.” program. The shelter will use the grant from the pet food company to improve its cat adoption room and establish a “Cat Crisis Center” to treat mild to moderately ill animals.

Gretchen Fieser, director of public relations for the WPHS, said the creation of the Cat Crisis Center will not only save animals lives, but also will help increase the number of adoptions.

Pittsburgh City Council gave unanimous preliminary approval Wednesday to a bill that would allow the Citizen Police Review Board (CPRB) to review police regulations before they're implemented, rather than afterward.

The measure, sponsored by Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgess, will be put to a final vote on Tuesday.

Community College of Allegheny County President Alex Johnson is leaving Pittsburgh to head up a community college in Cleveland.

Johnson, who became president of CCAC in 2008, has been appointed president of Cuyahoga Community College. He is expected to begin duties there on July 1, according to a news release from CCAC.

Johnson had previously served as chancellor of Delgado Community College in New Orleans and was president of Cuyahoga Community College's Metropolitan Campus from 1993 to 2004.