News

The Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board kicked off its eighth annual Imagine! Career Week Monday morning with 120 employers, educators and community partners seeking to prepare area youth to step into the many jobs now held by people nearing retirement.  

During the week, about 5,000 students will leave their classrooms to experience the many opportunities open to them in the financial and healthcare sectors, trades and the global economy, according to Executive Director Stefani Pashman.  

The Pittsburgh Black Political Convention has voted to endorse State Rep. Jake Wheatley in the city's upcoming mayoral election.

More than 200 people gathered over the weekend for the city's first-ever convention of black voters. The convention also aimed to create a clear agenda on issues including poverty, unemployment, police/community relations and violence, among other things.

Happily announcing a trio of major gifts from locally-based corporations, Pittsburgh Promise Executive Director Saleem Ghubril said Monday that the city's scholarship fund now expects to raise $90 million more by 2015, three years earlier than expected.

All this week, NPR's Morning Edition will be telling the stories behind your morning cup of coffee. If you're anything like us, you take pride in your coffee cup. Show your mugs via Twitter and/or Instagram with #PghCoffee.

Dr. Mario Fischetti is a clinical psychologist with the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center, and the moderator of its ongoing "Reading Fiction with Freud" discussion series. 

"For sale" signs are appearing and disappearing quickly from front lawns all over southwestern Pennsylvania.

That’s according to the March real estate report from West Penn Multi List Inc., which found it’s good to be a seller.

“It’s phenomenal,” said West Penn chief operating officer Barbara Kohl. “The situation right now is there just is not enough houses to sell. There are a tremendous amount of buyers out there, so what happened here locally is it went from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market very quickly.”

As the weather warms, the chances increase for strong storms triggering power outages. 

The last U.S. blackout was nearly a decade ago, when a portion of the nation's power grid was overloaded by re-routed electricity. It impacted 50 million people over two days in the northeast portion of the nation, and a small portion of Canada.

Recent storms, like Hurricane Sandy, have also caused extended power outages. 

Across the world, people are celebrating Earth Day in a variety of ways today, from trash clean ups to tree plantings.

Pittsburgh didn’t wait for the actual day, as Earth Day events started last week and will continue in the coming weeks and days.

On Friday ALCOSAN workers gathered at several spots in Allegheny County to pick up litter.

“All the litter we pick up has the tendency to blow into the rivers,” said ALCOSAN spokeswoman Nancy Barylak, “so that litter you see on the side of the road could easily end up in the rivers.”

After getting a parking ticket at Pittsburgh International Airport, a driver requested a copy of the Allegheny Police Department’s report of the incident. The department didn’t respond.

A parent asked the Ligonier Valley School District for documents detailing planned teacher layoffs. The school district said it had no such documents.

A reporter asked Middle Smithfield Township for maps of local sewer lines. The township refused to turn them over, saying that could jeopardize the security of the sewage system.

  After last week's bombing at the Boston Marathon and the passionate singing of the national anthem at Wednesday's Bruins game, sports contributor Bob Dvorchak talks about how sporting events can galvanize a city and a nation. Also, what concerns does the bombing raise about security at sporting events?

  The mission of the Earth Quaker Action Team, also known as EQAT, is to call attention to PNC Bank’s financial funding of coal companies engaging in mountain top removal coal mining. Last year they set out on a two-hundred mile walk from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh to protest at a PNC shareholders meeting. This year EQAT Board Member Ingrid Lakey is back in Pittsburgh, she talks with us about the actions they would like PNC's new CEO to take. 

  It's hard to deny that it feels good to live an eco-friendly lifestyle by shopping green. But how sustainable is sustainable consumerism when it comes to your bottom line? Can green products actually improve your economic situation and the world, or does it take action? Michael Maniates Professor of Environmental Science and Political Science at Allegheny College and advisory board member for The Story of Stuff Project, talks about how to go beyond green consumerism.

See how Maniates thinks citizens (not shoppers) hold the keys for change:

For Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, speaking to the annual conservative confab known as the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference days after the end of his brief foray into the gun debate was like heading into the belly of the beast.

The senator worked the crowd, shaking hands with people who politely told him they disagreed with his support for expanding background checks on firearm purchases. Introductory remarks that touched on Toomey’s failed amendment elicited sounds of dissent from the seated audience.

Voters will choose nominees for mayor of Pittsburgh, four city council seats and in seven Allegheny County council districts in the May 21st primary.

If you want to vote in that primary election, you must submit your registration forms by the close of business Monday. Registered voters who have moved or changed their name or party affiliation must also notify the Allegheny County Elections Division by that same deadline.

The Red Sox and Bruins postponed their games on Friday night while authorities searched for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.

No makeup date was announced for the opener of the Red Sox three-game series against the Kansas City Royals scheduled for Friday night at Fenway Park. The Bruins game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden was tentatively rescheduled for Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

In the midst of national tragedies this week, including the Boston Marathon bombing and the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas, many people are heading to their houses of worship and their faith leaders for counsel and guidance.

With congregations of varying size, a pastor or priest may hear from numerous people. So where then do the faith leaders turn for comfort?

The answer varies from religion to religion, but is also somewhat similar. For the Pittsburgh Presbytery, pastors are offered several options.

  In light of Friday's unprecedented lockdown in Boston, Raymond Demichiei  Deputy Director of the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security for the city of Pittsburgh explains the lockdown procedures for the city, and what plans they'll be considering for the Pittsburgh Marathon.

  When devastating events occur like the bombings in Boston, people often turn to their faith leaders for support. But where do the faith leaders turn for guidance? 90.5 WESA reporter Deanna Garcia spoke with Pittsburgh clergy about the resources they turn to in moments of crisis.

Walking through a grove of cherry trees, petals gently riding to the ground on a spring breeze, might sound like something out of a romance novel, but it's actually happening right now in North Park in Allegheny County.

Just like the Japanese government did in Washington D.C. decades ago, a local group has given a gift of cherry trees to Pittsburgh. 

The state constitutional mandate that Pennsylvania judges retire by age 70 is the subject of arguments before the Supreme Court next month, but that's not stopping state lawmakers from taking a swing at modifying mandatory retirement.

Given average life expectancy and the kinds of complex work that might be easier for people long on life experience, one House Republican is asking: Why are we kicking judges off the bench at 70?

A proposal aiming to provide more transparency to campaign finance data has passed the state Senate.

Candidates for statewide office and the General Assembly would have to file their campaign finance reports electronically under the plan. They, along with political action committees, could also trigger more frequent filing deadlines if they raise $10,000 or more in a calendar year.

When the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is published next month, there will be several changes to psychiatric diagnoses.

Many of these changes are controversial — especially the one made to autism spectrum disorders. 

Phil Garrow has Asperger's syndrome. It's what’s written on his medical chart. He says the social struggles that come with the diagnosis is why he hasn’t been able to hold down engineering jobs despite his proficiency in the field.

  New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and DC have all had black mayors. Why hasn't an African American held the top spot in the Steel City? We'll look at the history of black mayoral candidates in Pittsburgh with Post-Gazette Reporter Tim McNulty and Duquesne Law Professor Joseph Sabino Mistick, a former executive secretary (deputy mayor) to Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff.

  Last week Senators Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin took a bipartisan approach to gun reform that would have extended the existing background check system to gun shows and online sales.  This week, their legislation was blocked in the Senate. We'll talk to Senator Toomey about where gun reform can go from here.