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While winter storm Nemo won’t be hitting the Pittsburgh region, its impact will still be felt—especially when it comes to flights from Pittsburgh International.

JoAnn Jenny, spokesperson for the airport, said there wasn’t a final tally by the airport of the amount of cancelled and/or delayed flights, but it wouldn’t be surprising to her if there were going to be “hundreds if not thousands” of flights cancelled because of the storm.

The MacArthur Foundation is awarding a $500,000 grant to create a Pittsburgh Hive Learning Network. The grant will be administered by the Sprout Fund. A Hive is a network of organizations including schools, museums, libraries, afterschool programs, community centers who collaborate to create new learning experiences. Sprout Program Officer Ryan Coon said the Hive is not a physical space.

"It's a program that supports activities in many places. Hive supported activities will occur at the museum, or at the Carnegie Library. It's a mechanism to support new learning activities."

Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Public Welfare has officially submitted his letter of resignation.  It was widely rumored that Sec. Gary D. Alexander would be stepping down from the post. His last day on the job will be Feb. 15.

The governor’s office said Alexander is leaving state government to pursue private-sector opportunities and spend more time with his wife and children who reside in Rhode Island.

A horseracing industry group says the governor’s budget gallops away with too much money from a fund that supports it.

The Pennsylvania Equine Coalition is taking issue with Governor Corbett’s proposal to draw $31 million out of the Race Horse Development Fund for agricultural programs and other line items.

Last year, more than $54 million was diverted from the fund, but a spokesman for the industry group says this year’s plan is not an improvement, because revenues to the fund are on the decline.

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Pennsylvania Senate Minority leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) and House Minority leader Frank Dermody (D-Allegheny) called on Governor Tom Corbett to disavow any plans to change the state’s Electoral College system.

Currently Pennsylvania follows the “winner take all” approach during presidential elections where the candidate who receives a majority of the state’s votes also receives its 20 electoral votes.

The only public hearing on allowing Marcellus Shale production on airport land drew a standing-room only crowd to Robert Morris University in Moon Thursday night. The evening started with Allegheny County Council Chair Bob Macey outlining rules which included asking for no heckling, threats, or other noise when speakers are at the microphone. Those rules went out the door when Consol Energy President Nick Deluliis gave his presentation, quoting the Duke Environmental Law Policy Forum.  

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In 2011, air pollutants from natural gas extraction and transportation in Pennsylvania cost the state between $7 million and $32 million in healthcare, agriculture, and infrastructure costs. That’s according to a recent study from the RAND Corporation. For comparison, the state’s largest coal-fired power plant alone cost $75 million in damages.

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What’s bigger than a shrew and smaller than a squirrel?

It’s not a riddle for an international research team but rather part of the answer to a question the team explored.  With the 5,100 species of placentals alive today--from animals that walk, or fly or swim and, of course, humans, what could their common ancestor possibly look like. 

Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb says the Police Bureau’s administration of its Confiscated Narcotics Trust Fund has improved, but there is still work to do.

The Controller’s office this week released a follow-up to a November 2010 audit of the fund.

The fund pays for expenses associated with narcotics and undercover work performed by the Pittsburgh police. The money comes from cash and proceeds from the sale of items confiscated from local drug busts. The funds are reported to the federal government and the released back to the city.

The University of Pittsburgh’s African Heritage Classroom Committee has received a donation of eight important African artifacts from Ralph Proctor, a Pitt alumnus and professor at the Community College of Allegheny County who is a nationally recognized collector of African art.

Why donate? More like why not said Proctor, who has been associated with the room since its very beginning and just though it would be a good idea.

The governor’s budget proposal would mean a three percent boost in overall funding for the Department of Agriculture, due to special funds.  But Gov. Corbett wants to make a 10 percent cut to dollars earmarked for the agency in the state’s General Fund, and farmers are hoping some portion of that reduction can be rolled back.

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau spokesman Mark O’Neill said not enough money is going toward crucial agricultural research programs run through Penn State, including Cooperative Extension.

In a bustling room jam-packed with hi-tech gadgets at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s Waterfront office, Sam Cohen drags a cursor across his computer screen. A little pixilated dragon follows close behind. Sam and the dragon swerve to avoid airplanes, cars, and any number of other obstacles as they advance from level to level.

“This is my dragon, the basic sprite, and this first code here, that makes the dragon follow the mouse pointer," he explains, pointing to the screen.

University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) researchers have uncovered a technique to halt the growth of cancer cells—a discovery that could lead to potential new anti-cancer therapies.

The team discovered when cancerous cells are deprived of Dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), they are unable to properly divide and multiply.

A leading education group in Pennsylvania is happy to see an education funding increase in Governor Tom Corbett’s budget proposal but its leader thinks the bump is not enough.

"These increases in no way begin to restore the overall cuts that were made over the last two years and in no way begin to undo the harm that was created by those cuts to education over the last two years," said Education Policy and Leadership Center President Ron Cowell

The $40,000 Pittsburgh Promise college scholarship program is adding a new resource, called "Promise Coaches," in order to help more city public school students qualify for the Promise.   The informal mentors will be available to the scholars for encouragement, advice, or help, but they do not have to meet with their mentees on a regular basis. 

The review team contracted by the Pittsburgh Public School District through Fourth River Development L.L.C. has recommended that the board accept a $5.2 million bid to purchase the closed Schenley High School. 

PMC/Schenley HSB Associates, L.P. expects to turn the shuttered school in Oakland into 175 market-rate, luxury apartments. Fourth River said it chose PMC based on a number of factors including limitation of risk, and the ability and capacity to complete in a timely manner, and proposed uses for the property.

The Allegheny County Airport Authority has demoted its two top managers and will begin searching for a new chief executive officer whose primary responsibility will be attracting more flights to Pittsburgh International Airport.

The moves were prompted by County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, who appoints the board's members.

Pittsburgh's Bureau of Police is reporting a high number of arrests and citations made by its "South Side Saturation Detail," which has patrolled the busy nightlife corridor of East Carson Street each Friday and Saturday night since mid-January.

Pittsburgh's Bureau of Police is reporting a high number of arrests and citations made by its "South Side Saturation Detail," which has patrolled the busy nightlife corridor of East Carson Street each Friday and Saturday night since mid-January.

Now that construction has begun on a low-rise apartment building for seniors in Homewood, the Pittsburgh City Councilman who represents the neighborhood has rezoned the community's business district to accommodate three or four additional apartment buildings.

The U.S. House Committee on Veterans Affairs held a hearing today on the Legionnaire’s outbreak at the VA’s Pittsburgh hospital in Oakland between June 2011 and last November.

Steve Schira, Chairman and CEO of Liquitech, Inc, which manufactures copper ionization systems, testified his employees saw Veterans Affairs staff fabricating copper ionization data before the recent outbreak.

Liquitech staff provided advice to the hospital regarding its water treatment.

Response to Governor Tom Corbett’s 2012-2013 budget proposal is coming in from all corners of Pennsylvania today.  The budget contains good news from some special interest groups and not-so-good news for others.  And of course there are the usual partisan responses. 

Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Jim Burn

Carnegie Mellon University has selected the Director of the National Science Foundation to be its next president.  Dr. Subra Suresh will take over the post July 1, 2013 after Dr. Jared L. Cohon ends his 16-year tenure.

"I am truly honored to have the opportunity to lead Carnegie Mellon University as its ninth president," said Suresh in a statement released by the university.  “I look forward to working with the CMU community to further our global impact."

An ambitious budget proposal released Tuesday by Gov. Tom Corbett would boost Pennsylvania's core state government spending by nearly 3 percent while increasing support for public schools, cutting business taxes and counting on the Legislature to adopt long-term changes to public pensions.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett laid out a budget Tuesday that would boost core state government spending by nearly three percent.  It would most notably increase support for public schools, cut business taxes and call for long-term changes to public pensions. 

The full budget presentation as submitted can be read below.