Essential Pittsburgh by 90.5 WESA

Airing during the Tuesday noon hour on 90.5 WESA.

Pittsburgh is one of the few major cities in the northeast that has not had an African American mayor. At present there are only two African Americans on its city council. Where will the next generation of community leaders come from?

Essential Pittsburgh has convened a political panel to disucss the  impact of recent state and regional political developments. Up for discussion this week: Governor Corbett asks for, and receives, the resignation of DCNR Chief Richard Allan, former Governor Ed Rendell jumps into the fray on the transportation plan before the House, and control of Allegheny County's Port Authority board could be at risk as a bill moves through the state Senate.    

Forty years ago, in 1973, a week after Secretariat won the third leg in racing’s Triple Crown, another great sporting event took place. The finish of the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club is considered by some to be one of the greatest golf rounds ever played.

A New York Times op-ed by Angelina Jolie disclosed her decision to have a double mastectomy after learning she carries a mutation of a gene that increases her risk of breast cancer.

Last week, researchers at Allegheny General Hospital, in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic published important findings regarding breast cancer.

Gary Knell is the President and CEO of NPR which remains unique among news organizations. While a number of large media outfits have shuttered their foreign bureaus NPR has reporters throughout the world. However, public radio is also at a crossroads as some of its long time shows like Talk of the Nation comes to an end and Car Talk no longer produces new shows.

What will the future of NPR look like and can it stay relevant in the changing media landscape? Also, how is NPR cultivating new talent to reflect and appeal to a new generation of public radio listeners? Mr. Knell is in Pittsburgh to speak at the Americans for the Arts convention.

This weekend, Pittsburgh celebrates the completion of the last section of the Great Allegheny Passage, a bike trail that runs from Pittsburgh to the nation's capital. Software engineer, Paul Heckbert has been riding Pittsburgh's bike trails for nearly 20 years.  He shares his love of the region's trails as a member of the Steel Valley Trail Council, and he's already taken the GAP to Washington DC. Catch a moment on the trail with Paul Heckbert.

Raymond Vennare has had a successful career as an businessman and entrepreneur. His latest accomplishment is that of author with the publication of his book of essays My Father's Shoes: Life Stories and Other Memories.

Like a power-packed Dr. Scholl's insert, Sole Power is a device that allows people to charge devices as they walk. It's currently in the prototype, fundraising phase, but is said to have the potential to fully charge small devices like a cell phone with 2 and a half miles of walking.

"We're hoping to serve military personnel, people stuck in emergency situations, hikers and people in developing nations who don’t have access to electricity on a regular basis."  Says Matthew Stanton, Founder of Sole Power.

Over the next three days, arts and community leaders from around the country are gathering around town to strategize about how to better communicate the impact the arts make in U.S. cities. Robert Lynch, President and CEO of Americans for the Arts, joins us to talk about the convention and how Pittsburgh's strategy in this area has become the benchmark for others.

The White House released a video on  immigration reform  featuring staffers in an attempt to push their support for the issue.  It's hoped Congress will vote on the issue before before the July 4th holiday? Six years ago President Bush urged lawmakers on Capitol Hill to pass his proposed immigration reform. Instead the bill passed away.

This weekend the Pittsburgh Pride Festival is expected to generate huge revenue for the city and bring thousands of individuals and families to Liberty Avenue. The parade and concerts at Pride Fest have become mainstream collaborations with city groups like Visit Pittsburgh and major sponsorship.

Pittsburgh Pride's website quotes Richard Florida in his best-selling book on economic growth, The Rise of the Creative Class, “the most successful regions welcome all kinds of people. The presence of an LGBT community in large numbers is an indicator of an underlying culture that is open-minded and diverse. People look for cities with lots of gay people when they are hunting for a place to live and work. The presence of gays signals an exciting place, where people can fit in and be themselves.“

But how representative of Pittsburgh's LGBTQ community is Pride Fest? And how do you go about organizing a large scale festival such as Pride, in a way that's inclusive for all aspects of the LGBTQ community and Pittsburgh as a whole?

We'll have a conversation about Pittsburgh PrideFest and its cultural impact with Gary Van Horn, President of the Delta Foundation, which organizes PrideFest and Sue Kerr, Editor of Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondence, an LGBTQ Blog.

Whether you’re traveling by plane, train or automobile, sometimes the journey is more fun than the destination. This week travel contributor Elaine Labalme looks at various modes of transportation.

Pittsburgh's city housing authority recently closed the waitlist for the majority of public housing properties. This is the  first time in 17 years this has happened and reflects the critical shortage of public housing in the city and Allegheny County.

Reporter Halle Stockton has written about this issue for our content partner Public Source and joins us to look at this issue.

Expansion plans to designate more of the North Side as a historic district are causing an uproar in the Mexican War Streets. It's an issue that has neighbors split and calls into question the issue of who has a say in the neighborhood's master plan.

Paul Johnson, president of the Mexican War Streets Society and Post-Gazette reporter Diana Nelson Jones who covers the city's neighborhoods talk about the controversy.

After graduating from Notre Dame, Joe Muto moved to New York in search of a media position.  He ended up with the Fox News Company, eventually becoming a producer for the top-rated show,The O’Reilly Factor.  After eight years he decided he wanted to search for another position.  He was, after all, a liberal at heart and he noted that since the Obama administration, Fox News was becoming progressively more conservative and far less “fair and balanced.”  Muto approached Gawker as a possible employer after leaving Fox, but was instead encouraged to begin writing for Gawker while still an employee at Fox.  He was to be the liberal inside the right-wing media group.  

This week 90.5 WESA is  launching a three-year learning initiative.

Life of Learning will focus on learning and education activities, opportunities and challenges in the Greater Pittsburgh area. A five part series begins airing this week during Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Kevin Gavin, Executive Producer of 90.5 WESA’s Life of Learning talks about the scope of the initiative.

Edward Snowden is the source of leaks of government surveillance programs within the United States. Which have raised questions about our privacy and how much information the government is gathering about us by phone and on the internet. 

Mark Wuergler, Senior Security Researcher for the cyber security firm Immunity, says the NSA has the means and motive to spy on anyone. We'll talk with him about the NSA and security.

The government has been watching ever since the NSA was created. They've been finding and trying new ways of watching and listening and recording. And they're really good at it.

Pittsburgh writer Tim Sweterlitsch talks with WESA Morning Edition host Josh Raulerson about his wide-ranging interests in fiction.

Business Contributor Rebecca Harris and Peggy Outon, the Executive Director, Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University discuss the business of nonprofits, and how the nonprofit sector enhances the business environment in our region.

For statistics on earnings in the non-profit industry visit the United Way of Allegheny County  and Guidestar,  a resource for statistics on all things nonprofit

A former Pittsburgh police detective who served on Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's security detail has been approached by the FBI about using debit cards tied to an unauthorized account at the Greater Pittsburgh Police Federal Credit Union. Will his testimony open Mayor Ravenstahl to federal investigation?

Pittsburgh City Council President Darlene Harris changed her party affiliation from democratic to independent in April. Many wonder if she's planning to make a play for mayor. 

And State Representative Jesse White is under investigation for using a fake online identity to bash his political opponents.

Guests: Eric Heyl of the Tribune-Review and Bram Reichbaum of the Pittsburgh Comet discuss these political topics and more.

In her new book Urban Alchemy: Restoring Joy in America's Sorted Out Cities, Dr. Mindy Fullilove presents a psychiatrist’s views on how to fix the American city. We'll discuss how a public health and well-being approach to urban planning and design can benefit neighborhoods and the people who live in them.

Alice Cooper famously sang, "School's out for summer," but why, exactly, do schools close from June to September? WESA's Life of Learning initiative begins with this report by 90.5 WESA Senior News Editor Mark Nootbaar.

Sports Illustrated's inaugural Male College Athlete of the Year award has gone to a wrestler at Cornell University, just as the International Olympic Committee announced that the sport of wrestling is still in the running for inclusion in the 2020 games.

Guest: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sportswriter Emeritus, Bob Dvorchak discusses a possible reinstatement of wrestling in the Olympics and the ongoing story of performance enhancing drugs in baseball.

Former Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh feels former FBI director Louis Freeh's investigation of the Jerry Sandusky abuse case was not conclusively supported by evidence. The Penn State case marked the first time the NCAA punished an institution solely for transgressions related to a criminal matter.

The family of former coach Joe Paterno and other plaintiffs sued the NCAA last week, accusing the organization of intentionally defaming and commercially disparaging them through the imposition of sanctions against Penn State.