In two months, voters will choose a new congressman for Pennsylvania’s 18th District in a special election to replace Tim Murphy, who resigned after admitting to an extramarital affair.
Republican nominee Rick Saccone received national attention Thursday when President Donald Trump came to North Fayette on an official victory lap for his new tax reform law. The 18th District race is already being touted as the last potential test for parties ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
Salena Zito, with the Washington Examiner and the New York Post, joined reporter Chris Potter, who writes for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Next in the program...
Pittsburgh was announced Thursday as one of the lucky few still in the running for Amazon’s second North American headquarters. Technology reporter Aaron Aupperlee with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review explains what we know and what we can glean from Amazon HQ2's top 20 contenders.
Coming up...
The newsroom staff at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette did more than put out a paper this week -- they’re the subject of their own news story. Staffers say they are “saddened and humiliated” by an editorial published on Martin Luther King Day that argues racism is the new McCarthyism.
Indira Lackshmanan is a native Pittsburgher, columnist for the Boston Globe and Newmark Chair in Journalism Ethics at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. She joins Incline reporter Colin Deppen to talk about what distinguishes editorial boards from their newsrooms, as well as what recourse journalists have when they fundamentally disagree with the people in charge.
And finally...
More than 1,000 people called the city's 311 service line generating hundreds of complaints about snow covered streets last weekend. The Trib's Bob Bauder reports several snow plow drivers and their bosses declined overtime during the holiday, prompting Mayor Bill Peduto to promise no raises or promotions for Public Works employees who consistently say ignore OT.
The same combination of heavy rain and snow that kept plow drivers indoors pushed the river out of its banks, flooding both the Mon Wharf and later spilling into the depression dubbed the "bathtub" where Interstate 376 passes through Downtown near Point State Park. Pittsburgh’s River Rescue unit had to save two trapped motorists.
The Post-Gazette's Ed Blazina reports this is not a new problem. He also introduces Katharine Eagan Kelleman, who officially took over as the new Port Authority CEO this week.
The Confluence, where the news comes together, is 90.5 WESA’s weekly news program. Each week, reporters, editors and storytellers join veteran journalist and host Kevin Gavin to take an in-depth look at stories important to the Pittsburgh region.
Find more episodes of The Confluence here.
