Julia Burdelski stories, Page 16
Gainey, O’Connor spar over affordable housing, city finances, public safety in televised debate
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor sparred over affordable housing, public safety, city finances and who accepted money from Republican donors in a televised debate Thursday. The two are locked in a tightly contested Democratic primary race. The 30-minute debate hosted by WPXI did not include...
Pittsburgh controller warns city could end year $15M over budget for overtime
The City of Pittsburgh has already spent about 39% of its budget for holiday and overtime pay, reigniting concerns that its spending plan this year may not be feasible. Controller Rachael Heisler projects Pittsburgh will likely end up about $15 million over budget in premium pay if expenses continue at...
Gainey, Lee call for ‘unprecedented unity’ in battling Trump administration
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and U.S. Rep. Summer Lee vowed Wednesday to do what they can to protect constituents hurt by President Donald Trump’s administration — but warned they can’t go it alone. Standing up to the White House will take advocacy from labor unions, activists and civil liberties organizations,...
ACLU sues Pitt alleging free-speech violations against pro-Palestine student group
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania on Tuesday sued the University of Pittsburgh in federal court alleging the school violated the First Amendment by targeting a student organization advocating for Palestine. The university in March placed Students for Justice in Palestine at Pitt on an indefinite, interim suspension in...
Pittsburgh EMS union sues city over residency requirement
The union representing Pittsburgh Emergency Medical Services personnel on Monday filed a lawsuit challenging the residency requirement now in place for paramedics and EMTs. City officials have said they would not intend to challenge such a lawsuit, part of a deal they struck with the union when settling a recent...
FBI agent testifies Butler man made death threats against Trump, teachers, Marjorie Taylor Greene
A Butler County man charged with threatening to kill President Donald Trump and immigration agents also wrote on YouTube about killing school teachers, shooting U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and carrying out a mass attack in Texas, an FBI agent testified Monday in federal court. Shawn Monper, 32, of Butler...
Black voters in Pittsburgh split over support for Gainey
Ed Gainey swept into office vowing to improve life for Black Pittsburghers. The new mayor of Pennsylvania’s second-largest city formed a diverse cabinet, expanded affordable housing and bettered the lot of minority contractors as he sought to reverse generations of disinvestment and neglect for Pittsburgh’s Black community. But three years...
Butler man charged with threatening to murder Trump
A Butler County man has been charged with threatening to assault and murder President Donald Trump, other U.S. officials and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, authorities announced Friday. Shawn Monper, 32, of Butler Township is accused of making threats between Jan. 15 and April 5, according to the Justice Department....
URA, Allegheny County pledge nearly $450K for refugee resettlement after Trump cuts
Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority and Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services are helping to replace federal funding President Donald Trump revoked for refugee resettlement agencies. The authority’s board on Thursday authorized $224,000 in total for three organizations — Jewish Family and Community Services, Hello Neighbor and AJAPO. That money will...
Chatham close to taking over Hunt Armory ice rink from Penguins
Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority wants Chatham University to take over running the city’s only indoor ice rink at Hunt Armory when the Pittsburgh Penguins’ lease expires next month. The school would enter into a long-term lease and pour millions of dollars into fixing up the facility, according to the authority,...
‘We keep the country running’: Federal workers rally in Pittsburgh for union rights
Maria Snell feels her work as an Internal Revenue Service contact representative is under attack. She worries about her job, given President Donald Trump’s recent efforts to slash the size of the federal workforce and end collective bargaining with federal labor unions. “Federal jobs, they used to be secure,” Snell...
Ew! Pittsburgh council member warns skeptics trash emergency is not rubbish
Pittsburgh City Councilperson Bob Charland stood Tuesday morning in a Knoxville alley where food wrappers and paper plates poked out of discarded garbage bags and a box of hypodermic needles lay smashed on the road. “I am sick and tired of our neighborhoods looking like no one cares about them,”...
Pittsburgh’s Heinz History Center plans expansion
The Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh’s Strip District is planning an expansion that will include a new theater, exhibition space and classrooms. “The expansion will help secure long-term sustainability for the museum and further position the History Center as a premier cultural attraction in Pittsburgh,” Brady Smith, a...
Allegheny County debuts disease-testing lab even as Trump seeks $20M in cuts
Government health officials warned Monday that $20 million for equipment to conduct disease testing at a new Allegheny County laboratory could be in jeopardy because of drastic spending cuts by the Trump administration. The federal government is trying to block $11 billion in public health grants that flow through the...
Officials, activists rally for transgender rights, call on UPMC to provide gender-affirming care to minors
Cori Fraser last week was preparing to take their 18-year-old child for a gender-affirming surgery at UPMC. But Salem, Fraser’s child who also uses they/them pronouns, found out just days before the surgery that it was canceled. Fraser said UPMC had scrapped planned gender-affirming treatments for patients under 19 to...
O’Connor pitches ideas to improve public safety as Pittsburgh mayor
Corey O’Connor pledged Thursday that if elected Pittsburgh mayor he would oversee a range of public safety improvements. They would include bettering recruiting and retention of public safety workers, opening resource centers throughout the city and asking Pittsburgh’s hospitals to pay for new ambulances. O’Connor, who is Allegheny County’s controller...
Gainey, O’Connor talk with Jewish community at Pittsburgh forum
Democratic candidates facing off in Pittsburgh’s mayoral race on Wednesday shared with potential voters their visions for Downtown, affordable housing and supporting the city’s Jewish community. Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey boasted of the reduction in homicides since he took office and the NFL’s decision to bring the draft to the...
Gainey blasts Trump administration for targeting East Liberty Social Security office
More than two dozen people joined Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey in East Liberty on Tuesday to rally in support of the neighborhood’s Social Security office, which had been targeted for possible closure by President Donald Trump’s administration. The office — along with the Greensburg Social Security Administration buildings and the...
Businesses to stay open as Market Square upgrade, traffic shifts begin
A yearlong renovation to Market Square in Downtown Pittsburgh scheduled to begin Tuesday will cause a shift in traffic patterns. Construction will start in the north half of the square, including McMasters, Market and Graeme streets. One-way traffic heading toward Downtown on Forbes Avenue from Wood Street to Stanwix Street...
Judge boots off ballot 2 Dems running for Kail-Smith’s Pittsburgh council seat
The field to replace Pittsburgh Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith just shrank. Two Democratic candidates vying for her seat on City Council will not appear on the ballot in the May primary following a court ruling. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge John McVay last week determined that David Binkoski, 36, of Duquesne...
Drama on Grant Street sparks widespread concerns about Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey
As Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey faces a critical primary showdown in May, turmoil has engulfed his administration. Personnel shakeups, public outbursts, pushback by a newly rebellious City Council — all the drama is making some political observers question whether Gainey may be vulnerable to rival Democrat Corey O’Connor. Among critics’...
Gainey clamps down on housing discrimination as Trump rolls back federal protections
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey is vowing to fight housing discrimination in the city, even as President Donald Trump rolls back such protections. Gainey on Friday signed two executive orders meant to ensure everyone has equal access to housing, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or whether the government helps...
O’Connor raps rival Gainey’s budget for Pittsburgh as too ‘rosy’
Corey O’Connor offered a sobering assessment Thursday about the finances of the city he wants to run. “Despite the current administration’s rosy projections, our budget is barely held together by strings and Band-Aids,” O’Connor, who wants to be mayor of Pittsburgh, told reporters during an appearance in the city’s Knoxville...
Pittsburgh navigates logistics of hosting 2026 NFL Draft sites split by a river
Pittsburgh officials preparing for the 2026 NFL Draft will face a unique logistical challenge never before encountered by a host city: how to get hundreds of thousands of fans around an event spanning two sites separated by a river. No one struck panic mode Wednesday during a discussion on the...
Pittsburgh council approves Gainey’s picks for Housing Authority board
Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday approved Mayor Ed Gainey’s nominees for the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh board. Jala Rucker, now the board’s vice chair, will serve an additional term. Joining her are newcomers Wasi Mohamed, who serves as chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale;...
