Trib Lunch Box: Bear attack, kitchen+bar opens, Pitt's Bioforge, convention center not closing

Here are some noon headlines from TribLive, Wednesday, March 6, 2024:

• Butler County bear attack sends woman to the hospital

The woman heard a commotion in her backyard Tuesday night involving her dog and, when she tried to get her dog away from the smaller bears, the mother bear attacked her.

• Jason Aldean’s Kitchen + Bar ready to open

Country music star Jason Aldean chose Pittsburgh for his third location.

It’s on the North Shore in the former Jerome Bettis’ Grille 36, which was owned by Hall of Fame Steelers running back Jerome Bettis.

• Resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas voted down

Several of the Allegheny County Council members who voted against it said it would have a marginal impact and only serve to fan the flames of divisiveness in the county.

•Allegheny County judge sends rapist, most ‘dangerous’ defendant he’s faced, to prison for 49 years

“In all my years on the criminal bench, I don’t think I’ve ever come across any more dangerous or violent man than James Byrd,” Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Alexander P. Bicket said in imposing sentence Tuesday. “His behavior today was another attempt to manipulate the criminal justice system.”

• Ambitious Pitt BioForge project could help cut medical treatment costs

In a recent meeting with TribLive editors and reporters,Kaigham “Ken” Gabriel, the newly hired CEO of the University of Pittsburgh’s BioForge initiative, said a fundamental shift is occurring in how medicines and therapeutics are delivered to people. Innovation is moving from an era of chemicals and drugs, he said, toward gene and cell therapies for conditions such as cancer, blindness and degenerative neurological diseases.

• Monroeville Convention Center not closing after all, officials say

Monroeville officials said Tuesday afternoon that the national arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby and Pittsburgh-based Oxford Development, which owns the convention center, have “mutually agreed to pursue termination of their lease agreement.”

• Springdale woman named Miss Smiling Irish Eyes for Pittsburgh

“To be named Miss Smiling Irish Eyes and be grouped with those amazing girls and women before me, it’s a real honor. It means a lot,” said Madalyn Byrnes, 21, of Springdale, who will be featured in the March 16, St. Patrick’s Day parade, which starts at 10 a.m.

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