Lucy Perkins / 90.5 WESA

Ahead Of 2020, Women For Trump Come Together To Show Support For President, Each Other

Dozens of women attended a Women for Trump event in Allison Park Thursday evening, to show their support for the president, and one another, ahead of next year’s election.

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John Raoux / AP

AGs Announce Agreement To Crack Down On Robocalls

Brett Sholtis / WITF

Amid E. Coli Concerns, Efforts To Patrol Harrisburg Beach Remain Murky

Politics & Government

AGs Announce Agreement To Crack Down On Robocalls

By • 7 hours ago
John Raoux / AP

Pennsylvania’s attorney general is touting an agreement he and other attorneys general have made with a number of the country’s biggest phone companies.

It’s aimed at cracking down on unwanted robocalls.

Not all robocalls are illegal.

But many are—particularly ones from unknown numbers trying to sell people things without their consent.

Ahead Of 2020, Women For Trump Come Together To Show Support For President, Each Other

By • 9 hours ago
Lucy Perkins / 90.5 WESA

Dozens of women attended a Women for Trump event in Allison Park Thursday evening, to show their support for the president, and one another, ahead of next year’s election.

Almost 10 Years In, PA Commission Struggles To Agree On Sentencing Reforms

By • Aug 22, 2019
Katie Meyer / 90.5 WESA

A state commission is holding hearings this week in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh to get feedback on its latest effort to make Pennsylvania’s criminal sentencing process more objective.

Science, Health & Tech

Amid E. Coli Concerns, Efforts To Patrol Harrisburg Beach Remain Murky

By Brett Sholtis | WITF • 7 hours ago
Brett Sholtis / WITF

After hearing reports on television of dangerous E. coli levels in the Susquehanna River, John Mower decided to head over to City Island. 

The 59-year-old from Wormleysburg said he's been sick for the last two days after taking his pontoon boat on the river and wading in it with his granddaughter and fiancee.

"Cold chills, fevers, diarrhea, throwing up, and I just ain't been feeling good, and me and my fiancee just couldn't figure out why," he said. 

Wheels, Drones And Rescue Randy: DARPA Robotics Competition Puts Mine Rescue To The Test

By • Aug 21, 2019
Kathleen J. Davis / 90.5 WESA

On a hot, sunny day in South Park Township, a team of roboticists from Philadelphia anxiously wait outside of the Safety Research Coal Mine at the Bruceton Research Center. Team Pluto has a four-legged robot inside, and it's looking for objects in the simulated mine disaster scenario. No team members are allowed inside, so it's counting on the robot to deliver the news. 

Identity & Justice

Homicide Charges Against Parolees Unlikely To Trigger Tough-On-Crime Backlash, Criminologist Says

By • Aug 22, 2019
Marc Levy / AP

A string of homicides allegedly committed by five Pennsylvania men following their release from prison prompted an investigation by the state’s corrections department last month. The five parolees were charged with committing a total of six homicides over a two-month period, the Associated Press reported.

Man's Death While Held In PA County Prison Raises Questions

By Michael Rubinkam | Associated Press • Aug 20, 2019
Michael Rubinkam / AP

Carmen Riley bent over her unconscious son, looked into his eyes and knew. It didn't take a mother's intuition or a doctor's prognosis to figure out that Ty'rique was gone.

Several days earlier, 21-year-old Ty'rique Riley had been jailed after an altercation with his father. Now he lay in a hospital bed, his body covered in lacerations and deep, dark bruises. He was missing teeth. His kidneys were failing.

How did this happen? And who was responsible?

Seven weeks after his death, Riley's family and supporters are pushing for answers.

Education

Carnegie Library Workers Vote To Unionize For A ‘Seat At The Table’

By • Aug 14, 2019
Sarah Schneider / 90.5 WESA

Nearly 60 percent of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh librarians, library assistants, clerks and IT professionals who cast ballots Wednesday voted in favor of unionizing.

Good Question!
Katie Blackley / 90.5 WESA

Remnants Of Houses Along Fifth Avenue Are Reminders Of A 1964 Landslide

Along Fifth Avenue where Pittsburgh’s Oakland and Hill District neighborhoods meet, sit the remnants of concrete foundations and staircases. Trees and wildflowers wrap around broken brick walls and peak through crumbling retaining structures all the way up the hillside.

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Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs / Detre Library & Archives at the History Center

High Water Markers Around Pittsburgh Reminders Of The 1936 Great St. Patrick’s Day Flood

Sarah Kovash / 90.5 WESA

Does Pittsburgh Have Its Own Style Of Pizza? An Exploration Of The City's Pies

Development & Transportation

Pennsylvania OKs $3.8M To Treat Chemicals In Drinking Water

By • 3 hours ago
Sarah Kovash / 90.5 WESA

Pennsylvania is marshaling more money to help pay for better water treatment in suburban Philadelphia communities where testing has shown tap water contaminated with toxic industrial compounds used in products like nonstick cookware, carpets, firefighting foam and fast-food wrappers.

How Can Residents Demand More Of Pittsburgh’s Development Process?

By • Aug 21, 2019
Margaret J. Krauss / 90.5 WESA

Pittsburgh needs more housing, but housing that reflects what neighborhoods want and need. That was the driving sentiment behind a meeting in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood Tuesday night, where attendees discussed ways to influence the development process.

Arts, Sports, & Culture

Pirates To Release Veteran Catcher Francisco Cervelli

By • 23 hours ago
Tony Gutierrez / AP

The Pittsburgh Pirates are parting ways with veteran catcher Francisco Cervelli, who has been hampered by multiple concussions this season.

After 33 Years, Arts Group Bids Farewell To The Strip

By • Aug 19, 2019
Courtesy of the artist

When Contemporary Craft moved to the Strip District in 1986 the neighborhood wasn’t exactly a magnet for arts groups. True, Downtown was within walking distance, and the adjacent Penn Avenue corridor hosted retail produce stores and a few restaurants. But the historic Produce Terminal – at one end of which Contemporary Craft made its new home – marked a stretch of Smallman Street still dominated by wholesalers.

Riverhounds Expand With Land Buy & New Training Facility

By , & • Aug 15, 2019
Courtesy of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds

On today’s program: Soccer attendance is on the rise in Pittsburgh, likely thanks to the U.S. Women's team; PFAS chemicals were discovered near Pittsburgh International; a poet reckons with her multi-racial identity; and Shady Side Academy teens reflect on their student Emmy Award nomination. 

Environment & Energy

Wolf Tells Pipeline Activists He Won't Shut Down Mariner East

By Jon Hurdle | StateImpact Pennsylvania • 25 minutes ago
Jon Hurdle / StateImpact Pennsylvania

Gov. Tom Wolf told anti-pipeline activists on Thursday that he is not going to stop construction or operation of Sunoco's Mariner East pipelines.

At a rare face-to-face meeting with opponents at a pipeline construction site in East Goshen Township, Chester County, Wolf was repeatedly urged to shut down the pipeline until public safety can be assured.

But he disappointed activists by stating clearly that he would not do so.

Game Commission Recommends Deer Feeding Ban

By • Aug 20, 2019
Greg Sousa / AP

A committee of Pennsylvania Game Commission staff has recommended a statewide ban on feeding white-tailed deer. 

The agency biologists say that banning artificial feeding stations would help slow the spread of wildlife diseases. They're asking residents to voluntarily stop feeding deer.

Pennsylvania Wants To Know What You’re Throwing Away

By Rachel McDevitt | WITF • Aug 20, 2019
Matt Rourke / AP

Pennsylvania is going dumpster diving as part of two multi-year, statewide studies of the commonwealth's trash and recycling systems.

Economy & Business

Despite Sales Growth At Stores Without Guns, Dick’s Has No Plans To Pull Them Altogether

By • 22 hours ago
Nati Harnik / AP

Dick's Sporting Goods announced on Thursday that sales are up at some stores that are no longer selling guns. But the Corapolis-based company said it hasn't made a decision about whether to pull firearms from all its stores.

Last fall, as a test, it pulled 10 stores out of the "hunt business." Those stores would not sell any hunting- related gear, including guns, and instead would increase inventory of more profitable items, like sports jerseys and outerwear. 

Local Headlines

Hospital Dresses Newborns As 'Wizard of Oz' Characters

By • 15 minutes ago
Chuck Balcik/ Allegheny Health Network / AP

A Pittsburgh's hospital's obstetrics department became Ozstetrics as the staff dressed up four newborns as characters from "The Wizard of Oz."

Penn Hill Police Officer Not Being Charged In July Shooting Death

By • 21 hours ago
Sarah Boden / 90.5 WESA

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala will not charge a Penn Hills police officer in the July 14 shooting death of 20-year-old Onaje Dickinson.

Food & Drink

Lots To Sample On A Weekend Visit To Pittsburgh's Dining Scene

By Melissa Rayworth | Associated Press • Aug 19, 2019
Galley Group via AP

When celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich decided to open a restaurant in Pittsburgh's Strip District in 2001, she arrived in a neighborhood filled with warehouses and factories.

This narrow stretch of streets in the shadow of the city's downtown office towers had long been home to food purveyors like Wholey's Fish Market and the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, known to locals simply as Penn Mac.

But a high-end restaurant helmed by a James Beard award-winning chef? That wasn't something anyone expected.

National & International

What Do Greenlanders Think Of Trump's Interest In Buying Greenland?

By • 2 hours ago

Lost in all the brouhaha about President Trump's scuttled plan to buy Greenland from Denmark has been this: What do the Greenlandic people think about the whole thing?

In the small capital city of Nuuk, "everybody is talking about it," says Alexander Montgomery-Andersen, a 30-year-old Greenlandic dancer and choreographer. "It's a little comical."

Where the News Comes Together

The Confluence
Weekdays at 9 a.m., newsmakers and innovators join host Kevin Gavin for one-on-one interviews and in-depth conversations about stories important to the Pittsburgh region.

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