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President Obama Brings New Frontiers To Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh
President Obama addresses the audience at the White House-organized Frontiers Conference at the University of Pittsburgh

The Confluence – where the news comes together -- is 90.5 WESA’s weekly news program.

Each week reporters, editors and bloggers join veteran journalist and host, Kevin Gavin. They’ll go behind the headlines taking an in-depth look at the stories important to the Pittsburgh region. This week we look at the New Frontier's Conference at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, job growth and state Senate hearings on charter schools.

New Frontiers

President Obama came to Pittsburgh this week. He took part in the White House-organized Frontiers Conference. The event brought together scientists, technologists and researchers to talk about the future of great ideas. We’ll find out what some of those ideas were with Post-Gazette reporter Sean Hamill and Tribune Review reporter Aaron Aupperlee.

Educational Attainment in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh has the largest percentage of residents 25 years of age or older who have a high school degree (or equivalent). However, the percentage of residents who have a Bachelor's degree or higher is below average. Joining us for a look ateducational attainment in the city  are Doug Heuck, directorPittsburgh Today and James Futrell, vice president of market research for the Allegheny Conference and Community Development.

Senate Hearing on Charter Schools

The PA Senate Democratic Policy Committee held a hearing on the role of charter schools in education in Monroeville. Sweeping reforms to the state’s charter school law are being proposed by state Sen. Jim Brewster (D-Allegheny/Westmoreland). We’ll discuss those changes with Post-Gazette Molly Born and Mary Niederberger, who covered the story for Public Source.

More segments of The Confluence can be heard here.