Point Park University

It’s been almost three years since The McKeesport Daily News published its final edition, and a pilot program out of Point Park University aims to fill at least a portion of that media void. 

Dance studios across the United States are brimming with bunheads dreaming of crossing the stage at Lincoln Center, but guests would be hard pressed to find any boys among them. 

Sorrow, unrest and anger drove Pittsburghers into the streets this week in grief and solidarity following the shooting deaths of two young black men, Antwon Rose and Jimmy Wopo, as well as a border patrol policy that's left thousands of children stranded far away from their immigrant parents.

Later this spring, the end of an era in Pittsburgh theater arrives with the shuttering of the Pittsburgh Playhouse in Oakland.

It's been a busy week for the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. A consultant found PWSA to be “a failed organization atop a dangerous and crumbling structure” in an initial assessment presented Monday. Hours later, the authority issued a flush-and-boil water order for 18,000 homes across the North Side, Millvale and Reserve Township related to holes in the cover on top of a water reservoir in Shaler Township.

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.

The Confluence broadcasts live from Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation. As the 2016 election season winds down a panel of journalists join us to discuss the presidential and senate races. We’ll also examine how the media has covered the elections.

In June, a Baltimore judge vacated the conviction of Adnan Syed and ordered a new trial for the 35-year-old who's been incarcerated since being found guilty for the murder of his high school girlfriend 17 years ago.

If the case sounds familiar, you might be one of the millions who downloaded the first season of "This American Life’s" wildly successful spin-off podcast, "Serial." And if you never heard the show, chances are somebody you know did.

Former Pittsburgh Tribune-Review investigative reporter Andrew Conte knows newspapers. The industry is not dying, he said.

As the new director of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University, Conte -- still a monthly columnist -- is using his delight for an evolving craft to help prepare aspiring storytellers.

The terms socialist and socialism have been mentioned with some regularity during the presidential campaign. But what exactly is socialism, who is a socialist and why does it seem to be spoken of pejoratively? We'll pose those questions to Robert Ross associate professor of global cultural studies  & Jehnie Reis  an assistant professor of history in the  Humanities and Human Sciences Department at Point Park University. 

Imagine if companies knew the probability of turning someone into a customer – and keeping that customer.

That’s exactly what Green Tree-based Othot thinks it can do. The start up’s current focus is higher education student recruitment, and Chief Technology Officer John Abbatico said there’s plenty of data to mine.

If you saw a runaway bus hurtling toward a dog or a tourist, who would you save? If you chose the dog, you’re not alone.

Since the tragic events that rocked Paris last Friday the world has been on high alert. How should the nation be reacting to the terrorist event that shook Paris?  We’re posing this question to Michael Botta, associate professor and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice and Intelligence Studies at Point Park University and a former counter terrorism special agent.

The star “KIC 8462852” might not mean much to the average person. That is, it might not have until October 19, when the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute announced it would begin searching for signs of orbiting intelligent life around the star. The evidence? Fluctuations in the light coming off the star that might indicate a “megastructure” in orbit around it. Point Park University professor and astrophysicist Brendan Mullan sat down with Essential Pittsburgh’s Paul Guggenheimer to explain what has the scientific community so interested.

Point Park University President Paul Hennigan said he felt disbelief, shock and honor at finding himself among the most powerful people in Pittsburgh in the latest issue of Pittsburgh Magazine.

Higher education institutions are using Title IX as a jumping off point to have discussions with students about issues of harassment, stalking, dating violence and domestic abuse. Libby Rosemeyer, assistant director of Tittle IX compliance at Point Park University helps listeners understand the relevancy of the law and its impact on the Pittsburgh community as a whole.