Bob Bauder stories, Page 20
Allegheny County Democrats name interim executive director
The Allegheny County Democratic Committee has a new interim executive director. Elizabeth Casertano, 25, of Shaler, will become the third person over the past year to head the organization. She replaces Steve Kochanowski who stepped down to devote more time to campaign work. Mark Salvas of Plum abruptly resigned last...
Pittsburgh lifts traffic restrictions on busy Grant Street
Pittsburgh on Wednesday lifted traffic restrictions on Grant Street, Downtown, following the completion of a brick pavement restoration project that began in May. The city on May 6 limited traffic to one lane in each direction between Seventh Street and Liberty Avenue for replacement of brick pavers and repairs to...
Police investigate equipment theft at Pittsburgh maintenance facility
Pittsburgh has hired security guards and assigned employees to work evening shifts at a maintenance facility in Squirrel Hill that was burglarized several weeks ago on three separate occasions, a city official said. Department of Public Works Director Mike Gable said about $10,000 worth of equipment, including lawn mowers, weed...
Pittsburgh poised to pay woman $52,500 to settle negligence lawsuit
Pittsburgh would pay a West End woman $52,500 to settle a lawsuit she filed in 2014 contending an EMS official struck her with a city vehicle as she was crossing a street in Brighton Heights. Jennifer Batten, 36, of Crafton Heights said in a complaint that she was in a...
Pittsburgh controller predicts large surplus for 2019
Pittsburgh is spending within its 2019 budget projection and is headed for a larger than anticipated surplus at year’s end, the city controller said Monday. Controller Michael Lamb, who released his Popular Annual Financial Report for 2018, said 2019 revenues from all tax sources are exceeding projections and departments, with...
Heinz Endowments offers grants to artists for work reflecting social challenges
The Heinz Endowments will offer grants ranging from $1,000 to $150,000 to artists who create work that reflects social challenges and incidents of injustice in the Pittsburgh region. The organization encourages projects that are initiated by younger people or center on youth voices. Applications are now being accepted for the...
Pittsburgh City Council supports health department’s clean air actionsVideo
Pittsburgh City Council on Monday pledged unanimous support for the Allegheny County Health Department’s efforts to uphold clean air standards, particularly at U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson and Clairton Coke Works plants. U.S. Steel last week agreed to pay $2.7 million in fines from the Allegheny County Health Department related to...
Pittsburgh council opposes state budget measure preventing local plastic bag bans
Pittsburgh City Council unanimously opposed an 11-hour amendment to Pennsylvania budget that would temporarily block local governments from banning or taxing single-use plastic bags, wrappers and Styrofoam. The amendment tacked on to the state fiscal code late Wednesday by Republicans has passed the House and Senate and Gov. Tom Wolf...
Pete Buttigieg proposes Pittsburgh summit on climate change at Democratic debate
Pittsburgh popped up during Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate when one of the candidates — a buddy of Mayor Bill Peduto’s — suggested the city would be the perfect spot for a summit on climate change. Responding to a question about his stance on climate change, Pete Buttigieg, the mayor...
Pittsburgh City Council hesitant to pay legal fees for ethics board
Pittsburgh City Council on Wednesday balked at paying $45,000 in legal fees for the city’s Ethics Hearing Board to, among other things, enforce a campaign finance disclosure ordinance that at least one council member disagrees with. Five members, including Councilwoman Darlene Harris of Spring Hill, abstained on a vote authorizing...
Peduto sets aside $500K to buy recycling bins for Pittsburgh residents
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto plans to set aside $500,000 in 2020 and allocate more money in future years to buy more recycling bins for city residents. Recycling has been mandatory in Pittsburgh for 28 years, and the city is transitioning from the blue bags that have been distributed for storing...
OpenStreetsPGH set for Sunday in Downtown, Strip, LawrencevilleVideo
Thousands of bicyclists and pedestrians are expected in Pittsburgh on Sunday for Bike Pittsburgh’s popular OpenStreetsPGH program. Roads will be closed in Downtown, the Strip District and Lawrenceville. Traffic will be prohibited from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Market Street from Market Square to Liberty Avenue, on Sixth Street...
Development company plans $57 million SouthSide Works complex
An Indianapolis-based developer is planning a $57 million apartment complex on one of the last remaining vacant parcels in the SouthSide Works, according to the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority. TWG Development in May closed on the $1 million purchase of a 2.3-acre lot at Sidney and Sarah Streets from the...
Pittsburgh marks 50th anniversary of Stonewall riots with non-discrimination legislation
Pittsburgh plans to outlaw discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression. City officials Tuesday observed the 50th anniversary of riots in New York City that touched off the LGBT movement in America by proposing legislation that would update an existing non-discrimination ordinance to include gender identity and expression as...
Pittsburgh using autonomous vehicle data to track parking trends in Strip District
Aaron Morris’ first car was a 1987 Pontiac Firebird that he started driving in high school. Now he’s using it to map the congested parking situation in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. Morris and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto on Monday announced that the city will use parking data supplied by Allvision, a...
Pittsburgh self-driving car company Argo AI funding $15M Carnegie Mellon research center
Carnegie Mellon University is teaming with a Pittsburgh self-driving vehicle company to create a research center geared toward handling challenging road conditions, including changing weather patterns and construction zones. Argo AI, headquartered in the city’s Strip District, is investing $15 million over five years to establish and fund the Carnegie...
Peduto ‘concerned’ about narcotics, vice squads in wake of South Side bar brawl
The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police had no written policy for drinking on the job by undercover detectives, but immediately enacted guidelines following a brawl in a South Side bar between officers and members of the Pagans motorcycle gang, a city official said Monday. Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said an...
$6.5 million restoration of Wilkinsburg train station to be completed by OctoberVideo
Warren Bechhoefer might just have to make the 2,000-plus-mile drive from his home in Phoenix to the historic Wilkinsburg train station. It will be a chance for the 93-year-old to show off the car he restored and check out the restoration of a Western Pennsylvania landmark he helped finance. “I...
Peduto, Fitzgerald, city kids welcome ‘Sesame Street’s’ Elmo
Elmo from “Sesame Street” dropped by the Carnegie Science Center Friday to the delight of kids from the Training Wheels Child Care Center. “Elmo,” they shouted in unison when Angelica Miller, one of the science center’s early childhood educators, introduced the popular puppet to children from the Manchester preschool. Elmo...
Pittsburgh heralds the start of construction on cap over I-579
Margaret Watson has been waiting 60 years to see her Pittsburgh Hill District neighborhood reconnected to the Downtown business district. She won’t have to wait much longer. Elected officials and dignitaries gathered in the Hill District on Friday afternoon for a ceremonial groundbreaking that will kick off construction of the...
Pittsburgh, National Flag Foundation mark Flag Day with a salute
Fire sirens in Pittsburgh and more than 70 cities across the United States sounded for 30 seconds and then went silent for 30 seconds at 11:45 a.m. Friday in recognition of Flag Day. The nationwide nod to the American flag was organized by the Pittsburgh-based National Flag Foundation. At the...
The story behind that photo of Pittsburgh Councilwoman Harris on horse
It makes a lot of horse sense for Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and North Side Councilwoman Darlene Harris to cooperate. And with Harris poised to ride off into the sunset of her time on council, it appears the two, longtime political foes appear to be doing just that. Peduto and...
Historic Allegheny City public works stable to become apartments
The last municipal building still standing from the days when Pittsburgh’s North Side was its own separate city is destined to become an apartment building. North Side-based Go Realty is restoring the old Allegheny City Stables — vacant for more than a decade. The estimated project cost is $7.5 million...
Pittsburgh Councilwoman Harris proposes ordinance for exotic pets
Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Darlene Harris said Tuesday she’s crafting legislation that would regulate, but not ban, exotic animals and reptiles — including alligators — in the city. Harris of Spring Hill said the three alligators found running loose in Pittsburgh since May 18 highlights the need for such regulation. She...
Stores in Pittsburgh’s landmark Produce Terminal could move in by October
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto remembered his grandfather taking him as a child to the Produce Terminal in the Strip District, where they would purchase grapes to make “bad” wine. The mayor should be able to buy some good wine at the renovated terminal building along Smallman Street when the project...
