Julia Felton stories, Page 23

Organizations that receive funding through Pittsburgh’s Stop the Violence grant program will now be required to provide additional reporting on how they spend their money under legislation approved this week by City Council. The measure is meant to provide greater accountability and transparency in how the tax dollars are used,...

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is looking to team up with the city to launch an ambassador program that would bring community service representatives to Downtown Pittsburgh seven days a week. Pittsburgh would dedicate $600,000 to the Golden Triangle Ambassador program under City Council legislation introduced this week. The program would...

The Olympia Park Shelter House in Pittsburgh’s Mt. Washington will once again serve as a community space. The building, which closed after a fire in 2009, will house athletic associations and community and private events. City leaders unveiled the newly renovated space this week. “This facility has been transformed and...

Pittsburgh leaders say they are ramping up efforts to make Downtown cleaner and safer. “Downtown Pittsburgh is the heart and soul of our city,” Mayor Ed Gainey said during a news conference Thursday. The city has increased the number of cleaning crews working Downtown by about 20%, Gainey said. Officials...

Duquesne Light plans to install electric vehicle charging stations at two lots owned by the city of Pittsburgh. Charging stations for four electric cars will be placed at a city-owned lot at 6112 Kirkwood St., which the Pittsburgh Parking Authority leases from the city. The DC fast chargers will allow...

Pittsburgh City Council has reached a tentative contract agreement with city police that includes pay increases and a new system for disciplining officers. The union representing Pittsburgh’s police officers ratified the proposed contract last month, with 572 votes in favor of the deal and only 13 against it. The contract...

The University of Pittsburgh’s $240 million plan to build an arena and sports performance center on the Oakland campus earned approval Tuesday from the city’s Planning Commission. Victory Heights will be located near Petersen Events Center on Terrace Street — on the site of the former Pitt Stadium, which was...

A proposal before Pittsburgh’s Planning Commission would improve supportive housing and add new affordable units in the city’s Uptown area. Bethlehem Haven, a local nonprofit that provides housing and various wraparound services, is looking to upgrade an existing Fifth Avenue site where it offers supportive housing to 26 women with...

Pittsburgh EMS Chief Ronald Romano is retiring after 45 years of service. Friday marked his last day in uniform, Pittsburgh Public Safety officials said. Romano began his EMS career in 1975 with Perman Ambulance Service in Pittsburgh. He was hired as a paramedic with the city of Pittsburgh in March...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Monday, April 3, 2023: Tractor-trailer overturns on Route 28 A tractor-trailer overturned early Monday on southbound Route 28, just before the Pittsburgh Mills exit. An Allegheny County 911 dispatcher said there were no injuries reported. A section of southbound...

Twelve-year-old Ah’Kill Creighton was playing basketball outside one day last year when he witnessed his first murder. He recalled hearing a gunshot and seeing someone fall. “I got scared, because it was the first time I ever saw somebody die,” said Creighton, of Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood, during a news conference...

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman was released Friday from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after being treated for clinical depression. Dr. David Williamson, Walter Reed’s neuropsychiatry chief and medical director, said Fetterman’s depression is now in remission. Fetterman is back home in Braddock. “I’m excited to be the father and...

Two U.S. senators are reviving a bipartisan effort to allow local news outlets to negotiate for fair compensation from large digital platforms that use their content. Senators Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, on Friday announced they have reintroduced the Journalism Competition and...

A new ice cream flavor celebrating Earth Month will benefit programming at a Pittsburgh park. The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and Millie’s Homemade Ice Cream on Thursday announced the new flavor, which will be available starting Sunday throughout the month of April. It will benefit youth educational programming at the Frick...

Beginning Saturday, Pittsburgh will resume street sweeping with parking enforcement. The city’s Department of Public Works this week announced they will coordinate with the Pittsburgh Parking Authority to enforce the annual street sweeping campaign. During the early days of the covid-19 pandemic, the city made street sweeping parking accommodations for...

March 29, 2023, marked the 50th anniversary of the last U.S. troops leaving Vietnam, ending combat operations in what Americans know as the Vietnam War. But it’s the names — the 58,000 or so of them etched into black stone on a wall in Washington, D.C. — that linger in...

Pittsburgh is slated to receive more than $1.5 million in state grant money for new electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and compressed natural gas trucks. Three separate grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will provide the cash, pending approval from Pittsburgh City Council. Council members unanimously supported...

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey on Tuesday announced the city is challenging the tax-exempt status of 26 properties as part of its review of sites owned by purely public charities. Gainey in January signed an executive order calling on the city’s finance and law departments to investigate whether the city’s purely...

Pittsburgh has secured a $150,000 federal grant to cover the costs of a program in which police recruits meet with prison inmates so the two groups can better understand each other. The Inside-Out training program is receiving the money from the Department of Justice COPS Mini Grant Program. It will...

Only one Democratic candidate will appear on the May primary ballot in Pittsburgh City Council’s District 3 after a candidate withdrew from the race this week. William Reeves, 24, of the South Side Slopes, announced Wednesday via Twitter that he was pulling out of the race to replace retiring Councilman...

Allegheny County Police on Friday revealed the identity of human remains found in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar neighborhood. The remains were identified as Kaylene Oehling of Etna, who went missing in early 2020. Her remains were found Sunday by hunters in a wooded area near the 1200 block of Washington Boulevard, officials...

A proposed $4.5 million bridge project could reconnect Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood with Riverview Park. The Civic Design Committee of the city’s Art Commission has approved plans for a new Davis Avenue bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists. Pending approval from the city’s Department of Mobility & Infrastructure, construction could begin...

The Civic Design Committee of Pittsburgh’s Art Commission has approved plans for a major redevelopment project at Enright Park in East Liberty. The Department of City Planning in 2018 worked with community members to craft a master plan for the redevelopment of the park, which became part of a debate...

A candidate who planned to run as a Democrat for Pittsburgh City Council’s District 5 seat will not appear on the May primary ballot. Matthew Mahoney, 38, of Greenfield, said a review of nominating petitions he filed revealed 12 “defective signatures,” disqualifying him from getting on the primary ballot. Candidates...

State Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa has introduced legislation that he said would protect longtime homeowners from being taxed out of their homes. Costa, D-Forest Hills, said the Longtime Owner-Occupant Tax Exemption Program, or LOOP, would allow first- and second-class cities and counties — including Pittsburgh and Allegheny County —...