PNC Bank To Close 10 Branches In Pittsburgh Region

PNC Bank will close 10 more branches in the region within the next 90 days as part of an effort to cut costs and focus on serving customers who increasingly are banking online and via smartphones.

The closures, which include the last remaining bank branch in the city of Clairton, come on top of four other branches shuttered earlier in the year.

Spokeswoman Marcey Zwiebel declined to say how many more branches in the region might be closed this year, saying decisions beyond 90 days may not be final.

Pittsburgh‘s biggest bank has said it planned to close about 200 branches this year across its footprint in 19 states and Washington, D.C., which is about 7 percent of its network of roughly 2,900 offices.  The bank closed 65 branches last year.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/pnc-bank-to-close-10-branches-in-region-687669/#ixzz2TQEP42Sq

Hispanic Growth Brings New State House Seat To Allentown

English: City of Allentown from east side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Residents in parts of the greater Lehigh Valley are going to need a new score card to keep track of who their state lawmakers are.

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld new legislative boundaries for the House and Senate as more geographically compact — and less politically gerrymandered — than a previous plan the justices rejected last year.

The new map goes into effect in the 2014 election.  It includes a House seat and Senate seat that are moving to the region from Allegheny County because of population declines there.

In the House, the 22nd District is moving to Allentown to reflect the city’s rising Hispanic population in its downtown and south side.  That newly created Allentown seat pushes Republican Justin Simmons, who has represented those city neighborhoods since 2010, into Emmaus, Upper Milford Township and Montgomery County.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-supreme-court-lawmaker-district-maps-20130508,0,4974852.story

Pittsburgh Marathon: Let The Running Begin

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Runners, lace up your shoes, pin on your race number and make your way Downtown to the starting line. Pittsburgh is ready for you.

The course is set, winding 26.2 miles through 13 city neighborhoods.  The bands, musical accompaniment to aching muscles, are booked.  Medical teams will be out in force, traffic will be diverted and security measures, fine-tuned after the Boston Marathon attacks, will be in place.

A race that was on hiatus for the five years before 2009 is now a rite of spring, and this weekend, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon marks its fifth year back in Pittsburgh with a record registration.  A year’s work, planning that started after the final runner crossed the finish line last year, will be showcased as the first runner steps over the starting line this weekend.

Race director Patrice Matamoros, speaking Friday at a news conference, said the city is ready.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/let-the-running-begin-686207/#ixzz2SL13YOOH

Chevron Acquires Kmart Property In Moon Township For Possible Regional Headquarters

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A discount superstore and a large vacant tract of land on a bluff overlooking the Parkway West could become the latest symbols of the region’s growing energy identity.

Global energy giant Chevron has reached agreements to acquire 61 acres of land in Moon, including a Kmart targeted for closing in July, as a potential site for a regional headquarters.

The San Ramon, Calif.-based company made the announcement Wednesday, only days after Sears Holdings Corp. confirmed it would be closing the Kmart. It made no mention at the time that the store was closing to make room for the first major global driller to build a regional campus.

In its statement, Chevron said it expects to close on the acquisitions in the next few months. No terms were disclosed. It said a decision on the use of the properties would be made later this year.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/chevron-acquires-kmart-property-in-moon-for-possible-regional-headquarters-685784/#ixzz2S9hTaqc3

US Airways Moon Township Center May Close

FAA Airport Diagram of KPIT (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

US Airways may jettison yet another Pittsburgh International Airport facility built specifically for its needs — one financed with the help of more than $16 million in public subsidies.

In a meeting last week with pilots, US Airways CEO Doug Parker said the carrier may close its state-of-the-art operations control center in Moon in “a couple years” as a result of its merger with bankrupt American Airlines.

If Mr. Parker’s prediction holds true, it would be the latest blow to a region that has seen US Airways slash more than 10,000 jobs and hundreds of flights over the past decade.  The airline also eliminated its Pittsburgh hub in 2004 — 12 years after the midfield terminal, built to its specifications, opened to support the airline’s growing needs. US Airways now has about 1,800 employees in the region.

Closing the operations control center would cost the region another 700 jobs.  The 72,000-square-foot building opened in November 2008 after Pennsylvania and Allegheny County officials outbid Charlotte, N.C., and Phoenix for the facility.  It combined a center in Findlay that US Airways had operated for 11 years and a smaller one in Phoenix, the result of the carrier’s 2005 merger with America West Airlines.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/us-airways-moon-center-may-close-680893/#ixzz2OfqwUXRr

Allegheny County Port Authority Board Fires CEO

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Port Authority’s board of directors voted today to fire CEO Steve Bland after efforts broke down to reach a settlement under which he would resign.

The dismissal was engineered by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.  He has not commented on the matter but sources who asked not to be identified have said friction developed between the two over Mr. Fitzgerald’s desire to have greater control of day-to-day operations at the agency.

The vote to dismiss Mr. Bland was 5-3, with four members recently appointed by Mr. Fitzgerald all voting yes, along with board member Jeff Letwin, who was appointed by the prior county executive, Dan Onorato.  The others voting to fire were Joe Brimmeier, Connie Parker, John Tague, Tom Donatelli.

Voting no were Mavis Rainey, Amanda Green Hawkins and Eddie Edwards Jr., all of whom are board veterans.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/transportation/port-authority-board-fires-bland-672980/#ixzz2JfkDbXwW

U.S. Steel Touts Coke Plant Project As Good For Jobs, Air

UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION COKE PLANT IN A VALLEY SURROUNDED BY HOMES AT CLAIRTON, PENNSYLVANIA. LOCATED 20… – NARA – 557213 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

U.S. Steel today formally commissioned a new battery of ovens at its Clairton coke plant, a $500 million project the company said will preserve steelmaking jobs in the Mon Valley and improve the region’s air quality.

The project is a scaled back version of the $1 billion proposal the Pittsburgh steelmaker announced in late 2007, before the global recession decimated steel demand and caused the industry to retrench.

President and CEO John P. Surma said even after the scope was reduced, the project was the largest in the history of the Clairton plant and one of the largest in U.S. Steel’s 112-year history.  He said it secures the jobs of 1,300 Clairton employees as well as the 1,400 who work at the company’s Edgar Thomson plant in Braddock and the Irvin plant in West Mifflin.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/breaking/us-steel-touts-coke-plant-project-as-good-for-jobs-air-672843/#ixzz2Jb0uFLsx

Fountain At Point State Park To Resume June 7

The fountain in Pittsburgh’s Point State Park, which has been shut off since April 2009, will resume operation in a ceremony set for June 7.

The announcement was made today in a statement released by the Riverlife organization, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

“The transformation of Point State Park is almost complete, and with the reconstructed fountain it will once again be a jewel in our award-winning state park system,” said DCNR secretary Richard J. Allan in a statement.  ”After hard work and collaboration across the region, we’re happy to celebrate this major reconstruction with a public event that will showcase the renovations and the park in a stunning waterfront gathering spot.”

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/fountain-at-point-state-park-to-sume-june-7-667187/#ixzz2FdM9zxY3

‘Eds And Meds’ Still Growing In Pittsburgh Region

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Pittsburgh region’s 21st-century economy has often been referred to as one where manufacturing has been displaced by the “eds and meds” sector, but there remain pockets where local residents still lean heavily on the more traditional means of employment.

In nine Allegheny County municipalities, more than twice as many residents are employed in manufacturing as is the case in the county overall, according to new census data. Many of the communities are in the Route 28/Allegheny Valley corridor, where many light manufacturing firms operate — some of them growing and thriving.

The occupational information was just one nugget in a bounty of new American Community Survey data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.  The data are based on a survey of the national population over a five-year span, from 2007-11, with the government deeming the sample size sufficient to release estimates for wide-ranging characteristics of every municipality.

While Allegheny County and the surrounding region once served as a manufacturing center for the nation, only 8.3 percent of the county’s workforce was employed in manufacturing in the modern era, the ACS data said.  That was down from 9 percent in the 2000 census and was less than the 10.8 percent for the nation as a whole.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/eds-and-meds-still-growing-in-pittsburgh-region-665151/#ixzz2EJ4ATXbo

Whooping Cough Is Back With A Vengeance

The United States is in the midst of the worst epidemic of pertussis, or whooping cough, in more than 50 years, and Allegheny County is mirroring the national trend.

Nationwide, the outbreak is startling: 32,000 cases reported as of Oct. 24, along with 16 deaths, most of them infants.  The all-time recorded peak was in 1959, with 40,000 cases.

In Allegheny County, the incidence has almost quadrupled: 201 cases so far this year compared with 51 cases in all of 2011.  Patients have ranged from babies to those in their 70s, but most have been 12 or 13.

Megan Casey, nurse epidemiologist at the Allegheny County Health Department, said the local incidence peaked in June; the number of cases showing up now are back to normal levels.  No one has died, she said, although seven have been hospitalized.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/health/whooping-cough-is-back-with-a-vengeance-661669/#ixzz2C2MQbQW4

Wild Dogs Kill 2-Year-Old Who Fell Into Pittsburgh Zoo Exhibit

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A 2-year-old boy fell 14 feet into the African painted dog exhibit area at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium shortly before noon Sunday and was mauled to death by the dogs.

Police said the child lost his balance after his mother lifted him in a standing position onto the 4-foot-high wooden railing of an elevated, gazebolike structure that overlooks the enclosure.  He toppled over the railing, hit a mesh shelf and landed on the ground of the open exhibit space, where he was set upon by the 11 dogs in the area.

The medical examiner’s office would not release the child’s name Sunday evening.  Police said he and his 34-year-old mother are from Pleasant Hills and were visiting the zoo with cousins, an adult and another child.

Major Crimes Lt. Kevin Kraus declined to comment on potential charges and said the bureau will continue to investigate to determine if anything could have prevented the death.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/wild-dogs-kill-2-year-old-who-fell-into-zoo-exhibit-660660/#ixzz2BMuWT5Tg

Pittsburgh Targets Ending Financial Oversight (Act 47)

English: Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) meets with Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After eight years of austerity, the city of Pittsburgh today will argue before a state panel that it has clawed its way to financial recovery and needs fewer mentors looking over its shoulder.

A public hearing on ending the city’s financially distressed status, and disbanding one of its oversight groups, begins at 4 p.m. in the city council chamber.

As of Friday, officials hadn’t decided whether to televise the hearing.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and his team will have 20 minutes to argue that establishing a trust fund for retiree health care, improvements to the capital budget process and bond rating upgrades, among other factors, warrant the city’s exit from Act 47, the law that imposes monitoring and financial restrictions on distressed municipalities.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/pittsburgh-targets-ending-financial-oversight-659655/#ixzz2AjL63Hnp

Marcellus Shale Yield Skyrockets In Allegheny County

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The amount of Marcellus Shale gas produced in Allegheny County more than doubled in the first half of 2012, with nine online wells concentrated in Frazer and Fawn producing more than 3.6 billion cubic feet of gas, according to new data released by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Even with the increase, the county still contributed a pittance to total statewide production figures.

Gas production across the state climbed from January to June, with 704 billion cubic feet of gas produced, up from the 630 billion cubic feet reported from July to December 2011.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/marcellusshale/county-marcellus-shale-yield-skyrockets-649379/#ixzz246GMjMrr

Pittsburgh Expects To Build Revenue Through Advertising

Editor’s note:  Great “outside the box” thinking to create additional revenue!

Companies would be allowed to buy naming rights to city buildings and advertise on city vehicles and employee uniforms, at swimming pools and recreation centers, in city mailings and on benches and parking meters under legislation to be introduced today in Pittsburgh City Council.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said in a statement that the policy is intended to generate additional revenue in a “responsible and community-minded” way. This year’s city budget projects $500,000 in revenue from advertising.

“We have worked closely with council members and the community to craft the best possible policy,” he said. Councilman Bill Peduto, who will introduce the bill, said officials have been studying the issue for years.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/pittsburgh-expects-to-build-revenue-through-advertising-645943/#ixzz21aP3g8ZF

Pittsburgh Port Authority Bus, Rail Fare Increases Take Effect Sunday

The cost of a bus or rail ride will increase Sunday.

Increases approved by the Port Authority board include 25 cents in the Zone 1 fare, to $2.50; 50 cents in the Zone 2 fare, to $3.75; and commensurate rises in the cost of weekly and monthly passes and 10-ticket strips. Riders can use old tickets but must pay the difference in cash.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/port-authority-bus-rail-fare-increases-take-effect-today-642668/#ixzz1zHf99Wi6

Pittsburgh Sees Asian Population Increase

Locator map of the Greater Pittsburgh metro area in the western part of the of . Red denotes the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, and yellow denotes the New Castle Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Pittsburgh-New Castle CSA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When Deepti Alampally moved here from India four years ago, she didn’t have to explain where she was going.

“Everyone back home knows about Pittsburgh,” Ms. Alampally said.

She said Pittsburgh is famous among Hindus because its three rivers make it a holy city in the religion. It’s fitting, then, that Pittsburgh is home to nearly 15,000 South Asians, according to 2010 Census data. In total, nearly 50,000 Asians and Asian-Americans live in the Pittsburgh metro area — making them the second-largest minority group after African-Americans, and ahead of Hispanics.

That puts Pittsburgh right in line with the national trend, according to a Pew Research Center report released Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/pittsburgh-sees-asian-population-increase-641096/#ixzz1ySpSmX00

Braddock Looks To New Kevin Sousa Restaurant As Urban Renewal Project

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Now this is walking the talk! Good luck Chef Sousa!

Even more people are going to think chef Kevin Sousa is nuts: He’s not only opening his next restaurant in busted-down Braddock, he’s also moving his family there.

At a press conference today at County Executive Rich Fitzgerald’s office, the multi-tasking co-owner of Salt of the Earth in Garfield — and Station Street Hot Dogs and Union Pig and Chicken in East Liberty — announced that he’s opening a restaurant in the former Cuda’s Italian Market building at Eighth Street and Braddock Avenue, a desolate corner in one of the region’s most desolate business districts.

As a sign of his commitment to this broke but the once-bustling borough on the Monongahela River, Mr. Sousa decided he’s going to live there, too, in the old Ohringer Building just down the street.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/braddock-looks-to-new-kevin-sousa-restaurant-as-urban-renewal-project-641021/#ixzz1yHTCD9Sl

Pennsylvania’s First Indoor Biking Park To Open In Pittsburgh’s Homewood Section

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Local mountain bikers are celebrating early, and their excitement is aimed at Homewood.

There, in a former metal fabricating plant on an entire block, biking aficionado Harry Geyer is creating The Wheel Mill, the state’s first indoor park for bicyclists — mountain bikers, BMX racers and free-stylists and even cyclists who like to keep their wheels on the ground.

Mr. Geyer is leasing the building at 6815 Hamilton Ave., to which he also moved the office of his construction and remodeling business. He has access to 57,000 square feet; Global Links has 23,000 square feet of warehouse space on the eastern end.

Possibly as soon as late summer, Mr. Geyer will open the bike park, rolling it out in stages from one immense room to another so that eventually, people won’t have to drive to Ray’s MTB Indoor Park in Cleveland.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/pennsylvanias-first-indoor-biking-park-to-open-in-homewood-636804/

Allegheny County Defends $3M Strip Search Settlement

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Speaking of strip searches and WTF moments!

PITTSBURGH – Attorneys for western Pennsylvania‘s largest county jail are defending their decision to pay $3 million to settle a class action involving 1,600 inmates who were strip searched before doing time for minor offenses, even though the U.S. Supreme Court decided such searches are legal earlier this week.

The 2010 settlement involving the Allegheny County Jail included payments to any inmates strip searched for a minor offense between July 13, 2004 and March 18, 2008. About 12,000 inmates were believed to have been eligible for the money, but only a fraction responded with class action claims. Those inmates divided the money remaining after deducting $1 million in attorneys’ fees and another $265,000 went to pay a firm that processed the claims.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20120403_ap_pacountydefends3mstripsearchsettlement.html#ixzz1rDqsASbf
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Tree Pollen Found In Pittsburgh Air In February, Earliest Ever Recorded

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The pollen counter on the roof of Allegheny General Hospital detected tree pollen in the air Thursday, the first time it’s been recorded there in February.

That’s the harbinger of an early season for spring allergy sufferers and the result of a warmer-than-normal winter, said AGH allergist David Skoner.

“Moderate counts of tree [pollen] already!!! Wow!,” Dr. Skoner, director of AGH’s Division of Allergies, Asthma and Immunology, wrote in an email after the pollen count was measured by division research associate Asha Patel.

Tree pollen counts usually start in early April, peak in late April and early May and disappear by Memorial Day.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12056/1212557-114.stm#ixzz1nQ4er7Nc