Work On Civic Arena Site To Begin In August

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

Construction of streets at the former Civic Arena site, now a sprawling parking lot in the heart of Pittsburgh, will begin in August, officials said on Thursday.

It will be the first significant activity on the 28-acre site since crews completed demolition of the arena about two years ago. More than $500 million in redevelopment is planned.

“We’re almost ready to start construction of the urban street grid,” said Mary Conturo, executive director of the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority.

The first phase is expected to cost $9 million and focus on building interior streets on the eastern part of the site, Conturo said. The work is expected to take about a year.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/5924203-74/conturo-site-million#ixzz2ybAziPaI
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US Employers Add 169K Jobs; Rate Falls To 7.3 Percent

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers have yet to start hiring aggressively — a trend the Federal Reserve will weigh in deciding this month whether to slow its bond buying and, if so, by how much.

Employers added 169,000 jobs in August but many fewer in June and July than previously thought, the Labor Department said Friday. Combined, June, July and August amounted to the weakest three-month stretch of job growth in a year.

The unemployment rate dropped to 7.3 percent, the lowest in nearly five years. But it fell because more Americans stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed. The proportion of Americans working or looking for work reached its lowest point in 35 years.

All told, the report adds up to a mixed picture of the U.S. job market: Hiring is steady but subpar. Much of the hiring is in lower-paying occupations. And many people are giving up on the job market in frustration.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-employers-add-169k-jobs-rate-falls-73-pct

Cool Weekend Ahead In Philadelphia; Heat Returns Next Week

The logo of the United States National Weather Service. The source page states that is not an “official” version but it looks very close to the version used on NWS’s website. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Philadelphians can expect a few more days of cool temperatures — but the August heat is expected to be back by the middle of next week.

The National Weather Service is calling for a high temperature of 82 degrees Saturday and 78 degrees Sunday.

Those forecasts are low for August: Sunday’s predicted high would be 7 degrees below normal.

The work week is also slated to start off cool, with an expected high of 82 degrees Monday.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Cool_weekend_ahead_in_Philadelphia_heat_returns_next_week.html#S03kZvVfoPyWQ6VL.99

For The Record, August Not So Hot

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

August was a rather tame month weatherwise in Berks County, with temperature and rainfall a bit above normal.

“Although thunderstorms brought minor flooding or wind damage to a few areas of Berks, the severe weather was isolated and less than average,” said Jeffrey R. Stoudt, organizer of the Berks Area Rainfall Network.

Much of the rain fell during the unsettled stormy pattern at midmonth. It helped cut into the ongoing precipitation deficit.

For the year at Reading Regional Airport, the official National Weather Service site in Berks, 21.89 inches of precipitation has been recorded. That is about 35 percent below the normal of 28.96 inches through August.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=412957

Summer 2012 Weather: A Variable Outlook

If you like variety, this will be the summer for you.

A few days of hot weather, followed by storm, then a few days of cooler weather. Repeat.

That could be what awaits us from June to August, based on several long-term forecasts.

“Maybe this is a summer where we don’t have long heat waves of a week or 10 days of 90 degrees,” said Millersville University meteorologist Eric Horst. “Instead, they come in smaller clusters, a couple of days in the 90s and then a front goes through and we get relief.”

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/644340_Summer-weather–A-variable-outlook.html