Pittsburgh’s transformation from steel and manufacturing to eds and meds is a well-known story that continues to attract national attention, this time from Time Magazine.
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GE Transportation recently signed a deal to build 100 locomotives in Erie — including engines made in Grove City — and sell them in Angola for $350 million.
GE used financing through the Export-Import Bank, which provides loans, loan guarantees and insurance to U.S. companies selling overseas. The bank, supporters say, helps U.S. companies compete more effectively for foreign business.
“If we hadn’t had that financing, the order would have gone to China,” said Richard Simpson, global head of supply chain for the company, who said Thursday that GE Transportation financed $720 million in sales to three other countries last year.
Such deals are in jeopardy, advocates for the 80-year-old bank say. Its charter expires June 30 and observers say it might not come up for a vote in Congress before then.
Read more: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/8548411-74/bank-companies-export#ixzz3csBLMqRz
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The Pittsburgh region’s job market roared ahead in April, posting the biggest monthly hiring spree in at least 25 years.
The seven-county metropolitan area added 24,600 nonfarm jobs and the unemployment rate remained stable at 5.3 percent as more people began a job search, according to preliminary data the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry reported Tuesday.
It was the largest monthly gain on record since 1990, the earliest data available, and provided a nice boost heading into summer, PNC economist Kurt Rankin said.
“This is about as good a sign as we could get for the state of Pittsburgh’s economy,” Rankin said.
Read more: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/8485741-74/jobs-april-sector#ixzz3c106tSgE
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NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Are you making enough money to afford a home in your area?
In some areas around the country, earning little more than $30,000 annually may be enough to afford a house, whereas in other, more expensive areas, you will need almost five times as much.
HSH.com, a mortgage research data Web site, analyzed fourth-quarter data to determine the minimum salary needed in order to be able to afford a home in the 27 largest metro areas in the United States.
For the third quarter in a row, Pittsburgh was found to be the most affordable city in the country, with an annual median salary of just $31,716.32 needed to afford a home there. Those working in San Francisco need to make 4.5 times the amount that Steel City workers earn to afford a home.
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Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Westmoreland County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A frightening, handwritten note found in the locker of Alex Hribal was dated April 6, three days before he allegedly slashed and stabbed 21 people in a hallway at Franklin Regional High School.
Hribal, a 16-year-old sophomore, wrote, “I can’t wait to see the priceless and helpless looks on the faces of the students of one of the ‘best schools in Pennsylvania’ realize their precious lives are going to be taken by the only one among them that isn’t a plebeian ,” according to a police affidavit.
Investigators on Friday filed 17 more counts of attempted homicide against Hribal, of Murrysville. He was charged as an adult hours after the attacks.
Based in part on the note, Murrysville Sgt. Charles Tappe and Westmoreland County Detective Robert Weaver filed a new complaint on Friday with 21 attempted homicide charges.
Read more: http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6008319-74/hribal-faces-regional#ixzz300cbMiQn
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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)
A city that doesn’t make things can never be a real city.
The Steel City got its name and built its international reputation by making the best metal products in the world. For Hollywood, wealth and fame came from making the greatest motion pictures the world has ever seen. Silicon Valley earned its place in history by giving us the personal computer, the cell phone and just about every other indispensable high-tech gadget you can think of.
In the aftermath of the dismantling of the steel industry, Pittsburgh was especially fortunate to have a world-class health care and university system. These gems allowed us to sidestep the ruinous fate that has befallen other Rust Belt cities such as Detroit and Gary, Indiana.
However, in the long run those regional assets will not be enough to elevate this metropolitan statistical area and its wealth back to the level it enjoyed during the middle of the last century.
Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Allegheny County Police arrested 29 Pitcairn-area residents on drug charges in a 10-month undercover investigation that yielded warrants for 51 suspected “low-level dealers,” Superintendent Charles Moffatt said.
The sting began about 6:20 a.m. Friday and extended into the afternoon. One suspect suffered a heart attack during the course of his arrest and was hospitalized, Moffatt said.
Officers recovered one weapon and small quantities of prescription pills, crack cocaine and heroin. Investigators sought warrants for the suspects after observing them sell drugs at least three times each between March 13 and Nov. 15, Moffatt said.
Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/5207992-74/county-drug-police#ixzz2mojNV8bW
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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)
Household incomes rose in Pittsburgh in 2012 while the overall metropolitan area and the rest of the country saw incomes remain flat.
The city saw what the U.S. Census Bureau calls a statistically significant increase in household incomes as the median income rose by $3,281 to $39,884 from 2011 to 2012.
That happened as the median income in the seven-county metropolitan area stayed statistically the same, rising from $49,809 to $50,489. The median income for the metropolitan area was below the average of all U.S. metropolitan areas of $53,607.
The income information was contained in data released this morning as part of the American Community Survey.
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)
The Pittsburgh regional economy, which snapped back from the recession early but stalled in 2012, is poised to head higher again this year, according to forecasters at PNC Financial Services Group.
A reviving national economy will provide the oomph needed to reignite growth locally, PNC economist Kurt Rankin said in an interview.
The Pittsburgh region experienced above average growth in the first two years of the economic recovery in 2010 and 2011, but hit a lull the middle of last year.
Pittsburghers were more willing to spend coming out of the recession than consumers in many other regions because the local economy did not fall as far, but that willingness has been fully tapped, Mr. Rankin said.
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Washington County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Editor’s note: Is nothing sacred!!!!????
Two Charleroi Area School District cafeteria workers stole about $94,000 in a scheme that involved pocketing cafeteria money and using it to gamble at a casino, according to Washington County criminal complaints.
Stacy Lee Shipley, 50, and Sheila Ann Cook, 49, both of Charleroi, went to The Meadows Racetrack and Casino with money that Ms. Shipley stole from the school cafeteria, the complaints say.
Ms. Shipley would tell Ms. Cook that she had “extra money” with the understanding that the money was stolen. The pair promised each other they would split all winnings, according to the complaint.
Ms. Cook told police that she “just got caught up in the thrill of it all.
CARNOT-MOON, Pa. (AP) — A tornado touched down outside Pittsburgh on Friday evening, severely damaging nea
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Westmoreland County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
rly a dozen homes and businesses, as heavy weather also caused the collapse of a university sports dome. There were no immediate reports of injuries from the storms, which swept across the state.
The tornado touched down around 5 p.m. Friday near Ligonier, about 50 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. The storm damaged at least three businesses and eight homes, and crews were still assessing the damage, said Sandy Smythe, a spokeswoman for Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety.
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