SOCIAL JUSTICE
Jean Ripepi, 87, listens to plaintiffs speak at a meeting at her home in Monongahela, Pa. on August 9, 2018. (Kat Procyk/PublicSource)

Faith and switch: These congregants feel they were baited into giving money to closing churches.

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Jean Ripepi, 87, remembers her first mass at St. Anthony Church. The building had two wings separated by a bell tower and stood atop a hill overlooking downtown Monongahela. She was entering a new faith and a new marriage. Ripepi had been raised in the Polish Catholic Church — a sect not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church — and converted to her husband Angelo’s denomination after they wed.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Mark Kelly looks out over "The Run," where he has lived for nearly his entire life. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)

The city has plans for a futuristic transit connector between Oakland and Hazelwood but residents of Four Mile Run fear disruption to their neighborhood

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The city and backers of Hazelwood Green have been looking to develop some kind of transit system that would bypass a congested Second Avenue along the Monongahela River and connect it to Oakland, an area busting with university tech talent. Wedged in the middle of Oakland and Hazelwood is The Run.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Munhall Mayor Rick Brennan stands outside the borough's municipal building. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)

Munhall will pursue plans for public park on the land it put up for sale — for now

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The Borough Council of Munhall has given Mayor Rick Brennan tacit approval to develop plans for a public park on land in The Waterfront development, despite entertaining a December bid from a construction company to buy the 7 acres. In his first council meeting as mayor on Wednesday, Brennan noted that several council members had voted to file the eminent domain petition in December 2016, requesting the empty lot be transferred to the town from a nonprofit that wanted to offload the tax burden. The petition also stated the borough’s intent to develop a public park there. However, last fall, the council voted to accept bids from private companies — only after Homestead-based Franjo Construction emailed an offer for much less than the land is worth. PublicSource published a story about the land in question and the controversy surrounding it a week ago.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

How housing vouchers and ‘Section 8’ stigma fail Pittsburgh’s neediest households

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It was one of the coldest February days when the furnace in Doren Dansby’s building broke. Soon after, the electricity in her Mount Oliver apartment started going offline for daylong spells. The landlord, who spoke little English, couldn’t tell Dansby when either would be fixed. She knew she and her 9-year-old son had to get out. “I kept calling 211,” Dansby, 28, recalls.

MONEY & POLITICS

Who are you to judge me? Lawyers and legal novices compete for the same magistrate court seats in Pennsylvania

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Joe Palahunik and Bruce Boni both graduated from Sto-Rox High School in McKees Rocks in 1983. Palahunik went on to study marketing at Slippery Rock University and form his own company, Joe’s Pros, headquartered in his hometown. It makes customized T-shirts and branded corporate giveaways, like towels, cups and calendars. One of his specialties is Little League uniforms, and Palahunik, a father of four, has coached for years. Boni went on to Carnegie Mellon University, where he majored in psychology, and then to the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

DATA
Sabrina Snyder, 9, was attacked by a Rottweiler at a neighbor’s home in the Brookline neighborhood of Pittsburgh in August 2014. (Photo by Njaimeh Njie/PublicSource)

What dog breeds bite the most in Allegheny County?

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Bruiser. Chomper. Goon. These pooches were destined for trouble.

Dogs that bite — including a few others with the foreboding names of Notorious, Diablo, Adolf and Rebel — are named in quarantine reports managed by the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.