PublicSource | News for a better Pittsburgh (https://www.publicsource.org/category/uncategorized/)
Pittsburgh officials are urging local governments across the country to join them on instituting new gun control laws after the October mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue.
Voters across Allegheny County narrowly rejected a ballot initiative on Tuesday that would have raised property taxes by a quarter mill to funnel $18 million annually to children’s programs.
There is a strong belief in the Jewish tradition that every life is sacred, which makes some Jews leery of using the death penalty in most cases. But this shooting could put their principles to the test. Jewish scholars say there is Biblical support for implementing the death penalty in principle but there is a wide variety of opinions about how or whether it can be fairly applied.
It was a weekend of coming together, reflection and collective healing in Pittsburgh. A week after the tragedy in the Tree of Life synagogue last Saturday, Shabbat services took place all over Squirrel Hill.
The sisters grew up in Squirrel Hill and said it was their “stomping ground.” Neither were born into Judaism, but Snyder converted in 2003 after studying the religion for six years.
City Councilman Corey O’Connor said now is the time for Pittsburgh to take bold action on gun control, even if it means confronting lawsuits and the ire of a Republican-controlled state Legislature and powerful gun rights groups like the National Rifle Association. “We will fight this. Pittsburgh will take a stand,” O'Connor said, holding back tears at a council meeting three days after a heavily armed man killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue. “And we will get sued... You want to fight?
East Pittsburgh is grappling with the fate of its police force, leaning on solutions like consolidation that have long-been discussed in the fragmented region, largely without success.
Will crisis force change? In East Pittsburgh, officials hope so. But interviews with numerous chiefs and leaders in the region reveal a persistent status quo, where funding drastically differs across a patchwork of boroughs and some communities struggle to recruit officers to work breakneck hours for dismal pay.
In downtown Pittsburgh Wednesday morning, dozens of people contested a proposed rollback of regulations that require car manufacturers to continue increasing vehicle fuel efficiency through 2026.
Editor’s Note: On behalf of PublicSource, writer Timothy Maddocks spent six days between October 2017 and February 2018 embedded with street medicine teams. He attended the 2017 International Street Medicine Symposium and interviewed more than three dozen street medicine practitioners, from Pittsburgh and beyond. Though the days are still warm as we publish this story, soon people experiencing homelessness will again be subject to severe drops in temperature. This story sheds light on how street medicine practitioners aim to help the population throughout the year and how it plays out at the most critical times.
On a gray January morning, the team from Pittsburgh Mercy's Operation Safety Net follows the hollow sound of a dog barking in the distance to the tent that they’ve been looking for. And there it is, between the Allegheny River and the gravel bike trail: a mismatched collage of older tents and tarps, faded yellow and bright orange.
Dear readers,
We’re thrilled to share with you some good news. So far this year, PublicSource reporters have taken home 16 awards from local, state and regional journalism contests. In addition, the national Education Writers Association recognized PublicSource reporters Mary Niederberger and Jeffrey Benzing as finalists for their stories on disproportionate treatment and challenges for black girls in the Pittsburgh region as part of our “I am a black girl and…” series. Journalism professionals selected PublicSource for the following honors:
A Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for our continuing coverage of Pittsburgh’s crisis with lead in the water. The region in which we claimed the award spans Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.
