COVID-19

Pittsburgh mother shares COVID anxieties amid colder weather and returning to the office.

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Renee Robinson of Garfield reached out to PublicSource Community Correspondent Jourdan Hicks recently to discuss her experience with COVID and her concerns for moving forward with work and her child's school in the new normal. PublicSource · Renee Robinson COVID TESTING

So my name is Renee Robinson. I'm 37 years old, and I live in the Garfield neighborhood. I was prompted to reach out to PublicSource because I was feeling very frustrated about trying to find a COVID test. 

Returning back into the workplace this summer, I was very anxious about, like, if I came into contact with someone because when I had symptoms before they were very mild symptoms that I had. It's very frustrating to get tested for COVID, you would have to wait, and then you'd have to call from work and then you weren't sure if you did have COVID, were you infecting people that you were getting near?

FROM THE SOURCE PODCAST

Episode 11, Season 2: Leading with generosity — A conversation with a local jeweler about his career and culture of giving.

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Anthony Mock, owner of a Monroeville-based jewelry business, and employee Terri Hogan-Williams talk about the importance of relationships at work following the pandemic. Mock also lifts the curtain on how doing what you love matters and on his journey into the custom-made jewelry business. Jourdan: Welcome back. We are here with another episode of “From the Source” with another interesting source, another Pittsburgher, in this case, two people you should know. Their names are Terri and Anthony, and they are boss and employee.

FROM THE SOURCE PODCAST

Tuition isn’t free, and neither is emotional labor — A conversation with Pitt’s departing Black Action Society president.

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Meet Morgan Ottley as she unpacks the lessons and challenges of remotely completing her senior year at the University of Pittsburgh following 2020’s summer of racial reckoning and protests. Morgan discusses the emotional, often invisible labor left to students when universities fall short of solidarity and the future of racial justice and accountability on college campuses. For more insights on the effects of the racial justice movement on higher ed from students, faculty, staff and administrations of Pittsburgh-area universities, check out the accompanying stories to this podcast by PublicSource higher education reporter Naomi Harris. What difference has a year made? Explore the project about calls for racial justice on campuses.

DEVELOP PGH
Brothers Michael (left) and Nicholas (right) Troiani in one of their buildings in Downtown Pittsburgh's Firstside district. They say deteriorating brick makes it impossible to save the structures. (Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)

A tale of two districts: In Strip and Firstside, the Peduto administration cheers some development, stops other plans

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From the surging center of the Strip District to the crumbling flank of Downtown’s Firstside Historic District, it’s 2.1 miles by car. But those places seemed like different cities this week. In the Strip on Monday, Mayor Bill Peduto joined developer Jack Benoff in a sunny parking lot next to an active construction site for the groundbreaking of the Forte Condos project. Though nary a brick has been laid, half of the planned 50 market-rate homes are already sold, Peduto said. “Even during COVID, we’re staying busy.

COVID-19
Tote bags with census resources for residents. (Courtesy photo from Josiah Gilliam/ City of Pittsburgh)

COVID-19 disrupted the census. But accurate counts are needed to guide aid, recovery efforts and maybe even vaccines.

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For almost two years, the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County have been working together to intensively prepare for the 2020 census. The hardest-to-count populations were identified for targeted outreach; community leaders were pulled in to champion the cause; “census hubs,” where residents could go to have their questions answered, were planned throughout the county. 

Perhaps the one thing they didn’t plan for was a pandemic. “We had 150 designated locations throughout the county ready to go, and then the pandemic hit,” said Jessica Mooney, the county’s manager of special projects. Now, getting a complete count is not only harder — it’s also more vital. Census data dictates federal funding levels to local and state governments for food access programs, affordable housing, health systems and more.