Gainey hits UPMC, other nonprofits with big tax exemption challenge
PublicSource
by Charlie Wolfson
1d ago
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey announced a sizable escalation in his plan to wring more property tax revenue out of major nonprofits like UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh. City Solicitor Krysia Kubiak said during a Wednesday press conference that the city would challenge the tax-exempt status of 104 parcels this year, claiming that the properties don’t meet the legal requirements of “purely public charities” and belong on the tax rolls. The move greatly expands on the 27 challenges the city filed last year. City officials said the maneuver, if successful, would bring the city an added $6.4 m ..read more
Visit website
Pa. House Republicans seek to move voter ID bill forward
PublicSource
by John Cole
2d ago
On Monday, Pennsylvania House Republican leadership announced plans to file a discharge resolution to get a constitutional amendment for voter ID to the House floor for a vote, and ultimately to voters in November’s general election. “Common sense tells us that more and more proposals, including the one introduced last week by House Democrats, are introduced to make our elections harder to administer and less secure and that simply requiring a state-provided identification at each election is the best way to enhance election security,” said House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster.&nbs ..read more
Visit website
A Pittsburgh medic earned double the mayor’s salary, and fewer police cost more money
PublicSource
by Charlie Wolfson
3d ago
Two years into his first term as Pittsburgh mayor, Ed Gainey’s mark on city government is beginning to take shape. A PublicSource review of city payroll data shows that employees hired by the city since Gainey took office in 2022 are more diverse than the city’s workforce overall.  And while the police force has gone down in numbers since Gainey took over, the city is spending more than ever before on policing, both in base pay and overtime. View the full dataset here. The city’s 3,400-strong workforce — the people who respond to emergencies, pave streets, pick up trash and process permi ..read more
Visit website
Disappearing evictions? Bill would take most landlord-tenant complaint records out of the public eye
PublicSource
by Rich Lord
4d ago
Ashleigh Stanczak would feel a lot more confident about apartment hunting if her tenant history was not marked by three recent court complaints filed against her by her current landlord. “Honestly, it makes me feel like a criminal,” she said. Stanczak, 43, of the Strip District, last year faced a health crisis that slashed her income, even prompting a GoFundMe plea for help with medical bills and living expenses.  Her landlord filed to evict. With temporary rental assistance and short-term work, she cobbled together funds, and two 2023 complaints filed by her landlord were withdrawn or d ..read more
Visit website
What proposed performance-based funding could mean for Pitt, other state-related universities
PublicSource
by Wyatt Massey of Spotlight PA State College
1w ago
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for our north-central Pa. newsletter, Talk of the Town, at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown. STATE COLLEGE — Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed creating a predictable funding formula and boosting state support by 5% for the state-related universities — Lincoln University, Penn State University, Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh. This new model would tie p ..read more
Visit website
Dancing across the checkouts: My brother shows that more people with disabilities can flourish through work
PublicSource
by First-person essay by Susan Henderson, as told to Venuri Siriwardane
1w ago
My brother Tommy bags groceries for Giant Eagle customers.  I drop him off on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays for his four-hour shifts at the store in McIntyre Square in the North Hills.  Sometimes I watch him before heading out: He stands at the end of a checkout counter and scoops up items from the conveyor belt, quickly and efficiently bagging them to keep the line moving. A job coach hovers in the background, stepping in when he needs guidance. I can see that he’s learned to bag raw meat separately to avoid cross-contamination, and he intuitively knows when to move to a counte ..read more
Visit website
PPS poised to sue county over property assessments
PublicSource
by Lajja Mistry
1w ago
The Pittsburgh Public Schools [PPS] board voted unanimously to take legal action against Allegheny County to compel a county-wide tax reassessment of properties. The move comes after owners of several Downtown commercial properties won property tax appeals this year and many more are expected to win.  Because of that, the district has seen its property tax base erode. District CFO Ron Joseph said the reassessment appeal would not completely solve the district’s financial problems but is an attempt to stabilize the district’s tax base to improve accuracy in future budgetary predictions. I ..read more
Visit website
Walnut Capital receives greenlight for Oakland residential redevelopment
PublicSource
by Eric Jankiewicz
1w ago
A smaller incarnation of a developer’s attempt to create new residential buildings in Oakland received a major boost on Tuesday.  Pittsburgh’s City Planning Commission approved an update to the Oakland land use plan to allow a zoning change championed by Councilperson Bob Charland for part of Oakland along McKee Place and Louisa Street. The area includes the former site of the Jewish Federation headquarters.  Walnut Capital owns the land where there are currently three pre-war residential buildings that serve mostly as student housing. The zoning change would allow the Shadyside dev ..read more
Visit website
Allegheny County Jail mental health care may see big changes with consent order
PublicSource
by Venuri Siriwardane
1w ago
Sweeping changes to correctional mental health care could soon be coming to Allegheny County.  Read the consent order A law firm and two legal aid nonprofits announced today they reached a settlement agreement with the county to “protect the constitutional rights of the individuals incarcerated” at the Allegheny County Jail. The county must make significant changes to improve the jail’s treatment of people with psychiatric disabilities — including reining in the use of force and meeting required staffing levels — according to the consent order, which was filed this morning in federal c ..read more
Visit website
The process of dealing with death is experiencing rebirth in a less-religious Pittsburgh
PublicSource
by Meg St-Esprit
1w ago
In Janice Perkins’ final days of life, she let her family know her last wishes: cremation, no viewing; a celebration and sharing of memories; and most surprising to her family, a little prayer. Perkins wasn’t very religious and neither is her extended family.  Her son Raymond Robinson recalls occasionally going to church as a child, but said he told his mother he was no longer interested around age 11 or 12. “So I stopped going to church after that. But she also stopped going,” he said. So what to make of that prayer? The family speculates that Janice was trying to offer comfort to her l ..read more
Visit website

Follow PublicSource on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR