Pittsburgh Cops Involved in Shoot-Out Over Parking Spot

And you thought using chairs was nutty?

Campaign Finance Reform DOA in Pittsburgh

Chalk one up for the "pay to play" crowd.

Legislation similar to that being considered in Bethlehem and Northampton County has been murdered in Pittsburgh. Keystone Politics and The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report that Mayor Luke Ravenstahl vetoed an ordinance limiting individual and PAC contributions because it would somehow give the rich an unfair advantage while penalizing that union dough.

"While almost every other state and city across the country has adopted sensible campaign contribution limits to limit the amount of influence special interests can buy, Pittsburgh continues to be ruled by the political machine." Those words, from Pittsburgh sponsor Bill Peduto, sum up my sentiments.

Don't Breathe That Lehigh Valley Air

Did you know that one in 10 people in the U.S. live in areas with unhealthy levels of all three types of pollution: ozone, short-term and year-round particle pollution? Now you do, thanks to The American Lung Association's State of the Air: 2008.

Wait, it gets better. Four Pennsylvania metropolitan areas are among the top twenty-five dirtiest cities in the U.S. Pittsburgh is actually #1, baby, and the other cities are Harrisburg, Philly and State College.

Whoopee!

Here in the Lehigh Valley, both Lehigh and Northampton Counties get Fs for ozone days (smog). Northampton also flunks on particle pollution(soot). Lehigh gets an INCOMPLETE because it screwed up its monitoring.

Smog does little things like causing asthma attacks, coughing and wheezing, shortness of breath, chest pain when inhaling deeply, and even premature death. Soot is even worse, reducing life expectancies and helping lung cancer along.

Excuse me while I throw open that window and breathe deeply!

The "Nappy-Headed Ho" Defense

"And also, you know, if you look at our society, any time you have a person come out and say, 'rough, tough, nappy-headed hos,' this is what our society thinks of women, women as a whole. So it's really a dangerous type situation, how we can be handled when things happen. ... It's difficult, but we'll make it through, because we've got greater powers."

This is how Pittsburgh Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle explains a laundry list of criminal charges. The criminal complaint tells a different story.