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⭐️ Start your weekend on a positive note
“Always behave like a duck, keep calm and unruffled on the surface but paddle like the devil underneath.” | Tag #theinclinepgh to be featured in our Instagram of the Day.
What Pittsburgh is talking about
The helpers
🥔 When The O quietly closed its doors, the landmark restaurant also quietly gave away tons and tons of potatoes to local charity groups. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
🍤 The Warren offers free nightly meals to service industry workers and has served 3,500 meals so far. (Pittsburgh Magazine)
🥘 How Cafe Raymond is stepping up to the plate to help those in need. (Washington Examiner)
🍓 The cast of “This Is Us” paid for meals to be delivered to local hospital workers. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
☕️ Sheetz is giving coffee to frontline workers. (Ellwood City Ledger)
🐶 More than 1,000 pups in need got dog food through this food distribution. (Blue Sky PIT)
🗓 Mark your calendar: National Nurses Day is on May 6. Share your gratitude for nurses with this City Paper tribute. (Pittsburgh City Paper)
Some inspiration
⚾️ “Make a difference today, Love Clint.” Motivation from the former Pirates manager. (Associated Press)
🎉 These nightly balcony parties in Mt. Lebanon are the place to be. A retired nurse DJs and sometimes they turn things up with a makeshift light show. (KDKA-TV)
🚒 Best birthday ever? Imagine turning three AND getting a special visit from a fire truck. (Peebles District Volunteer Fire Company)
📲 Who’s making the world a better place? 412 Food Rescue. The Pittsburgh app is featured on this round-up of World Changing Ideas 2020. (Fast Company)
Wait … what?
👹 Meet the “Crazy Beast.” It’s a newly discovered fossil of a creature that roamed the world about 66 million years ago. And a Pittsburgh researcher is part of the scientific process. (TribLIVE)
🥛 May the Fourth Be With You … and your cereal bowl. Turner’s now has “Star Wars”-themed milk for the occasion. (TribLIVE)
😂 Seth Rogen’s Pittsburgh-made comedy “An American Pickle” got picked up by HBO. That’s a big dill. (Beaver County Times)
😷 Jason Voorhees or Tom Savini? The local special effects legend sported a Friday the 13th-themed face mask, and now you can get your own. (TribLIVE)
🥚 Egg salad is Pennsylvania’s quarantine craving. (The Daily Meal)
💛 Sharing our gratitude
We’re having a tough go of things right now (advertising revenue is gone and event revenue is kaput), and our readers are stepping up to keep this thing going.
We are beyond grateful to the nearly 350 members supporting The Incline. Special shout-outs to our newest members this week: Yvonne F., Moses H., Caedyn B., Sean M., Gina G., Mary M., Daniel M., Eric S., Stephanie F., Jim C., Carol E., George H., Stephanie C., Stacy M., Cynthia G., Joyce C., Lindsay G., Thomas F., Stella S., Joan B., RoseMary R., Marianne S., Natalee S., Diane M., Justin F., Catherine C., Lee G., Patricia B., Susan S., John W., Dawn W., Pamela G., Elizabeth R., Nancy G., and Larry D.
Want to join them for $8/month? Here’s how. And if that won’t work for your budget, any amount is welcome on our new crowdfunding platform.
Highlighting the helpers
The pandemic presents unique challenges for senior citizens.
Support systems have been upended. Social isolation has been compounded by social distancing.
In Allegheny County, one organization is offering touchpoints and lifelines to older residents navigating a strange new, socially distant world. And it’s the subject of our latest Highlighting the Helpers installment.
Today’s COVID-19 briefing
📊 By the numbers — as of Thursday:
- 1,289 positive cases in Allegheny County, up 16 from Thursday (more data and demographics here)
- 236 hospitalizations in Allegheny County
- 94 deaths in Allegheny County
- 45,763 cases in Pennsylvania (more data and demographics here)
🌎 More than 3.2 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide with 1 million cases and 62,000+ deaths in the U.S. (The New York Times)
🏠 Reminder: Stay home. Pennsylvania is under a stay-at-home order until at least May 8. When you must go out, wear a cloth mask. Here are a few ideas for making your own. (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania)
➡️ All UPMC patients will now be tested for COVID-19 antibodies and the illness itself. (TribLIVE)
🏥 Ambridge’s police chief died a stroke and COVID-19, and when doctors studied images of his brain, they made an unusual but significant discovery. (TribLIVE / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
✏️ All Pittsburgh Public Schools students will receive passing grades for the fourth quarter to avoid penalizing kids during remote learning. (Pittsburgh Current)
🔍 An audit of Pennsylvania’s business shutdown waiver program will be performed by the state’s auditor general after complaints the program was unfairly managed. (Associated Press)
⚖️ Gov. Tom Wolf has until noon Monday to respond to a challenge filed against his stay-at-home order in the U.S. Supreme Court. The appeal was filed this week by an Allegheny County Republican state House candidate and a group of business owners. (WTAE)
Today
🖼 Dig into some digital art with Unblurred's virtual version (Online)
Tomorrow
👟 Cheer on the "2020 Etna Marathon" from home while supporting a local food pantry (Online)
👟 Get moving for a virtual 5K with the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh (Online)
🔍 Explore your own home with the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh's Family Scavenger Hunt (Online)
Monday
🎵 Enjoy the awe-inspiring and finger snapping performance of Claudio Cojaniz in this City of Asylum performance (Online)
Tuesday
☕️ Grab a coffee and network with fellow Pittsburgh women — virtually (Online)
Wednesday
💎 Peek into a glimmering world of costumes and jewels with the Frick and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (Online)
Thursday
🎸 Learn how to play guitar with these virtual workshops through Millvale Community Library (Online — multiple dates)
📜 Show and tell with Heinz History Center's Virtual Story Share (Online)
🐱 Learn about the fascinating and elusive snow leopard — and why it's so hard for scientists to study these big cats (Online)
🥂 "Travel" to some of the world's most opulent hotels with this Britsburgh program "Putting on the Ritz" (Online)
🎧 Watch a re-broadcast of Brittney Chantele's hip-hop performance and listen to an interview with the artist (Online)
One more thing...
Bonus: We get FOURTEEN HOURS of daylight (or graylight, this is Pittsburgh after all) today. The sun won’t set until 8:16 tonight. ☀️
Enjoy the weekend, stay safe, and see you on Monday. In the meantime, we’d love to know what you think about Feel Good Fridays! Just hit reply and let us know.