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🌈 A pandemic can’t stop Pride
Pride in Pittsburgh. | Tag #theinclinepgh to be featured in our Instagram of the Day.
What Pittsburgh is talking about
Protests and policing
📣 Protests continued this weekend with demonstrations in Cranberry Township, Wilkinsburg, and a teen-led march Downtown. (PublicSource / Pittsburgh City Paper / WTAE)
💰Pittsburgh’s police budget has been growing for years. Activists say now’s the time to change that. (90.5 WESA)
📹 Mayor Bill Peduto wants the power to immediately release police body camera footage to the public. So he’s pushing to change the law. (KDKA-TV)
💳 PNC says it’s pledging $1 billion to “help end systemic racism and support the economic empowerment of African Americans.” (KDKA-TV / Vox)
🗣 Who’s Nexter and activist Christian Carter says of business donations supporting the cause: “It took us looting your stores to do that, but thank you. Finally, you see me as someone. Wow, you want to invest into my community. Wow, bare minimum, but thank you.” (90.5 WESA / The Incline)
➡️ A man accused of throwing an improvised explosive device at a police officer during Downtown protests on May 30 has been arrested. (WTAE)
📣 Meet the Black, Young, and Educated teens leading Pittsburgh protests. (KDKA-TV)
🕯 Antwon Rose II was remembered on Friday, two years after his killing by police, with a balloon release and march. (TribLIVE)
Today’s COVID-19 briefing
📊 COVID-19 by the numbers — as of Sunday:
- 2,175 cases in Allegheny County so far, up 17 from Saturday (more data and demographics here)
- 364 hospitalizations in Allegheny County, up two from Saturday
- 178 deaths in Allegheny County, no change from Saturday
- 81,730 cases with 6,423 deaths in Pennsylvania (more data and demographics here)
- 2.29 million cases with 119,000+ deaths in the U.S. (more data and demographics here)
💼 Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is climbing down from its pandemic peak. (Associated Press)
⛑ Two mining unions are demanding COVID-19 safety measures, arguing that conditions inside coal mines are unlike other workplaces. (StateImpact Pennsylvania)
What else you need to know
⭐️ Pittsburgh Pulitzer Prize-winning “Fences” playwright August Wilson will posthumously get a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. (Reuters)
📹 Liberty Magic hosted a Black Lives Matter virtual episode over the weekend. In case you missed it, catch it here. (TribLIVE)
🌎 A peek inside Pittsburgh Passport, which works to keep talent here and increase opportunities for people of color. (NEXTpittsburgh)
📖 In Pittsburgh’s rare book theft case, the two men accused apologized and were sentenced to house arrest and probation. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette / WPXI)
Some levity
😻 108 blankets and 50 pillows are now comforting local shelter cats thanks to a volunteer’s busy hands. (Humane Animal Rescue on Facebook)
🚂 A neat overhead look at Conway Yard, a massive rail yard in Beaver County. (Chopper 11 Pilot on Twitter)
😀 “Do more of what makes you happy” and more encouraging words from the Random Note Project. (NEXTpittsburgh)
🚀 It’s not rocket science anymore
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The good news is we have a new tool that makes it way easier. If you’re able, we invite you to sign up for membership now for $8/month, a surefire way to make this newsletter possible for a time longer.
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What do you want to know about Pittsburgh?
Curious about something around town? We’re at your service.
Our Peculiar Pittsburgh series invites you to ask us your questions about Pittsburgh, from the wacky to the weighty, and then we’ll hunt for the answers.
Here are a few of our favorites so far:
- Question: “What’s up with the french fry-looking sculpture in the park along Bigelow Boulevard?” Answer.
- Question: What is the future (and the past) of the Skinny Building, located Downtown? Answer.
- Question: The dinosaurs around Pittsburgh — Who are they? Where did they come from? Where are they? Why? Answer.
- Question: What’s the story on the primary colored house on Mount Washington? Why was it built? Was it actually for “The Real World?” Answer.
- Question: How much trouble is it for firetrucks to navigate the narrow streets on the Slopes?” Answer.
So what do you want to know? Ask us here.
Today
✏️ Attention students who love to write: The August Wilson Cultural Center’s Third Annual Summer Youth Writers Camp is back — and online this year (Online - multiple dates)
🎤 Join elected officials, policymakers, and thought leaders for this virtual politics forum from 1Hood Media (Online - multiple dates)
Tomorrow
🎧 Hear people with disabilities share humor, analysis, and information about their lives and the COVID-era on “A Valid Podcast” (Online - multiple dates)
🗣 Join slam poets from across the 412 for the latest Steel City Slam Open Mic & Hang event (Online)
➡️ Honor Black women suffrage leaders at this panel discussion with the Black female mayors of Braddock, Duquesne, Bridgeville, and more (East Liberty)
💻 Pick up some tips for your small business at this free workshop with Google and the African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania (Online)
Wednesday
🍷 Play Gay Wine Trivia while raising money for the the ACLU (Online)
💬 Learn from the experts at this "Crisis Communications in the Age of COVID-19" webinar (Online)
📣 Hear from Braddock Mayor Chardae Jones at this Listen Lucy event (Lawrenceville)
📰 Black pioneers, the underground railroad, and abolitionist reform take center stage at this August Wilson Center event (Downtown)
🏢 See great Pittsburgh buildings up close with a CMOA architectural curator (Oakland - multiple dates)
✍️ Let artist Swoon’s work inspire your pen in this Contemporary Craft writer’s workshop (Online)
👋 If you live in Stanton Heights, come outside and meet the neighbors at this social distancing Porch, Patio, Deck Party (Stanton Heights)
Thursday
🚌 Hear what administrators are weighing for the future of the school year in this Ellis School seminar (Online)
➡️ Examine the 13th and 15th Amendments that ended slavery and granted voting rights to Black men in America with a panel of experts — and a Frederick Douglass re-enactor (North Side)
📺 Make it a virtual family movie night with Mister Rogers and WQED (Online)
Friday
🎞 Watch “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with Carnegie museum educators and scientists in this virtual event (Online)
📚 It’s Lit Friday — a literary-focused, virtual salon presented by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center (Online - multiple dates)
🌸 Make paper flowers that bloom before your eyes with this magical STEAM activity that really is science (Online)
Saturday
⛪️ Head to the ZYNKA Gallery to see how Brenda Stumpf made art out of materials found while converting a church into a home and studio (Sharpsburg — through Aug. 8)
🍎 Stock up on locally grown foods at the Bloomfield Saturday Market (Bloomfield - multiple dates)
🌳 Unwind among the trees at this Yoga in the Park event (Allegheny City - multiple dates)
🍿 See Elizabeth Moss in the new psychological drama “Shirley” with Harris Theater at Home — just be sure to Bring Your Own Popcorn (Online - multiple dates)
Sunday
🎧 Hear Pittsburgh artists Boo Lean, adab, Ali Berger, and more talk about the city’s electronic music and arts scene (Online)
🌽 Check out the Market Square Farmers Market at its new temporary location near the convention center (Downtown - multiple dates)
🏳️🌈 One more thing ...
Pride Month is still going strong.
SisTers PGH’s People’s Pride and Delta Foundation’s Pittsburgh Pride have moved to fall. But there are still plenty of ways to get involved right now, like donating to LGBTQ advocacy groups, checking out the virtual Reel Q film festival, and trying some gay wine trivia (more about that ⬆️ in our events calendar). And you can always bask in the rainbow glow of Downtown.
Happy Pride Month. We’ll see you back here tomorrow.