Pittsburgh is on short list for international convention

International Congress and Convention Association Executive Director Martin Sirk was in Pittsburgh for two days this week to finish his assessment of the city and its bid to host the 2011 ICCA convention. Pittsburgh is in the running against Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Leipzig, Germany. Sirk says he has been impressed by the city and what it has to offer. He says the convention center and hotels are very nice but every city has those types of amenities. He says to succeed in the convention business today cities have to offer more. He says the organizations wooing conventions have to be top notch and have the ability work closely with clients. He says those groups also need to work closely with amenities and attractions in the region. Sirk says if a city is going to truly thrive in the convention game it needs to think globally and that is what Pittsburgh is doing. He says just by being one of three finalists the city has won. He says he and his staff work closely with the finalists to help them improve their bids and presentations and in doing that it helps the applicants fine-tune their presentations to other organizations.

Fidel Castro's daughter visits Pittsburgh

Nearly a year ago the students at the Ellis school in Shadyside decided to invite the daughter of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro to come speak because they thought her decision to leave Cuba and denounce the regime was interesting. Today Alina Fernandez will go before the student body at a time of change in her birthplace. She was born three years before the revolution and did not know her dad was Fidel Castro until she was 10 years old. Fernandez says it was in her teens that she started to understand that the politics of her father was not what she wanted to support. She says then in 1993 when times were tough in Cuba because support from the Soviet Union had dried up she decided she had to leave. She says she tried to get out many times and was finally successful when she disguised herself and her daughter and French tourists. She says change will be very slow with Raul Castro in power. She thinks there will be some loosening of central economic control and some free markets will be allowed to grow, much like has been seen in China, but she says change will be very slow. She says without much influence from the outside world the youth in Cuba may know that things are not right but they do not have what they need to rise up. Fernandez supports the US embargo even if it is weak and she says she is very much against US immigration policy toward Cuba.

Castro's Daughter Visits Pittsburgh

Nearly a year ago, students at The Ellis School in Shadyside decided to invite the daughter of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro to speak because they thought her decision to leave Cuba and denounce her father was interesting. Today Alina Fernandez will go before the student body at a time of change in her birthplace. DUQ's Mark Noootbaar had a chance to talk with her before her presentation. Listen to the full-length story here.

Talks Continue on Limiting Take-Home Vehicles

Discussions will continue on who in Pittsburgh government is entitled to a take-home vehicle. The Pittsburgh City Council will hold a post-agenda session later this month. Councilman Ricky Burgess has proposed that just seven employees, including the mayor and several department heads, be allowed to take city vehicles home. Today, he says the city's six police zone commanders may need 24-hour access to vehicles as well. Since his bill calls for re-directing the extra vehicles to police anyway, he says adding the commanders to the list might make sense.

That would still be quite a reduction. Fifty-eight employees are now entitled to take home city vehicles. Burgess says he decided to introduce his bill after the city renewed its vehicle maintenance agreement earlier this year. He says he saw that several employees were using the vehicles for personal reasons and not reimbursing the city.

Burgess says he believes his bill would save the city some money, but that's not the point. He says he's trying to instill more fairness and efficiency in the way the government operates. He's also proposing that all vehicles have GPS systems installed so that the city can track where they are at all times. Pittsburgh's Act 47 team has endorsed his proposal.

Group pushes for airline passengers' rights

The consumer watchdog group “Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights” came to Pennsylvania this week to drum up support for a passengers' bill of rights in PA. Legislation that would force airlines to offer water, bathrooms and proper climate control to passengers stranded in planes for more then three hours is pending in Harrisburg but has been stalled in committee for months with no sign of being called for a vote. At least eight other states are considering similar legislation but only New York has passed a law. That law is tied up in court as the federal government challenges the state’s right to enforce such legislation. Pennsylvania’s bill goes one step further than most bills, requiring airlines to allow passengers to get off the plane rather than just receive the needed accommodations on board.

Pittsburgh students get free history lesson

For the rest of the year teachers in the Pittsburgh Public School District and any charter schools in the city will be able to take their students to the Senator John Heinz History Center for free. The invitation is only for school organized field trips. The decision affects about 28,300 students in district schools. In recent years the number of Pittsburgh students that have been coming to the History Center has been falling and History Center President Andy Masich says this offer will help lower at least one barrier. He says this is also great way to celebrate the city’s 250th anniversary. Region-wide, the History Center annually draws about 35,000 students on school-sponsored trips but Masich says they cannot waive the $5.00 fee for all the kids and still keep the budget in the black. The district hopes to bring every third and ninth grader to the history center. Those classes are studying subjects that most closely fits with the materials at the history center.

Etch a Sketch Inspires Nanotech Invention

A childhood toy helped inspire a new material that may revolutionize computer storage. University of Pittsburgh professor Jeremy Levy used the Etch a Sketch as a model for the new material, which can switch back and forth from being a conductor of electricity to an insulator. Much like an Etch a Sketch uses a stylus to draw designs, researchers can draw nano-scale wires onto this new material, thus turning on its ability to conduct electricity. Exposing the material to light erases the wires, much like shaking an Etch a Sketch erases the drawing.
Levy says this discovery may one day lead to advances in shrinking the size of computer memory storage. He says researchers have been able to write data at 100 times the density of today's hard disks.
Levy says it's not the first time a childhood toy has inspired his work. In graduate school, he says he worked on something modeled after the Slinky. He says the connection makes sense to him because research is about discovery, which is something children are encouraged to do.

Men Paid More in Pittsburgh, Says Pitt Study

The study, released today from the University Center for Social and Urban Research at the University of Pittsburgh, says women are still collecting less than their both their local male co-workers and their female counterparts nation-wide. Study co-author Sabina Deitrick says even education isn't leveling the field; women with graduate degrees have a greater pay disparity than those without even a high-school degree.
She says one reason could be the "legacy effect" of Pittsburgh's industrial history. Women weren't part of the region's workforce until the economy was restructured following the rapid decline of the steel industry. Dietrick says as a result, seniority and training issues come into play. Other areas with growing economies also have a greater pay equity than the Pittsburgh region.
The study promotes training and hiring women in fields where they're poorly represented, like science and technology, and internal audits so institutions can examine and address their own pay equity issues.

Big Ben Gets Big Contract

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has a contract extension said to be worth $102 million. The eight-year deal includes $36 million in guarantees. The contract is the largest in team history. Roethlisberger says he knew from day one that he wanted to spend his entire career with the Steelers, so he's glad to have the new agreement. He also says getting it done quickly will allow him to focus on next season and on giving back to the community through foundations and other work. The deal was inked late last night, the same day Roethlisberger turned 26 years old.

Pitt Trains Gambling Addiction Counselors

Training classes for gambling addiction counselors are filling up fast. The University of Pittsburgh's School of Social Work is offering the classes in anticipation of the opening of the Majestic Star casino next year. A Pitt study in January warned that the region is ill-prepared for an expected rise in gambling addiction.

One group of 30 trainees began classes in February. Another class in May is already full, and a few spots remain in a third class scheduled to begin in September.

Jody Bechtold is conducting the classes. She says the training covers a wide variety of topics, including how to treat family members and address the financial problems that tend to accompany this type of addiction. She says some treatments are even specific to the type of games involved. For instance, people addicted to games of chance like slots often mistakenly believe that playing with more money or staying on one machine for a long period of time can increase their odds. People who are addicted to games of skill like poker may have unrealistic ideas about their abilities.