Bill Aims to Help U.S. Manufacturers Compete

Congressmen Jason Altmire and Phil English are introducing a bill called the Supporting America's Manufacturers Act. The bill would establish congressional review of cases filed by manufacturers seeking relief from unfair trade practices. The bill is intended to help manufacturers who have suffered because of China's ability to flood U.S. markets with cheaper products. The International Trade Commission (ITC) is in charge of handling petitions for assistance and makes recommendations to the President on whom to help. The President has not approved any assistance to any manufacturer. The bill would give Congress the ability to overrule the President's decisions.

Summer jobs for Pittsburgh kids

With the help of the state, the City of Pittsburgh is growing its Summer Youth Employment Program to include more kids and place more officers on the streets. Public safety officials say crime spikes in the summer as children get out of school and warm weather lures everyone to the street. The program gives department of public works jobs to14 to 18 year olds and funds one additional beat officer in each police district Sunday through Tuesday and two additional officers Wednesday through Saturday. The officers will stay oin the streets through the end of September. Last year 800 applications were received for the 197 job openings. This year the city has 250 positions to fill. The jobs are awarded by lottery in each of the city’s zip codes. For the first time this year the program will include and educational component where kids can get help catching up academically if needed.

Latrobe Steelworkers Protest

Latrobe Steelworkers of USW Local 1537 have been disputing over a new proposed contract since May 1st. Many workers say it is due to management's unfairness to its employees. Instead of giving pay raises, it gave lump sum bonuses. In addition, it proposed to freeze the cost of living, double health care contribution over the next three years, and insert a two-tier wage structure for new workers.

Kevin Caruso, president of USW Steelworkers Local 1537, said a pay raise and a lump sum may add up to the same amount, but they are calculated differently.

Temporary workers were already sent to the plant to fill the spots of protesting workers. Caruso said he is worried about the quality of work the temporaries will give, and how safe they will be in unfamiliar conditions.

Hepatitis B vaccine provided to homeless

May is National Hepatitis awareness month and The Allegheny County Health Department is joining up with the State Department of Health to administer Hepatitis B vaccines to the homeless. The homeless are at high risk for Hepatitis B because of the lifestyle they live. To receive the complete vaccine the Health Department will be providing referrals for the second and third parts of the vaccination after the initial step. The county's mobile clinic will be providing the first step in the three part vaccination.

Wine Fest Returns to Pittsburgh

Organizers of the Pittsburgh wine festival hope to double the amount of money they raise for the UPMC cancer institute this year. Last year the week-long fest raised a million dollars for the center and Wine Fest President Ed Harrell says this year they have expanded and hope to raise 2 million. Harrell says last year much of the money was raised at a dinner in a private home and they now have seven of those dinners on the slate. Harrell says there is also an auction that will bring thousands of dollars. The week culminates with the grand tasting at Heinz field Thursday with more than 500 wines from 170 wineries representing 18 countries. This year’s featured chef is Lidia Bastianich. She owns Lidia’s restaurant in the strip and is internationally known for her cookbooks and TV shows.

Onorato pushes for public safety mergers

More than 40 elected officials, municipal managers and public safety chiefs gathered downtown today to talk about ways to consolidate fire and police services. County Executive Dan Onorato who says he wants the municipalities to look at this type of consolidation to save money ran the meeting. Onorato admits that the consolidations would all be voluntary. He says he hopes to be able to find state or federal funding to create an incentive to make the step. He says most of those at the meeting were receptive to the idea but they had concerns about how such mergers would actual happen. They are concerned about merging different pay rates, retirement packages and union rules. They are also concerned about having to layoff workers. Onorato says solutions can be found for all of those issues. Onorato says he will take his merger crusade to the next chiefs of police meeting and to regional government meetings.

Carnegie International: The Opening

Millions of dollars, nearly three years of one man’s life, and hundreds of thousands of air miles have been invested in building the 2008 Carnegie International art exhibition and starting tomorrow the public will get to see the fruits of those labors.

Curator Douglas Fogle writes in his essay for the Carnegie International, “Underlying each of the works is an attempt to come to grips with what it means to be human today.” But that search carries a signature piece by artists Paul Thek who died in 1988. As you walk through the galleries you get a long look at Thek’s painting of the earth from space on newspaper done in the 70’s. Fogle says Thek’s work carries many of the sensibilities of the show.

As you walk into the main gallery a wall of 60 repetitive, works by Mark Bradford greets you. He uses advertising posters as the foundation for his art, building them up and sanding them down. In this instance he has collected posters for a lawyer working with dads to get custody of their children. Bradford also has two large works that almost look like a city streetscape from a satellite.

Turn around that imaginary satellite and you have the work of Vija Celmins. She builds layer after layer of blue and white paint until she comes up with what looks like a sky full of stars. They look like scientific photographs but the star fields never existed.

Objects not being what they seem is a theme that runs through the show. Peter Fischli and David Weiss have created a room filled with objects you might find in an industrial break room. A dusty vinyl couch, parts of an engine, cigarette buts. However, none of them are real. They are all made of Styrofoam and weigh next to nothing. Another artist’s makes minimalist couches out of ceramic where each “cushion” comes in at more than 200 pounds.

The Carnegie international continues outside in the courtyard where Scotland native Susan Philipsz has installed a sound piece. Philips recorded herself singing “The Banks of the Ohio.” The work is solar powered and it slows as the sun goes down. That is when another work is just getting started. Doug Aitken’s film “migrations” will be projected on the building’s façade.

Listen to a longer version of this story.

To hear all of the stories in the series click here.

Flight 93 Families Upset by Continuing Controversy

Flight 93 families who are working on a memorial say they want to move beyond a controversy over its design. Tom Burnett, the father of one man who died on Flight 93, says the memorial includes an Islamic symbol: a red crescent. Renderings show red maple trees partly outlining a bowl-shaped piece of land at the crash site. The design has since been modified; rather than a "crescent of embrace," it's now called a "circle of embrace." But most Flight 93 family members who participated in the design competition say the criticisms from Burnett are baseless. They say they've consulted religious and design experts who have supported their decision to move ahead with the memorial as planned.

The Flight 93 Memorial Task Force is closing today on close to 1000 acres of land for the project. That's about 75% of the land needed for the memorial.

Tomorrow, the task force will hold a joint meeting with a federal advisory commission. There, they'll provide an update on fundraising for the memorial.

Carnegie International Opens

Millions of dollars, nearly three years of one man's life, and hundreds of thousands of air miles have been invested in the 2008 Carnegie International art exhibition and starting tomorrow the public will get its first look at the fruits of that labor. DUQ's Mark Nootbaar continues his series on the 55th Carnegie International with this preview tour.

Listen to the full-length story here.

Drink and car rental tax class action lawsuit

Allegheny County bar and restaurant owners are continuing to fight against the 10 percent drink tax implemented in January.

Chris Hoel, an attorney for Friends Against Counterproductive Taxation, or FACT, said the group has worked alongside various business owners to change the lawsuit, filed last December, to a class action. In addition, he wants a referendum to rescind the tax to be placed on the general election ballot this November. Supporters are gathering signatures in support of the ballot initiative.

"The evidence regarding sales and revenue now demonstrates beyond dispute that this is hurting the hospitality industry," Hoel says. "It is damaging the county's economy."

However, County Treasurer John Weinstein says the county could receive $10 million more than anticipated in the first quarter from the drink and car rental tax.

Hoel said it will take at least several months before the lawsuit will be addressed in court, and he expects the county's law department to work hard to defend the drink tax.