"Sleep In" Downtown Benefits Homeless

Some people will spend the night at the City-County Building to help bring attention to the problem of homelessness. The "Sleep In for the Homeless" is sponsored by the Community Human Services Corporation. Donations for the event are expected to help about a thousand homeless people in the form of emergency shelter, food and medical support.

State Senator Jane Orie is chairing the event. She says during the night, several people who overcame homelessness are expected to talk about their experiences and share poetry. Orie says many people have misconceptions about the homeless. She says especially in this tough economy, many people are trying to find jobs and just can't. She also says homelessness is a problem among veterans, young people and victims of domestic abuse.

Ravenstahl Meets With African American Chamber of Commerce

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl met with the African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania Friday morning to discuss the accomplishments of the last year as well as the goals he has for the upcoming year. He spoke about the balanced budget he will be presenting to the ICA on Monday as well as the many developments that have taken shape over the last year.

Ravenstahl added how the city will be instituting a new program to help lower the number of gun related deaths in the city as well as the revitalization efforts of many neighborhoods. He mentioned the CBA that was reached with the Hill district neighborhood and the G.C. Murphy building that has just started development. He said that Pittsburgh is positioned well for the next few years and will continue to see growth in many areas.

DCED Head Steps Down

Pennsylvania's top economic development official is departing the Rendell administration. Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Yablonsky says he will step down from the post next week. He has been with the administration since Rendell took office in January 2003. Yablonsky says he is ready to move back into the private sector and he felt he was not able to do his government job while looking for a new position. Four other cabinet secretaries have departed in recent months, as Governor Rendell heads into his last two years in office. Current deputy department secretary John Blake will fill Yablonsky's post on an interim basis.

Knoll in Johns Hopkins

Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Catherine Baker Knoll was admitted to a Johns Hopkins hospital earlier this month for ongoing cancer treatment. In July the lieutenant governor announced she had been diagnosed neuroendocrine cancer - and said at that time she was receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatments. As President of the Senate, Knoll presided over the chamber at opening of the fall session, but Senate Pro Tem Joe Scarnati has managed the body ever since. Governor Ed Rendell says Knoll is in the best place to receive her "intensive" treatment. Rendell called Knoll a fighter.

Michelle Obama Rallies in Pittsburgh

Michele Obama rallied Pittsburgh voters today on her husband’s behalf using the theme “Barack gets it.” She says he has been there and experienced the troubles so many Americans are facing daily. Mrs. Obama urged those gathered in Soldiers and Sailors hall in Oakland to get out to the polling place and to bring a friend. She says with 19 days to go before the vote this is no time to let up the pressure. She told the full house stuffed with mostly college students that they need to act like Obama is down 20 points in the polls. She says the old ways of working in Washington are not working and a new approach is needed. She says she is proud of her husband for his campaign efforts and knows he will make a great president.

Authority Ends Free Holiday Parking

The Pittsburgh Parking Authority says it will not offer free parking during the holidays this year and that has some concerned. For the past several years the Authority has been offering free weekend parking during the holidays and free parking the day after Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day but officials say the authority can no longer afford that. Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership CEO Mike Edwards says that is upsetting. He says while there is no way to measure the impact the $5 weekend parking fee has on downtown shopping and dining everything indicates it does play a roller in consumer decisions. Edwards says the PDP will try to make the fee seem less offensive by encouraging people to do more than just one thing when traveling downtown such as shopping before taking in some entertainment and then topping the day off with a meal.

Graduation Exams Back in the Spotlight

Pennsylvania's Department of Education continues to pursue the development of graduation exams, over the objections of some state lawmakers. State Senator Jane Orie of McCandless says legislation passed over the summer put a one-year moratorium on the department's efforts to make the exams a requirement for high school seniors. She also says at a time the state is at risk of a $3 billion deficit this fiscal year, the department should be looking at areas to cut rather than pursuing new initiatives. Orie says she's heard that the model exams the department wants to develop would cost at minimum $9 million.

Michael Race with the Department of Education says the one-year moratorium applies only to the regulatory process. The department is still developing cirriculum and assessment models that school districts could use voluntarily. Today was the deadline for companies to bid to help with that project. In response to Orie's fiscal concerns, Race says Governor Ed Rendell has already ordered departments to freeze their budgets and look for potential cuts. It's unclear whether the graduation exam project will be part of those cuts. He also says the state needs to weigh the potential fiscal impact of graduating students who are unprepared to join the workforce.

CMU Gets EPA Cash

The EPA has pledged $900-thousand to the Western Pennsylvania Brownfields Center at CMU to perfect a computer tool and launch community training in how to best reuse brownfields. The funds will be dolled out over 5 years. The tool looks at community needs, assets and opportunities and helps determine the best use for a given brownfield. The training will help officials in 150 communities in the Mid Atlantic region use that tool. The grant is one of 10 similar grants nationwide. EPA Mid Atlantic Region Director Don Walsh says upfront investment in brownfields is a good use of federal monies because they usually attract much more in private investment. Walsh says the EPA has invested 52 million in brownfield projects in the region and that has prompted private investments of 523 million dollars. He says Pittsburgh has long been a hot bed of brownfield redevelopment and has often served as a national model so it made sense for one of the grants to come to Southwestern PA.

Schenley Fountain Flowing Again

The restoration of the fountain at Schenley Park is complete. The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy will rededicate the fountain tonight. One thing park visitors will notice immediately is that the fountain is actually flowing again; it had stopped working earlier this year. Missing pieces have been replaced, and the entire fountain has been cleaned. New lighting illuminates the fountain at night. The paving surrounding the fountain has been narrowed and realigned to allow for better stormwater drainage and more direct pedestrian connections.

The fountain was originally dedicated about 90 years ago. It's titled "A Song to Nature" and was created by Victor Brenner in honor of Mary E. Schenley, who donated the land for the park.

The restoration work cost about half a million dollars.

Internet Safety for Children

With the internet being such a vast tool today, it's easy for kids to get into mischief there-- whether they know it or not. Attorney General Tom Corbett's office presented an internet safety program at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh that over 100 local school children attended. Child Watch of Pittsburgh Executive Director Amy Raslevich said the attorney general listed three ways for kids to be safe, including: not posting information like a full name and address with pictures, staying away from profiling Web sites such as Myspace.com and chatrooms, and telling a parent or adult if they find something that looks suspicious.

Parents can also help by closely monitoring their children when they use the internet and tell them what is appropriate and what isn't.