Students Gather To Promote Sustainability Ideas

Students from Duquesne University, Carnegie Mellon University and The University of Pittsburgh joined together to present at a local sustainability symposium today. The students worked to develop practical city and campus wide policies and habits to help reduce Pittsburgh's environmental footprint. Some of the ideas presented at the One Step At A Time Student Sustainability Symposium were the powering down of computer systems by universities during off-peak hours and establishing city-wide green building standards.

Call for Advance Health Care Planning

Everyday families locally, across the country and around the world, are faced with making difficult health care decisions on behalf of a loved one. Many make those tough choices with little or no advanced planning or conversation with loved ones. To coincide with the 2nd Annual National Health Care Decisions Day, health care providers, medical ethicists, social workers and others gathered in Pittsburgh today for a daylong conference to call attention to the importance of making prudent, ethical decisions based on prior conversations with a loved one. Dr Gerard Magill, professor of Health care Ethics at Duquesne University, says technology can extend the process of dying but it's important to be able to respect human life "by enabling one another to die well....and that is wonderful." Magill acknowledges that families have concerns about frightening loved ones when they broach the subject of death "but the more we can gently and gracefully discuss how we want to encounter the moment of passing, the better." Magill says our culture is so vibrant that we have a tendency to run from death even though we know we will die someday, and that makes it difficult for a family to discuss death. Magill says the conference was titled "Respect and Grace in Decision Making at the End of Life"....."respecting the patient, a graceful passing where love is fostered and kindness is celebrated."

Children's Cuts Ribbion

Out patients will begin using the new Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh facility in Lawrenceville next week and all of the patients will move May 2nd in a 10-hour blitz. The $625 million 10-acer campus includes the 296-bed hospital and four other support and research buildings. The hospital is 25% bigger than the current facility in Oakland, it has 50% more research space and an emergency room that is twice as big as the one in use today. Emergency Department Director Meredith Aumer says it will be a much more friendly environment. She notes there is natural light, bright colors and painted walls. She says the space is not only more Patient friendly but the design will also help the staff do their jobs better. Once admitted, most patients will be placed in private rooms with beds for parents. Parents will also have access to a library and business center in the hospital. Each floor features common areas where families can gather and patients can watch movies and play video games in their rooms “on-demand.” Hospital officials hope the proximity of the researchers, direct caregivers and patients will create a synergy that will aid all three groups.

1 in 5 Students Not Up To Date On Shots In Allegheny County

The Allegheny County Health Department estimates that 30,000 students in the county are not up to date on required vaccinations. Before the start of the last school year four new vaccinations were added to the list of required shots. The County Health Department is holding two special evening clinics to try and help families get up to date on their shots. If students do not have their vaccinations then they can be excluded from school. Starting for the 2009-2010 school year students who do not have the vaccinations will not be allowed to attend school. Only students who have personal or religious objections to the shots are allowed to go without them. The special clinics will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21st at the Westinghouse Valley Human Services center and from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 30th at the Health Department's office.

Tech Entrepreneurs Have New Funding Source

A new loan program is aimed at helping early-stage tech businesses. The Pittsburgh Entrepreneur Growth Fund will provide up to $200,000 to help high-tech startups make the jump from commercialization to growth. The revolving loan fund will focus on businesses in the life sciences, information technology and green sectors.

Half of the funding for the program, $500,000, is coming from Pittsburgh's Community Development Block Grant money. Federal stimulus dollars provide the other half of the funding. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl says the Urban Redevelopment Authority, which is administering the loan program, will apply for another $1 million from a separate pot of federal stimulus money.

The Entrepreneur Growth Fund begins about a month after the city launched the Metropolitan Loan Fund of Pittsburgh, which is aimed at helping minority and women-owned businesses. That program is supported with $1.5 million in investments.

Lower Levels of Solids in Water Put in Place By DEP

Starting in January 2011, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection will impose a more strict policy regarding the total dissolved solid (TDS) content of industrial wastewater discharged in Pennsylvania. The dissolved solids are comprised mainly of chlorides (salt) and sulfates, which negatively affect the color, odor, and taste of drinking water. TDS can also be harmful to aquatic wildlife. Many of the solids in the water come from the drilling of new wells, where large amounts of water are used to fragment the ground. The Marcellus Shale wells in particular could use one to three million gallons of water during their drilling process; this water might then be burdened by the chloride and sulfate particles found naturally in the earth. DEP spokesman Tom Rathbun says in addition to the drilling of wells, TDS can come from a variety of sources. “Other sources are mining… industrial users of wastewater, and we also get a lot of TDS from runoff of parking lots and agriculture,” says Rathbun. The new limit for high-TDS water will be 500 milligrams per liter of TDS and 250 milligrams per liter of chlorides and sulfates. Visit the DEP’s website under the keyword "wastewater" for more information.

Connecting Flights May Be Coming To Pittsburgh International Airport

The Westmoreland County Airport Authority is trying to reconnect the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport with the Pittsburgh International Airport. The airport had connecting flights to Pittsburgh International until 2004 when U.S. Airways stopped the service. The Arnold Palmer Regional Airport has been in negotiations with the Allegheny County Airport Authority and is close to working out a deal. The proposed connector flights would offer links with US Airways, Air Canada, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta/Northwest, Jet Blue and United Airlines.

Toomey is in

Pat Toomey's online announcement yesterday makes it official-Pennsylvania voters are in for a rematch of 2004's hard-fought Republican Senate primary between the conservative former congressman and longtime incumbent Arlen Specter. But this year there will be a third name on the ballot. Political observers are already saying it will be one of the most-watched races in the country next year. Political scientist Christopher Borick of Muhlenberg College says the race will be among the most interesting of the midterm elections because of its implications for the GOP. He says, “You have a long-term Republican, the most senior Republican in the US Senate on the verge of being dispatched by his own party. You have the broader issue of the Republican tent, if you will. Can moderates still survive as Republicans in this day and age?” Conservative Peg Luksik is the third Republican in the race. In the past she has focused much of her campaigning on right to life issues. She welcomes the three-way race saying, “This is what sets the United States apart from almost every other nation in the world. Participation in our election process is stimulated when voters have choices, and in America today, increased voter participation is a good thing." Borick says Specter's recent TV ads don't mean Pennsylvania voters will be in for more than a year of campaign ads. He says the candidates will spend time raising money in the coming months ad will save resources for a big push next year.

Rendell Details Gun Law Plans

Governor Rendell says the death of three Pittsburgh police officers is the latest sign law enforcement officials are being "outgunned." In response he is calling on state and federal lawmakers to pass what he calls "common sense" gun control measures. He is asking lawmakers to support a new federal assault weapons ban, which would bar weapons like AK-47s, with which Richard Poplawski fired on police. Right now, Pennsylvania' local governments are banned from enacting gun control legislation. Rendell says that needs to change. He says there also needs to be a law requiring owners to report to police the loss or theft of a gun. “That's about as plain and common sense-ical as anything you can think of. So we're not trying to make this hard. I'm not trying to make this hard. I think we start there. We start there. And by starting there we say, look-these are reasonable things. Let's see how they work, and then we'll come back and review them,” says Rendell. The governor made a similar push last year, but the bills never passed. Pittsburgh has toyed with tighter gun laws but has been thwarted at the state level. Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl joined Rendell at yesterday’s news conference. He says if that measure passes, he'll push for several gun bills in Pittsburgh. “Potentially one gun a month. This is just me speaking-things that make sense. … [W]ho needs to purchase more than twelve guns in a year?” Said Ravenstahl. He went on to say, “If the events last Saturday morning in Pittsburgh don't change our mind, I don't know what will. Three innocent police officers that were there to protect the community walked into an individual that was armed with an AK-47, an assault rifle, and were literally ambushed. Had no chance to defend themselves.” Reading Democrat Thomas Caltagirone, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee through which any gun legislation, needs to pass. He says he's pessimistic any firearms measures can clear the General Assembly.

"Migration" Comes Home to Pittsburgh

The Carnegie museum of art purchased works from about half of the artists in the 2008 Carnegie International art exhibition. International Curator Douglas Fogle says after the show opened he decided he had to pursue Doug Aitken’s work “Migration.” The film explores repetition in the urban landscape and the way we move through our built environment. The artist recut the film and added a soundtrack. The new version is now on display in the re-hung contemporary galleries. Aitken says the film was made with Pittsburgh in mind so it provides him a sense of completion to end the migration here. Listen to a longer audio version of this story