Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The ghosts of Western Pennsylvania bellow in Carnegie Halls. Andrew Carnegie’s music halls in Western Pennsylvania were intended to become community hubs of art, learning and health for workers and their families. And they were magnificent. These music halls are relics of a time when the Pittsburgh metro area was the industrial capital of the country, forged in steel and at the confluence of three mighty rivers. As the U.S. steel industry collapsed in the wake of World War II — facing rising global competition and evolving economic conditions — Carnegie’s Pittsburgh-area music halls fell out of use one by one, except for the one in Oakland. Why did Andrew Carnegie build these halls? What do they tell us about Pennsylvania’s past and present? Jeremy Reynolds traces the rise and fall of Carnegie Halls in Western Pa. and Lewisburg, W.Va . — and what they will become.

Nationwide, nearly one in five Americans say student loan debt will have a major impact on how they vote in the upcoming presidential election, a June survey found. Student debt typically burdens young voters more than older ones, and those young voters represent a bloc that both candidates, President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump, are trying to win. In the spring, Mr. Biden led Trump by eight points among young Americans. His edge grew when looking at college students — 23 points — and college graduates under 30, a demographic where he had a whopping 47-point advantage. But Mr. Biden’s recent disastrous debate performance could change those voters’ minds. A post-debate New York Times/Siena College poll found that Trump now leads Mr. Biden by eight points in the 18-29 age demographic. The Post-Gazette spoke to young voters in the Pittsburgh region who indicated that higher education costs are on their minds as they cast their ballots — and they want to see nationwide reforms to ease the burden of attending college.

As real estate agents across the nation face housing inventory shortages and an imminent change in their commission pay, Pittsburgh stands out as one of the best markets for full-time agents to work. A recent report ranks Pittsburgh as the ninth-best place in the nation for full-time real estate agents, according to Clever, a St. Louis-based real estate data company. #realestate #pittsburgh #housing #realestateagent

Shortly after arriving as medical director at Philips four years ago, Hisham Elzayat faced an internal crisis that threatened one of the world’s largest makers of breathing machines. The longtime heart surgeon had pored over a spate of complaints about the company's best-selling devices, which were filled with an industrial foam capable of breaking down into tiny particles and fumes. When inhaled, the toxic material could move through the nose and sinus cavity and into the lungs, a stealth intruder that threatened incalculable harm. After meeting with a top Philips biosafety engineer who also expressed concerns, the 46-year-old doctor said he had seen enough. In June 2020, he pushed to stop all shipping of the devices from the company's factories near Pittsburgh and pressed to meet with one of the company's most powerful executives to take on what he called an unfolding emergency. "I have made my safety concerns known," he recalled in an internal complaint. But the company turned down his request to halt the deliveries and instead ratcheted up sales of its CPAPs and ventilators during the throes of the pandemic while Philips took in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Dr. Elzayat’s internal battle to pull the machines off the shelves is detailed in hundreds of pages of company emails, text messages and reports that have been turned over to federal prosecutors as part of a criminal investigation of the leadership of the company, according to sources with direct knowledge of the probe. The confidential documents, which have been obtained by the Post-Gazette, show for the first time the surgeon was among nearly a dozen Philips engineers and others who pushed the company to warn patients about the dangers of the foam before Philips removed millions of the devices from the market in a recall in June 2021 and to later stop the company from downplaying the risks.

Write out personal and family history. Share activities and leadership positions. Craft and proofread essays. Pay a fee, if applicable. Repeat. Those are the traditional steps required for high school students applying to colleges. After a grueling application process that can span hours to days, students then wait weeks or even months to find out if they were admitted. But now — as some colleges watch their enrollments fall and more high schoolers question the worth of a degree — a growing number of schools are taking a more lax approach to admissions. In fact, they’re scrapping the application process altogether for some students through direct admissions: a process that allows schools to proactively offer admission to students who meet certain academic or locational criteria.

A local real estate broker believes he has a perfect property for Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato’s “500 in 500” affordable housing plan — a recently closed personal care and nursing facility in Pittsburgh. Gary Wilson, a principal with Hanna Langholz Wilson Ellis, has approached the county about purchasing Vincentian Marian Manor in the Banksville neighborhood near Green Tree. Hanna Langholz is trying to sell the 26.3-acre property at 2695 Winchester Drive for $4.3 million after owner Vincentian Collaborative System shut down the three-building campus at the end of May. In an interview Wednesday, Mr. Wilson said he believes the property could accommodate as many as 178 people for Ms. Innamorato’s initiative to create 500 affordable housing units over 500 days.

Diane McNeill knows the red and blue American history textbooks sitting under her students’ desks are inadequate. The white glossy pages, the edges covered in pencil marks, were published in 1997. In the back, a list of U.S. presidents ends with Bill Clinton. The book is a bulky reminder of the disadvantages East Allegheny School District students face as the underfunded district struggles to afford the kind of modern technology and curriculum readily available in wealthier districts. At East Allegheny, teachers and administrators often fill in the gaps; Ms. McNeill uses outside resources such as History Channel videos while posters hanging on her classroom walls extend lessons past the Clinton administration. And her days are often filled with sending kids to the school’s “free store” for clothing or to the nurse for supplies they don’t have at home.

In four years, Downtown’s second-tallest skyscraper could go from full to empty — perhaps overnight. That could be the fate awaiting the 54-story BNY Mellon Center in 2028 when the master lease of its main tenant BNY ends. By then, the building at 500 Grant St. could be empty. BNY, which leases all of the tower, has begun systematically moving workers from the structure to its service center behind it on Ross Street.

Workers appear to be one step closer to resuming construction at the new $1.5 billion UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Oakland after the healthcare giant was issued an electrical permit Wednesday afternoon — but they’re still waiting on two other permits to be approved. The city of Pittsburgh halted work at the site last Thursday, claiming some aspects of the project had begun without the required permits. The stoppage by the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections forced about 150 workers off the job.

There apparently will be no parole for Western Penitentiary. Despite at least two proposals for the old North Side prison’s redevelopment, the state is moving ahead with plans to raze the buildings at the site.