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PINJ has paid particular attention to the Allegheny County Jail throughout the pandemic, tracking the deaths of those in custody as well as the conditions incarcerated individuals have been forced to endure.
View all of our coverage on the Allegheny County Jail by clicking here.
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Advocating for accommodations has been a constant, but largely quiet, struggle for college students with disabilities since the Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990.
Read from our award-winning series, Leveling the Playing Field, here.
Books
“Here in the Dark” by Meagan Lucas Is Gritty, Irresistible and Devastating
by Jody DiPerna “I will lay in bed at night with my anxiety and try to dream up ways to dig myself out of the problems I’ve created for myself.” Meagan Lucas’ imagination is a wild place, roiling with danger, women pushed to the edge, and everyday demons. There are cruel men and the dangers…
Keep readingPaola Corso’s Photography and Poetry Find Life on Pittsburgh’s Vertical Bridges
by Matthew Benusa Paola Corso’s book, “Vertical Bridges: Poems and Photographs of City Steps” (Six Gallery Press), explores her fascination with the public stairs built to navigate Pittsburgh demanding topography, alongside more personal reflections about family, community, and immigration. “There are so many metaphors built into these steps,” Corso said at a recent photography showing…
Keep readingBen Gwin’s New Book, “Team Building,” Is an Essential Labor Story for Our Time
Jody DiPerna Gwin combines the story of the challenges facing labor unions in the 21st century and workforce realities with a deeply personal exploration of his own relationship to work and his struggles as a single parent. Ben Gwin writes. He writes beautifully, with specificity and insight. He is also a single dad. And, like…
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Education in Pittsburgh was upended in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly closed schools. Since then, as multiple virus waves have swept the nation, students have been in and out of physical classrooms, learning sometimes online, sometimes in person, sometimes not at all. How will they rebound?
Commentary
Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism turns two years old
By Brittany Hailer I started considering that PINJ was turning two in the wee hours of a maternity leave morning, and realized that my co-founder, Jody DiPerna, and I are not the best at patting ourselves on the back. But, I want to acknowledge the hard work of establishing and developing this young newsroom as…
Keep readingReview of “We Shall Not Be Moved,” a Modern Opera Exploring the Long Reach of the MOVE Bombing
by Matthew Benusa In May, 1985, the Philadelphia police dropped explosive devices onto the roof of the building occupied by the Black liberation MOVE organization. Fire spread through West Philadelphia. Six adults and five children were killed. More than 250 people were made homeless. “We Shall Not Be Moved,” a contemporary opera recently shown at…
Keep readingLabor, Solidarity and Nursing
Soon, nurses saw the gulf widen between their values and those of an increasingly commodified healthcare system by Eva Rosenfeld for Belt Magazine “Why do nurses strike?” A nurse and state union leader named Nadine Furlong delivered a speech with this title at a 1984 ethics conference sponsored by the University of Michigan. Furlong was…
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Social Justice