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.
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Blunt force trauma to the head cited as cause of death for former Catholic priest incarcerated at Allegheny County Jail
By Brittany Hailer Paul Spisak, an incarcerated person at the Allegheny County Jail, suffered blunt force trauma to the head resulting in his Jan. 30 death, according to a press release from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner today. His manner of death…
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An incarcerated man died in the Allegheny County Jail Thursday, marking third death this year
By Brittany Hailer Jerry Lee Ross Jr., 48, died at the Allegheny County Jail Thursday, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner. This death is the third to occur this year and the 14th since the onset of the COVID pandemic. No…
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Student teachers and K-12 students help each other close pandemic learning gaps
By Mary Niederberger [Alana Mason, a kindergarten student at Manchester Academic Charter School, works with tutor Natalie DiGiorno. Photo by Heather Mull] Jaion Pollard, 7, stepped away from his laptop at The Pittsburgh Project’s Northside after school program, raised his hands in the…
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Her husband died after transfer to the hospital from the Allegheny County Jail. Theresa Harris questions why she wasn’t asked for permission on his surgery and DNR order
By Brittany Hailer For several days, Theresa Harris’ daughter refreshed VineLink, an online portal that indicates if someone is in custody at the Allegheny County Jail, trying to find out if her father was in custody. The Harris family hadn’t heard from…
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New Book from Belt Press Asks What Does It Mean to be a Fan in the 21st Century
by Jody DiPerna In his new book, Craig Calcaterra wants you to know, you don’t have to stay loyal to a team or a league in order to enjoy sports. Long-time baseball writer Craig Calcaterra spends much of his day thinking about…
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New Book, “On the Line,” Explores Invisible Labor in the Second Guilded Age
by Jody DiPerna Daisy Pitkin is a union organizer and a writer. She now lives in Pittsburgh. Her new book, “On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women’s Epic Fight to Build a Union” (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)…
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For homeless students transportation issues mean new schools and unfamiliar classrooms
By Mary Niederberger As the COVID-19 pandemic eases its grip on education, local homeless students have yet to return to a normal school day. Many are sitting at desks in strange classrooms surrounded by classmates and teachers they don’t know. The severe…
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Lack of transparency and oversight leave officials, families and media with questions following Allegheny County Jail deaths
By Brittany Hailer In Allegheny County, families of incarcerated individuals who die after entering the Allegheny County Jail have difficulty getting details about what happened to their loved ones. Autopsy reports remain closed to the public and families are not always given…
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In most of the state autopsy reports for those who die in jail are public, but not in Allegheny and Philadelphia counties
By Brittany Hailer Allegheny County and Philadelphia County are the only counties in Pennsylvania where autopsy reports from coroner and medical examiners offices are not available to the public, according to state law. Allegheny County has argued in court that a requestor…
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Thirteen men died after going to the Allegheny County Jail. Here are their stories.
By Brittany Hailer Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago, 13 men incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail have died, the most recent, a 26-year-old who collapsed and called out for help on March 6. Some have died inside…
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Medical emergency in the Allegheny County Jail results in the thirteenth death since April 2020
As with other jail deaths, few details have been made available By Brittany Hailer Another man incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail has died and his family has questions about what happened to him. Gerald Thomas, 26, died Sunday at UPMC Mercy…
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First pandemic state test results paint a somber picture for Pittsburgh Public Schools
Lower testing scores were expected due to COVID-19 disruption By Mary Niederberger — Standardized test scores for the 2020-2021 school year, released by the state Department of Education today, show proficiency rates in English language arts, math and science are down significantly…
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Neema Avashia Expands Our Understanding of the Region in “Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place”
By Jody DiPerna What if I told you that reading a book would inspire you to pair “Ghetto Supastar” (Pras) with “Islands in the Stream” (Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers) on your latest playlist? Or cause you to attempt your childhood imitation…
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A death in a Allegheny County Jail exposes COVID’s hidden toll
Brittany Hailer This story first appeared in the Pittsburgh Current in December 2020. For days, members of the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board did not know who had really died within the walls of the jail on November 26. That is because…
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Pittsburgh Public Schools “Fresh Start” for the school year hopes to elevate teaching and learning
“The pandemic really threw us for a loop.” By Mary Niederberger — “Good Morning. Welcome to the first day of school.” That was the greeting for students at Pittsburgh King PreK-8 on Tuesday, an unusual greeting for a cold day in February.…
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Incarcerated person dies following incident at Allegheny County Jail
By Brittany Hailer Paul Spisak, 77, died Sunday in a hospital after the court released him from Allegheny County Jail custody following an incident that left him unresponsive in his cell on Jan. 22. The jail has not clarified what incident resulted…
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Mant¿s’ new collection, “The Rootwork Stretched,” grows poetry
Mant¿s’ poems evoke city overlooks, steep slopes and wild growth amidst urban density. They bring forth the feeling of a childhood spent kicking around the neighborhood as it celebrates Black women and all the ways that they find to create community and family and restoration.
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County officials investigate accounts given by the incarcerated about conditions at the jail. Was it investigation or intimidation?
By Brittany Hailer Allegheny County Police Superintendent Christopher Kearns and County Jail Warden Orlando Harper on Friday released the initial findings of an investigation into declarations given by seven incarcerated individuals about conditions in the jail obtained by the Abolitionist Law Center.…
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At the same time the Allegheny County Jail returns to 23-and-one lockdown, more than three dozen corrections officers test positive for COVID-19
Medical staff is also short, with reports of just one nurse available at times By Brittany Hailer The Allegheny County Jail is once again on 23-and-one lockdown a month after county voters passed a referendum that banned most uses of solitary confinement…
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Pittsburgh Public Schools and other districts encounter obstacles as they address pandemic learning interruptions and gaps
Students’ social and emotional needs, chronic absenteeism, discipline issues, staffing shortages and high COVID infection rates make progress difficult By Mary Niederberger — Weeks before classes started in the Pittsburgh Public Schools last fall, school leaders embarked on intensive planning for the…
Keep readingA year after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, election review and reform efforts continue in Pa.
The nationwide shock of the attack, which ultimately left nine people dead, has not faded by Marley Parish, Pennsylvania Capital-StarJanuary 8, 2022 It’s been one year since a campaign of unsubstantiated election fraud claims erupted into hundreds of rioters storming the U.S.…
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Recreation time at the Allegheny County jail means being handcuffed to a table for four hours in the women’s acute mental health unit 
Brittany Hailer A woman incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail mental health unit said she spends four hours a day –the entirety of her daily recreational time– chained to a table in the women’s acute mental health unit. She told the Pittsburgh…
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Allegheny County Jail reports nearly 300 incarcerated persons in solitary confinement after county voters banned practice
By Brittany Hailer The Allegheny County Jail was supposed to end most uses of solitary confinement on Dec 5 as a result of a referendum passed by county voters last spring. But, in this month’s solitary report from Warden Orlando Harper, presented…
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Incarcerated person dies at Allegheny County Jail
By Brittany Hailer Roger Millspaugh, 74, died in the Allegheny County Jail on Dec. 22 according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner. Millspaugh was found unresponsive during “medication pass” on the jail’s medical housing unit, according to and email from jail administrators…
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Author Brian Broome shares his story of growing up Black and queer with Pittsburgh Public School students
By Mary Niederberger “People made me believe I was born wrong.” Pittsburgh author Brian Broome has become famous for his memoir about the difficulties of growing up as a queer Black boy in small town Ohio and living in a family that…
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It started with a parking ticket and ended with a police shooting. Four years later, the defendant has yet to go to trial
By Brittany Hailer, Mary Niederberger and Jody DiPerna UPDATE: On Dec. 14 at Todd Robinson’s pre-trial hearing, Common Pleas Judge Randal Todd dismissed a motion filed by Robinson’s attorney which argued that his client should be released because he has not been…
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COVID-19, Rodents, Unpaid Labor: A Year In The Allegheny County Jail Kitchen
By Brittany Hailer This story first appeared in the Pittsburgh Current on May 3, 2021. The Pittsburgh Current converted to The Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism in June 2021. This story has been republished here. In many ways, the kitchen is the…
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Pittsburgh is Still a Contested Symbol
By Ed Simon In his book, ‘An Alternative History of Pittsburgh’ released by Belt Press this summer, Ed Simon considers the history of Pittsburgh from the geologic formation of the region, dating back to about 300 million years ago, to present day.…
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Post-pandemic chronic absenteeism plagues the Pittsburgh Public Schools
Pittsburgh Schiller 6-8 may hold attendance solutions By Mary Niederberger UPDATE: Since this story originally appeared in November, chronic absenteeism has continued to increase to alarming levels in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. As of Jan. 26, districtwide chronic absenteeism was at 44.4%,…
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Three years in solitary confinement: An open letter from the Allegheny County Jail
James Byrd has been held in the Allegheny County Jail’s men’s solitary confinement unit for over three years.
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Allegheny County Jail called an “outlier” for its continued ‘23-and-one’ practice
During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, people the world over saw their lives shrink into confined spaces. While the terms of that confinement sometimes felt harsh, contrast it with those lodged at the Allegheny County Jail, where many haven’t seen the sun since March 2020.
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“I am still on edge” — one incarcerated man’s experience in the extended Allegheny County Jail lockdown
Corey Durrett-King was released from the Allegheny County Jail in May and still suffers from the effects of the 23-and-one lockdown that keeps the incarcerated in their cells for all but about one hour a day. To avoid spending hours inside his cell, Durrett-King volunteered to work cleaning cells in the jail’s mental health unit.
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‘The Violence Project’ book investigates mass shootings in order to find solutions
In September of this year, Abrams Press released a new book by Jillian Peterson and James Densley titled, “The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic.” The book is the result of more than four years of work and research.
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Mark Oppenheimer’s book explores Tree of Life attack, Squirrel Hill and grief
Writer Mark Oppenheimer, author of the new book “Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood,” just released by Knopf, was looking for a way to write about the attack that killed 11 congregants at the Tree of Life Synagogue three years ago.
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Fifth death reported by the Allegheny County Jail this year
Another individual incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail has died. Paul Allen, 55, died at UPMC Mercy Hospital on Saturday, October 9 after being transferred to the jail’s medical unit. Jail medical staff called 911 and Allen was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to an email sent for Warden Orlando Harper to the Jail Oversight Board (JOB). Allen is the fifth person to die in the jail’s custody this year and the tenth to die since April 2020, after the jail went into lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Three deaths in one month at Allegheny County Jail
Three incarcerated persons have died in Allegheny County Jail (ACJ) custody so far this September. The most recent, Justin Brady, is the second member of his family to die while in the county jail’s custody. On September 12, the ACJ announced that a 48-year-old man positive for COVID-19 died at a hospital, and another incarcerated individual, Vinckley Harris, 48, died on September 20.
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Allegheny County Controller’s office to investigate allegations of inadequate meals, food shortages tied to kitchen staff COVID cases
According to interviews of incarcerated persons and affidavits shared with the Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (PINJ), food issues at the Allegheny County Jail have arisen due to incarcerated kitchen workers who are locked in quarantine for COVID-19. Allegations of starvation are being made in sworn statements collected by the Abolitionist Law Center (ALC) and have prompted the Allegheny County Controller’s office to investigate the situation with the jail’s food vendor Summit Food Service LLC.
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Man jumps from Allegheny County Jail entrance bridge upon release
A 50-year-old man jumped from the visitor’s entrance bridge of the Allegheny County Jail upon his release reports jail Deputy Warden Laura Williams in an email to the Jail Oversight Board. According to the email, the man was transported to a nearby hospital and placed under involuntary commitment status.
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Jail Oversight Board member Chelsea Wagner describes “a real veil of secrecy” around deaths reported at the Allegheny County Jail
County Controller Chelsea Wagner, a member of the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board, said today that the handling of deaths at the jail represents “a mindset of treating people in the jail as less than human.” Her comments came in response to a July 2021 story published by the Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (PINJ) that detailed recent deaths in the jail.
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Recent focus on the deaths of incarcerated individuals at the Allegheny County Jail raises questions: Are all deaths reported? And what details are released?
Earlier this month, Martin Bucek, 55, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Allegheny County Jail and transported to UPMC Mercy, where he was pronounced dead. Bethany Hallam, Allegheny County Councilwoman and member of the Jail Oversight Board (JOB), said she found out about Bucek’s death from incarcerated persons at the jail and members of the media before it was reported to the JOB by jail administration.
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The Majesty and the Underbelly of Pittsburgh in Ed Simon’s New Book, “An Alternative History of Pittsburgh”
In “An Alternative History of Pittsburgh,” a nifty little book of 40 flash essays just released from Belt Press, author Ed Simon takes the reader through some of the highlights and lowlights of Pittsburgh’s past, dating all the way back to 300 million BC and running right up to the ongoing schismatic gentrification of East Liberty.
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Ex-wife questions death of Martin Bucek, Allegheny County Jail resident with psychiatric disability
When Allegheny County police officers knocked on Dolly Bucek’s door on July 3, they brought news of her ex-husband who she hadn’t heard from in months. “‘Martin has died in the jail.’ That’s what they told me. [Guards] were doing checks and that’s how they found him,” Dolly Bucek said. She says she won’t give up until she finds out how and why Martin Bucek died.
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County Officials Release Few Details On a Holiday Weekend Death at the Allegheny County Jail
Details are scarce about the death of an incarcerated man at the Allegheny County Jail over the July 4 weekend. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office identified Martin Bucek, 55, as the county jail resident who died July 3. He was found unresponsive in a single cell at the jail, according to an email sent to the Jail Oversight Board (JOB) by President Judge Kimberly Berkeley Clark, who serves as chair of the board.
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