‘Calls from Home,’ film about family separation and the carceral state, to be shown at City of Asylum
by Jody DiPerna On March 11, City of Asylum will show the film ‘Calls from Home,’ followed by a conversation with film director Sylvia Ryerson moderated by the Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. The film shares the stories of the families and friends who connect with their loved ones incarcerated in the prison system of…
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Judges in Pa. can now dismiss charges against people ‘incompetent’ to stand trial, but flaws remain
The state Supreme Court closed a decades-old legal loophole that kept people who would never be competent to stand trial on criminal charges in jail or prison indefinitely. By Brittany Hailer of the Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and Danielle Ohl of Spotlight PA This story is a collaboration between Spotlight PA and the Pittsburgh…
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Manner of death ruled as ‘natural’ for two men who died in Allegheny County Jail
by Brittany Hailer Two men who died in the Allegheny County Jail earlier this year, died of natural causes related to heart disease, according to the most recent release from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner. Jerry Lee Ross, Jr., 48, who died after he was found unresponsive in his cell April 28, died naturally of…
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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.
More News
Pa.’s criminal legal system increases overdose deaths and makes recovery impossible | Opinion
By Sean Fogler and Carla Sofronski , Pennsylvania Capital-Star In 2021, over 5,300 Pennsylvanians lost their lives to a preventable drug overdose. Pennsylvania policy makers and local government officials have led the charge in fueling this historic public health crisis. While there are many factors contributing to this horrific toll, Pennsylvania’s criminal legal system stands…
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Under Kaufmann’s Clock
By Nick Ripatrazone, Belt Magazine An issue of Time magazine dated February 3, 1947 contained a short profile of architect Richard Joseph Neutra, who “ranks second only to lordly Frank Lloyd Wright.” The author explains that Neutra’s designs were diverse and utilitarian; he designed schools and hospitals in Puerto Rico and made “a moated desert mansion” for…
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On the Post-Gazette Picket Line
By Vince Guerrieri, Belt Magazine Of course, the irony here is that 30 years ago, the Post-Gazette found itself in the midst of a similar strike. And it’s the only reason the Post-Gazette is still around today. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalists have been on strike for nine weeks. According to Pittsburgh Union Progress, the publication created…
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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
Rushdie and Free Speech, from Tehran to Pittsburgh
by Jody DiPerna, Belt Magazine Literature isn’t just under attack in Iran, China, or El Salvador Since the attempted assassination of the Anglo-Indian author Salman Rushdie as he prepared to speak at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, I’ve been thinking about the ways that writers threaten the status quo by forcing us to…
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Doralee Brooks Opens Up About Poetry, Education and Everyday Beauty
by Jody DiPerna Life-long educator and poet Doralee Brooks named new Poet Laureate for Allegheny County. Doralee Brooks, the new poet Laureate for Allegheny County, wants to highlight and spotlight poetry’s intersections with other art forms — with music and with the visual and performing arts. This convergence of the poetic with hard-lived life, everyday…
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A melange of history, lived experience and fable, Caitlyn Hunter’s first book is urgent, magical storytelling
With family stories leading the way, inherited photos sprinkled throughout, and cover art designed by her cousin, “Power in the Tongue” (Tolsun Books), really is a family affair. by Jody DiPerna Caitlyn Hunter is the repository and the spillway of her family’s intergenerational love, trauma and legend. In Hunter’s new book, she sets the tone…
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Kindergarten camps aim to fill in social and emotional gaps for students who missed preschool during the pandemic
Important learning time has been lost in kindergarten as teachers had to work with students who were not used to the routines of school By Mary Niederberger The start of the new school year was weeks away, but at Duquesne Elementary School a small group of students was already in a kindergarten classroom in late…
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Pittsburgh Public Schools summer programming gives students a BOOST from pandemic learning losses
By Mary Niederberger Addison Boehm, Kerria Scanlon and Tamia Day, all soon-to-be sixth graders in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, had their heads bent over a laptop and a small robot made of Legos as they worked together on a recent morning in a classroom at Pittsburgh Langley K-8. “You are in control so you are…
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Does tutoring + culturally relevant lessons + double math periods = math proficiency?
District leaders look for solutions to alarmingly low math proficiency—especially among Black students By Mary Niederberger Illustration by Kinsley Stocum If all goes as planned, next year students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools who are struggling with math will be able to access a tutor around the clock whether they are stumped by homework after…
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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
The feds make it too hard for formerly incarcerated persons to access Social Security benefits | Opinion
By Jeffrey Abramowitz and TJ von Oehsen, Pennsylvania Capital-Star In Pennsylvania, far more people with disabilities have been incarcerated than are receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This comes as no surprise to reentry advocates, who have been hearing about the issues that people with disabilities have in accessing and maintaining SSI for years. A recent…
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Sharpsburg, PA – Past, Present, Future
The past, present, and future coexist simultaneously in Sharpsburg, and for the moment, one hasn’t pushed the other out. By Emma Riva- Belt Magazine If Paris had its salons where artists and writers gathered to bounce ideas off each other, then Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania has Red Hawk Coffee on Canal Street. On any given day, the…
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Our national pathology over guns is no longer insane. It’s inhuman.
by John L. Micek, Pennsylvania Capital-Star Want to know what rage feels like? It’s waking on a Wednesday morning on a school day as the cable news talking heads sift through the latest on the shooting at a Texas elementary school that left 21 people dead, most of them children, and looking at your daughter…
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Social Justice