Bill Lofquist and Jody DiPerna In the fall of 1923, a young woman from Pittsburgh's East End was murdered. The police built a case against Lorenzo Savage, a young Black man, that closely followed a…
‘Mighty Harlan County,’ film about the Blackjewel miners,…
by Jody DiPerna On May 11, the Battle of Homestead will show the film 'Mighty Harlan County,' followed by a conversation with film director Jared Hamilton moderated by the Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. UPDATE: …
Pa. Lt. Gov. Davis joins multi-state abortion alliance
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis announced on Monday that he has joined a national group of lieutenant governors to expand and protect access to reproductive rights nationwide. by Cassie Miller for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star Known…
Interview with Sylvia Ryerson, the Filmmaker behind the…
by Jody DiPerna Sylvia Ryerson is a fifth year PhD candidate in American Studies at Yale. Before graduate school, she worked for nine years as a DJ and radio journalist for WMMT fm in Whitesburg,…
Hindsight and Regulation in East Palestine, Ohio
by Reid Frazier, for Belt Magazine In a press conference following the catastrophic derailment in East Palestine, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine expressed difficulty grasping one particular aspect of federal rail regulations. “This train…was not considered…
New Book “This Is My Jail” Digs Deep…
by Jody DiPerna Melanie Newport is an historian who teaches urban history and criminal justice history at the University of Connecticut at Hartford. Her book, "This Is My Jail: Local Politics and the Rise of…
Incarcerated man with intellectual disabilities died of natural…
by Brittany Hailer Anthony Talotta, 57, an intellectually disabled man who died at UPMC Mercy in August after being transferred from the Allegheny County Jail, died of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to the…
Keri Blakinger’s memoir interrogates the ordinary cruelties of…
by Jody DiPerna Journalist and writer Keri Blakinger spent about two years behind bars, serving time on drug charges in both jails and prisons in the state of New York. After her release, Blakinger became…
Bipartisan Senate bill would change how Pa. charges…
by John L. Micek, Pennsylvania Capital-Star A bipartisan trio of state Senate lawmakers want to change the circumstances under which children can be charged as adults by requiring judicial review before juvenile cases can be…