Articles Archive - Page 101 of 156 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

Water Quality: Bromide and TDS

Levels of bromide and total dissolved solids have improved in the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers in recent years. But the future is uncertain due to potential new sources. Both are indicators of water quality in southwestern Pennsylvania’s three major rivers. High concentrations of bromide and other salts in streams and rivers pose environmental and …

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Creative Capital

Loose Change, Part III

by Greg Curtis

In my last post I breathlessly announced that I held the solution to the American healthcare dilemma in my hot little hands. While the hapless Republicans and Democrats are stumbling around blaming each other and wishing the healthcare issue would just blow away, your humble blogger has solved the problem without breathing hard. In order …

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Opinion

Confession: Cops and Kids

by Tim Menees

I done got busted for breaking-and-entering (cue the blues harp and slide guitar). This is a sad tale but I must spare all young people the same sordid fate. One sunny Saturday morning six decades ago in Seattle’s Ballard district, two kids blew open the door of a playground field house, and the rest of …

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Sustainability Watch

General Health Trends

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

The prognosis for residents’ health in southwestern Pennsylvania is mixed. Heart disease deaths declined over a recent 10-year period in Allegheny County, the most populous of the seven Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area counties. But across the region, the rate of people reporting fair or poor overall health has increased. Heart disease Allegheny County residents are …

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PQ Poem

When I Am Empty

by Anne Rashid

When I am empty I think about you staring back at me in the pouring rain— the family picnic in the Upper Peninsula, my grape pop spilling down the sides of the table, an empty bottle, your lips turned into a smirk, your eyes glinting, you in that moment loving me. I’m empty on the …

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Creative Capital

Loose Change, Part II

by Greg Curtis

In my last post we observed how overwhelming the desire for “change” is in America, and we also paused to notice the penalty the Democratic Party has paid for ignoring voters’ wishes. In this post and the ones that follow, I will touch on some of the more important policies and practices that will be …

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Creative Capital

Loose Change

by Greg Curtis

Since the Presidential election there has been a lot of loose talk about “change.” In this series of posts we’ll try to tighten up that conversation by identifying some specific changes Americans have on their minds. Specifically, I’ll touch on some of the more controversial changes the new Administration will be evaluating. Before we get …

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Sustainability Watch

Mobility Trends in Pittsburgh

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

An easy commute is hard to come by in the Pittsburgh region. Traffic delays are longer, transit use lags and transportation costs consume a significant share of household income in many places. Transit use Transit use per capita in Allegheny County fell by about 6 percent between 2003 and 2013. The decrease likely reflects to …

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Creative Capital

Is Everything That Didn’t Work Worthless? Part IV

by Greg Curtis

We began this series of posts by examining the sorry state of value investing. We then moved on to making unfashionable arguments on behalf of hedge fund fees and performance. We’ll close the series by looking at the important role hedge funds—and, for that matter, value investing—play in the long-term success of investment portfolios. Hedge …

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Creative Capital

Is Everything That Didn’t Work Worthless? Part III

by Greg Curtis

We’re talking about nobody’s favorite subject, hedge funds. Last week we dispensed with the ugly topic of hedge fund fees, and this week we’ll take a deep breath and tackle the even more noxious topic of hedge fund performance. On the surface, the only way to describe recent hedge fund performance is “terrible.” Over the …

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Region

I Am Homeless

by Douglas Heuck

Back in 1988, I wrote a series about Pittsburgh’s homeless, based on my living on the streets for 14 days and nights, undercover, with long hair and a beard. I was 26, and the Pittsburgh Press series changed my journalistic trajectory, won national writing awards, and later became part of the landmark Supreme Court media …

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Books

Setting the Steelers Standards

by Fred Shaw

Growing up in a local mill town in the late 1970’s, Steelers’ Super Bowl victories seemed like a birthright. For my generation, it takes little to rattle-off the roster from the ‘79 season, the last of that era’s championship teams. And while the exploits of future Hall-of-Famers Lynn Swann and Jack Lambert live on in …

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Arts

Painting? Have Some Fun!

by Tim Menees

I spent three decades at a job that wasn’t a job, one at which few have actually earned a living. But cartoons disappear when the newspapers are bundled up for recycling. Heck, newspapers disappear. After leaving the newspaper, I began painting… and soon remembered it is darn hard. I venture to say this in spite …

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Sustainability Watch

Graduation Rates

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

High school graduation rates are improving in southwestern Pennsylvania overall. Yet, in a handful of districts, nearly a third or more students fail to graduate on time. Dropping out or otherwise failing to earn a high school degree robs students of opportunity and puts them at greater risk of being unemployed or working low-paying jobs. …

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Creative Capital

Is Everything That Didn’t Work Worthless? Part II

by Greg Curtis

In my last post, we discussed the sorry state of value investing following seven years of rigged markets courtesy of our central bankers. In this post we’ll turn to another category of investing that sits right near the top of so many investors’ Sh*t Lists: hedge funds. Whole books have been written about hedge funds, …

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Sustainability Watch

Racial Equity

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

The racial and ethnic demographics of southwestern Pennsylvania are changing, just as they are across the nation. The share of the population held by African American, Asian, Hispanic and other minority residents has increased since 2000 and continues to do so. But racial and ethnic minorities accounted for less than 14 percent of the population …

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Creative Capital

Is Everything That Didn’t Work Worthless?

by Greg Curtis

For reasons best known to themselves and their (not very robust) consciences, America’s central bankers concluded that the best way to drag the US economy out of the Financial Crisis was to make rich people richer and poor people poorer. They therefore adopted policies—QE1, QE2, QE3—that drove up the prices of assets mainly held by …

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Pittsburgh’s Top Stories of 2016

by Douglas Heuck

Number five: Pittsburgh’s 200th Anniversary. Pittsburgh is getting younger. You read about it, hear about it and see it anytime you’re out on the “tahn.” Even the demographic data backs it up. If you still don’t believe it, consider this: This year, just eight years after the Pittsburgh 250 celebration, the City of Pittsburgh celebrated …

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PQ Poem

Blending Image and Word

by Aaron Fischer

Ekphrasis first began as a rhetorical form used by the ancient Greeks. Defined by Webster’s as “a literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art,” it remains one of the oldest forms of artistic analysis, dating back to Homer’s description of Achilles’ blacksmith god-created shield in The Illiad. This form of writing …

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Homes

Flipped Out

by Elizabeth Wiethorn

Our adventure began with a two-sentence conversation with Eric as we watched our new favorite HGTV show, “Flip or Flop.” The show stars Tarek and Christina El Moussa—a young, attractive (and a bit annoying) married couple who buy property, flip it, and sell it, usually making an outrageous profit. Eric: “We could do that.” Me: …

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Arts

Hath Not a Jew

by Sarina Gruver Moore

Of Shakespeare’s major comedies, The Merchant of Venice is my least favorite because it’s the least funny. In a post-Holocaust world it’s difficult to stage the play’s anti-semitic jokes, and directors often make the understandable choice to shift the tone contour of the play toward the political and tragic. At first glance, a recent production …

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Arts

The Art of Lazar Ran

by Jennifer Faines

From origins at the Vitebsk Fine Arts School in Belarus (founded by Mark Chagall in 1918), to safe-keeping in an Ohio home for decades, the art of Lazar Ran and his contemporaries has taken a circuitous path to appear on the walls of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. The collection conveys a lesser-known story of …

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