Articles Archive - Page 37 of 155 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

If you were tasked with designing a wild fruit to represent western Pennsylvania, you might come up with the blackberry. Its familiar, arcing canes spread over logged hillsides and reclaimed strip mines, beside railroad tracks and across abandoned farmland reverting to woods. Blackberries are an unplanned bonus from hard-used land. Such a luscious treat, blackberries …

The Blackberry: The Humblest Jewel Read More »

Creative Capital

Laissez-Faire vs. the Progressives

by Greg Curtis

From the date of enactment of the first antitrust laws during the Roman Republic right up to the present moment, there have really been only three theories that have addressed the proper role of a government in controlling anticompetitive behavior. Previously in this series: “Government Missteps: Antitrust Is More Interesting Than You Think, Part VIII” …

Laissez-Faire vs. the Progressives Read More »

Health

We Need New Blood

by Kelly Casey

Our region is thirsty for blood. On a typical day, Vitalant Pittsburgh (formerly Central Blood Bank) sees 250 blood donors. It needs 600 donors to meet the local demand for blood. “Our region collects less than half of what we need. People’s jaws drop when we say this,” says Mark Giaquinto, president and chief financial …

We Need New Blood Read More »

Nature

Visiting Western Pennsylvania’s Wild and Beautiful Ohiopyle State Park

by Thomas Saunders

About 80 minutes from Downtown Pittsburgh in Fayette County is the town of Ohiopyle and one of our area’s natural gems of rare habitats, dense forests, breathtaking scenic areas and whitewater for paddlers — Ohiopyle State Park. Over the past year, visitation to parks, nature reserves and forests has increased dramatically, as people have sought …

Visiting Western Pennsylvania’s Wild and Beautiful Ohiopyle State Park Read More »

Obituaries

Wactlar, Henderson, Figgins, DeFazio, Corry, Toker

by PQ Staff

Howard Wactlar, 77: During a career of more than 50 years at the National Science Foundation and Carnegie Mellon, where he arrived in 1967 and went on to hold positions in both the School of Computer Science and the Robotics Institute, Wactlar developed an impressive array of technology and software engineering systems. He helped to …

Wactlar, Henderson, Figgins, DeFazio, Corry, Toker Read More »

Regional News

Unemployment Falls and Labor Force Plunges

by Julia Fraser

Unemployment fell sharply in southwestern Pennsylvania last month. But the good news is tempered by continued contraction of the regional labor force, which plunged to its lowest level since June 1991, according to the latest Pennsylvania Department of Labor data. Unemployment in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area dropped one full percentage point — from …

Unemployment Falls and Labor Force Plunges Read More »

Creative Capital

Government Missteps: Let Me Count the Ways

by Greg Curtis

By the mid-twentieth century, antitrust enforcement in the United States had become far more sophisticated than it had been for the first six decades after the Sherman Act was passed in 1890. Unfortunately, the ratio of success-to-fiasco remained roughly constant. Previously in this series: “The Weird Inconsistencies of Trust Busting: Antitrust Is More Interesting Than …

Government Missteps: Let Me Count the Ways Read More »

Events

95th Cinderella Ball Presents Ten Debutantes, Celebrates Service

by PQ Staff

The 95th Presentation of Cinderella Ball was held on Saturday, June 26, 2021 in Sewickley, Pa. chaired by Cinderella Women’s Committee members Mrs. Laura Kronk and Mrs. Lisa Keefer. For an event that has been held nearly every year since 1924, this celebration was especially poignant as much of the volunteering and events were held …

95th Cinderella Ball Presents Ten Debutantes, Celebrates Service Read More »

Regional News

Pandemic’s Disruptive Path Still Haunts the Unemployed

by Jeffery Fraser

Fallout from the pandemic is discouraging a significant number of unemployed southwestern Pennsylvanians from looking for work, even as businesses reopen and COVID cases decline, according to a recent survey. Caring for children, dependent older adults and others was the most common reason for not looking for work that was given by unemployed workers who …

Pandemic’s Disruptive Path Still Haunts the Unemployed Read More »

Books

Pittsburgh Philanthropy

by Kathleen W. Buechel

Ask a person from Pittsburgh to define philanthropy and they’ll most likely mention an industrialist such as Andrew Carnegie, or a patriarch named Heinz or Mellon. These economic titans loom large in Pittsburgh. The word “Pittsburgh” and its Gilded Age bequests are so intertwined that some think these industrialists invented philanthropy here. Experiences at Carnegie’s …

Pittsburgh Philanthropy Read More »

Events

Brother’s Brother Foundation and Blood Science Foundation Host Inaugural Golf Event

by PQ Staff

On Monday June 21, 2021, Brother’s Brother Foundation (BBF) and Blood Science Foundation (BSF) jointly hosted their Inaugural Golf Event at the Fox Chapel Golf Club. The outing, despite challenging weather conditions, raised money to support local healthcare and educational programs. Brother’s Brother Foundation was established by Dr. Robert A. Hingson in 1958 to assist …

Brother’s Brother Foundation and Blood Science Foundation Host Inaugural Golf Event Read More »

Creative Capital

On Inflation

by Greg Curtis

So many people have asked about my views on inflation that I’m pausing my antitrust series to address the topic. Back to antitrust next week. “If [Biden] succeeds, the President will cast 40 years of economic doctrine on history’s ash heap. But that’s a big if.” — Michael Hirsh, in Foreign Policy In my day …

On Inflation Read More »

Opinion

Confessions of an Introvert in Pandemic Times

by Valentine J. Brkich

Most people who know me would be surprised to hear that I’m an introvert. Sure, I can be social when I have to. But honestly, social situations drain me. I recharge by coming home and crawling into a dark corner all by myself, much to my wife’s chagrin. You see, I’m an INFJ. In the …

Confessions of an Introvert in Pandemic Times Read More »

Sports

Lovable and Inimitable

by James Forr

Original research for this story was conducted by the author for a book he co-authored with David Proctor entitled “Pie Traynor: A Baseball Biography.” Hunched over a lathe on a steamy factory floor, Pie Traynor — World Series champion, future Hall of Famer, and the man widely considered the greatest third baseman who had ever …

Lovable and Inimitable Read More »

Arts

The Triumph of “The Current War”

by Stuart Sheppard

Since the emergence of drama two-and-a-half-millennia ago, the theater’s greatest enemy has always been the plague. It is no coincidence that during the fifth century BCE, as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were writing the first great tragedies, Hippocrates was writing the first great medical treatise, called the Epidemics. Theater, unlike virtually any other art form, …

The Triumph of “The Current War” Read More »

Money

What a Year. What Now? Part III

by PQ Staff

Pittsburgh Quarterly asked the region’s top experts to respond to these questions: As the U.S. economy gradually recovers from the pandemic, which sectors of the market do you like now? How are you positioning client portfolios? We thank them for giving readers their responses, which follow. Read part one and part two. Linda Duessel, Federated …

What a Year. What Now? Part III Read More »

Obituaries

Flannery, Verrilla, Kudzma, Washowich, Spinabelli, Davis

by PQ Staff

Tom Flannery, 75: A former Dartmouth football and rugby player who was 6’4” and 230 pounds, Flannery blended an imposing physical presence with a warm, fun-loving personality to become the top headhunter in Pittsburgh. In his role leading the Pittsburgh office of international search firm Boyden, he placed key top executives at countless local corporations …

Flannery, Verrilla, Kudzma, Washowich, Spinabelli, Davis Read More »

Our Sleeping Porch

by Daryln Brewer Hoffstot

“There was nothing of the giant in the aspect of the man who was beginning to awaken on the sleeping porch of a Dutch Colonial house in that residential district of Zenith known as Floral Heights. His name was George F. Babbitt.” — “Babbitt” by Sinclair Lewis The joys of a sleeping porch are many, …

Our Sleeping Porch Read More »

Creative Capital

The Weird Inconsistencies of Trust Busting

by Greg Curtis

Last week, I suggested that the enforcement of America’s antitrust laws has made little sense since the Sherman Act was adopted in 1890. In fact, the word that comes to mind is “fiasco.” Previously in this series: “Making Monopoly Illegal: Antitrust Is More Interesting Than You Think, Part VI” I mentioned earlier in this series …

The Weird Inconsistencies of Trust Busting Read More »

Books

A Different View of the Neighborhood

by Gregg Behr & Ryan Rydzewski

In 1968, when Fred Rogers pushed through his famous front door for the first time, he brought with him more than kindness, compassion and a cardigan sweater. He brought more than Daniel Tiger, more than X the Owl, more than all the puppets who lived in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. What Rogers brought was less …

A Different View of the Neighborhood Read More »

Money

What a Year. What Now? Part II

by PQ Staff

What a Year. What Now? Part II Read More »

Creative Capital

Making Monopoly Illegal

by Greg Curtis

When people who don’t like free markets (i.e., almost everybody in academia) talk about antitrust law, they almost always begin by saying something like this: “One of the core defects of market economies is the inevitability of monopolistic practices.” Previously in this series: “The Tricks of the Trade: Antitrust Is More Interesting Than You Think, …

Making Monopoly Illegal Read More »