Articles Archive - Page 54 of 156 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

More than 100 southwestern Pennsylvania municipalities will be in financial distress next year if the economy can’t shake free from the grip of the coronavirus and prevent budget reserves from being drained and tax revenues from drying up, a new study suggests. Municipal officials, uncertain of the duration of the outbreak and severity of the …

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Creative Capital

Race, Global Warming and the Experts

by Greg Curtis

Last week we considered the possibility that, precisely to the extent that human equality is the most important issue facing the world, to that extent liberal democracy can claim little legitimacy. It is certainly true that liberal democracies have produced greater equality and have more successfully combated racism, sexism and other forms of bigotry than …

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American Spirit

To Thine Own Shelf Be True…

by Kate Benz

The toilet paper was all gone. An entire aisle. Gone. No Charmin or Scott or Cottonelle. No double rolls or extra soft. Not even a box of Kleenex or paper napkins, either. Nothing but a sign. WE ARE LIMITING TOILET PAPER TO TWO PER CUSTOMER. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION. “As soon as we get …

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Homes

Family First

by Marylynn Uricchio

Drive up into the heights above Edgeworth and the topography creates all sorts of geographic nooks and crannies. This house sits on the crest of a hill, with sweeping views both directly below and far into the distance. A vintage 1950s mansion, as they were called back then and meant to be, it boasts classic …

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Creative Capital

The Rawls Dilemma

by Greg Curtis

John Rawls, the most important political philosopher of the twentieth century, was born into a prosperous middle class family in Baltimore in 1921. He attended a private school in Connecticut and went on to Princeton. Rawls’ internal life replicated the moral trajectory of many thoughtful people in the Western world, beginning with a deep interest …

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Arrivals

Knapp, Kelly, Lamar, Golenor, Cornetti, Flisram, Martorella

by PQ Staff

Steven Knapp is the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh‘s 11th president. Knapp is president emeritus of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where most recently he was a professor of English. Prior to joining GW, he served for 11 years as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. During …

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Regional News

“Historic Low Levels of Pollution”

by Jeffery Fraser

Pittsburgh and surrounding neighborhoods received a respite from air pollution in the weeks after nonessential businesses were closed and residents were urged to stay at home and off the streets to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Fine particulate pollution and smog-making gases fell to levels rarely seen in Allegheny County from March 15 to …

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Health

Diet or Exercise: Which Is More Important for Weight Loss?

by Joseph A. Luxbacher

Question: “I have been exercising and trying to improve my diet to lose weight but am not having success. When it comes to weight loss, is diet or exercise more important?” Adequately answering this question requires a clear understanding of why we pack on extra pounds, what must be done to lose excess weight, and …

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PQ Poem

Tom Quirk

by Robert Gibb

White beard and shaved head,A Merton-monkish masterWhose watercolor class put meThrough the wringer with itsTwenty-painting requirementFor my slow painstaking work.Impossible, and not just at first,But he kept me at it, down-Playing my complaints, offeringMaddening encouragements.By mid-term I’d begun to setMy figures against ever starkerBackgrounds till they wereBacked by nothing except The paper’s sheer white nap—A blankness …

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Creative Capital

The Stumbling March of Reason

by Greg Curtis

“When the theological content of the idea [of human rights] was abandoned, nothing was put in its place.” —James Griffin, “On Human Rights” Earlier in this series of posts we revisited the Age of Enlightenment, examining the back story of the ideas that led to the creation of liberal democracy. That’s also a good place …

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Regional News

Virus Fallout

by Bill O'Toole

Even as it’s leading the fight against the coronavirus in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County is facing a devastating decline in revenue because of the virus. The county depends on a wide array of tax revenues that are certain to decline, at least during the next several months, due to business closures, stay-at-home orders and the slowing …

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Money

Coronavirus Investing

by PQ Staff

Editor’s note: We’ve asked a group of the region’s leading wealth managers to respond to this question: “The coronavirus has led to the first bear market in more than a decade with widespread uncertainty remaining. How are you positioning client portfolios in this fraught environment?” In today’s online feature, a group of advisors give a …

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Regional News

Development Boom On Hold

by Julia Fraser

Pittsburgh’s landscape was about to undergo a major facelift this year. The Strip District, Station Square, the lower Hill District were all to break ground on major commercial and multi-use real estate projects. Until COVID-19 arrived. The sudden sweep of the pandemic across the region halted most new construction. Delays in building are compounded by …

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Architecture & Neighborhoods

Mister Rogers’ Real Neighborhood

by Barbara Eichenlaub

With the recently released film and documentary about Fred Rogers, the national spotlight is shining on the man who changed the face of children’s television. He was known internationally, but since he resided in Pittsburgh and created “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” here at WQED, he is often associated with the city. However, his roots are less …

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Regional News

Municipal Nightmare

by Jeffery Fraser & Bill O’Toole

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought municipalities across southwestern Pennsylvania face to face with the prospect of steep financial losses as stay-at-home orders, business closures and soaring unemployment choke off streams of revenues vital to paying their bills and providing the day-to-day services their residents rely on, such as police, garbage pickup and road repair. The …

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Creative Capital

How Equality Came to Challenge Freedom

by Greg Curtis

“[Liberal democracy] celebrates certain values: reasonableness, conversation, compassion, tolerance, intellectual humility and optimism.” —David Brooks “Nice guys finish last.” —Leo Durocher As I noted last week, the American governmental system in particular, and most modern liberal democracies in general, were well-designed to manage the tension between the two most fundamental rights we have as citizens: …

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Books

Varied Characters, Settings Lift Robert Yune’s “Impossible Children”

by Fred Shaw

In the creative writing classes I teach, scene often becomes an early point of emphasis, especially when it applies to fiction. Hemingway’s classic “Hills Like White Elephants” stands as an exemplar, as the brief story relies on little more than setting and dialogue. According to Nancy Pagh, author of the thoughtfully written “Write Moves: A …

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The Pulse

Who Is Most Affected When Places of Worship Close?

by Julia Fraser

The closing of churches, synagogues and other places of worship during the COVID-19 pandemic affects the practices of nearly 2 in 3 Allegheny County residents. But the hardship is not evenly shared. Hardest hit are residents who regularly attend religious services, such as those who attend every day or at least once a week. In …

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American Spirit

A Walk in the Park

by Kate Benz

The lake is stocked with trout. Rainbow trout and golden trout. Scales that manage to shimmer even on an overcast day, when the sun is trying but the clouds are winning. When fishing lines are being cast into water the color of army fatigues, creating a whisper of a ripple with the cast of each …

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Regional News

Now That the Money’s Gone

by Jeffery Fraser

As regional banks brace for another wave of small business loan applications, questions surrounding the emergency federal program are front and center after the first $349 billion quickly ran out. Congress and the White House were reportedly near a deal late Monday that would add more than $300 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program, which …

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Regional News

The City of Pittsburgh Faces Crisis but Its ‘Rainy-Day Fund’ Leaves It Better Prepared Than Most

by Bill O'Toole

In a letter to the White House Monday seeking federal support, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto projected a 21 percent loss in revenues this year. The expected $127 million loss will plunge the city into a financial crisis, but that blow may be softened by a little known rainy-day fund. “Over a five-year period from 2020–2024 …

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Creative Capital

The Trouble With Rousseau

by Greg Curtis

“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” —The first line of Rousseau’s “The Social Contract” Even by the loose standards of his era, Jean-Jacques Rousseau lived a bizarre life. Rousseau’s mother died giving birth to him and he was mostly raised until his teen years by an uncle. At that point, his …

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