Tracy Certo is the founder and former publisher of NextPittsburgh. She now leads the Immigration Journalism Initiative at Pittsburgh Tomorrow, a nonprofit seeking to turn around regional population losses by attracting and engaging a new generation of Pittsburgh pioneers.
After Years of Torment in Venezuela, Novelist Finds Refuge in Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum
Israel Centeno is haunted by nightmares of his final years in Venezuela, waking in a lurch of panic as he relives the torment he long endured. The burn of a cigarette jammed against his neck. A baseball bat smashing his car. The beating that broke his fingers. Once he was stabbed with a knife as …
Tuomas Sandholm: AI’s Benefits Far Outweigh its Dangers- Here’s Why
For Tuomas Sandholm, it’s no contest. The co-director of Carnegie Mellon University Artificial Intelligence (CMU AI) firmly believes the benefits of artificial intelligence far outweigh the downsides. “AI can make better decisions than humans, which will make the world a better place,” he says. To better understand his perspective, look at his track record. In …
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Fighting Through Tears
Grisell Espinoza was in limbo in 2014, wondering whether to stay in Pittsburgh or return to her native Venezuela where political turmoil was getting worse. Her only friend in town, a fellow Venezuelan, helped her get work at a restaurant until she could find a job in her profession as a civil engineer. But as …
Hello Neighbor
Basel Knaineh and Maisaa Jamal Eddin fled their native Syria after Basel was imprisoned — for no reason and with no timeline, he says — at the start of the Syrian War in 2011. He spent a month in jail, frantic and bewildered, before being released as suddenly as he was detained. Desperate, he and …