Buzz

Our statewide sister publication, Keystone Edge, reports encouraging news on the just released Youth Opportunity Index. Allegheny and Butler County are both showing signficant gains in youth population.

"Increases in residents ages 18-24 in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the 2010 census signalled the beginning of the end for the longstanding "brain drain" conundrum across Pennsylvania."

Read more in the article here.

Save yourself the task of toggling through 100 pages to find them. Here's what they had to say about the two museums from Pittsburgh included in the list of 100 Museums to Visit Before You Die,

"The Andy Warhol Museum is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist. Paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, photographs, and films fill the museum's seven floors and endlessly innovative exhibitions. Their rich collection and archives shed light not only on the Pittsburgh-born pop art icon, but include other influential artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Robert Mapplethorpe. With a room full of silver balloons and excellent cupcakes in the cafe, this museum's fame will far exceed 15 minutes."

To see the Warhol Museum, click here.

"The name is deceiving—the Mattress Factory is less of an industrial establishment, and more of a cultural one. The Factory was founded in 1977 in two refurbished buildings on Pittsburgh's historic North Side and boasts that it "is one of few museums of its kind anywhere." The Mattress Factory is home to a number of room-sized installation works created on site by American as well as international artists. The installations at the Mattress Factory range from a one-story high teddy bear head to room-size architectural projections and fully immersive environments. The nature of the Mattress Factory sets itself apart in its form and specificity. The museum is striving and attempting to activate more than just the audience's sense of sight. Among the museum's diverse programming is a growing permanent collection that includes artists such as James Turrell, Winnifred Lutz, and Yayoi Kusama, among others."

To see the Mattress Factory, click here.

"One of the greatest pleasures on a Sunday morning has got to be having brunch with your good friends or significant other, reading the newspaper and letting the day lazily unfold. That being said, everyone has their favorite brunch spot and one of Rusko´s top picks has got to be Pamela's Diner in Pittsburgh, PA."

Read the blog--in Spanish or in  English!-- here.

How much fun is Kidsburgh for kids?

Read the story here.

"Hines Ward, who many of you know as the guy who probably screwed over your fantasy football leagues with inconsistent play, only to dazzle in the real-world playoffs after he’d lost his fantasy use, is coming to The Walking Dead. Ward, who also appeared in last year’s The Dark Knight Rises and won season 12 of Dancing with the Stars, is attempting dominate television and film now. He’s working as a sports commentator for NBC, working on the Food Network, and preparing for the Ironman world championships.

"He got the gig on The Walking Dead through a friend, IronE Singleton (T-DOG!), with whom Hines attended the University of Georgia, where T-Dog was also a football player. No word on whether Ward’s speaking line will be “Aaaahhhhhrrrrr,” or “Gahrrrrrr.”

The second half of season three returns on February 10th. Full image of Ward after the jump.

See the story and photos here.

Okay, we don't really like the tone here but we'll include this anyway. Welcome to town, Charlize, that's all we can say.

"Holdonholdonholdholdon. What?

[NBC] handed out a pilot order to the Charlize Theron-produced Hatfields & McCoys, marking its ninth drama this season.
Set in present-day Pittsburgh, the drama begins when a startling death reignites the feud between these two legendary families. Unleashing decades of resentment, the blue-collar McCoys will put the Hatfields’ wealth and power at risk as they go to war for control of the city. [THR]

I’m sure this is one of those things that will make sense as more of it is unveiled, and, hey, for all I know this show will need to back a dump truck down the red carpet to haul out all its Emmys in a year or two, but let’s just briefly recap the facts so far: Charlize Theron, a gorgeous Oscar-winning movie star who hails from South Africa, is producing a present-day, Yinzer version of the famous Hatfields and McCoys story. Read that sentence a few times. Like, really read it. Break it down piece by piece, go get a snack, come back, do it again, etc. Let the whole thing wash over you.

Read the full story here.

That modern corner house you can't help but notice is on the market and was featured in WSJ's New Look on the Block. See the photos and read more about this listing by One80 Real Estate.

See the listing here.

Can we tell you how much we love this article? Not just because it shows how bad things were in Pittsburgh a mere six decades ago, but also for the message it delivers about change, including climate change and how we're not doing nearly enough.

Read the story and see the photos here.

Julie Sokolow, a Pittsburgh-based artist, writes about filming her friends in the Pittsburgh arts scene for a grassroots documentary series called Healthy Artists. "I visited the apartments and art studios of local painters, musicians, writers, adjunct professors, and beyond, to get a sense of their lifestyles, creative passions, and health care stories. Many artists, freelancers, and creative entrepreneurs can’t find affordable health insurance, and thus, have a strong stance on single-payer health care. It is now January 2013, and we just debuted an exhibition of movie-style posters, judged by a panel from the Criterion Collection, Carnegie Museum of Art, and Warhol Museum. In one year, Healthy Artists has expanded beyond my wildest imaginings..."

Read the article here.

Who are the Pittsburgh Gooners? A group of passionate Arsenal Football fans who meet regularly at Piper's Pub in the South Side to watch matches together.  The photo of their beaming faces makes us want to join them.

Learn more about the Gooners here.

Move over, Nate Silver. Civic Science just released data on profiles of voters and who's more likely to vote for Ravenstahl or Peduto in the mayoral election (done before Michael Lamb announced).

As an example, college-educated voters are twice as likely to vote for Peduto while those 65 and older favor Ravenstahl by a wide majority.

From social media (Peduto reigns with Twitter users while the candidates evenly split with Facebook users) to technology, the findings are quite interesting. There's even a favored Big Burrito restaurant category.

Read the blog here.

"Irvine, Pittsburgh and Plano may not be the first places that come to mind when you think about where you’d be happiest—but it turns out those three cities are where some of the nation’s most contented young professionals are, according to online career site Careerbliss.com.

"Its list of the 20 happiest cities for young professionals is based on analysis from more than 38,000 employee generated reviews between 2011 and 2012. Young professionals, defined by CareerBliss as employees with less than 10 years’ experience in a full-time position, were asked to rate ten key factors that affect workplace happiness, including work-life balance, one’s relationship with the boss and co-workers, the work environment, job resources, compensation, growth opportunities, company culture, company reputation, daily tasks, and job autonomy."


Read more here.

"Pittsburgh exists for three reasons: the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio," writes Pittsburgh-based writer Christine O'Toole in the New York Times. "In the 20th century, the banks of those rivers were controlled by industrial behemoths. They largely lost that identity after the waning of the steel industry in the 1980s. Over the last two decades, however, the city’s progress in clearing and cleaning its waterfront has created 12 miles of recreational trails, three professional sports stadiums, several boat landings and an influx of nearly 2,000 new downtown residents.

"The city has managed to leverage a $124 million investment in publicly accessible riverfront into $4 billion in corporate, public, nonprofit and entertainment development downtown.

"That success has renewed a debate that would have been unthinkable in Pittsburgh’s polluted industrial heyday: how best to expand public access to the shorelines of the three rivers. Projects proposed for two of the largest tracts left to be developed on the downtown fringe illustrate the opportunities and limits of public-private partnerships..."

Read the full story here.

What is Triple Bottom Line thinking? Favorable decisons that benefit the environment, are equitable and make economic sense. It can be achieved in new design but also in historic renovation.

Marc Mondor of evolveEA recently spoke with Art Ziegler, President of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) about the Market at Fifth Project in Pittsburgh's Market Square, after evolveEA helped the PHLF restore three adjacent buildings from 1904 while achieving LEED Gold status for the project.


Read the article here in Sustainable Cities.

For the third time, the renowned photographer Lynn Johnson, who is based in Pittsburgh, won the prestigious National Geographic Photographers' Photographer Award. 

"Our winner is one of those people who is assiduously understated, does meticulous research, and enters the subject’s world with extraordinary depth of compassion. The pictures this photographer takes are the slippery pictures of ephemeral moments and framed in a way that, to be perfectly honest, would even elude almost everyone in this room..."

Read the full comments as the award was presented, here.