Pittsburgh Pa

In the city the "Places Rated Almanac" calls the third most livable in the land, the murder rate has jumped nearly 50% since 1988. If the same statistical trend were occurring in Oakland or Atlanta (cities of comparable size), the outraged citizenry would be howling for action and "60 Minutes" crews would be crawling all over town. But this is Pittsburgh, where the quality of life is high and the crime rate is so low that it's the safest big city in America, according to FBI crime statistics.

A self-described anarchist from New York City has been accused of sending Twitter messages with the location of police officers so that protesters could evade them during the Group of 20 economic summit in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania State Police arrested Elliot Madison, alleging he used Twitter to direct the movement of protesters and inform them about law enforcement actions at last month's summit. The New York Post reported the arrest in Saturday editions. Court papers filed by Madison's attorney say that FBI agents executed a search warrant at the 41-year-old's Queens home.

Facts about Mel Floyd: * He drives a black van decorated with a torso, a coffin and the words "Take dope and end up a dummy." * He says he has saved 16,317 souls since 1981. * Fellow police officers named him one of the "10 Best Policemen in the World" in 1969. * He lectures on 325 subjects, including "Seven Things That a Black Woman Should Never Do To Her Man," "Devilish Dating, Devastating Bed and Destroyed Relationships" and "13 Ways Mothers Ruin Their Sons." * He isn't crazy.

The People's March had just reached the edges of Steel City's downtown, at the halfway point in the three-mile protest, and Robert Shepherd's feet ached with each step. The gray-haired former bookstore clerk was one of several thousand peaceful demonstrators who took to the streets of Pittsburgh on Friday to call attention to a host of ills they attributed to the economic policies of the world leaders convening at the Group of 20 summit. It had been four decades since he had marched across college campuses to protest the war in Vietnam and to fight for civil rights.

As the sky threatened rain here, nearly 2,000 protesters gathered in Arsenal Park on Thursday with a variety of grievances, setting off some clashes with police, and moved toward the distant convention center where world leaders are set to meet today. Major economic conferences have become regular targets for protest groups, and it was no different on the eve of the so-called G-20 summit, the meeting of leaders from the world's 20 largest economies. About the time that President Obama and his wife, Michelle, were stepping off Air Force One, protesters started throwing rocks at police and police cars and dragging trash containers into the middle of the street to block traffic.

As an avid sightseer, I'm a collector of curiosities--that is, offbeat sights (or sites) that are unique or at least very rare. So I was pleased to discover, early into a recent first-time visit, that the city of Pittsburgh is a treasure trove of the unusual. In pursuit, mostly on foot, I explored its historically rich streets with increasing enthusiasm, acquiring many intriguing additions to my mental collection.

Every witness is long dead, even the boy who ran across the prairie that morning to tell his parents that he had just seen a machine fly. Within days, the airship would be gone, destroyed by a storm so fierce they say it broke eggs in chicken coops and ripped bark off cedar trees. From its opening chapter -- the blustery morning when an 850-pound contraption flew for a few precious seconds over a Texas pasture -- the story has been problematic.

A Pittsburgh cheerleading coach convicted of taking two teenagers to London for sex was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors said Scott Hayward drank with the girls, ages 14 and 15, and sexually assaulted them. He was found guilty in July of transporting the teenagers outside the state for the purposes of having sex. Hayward told the teens they would be competing in an international cheerleading competition, prosecutors said. Six girls in all went on the 11-day trip in April 2000.

Facing economic woes like a lot of other arts institutions, musicians at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra have come up with a self-sacrificing plan that they hope will prove inspirational. They are offering a $100,000 challenge grant to stimulate public donations to the orchestra. For every dollar collected, the musicians will match it with a dollar of their own, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. "Some people see their subscription as their contribution to the orchestra.

It was called the Iron City and then the Steel City, but for a century, Pittsburgh and the rest of western Pennsylvania was famed for another material known more for beauty than strength: glass. The city makes a bid to reclaim its former glory this year with "Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass!" -- featuring several large glass art exhibits opening in May, the five-day annual conference of the Glass Art Society in June and a host of other events during the rest of the year.

As the sky threatened rain here, nearly 2,000 protesters gathered in Arsenal Park on Thursday with a variety of grievances, setting off some clashes with police, and moved toward the distant convention center where world leaders are set to meet today. Major economic conferences have become regular targets for protest groups, and it was no different on the eve of the so-called G-20 summit, the meeting of leaders from the world's 20 largest economies. About the time that President Obama and his wife, Michelle, were stepping off Air Force One, protesters started throwing rocks at police and police cars and dragging trash containers into the middle of the street to block traffic.

A former U.S. attorney general on Tuesday accused the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh of launching public corruption probes that targeted Democratic officeholders while looking the other way when presented with evidence of misconduct by Republican officials. The incendiary remarks by Richard L.

PITTSBURGH -- Maybe it's this former steel town's blue-collar tradition. Or its down-to-earth reputation. Or its many connections to the entertainment industry. Whatever the reason, Pittsburgh has become a popular setting for TV shows. Spike TV's bank heist miniseries "The Kill Point" is set here and was shot here too.

It was called the Iron City and then the Steel City, but for a century, Pittsburgh and the rest of western Pennsylvania was famed for another material known more for beauty than strength: glass. The city makes a bid to reclaim its former glory this year with "Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass!" -- featuring several large glass art exhibits opening in May, the five-day annual conference of the Glass Art Society in June and a host of other events during the rest of the year.

MAYBE spelling out the words "Let's Roll!" across the hills of southwestern Pennsylvania will do the trick -- you know, like the Hollywood sign, but with bigger letters and a star-spangled exclamation point. Truthfully, it's hard to know what advice to give Paul Murdoch about the best way to recast his politely streamlined but politically controversial design for the Flight 93 memorial, slated for a wind-swept site 80 miles outside Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh firefighters have sued the city over budget cuts they say violate their bargaining rights and endanger residents. The firefighters union filed suit Friday in Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg three weeks after Pittsburgh's police union filed a similar lawsuit over the city's financial recovery plan. The firefighters also claim the recovery plan was created without examining how the cuts would affect public safety.

A Pittsburgh second-grade girl was suspended from her public school for saying the word "hell" to a boy in her class. But Brandy McKenith, 7, says she was only warning the boy about the eternal comeuppance he could face for saying: "I swear to God." She told reporters: "I said, 'You're going to go to hell for swearing to God.' " A spokeswoman said the student code prohibits profanity but does not provide a clear definition of what profanity is.

Pittsburgh firefighters have sued the city over budget cuts they say violate their bargaining rights and endanger residents. The firefighters union filed suit Friday in Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg three weeks after Pittsburgh's police union filed a similar lawsuit over the city's financial recovery plan. The firefighters also claim the recovery plan was created without examining how the cuts would affect public safety.

Organizers of a project to memorialize Pittsburgh's native son Gene Kelly haven't had much to sing about in more than a year. A plan to put up a statue of the choreographer, director and actor most beloved for the film "Singin' in the Rain" has been on hold since late 2002. Kelly's widow has also yet to give the necessary approval. The Gene Kelly Statue Project hasn't heard from Patricia Ward Kelly, who lives in Los Angeles, in more than a year, said Aviva Radbord, co-founder of the project.

Six more jail guards were charged in Pittsburgh in a scheme in which prosecutors say female inmates were given cash, drugs and other contraband in exchange for sex. In all, 10 Allegheny County Jail guards have been charged with institutional sexual assault in the case, which involves at least 24 female inmates, Dist. Atty. Stephen Zappala Jr. said. Zappala said the arrests followed a two-year grand jury investigation.