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Pittsburgh Courier NEW
VOL. 106, NO. 42
OCTOBER 21-27, 2015
INSIDE
by Christian Morrow
Voters Guide 2015
Courier Staff Writer
Special Section
Courier comes out big in Pa. Newspaper of Year Awards by Ashley Johnson Courier Staff Writer
America’s best weekly proves, once again, that it is one of Pennsylvania’s as well. On Oct. 15, the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association (PNA) Foundation announced the recipients of its 2015 Newspaper of the Year Awards. The New Pittsburgh Courier earned seven awards in its division, including a tie for second place for Newspaper of the Year for weekly publications. The Wellsboro Gazette also won second place, first place was awarded to the Central Penn Business Journal. Along with Newspaper of the Year for weeklies, the SEE COURIER A4
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Hill delivers therapeutic change at Shuman Center Published Weekly
Three Sections
YOU NEED TO HEAR US—Students tell chief Cameron McLay they are angry and frustrated about their opinions and input being ignored on community violence and possible remedies. (Photo by J.L. Martello)
McLay gets earful at youth violence forum by Christian Morrow Courier Staff Writer
As one of the events in the Week of Non-Violence sponsored by Black Women for Positive Change, the “Youth Talk We Listen” forum at the Community College of Allegheny County was meant to let Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay hear from the youth on ways to reduce community violence. He heard it—and then some. Following a welcoming press conference that included remarks from Pittsburgh Council-
woman Natalia Rudiak, CCAC Allegheny Campus President Donna Imhoff and Black Women for Positive Change Founder Stephanie Myers, McLay joined a moderated panel of high school and college-aged students, listening to each give their thoughts on the reasons their contemporaries were killing each other and how it could be stopped. The panelist offered their thoughts ranging from kids being desensitized to violence through movies and video games, to too many negative community influences.
“The people I see being negative and saying don’t even try are those who are unsuccessful and who don’t want anyone else to succeed,” said panelist Kevin Gales from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Then they opened the questioning up to the audience—and the script went out the window. “The average income in the Hill is $18,000 and you all are blaming people for not achieving, when it’s about why they aren’t achieving,” said Tresa MurphySEE McLAY A5
Ribbon cutting celebrates new transit development by Christian Morrow Courier Staff Writer
They used to call it “Little Downtown,” before urban renewal created Penn Circle and destroyed East Liberty’s thriving business corridor in an effort to create an urban mall. Last week, more than 40 years later, local, regional and national leaders gathered to
cut the ribbon on a $150 million transit center development that could return East Liberty to its Little Downtown status. “Look around you,” said Urban Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Robert Rubinstein. “What you see represents $750 million of investment. It’s generating millions upon millions of dollars of tax revenue, and it’s helping to drive Pittsburgh’s economic resurgence. The
linchpin of everything you see is the transit center.” Around him—and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, and representatives from the governor’s office, the Federal Transit Administration, the developer and East Liberty stakeholdSEE RIBBON A4
Fitness classes, yoga and meditation, computer labs, art classes yielding intricate paintings, sculptures and quilts that are displayed in the hallways, and a large field with volleyball nets— sounds like a great school. But it’s not. The field is surrounded by a twelve-foot fence topped with razor wire, and the hallways lead to locket units EARL HILL where adjudicated youth spend their nights. This is the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center. The center’s recent turbulent past—the firing of the previous director, guards assaulting youths, the loss of its state license—is giving way to a new focus on service, and mental and physical fitness proSEE HILL A4
Wallace leading Penn Hills YMCA to be more by Ashley Johnson Courier Staff Writer
Growing up in a rough Wilkinsburg neighborhood, in a single parent home, left Thomas Wallace with little positive influences and way too much time to get in trouble. He had multiple run-ins with law enforcement, lost two best friends to senseless violence, had one son and another on the way by the end of his senior high school year, and a vision that didn’t THOMAS WALLACE
CITY LEAGUE HALL OF FAMERS—The new members of Pittsburgh’s All City League All Sports Hall of Fame. See story and other photos on Sports C3-C4. (Photo by Gail Manker)
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Ulish Carter asks
The Million Man March…what now? Opinion A6
SEE WALLACE A4