Latest news with #NorthSide
CBS News
6 hours ago
- Health
- CBS News
CTA Red Line service suspended on Chicago's North Side
Red Line service was suspended on Chicago's North Side early Wednesday morning. According to the CTA, Howard and Belmont's service was stopped due to a medical emergency. Trains are operating only between 95th and Belmont. The CTA said shuttle buses have been requested to provide connecting service through the affected area. Commuters are advised to seek alternate routes. This is a developing story. CBS News Chicago will continue to provide updates.
CBS News
3 days ago
- General
- CBS News
The Pittsburgh Project is empowering the city's youth through camps and after school programs
The Pittsburgh Project is helping connect with kids in western Pennsylvania with the goal of making a better community. On the city's North Side off of North Charles Street, you'll find Rick Mason. He's one of many adults who likes helping the community's youth. "I love to see kids expand their minds to open up to trying new things," Mason said. The youth are trying new things through the nonprofit's summer camp and after school programs for kids for kindergarten through 12th grade. "It's hard being a parent, I'm a partner and I know that's not always an easy thing," Mason said. It's helping all kinds of care takers from single moms to dual parent households. "To fill the gaps that maybe a school can't fill, so that's our goal, to work with everyone in the community, to make a better community for our youth," Mason said. The faith-based organization provides a third space where kids can enjoy electives like robotics, fitness, and gardening. Some kids in the program are second generation. "My mom was here when she was a kid," said Omari Nicholas. "Pittsburgh Project is good, you should come to Pittsburgh Project." Program directors and teachers articulate the impact of the Pittsburgh Project. "We're excited to just be here to be able to walk along kids in their journey to be able to help them understand their neighborhood is a place that they can be safe in, that their neighborhood is a place they should take care of," said Natasha Thrasher, the Pittsburgh Project's Director of Programs. Mason says that being able to invest in the youth now will empower them to be upstanding citizens for life. The Pittsburgh Project has open registration for its after school programs that start on September 15. More information about the project can be found online.
New York Times
23-07-2025
- General
- New York Times
Why This Pennsylvania City Put Its Streetlights on a Dimmer
One recent night in July, Denny Robinson, a project manager for the City of Pittsburgh, stood on a street corner in the North Side, lit up by newly installed streetlights, fiddling with his phone. 'Let's dim it down to 24 percent,' Mr. Robinson said, sliding his thumb across the phone's screen. Four nearby streetlights softened to a gentle glow, eliciting oohs and aahs from a small group of onlookers gathered to behold the wonders of municipal mood lighting. Pittsburgh is replacing most of its streetlights — more than 33,000 inefficient high-pressure sodium lamps — with LED versions that are projected to save about $942,000 a year in energy costs while tackling light pollution. The old lights cast an orange glow that bathed the heavens and anything nearby in what Flore Marion, the city's assistant director of sustainability and resilience, described as 'horror-movie' lighting. The new lights are directed downward and emit warmer light than many LEDs. Compared with the old orange lights, the new lights appear brighter when fully turned up, but shields can be added to the fixtures to curb what is known as 'light trespass.' Mr. Robinson said he also plans to dim the new lights between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., which will save energy and money, and, according to the city, cause less harm to migratory birds, urban wildlife and humans. Thanks to urbanization and electrification, light pollution is growing globally by nearly 10 percent a year, according to a 2023 study. Many areas are overlit, which wastes energy, obfuscates starry skies and messes with the circadian rhythms of plants, wildlife and people. Pittsburgh officials had long planned to swap out the city's old streetlights, but for years they didn't have the budget to adopt the types of LED streetlights that other cities were beginning to install. That turned out to be a good thing. The first generation of LED streetlights led to lower costs and energy savings, but also heightened exposure to glare and harmful blue light. 50 States, 50 Fixes is a series about local solutions to environmental problems. More to come this year. In 2016, the American Medical Association warned that blue-rich LED streetlights suppressed melatonin and contributed to sleeplessness, poor daytime functioning and obesity, while also disorienting birds, insects, turtles and fish species that need darkness at night. Some research suggests that bright city lights worsen air pollution by hindering nighttime chemical reactions that clean the air. The City of Pittsburgh included new streetlights in its 2021 budget, and not long afterward passed an ordinance that follows guidelines from DarkSky International, a nonprofit organization focused on fighting light pollution. One feature of the new lights that complies with DarkSky International's recommendations is a relatively warmer hue. Nighttime LED lighting around warehouses and in prison yards often emits bright, cold blue-rich light that can have a color temperature of 5500 Kelvin and up. DarkSky International recommends streetlights with warmer tones and a maximum color temperature of 3,000 Kelvin. Pittsburgh's new lights are 2700 Kelvin. 'We leapfrogged the LED blue-light phase,' Ms. Marion said. According to the city, the new lights will last at least four times longer than the ones they're replacing, saving the city nearly $500,000 in maintenance costs annually. Because it's using less electricity to run the lights, the city estimates it will prevent 12,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. 'It's practical and pragmatic, because of its simplicity and its impact,' said Grant Ervin, Pittsburgh's former chief resilience officer. One of the biggest proponents of Pittsburgh's dark-sky lighting ordinance is Diane Turnshek, who teaches astronomy at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Ms. Turnshek, 70, who grew up in New England, remembers easily seeing the Milky Way as a child. Over time, she grew dismayed at the fact that her astronomy students couldn't readily see dazzling starry skies, and that light pollution often wasn't considered an environmental concern. She was determined to raise awareness about the problem and ways to address it, and worked with the city of Pittsburgh to pass the ordinance. 'It's such an easy fix,' Ms. Turnshek said. 'You turn them off. You use them appropriately. You don't use them when you don't need them. Change is instantaneous and saves you money.' The prospect of dimmer streetlights is often met with public resistance because of the belief that artificial lights increase nighttime safety. But while people may feel safer with more light at night, that doesn't necessarily correlate with crime statistics, said John Barentine, a consultant and former director of public policy for DarkSky International. American cities and towns often vastly exceed recommended levels of illumination, creating glare that can be blinding, he said. Lower-income neighborhoods with more people of color often had brighter lights than more affluent, white neighborhoods, he said. 'We're arguing in favor of public safety by preserving and enhancing nighttime visibility through better lighting design,' Mr. Barentine said. 'We're actually doing people a favor by bringing the light levels down, because we're helping the eye to operate most efficiently under nighttime conditions. We're aiding vision, rather than taking something away.' Still, there are limits to the benefits. Avalon Owens, a research fellow at the Rowland Institute at Harvard University, said that even warm, dim artificial light was usually too bright for most nocturnal insects, which have eyes that are thousands of times more sensitive than those of humans and are most active a few hours after dusk. Motion activated lighting was also preferable, she said. But shielding lights from natural areas did reduce some negative impacts on insects and the species that rely on them, Ms. Owens said. LEDs also use less power, generating fewer greenhouse-gas emissions, and climate change is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity. 'It's a matter of minimizing harm,' Ms. Owens said. The City of Pittsburgh also has about 3,450 LED streetlights with color-temperatures of 4000 Kelvin that will be swapped out for the new, warmer versions. The $15 million project is expected to be completed in 2027. Other places that comply with Dark Sky lighting guidelines include Flagstaff, Ariz., and Jackson Hole Airport, Wyo., Mr. Barentine said, adding that Pittsburgh's Dark Sky ordinance was notable for a city of its size. One afternoon in early July, Chat Ott, an installer, was high up in a cherry picker, swapping out a streetlight on the city's North Side. He's found all traces of wildlife in the old lamps, including mouse nests, old beehives and, once, a startled squirrel. Later that night, Barb and Shawn Jackson, who live nearby, assessed the new streetlights. They liked the safety aspect, they said, because children biked around at night, but they felt the lights were brighter than the old ones, a concern echoed by some on Reddit. Jacob Williams, a press officer for the City of Pittsburgh, said residents could petition the city to dim the lights and request shields for the new fixtures. Ms. Turnshek, for her part, plans to continue advocating for sites she considers too brightly lit, such as bridges. The hope, she said, is that more cities will follow, and more residents will see the advantages of curbing light pollution and embracing the night. 'I would like to teach people that darkness has value,' she said. 'That it's not just the absence of light.' This story idea came to us from a reader. We'd love to hear from you, too. Tell Us About Solutions Where You Live
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Ohio State Fair weather forecast: Will rain or extreme heat spoil a dozen days of fun?
It'll be a cool 45 degrees for the Ohio State Fair butter cow inside its temperature-controlled case at the Dairy Products Building. The rest of us fair-goers run a much higher chance of melting over the next 12 days. Weather forecasts for much of the 170th fair's run from July 23 to Aug. 3 call for above-average daily highs and normal chances of rain. What does that translate to on the midway at the Ohio Expo Center and State Fairgrounds on Columbus' North Side? According to the National Weather Service, this means temperatures in the upper 80s to low 90s, with mostly rain-free, albeit muggy, days. The weather service forecast for the fair's opening days calls for high temperatures near 91 with mostly clear skies on July 23, near 94 with a 30% chance of rain on July 24, near 92 with a 50% chance of rain on July 25 and near 91 with a 50% chance of rain on July 26. Longer-range forecasts from AccuWeather show the highest probabilities of rain on July 26 (78%) and July 27 (71%), with more than 50% probabilities on July 25, 30 and 31 as well. Your best bet, weather-wise, according to AccuWeather, is the Ohio State Fair's closing day on Aug. 3, when the forecast calls for a high temperature of 83 with just a 5% probability of rain. Ohio State Fair Forecast for week of July 21, 2025 The National Weather Service in Wilmington issued the following forecast in Columbus for the week of July 21, 2025. Monday, July 21: A 30% chance of showers between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 83 degrees. Northeast winds of around 6 mph. New rain levels of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 62. Northeast winds of around 6 mph. Tuesday, July 22: Sunny, with a high near 86 degrees. East winds from 3 to 5 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 65 degrees. Wednesday, July 23: Sunny, with a high near 91. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 72. Thursday, July 24: A 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 p.m. Sunny, with a high near 94. Thursday Night: A 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8 p.m. Partly cloudy, with a low around 76. Friday, July 25: A 60% chance of showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. Friday Night: A 60% chance of showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74. Saturday, July 26: A 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 91. When does the Ohio State Fair 2025 begin? The Dispatch has an answer to every possible question you might have about the 2025 Ohio State Fair. Need to know where to get tickets or where to park? We've got an answer for that. Want to know who's performing on the big stage? We know that, too. Check out our 2025 Ohio State Fair guides: Rodeos, rides and renovations: See what's new at the Ohio State Fair Ohio State fair tickets, parking info: What you need to know Trace Adkins, Taylor Swift tribute shows added to Ohio State Fair entertainment lineup Ohio State Fair's 2025 menu includes sausage s'mores and peanut butter-chocolate lemonade What are this year's Ohio State Fair deviled egg flavors? Reporter Bob Vitale can be reached at rvitale@ This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 2025 Ohio State Fair weather forecast Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Game 101 Thread: Royals vs. Cubs
It's Cubs time! Sorry this is so limited in scope, but I forgot to send this before I left for dinner and mobile Chorus is a pain in the butt. No PCA today for the Cubs, which is good timing for Kansas City Cubs lineup: Royals lineup: Noah takes the mound on the North Side. — Kansas City Royals (@ 2025-07-21T19:52:49.188Z More from Royals salvage series by beating Marlins 7-4 Royals 2025 draft signing tracker Gamethread 100: Royals at Marlins Royals Reacts Results - Fans overwhelmingly approve of latest draft Royals bullpen blows another game; they lose to Marlins 3-1 Royals Rumblings - News for July 21, 2025 Weekend Rumblings - News for July 19, 2025
