Latest news with #Pittsburgher
Business Journals
4 days ago
- General
- Business Journals
The Rev. Jerrel T. Gilliam
The Rev. Jerrel Gilliam leads Light of Life Rescue Mission, a Christian nonprofit serving Pittsburgh's unhoused community. With over 30 years in ministry, he has served as lead pastor of Shiloh Church in South Park and provided consulting to churches and faith-based organizations. A lifelong Pittsburgher with a heart for service, Jerrel brings compassion, leadership, and deep local roots to the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Board of Directors.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CitiParks Farmers Markets returning to Pittsburgh neighborhoods beginning on Sunday
Residents and visitors can enjoy the colors, flavors and sounds of summer when the CitiParks Farmers Markets return to Pittsburgh beginning on Sunday. On Wednesday, the City of Pittsburgh announced the 2025 schedule for the popular markets, which offer residents and visitors a chance to shop for fresh, local and sustainable products in their own neighborhoods. 'We're thrilled about this year's farmers markets and the continued investment in our city's local economy,' said CitiParks Director Kathryn Vargas. 'Our goal is to support the growth of small, sustainable businesses while creating an experience that every Pittsburgher will be excited to be part of. With revamped market layouts, we're able to add more vendors and continue to increase food access in these city neighborhoods.' With four neighborhood markets operating throughout the city, organizers promise something for everyone to enjoy. Here are the 2025 market locations and schedule: Sundays 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. - Squirrel Hill (May 11 – Dec. 21) Beacon/Bartlett parking lot Mondays 3 – 7 p.m. - East End (June 2 – Nov. 17) Liberty Green Park, Larimer Ave. Wednesdays 3 – 7 p.m. - Carrick (June 4 – Nov. 19) Carrick Dairy District, 1529 Brownsville Rd. Fridays 3 – 7 p.m. - North Side (May 16 – Nov. 21) Allegheny Commons Park, East Ohio & Cedar On Sunday, the Squirrel Hill market will open with a special market to celebrate Mother's Day. CitiParks will offer a beer garden at the North Side market on the last Friday of every month, featuring musical entertainment. Beginning in June, markets will feature special programming and theme weeks with community partners and more. The markets, which are operated by Pittsburgh's parks and recreation department, are set to feature expanded vendor selections, revamped layouts and new community programming, intended to make visits more engaging and accessible. Shoppers with SNAP benefits have access to fresh, nutritious and locally grown food, including produce, meat, dairy, bread and baked goods, produce plants, seeds and honey, organizers said. Hot prepared food items, alcohol and non-food items are not eligible for SNAP purchases. Food Bucks provide Fresh Access food stamp shoppers with extra money to spend on fruits and vegetables, organizers said. For every $5 spent on food stamps, they can receive an extra $2 to spend on produce. Owing to a grant from the Food Justice Fund, Just Harvet will add another $3 to these benefits for the 2025 market season, effectively doubling all SNAP benefits at all CitiParks Farmers Markets for the 2025 season. More information is available at More information on the 2025 markets can be found at or by emailing farmersmarkets@ Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
Technical.ly
02-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
As AI reshapes work, some Pittsburgh jobs vanish while others surge
Power Moves is a recurring series where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, gig or promotion? Email us at pittsburgh@ AI is reshaping Pittsburgh's job landscape, eliminating roles for some while creating new opportunities for others. Popular edtech company Duolingo recently announced they will stop hiring contractors for work they believe AI can handle, for example. Conversely, the AI data center–fueled energy demand is behind a local company's 100-person hiring push. Will these trends show up in government? It's now up to a Pittsburgher, at least in part, after he was appointed as the Pentagon's new chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, tasked with helping the US Department of Defense adopt new AI tech. Read on below the chart for more on these developments, and other power moves. Duolingo goes 'AI-first' in contracts and hiring Earlier this week, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn announced via a memo that the company will gradually replace contractors with AI for tasks that can be automated, as part of its shift to become more 'AI-first.' Along with moving away from contracted work, Ahn announced 'AI use' will be part of what the company looks for when hiring and evaluating employee performances. The announcement follows Duolingo's decision to cut about 10% of its contractor workforce in late 2023 for similar reasons. In a statement to Bloomberg, the company confirmed that AI was part of the reason for those cuts. In the recent memo, Ahn likened the move to Duolingo's previous bets on emerging technologies. 'When there's a shift this big, the worst thing you can do is wait,' Ahn wrote in the memo. 'In 2012, we bet on mobile. While others were focused on mobile companion apps for websites, we decided to build mobile-first because we saw it was the future… Betting on mobile made all the difference. We're making a similar call now, and this time the platform shift is AI.' Ahn said Duolingo will provide more training, mentorship and AI tools for existing staff, as it remains 'a company that cares deeply about its employees.' 'This isn't about replacing Duos with AI,' he wrote. 'It's about removing bottlenecks so we can do more with the outstanding Duos we already have.' Pittsburgh native named AI officer for Department of Defense The US Department of Defense has named Pittsburgh native Douglas Matty as its new chief digital and artificial intelligence officer (CDAO). In his new role, Matty will lead the DOD's accelerated adoption of data, analytics and artificial intelligence to 'generate decision advantage,' according to the CDAO website. He is the third official to lead the Pentagon's AI office. Prior to this appointment, Matty founded the US Army Artificial Intelligence Integration Center (AI2C), which focuses on developing, coordinating and synchronizing the Army's AI capabilities, and is located in a Bakery Square office space leased by Carnegie Mellon University. He was the director of US Army AI Capabilities for the Army Futures Command from 2020 to 2022. Matty was critical in bringing AI2C to Pittsburgh, Joanna Doven, the executive director of Pittsburgh's AI Strike Team, told the Pittsburgh Business Times. The center has been extremely significant in 'thickening the defense tech ecosystem in Pittsburgh and especially AI Avenue,' she said. ECI Telecom hiring 100 new employees A local employee-owned company is looking to hire 100 new people in the coming months because of the growing demand for energy and industrial automation. ECI, an automation control company located in Lawrence, PA, specializes in delivering Emerson Electric's industrial control products, such as control valves, regulators, and actuators, to market, along with engineering support and automation solutions for industries like oil and gas, power and manufacturing. The company is currently hiring for 100 new positions, 25% of its current workforce, in a variety of positions, including engineers, executive leadership, salespeople and project managers. 'When you look at the incredible demand on the power grid from things like artificial intelligence and growing investments of data centers, you look at new life science programs and pharmaceuticals, there's a growing investment bed that's happening here in Pittsburgh,' said ECI Chief Revenue Officer Loren Sjoquist in an interview with TechVibe Pittsburgh, a podcast produced by the Pittsburgh Technology Council. As an employee-owned company, ECI has a profit-sharing program and a high employee retention rate, according to Sjoquist, who said the average tenure is eight years. ECI is hosting a Tech Connect hiring event in partnership with the Pittsburgh Technology Council on May 15 at the ECI Operations Center in Lawrence. More power moves: An employment data analysis by the Pittsburgh Business Times found Pittsburgh's robotics and AI firms employ over 6,300 people locally, with the top employers being the Robotics Institute at CMU with 1,001 employees, Aurora Innovation with 800 and Google with 800. PNC COO William Parsley will step down from his position in July and take on the role of executive advisor until December, according to a filing from the US Securities and Exchanges Commission. Panopto, a Pittsburgh-based CMU spinout offering an AI-powered video learning platform, appointed Stephen Laster as its new CEO. Laster brings over two decades of executive experience to the role and will lead the company as it scales its platform. Local healthcare software firm Net Health named Christy Totin its new CFO, succeeding Patrick Rooney who will remain with the company as COO. Totin held several roles with Net Health before being promoted to her new position. Jeune Aesthetics, a subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based Krystal Biotech, has appointed Marc Forth as its new CEO. With over 30 years of leadership experience, including helping launch Botox, he'll guide the company's effort to reverse skin aging using Krystal's gene-delivery platform. Moon Township-based digital transformation firm Mastech Digital appointed Kannan Sugantharaman as both its new CFO and COO. His appointment coincides with Mastech's transition to be a more data and AI-led technology services company. Local nonprofit Prototype PGH recently launched Step On Up: Maker to Manufacturer, a six-month workforce development program that trains students in skills needed to fill advanced manufacturing positions. Abridge CEO Shiv Rao cited 'hypergrowth' as the reason why the AI startup is shifting its expansion focus to San Francisco, sparking debate in Pittsburgh's ecosystem over local talent acquisition challenges. Pittsburgh's job figures have steadily increased over the last five years, with the city adding more than 45,000 jobs since June 2020, according to recently released census data. Despite some losses due to the rise of remote work, downtown remains the region's largest job center. Kashif Henderson, executive director of the nonprofit Neighborhood Learning Alliance, won the Pittsburgh Tech Council's 2025 Tech Community Impact Award for his digital literacy efforts.
CBS News
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Ron Howard and Henry Winkler talk "Happy Days" reunion at Steel City Con
It's the Pittsburgh mecca for all things fandom. Steel City Con is back at the Monroeville Convention Center. At 10 a.m. on Friday, the doors to Steel City Con opened to thousands of pop culture fans, who were coming to do everything from a little shopping for vintage toys and art to showing off their unique outfits and costumes. The Kayla family, who came all dressed as different versions of Superman, say that this event is, "This has been kind of our tradition since he was little, little," said J.W. Kayla. "We started working on little costumes and then it grew into where we would just plan out a nice family costume and go do a quick change at the hotel, come back and do something different the rest of the day. I love it. It keeps you young and it's fun!" And part of the fun for a lot of people at these types of conventions is meeting their favorite celebrities. This weekend, over 30 stars from film and TV have made the journey to western Pennsylvania to connect with fans. And this Steel City Con is especially big because for the first time since the hit TV show "Happy Days" wrapped in 1984, its core cast members Henry Winkler, Ron Howard, Anson Williams and Don Most are all back together. KDKA-TV's Chris DeRose met up with both Ron Howard and Henry Winkler backstage. Chris DeRose: "What's so great about coming to these conventions and meeting fans?" Howard: "First of all, it's great, when you are working on film sets all the time, you are working more for each other and yourself, and you might to a primer or something, but it's all kind of formal," Howard said. And here, you just get that direct energy. But look, I got to say, largely we are here to have a reunion. And we all stay in touch, all of us. And here we are all going to be together and hang and have dinner." Winkler: "For the first time ever, we are all together. I have been with Don and Anson before, but this is Ron's second convention in history. I am overwhelmed that we are here all together." DeRose: "What makes 'Happy Days' withstand the test of time? It is still going; you can still turn on the TV and watch it." Winkler: "I will tell you why. Our leader, the genius of Garry Marshall set it in the 50s so it would be timeless, so that no matter when you turn it on, it was never dated and that was his thought, and the stories are human, wonderful stories." Howard: "They are about family, they are about friendship and those themes just endure." DeRose: "Well if Michael Keaton were here, another great Pittsburgher, we would have a 'Night Shift' reunion!" Howard: "We sure would. We sure would." Winkler: "Yes." DeRose: "Next time!" Howard: "Next time, you bet." DeRose: "Thank you guys!" Steel City Con runs through Sunday, April 6. For tickets and more information, click here .
CBS News
04-04-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Marc Fogel throws ceremonial first pitch at Pirates home opener after release from Russian prison
Marc Fogel , a Butler County native who spent over three years in a Russian prison before he was freed earlier this year, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Pirates home opener on Friday. The Pirates are back at PNC Park on Friday afternoon, facing off against the Yankees. Before the game started at 4:12 p.m., Fogel threw the ceremonial first pitch. Since coming back home , Fogel has been honored at a Penguins game and he was invited by First Lady Melania Trump to President Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress. While attending the Penguins game last month, Fogel released a statement thanking Pittsburgh's "warm, close-knit community that has rallied around our family during the toughest of times." "This incredible kindness shown by the Pittsburgh sports teams, along with the tremendous help from our local media, community leaders, politicians, artists, academics, advocates and activists strengthened my mentality to keep on keepin' on like a true Pittsburgher," he wrote. Fogel was detained in Moscow in August 2021 when he and his wife flew back to Russia for their 10th and final year of teaching in the country. His family said he was carrying 17 grams of cannabis for medical reasons to treat chronic back pain. He was transferred to a hard labor colony after getting a sentence of 14 years. Over the years, Fogel's family and lawmakers pushed to bring him home. The White House negotiated Fogel's release as part of a prisoner swap in February.
