Latest news with #Post-Gazette
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Steelers respond to angry fans after Mason Rudolph, Miles Killebrew give President Donald Trump jersey at rally
The Pittsburgh Steelers are reportedly responding to fans upset that current and former members of the team attended a rally hosted by President Donald Trump on Friday, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Quarterback Mason Rudolph, safety Miles Killebrew and former Steelers running back Rocky Bleier all attended a rally hosted by Trump in West Mifflin, Pa, not far from Pittsburgh. At the event, the three presented Trump with a Steelers No. 47 jersey. Advertisement Some fans were upset about that decision, and decided to email the team with their complaints. The team reportedly responded to those fans, saying current and former players are allowed to make their own decisions, and that their views "do not necessarily represent the view of the entire Pittsburgh Steelers organization," per the Post-Gazette. 'We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us. As valued fans, your voice is an essential part of what makes our Steelers community and fan base so strong. 'We understand that a recent rally in Pittsburgh has generated a range of reactions from our fan base. Our alumni and current players make their own individual decisions that reflect their views, and they do not necessarily represent the view of the entire Pittsburgh Steelers organization. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your passion and your continued support of the team." Team spokesperson Burt Lauten confirmed to the Post-Gazette that the team sent out that email to fans. Rudolph was asked about the appearance — and the backlash it caused among fans — at team workouts Wednesday. He stressed the importance of freedom of speech. 'There's backlash every day,' Rudolph said. 'You look on social media, there's constant ... that's the nature of social media. That's why America is so great. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Speech is free. Par for the course.' Rudolph currently sits at the top of the Steelers' quarterback depth chart. He slated to be the team's starter unless it signs veteran Aaron Rodgers. Advertisement Killebrew added that he always dreamed about meeting the president as a kid, and wanted to be able to tell his kids he met a sitting U.S. president. The Rooney family, which owns the Steelers, has supported Democratic politicians in the past, including former President Barack Obama.
Gulf Today
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Fetterman has long been viewed as progressive
US Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania made something abundantly clear almost 18 months ago — regardless of his enthusiastic endorsement of Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016, his long support for the disputed community, and his strong backing of unions and other views aligning him with liberal Democrats. 'I'm not a progressive,' Fetterman, who reportedly faces more staff departures amid concerns about his health and behaviour, told NBC News in December 2023. But even now, nearly four months into the second Trump administration — after backing several Cabinet nominees and supporting both Republican-led immigration legislation and some of the White House's expansive detention and deportation efforts — several Democratic donors and supporters told the Post-Gazette they have increasingly found Fetterman to be far from the progressive leader they expected. Some Democrats reportedly are already discussing potential primary challengers or replacements if Fetterman resigns — which he says he won't do. And Republicans are openly supportive of Fetterman and trying to swing him toward the GOP — which he's said for months isn't going to happen. But Fetterman has always been somewhat of a wild card. His stances and actions dating back to his time as mayor of Braddock, a borough of less than 2,000 along the Monongahela River, shows a complicated picture suggesting he was never going to be a 'sidekick' to Sanders, I-Vt., or anyone, as Republican Senate opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz tried to insist in 2022. 'I always considered him to be somewhat of a populist, maverick contrarian,' Larry Ceisler, a Pennsylvania public affairs executive, told the Post-Gazette. Ceisler, a Democrat, said Fetterman has a rare ability to hold strong views while also coming across as an 'empty vessel — and not in a derogatory way.' 'Voters would see in him what they wanted,' he said. 'They would project their own beliefs onto him. So if people were progressive, they thought he was progressive because he endorsed Bernie Sanders, but others would think he was ... not necessarily moderate, but willing to be contrarian, to go against the normal Democratic grain.' Experts tell the Post-Gazette that Democrats may be jumping the gun in terms of pushing for Fetterman to resign or be primaried, and that Republicans who have embraced him since he became a leading voice in support of Israel should keep in mind he largely still votes with Democrats. Fetterman's complicated history on a variety of issues illustrates that he is more of a maverick than any progressive label attached to him a few years ago, said Mike Butler, a Democratic political strategist based in Pittsburgh. 'People just presumed that he'd be progressive on any and every issue, in the same way that Bernie Sanders is, essentially,' Butler said. 'But if you really listen to his rhetoric and have watched him, he has always kind of cultivated more of the building trades, more of the communities that were left behind by industrialisation.' In Braddock, Fetterman supported bringing businesses to town, large or small — he didn't care who wanted to locate there. He also believed he had a 'mandate' to experiment in certain areas, despite winning his first mayoral primary by a single vote. Fetterman came to Braddock after serving in AmeriCorps in the Hill District in Pittsburgh, where he taught GED classes and helped set up computer labs. Before he became mayor, he bought an old Presbyterian church in July 2003. In the opening months of 2006, after he was elected, he focused on creating a community center in the space. When teenagers were seen drawing graffiti around town, he said it would be wrong to crack down on them harshly. 'What you have is a disenfranchised young person who is disaffected and has few options,' Fetterman said, according to a Post-Gazette article from May 2006. 'One shouldn't make the erroneous assumption that it's some kind of movement, some kind of criminal element.' Fetterman has stood against the Mon-Fayette Expressway, a planned state highway expansion project that, in some versions, would have cut through Braddock. He was supportive of new housing projects in the borough, saying the community needed more housing and development where many vacant lots were scattered throughout the area. And he fought for months to save UPMC Braddock hospital, although his and other elected officials' efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. It was one of the few times that many council members, who frequently clashed with him when he was mayor, agreed with Fetterman. Fetterman vetoed a three-mill tax increase in the 2012 budget from the borough council, saying it would be especially burdensome on elderly homeowners. Historically, he opposed any proposed tax increases the borough council considered. Fetterman also wrote letters to the editor and some columns for the Post-Gazette, where — in April 2013 — he argued that taxing nonprofits like UPMC and others would be bad public policy. This placed him at odds with Ed Gainey and Corey O'Connor, the two Democratic candidates for Pittsburgh mayor this year. Fetterman performed the first same-sex wedding ceremony in Allegheny County in August 2013 — defying a statewide ban. As lieutenant governor, Fetterman trumpeted his support of marijuana legalization by hanging a large marijuana-plant banner from his office balcony. He was also chair of the Board on Pardons at the time, pressing for more clemency and commutations of life sentences, and becoming a vocal critic of then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who faced pressure to increase his votes for commutations. During his first unsuccessful Senate run in 2016, and since he took office in 2023, Fetterman has supported traditional Democratic positions in a number of areas, including stronger gun legislation, protection of abortion rights, pro-labor policy and marijuana legalization. He has called on President Donald Trump to reverse course on policies targeting transgender Americans, particularly a ban on transgender military servicemembers that's being challenged in court. The senator has also pushed against the administration's efforts to undercut union support, and described the Department of Government Efficiency's efforts as chaotic. But he's also faced criticism from those who think congressional Democrats should do more to protect federal workers and blunt the White House's expansive cuts to federal spending and grants. As he has been in the past, Fetterman remains quick to criticise his own party. In 2024 he called for former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez's resignation or expulsion amid a corruption scandal. He mocked progressives' response to Trump's joint address to Congress in March, characterizing it as lousy political messaging — 'a sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance.' He was the lone Democrat to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago before the president took office, the lone Democrat voting to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general, and in March he was the first Democrat to say he wouldn't vote for a government shutdown, eventually joining nine others who advanced a Republican-led spending package House Democrats had rejected. 'I'm the senator for all Pennsylvanians — not just Democrats in Pennsylvania,' Fetterman said before the Trump meeting. 'No one is my gatekeeper."
CBS News
24-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Rockaway Pizzeria opening new Regent Square location after moving from White Oak
Rockaway Pizzeria is ready to open its doors at its new location in Regent Square after moving from White Oak. The new shop located along S. Braddock Avenue will be opening its doors at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, May 2. Rockaway owner Josh Sickels closed his White Oak location back in the fall and has been preparing for the last several months to relocate and reopen at the new location that's closer to Pittsburgh. Sickels told the Post-Gazette that he's used the last few months while Rockaway was in the process of moving to take a pizza-focused road trip, experiment with some new ideas, and reshape his approach to how he makes pizza. Rockaway Pizzeria is set to open the doors at its new Regent Square location. Owner Josh Sickels closed the spot's White Oak location in the fall and spent the last several months on a pizza-focused road trip while preparing to relocate to the new spot on S. Braddock Avenue. KDKA During that pizza-focused road trip, Sickels traveled to New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut to garner some inspiration for new ideas he can roll out at the new Regent Square location. Rockaway was one of several pizza places throughout the Pittsburgh area that were visited by Dave Portnoy, who was doing video reviews for his One Bite series on YouTube. Along with A Slice of New York and Pizza Lupo, Rockaway received a very high score of 8.2 during Portnoy's visit. In addition to their renowned pizza, Rockaway will be offering a limited selection of hoagies at the new location. When the new Regent Square location opens next Friday, it's going to be first come, first served and eventually phone ordering will be added into the mix.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Can a progressive mayor survive in Pittsburgh?
PITTSBURGH — On Thursday morning, after he'd announced a new affordable housing tracker and before he headed to a debate with his opponent, Mayor Ed Gainey contemplated why so many people didn't want him to have a second term. 'We've never had a city that was extremely open to all people,' said Gainey, sitting in his city hall office, across from portraits of Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King, Jr. 'What I've learned about politics through the years is that it's about control.' Gainey, who in 2021 became the first black mayor of Pittsburgh, was supported by a local progressive movement that took down incumbents. He was the first candidate in nearly 90 years to oust a mayor, Bill Peduto, who faced Black Lives Matter protests and struggled to turn out his base. One month out from the next Democratic primary, Gainey is now trying to avoid Peduto's fate. He has been out-fundraised by Allegheny County Controller Corey O'Connor, whose polling puts him 18 points ahead of the mayor. Both candidates are running as progressives who'll take on the Trump administration, a common dynamic in deep blue Democratic cities. And in those cities, candidates who won as progressive reformers are struggling, facing opponents who argue that their approach has not just hurt residents but discredited the party. 'There's a lack of leadership and support for public safety,' O'Connor told Semafor. 'If we start proving to people that we can start managing our cities again, that we see growth and jobs and opportunity, that helps us on a national stage.' Pittsburgh has not seen the sort of capital flight or high-profile crime surge that weakened progressive mayors in other cities since 2020. The city's population is stable, and its homicide rate fell last year, despite an ongoing struggle to find a permanent police chief that's been a source of bad headlines for Gainey. But in very different places, the same story has played out: Voters who demanded police reform and fair housing have soured quickly on progressive mayors and questioned their competence. In St. Louis, voters tossed out Mayor Tishaura Jones, who'd won her single term as a champion of the Black Lives Matter movement. In Oakland, scandal-plagued mayor Sheng Thao was recalled on the same day that a reform prosecutor was recalled; former Rep. Barbara Lee, a progressive who entered the replacement election as a heavy favorite, appears to have lost it. If the final count of ranked-choice voters holds up, the mayor of one of America's most liberal cities will be Loren Taylor, a former city council member who ran on hiring more police and using drones to pursue more criminals. Gainey has a unique challenge in Pittsburgh, where he and other Democrats have refused to speak with the city's biggest newspaper, the Post-Gazette, until it settles a labor dispute that began early in his term. 'I'm the one that's been their lightning rod,' Gainey said, pointing to the paper's steadily negative coverage. He's also lost some Democratic organization and union endorsements to O'Connor, and Democrats who want change say they will simply get better leadership — still progressive — if he's gone. 'There's a continuing sense of frustration about opportunity,' said DeWitt Walton, an Allegheny County Council member who supports the challenger. 'We're faced with increasing downward economic pressures and he hasn't provided some kind of leadership.' The mayor's progressive allies say that the city's old guard and the developers who typically hold influence on urban politics are trying to wrestle back control. They do not say that everything has gone right under Gainey; they say that he's been lied about, and not given the time and space to succeed. 'We're seeing an attack on progressives. We're seeing an attack on black politics,' said Rep. Summer Lee. 'It's important to note that these are the very same people who have had control over our government for decades upon decades upon decades, who are now trying to convince you that progressives being in office for two years have somehow done damage. They're saying: Listen, we gave you two years, and you weren't able to undo the damage that we've done generationally. But that's just not the narrative that's getting out.' To counter that, Gainey has worked to nationalize the race, portraying O'Connor as a 'MAGA money' candidate, based on donations from people who've also given to Republicans. 'My opponent knows that these are lies,' O'Connor shot back at Thursday's debate. 'He's known me for 30 years.' The two men haven't disagreed on opposing the Trump administration, at every possible level. Both say they would refuse to cooperate with ICE; both oppose the new president's orders on gender and race that have already forced policy reversals on Pittsburgh hospitals. On Wednesday, Gainey joined activists at an SEIU office downtown for a town hall on how he was resisting the administration. 'I'm not concerned about what they do in DC,' Gainey told his audience. 'I'm concerned that they understand that if you want to do business with me, that you have to adhere to the anti-discrimination policies that we put in place.' It was ironic, he added, that a president who had questioned Barack Obama's citizenship 'put a man from South Africa' into a position where he can 'bring terror on America.' I heard a common goal from Gainey and O'Connor this week, in between the disagreements. Both wanted Pittsburgh to thrive in a way that changed how people looked at the city, and at progressive governance. Both wanted to show that Democrats could fight crime, build housing, and make cities livable in a way that refuted MAGA and Republican attacks. Gainey said that project was underway, and he acknowledged that there had been a backlash to the progressive energy that swept people like him and Lee into office. That was visible as early as 2023, when Sara Innamorato, who like Lee had beaten an incumbent state legislator with an unapologetically democratic socialist campaign, barely won the race for Allegheny County executive. (During the campaign, she rejected the 'democratic socialist' label.) 'I think that justice is always going to be at the forefront of how we advance society,' said Gainey. 'You will always have the contrast to that of people of power who are comfortable with the way society is, because it's in their best interest. Sometimes the power can feel too heavy, and people may weary for a moment. But I've never seen a people stay down when oppression is rising.' O'Connor saw a different way to the goal of Democratic credibility: Getting rid of Gainey, adding more public safety resources, and spending money more wisely. 'You look at how they managed the COVID relief money,' he said. 'We've seen other cities buy new ambulances — which we need, they're breaking down. Buy new plow trucks, update your fleet, update your technology. Instead, we went out and hired 100 employees, who next year we can't pay.' He was talking about a new administration in DC that saw progressive governance as a disaster, and would be working to undermine and defund it. Mayors elected in Trump's first term could mobilize against him; mayors elected under Biden could talk about the resources they might get from a friendly administration. This is new territory and no incumbent has crossed it yet. For 90.5 WESA in Pittsburgh, Chris Potter how Gainey wants to nationalize the election. 'Gainey has taken up the mantle of community protector, fending off Trump's policies on immigration and almost everything else.'
