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Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
O'Connor wins Pittsburgh's Democratic mayoral primary
Allegheny County Controller Corey O'Connor speaks following his victory in the Democratic mayoral primary, on May 20, 2025. (Quinn Glabicki/PublicSource) This story was originally published by PublicSource. Corey O'Connor, a longtime city and county elected official, East End resident and the son of Pittsburgh's 58th mayor, has the inside track to be the city's 62nd mayor after winning the Democratic primary Tuesday. The Associated Press called the race at 10:05 p.m. on Tuesday evening, with O'Connor more than 4,000 votes ahead and 80% of the votes counted. By 11 p.m. O'Connor had 53% of the tally, with 96% of votes counted. 'Your voices and your call for accountable leadership and growth have been heard in this Democratic primary,' O'Connor told a crowd of supporters at Nova Place in Allegheny Center. He pulled off a rare defeat of a sitting mayor, denying Ed Gainey a second term after pummeling him with more than $1 million worth of mostly negative advertisements leading up to the vote. 'Pittsburgh deserves better,' O'Connor declared in December, and proceeded to scathe Gainey's handling of city finances, police leadership and economic development during more than three years in the office. Flanked by supporters chanting his name, O'Connor declared that 'we are going to win in the fall.' He echoed his campaign promises of enhancing the city's police force, delivering affordable housing for all and supporting businesses of 'all sizes.' At the center of his address was the idea of pushing Pittsburgh into an era of growth, via a strategy that would begin with families first. He also said a 'neighborhood-oriented' approach was necessary. This would mean investing in the city's small business district instead of 'doing study after study.' Despite his criticism of Gainey's administration, he said the current mayor's love for Pittsburgh was never in doubt. They simply had differing plans for the future of the city. O'Connor called for unity in the Democratic Party during and after his speech. To those who didn't vote for him, he said, 'Let's sit down [and] have the conversation.' 'To me, it starts fresh. Tomorrow starts a whole new election in the fall, and we're going to need everybody to take that message of growth and opportunity to our fall election.' 'This has been a wonderful four years,' Gainey said in a concession speech at the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers headquarters in South Side. 'We didn't put a crack in the glass ceiling. We shattered it.' Gainey told his supporters that the coalition of voters that helped him prevail four years ago will remain 'on the rise' despite the setback. 'Don't be defeated,' Gainey said. 'Don't be sad. Be glad of the progress that we made. It would have been easy for me to bow to power but it was more exhilarating to fight them for you.' Gainey congratulated O'Connor on running a 'well-designed' campaign and, after some in the crowd jeered, said, 'We're not going to spread hate.' 'For me, Pittsburgh should be every family's first choice,' O'Connor said after casting his vote Tuesday morning. 'I think that's the kind of administration we would build. And we're excited to have that opportunity.' O'Connor will be a heavy favorite in the general election due to the large Democratic majority that has picked all of Pittsburgh's mayors since the 1930s. O'Connor, 40, is just the second challenger to unseat a Pittsburgh mayor running for reelection in nearly a century. The other was Gainey, who beat then-Mayor Bill Peduto in 2021. O'Connor's win comes as the city and nation are in a very different place than they were when social justice activists and a restless electorate took down Peduto and swept Gainey into office. Then, the nation was wobbling out of the pandemic's economic shock and Joe Biden was beginning his presidency. Now, Donald Trump is back in the White House and city leaders are wondering how his push for massive spending cuts will reshape the city the next mayor will lead. Then, Democratic politics was dominated by calls for police reform, with the protests following the murder of George Floyd fresh in the national mind. Now, neither candidate centered police accountability in their campaign, and both focused on economic and housing concerns after those issues were central to last year's presidential race. O'Connor spent much of the campaign criticizing Gainey's record, typical of a challenger, and would have his work cut out for him to make good on promises to build more affordable housing units than Gainey did, add officers to the police force and stabilize city finances that he has said are in disarray. 'I see a mayor that is managing decline instead of working to grow Pittsburgh,' O'Connor said when he launched his campaign in December. His economic development platform includes a 90-neighborhood 'cleanup program,' a promise to remediate blighted buildings and a pledge to invest $10 million in 10 business districts about the city — an idea similar to the Peduto-era program Avenues of Hope, which targeted investment at Pittsburgh's Black business communities. He faulted Gainey for not overseeing enough affordable housing construction and said he would alter the city's permitting and zoning system to encourage development. PublicSource reported in March that the city's real estate and development industries were donating largely to O'Connor, and some industry leaders said they did so because they found it too burdensome to navigate Pittsburgh's zoning and permitting process under Gainey. Finding a permanent police chief would be near the top of the next mayor's to-do list. O'Connor blasted Gainey throughout the campaign for failing to secure a permanent one; Gainey's first pick, Larry Scirotto, quit last year to referee college basketball and his pick to succeed Scirotto resigned before being confirmed by City Council. Perhaps the most daunting challenge in 2026 and beyond lies in the city's balance sheet, which O'Connor said contains a looming disaster. Real estate tax revenue has been depressed by changes to the assessment process and post-pandemic teleworking trends. The city's current five-year plan projects the rainy day fund to shrink from $208 million at the start of 2024 to $72 million at the end of 2029. Avoiding that fate would require cuts to staff or services, a revenue boost, or both. O'Connor's argument that Gainey has overseen decline in Pittsburgh was rebutted last week by new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, which estimated that Pittsburgh grew by more than 1% last year and sustained modest net growth across the first four years of this decade — a major development considering the city's decades of mostly steady decline since the 1980s. O'Connor grew up in Squirrel Hill and attended Central Catholic High School, where he later coached golf. His father, Bob O'Connor, became a City Council member when Corey was 7, became mayor when the son was 22 and died of brain cancer less than a year after that, in 2006. Corey O'Connor rarely talked about his father on the campaign trail this year, but has spent decades following his example. After graduating from Duquesne University and working for a few years in the office of former U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, he ran for his father's old City Council seat in 2011 using money left over from his late father's campaign account. He stayed in the seat for a decade before being appointed Allegheny County controller, but soon turned his gaze on his father's highest achievement, the mayor's office that his father reached, but held so briefly. His political foes debate how much he truly accomplished as a member of council, but he was doubtlessly present for significant moments in Pittsburgh's history. He served alongside the mayor who succeeded his father, Luke Ravenstahl, through eight years of Peduto's tenure and the progressive shift that brought Gainey into City Hall. The city emerged from state financial oversight during his decade on council, neighborhoods like Lawrenceville and the Strip District were transformed and unfathomable tragedy came to Pittsburgh with the Tree of Life shooting. The city was finding its footing as a medical and educational hub when O'Connor entered public life, and it faces some comparable turbulence today. The local economy is still evolving to the post-pandemic reality, and the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts would reshape numerous city institutions, including City Hall. Tony Moreno, a retired police detective from Brighton Heights, is the Republican mayoral nominee for the second time. He was an unlikely GOP champion in 2021, first running in the Democratic primary and ultimately winning the Republican nod through write-in votes. There was no write-in effort this time as city Republicans had a competitive mayoral primary for the first time since 2001. Moreno defeated Thomas West, a Lawrenceville clothing store owner. Moreno stood from his chair, slowly, with a smile in the back room of Moonlit Cafe in Brookline when the first poll results showed him taking an early lead. Moreno, who spent most of his day at the polls — even directing traffic following a minor crash on Route 51 near Carrick — said Pittsburgh's move toward progressive leadership has gone 'too far' for the historically blue-collar, Democratic city. He said his campaign transcends party politics. 'I believe the message is the win,' Moreno said. For Cindy and Jerry Weisser, Moreno's approachable demeanor attracts them to the Republican nominee. 'He's like one of us,' Cindy said while wearing a black and gold 'Tony Moreno for Mayor' T-shirt. The couple said their North Side neighbors include several condemned properties, and they believe Moreno is best poised to improve struggling neighborhoods. Moreno has campaigned heavily on public safety, calling for more support to the police force and better access to mental health services, such as having social workers on police calls, he said. Moreno ran largely on his background as a police officer, saying the city administration has betrayed its officers and should invest more resources in the force. Gainey defeated Moreno in the 2021 general election, 71% to 28%. Moreno reported raising $4,000 in the months leading up to the primary. Looking forward to his general election campaign against O'Connor, Moreno said his team is celebrating now, but is ready to push his same campaign messages into the coming months. 'It's just asking the questions the community is asking,' Moreno said. City Councilor Bobby Wilson, whose district includes parts of the North Side and the Strip District, said the primary result was 'very promising for the future of Pittsburgh.' Speaking at the nominee's party, he said O'Connor would be ready on day one to tackle issues facing the city including tax revenue from Downtown and an aging emergency services vehicle fleet. 'This is a correction from three years ago,' Wilson said. 'It's time to move on.' 'He and I could always have very honest and frank conversations together, even when we disagreed,' Lavelle added. Councilor Khari Mosley, who represents Gainey's neighborhood in the northeast of the city, said the mayor has been 'a great partner.' 'I think his lived experience gave him a unique perspective on the challenges that are facing the city,' Mosley said. 'He's lived through a lot of challenges that so many Pittsburghers are living and experiencing.' Charlie Wolfson is PublicSource's local government reporter. He can be reached at charlie@ This article is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Families, officials fault UPMC for conceding to Trump order on gender-affirming care for youth
Lavier Pounds, a volunteer with TransYOUniting, of the North Side, rallies the crowd in the rain outside UPMC's Downtown headquarters as they call for UPMC to reinstate gender-affirming care for people under 19, on Thursday, April 3, 2025. 'It's okay to be ourselves," said Pounds. "I'm here to help us uprise." (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource) T his article first appeared on PublicSource and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. About 200 people turned out in rainy weather to rally outside UPMC headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh Thursday evening. Standing under rainbow umbrellas and waving trans pride flags, they rebuked the health care giant for rolling back young people's access to gender-affirming care. Advocacy groups including TransYOUniting, the Pennsylvania Youth Congress and others organized the action after learning that UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh had stopped providing gender-affirming health services to LGBTQ+ kids. They viewed the move as a capitulation to the Trump administration's plan to exclude trans people from public life. Several children were in attendance, including Oliver, 10, of Lawrenceville who waved a 'Protect Trans Kids' sign while chanting slogans with the crowd. 'I'm mad because I'm transgender,' they said. PublicSource is withholding Oliver's last name at the request of their parent, K.T. Fishbein, an echocardiographer at Children's Hospital. Like most trans and nonbinary children, Oliver isn't seeking gender-affirming care yet. But Fishbein 'was pretty upset' by their employer's decision to deny care to the children who need it, and worries that Oliver and others may not have access in the future. 'I love what I do at Children's. I love my community there,' Fishbein said. 'But this makes you feel really let down.' During the rally, organizers attempted to deliver a letter signed by Mayor Ed Gainey and 14 other state and local officials to UPMC leadership. It wasn't accepted, but it called on the executives to: Immediately restore access to gender-affirming care at Children's Hospital Establish an advisory committee that includes trans youth to oversee administration of care Fund alternative providers if a court order bars it from providing gender-affirming care, among other demands. '… You are choosing to send a devastating message to the entire trans community that their health and futures are negotiable under political pressure,' they wrote to UPMC executives. 'Continuing to provide comparable medical care to cisgender young people but not transgender youth is discrimination.' In a speech, Gainey told rallygoers to 'stand up and force UPMC to do the right thing.' Asked if the city has the leverage to pressure UPMC to restore access to gender-affirming care, he wrote, 'the City of Pittsburgh has laws on the books to ensure people have equal access to health care regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.' 'My administration's law department is examining legal avenues to enforce our city's non-discrimination policies, and we expect health systems that operate here to follow the law,' he said in a statement to PublicSource after the rally. Rallies were also held today in Erie, Altoona, Lancaster, and Lewisburg — all cities where UPMC operates. In January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that threatens to pull federal funding from hospitals, medical schools and other institutions that provide gender-affirming care to minors, which it defines as those under age 19. The order's language specifically mentions puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery — all of which are medically necessary for those who suffer from gender dysphoria, according to a consensus among major medical associations. A federal judge in Maryland extended a nationwide injunction last month that blocks enforcement of the order. The White House didn't immediately respond to a question about its compliance with the court, though it said in February that the order is 'already having its intended effect.' The statement listed six hospitals, including one in Philadelphia, that were pausing or reviewing gender-affirming services for minors. Some large health systems quickly bent to the pressure and began turning young LGBTQ+ patients away just days after Trump signed the executive order. UPMC may have waited longer before quietly changing its policies around gender-affirming care for minors. Patients and their families told reporters last month that its providers had stopped prescribing puberty blockers and hormones. And it canceled an 18-year-old's top surgery, which was scheduled for March 24. A spokesperson wrote that UPMC is monitoring federal directives that affect its ability to provide 'specific types of care' to patients under 19. 'We continue to offer necessary behavioral health and other support within the bounds of the law. We empathize with the patients and families who are directly affected by these ongoing changes.' The spokesperson didn't answer detailed questions about UPMC's rationale for denying young patients who need gender-affirming care, the role federal funding may have played in that decision, and the specific services it chose to eliminate. Advocates characterized UPMC's actions as a shocking and premature indulgence of the administration's anti-trans agenda. They pointed to lawsuits arguing the executive order is unconstitutional, the nationwide injunction blocking its enforcement and the City of Pittsburgh's sanctuary laws shielding providers from criminalization. 'What UPMC is doing is preemptive and there's no basis for it,' said Dena Stanley, a lead organizer of the rally and the executive director of TransYOUniting. The nonprofit serves LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive people, and helps run the QMNTY Center, a safe haven for the community on the North Side. 'We all understand what Trump is trying to do, but they also have power,' she said, noting that UPMC has the legal resources to 'stand up and fight back.' Stanley pointed out that UPMC is a major provider of gender-affirming surgeries in Western Pennsylvania. Its domination of the regional market leaves young people who need top surgeries with few alternatives unless they can afford to travel. 'These children are just devastated,' she said. 'And their families are devastated.' Allegheny Health Network, the region's other big health system, offers gender-affirming care at its Center for Inclusion Health, a low-barrier clinic on the North Side. Its Transgender Health Program provides primary care and surgical services including facial feminization and chest reconstruction. 'AHN remains committed to supporting the comprehensive needs of these patients, including primary care, surgical care and mental health support, while complying with all applicable laws,' a spokesperson wrote in response to detailed questions. Some independently owned clinics are opening their doors to the young trans and queer patients who were denied care by UPMC. About two weeks ago, providers from Children's Hospital started referring these patients to Allegheny Reproductive Health Center— an East Liberty clinic offering a range of gender-affirming services, according to Sheila Ramgopal, the center's chief executive and an obstetrician and gynecologist. Ramgopal said the providers were distraught while they spoke with the center's staff, explaining they had been pulled into 'a closed-door meeting' with UPMC executives. The executives reportedly told them they could no longer provide gender-affirming services to LGBTQ+ children, including hormone therapy and surgical services. 'We're getting emails and messages from these providers who are desperately trying to find their clients care … My hats off to them for really trying to find places where people can go and still be safe, and hopefully they don't get in trouble for doing that.' If UPMC continues this policy in the long-term, Ramgopal predicted that some gender-affirming care providers will leave its system to treat young patients elsewhere. But non-compete agreements may bar them from working for other employers in the county, which means the region would lose their medical expertise unless UPMC agrees to not to enforce those agreements, they said. Ramgopal said there's precedent: UPMC allows abortion providers to leave its system for jobs at Allegheny Reproductive Health Center, Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania and other independent facilities in the county. But they're still barred from joining the AHN system. 'My hope is this would be a negotiable issue with UPMC,' they said. 'There's a lot of providers who live and work in Pittsburgh who want to continue to do this work here.' A spokesperson didn't answer a question about UPMC's flexibility around non-compete agreements. Venuri Siriwardane is PublicSource's health and mental health reporter. She can be reached at venuri@ or on Bluesky @ Stephanie Strasburg is a photojournalist with PublicSource who can be reached at stephanie@ on Instagram @stephaniestrasburg. The Jewish Healthcare Foundation has contributed funding to PublicSource's health care reporting.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Cut Medicaid? There's no option that wouldn't cause pain, says Pitt health researcher.
Marian Jarlenski, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Public Health, on March 27 at the Café Carnegie in Oakland. (Photo by Anastasia Busby/PublicSource) PublicSource is an independent nonprofit newsroom serving the Pittsburgh region. Sign up for our free newsletters.' Deep cuts to Medicaid are being debated on Capitol Hill right now. Lawmakers could slash federal funding for state programs, force enrollees to work to keep their coverage or kick those who qualified under expansions off the rolls, among the options on the table. The U.S. House of Representatives, narrowly controlled by Republicans, passed a bill last month requiring the Committee on Energy and Commerce to find $880 billion in spending cuts over a decade — a necessity to extend tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy. The committee oversees Medicaid, which means some aspects of the program will likely be on the chopping block. What kind of cuts are we most likely to see? And what could they mean for vulnerable — and even well-off — people in the Pittsburgh region? We asked Marian Jarlenski, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Public Health and associate director of CONVERGE@Pitt, a research center that studies sexual and reproductive health. She's an expert on Medicaid whose research explores how its policies and programs could improve pregnancy and reproductive health outcomes. Her team built this dashboard that offers a snapshot of Medicaid reliance in congressional districts nationwide. It shows that about 174,000 people in Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district — which includes the City of Pittsburgh and is represented by Democrat Rep. Summer Lee — are enrolled in Medicaid and the state's Children's Health Insurance Program [CHIP]. Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal government and states, with each state administering its own program. The generosity of those programs can vary, but Jarlenski said Pennsylvania's program is fairly robust. It covers kids with disabilities regardless of household income, connects people leaving jails and prisons with care, and integrates parts of Medicare and Medicaid plans for those who qualify for both. Those 'innovative programs' could now be at risk, she said. 'It's hindering our ability in Pennsylvania to move forward … and think of new ways to address public health. Instead, [we'll be] on the defensive and saying, 'Where can we cut?'' The following conversation was edited for length and clarity. Q: Medicaid cuts can take many forms. Which ones would cause the most damage? This is a tough question to answer because we don't know the details of how cuts would be implemented. But the three main cuts that Congress could consider would be: 1) Imposing a work requirement, which makes each person document their work status. The evidence shows it doesn't increase employment, but instead creates more red tape and causes people to lose their benefits. 2) The block grant option. The federal government gives a lump sum of money to states, and states decide how to allocate the money. Typically, the lump sum would grow more slowly than the cost of medical care would grow. And so over time, states could have to limit who's on Medicaid. Waiting lists for benefits existed before the Affordable Care Act [ACA]. We had what's known as 'state-only programs' and the funding for them was restricted. This happened in Oregon, which had a waiting list for the Oregon Health Plan because there just wasn't enough money to cover everyone. I think the brute force of this cut would cause the most damage. It would make it really infeasible for Pennsylvania and other states to provide the kind of benefits they do now. And that's why 20% of adults were uninsured in the United States before the ACA allowed Medicaid expansion. Because it's just so cost-prohibitive for each state to go it alone. 3) And the third potential option is cutting off the federal match for the Medicaid expansion population. (The ACA allows states to expand coverage to adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level.) In Pennsylvania, the Medicaid expansion population is low-income adults who don't have dependent children, and many low-income parents who have dependent children. The federal government pays 90% of the cost of this group's Medicaid insurance, and cutting that off would increase the state's spending burden. The increased pressure on our state budget could have negative spillover effects in other areas, such as education, transportation, economic development, all those big-ticket items. Q: A fifth of Allegheny County residents rely on Medicaid. And your lab's dashboard shows that more than 174,000 people in the congressional district that includes the City of Pittsburgh rely on Medicaid and CHIP. How do those numbers compare to what we're seeing on a national level? Our county and congressional district line up pretty closely with the national average. More than 20% of Americans are enrolled in Medicaid. Who are they? Working class and poor people who need health insurance. It also includes pregnant patients, a lot of kids, and importantly, people in long-term care settings who spent all their assets paying for those services. So a lot of middle- and even upper-middle class people will rely on Medicaid for their long-term care needs in old age. Also, about a third of births in Allegheny County are covered by Medicaid. And we have a new policy in Pennsylvania: Any baby whose birth is covered by Medicaid is now automatically enrolled in the program through age 6, which is really exciting. But these cuts would put the health insurance of pregnant women and kids up to age 6 at risk. Q: I want to pick up the thread on older adults with different class backgrounds needing Medicaid. We know that Medicare generally won't pay for nursing home care, but Medicaid will. Our county has a higher concentration of older adults than most other large counties in the country. Could these cuts have a disproportionate impact here because of that? I think it depends on the type of cuts. Some of the proposals to cut Medicaid would exempt people with disabilities, including long-term care residents. For example, a work requirement would not apply to them. … If we're going into a block grant or limiting per-person spending, it would absolutely hurt the ability of nursing homes in our area to serve all. It can cost up to $100,000 a year per person for nursing home care, not counting additional health care in the hospital and things that may be paid for by Medicare. So I definitely would be concerned if we're talking about limiting spending per person, or an overall block grant, for the feasibility of nursing homes to continue to serve the population. Q: You study Medicaid's impact on pregnancy and reproductive health outcomes. We know that maternal and infant health outcomes are worse for Black people than their white counterparts in the county. Could these cuts exacerbate the disparities? That's an excellent question. Before I answer it, I want to emphasize that Medicaid coverage is the same regardless of your race or ethnicity. But because of social and historical factors, such as redlining, we see in the demographic data that people of color might be more likely to be working class and belong to low-income households in Allegheny County. So we do see a slightly higher rate of Medicaid coverage in populations of color. Medicaid is the single largest program in pregnancy and reproductive health space, so I feel it could really incentivize health care systems or Medicaid health plans to focus on interventions to reduce health disparities. If it's a big part of the population you serve, you're going to notice and document the disparities and try to take action to intervene on those. So in that sense, Medicaid coverage is the floor on which we could build interventions to address health disparities and ensure that everybody has high quality care and good pregnancy outcomes. If that floor goes away, those systems will be scrambling for basic insurance coverage instead of trying to build a better future. Q: We know that Medicaid can be a lifeline for people with disabilities — especially if their disabilities prevent them from working or if they need assistance with daily living. About 11% of Pittsburghers have disabilities. How could these cuts affect them? There are people with disabilities who receive Supplemental Security Income, which automatically qualifies them for Medicaid. Typically, a work requirement [for Medicaid enrollees] would exempt those people. Then there are people who have some kind of condition that would be disabling in their daily life, but don't have an official disability determination. And those folks, of course, would be subject to work requirements. The other thing I want to say is that people with a disability determination have to stay under a certain income threshold to keep their benefits. So even if people want to work full time or be promoted, they can't do that because they have to keep their income low enough to qualify. That's a problem that disability advocates have been talking about for probably 40 years. It has not been fixed yet, and cutting benefits is certainly not going to fix it. Like those in nursing homes, people with disabilities often have complex and expensive health care needs. So any proposal to limit per-person spending or give a block grant is going to hurt the medical system's ability to serve them. Q: Health care facilities power a big part of Pittsburgh's economy. I imagine these cuts would significantly impact medical billing at hospitals and in the broader health systems, which employ so many people here. That's right. It would have spillover effects on the economy and jobs. Health care is a large part of our economy in Pennsylvania. And health care work is the second-most common type of job among people who are enrolled in Medicaid. So people who work as home-care attendants or as medical techs or in long-term care facilities tend to have working-class incomes, and they are actually covered by Medicaid. So it's all tied together. Q: The Trump administration vowed not to cut Medicaid and said the budget resolution would only target 'waste and fraud in entitlement spending.' Republicans in Congress have echoed that. Experts said this is misleading, and that it's impossible to achieve $880 billion in savings without slashing Medicaid. How is waste and fraud controlled, and do we need these cuts to do it better? What we tend to see is fraudulent billing to Medicare or Medicaid managed care plans. A common type of fraud or abuse involves [a provider] creating a fake patient profile and billing for them. I think we can all agree that fraud is bad — I can say that unequivocally. We would all support more fraud investigation funding, and you would think the federal government would be adding jobs to the Department of Health and Human Services rather than cutting them if it wanted to beef up the workload. The [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] put out a report last week that actually found that Pennsylvania had the highest number of Medicaid fraud and abuse claims. They had investigated around 19,000 claims. (The state also ranked third in convictions of those who abuse its Medicaid program.) So I feel like our program is doing a pretty good job at combating fraud and abuse, and so I'm not really sure what else we can be doing there. We're No. 1 in the nation. Q: What can state and local policymakers do to mitigate the damage? Well, it's really hard because you need to fund a Medicaid program at scale. Most of our income taxes go to the federal government. And a lot of it comes back through these state and federal programs. One option would be for states to band together to get that scale. There is a mechanism called an interstate compact. It's been done around water rights and things of that nature, but I don't see why that type of agreement can't be developed for medical assistance. I think we need to draw on the expertise of people in our region, in health care and education, to think of the most creative ideas. Absent that, I think everybody has a role to play in educating elected officials about the importance of these programs to our economy and, obviously, to people's health. Because how devastating would it be if you had a health condition and weren't able to get care for it? Venuri Siriwardane is PublicSource's health and mental health reporter. She can be reached at venuri@ or on Bluesky @ The Jewish Healthcare Foundation has contributed funding to PublicSource's health care reporting. This article first appeared on PublicSource and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Technical.ly
28-02-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Here's what Pittsburgh really thinks about remote work
partnered with PublicSource to explore the landscape of work in Pittsburgh — famed for its industriousness and intense union-management conflict and collaboration — as it is pressure-tested by changes in governmental policy, technology and economics. Everything changed five years ago next month. And while some people in power want to largely terminate the remote and hybrid work that emerged in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a sample of Pittsburgh professionals told PublicSource that they hope it's here to stay. Last week, as we launched the Pittsburgh at Work series, we asked audience members to tell us how their employment has evolved since 2020. Our callout came as President Donald Trump and his ally billionaire Elon Musk doubled down on bids to force federal workers to uniformly return to the office. Respondents — who were invited, but not required to provide basic identifying information — said they treasure the flexibility of online working arrangements. Edited for length and clarity, here's what workers told PublicSource. Stacey, 45 Neighborhood: Morningside Job: Regulatory compliance for a university in another state 'In January 2020, I was part of a pilot program for my department at one of the local universities to allow two work-from-home days a week. Then from March 2020 through December 2024 I was almost entirely remote, with an in-office meeting monthly-ish. I recently started a new job for another university. Now I am fully remote and will travel to another state a couple of times a year for team meetings. My actual job is fairly similar, other than a standard amount of job progression in responsibility and payment for the elapsed years; my overall career trajectory hasn't changed. My random workday interruptions now come from cats instead of coworkers, but are otherwise similar!' Kyle, 42 Neighborhood: Lawrenceville Job: General counsel for a national affordable housing provider 'My job title and field are the same, but I went from working for a local company in a Downtown office to a national company from a home office/co-working space.' Name not provided, 40 Neighborhood: Downtown Job: Tech contractor at a major local corporation 'My circumstances are vastly different as my expectations have changed. I have over 15 years working in technology roles; I do not and will not accept working in an office five days a week just to sit on Teams calls with remote team members. My expectations have shifted toward employers understanding that I have a life and that my life doesn't revolve around the workplace. Many managers, to their credit, seem to understand, agree and practice this work-life paradigm themselves.' Alicia, 36 Neighborhood: Bellevue Job: Art director for an advertising agency 'In 2020, I worked fully remote as a graphic designer. The [chief officer] at the time believed in a work-from-anywhere-at-any-time model. She believed that if deadlines were hit and meetings were attended, it didn't really matter how, when or where the work got done. When I accepted [my current job] in spring 2022, the company offered two flex remote work weeks per year and Fridays off in the summer — both policies have since been rescinded. … [The company] expects in-office attendance Monday through Thursday. We work remotely on Fridays. Overall, it seems like companies in general just want more control over their staff.' Jonathan, 40 Neighborhood: South Hills Job: Part-time gig worker in the real estate industry, and stay-at-home dad 'I previously worked in corporate finance until 2021. A move back home to Pittsburgh in 2021 and arrival of a second child allowed me the opportunity to step back from previous work and focus on family.' Sam, 29 Neighborhood: East Liberty Job: Program administrator for nonprofit that mediates between landlords and tenants 'In January 2020, I managed a five-suite bed and breakfast attached to the private university. Fully in person with weekend on-call demands. Now I'm fully remote.' Nonie, 64 Neighborhood: Monroeville Job: GIS Specialist 'Right after the pandemic began, around March of 2020, my company encouraged everyone who could work from home to do so. It must have been pretty successful because even after restrictions were lifted, we stayed working remotely. At some point, they went 100% permanently remote for every employee who was able to and wanted to. (Of course, there are some people who prefer to work in an office setting, and spaces were set aside for them in the plant.) At a town hall meeting, our CEO said that one benefit to the company was the ability to recruit talented employees from anywhere, instead of being limited to a radius around the headquarters. I have coworkers all over the country and people in my immediate team are in three different states.'
Technical.ly
21-02-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
In Pittsburgh, diversifying the trades isn't billed as DEI. It's a ‘business decision.'
partnered with PublicSource to explore the landscape of work in Pittsburgh — famed for its industriousness and intense union-management conflict and collaboration — as it is pressure-tested by changes in governmental policy, technology and economics. Throughout the region, industries from construction to advanced manufacturing are struggling to grow their workforce. The demographic that long filled roles — white men — has dwindled. In need of new people, marginalized groups are being sought to meet demand, largely through programs helping to expose them to the field. Until recently, these efforts may have been classified as diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives. Many sprang up following a nationwide call in 2020 for organizations to reassess their hiring practices. But under a new presidential administration curtailing anything related to DEI, leaders of Pittsburgh-area trade training programs are hesitant to affix this label to their strategies, even as more women and people of color enter the professions because of them. On a recent Saturday at the Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center in Collier, students in a cohort of six Black men, seven white men and six women pressed power saws into planks and braced for teacher feedback. Over eight weeks, they are plunged into the world of carpentry through the union's Carpenters Apprentice Ready Program [CARP]. At the end, they get to decide if they want to make a go of it as an official apprentice. The group's demographics weren't purposeful — 'I didn't aim for these numbers,' center Director Rich Paganie said. 'We just took the best candidates.' The inclusion of women and Black participants 'does diversify our ranks,' he said, while the white male pre-apprentice number 'shuts up the ignorant people that are going to hate on wanting to diversify the industry.' CARP's goal in Pittsburgh, according to the Eastern Atlantic States Carpenters Union website, 'is to identify and train motivated Southwestern Pennsylvania residents that have existing barriers to employment in the building trades.' A news post on the union's website states CARP was formed 'because increasing diverse representation in the trade has long been a goal.' The Philadelphia CARP — where it was initially established — explicitly lists women and minorities as groups the program targets. Why the concern about backlash then? Lance Harrell, the director of DEI and workforce development for the Master Builders' Association of Western Pennsylvania, said diversity and worker growth are often referred to in the same breath in the construction trades. Though he said conversations were taking place about ways the industry could evolve and reach new people even before his hire four years ago, the push toward underrepresented groups isn't necessarily a moral one. It's a move borne out of practicality. 'It really just comes down to the numbers. If you don't have enough workers or white men in the field, there is a void, and here's a perfect opportunity for women to step in and minorities to have access to those opportunities,' he said. A women-only carpentry cohort The region's construction industry is older and whiter than the national average. In Allegheny County, a third of the workers are 55 and older, and more than 90% of the workforce is white, according to data from the labor market analytics company Lightcast. That reflects Pittsburgh's history of legacy or family connections as the main way workers entered the field, helping to maintain a sort of demographic status quo. Since its arrival in Pittsburgh, CARP has drawn mostly men, though last year it led a women-only run of the program. Typically, there would be between two to five women out of a cohort of around 15, Paganie said. Noticing the low numbers, he wanted to remove any potential intimidating factors acting as a barrier and brought in women laborers as instructors. Out of the 16 women in the cohort, two are still involved in the trades — which Paganie considers a win. 'The people that went through this program and are in the Carpenters right now probably wouldn't be … if they didn't do the program.' Paganie personally feels making the sector more diverse is 'something that needs to be done.' Harrell and others don't envision anti-DEI rhetoric heavily impacting the industry since labor demand is still high. And for his part, he doesn't have any plans to stop promoting the trades to those in marginalized communities. Natural hair in the funeral home? In death care, there's an old guard, said Mark Marnich. And they aren't necessarily proponents of change. So issues can emerge when a program that's not explicitly about diversity nonetheless brings new perspectives to the ancient trade. Marnich, a mathematics professor at Point Park University, runs the university's funeral services program, which is in partnership with the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science [PIMS]. The program's students take their general education courses at the university and major-specific ones at PIMS. It's a best-of-both-worlds kind of deal, he said, offering all the advantages of living on campus, and the industry expertise that only the vocational school can provide. And it's exploded in the last five years. Marnich said enrollment would stall between five to 10 students a year before the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it's doubled, and the demographics of those interested have changed, too. More women, women of color and LGBTQ+ community members want to work in the industry and are bringing new ideas with them. However, they may be filtering out just as quickly as they entered, according to PIMS and Point Park instructor Chelsea Cush. 'We have funeral directors, still, occasionally, they'll call and they'll say, 'I want an intern, but I want a male,'' she said. The traditional viewpoints of those in the field's leadership are causing high turnover, Cush said. And she believes this tension between new and old may soon reach a fever pitch. 'It's a tug of war right now.' Chelsea Cush, PIMS and Point Park instructor While the Point Park-PIMS partnership isn't one aimed at introducing historically underrepresented groups to the industry, the swing in student demographics has led to more conversations about the field's inclusivity. Cush said a student recently asked if it was OK to wear her natural hair while in a funeral home. 'Obviously, yes it is, but is she going to potentially face some issues with that? Unfortunately, yeah, the potential is there.' Point Park could not provide specific demographic data for those enrolled in the funeral services program. Marnich said the increase in the number of nonwhite students might not be as steep as the increase in white women students; still, the program is now more proportionally representative of the population than it was years ago. If the diversifying trend continues, both Marnich and Cush believe the industry will have to be responsive to it, particularly as funeral directors hit retirement age. But, Cush said, 'it's a tug of war right now.' 'The funeral homes that are looking for white male employees are going to run out of white male students … something's got to give,' she said. Tech seeking 'people who have been left out' Pittsburgh was recently hailed as an emerging 'innovation hub' for the tech industry in Gov. Josh Shapiro's annual budget message. Experts, though, have warned against the city falling into the Silicon Valley trap of 'white-majority and exclusionary workplaces, vast wealth inequities and a housing crisis,' as Brookings described California's tech region. Trying to avert that scenario is Apprenti PGH, an apprenticeship program run by the Pittsburgh Technology Council [PTC]'s nonprofit arm Fortyx80. PTC President and CEO Audrey Russo said it was developed four years ago from a desire to create a talent pipeline that would result in better representation of the region. Russo said people from areas like the Mon Valley have been left out of opportunities 'because the density of tech and innovation tends to be clustered in neighborhoods' they aren't part of. Apprentices are hired by companies at the start of the program while receiving ongoing tech training for the following 14-17 months. It's not a radical model, Russo said. 'We're mimicking trades.' Since its development, 47 apprentices have gone through the program with 60% identifying as women and 50% of participants being Black, 12% Latinx and 12% Asian. Even with those numbers, Russo wouldn't tag Apprenti PGH as a DEI program. 'We bill this as an opportunity for people who have been left out of the workforce, but left out means a lot of things,' she said. 'We've had people who are living in deep poverty and they're Caucasian.' On PTC's website, Apprenti PGH lists active recruitment efforts in 'underrepresented groups, including women, people of color, veterans, people with disabilities and displaced workers.' 'But all are welcome to apply,' follows this. Fortyx80 is, according to its organization description, 'committed to the principles of diversity and inclusion in the workforce.' Russo said she hasn't seen the national political pressure to move away from DEI initiatives generating much concern in the Pittsburgh tech community, and she doesn't believe that current is changing a lot of hiring practices. Anti-DEI pushes, she said, are having much less of an impact on the workforce conversation than another trend: With the advancements in AI, calls for highly degreed professionals are increasing, which is something that Apprenti doesn't address. Russo said PTC is always thinking about how the program will have to shift, but there aren't any plans on the council's part to stop advocating for employers to hire 'different kinds of people.' In a similar vein, Petra Mitchell said the local nonprofit economic development organization Catalyst Connection is continuing to develop a program to support women entering advanced manufacturing. Former President Joe Biden's administration awarded the program's $712,000 seed funding, and it's unclear whether the money will still make its way to them as President Donald Trump's administration scours outgoing grants — particularly those focused on inclusion. But echoing other leaders, Mitchell doesn't characterize outreach into untapped communities as trying to diversify the industry for diversity's sake. Rather, she calls it 'a business decision, more than anything else.' 'If we're not able to provide that type of awareness building and opportunity creation, the whole talent pipeline is just going to get smaller,' she said. 'There's only so many white guys to go around.'
