🗳️ Meet GOP mayoral candidate Thomas West

🏈 New Steelers Class Gets Passing Grade

Analysts say the Steelers performed well in the 2025 NFL Draft, leaning heavy on defenders and picking up Ohio State quarterback Will Howard in the sixth round. Howard is likely to play a developmental role behind a to-be-determined veteran, still widely assumed to be (human dumpster fire) Aaron Rodgers, who could still join the team. [NFL / 🎧 City Cast Pittsburgh]

• 🎉 A contingent of local business leaders also spent the week in Green Bay to scout ideas for how Pittsburgh may throw its party in 2026. [Post-Gazette]

📬 Mailers Target Gainey, City Blight

Flyers showing a dilapidated building, reading “THE ED GAINEY LEGACY,” are being sent to Pittsburgh residents by the Common Sense Change Action PAC. The run-down building has been renovated since the photo was taken, and critics argue the flyer paints a false picture of both Mayor Ed Gainey and the city and uses racist tropes. [90.5 WESA]

• 🗣️ In the Democratic mayoral debate last week, Gainey and Corey O'Connor clashed over the number of affordable housing units created during Gainey’s tenure. [WTAE]

🐣 Falcon Chicks Hatch in Oakland

The peregrine falcons nesting on Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning welcomed two newborns — fittingly, on Take Your Kid to Word Day. Follow their growth on the Aviary’s live stream. Congrats to new parents Carla and Ecco! [KDKA / National Aviary]

🎶 Local Dance Troupe Moves to Braddock

The internationally-recognized dance group PearlArts Movement & Sound found a new home inside of the renovated Braddock Arts and Media Building — complete with an airy studio space and a 75-seat black box theater for performances. Look forward to upcoming artist opportunities, audio and producer workshops, and a film series. [NEXTpittsburgh]

• 👀 Braddock is getting a boost! Come along with us for a sneak peak of the $20 million renovation inside the first Carnegie Library in the U.S. [🎧 City Cast Pittsburgh]