📰 City Paper is back!

Pittsburgh City Paper Is Coming Back

Just a few months after its closure, the city’s beloved alt-weekly newspaper is relaunching under new ownership. It’s backed by private investment and LocalMatters, a local nonprofit dedicated to helping news orgs become self-sustaining. Former owners, Block Communications Inc., shut down the paper in December. In January, they also announced the closure of the Post-Gazette. [City Cast Pittsburgh]

Police Chief Orders Review of ICE Incident

Pittsburgh police are reviewing body and dashboard camera footage from an incident involving an ICE arrest outside of the bureau's Zone 3 station in Allentown last week, where officers noticed an alleged struggle between federal agents and the person they were taking into custody. There were allegations that police were ordered not to intervene, but Police Chief Jason Lando said he was not aware of such orders. [TribLive]

• More ICE-related news: PA Sen. John Fetterman broke with Democrats to cast the deciding vote advancing the nomination of Markwayne Mullin as the new head of Homeland Security. [WESA]
• Three Las Palmas workers were detained by ICE in Brookline yesterday. [TribLive]

City Controller Says I Told You So

Mayor Corey O’Connor’s administration is examining the city’s budget to determine where it can make cuts and fill a $30 to $40 million deficit. Pittsburgh City Council members, who approved former Mayor Ed Gainey’s budget, said they weren't given enough information to understand just how bad the problem was.

• The city’s top financial watchdog, Controller Rachael Heisler, has been raising red flags about the city’s budget issues for the past two years, warning about pandemic relief money running out, too much spending on overtime, and plummeting tax revenue from Downtown buildings. [KDKA / TribLive]
• Make it make sense: Pittsburgh Police have spent over $11,000 dollars on premium car washes just this year. [WPXI]

New Power Plant Coming to Southwestern PA

A $17 billion natural gas-fueled facility called South Mon will expand power production in the region, the White House announced. The new plant is part of President Donald Trump’s $550 billion trade deal with Japan and will be linked to the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland regional transmission network. [🔒 Post-Gazette]

Pierogi Salad & More New Food at PNC Park

When the Pirates home opener kicks off April 4, baseball fans can dig into new Pittsburgh-inspired eats: chipped ham fries topped with cheddar sauce, cold pierogi salad with sour cream dressing, a sofrito beef hotdog with Smallman Street Deli kraut, a foot-long corn dog served in a baseball bat boat, and more. [KDKA]