🍦 Your new favorite ice cream

🇺🇸 What's Next for Tech in Pittsburgh?

America just celebrated its 250th birthday. To mark the milestone, City Cast Pittsburgh partnered with Technical.ly and Public Source to imagine what our city could look like by the nation's 300th.

• 🤖 Robotics: Pittsburgh helped invent modern robotics, but can it become a place where tech companies grow instead of just getting their start?
• 🏛️ City government: Pgh employees jumped on the chatbot bandwagon early. Here's why you may not know about that and how officials are trying to write rules for AI as the tech evolves.
• ⚡ Data centers: PA is already an energy state, and supporters want us to be a data center hotspot. What should smart growth look like, and how do we avoid repeating the environmental mistakes of the past?
• 💼 Workforce: AI isn't replacing Pittsburgh's biggest industries yet, but it's already changing the way many of us work. Is it making us more efficient or just burning us out?

Historic Opera House Gets Restoration Grant

The Mellon Foundation gave out $1.75 million to help restore the former home of the National Negro Opera Company in Homewood. The organization was founded by pioneering Black opera leader Mary Cardwell Dawson. The building still needs additional funding to be fully restored and transformed into a cultural and educational center. [WESA / CIty Cast Pittsburgh]

Can Pittsburgh Fill Its Empty Homes?

Pittsburgh has around 20,000 vacant homes, but we're also dealing with a housing crisis. How did we get here, and what (if anything) can the city do? Learn why so many structures are sitting empty and what Cleveland has to teach us about turning abandoned houses into affordable homes. [City Cast Pittsburgh]

Astrobotic Lands 2 NASA Contracts

The Pittsburgh-based robotics company was awarded $297.9 million to send research equipment to the moon by 2028. The missions, part of NASA's Moon Base operations, will carry instruments to study radiation exposure and improve landing safety. [TribLive]

Sensitive bellies don’t have to miss out on this sweet summer treat! I sampled a selection of vegan flavors from local shops to bring you my picks for the creamiest plant-based scoops Pittsburgh has to offer.

Leona’s Ice Cream

📍Garfield

Leona’s is already super friendly to customers with dietary restrictions — all of their dairy ice cream is lactose free, making it easier to digest. But did you know that they have delicious non-dairy ice cream too? I tried the coffee flavor made with coconut milk for an afternoon pick-me-up. It was so smooth and the perfect amount of sweet. Stop by the Garfield shop for a scoop or one of their famous ice cream sandwiches. (I’m eyeing up the black sesame ice cream on salted tahini chocolate chunk cookies.)

Frio Creamery

📍Lawrenceville

This Butler Street shop serves ice cream from Penn State’s famous on-campus creamery, made through their Department of Food and Science. So it makes sense that they’ve totally mastered vegan ice cream, too. They use a blend of milks — like coconut, oat, and almond — and the texture is superior to all other vegan ice creams I've tried! Plus, the flavors are always standouts. My go-to is the pistachio, but I’ve also devoured blueberry lavender, dulce de leche, strawberry PopTarts, blueberry pancake, and Oreo peanut butter fudge.

Oddfellows

📍Strip District

Imagine my surprise when I walked into Posman Books to find an ice cream stand with some of the most interesting flavors like coconut caramel chip, coconut pandan, grasshopper (mint) made with cashew milk, and chocolate chunk. I tried the coconut mango sticky rice and it had delightful little surprises of mochi swirled throughout! It’s the perfect treat to enjoy while window shopping in the Strip.