❄️ Inside Penn State's cocaine ring

Penn State’s Drug Trafficking Ring

This week authorities arrested a former Penn State student who they’re calling the ringleader of a “highly profitable” cocaine trafficking operation that involved two university fraternities. PA’s attorney general says leaders put pledges to work cutting and packaging drugs. Over a two-year grand jury investigation, the state identified 14 defendants, including the father of one Penn State student, a Pittsburgh-area lawyer. [TribLive]

• This isn’t the first time Penn State has been at the center of scandal. Multiple students have died after undergoing hazing rituals to join Greek life. There have been seven reports of hazing at registered Greek organizations this year and last — both the highest number of reported cases since 2018. [City & State / 🔒 Post-Gazette]

How 70K Skill Games Became Legal

But maybe not for long? The PA Supreme Court ruled this summer that skill games will be considered illegal slot machines effective Oct. 13. But the story of how they came here 13 years ago is a doozy. [NewsWorksLab]

U.S.’s Largest Landlord Eyes South Side

South Carolina-based apartment manager Greystar has been reviving efforts to build a 365-unit, five-story complex beside the Birmingham Bridge. Several nearby property owners challenged the project in 2023, but an Allegheny County Common Pleas judge disagreed. Greystar already owns several properties around the city and manages more than 1 million apartments nationwide. [TribLive]

What Happened to Beer Caves?

German brewers used Pittsburgh slopes to create cold storage vaults, aka “beer caves” in the 1830s, but modern fridges, highway construction, and redevelopment made the practice and their upkeep nearly obsolete. Should we be doing more to preserve the ones still here? [City Paper / 🔒 Post-Gazette]

• Beer isn’t the only draw: our region has a rich geological history to explore, from Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village to Laurel Caverns — PA’s newest state park. [Pittsburgh Magazine]