🚨 Gainey admin ‘under investigation’

UPMC Capitulates to Trump’s DOJ

UPMC placed a decade-long moratorium on gender-affirming care for patients under 19 and agreed to pay a $950,000 fine to the federal government as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice. The deal comes one month after the DOJ abandoned its attempt to access patient records of minors who received hormone treatment. The hospital group had already stopped providing gender-affirming care to minors last year — this new agreement codifies UPMC’s ban on gender-related treatments for trans youths into official hospital policy. [TribLive / 🔒 Post-Gazette / WESA]

• The fine could be worse. NYU Langone Health agreed to end gender-affirming care for minors and pay the feds $8.5 million. As of February, at least 40 hospitals across the U.S. had stopped providing gender-affirming care for youth since the start of the second Trump administration. [🔒 New York Times / STAT]
• Gender-affirming care for minors is safe and reduces the risk of depression and suicidality, a 2022 study found. [Scientific American]

Can Smithfield Make a Comeback?

Officials are meeting under the Kaufmann's clock at 10 a.m. today to break ground on a series of long-awaited, multi-year projects along Smithfield Street. First up is tearing out existing sidewalks, buried trolley tracks, and more between Forbes and Sixth. Pedestrians, buses, and car traffic will be rerouted as those sidewalks get extended and new lights and landscaping are added. [Pittsburgh Magazine / 🔒 Post-Gazette]

• What does $25 million buy? The city’s once-premier shopping corridor hasn’t looked its best in generations. We’re talking about who all this redevelopment is for on today’s podcast. [City Cast Pittsburgh]

Gainey Administration ‘Under Investigation’

A newly unsealed search warrant includes allegations of no-bid contracts, questionable grant decisions, and improper city budgeting under former Mayor Ed Gainey. District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. has been teasing the warrant’s contents for months. The nine-page affidavit also raises questions about how city money reached organizations and political groups aligned with Gainey. No charges have been filed. [TribLive]

• We’ve been talking about this (and Zappala’s other potential ambitions) on the podcast for awhile. [City Cast Pittsburgh]

PA Apples Hidden in Applesauce

York Imperial apples aren’t usually sold in supermarkets, but they’re the core (haha) ingredient in apple-derived food products like sauce, juice, cider, and vinegar. First cultivated in York County’s Hellam Township, farmers statewide grew nearly 2.7 million bushels of York apples last year. If you’re in an apple-y mood, check out our list of where to go apple picking this fall, along with other autumnal events. [Spotlight PA / City Cast Pittsburgh]

Let’s play a game! Where can you find this giant, cone-shaped mound of (I think?) wet sand? It looks extremely fun to slide down and extremely difficult to climb up.

🌟 Congrats to carousel aficionados Sandra S. and Bella E. for correctly guessing the location of this sternly-worded (yet whimsical) sign ⬇️

You POSITIVELY cannot JUMP ON OR OFF the 95-year-old merry-go-round at Idlewild in Ligonier. The same man has repainted and touched up the horsies for nearly half a century, and the park is the oldest of its kind in Pennsylvania.

P.S. They do a ton of family stuff for Halloween.