Two Sundays ago in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood... hanging out with the Pitt climbing club, with Mario, at The Corner's Steelers watch party, and the Schenley Plaza carousel. Looking forward to sharing a community project featuring stories on Oakland's four neighborhoods soon! @publicsource.org

Today in PGH: Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud The screening, which tells Renaud's story through his final footage in Ukraine, is followed by a Q&A session w/ filmmakers & journalists, who will discuss journalist safety in today's media landscape. www.backyarddocs.com

“This decision will cost lives, derail progress in global health & strip millions of people of the basic tools they need to plan their families and protect their health.” The $10 million in destroyed contraception had been purchased for women in low-income countries. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...

Speech on campus — in the form of research, classroom instruction or student activism — has rarely been more fraught. If Academic Freedom has influenced your life, please tell us how. We may share it with readers next week. www.publicsource.org/academic-fre...

Working from Blawnox, PA today, which made me think of photographing late bluegrass legend Mac Martin here at the Starlite Lounge before his 2015 retirement. I'll never forget the way he talked about his wife and his life, just a pure peace and energy of love about him.

"Elliott Erwitt, a Magnum photographer, said that contact sheets should be kept 'as private as conversations with a psychiatrist... A contact sheet lays bare the action of an entire shoot..." whether over a min., an hr, a day. Gift article for my fellow photo nerds: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/a...

Steelmaking deaths like the 2 this month at U.S. Steel’s Clairton plant were once almost routine. Now, deadly explosions are big news, but construction/transport jobs are bigger killers. A look at the worker safety landscape, then & now: www.publicsource.org/clairton-cok... @publicsource.org

Treble NLS suggested we return to the place where he was handcuffed in the midst of a mental health crisis for portraits for @venuri.bsky.social's story on how involuntary ‘302’ hospitalizations fall more heavily on Black patients. Trusting his vision, I met him at the edge of the Mon Wharf. 🧵

Can't get over this photo: Steelworkers in a Greek restaurant in Aliquippa, PA. Jan. 1941. 📸 by Jack Delano, part of the Farm Security Administration collection at the Library of Congress. (Anyone know how the FSA photographers would light their photos back in the day? Realizing so many are lit...)

The number of students without permanent housing is rising. A mobile classroom motors around the Pittsburgh region to bridge learning gaps caused by housing insecurity. Thanks to the Homeless Children’s Education Fund for letting us ride along. www.publicsource.org/winnies-wago... @publicsource.org

Photos from scene: Rescuers were continuing to search for one missing worker at the Clairton Coke Works hours after mid-morning explosions rocked the Mon Valley plant. The blasts killed one person and injured 10.  www.publicsource.org/us-steel-cla... @publicsource.org @chwolfson.bsky.social

Activists pitched tents outside Second Avenue Commons to protest the latest Pittsburgh encampment closure last night. Advocates and outreach workers say the closings mask the true problems as they attempt to support a growing unhoused population. www.publicsource.org/allegheny-co...

“I’m calling to express my gratitude … ” Messages like these bolster our work to share inspiring stories in a media landscape often dominated by disempowering coverage. buff.ly/H2eTR6a

Local housing justice advocates gathered on July 28 to commemorate the mass displacement of Penn Plaza residents. Photojournalist @stephstrasburg.bsky.social was on the scene to document their calls for affordable housing in Pittsburgh. buff.ly/Tg1ZJJA

Study: Many Allegheny County psych hospitalizations do more harm than good. Researchers found a trail of violence, overdose and suicide where stabilization and healing had been the goal. By @venuri.bsky.social / @publicsource.org www.publicsource.org/mental-healt... #mentalhealth

Following CMU's restrictions on an iconic free speech monument, students built a new one under the cover of darkness. buff.ly/fCAnvPc

As midnight struck last night, about 10 students rolled a wooden fence in the glow of a red stoplight to Carnegie Mellon’s Pittsburgh campus. They wheeled the fence to the CMU president’s office & rammed the pieces together with the butt of a pickaxe. (1 of 2 for @publicsource.org)

Pittsburgh Police tussle w/ protesters as people leave an energy & AI summit at CMU. Trump’s visit & boasts of surging development come after he has sparred with higher ed institutions over funding, diversity and international students. More at @publicsource.org www.publicsource.org/trump-mccorm...

Photos from protests of President Donald Trump's visit to Pittsburgh today as police blocked a road to Carnegie Mellon University, where he announced $92 billion in energy and AI projects in Pennsylvania. More from @publicsource.org: www.publicsource.org/trump-mccorm...

Some July 2017 photos from the Pittsburgh area 8 years ago that popped up with the changing of the calendar page. The Fort Armstrong Championship Rodeo takes place again next weekend, and I'm sure the little puppy Ace in the last photo is now about the size of the 2 year old Justin, Jr. there!

Do you rely on Medicaid? @publicsource.org wants to know how proposed cuts could impact you & yours as Congress considers reducing the program. Email local gov't reporter @chwolfson.bsky.social (charlie[at]publicsource[dot]org) or fill out our easy form here: www.publicsource.org/tell-us-how-...

It's not every day you get to wade in a wave pool in your work clothes, making this the 1st time I poured water out of my press credential lanyard. More at @publicsource.org about our public pools, w/ dreams for free swim lessons in a city known for its rivers. www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-p...

Photoville Festival kicks off this weekend in Brooklyn Bridge Park, NYC, and PublicSource’s @quinnglabicki.bsky.social and @stephstrasburg.bsky.social are on site to talk about building trust in underreported communities. buff.ly/90bewwQ

As federal armed forces massed in LA, Pittsburgh leaders and unions members protested against deportations and arrests. Lajja Mistry and @stephstrasburg.bsky.social of @publicsource.org were there www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-u...

At opening weekend of #Photoville, hear from @publicsource.org’s @quinnglabicki.bsky.social and @stephstrasburg.bsky.social in a panel on building trust with underreported communities. Learn more about creatively visualizing unseen harms and capturing under told stories. 👉 bit.ly/4mGpqkD

Thx to the Press Club of Western PA for the "best personality profile photo" Golden Quill recognizing this portrait of Olivia Durant. Olivia shared what it was like to grow up blind, I photo'ed her through beveled glass, a nod to how she saw in blurred forms. 🧵 www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-s...

Big news for the Pittsburgh area today...

“Sebastião was more than one of the best photographers of our time,” Instituto Terra said in a statement. “His lens revealed the world and its contradictions; his life, (brought) the power of transformative action.” RIP to a photo and environmental legend. apnews.com/article/braz...

Jordan returned to Pittsburgh after working social services in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. Joining PGH's outreach community revived her, but reinforced the depth of the challenges of homelessness. I went w/ her on street rounds for @publicsource.org: www.publicsource.org/allegheny-co...

Diligent reporting from @propublica.org ...

Scenes from Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey's primary election night party, where Pittsburgh's 1st Black mayor lost after 1 term to Allegheny County Controller Corey O'Connor. “We didn’t put a crack in the glass ceiling. We shattered it,” said Gainey www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-m... @publicsource.org

And this is why you always leave for your assignments early. Just arrived at Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s primary election night party in the South Side with @chwolfson.bsky.social for @publicsource.org. The polls have closed. Follow the results with us here: www.publicsource.org/live-electio...

Amazing visual experience from @quinnglabicki.bsky.social ... with deeply investigated story from him and Jamie Wiggan at @publicsource.org.

PGH: Allegheny County's winter homeless shelter closes today. But as encampments shut down, shelters fill & cuts hit some programs, options for unhoused people are increasingly scarce. Some may be resorting to perilous alternatives, including abandoned buildings www.publicsource.org/unhoused-she...

This Mother's Day I was reminded of Amanda Filippelli's essay on making peace with loss to embrace motherhood. I loved collaborating with Amanda for photos– I used a Dinah camera & some old film to make double exposures to create a feeling of transformation and nod to the space between birth/death 🧵

Spent 6 days w/out power here at our Pittsburgh-adjacent apt & there's still work to do, but we learned a lot about community & how to weather (see what I did there) the challenge. A part of me that got a little sad this morning missing the cozy morning coffee with neighbors around the camp stove. 🧵

Garfield’s & Bloomfield’s fragile, art-focused business corridor has been rattled by seemingly uncoordinated utility construction. We talked to about 15 businesses along Pittsburgh's Penn Ave, who said they were in "survival mode" amid construction disruptions. www.publicsource.org/penn-avenue-...

Listening to the Pirates game by candlelight during a power outage from last night's storm in the Pittsburgh region. The storm's high winds caused power outages for some 400k people which may last days, so I'm sure more of these quietly resilient scenes will come. Feel free to share yours here. <3

Mayor Ed Gainey gave a bus tour of affordable housing across Pittsburgh last week. The mayor invited opponent Corey O’Connor on the tour during a heated television debate that questioned his effectiveness on affordable housing to the city. @chwolfson.bsky.social dug into claims from both campaigns.

Curious what salaries city employees (and elected officials, and high-profile appointees) earn? Check out our annual report www.publicsource.org/city-pittsbu...

With marginalized communities under attack, sex workers around Pittsburgh are coming together to seek decriminalization, share information — & enhance their work wardrobes. I photographed Kitt of @swoonalliance.bsky.social at QMNTY Closet for @publicsource.org: www.publicsource.org/sex-workers-...

Tell me you live in Western PA without telling me you live in Western PA

Kash Patel has deleted this post on X, but arrest is confirmed: www.jsonline.com/story/news/b...

Cig Harvey's photo work just continues to amaze ... and her use of color *chef's kiss* www.newyorker.com/culture/phot...

Emerging journalists/photojournalists– come join our independent, nonprofit newsroom in Pittsburgh! Delight in the joys of holding power to account & Pittsburgh's fries on salad habit. @publicsource.org interns get to work across their interests from reporting to fact checking to engagement & more.

The best part about being a photojournalist is you have to be out in the community to do your work. That means running into beautiful scenes you weren't necessarily looking for, but somehow needed, like these gents playing cards outside of La Prima in Pittsburgh's Strip District. 🃏

‘Mahmoud Ajjour, Aged Nine’ by Samar Abu Elouf for @nytimes.com, is the #WPPh2025 World Press Photo of the Year. Watch as Samar shares the story behind this image: youtu.be/j1mYna_audE?si=PXxljU7yDAxJxotP

TODAY: Hundreds gathered in Oakland to protest what they called an “all-out assault” on higher education, referring to federal actions that they believe undermine the mission of universities. “It’s going to be a long fight, but we’re going to win." buff.ly/7OCnKlw

The Trump administration is cutting staff and grant funding at Health and Human Services including the NIH. Those agencies fund much of Pittsburgh’s research. Are you an affected researcher? Please consider emailing PublicSource at encrypted [email protected] or Signal at PublicSource.412

Confessions of a passenger princess: Is car-free living in Pittsburgh a political statement? Or a vehicle to a certain kind of intimacy? The truth is somewhere in between. Had fun leaning into some David Lynch-ian lighting for this piece for @publicsource.org: www.publicsource.org/car-free-liv...