Archive for March, 2009

By David Green
Morning Edition

Betty Esper spent 36 years working at U.S. Steel's Homestead Works. The mill closed in the 1980s. A few years later, Esper began her second career as Homestead's mayor. Photo (c) David Green/NPR

Some of the hardest-hit communities in this recession are the towns and cities that have lost jobs in the automobile industry — or worse, saw an entire auto plant close.

It’s a predicament the steel towns around Pittsburgh know well. They had to search for new identities after the steel industry buckled in the 1980s.

During a recent visit to the Steel City, I sought out some of the people who brought Pittsburgh through its hardest times to see if there were any lessons to learn.

From Industrial Mill To Waterfront Shopping

In the Pittsburgh suburb of Homestead, I found longtime Mayor Betty Esper. She spent three decades working in U.S. Steel’s massive Homestead Works, a sprawling mill across the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh that shut down in 1986. She was elected mayor several years after the mill closed.

[ Full story available at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102457292 ]

By Patrick Cloonan
Daily News Staff Writer

Somebody is targeting an historic West Mifflin cemetery.

Twice in as many months West Mifflin police have been called to investigate overturned headstones at Lebanon Church Cemetery.

It was random vandalism, though usually the culprit or culprits pushed over multiple headstones in a given row.

“Some of the older headstones were pushed over and broken,” cemetery manager Lori Hornfeck said Monday. “Some of the newer ones were just pushed over.”

In all, some 40 have been overturned. The latest incident was reported to borough police Friday.

[ Full story available at: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20276961&BRD=1282&PAG=461&dept_id=182121&rfi=6 ]