Rich Lord

1 week ago | publicsource.org | Emma Riva |Rich Lord

I still catch myself going to the passenger side, even when I’m the one driving — which isn’t often. I’ll borrow a friend’s car occasionally, but for the most part, I’m a “passenger princess.” I got my license when I moved to Pittsburgh, but I found quickly that affording to buy a car as a freelance reporter was a pipe dream. So, I’ve remained a passenger. People have varying opinions on it — that it’s impossible, that it’s doable but not ideal, or that it’s a political statement of some sort.

2 weeks ago | publicsource.org | Rich Lord

President Donald Trump’s second administration has featured an ever-changing (mostly expanding) array of threatened tariffs on imported goods. The shifting news has sent stock prices on a wild (mostly downward) ride and created uncertainty for businesses and consumers. Share your tariff story by filling out our formThe disruption of global trade has spurred a bumper crop of advice on everything from managing personal investments to buying imported goods.

2 weeks ago | publicsource.org | Rich Lord

The new Department of Government Efficiency claims to be purging deceased people from the Social Security rolls, cutting federal employees’ credit card use and hunting down “wasteful contracts and grants” all over Washington, D.C.The brainchild of tech mogul Elon Musk has also been a defendant in court fights in which DOGE is accused of accessing citizens’ sensitive data, hacking at the federal workforce in ways that may compromise government services and potentially degrading national security.

3 weeks ago | publicsource.org | Roman Hladio |Rich Lord

This story was originally published by NEXTpittsburgh, a news partner of PublicSource. NEXTpittsburgh features the people, projects and places advancing the region and the innovative and cool things happening here. Sign up to get their free newsletter. Standing at the podium of Carnegie Mellon University’s Simmons Auditorium, Zico Kolter asks an audience of AI researchers, policymakers and students to imagine an AI system that could successfully complete a colleague’s workload.

3 weeks ago | publicsource.org | Rich Lord

Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s board voted to start a public comment period on potential, dramatic changes in service and a fare hike. The comment period will start Monday and run  through Wednesday, June 18. Public comments will be accepted in writing or at hearings for which dates and times have yet to be announced. The vote follows a committee meeting last week at which PRT board members heard details of changes that might be necessitated with flat state funding.