For the first time in 20 years, Pittsburgh just got bigger. Well, the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area, that is.

The federal government added Lawrence County to the Pittsburgh MSA, in its most recent updates by The U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The entire eight-county MSA is now Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

The Pittsburgh Robotics Network today announced the appointment of Jenny Sharpe as the organization’s new senior program manager of workforce development. “In this role, Sharpe will draw on her vast experiences in entrepreneurship, talent management, and community building to strengthen the dynamic nexus of robotics, education, and community that is rapidly transforming Pittsburgh,” it said.

Pittsburgh City Council gave preliminary approval Wednesday to Mayor Ed Gainey’s proposed new Office of Equal Protection, which the administration has said would help enforce civil rights and labor laws.

The office, as part of the wider mayor’s office, would be an “enforcement and compliance” body for matters such as the city’s paid sick leave and disruptive properties laws, said Zeke Rediker, an administration official.

As developers await the stabilization of the office market, they continue to gravitate toward housing and other uses in the popular Strip District neighborhood.

With new housing comes new residents. In a recently released State of the Strip District report, Strip District Neighbors — a nonprofit dedicated to promoting economic development and quality of life in the neighborhood — indicate the neighborhood’s population is expected to double again within the next two to three years.

Despite a waning office market and struggles by the companies of Robotics Row, people keep moving into the Strip District.

That’s one of big take aways of the new State of the Strip Report for 2023, an annual neighborhood benchmarking exercise by Strip District Neighbors, a community organization.

Bike Share Pittsburgh, the nonprofit operator of POGOH bikeshare, is installing 22 new POGOH stations through July and is launching 154 new e-assist bikes and 66 pedal bikes into their fleet.

In addition to creating more connections within the current network, the new stations will connect several new neighborhoods, including Hazelwood, Larimer, Garfield, Upper Lawrenceville, Allegheny Center and Central Northside.

Federal, state, and local officials are highlighting the impact of a major federal grant program to help combat climate change.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan joined Congresswoman Susan Wild, D-7th, Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, and other local officials and representatives at the waterfront in Allentown on Tuesday to discuss the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program.

Fayette County Commissioner Vincent Vicites put the county on display Monday by hosting the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission meeting at the Fay-Penn Economic Development Council office.

Vicites serves as SPC secretary-treasurer.

The organization has moved recent meetings while its Pittsburgh Strip District offices are undergoing renovations.

Aurora Sharrard
Executive director of sustainability at the University of Pittsburgh
Aurora Sharrard is the first-ever sustainability ED role for the University of Pittsburgh. This entails overseeing sustainability staff and the university’s sustainability efforts, policies, and partnerships related to its sustainability strategy. Sharrard was previously the Green Building Alliance’s executive director for 11 years and cofounded the Pittsburgh 2030 District, a network designed to ensure that communities and buildings are sustainable. In her spare time Sharrard is a board member for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services and co-chairs the Pittsburgh’s Higher Education Climate Consortium.

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In June 2019, the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission — the metropolitan planning organization for the area that includes Butler County — adopted a long-range transportation plan called “SmartMoves for a Changing Region.” The 25-year plan called for $35 billion in transportation and infrastructure improvements in the commission’s 10-county area.