The new executive director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission is no stranger to the 10 counties in that organization.

Rich Fitzgerald was Allegheny County’s executive for 12 years, but also served on the SPC board and its executive committee.

Still, Fitzgerald is planning to meet with the boards of commissioners in Indiana, Armstrong, Westmoreland and other counties that surround Allegheny.

His meeting with the Indiana County Commissioners is scheduled for Jan. 22.

“One of my jobs will be to hear from the commissioners what their goals are,” Fitzgerald said Tuesday in an interview that also is for an upcoming annual business review in The Indiana Gazette.

The Pittsburgh Business Times has named the Pittsburgh Power 100, a listing of the region’s most influential business leaders. 

The complete list is presented alphabetically below. Profiles will be published in the Feb. 16 weekly edition. The Power 100 is not a ranking, but rather a guide that aims to reflect who are the most influential people at this moment in time. The editorial staff of the Business Times selected those who made the list, with input from the community at large. It does not include elected officials and is limited to those who currently reside in the Pittsburgh metro area. 

The Southwest Pennsylvania Commission will host an in-person and virtual federal Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Workshop on January 8 at the SPC Offices, Strip District Terminal Building, 21st and Smallman Streets in Pittsburgh from 10:00 a.m. to Noon.

This SPC Workshop is your chance to learn about reducing pollution and making a positive impact on our environment and will provide valuable insights and strategies for implementing climate pollution reduction projects.

Rich Fitzgerald joined Tyler Friel during the WISR News at Noon. 

Outgoing Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald has already announced starting next year he will become the Executive Director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

In his new role he will be overseeing economic development in the 10-county western Pennsylvania region.

At this time last year, Cheryl Moon-Sirianni outlined a series of projects to improve the Parkway East, which hasn’t had a major overhaul in more than 30 years.

On Monday, the former district executive who now has a statewide job with the state Department of Transportation got several of those projects funded through a federal grant, plus additional money for a series of projects that will benefit bus riders who use the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway. 

Western Pennsylvania’s eastern corridor is set to get a massive investment in two of its most important pieces of transportation infrastructure, the Parkway East and the East Busway.

The offices of U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) along with U.S. Representative Summer Lee (D-PA-14) and Chris DeLuzio (D-PA-17) announced $142.3 million in federal infrastructure funding dedicated to the Parkway East and East Busway.

Members of Western Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation just announced $142 million in federal grant money secured for a series of projects to improve both the Parkway East and the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway.

“This is a tough commute coming in or out of town,” Congressman Chris Deluzio said. “I think this could have a big impact and improve our quality of life.”

From businessman to county council president to county executive. After 12 years, Rich Fitzgerald is vacating his office. For over a decade, the Democrat has overseen the commonwealth’s second-most populous county. Next month, he leaves public office. Shannon Perrine sits down with Fitzgerald as he looks back on the past, present and future of the region.

Residents probably have heard of the greenhouse effect, but there’s a better analogy to explain climate change, Lindsay Byron said Thursday.

“Think of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses as a heat-trapping blanket,” said Byron, environmental group manager for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“As greenhouse gasses build up, they act like a blanket, trapping heat that would otherwise escape into space.

Allegheny County and the area around Cranberry can begin planning road safety improvements through study grants announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The grants, $520,000 for the county and $244,000 for the Cranberry area, were among 385 implementation and planning grants worth $817 million. The funds were awarded under the Safe Streets and Roads for All program, part of the Biden administration’s economic stimulus plan that earmarked $14 billion over five years to improve road conditions and reduce the sharp spike in traffic deaths that occurred during the first two years of the pandemic.