Change comes in both words and deeds – and that’s Southwestern Pennsylvania’s economic development approach. 

Western Pennsylvania’s economic stewards have a vehicle in the New Economy Collaborative (NEC) of Southwestern Pennsylvania, a public-private partnership created to administer the $62.7 million Build Back Better grant from the federal government announced back in 2022.

The big goal of the project? Help Pennsylvanians transition into jobs expected to grow, and goad the state’s manufacturing businesses into investing.

Our Executive Director, Rich Fitzgerald, returned for his weekly spot on KDKA Newsradio with Larry Richert to talk regional news.
 
This week’s show featured Audrey Russo, President & CEO of the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Audrey talked about #SWPA’s booming tech industry and the region’s transformation into an innovation hub.
 
Also on the show was Jennifer Apicella, Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Robotics Network. Jennifer talked about the region’s history of robotic development and why companies want to invest here. 

The good news about traffic deaths after the pandemic is continuing: Preliminary figures through the second quarter this year show deaths declined another 3.2%, the ninth straight quarter that deaths have gone down.
 
That’s a marked difference from the pandemic, when reduced traffic and lack of enforcement seemed to encourage motorists to engage in dangerous activities on empty roads such as speeding, distracted driving and impaired driving. That led to some of the highest increases in traffic deaths since federal agencies started keeping statistics in the 1970s after nearly a decade of regular declines.

Executive Director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Rich Fitzgerald, joins Larry Richert in the KDKA radio studio each Wednesday morning.
 
On this week’s show, Bob Kerlik, Director of Public Affairs at the Allegheny County Airport Authority was on to talk about the airport modernization program. Kelsey Ripper, Executive Director of Friends of the Riverfront dialed in to discuss a recent kayaking event through a lock on the Allegheny River.

The Butler Transit Authority board voted in August to apply for up to $2.6 million to purchase up to four new buses to increase the number of trips available in the five local routes.

The application is being made to the state Department of Transportation, which will rule on whether or not to grant the $2.6 million request.

Executive Director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Rich Fitzgerald, joins Larry Richert in the KDKA radio studio each Wednesday morning.

On this week’s show, Beaver County Commissioner Jack Manning was on to talk about the Hookstown Fair and Big Knob Grange Fair. Westmoreland County Commissioner Doug Chew dialed in to promote the Westmoreland County Fair.

The following the second installment of a first-person account from Armstrong County Commissioner Anthony Shea regarding his recent bike trip from Washington D.C. to Pittsburgh:

In my last article, I told of my bike trip starting in Washington DC and ultimately finishing 334 in Pittsburgh, PA using the C & O and GAP Trails. The goal of this series of articles is to highlight how bike trails reinvigorate the towns they traverse, and to promote our county’s own Armstrong Trails.

Politicians, environmentalists, engineers and outdoor enthusiasts gathered Friday to kayak through the Highland Park Lock and Dam, a nearly century-old structure on the Allegheny River. Employees with the Pittsburgh District Army Corps of Engineers were on hand to operate the system and answer questions.

“So as you’ll see as you go through, our infrastructure is getting a little bit older,” said the deputy chief of the Pittsburgh district’s operations, Greg Turko. “The locks that you’re about to go through were built in the ‘30s.

Rich Fitzgerald, fresh from a two-hour kayak trip from Springdale to Harmar on the Allegheny River, reflected on the river’s importance for business and recreation.

“It’s important to the whole region,” said the former Allegheny County executive who became executive director of the 10-county Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission at the beginning of the year.

On Friday, three regional organizations and two state agencies — Friends of the Riverfront (Friends), the Port of Pittsburgh Commission (Port of Pitt) and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC), along with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PA Fish and Boat) — jointly hosted an on-river outing for regional elected officials aimed at raising awareness around the Allegheny River’s economic and recreational impact on the region.