Tribune - Review / Pittsburgh Tribune - Review

Young Voices: You Need to Find the Good Amongst the Bad News

I wouldn't quite call myself a news junkie, but I do like keeping up to date on current events. Although I am a ferocious reader, using sources such as newspapers, news magazines and Web sites to stay informed, I'm also, more or less, obsessed with the "Today Show" on NBC. I try to watch enough to get the day's top headlines before I head to class. But the reason I love the show really has nothing to do with its hard-hitting news reports. Instead, I love the program for its human- interest pi...

Review: Singers Triumph in Pittsburgh Opera's 'Onegin'

The G-20 summit unintentionally cast extra light on the Saturday night opening of Pittsburgh Opera's season because other Cultural District events were cancelled or rescheduled. The opera's presentation of "Eugene Onegin" was up to the challenge, for the most part, because it was an impressively sung performance of a gorgeous, yet neglected, opera that was limited mostly by uninspiring sets. From the moment soprano Anna Samuil began singing, the performance hit its groove. She was a wonderful...

Showdown with Iran: Serious Sanctions

Iran's no-longer-secret nuclear facility focuses renewed attention on a nation long accustomed to thumbing its nose at the rest of the world. The question: How much longer can President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- or, more precisely, the nations that enable Iran -- play an increasingly dangerous game of cat and mouse? Exposure of the hidden facility near Qom reveals Mr. Ahmadinejad's flagrant deceit. And despite Iran's claims to the contrary, the site violates an amendment to the Nuclear Non- Prol...

William Safire, R.I.P.

"Formidable" -- the sort of word in which columnist William Safire delighted -- aptly describes his role in American political life, his language expertise and the challenge of filling the void created by his death Sunday at age 79. As a speechwriter for President Richard Nixon, Mr. Safire coined Vice President Spiro Agnew's memorable "nattering nabobs of negativism" Vietnam-era phrase. After leaving the Nixon White House, in 1973 he began more than 30 years of column writing for The New York...

Tuesday Takes

Neighborhood tragedy: Our prayers and condolences go out to the family of 5-year-old Jaylon Johnson-Floyd. While asleep on a couch in his Northview Heights home he was struck Saturday by fatal gunshots fired by unknown invaders apparently targeting an 18-year- old occupant, who was hit in both legs. Authorities must bring those responsible to justice -- and apply G-20-acquired security expertise toward easing the insecurity felt by residents in too many Pittsburgh neighborhoods. What a differ...

A 'Principled Conservative'

MIAMI Florida, a geological afterthought, was the last portion of what are now the lower 48 states to emerge from the ocean. And it emerged halfheartedly -- its highest point is just 345 feet above sea level.

Peaceful Ignored

On a local TV station during the first night of the G-20 summit, I heard a reporter say there had been 13 protests that day and only one was violent. So after I flipped through the news channels and read coverage online, why is it that I have no clue what the other 12 protests were about? The only protest during the G-20's first day that got coverage by the media was the one that broke windows. This is a complete failure on the part of the media.

Greensburg Tuesday Takes

Savvy taxpayers: More than 1,000 Westmoreland countians are appealing their property assessments -- a 4.5 percent increase in appeals this year -- signaling growing awareness among taxpayers over what their properties are worth and what they rightfully owe. The sour economy very well could be a factor in this uptick. But so, too, is an antiquated assessment system based on 1972 values. Smoothing things over: The outcome over comments from two Penn Township road crew members, who reportedly to...

Newsmaker: Jay Farmerie

Age: 55 Residence: Moon

Larimer Man Arrested in East Liberty Stabbing Death

A violent night in Pittsburgh left one man dead and two others hospitalized from attacks police say likely were unrelated. Stephen Grandison, 21, of Homewood was found dead from multiple stab wounds in his throat and torso about 11:50 p.m. Sunday on Hendon Court in East Liberty, police said.

Dorfman: Analysts' Stock Picks Often Duds

The more Wall Street analysts like a stock, the less interested I am, as a rule. Unlike birds, which often flock together for long, uncannily accurate flights, analysts frequently head in the wrong direction when they follow each other.

Xerox in $6 Billion Deal to Expand Tech Services

Xerox Corp. said Monday it will buy Affiliated Computer Services Inc. for $6.4 billion in cash and stock, joining the expensive race among technology companies to broaden their offerings. Xerox said the deal will create a $22 billion business that combines Xerox's copiers, printers and document management services with the "business process outsourcing" of Dallas-based ACS. Outsourcers like ACS take on tasks for other companies, such as helping to manage payroll or run health care plans.

Abbott Buys Pharma Unit for $6.6 Billion

Abbott Laboratories on Monday said it would pay $6.6 billion for the pharmaceutical business of Belgian chemicals maker Solvay in a move to further expand internationally and add to its product portfolio. By purchasing Brussels-based Solvay, Abbott gains access to emerging markets in Eastern Europe and Asia along with new therapeutic areas, including hormone therapies and vaccines. Solvay's flu vaccine Influvac will give Abbott an entrant in the burgeoning vaccines market, which is currently ...

Baggage Fees Join Your Overseas Flights

You can leave the United States, but it's getting harder to leave behind baggage fees. Fees to check bags on international flights are creeping in and may be here to stay. In the past three months, all the big U.S. carriers have added $50 fees to check a second bag on flights to Europe. Delta and Continental are charging second-bag fees for flights to Latin America, too.

Research Team Cracks Potato Genome

A global team of researchers has mapped the genetic code of the world's most popular vegetable -- the potato. The draft of the potato genome represents the work of more than 50 scientists from 16 institutions and will provide a starting point for other researchers to develop sturdier, more nutritious potatoes.

Shareholders Say Yes to Pay Plans

If investors were furious over executive bonuses, that anger failed to materialize in the ballot boxes at this year's annual meetings. A review of votes on executive pay packages at firms that received billions of dollars in federal bailout money shows that shareholders have overwhelmingly approved compensation plans, including at banks that doled out handsome rewards to management even as share prices plunged.

Pittsburgh Man Held in Indiana Sexual Assault

A Pittsburgh man is in jail for an alleged sexual assault reported early Sunday in Indiana County. Gerald Anthony Brooks, 21, was taken into custody on a warrant by Indiana Borough police after a woman reported that he assaulted her at 6:20 a.m. at a residence at 531 S. Fifth St., said Patrolman Scott Schuller. An address for Brooks was not available.

Somerset County Woman Killed in 1-Car Crash

A Somerset County woman was killed in a one-vehicle crash late Sunday. Juliana R. Mohney, 50, of Fort Hill, was driving a 1991 Buick Regal on Fort Hill Road in Upper Turkeyfoot at 8:55 p.m. when she lost control of the vehicle on a curve, said Trooper Daniel Augustine.

Demand for Food Stamps, Aid Rises in Pittsburgh Region

A higher-than-average number of households in the Pittsburgh area received public assistance last year, according to census data released today. Local assistance agencies say they have seen more demand in the past year.

Young Pitt Athlete Carved Out Niche in Oil Business

Scoring a scholarship to play football at the University of Pittsburgh in the early 1930s was a dream come true for Bob Freese. But a knee injury, and the need to leave college to help support his family during the Great Depression, dashed Mr. Freese's gridiron dreams. However, he never let those setbacks sour his outlook on life.