PITTSBURGH (AP) An Italian heritage group in western Pennsylvania vowed to appeal a judge's ruling that Pittsburgh officials can remove a 13-foot statue of Christopher Columbus from a city park. Attorneys for the Italian Sons and Daughters of America have argued that the mayor doesn’t have the power to override an ordinance passed by the city council in 1955 that cleared the installation of the 800-pound statue of the explorer.
On today’s episode of The Confluence: Proposed legislation in Harrisburg could help ill patients better access treatments by modifying and modernizing the prior authorization process, but the legislature has to approve it in its remaining session days; a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette investigation finds much of Art Rooney Sr.’s early wealth came from his role in the city’s rackets, according to FBI and other archival documents; and a judge has ruled Pittsburgh can remove the statue of Christopher Columbus from Schenley Park. Today’s guests include: Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R., York); Sean Hamill, reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; and Bill O’Driscoll, WESA’s arts and culture reporter.
• Scott Andrusz of upstate New York smashed the national record for heaviest pumpkin with a gourd weighing in at 2,554 pounds at the Great Pumpkin Farm in the Buffalo suburb of Clarence.