Mel Evans / AP
Election petitions were due Tuesday from candidates who hope to appear on the May 18 primary ballot, and a number of races appear to have drawn few competitors. Which may be just as well, because that leaves more room for judicial candidates.
There are nine spots available in Allegheny County’s Common Pleas Court. In all, 39 candidates are seeking them, either as Democrats or Republicans or – because judicial candidates can seek the nomination of either party – both.
Happily for voters, perhaps, and the people who lay out the ballots, history suggests some of those candidates will withdraw between now and the primary. Other candidates for all the races on the ballot may be removed against their will if defects are found in their petitions in the days ahead. (Conversely, some candidates may seek to run write-in campaigns in hopes of appearing on the November ballot without filing petitions first.)
Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority is following through on a settlement it reached in July to resolve violations of Pennsylvania’s Safe Drinking Water Act. As part of the settlement, PWSA agreed to donate $250,000 to Women for a Healthy Environment, a nonprofit that will use the money to offer free
90.5 WESA s The Confluence for Wednesday, January 6, 2021
On today s program: Pittsburgh Public Schools administrators are assessing when to bring some students back to schools; A local environmental advocacy group weighs in on the Environmental Protection Agency’s updated rules for lead and copper and Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority’s work on reducing lead in drinking water; and Erie voters with differing political views discuss the results of the general election.
Pittsburgh Public Schools hopes to bring back students, but only if the data says it’s safe
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“It’s important to note this would be a small group of students,” explains WESA’s education reporter Sarah Schneider. These students include those with disabilities and those learning English as a second language. The district brought this cohort back into the classroom briefly last fall, but they returned to remote learning after a week due to rising cases across Allegheny County.