A DOZEN STORIES THAT DEFINED PITTSBURGH IN 2014
UNDERCOVER MAYOR As Mayor Bill Peduto donned a backwoods costume and Southern accent as a guy from Kentucky working with Pittsburgh Public Works for Undercover Boss, his constituents took to Twitter to be part of the Pittsburgh TV extravaganza. Between collecting trash and chopping down trees, Peduto offered ideas on creating partnerships with neighboring municipalities and training kids to do carpentry. While some viewers didn’t appreciate the short history lesson Peduto offered on former Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, others were happy just to call early Halloween predictions on how many people in Pittsburgh would wear the costume next October.
“The first kid that comes to our house next Halloween dressed as Kentucky Peduto is getting a box of full-sized candy bars.”
“No justice was done for Pittsburgh. Not a single #Yinz in the entire episode. P.S. Peduto’s disguise was total Yinzer gear. #GrowAPair” — Dec. 21 tweet from “D. Swolliven” (@Dougizzle)
{ILLUSTRATION BY VINCE DORSE}
— Dec. 21 tweet from “Ryan Askey” (@beastyR)
“Peduto using national stage to pile on @luke_ravenstahl … come on …” — Dec. 21 tweet from “D” (@I_Am_Score)
“See Deb, ain’t nothing wrong with my glasses. Even @billpeduto wears ’em.” — Dec. 21 tweet from “Pittsburgh Dad” (@Pittsburgh_Dad)
“I bet Undercover Boss still would have rated spectacularly in the 412 with no Peduto and just cuts between different Pittsburgh B-roll shots.” — Dec. 21 tweet from “Adam Bittner” (@fugimaster24)
“We can criticize a lot of things about govt, but Peduto has been fully accessible & transparent aside from lying about his identity just now” — Dec. 21 tweet from “duhnika” (@duh_nika)
“My two faves: local politics and reality TV. I think we really need more of this to engage people.” Dec. 22 tweet from “Jawn Devor” (@JenDevor)
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From Tom Corbett’s history-making defeat to Josh Harrison’s All-Star season, 2014 went by in a flash {BY CITY PAPER STAFF} in state government. But 236 is the number apparently sent and received by Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffrey. McCaffrey resigned over the scandal, as did six members of Gov. Corbett’s staff and cabinet. An additional 31 employees in the attorney general’s office were reprimanded. It was during Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s investigation into the handling of the Jerry Sandusky case that she unearthed the plethora of material that had been swapped between state employees and officials over the years.
VERYTHING’S BETTER when
it’s set to music. At least that was our premise while putting together this year’s list of noteworthy events from 2014. The following list, sung to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas if you so desire, is a quick look back at some of the stories that we reported on and that our readers talked about.
Three All-Star Buccos
A single term for Gov. Corbett Unless you were actually named Tom Corbett, you probably saw this coming for at least two years. Since the midway point in his term, the governor’s budget-slashing, inability to work with his own party and failure to deliver on his most ambitious campaign promises (including state liquor-store reform) pretty much sealed his fate as the state’s first one-term governor in more than 40 years. Corbett was walloped in November by York millionaire Tom Wolf, who opened
COMPILED BY ASHLEY MURRAY
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12 STORIES OF NOTE
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 12.24/12.31.2014
{PHOTO BY CHARLIE DEITCH}
Tom Wolf
up an early lead in the polls and never looked back.
Two (hundred thirty-six) judicial porn emails There were actually several hundred sexuallyexplicit emails traded among men in power
The Pirates thrilled fans again in 2014, making the postseason and winning 88 games. In addition. three Pittsburgh Pirates were chosen for the 2014 MLB All-Star game in July. Perennial All-Star and last year’s MVP Andrew McCutchen was voted in by the fans, while reliever Tony Watson and super-utility player Josh Harrison were chosen by National League manager Mike Matheny. But the big surprise and breakout star of last season was Harrison. Going into the All-Star break, in CONTINUES ON PG. 08