5-24-17

The Pitt News

The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | May 24, 2017 | Volume 108 | Issue 3

DANCE LIKE NOBODY’S WATCHING Man electrocuted in North Oakland Henry Glitz News Editor A man died Tuesday morning on North Neville Street in North Oakland when he accidentally came into contact with a utility wire.

Matthew Blackburn, 46, of Jefferson Hills, was working in a cherry picker vehicle washing the windows of an apartment building on the 500 block of North Neville. The platform he was working on came into contact with the top of an electric line around 10 a.m.

The line carried about 23,000 volts, according to Pittsburgh Police Commander Dan Herrmann. Blackburn was instantly electrocuted, and was confirmed dead by medical responders on the scene a little more than an hour and a half later.

Emergency personnel called Duquesne Light to the scene to turn off power temporarily in the area of the accident to allow firefighters to retrieve Blackburn from the crane.

A woman dances to the alternative-rock music of Brachtopus at Abbey Arts Festival in Lawrenceville Saturday. Anna Bongardino VISUAL EDITOR

FITZGERALD, WAGNER PUSH CITY LEAD ISSUES

Henry Glitz News Editor

Several developments over the last few weeks have shown that Pittsburgh’s issues with lead pipe contamination in public water are far from over.

Despite the end of the Democratic mayoral primary last week decreasing its visibility, a report last week from County Controller Chelsa Wagner, a bill in the state Senate and the establishment of a county task force promise to continue pushing the issue forward.

The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority’s partial lead line replacement project could put

huge numbers of city residents in danger of water contaminated with lead, Wagner said in a statement last Tuesday.

“No level of lead is safe,” Wagner said. “It is long past time for this city to get its house in order and do right by our residents and our children.”

Some local officials are taking proactive measures to address the issue of lead in partially replaced water pipes in the city. County Executive Rich Fitzgerald reacted to concerns about the partial replacement program earlier this month with the creation of a task force specifically

charged with examining its effects on children.

The nine-member task force will report to Fitzgerald within the next six months after an investigation of the effects of the PWSA’s and the city’s treatment of lead pipes in water lines on children in the region. According to a release from Fitzgerald’s office, the information gathered by the task force will be used to “examine possible policies that protect the public from lead exposure” and “make recommendations for interventions.”

The PWSA’s partial replacement project began after an investigation ordered by the Penn-

sylvania Department of Environmental Protection last year found lead levels in city pipes significantly higher than the 15 parts per billion maximum state regulations stipulate. According to Will Pickering, manager of external affairs for the PWSA, the finding meant that the agency would be required to replace at least seven percent of the city’s publicly-owned lead water pipes per year.

But even with this mandate from the state DEP, Pickering says the agency can’t do much more than just a partial replacement of older lead See Lead on page 3

News

Photo by NASA

Pitt engineering lab reaches for the stars Janine Faust

Senior Staff Writer Pitt engineering students now have the chance to work on projects that are literally out of this world.

The National Science Foundation’s Center for High-Performance Reconfigurable Computing, also known as CHREC, transferred its headquarters from the University of Florida to Pitt this January. According to Alan George — CHREC’s founder and director and Pitt’s new chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering — he took most of the lab’s materials and research with him when he left UF for Pitt in order to find more connections for the lab.

“Gainesville is a college town, so there’s not many opportunities to collaborate there. We were pretty isolated at UF,” George said. “But Pittsburgh has a ton of tech and research activity. There are plenty of companies and institutes here that CHREC could work with.”

This national research consortium, founded in 2007, conducts projects on an annual basis with 30 partners in industry and government including Cisco Systems, Walt Disney Animation Studios and several branches of NASA. “One of CHREC’s main goals is to create some kind of impact on society with our work, and these partnerships put us in a position to do so,” George said.

CHREC’s work consists of scientific and engineering research in computer programming and systems meant to find ways to improve reconfigurable computing, high-performance computing and space computing, which fo-

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cuses on computing material meant specifically for use in space.

Past projects of CHREC’s include Novo-G, which at the time of its creation in 2009 was considered by many to be the most powerful reconfigurable computer in the known world.

“We’ve been surpassed by then by many different new supercomputers, for sure,” George said. “But it’s good to know we’re able to make it to the forefront of this kind of stuff.”

CHREC ‘s current project, which is being worked on at Pitt, sent two space processors, CSP-0 and CSP-1, to the International Space Station in February on NASA Goddard’s STPH5 mission. According to NASA, the CSPs CHREC sent on the mission are being used by NASA to examine a miniature space computer for its possible use on small spacecraft systems.

“It is designed to tolerate space radiation, which can damage computer systems, and to minimize energy use and cost,” the website says.

“Results validate next-generation computer technology that can be used in future small satellites and other NASA missions.”

Since the mission’s launch, CHREC’s student and faculty have been keeping in touch with NASA while also conducting their own experiments as well, sending commands to its experimental processors from conventional computers on a ground station in Schenley Place.

“The computers on the space station are faster and more reliable than conventional ones,” George said. “They upload images quicker, and take pictures at a high resolution.”

CHREC currently has experiments going in several different types of computing — includ-

ing reconfigurable computing — on the ISS. “We do that from the ground by adding new apps from the ground to the computers in space,” George said. “We’re able to change the hardware as well.”

George said despite CHREC’s many partnerships, each project it works on is still wholly its own.

“Our partners don’t tell us what to do,” George said. “They say we have this research challenge, try it out. If we like it, we move forward with it. They don’t dictate anything.”

Space computing remains the dominant research challenge for CHREC, considering the limited resources and constraints that some with crafting material meant to operate beyond earth’s atmosphere, he said. Now, however, it is more relevant than ever.

“The demand for better space computers is high because ground center computers are getting better, and because people want more autonomous functions like autonomous docking and autonomous roving,” George said. “This stuff takes powerful computers, and a lot of our research focuses on solving these challenges.”

George said CHREC is looking to launch more experiments to the ISS in the future while at Pitt. It already has plans to send up a cluster of CSP space computers on NASA’s STP-H6 mission, called Spacecraft Supercomputing for Image and Video Processing, slated for launch in 2018. CHREC also has plans for the launch of STP-H7, although George said he “can’t say much on that yet.” He can, however, say a few things about plans for Pitt’s first satellite in space.

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“We just started working on it this past year,” George said. “We’ve been growing and growing and taking on more responsibilities The obvious next step is to add on to our tech.”

George said CHREC wants to create a satellite for Pitt in order to give CHREC more autonomy in its projects.

“Being tethered to a space station is a great opportunity, but it limits CHREC in where we can go and how much we can do,” George said.

“And we’ve worked on several satellite projects already before, such as NASA’s Ceres and Lockheed Martin’s Skyfire. But with those, we just worried about space computing.”

George said that a Pitt satellite has the potential to impact computing in several ways beyond simply allowing CHREC to experiment more with space computing, since computers designed for space can have effects on more conventional computing.

“I like to joke that space is like NYC when it comes to computing. If you can make it there you can make it anywhere,” George said. “Because it’s so complex, what we could create and develop for the satellite could help improve computing in society, which is what CHREC’s all about.”

Ryan Blair, a recent Pitt mechanical engineering graduate, worked with CHREC on its experiments for the upcoming STP-H6 mission as part of his senior design project. He and five other students collaborated with industry professionals including former NASA and SpaceX employees associated with CHREC in spring 2017 to create a box to hold and protect SSIVP See CHREC on page 3

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CHREC, pg. 2 during its time in space.

“A lot of the stuff CHREC does is pretty relevant to the future, I think,” Blair said. “Experimenting with space computing and supercomputing powers in general seems more necessary in the present, because possibilities like space travel are suddenly being considered and people in all kinds of fields, not just space, are looking for faster and stronger computing.”

Rina Zhang, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, began working at CHREC in early May. She will be helping out with the mechanical design and structural analysis for the space processors CHREC plans on sending up in on future missions with NASA, and hopes to eventually work on the planned Pitt satellite.

“So far I’ve just had training at CHREC. They’re training us in [Satellite Tool Kit] software right now,” Zhang said. “We can use that to calculate the location of a satellite in relation to the ground, what time it moves over a certain point, cool stuff like that.”

Zhang said it is important for an engineer to know about different softwares that apply to many industries, so what she’s learning at CHREC can be useful for what she does after college. The few limits they have on their work

also benefits her as a researcher.

“CHREC’s new to campus, so it’s brought a lot of opportunities with it. We have a lot of free rein, I think, which is pretty exciting,” she said. “We’re expected to puzzle out solutions for challenges on our own. And it’s brought space research to Pitt, which is awesome, since we don’t have much in the way of that.”

George said, as chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, he is looking to expand Pitt’s space program within the classroom, starting with an aerospace engineering program.

“Nothing formal has been made, but I’ve found a lot of interest among students for aerospace engineering studies, George said. “A lot of my research is aerospace stuff, so it would be wonderful if we could get a certificate or something going.”

For now, though, he’s simply excited about the opportunities opening up for CHREC here at Pitt.

“It’s only been five months and we’re already growing, which is what we came here for,” he said. “We’re helping create the next generation of technologists and researchers while doing what research centers do: trying to have an impact on society with our ideas and discoveries.”

Lead, pg. 1 pipes because of a legal ambiguity.

“Past the curb stop, the remainder of that [water] line has always been treated as a private issue,” he told The Pitt News. “We have legal opinions from our attorneys that we can’t replace past that.”

Pickering referenced legislation state Senator Wayne Fontana — a Democrat from Allegheny County — introduced last Monday in the state Senate. The bill, SB 656, would explicitly allow the PWSA to replace privately-owned water pipes as well as publicly-owned.

But Fontana had also earlier told the Tribune-Review that he “never could find out exactly where” laws currently on the books forbade the agency from doing so.

Wagner made the point that partial pipe replacements without replacing privately-owned water line segments fail to solve the problem while simultaneously giving residents an unwarranted sense of security.

“Residents must know that this isn’t just a half-baked solution, it is one that can double their exposure to lead,” she said. “We must especially ensure that homes with young children know their water is not safe — but likely is even more dangerous than before.”

Wagner also pointed out the prohibitive costs for many residents of replacing the privately owned portions of water lines.

“Let’s not forget our lead crisis was caused by the PSWA [sic],” she said. “In no way should the city allow that problem to be made even worse, or expect homeowners to fix a problem the city created.”

“It’s indisputable that some people wouldn’t be able to avoid those risks” associated with partial pipe replacements, Pickering acknowledged.

He referenced low interest loans available from the Urban Redevelopment Authority that low income residents could use to replace their privately owned portion of the piping.

Pickering also noted the city’s “short term” solution to the issue focusing on the distribution of free water filters and lead testing kits to at-risk households. Water filter distribution, a program with an estimated $1 million price tag, was first announced by Mayor Bill Peduto in March, and began last week. For now, the City is distributing filters to households with children under age six or expectant mothers, with wider distribution expected later in the summer.

Until then, Pittsburghers can see whether they live near partial pipe replacements at LeadPGH.com.

The Pitt News SuDoku 5/24/17 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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Opinions column

from the editorial board

PA still has room to grow PITT LEADS THE with medicinal marijuana PELOTON WITH It’s impossible to get a majority of people to support anything it seems — except marijuana.

Franklin & Marshall College recently found that 56 percent of registered Pennsylvania voters think the state should make recreational marijuana legal, mirroring a nationwide trend of increased support for the drug.

Pennsylvania seemed to be trying its best to keep up with the trend when it passed a state law legalizing the growth, distribution and consumption of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The law grants the southwestern region of Pennsylvania five permits for dispensaries and two permits for growing/processing facilities.

Marijuana is approved for patients in Pennsylvania that qualify under a list of conditions — such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and cancer — and is consistently proven to be effective for the conditions listed and beyond.

Here in Allegheny County, two companies and an individual have submitted applications — two for medical marijuana dispensaries, and one for a growing/processing facility. But the two dispensary applications were submitted for locations in Squirrel Hill and Shadyside, neighborhoods known to be some of Pittsburgh’s most affluent.

For medical marijuana to be effective in Pennsylvania, the dispensary facilities must not be concentrated only in affluent areas.

The state has a vested interest in its residents’ health, and should use its power to ensure that medical marijuana is available for all residents of Pennsylvania, not just those concentrated in its wealthiest areas.

The state has tried to make accommodations for this problem of access, however.

Each medical marijuana patient can list up to two “caregivers” — individuals that are permitted to obtain medical marijuana on behalf of the patient.

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But this doesn’t completely solve the access problem. Caregivers will still need to travel prohibitively far distances to fill their patient’s prescriptions, particularly if they live in rural areas or in the suburbs of a metropolis where the use of public transportation is inconvenient.

Keystone Relief Centers, the company that applied for the dispensary permit in Squirrel Hill, is planning on opening satellite facilities in Butler and Washington counties.

Under state law, each dispensary can also open two satellite facilities — but the two satellite facilities must be in different counties.

This prohibition on multiple satellite facilities being in the same county will spread out the dispensaries into rural areas of the state, but doesn’t solve the potential accessibility for lower income residents in a metropolitan area such as Pittsburgh.

Many neighborhoods in the Pittsburgh area — like New Kensington or Bethel Park — are prohibitively far away from the proposed dispensaries, especially for low-income residents without a car.

Medical marijuana is no longer a wildly progressive issue — the next step for the state is to champion recreational marijuana, as Pennsylvania Solicitor General Eugene DePasquale is trying to do. He proposed legalizing recreational marijuana as a way to pay off some of the state’s budget deficit.

But proposals for recreational marijuana won’t move far unless Governor Wolf takes a look at the polls and realizes that he’s wrong when saying that the state isn’t ready for recreational marijuana. If he wants to truly tackle the budget’s deficit and keep up with the rest of the northeast region, he should lead the way and bring Pennsylvania to the forefront of what is now the hot button progressive issue of recreational marijuana.

CROSS-CULTURAL BIKE RACE Miriam Shalaby For The Pitt News

It’s a chilly Saturday, the sky is gray, and some 15 bikers are gathered to begin a 15 mile race. Why would anyone in their right mind do such a thing? For the sake of building friendships, learning something new and feeding the community. I work as a volunteer director of the Food Pantry at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh and a few weeks prior, I received an email from a fellow Pitt student and recreational cyclist Sean Crandell, a senior at Pitt who wanted to hold a unique community event to benefit refugees and other food-insecure individuals in Pittsburgh. As an avid biker, he proposed a bike scavenger hunt — an alleycat.

“Alleycat” is cyclist slang for a bike race with no set course. Instead, there are checkpoints set up in a certain area and the racers get to choose what route they want to take — much like a scavenger hunt. The end of the race isn’t a finish line either — you finish when you arrive back at the start with proof of having stopped at every checkpoint.

I can barely pedal my way up a Pittsburgh hill and traffic scares me like nothing else, but Crandell didn’t want to invite me to the race.

He wanted to collaborate with me in organizing it as a food drive. He envisioned bikers stopping at grocery stores as checkpoints and purchasing food to then drop off at the food pantry.

A food drive was just what the food pantry needed. It usually needs $800 a month to buy and give food to its clients of all faiths and backgrounds across Allegheny County.

But at the time, the pantry was $800 short.

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Bringing bikers and mosque-goers together in a race to help feed people is a novel and fresh idea. I’ve frequently attended both interfaith and cross-cultural discussions, and while these events are enjoyable, they tend to attract the same crowd — one that is familiar with discussions between cultures. As a result, the conversations become repetitive and tired.

Our campus has been home to wonderful initiatives such as the Conflict Kitchen, the Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Conference and the interfaith film screening of The Sultan and the Saint, the last two of which were held earlier this spring. They aimed to bridge gaps over food, academic discussion and a movie, respectively. But time and time again, many of the same, well-intentioned people gather at such events, and few new faces are seen.

The alleycat was different. This race engaged bikers and mosque food pantry volunteers, groups of people who likely have not spent time together. It’s important for Pitt students to continue this legacy of intersectional initiatives to build bridges between different types of people and promote causes. When people who don’t normally interact work together and have fun, there is more opportunity for learning and engagement.

After a couple weeks of preparation, the inaugural Cathedral Crawl Alleycat finally arrived on February 25. It was a cold and gray Saturday — typical for Pittsburgh. I stood giddily by, watching the opening scene with my hands in the pockets of my orange wool coat alongside other food pantry volunteers.

Despite the biting cold, about fifteen bikers See Shalaby on page 5

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Shalaby, pg. 4

wards Schenley Plaza. Their final test? A recall of their Arabic phrases at the finish line.

I was amazed by the bikers’ recall, first of all — to be able to remember phrases in a foreign language is impressive enough, let alone during a bike race in the whipping

Sean Crandell (right), volunteers at the start of a bike race to benefit ICP’s food pantry. Photo by Miriam Shalaby array of index cards at the table, we volunteers helped them practice. Then, after a quick and sweet goodbye, the biker was off again, zooming down Bigelow Boulevard to-

cold. But moreso, I was inspired by Crandell’s enthusiasm to motivate two seemingly unrelated groups of people. He created an event that was fun, rewarding and educa-

tional — and lucky for me, he invited me along for the ride.

This event showed me that this kind of change — the grass-roots kind that works on changing opinions and preconceptions — is how students need to lead the charge. Many of the bikers who came to Crandell’s race had never been to a mosque, let alone spoken Arabic. But by the end of their race, they all had done both. All of us involved made new friends, had fresh conversations and helped feed their Pittsburgh community.

For the alleycat, the cause was simple — get food for people who are hungry. But its implications reach far beyond the stomachs of those that were fed, far beyond the City of Pittsburgh and even beyond the bikers themselves.

If building bridges between cultures doesn’t sound worth it, at least it got people excited about exercise in the winter. But I have a feeling that when leaving the finish line, their sore legs were the last thing on the racers’ minds.

Miriam Shalaby primarily writes on social change and foreign culture for The Pitt News.

Write to Miriam at mas561@pitt.edu

The Pitt news crossword 5/24/17

gathered under the tent in Schenley Plaza and began to sign in.

I saw racers from all different backgrounds, from the obvious Pitt students in blue and gold shirts to the average community members. There was so much diversity at the event, proving that students aren’t the only ones interested in ingenious partnerships like this. But every racer had one thing in common — an empty backpack that they would soon fill with donations.

When the race kicked off, I hurried back to my station at the ICP, where racers were to come once they’d collected food from the grocery stores along the way. Half an hour after the start, the first racer made their stop at the ICP — one of the checkpoints — with a backpack full of food.

In light of the recent wave of refugees out of the Arab world and beyond, Crandell wanted to make the event educational. So in addition to providing food for refugees at the food pantry, the racers had another task at the ICP — familiarizing themselves with Arabic.

It was an exciting routine. A racer would

speed up to the front of the ICP then drop their bike on the lawn, run through the doors and unload their backpack with the food they’d purchased at their previous stops.

After choosing a phrase or two from an

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5

Culture

MOVING ON: O’HARA SAYS GOODBYE TO PITT

together as a four-piece band to play their first house show on Parkview to an exuberFor The Pitt News ant group of close friends — solidifying their Pitt said goodbye to a musical fixture in status as an Oakland party band.

South Oakland as O’Hara ended their set Later in 2015, O’Hara won Pitt’s Battle of with a cover of The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” the Bands, which not only led to the fourto a boisterous crowd the Friday before spring some opening for American Authors and graduation.

Magic Man at Bigelow Bash, but also gave From their start in a basement on Sternberg a glimpse of what the future for the Parkview Ave. to their final show April 28 at band could hold.

Mr. Smalls Theatre, O’Hara created a space “I not only saw us as a party band, but I for itself in the Pittsburgh music scene with saw us as having real potential,” Sternberg their emotional alternative rock sound. said.

O’Hara is comprised of four recent Pitt Though they only had about a month to graduates — Jake Sternberg on lead vocals record and release original material between and guitar, Garrett Gabe on the drums, Drew the Battle of the Bands and Bigelow Bash, McFayden playing electric guitar and Nick O’Hara released their debut EP “Not Sure Yet” Berchock who rocks the bass. in 2015. Sternberg searched for places to reThe band, which officially formed in 2015, cord immediately after winning Battle of the takes their name from O’Hara St. because of Bands and eventually cut O’Hara’s debut projits short yet central location on Pitt’s campus ect at a recording studio at Carnegie Mellon. and is felt by the members to be a just meta“I was like, ‘Hey, we have a few songs we phor for their time in college. would love to record ... to release right before O’Hara began as a few kids playing instruthe show so that people can hear who we are ments together at Sternberg’s home in Bethand have an idea of what to expect when they lehem, Pennsylvania, over winter break in hear us play,’” Sternberg said.

2013. However, it wasn’t until two weeks into While they almost exclusively played covthe 2015 spring semester that O’Hara came ers at their first few 2013 shows, O’Hara later came into their post-punk revival sound with the release of two original EPs and one LP entitled “Millennials.”

Lyrically, O’Hara explores the angst of young adulthood over soaring and anthemic choruses. The band’s songs sound like they could be perfectly soundtracked to a film adaption of “Mysteries of Pittsburgh” by Michael O’Hara’s EP “The Ol’ College Try” Courtesy of Jack Stern- Chabon, including lyrics peppered with berg

Jack Mulligan

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O’Hara bids farewell to the crowd at Mr. Smalls on April 28 Courtesy of Jack Sternberg specific references to places around campus.

“We wanted to maintain that fun element to us, but we also wanted to make music that represented us and our time at Pitt,” Sternberg said. “We wanted to include things that people experience in their everyday lives on campus and bring them into our songs.”

The connection the band has to Pittsburgh is undeniable, as the band owes their inception as much to Towers dorms — where they initially practiced their instruments together — as they do to the basements of South Oakland.

Their new EP, “The Ol’ College Try,” is drenched in nostalgia as the majority of the lyrics involve the angst of transitioning into adulthood and leaving college behind. These lyrics are crooned over progressively intense guitar-playing on the track “Moving On” featuring Johnny Wall.

The lyrical subject matter of “Moving On” is not so far removed from the emotions the band was experiencing as the members prepared for their last show before graduation

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— nostalgic for the experiences the members were leaving behind, but hopeful for new experiences to come.

The band’s farewell show was well-attended by dedicated friends and fans. The opportunity to play at a major Pittsburgh venue like Mr. Smalls stemmed from the O’Hara’s successful headlining show at the Club Cafe earlier this year. Booking Mr. Smalls as the stage for O’Hara’s farewell show came from Sternberg’s passion for Pittsburgh’s music scene.

“As a huge music-goer, I had probably been to five or six shows [at Mr. Smalls] and it has always been my favorite venue,” Sternberg said.

O’Hara decided to play their final show on April 28 — the night before the majority of the band members graduated.

Well over 100 fans attended the show in the 18th century Catholic church to witness the evolution of the band from its house show beginnings to headlining at one of Pittsburgh’s coolest venues.

See O’Hara on page 8

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O’Hara, pg. 6 The bands Searights, Some Kind of Animal, Portrait People and Wall all supported O’Hara at Mr. Smalls that night with Wall — a collaborator and fellow Battle of the Bands winner — joining the band on stage to perform “Moving On.” “It was incredibly special,” Wall said.

“They’re just themselves — they’re not trying to be anything except for O’Hara.”

The band maintained its signature house show sound and energy throughout the en-

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tire set. Benjamin Hoover, a fan who attended the show, said the crowd was as lively as the music.

“When O’Hara came on, everyone came up close to the stage and started to really get into the music,” Hoover said. “You could really tell that each member of the group left it all on the field.”

The 13 song set list pulled evenly from the band’s early work as well as the entirety of its new EP. The farewell set concluded with an encore of one of the band’s signature covers of “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers.

“Mr. Brightside is one of our go-to cover

songs that gets everyone hype. People go crazy when we play that song,” said Sternberg.

Ending on such a high note was an emotional moment for O’Hara and their fans.

“There were a lot of people who were sentimental because a lot of the people who were at that same Parkview show ... were actually at the show,” Sternberg said. “A lot of our same friends came out to support us. A lot of them had been to every single one of our shows before.”

Though the majority of the band’s members graduated at the end of the spring semester to pursue a variety of career paths,

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this is likely not the last time O’Hara will ever be heard.

“We should definitely take a short break — I would call it a hiatus,” Sternberg said.

“Because I do think eventually ... we will record something again.”

Sternberg hopes to use his marketing degree to pursue a career in the music industry and will continue to write music with O’Hara in mind.

“The future is bittersweet, but, at the same time, it’s also kind of exciting,” Sternberg said.

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Sports

Pitt baseball loses two of three against Wake Forest online

column

PENS’ GOALIE SELECTION BACKED BY FLEURY’S INCONSISTENCY David Leftwich Staff Writer

save percentage.

Over that span, Fleury failed to have a postseason with a save percentage above .900. He’s bounced back since then, but this inconsistency is in stark contrast from his regular season streak of being above .900 since 2005.

Fleury was superb again in the 2015-16 campaign, allowing just 2.29 goals per game before sustaining a concussion and missing the start of the playoffs. Then the backup goalie, Murray was expected to fill in to start the playoffs, but he

Bay Lightning.

In game four of the series, Murray allowed four goals and Fleury replaced him, saving all seven of the shots he faced in his 18:26 of playing time. The performance was good enough for Sullivan to switch starters for game five, but the mid-series switch didn’t pay off like this year.

Fleury made 21 saves but allowed four goals in the team’s 4-3 overtime loss. The Lightning took a 3-2 lead in the series, and Murray was back in goal two days later. He allowed three

After losing two of the first three games of the Eastern Conference Final, the Pittsburgh Penguins are back in the series thanks to a controversial decision by head coach Mike Sullivan.

Through the first two rounds of the NHL playoffs, 32-year-old goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury seemingly solidified his starting role with outstanding play and a .924 save percentage. He kept the Penguins alive in several contests against the top-seeded Washington Capitals, and a shutout in game seven propelled the squad to a series win.

He played well in the first two games of the conference finals also, as the Ottawa Senators scored only two combined goals. But everything fell apart during a first period barrage in game three.

Fleury gave up four goals, including three over a span of a little more than two minutes.

Sullivan replaced him with Matt Murray — who led the team to last year’s Stanley Cup Championship — immediately after the fourth goal.

Murray played reasonably well for the remainder of the game, only letting one more shot past. The team still lost in a 5-1 blowout, but Murray’s play created some uncertainty surrounding the position.

In between games three and four, Sullivan mulled over the situation and decided to give Murray the nod in the hours leading up to the crucial contest. While many people questioned Penguins goalie Matt Murray has proven he’s the better of the team’s netmindthis decision to abandon Fleury — largely based ers this season. TNS on one bad period — it was the right choice.

Over the course of his career, Fleury has shown nothing but inconsistency in the postsea- too was injured in the team’s final regular season combined goals in the two remaining contests, and the Penguins won the series in seven games, game. son. going on to win the Stanley Cup with Murray in Murray was the fi rst of the pair to return, His career save percentage in the playoffs is the net. taking to the ice in game three of the fi rst round about average for NHL goalies at .908, and he’s The situation in last year’s conference finals and taking complete command of the position as had more postseasons with a save percentage bebears a striking resemblance to the current situFleury was forced to watch from the bench aft er low .900 than above it. From 2010 to 2013 he was ation.

In both cases, the backup goalie entered he recovered.

But, two rounds later, a similar situthe worst playoff goalie in hockey, according to ation to this year transpired against the Tampa the starting position due to an injury and experi-

pittnews.com

May 24, 2017

enced success in the first two rounds. Each time, they had a letdown performance in the conference finals, leading to a switch.

But despite the decision backfiring in 2016, Sullivan made the exact same choice this year.

Why did he do this?

The answer is simple — the Penguins are more confident in Murray than Fleury.

Last year, it may have been different, since Fleury was the longtime starter while Murray was in his first season. But Murray kept up the impressive play this year, starting more games than Fleury and putting up better numbers in the process, allowing 2.41 goals per game compared to Fleury’s average of 3.02.

Murray shined last postseason and proved he is the superior goalie over a significant stretch this regular season. Yet, people were still afraid to abandon Fleury’s hot hand and put Murray back in the starting lineup.

But throughout his career, Fleury has proved he’s nothing but inconsistent in the playoffs, and even though he played well through two rounds, allowing four goals in the first period against the Senators may have been the start of a series of poor play.

And even if it wasn’t, Murray has been at least as outstanding as Fleury since his return. In his first playoff start on Friday, Murray recorded 26 saves while only giving up two goals in the Penguins 3-2 win in Ottawa. Sunday, he snatched 25 saves in a dominating 7-0 shutout to put the Penguins up 3-2 in the series. And even though the team lost on Tuesday, Murray was more than satisfactory, saving 28 of 30 shots, with one of the Senators’ goals coming on a five-on-three power play.

By making a change and starting Murray, the Penguins put their better, more reliable goalie on the ice. They’ve been rewarded, and the recent surge might be enough to propel the team to their second straight Stanley Cup Championship when they take on the Nashville Predators starting May 29.

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column

TWO-TEAM LEAGUE MAKES NBA UNWATCHABLE Ryan Zimba Sports Editor

Over the last few years, the NBA has developed a clear hierarchy — and it’s badly hurting the league’s appeal.

Heading into the 2016-17 regular season, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors were the two teams everybody expected in the NBA Finals. The Cavaliers were the reigning champions and still had LeBron James while the Warriors — who lost to the Cavaliers in seven games — returned with MVP Stephen Curry and added forward Kevin Durant from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The regular season proceeded as most expected it to, with the Warriors winning the Western Conference for the third consecutive season. There was a slight shake-up in the East, as the Boston Celtics nabbed the No. 1 seed down the stretch.

Even so, this year’s playoffs have been perhaps one of the most uninteresting in any sport in recent memory. The Cavaliers and Warriors each cruised through the first two rounds with comfortable sweeps and are poised to return to the finals for the third year in a row.

It’s a period not seen in the league since the 1960s, when the Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers met in the championship round in six of eight years. But the NBA was a lot different back then — it had yet to introduce the 3-point shot — and the culture of the sport has changed drastically.

So what’s led to this lack of competition? How did a sport which rewards the lesser teams with a higher draft pick get so uneven?

While there’s no clear answer, there are a few possibilities. One of the more likely ones is the one-and-done phenomenon at the college level. The NBA mandates that athletes must be one year removed from high school before declaring for the draft, and every season, many of the NCAA’s best freshman leave hoping to be drafted and signed to a large contract.

It may work out great for the athletes financially, but many fail to live up to expectations because they simply aren’t ready to make the jump to the next level.

Prior to the 2014 NBA Draft, Sports Illustrated published an article detailing the level of success at-

tained by one-and-done athletes. They categorized them into four groups — stars, rotation players, bit contributors and flops, in order of decreasing production. What they concluded was striking.

After analyzing every such player since the 2006 draft, only 24 percent — in their opinion — were qualified as stars while a combined 39 percent were either flops or bit contributors. Most of the athletes became average rotation players despite being thought of as some of the NCAA’s best.

With more student-athletes opting to take this path each year, the overall quality of play has dropped in the NBA. If these players stayed in college until they were 20 or 21, they would be better products by the time they entered the league, and the level of play across the board would increase.

This has led to a situation in which the star players, such as James or Curry, can dominate the league and singlehandedly will their team to victory. If a team has one of these players, they’ll almost certainly win no matter who they have around them. It’s no longer a team sport, but one with a few great players and a large supporting cast.

This fact has been front and center this spring, with James and Curry leading their teams to a combined 23-1 record thus far. The Warriors have only played one game closer than 10 points while the Cavaliers were unchallenged until their 111-108 loss to the Celtics this past Sunday.

While it’s understandable if the top teams cruise past their first round opponents, winning the conference finals in dominating fashion is extremely unexpected — at least, until this year.

Prior to the conference championships, 24 of ESPN’s experts unanimously picked the two teams to meet in the NBA Finals.

TNS

pittnews.com

May 24, 2017

In each matchup, only one of the experts picked the series to go to a winner-take-all seventh game.

It’s transpired almost exactly as expected, with the exception of the Warriors series against the San Antonio Spurs being less competitive than most thought going in. Star forward Kawhi Leonard’s injury in game one definitely had something to do with it, but the fact is the Warriors would have won whether or not Leonard was playing. This just made it more decisive.

So far, only two of the eight conference finals games have been decided by 10 or fewer points and many of them haven’t been that close. The lopsidedness was highlighted in game two of the Eastern Conference Finals, when the Cavaliers won by a whopping 44 points, 130-86. The halftime spread was even more alarming, as the Celtics trailed by 41 — an NBA record.

The game marked the Cavaliers’ 13th playoff win in a row going back to last year’s NBA Finals, against — guess who — the Warriors.

So, after this round comes to a close, NBA fans might get their first look at a meaningfully competitive series if the outcomes hold. Currently, the Cavaliers hold an 3-1 series lead and look poised to return to the finals as well.

But then again, maybe not. Statistics website FiveThirtyEight gives the Warriors more than a 90 percent chance to win the title as of Tuesday night. Either way, it will generate some buzz as the rubber match between the league’s premier squads. The Warriors won the title in 2015 before the Cavaliers came back down three games to one to steal the 2016 Championship — Cleveland’s first major sports championship in 52 years.

But as a whole, the NBA has become an uninteresting product which is so predictable it’s not even worth watching. It hurts the league’s reputation, and more importantly, it hurts the sport’s followers.

Why root for a team you know has no legitimate chance at winning? What’s the point in following along just to end the year with a loss?

There is none — and the NBA needs to figure out a way to make the playing field more even before the sport starts to lose popularity.

10

I N D E X

Rentals & Sublet

Employment

• NORTH OAKLAND • SOUTH OAKLAND • SHADYSIDE • SQUIRREL HILL • SOUTHSIDE • NORTHSIDE • BLOOMFIELD • ROOMMATES • OTHER

• CHILDCARE • FOOD SERVICES • UNIVERSITY • INTERNSHIPS • RESEARCH • VOLUNTEERING • OTHER

1 and 2 Bedroom Apartments available August 1st. Students only. Washer/Dryer.

1 Block from Forbes.

Friendly Building.

1BR-$725/mo., 2BR $1050/mo. each plus utilities. Contact: 412-621-2742.

1,2,3,4,5,6 BR. Available August 2017. Atwood, Ward, Juliet, and Neville Street.

Call 412-287-5712.

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• AUTO • BIKES • BOOKS • MERCHANDISE • FURNITURE • REAL ESTATE • PETS

• EDUCATIONAL • TRAVEL • HEALTH • PARKING • INSURANCE

• ADOPTION • EVENTS • LOST AND FOUND • STUDENT GROUPS • WANTED • OTHER

2 Bedroom $750 1 mile from campus & off street parking.

412-225-8723.

3 Bedroom

2BR furnished apartment, shared bathroom & kitchen.

Available Aug. 1st, 1yr lease. $630/per month, per person including utilities. Call 412-848-9442.

separate kitchen,

3BR house Orpwood St., 2 kitchens, 2 laundries. $900/mo. + utilities. 412-477-1992

apartment on 2nd floor of house. 1 bathroom, central vacuum, in-unit washer and dryer. All utilities included plus internet & cable TV. Free fresh fruit from garden. $1650/mo.

Call Dave at 412-478-4855.

3 Bedroom available 8/1/17 at $1,350/month, includes all utilities. Located on Juliet Street, security deposit required.

Call 412-608-8581.

4 Bedroom 1 Bath House. Large kitchen, new windows and paint. Security System. Available August 16th. Bates and Semple. $1,600 + Utilities.

412-287-5406.

Leave a message.

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$27.00

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(Each Additional Word: $0.10)

Deadline: Two business days prior by 3pm

M.J. Kelly Realty.

Studio, 1, 2, & 3 Bedroom Apartments, N. & S. Oakland. $650-$1750. mjkellyrealty@gmail.com. 412-271-5550. www.mjkellyrealty.com Newly renovated apartments for rent.

3,4 bedrooms available for August/September 2017.

Atwood, McKee, Dawson, and Bates.

Please call Mike at 412-849-8694 for more information & for viewing.

May 24, 2017

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Spacious 2-BR apartments on Dawson Street, single or double occupancy. Partially renovated & improved. Either AUGUST 25 availability or IMMEDIATE availability. Very affordable rent. Limited parking spaces also available. Call 412-692-1770 to see apartment, parking spaces.

Email: advertising@pittnews.com

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Phone: 412.648.7978

Spacious 2-BR apartmentson Dawson Street, single or double occupancy. Partially renovated & improved. Either AUGUST 25 availability or IMMEDIATE availability.

Very affordable rent. Limited parking spaces also available. Call 412-692-1770 to see apartment, parking spaces.

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House for Rent. Beautiful 3-BR newly renovated-Allequippa Street. Close to Peterson Center & Pitt Dental School.

Equipped kitchen, new carpeting, washer/dryer, 2 bathrooms, full basement, fenced-in back yard, security system.

Looking for 3 students to share/or single family. Discount on first month’s rent.

Security deposit required. Students require adult co-sign.

Available August 1st, $1600+ all utilities.

No pets. For more information, please call 412-303-5043.

Email: dtm1003@comcast.net.

Studios, 1, 2, & 3 Bedroom apartments available August 2017 & sooner. Oakland, Shadyside, Friendship, Squirrel Hill, Highland Park, Point Breeze. Photos & current availability online, check out www.forbesmanagement.net, or call 412.441.1211

Searching for a female rommate.

Available August. Rent $800/ mo.

Parking not included.

814-392-8293.

Stylish Duplex Unit.

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms plus powder room. Modern fully equipped kitchen

Summer sublet May -

with stainless steel

August. 1 or 2 rooms.

appliances. Large liv-

On Halket St. be-

ing room and dining

tween 5th

area. Laminate floors

& Forbes.

throughout. Ceramic

Kitchen, Bathroom,

tile bathroom floors.

bar, TV, Wash-

Washer/Dryer. Full

er/dryer. $475/mo.

Deck. Central Air Conditioning. Nearby

610-413-7126 Summer sublet. 2

Pitt Shuttles. $1595

rooms. May-August.

plus utilities. July

Furnished. Each

1st. Call Caryn

room has private

412-721-5961.

bathroom, shared kitchen. $610 per month including utili-

3 bedroom house 3 miles from campus. $800. 412-225-8723.

FT Construction Crew Leader: Armstrong Habitat for Humanity/Americorp looking for Direct Service - 10.5 months starting August 2017.

Monthly living allowance, Education Award, Forbearance on eligible loans, ACA-compliant Health Plan offered at no cost. Some construction experience, drivers license required, ability to work with a diverse group of people, basic computer skills.

For more information or to apply go to: www.habitat.org/about/careers/armstrong-hfh-national-constructioncrew-leader and send resume to Armstrong Habitat, PO Box 837, Kittanning, PA 16201.

A Student with some background in research to analyze/collect information on the sustainability in 5 regions of the world.

Would like the student to start immediately. The compensation is negotiable.

412-521-4789. mck524@aol.com.

We’re looking for

412-848-9442.

healthy native English speakers be-

FRICK PARK RE-

tween 18-35 to partic-

GENT SQ, Modern

ipate in a research

Convenient shop, transportation, univer-

study involving a AC window unit.

fMRI scan. You will

Hampton Bay Model

be paid for your par-

sities, hospitals, must

HBLG5004, 5,050

ticipation. Contact

be seen $700+ elec

BTU. $30/ea. Call

412-624-7083 or

412-657-2318

412-731-7144.

J.tremel@pitt.edu.

pittnews.com

Need student helper for school year and summer, hours flexible. $15/hr. Basic maintenance, painting, repairs of Oakland rentals. Dave 412.688.0533 NOW HIRING!!!!

Come be a part of Oktoberfest Every Day! We’re HIRING for Kitchen Staff including a Kitchen Manager. Apply in person Monday through Friday. Contact: 859-743-2408 SEASONAL WORK

ties. Call

1BR, Furnished Apt,

ENGINEERING STUDENTS WANTED Need full-time workers for light-duty construction, renovation, painting, landscaping. Part-time and weekend work available. Must be 18. Experience not required but helpful. Immediate openings.

412-738-1618. bigtfeight@earthlink.net

Shadyside Management Company needs full-time dependable landscapers, painters, and assistant roofers for the summer.

Must be at least 18 years old. No experience necessary. $10/hour.

Mozart Management phone: 412-682-7003 email: thane@mozartrents.com SUMMER WORK Need full-time, dependable workers for yardwork, painting, landscaping, lightduty construction.

Also part-time and weekend work available. Must be 18.

No experience necessary. Immediate openings.

412-738-1618. bigtfeight@earthlink.net

The Center for Research on Health Care Data Center at the University of Pittsburgh is seeking a faculty at the Assistant Professor level or above with a doctoral degree. The faculty should have at least 10 years of experience as faculty. The faculty will be expected to teach and collaborate with investigators in designing research projects.

Academic appointments, tenure status and salary are dependent upon qualifications and experience.

Send letter of interest and CV to Wishwa Kapoor, MD, UPMC, 200 Lothrop Street, Suite 933 West, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 or e-mail noskoka@upmc.edu EEO/AA/M/F/Vets/Disabled

University of

The Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, is seeking clinical investigators. Candidates must have an MD with fellowship training or have a PhD. We are particularly interested in candidates in health services research, clinical epidemiology, health disparities, decision sciences and comparative effectiveness. Academic appointments, tenure status and salary are dependent upon qualifications and experience. Send letter of interest and CV to Wishwa Kapoor, MD, 200 Lothrop Street, 933 west MUH, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (fax 412 692-4825) or e-mail Noskoka@upmc.edu.

EO/AA/M/F/Vets/Disabled

933 West MUH, Pitts-

May 24, 2017

Pittsburgh, Division of General Medicine is seeking a full time Clinician Educator.

Position includes both inpatient and outpatient teaching and leadership opportunities in specific areas of medical education depending on the interest and qualifications of the candidate. Academic appointments, tenure status and salary are dependent upon qualifications and experience. Send letter of interest and CV to Wishwa Kapoor, MD, 200 Lothrop Street, burgh, PA 15213 (fax 412 692-4825) or e-mail Noskoka@upmc.edu.

EO/AA/M/F/Vets/Disabled Janitor/Housekeeper.

Oakland highrise.

Part-time. Sunday’s 8am-4pm. $12 per hour. Must be bondable. Apply in person at 220 North Dithridge Street 15213. Between 9am1pm on Monday’s through Friday’s.

WAITER/ WAITRESS, DISHWASHER/ COOK: 20hr/wk, great working environment.

Cafe Sam, 5242 Baum Blvd.

Apply Monday-Friday 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

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