Unniversity of pittsburgh

ESPN's Outside The Lines is reporting today that the head of security for the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2001 has at the same time continued working as a high-ranking law enforcement officer in the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office. This sure looks like a potential conflict of interest, and ESPN's Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada lay out several detailed examples where that seemed to happen. It also might explain why Lt. Jack Kearney's nickname in certain circles, ESPN reports, is "The Cleaner." One example is Kearney's involvement after Steelers offensive tackle Mike Adams was stabbed last year outside a Colombian Cambodian restaurant in Pittsburgh. One officer on the scene, Sgt. Stephen Matakovich, tried multiple times to contact Kearney until he reached him on his home phone. Kearney would later testify that he thought he was the first person contacted by police. Shortly after he was stabbed, Adams told police he had been minding his own business, standing near his truck on the … [Read more...] about Report: Lieutenant Called “The Cleaner” Also Steelers Security Chief

Even for a 2018 filled with tragedy and terror, last week was particularly brutal. There were the assassination attempts on prominent Democrats and critics of the president. A white man shot and killed two black people at a grocery store in Kentucky. That man tried to enter a black church first, but the doors, fortunately, were locked. And then, of course, there was the terrorist attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, my home. Altogether, it seems as if hate and terror are winning. Still, we can not allow ourselves to succumb to it. Because, as we all know, love is a more powerful force than hate. Love, still, is the only way to defeat it. And for those who are feeling a bit disheartened and unsure of how exactly love can vanquish such an evil force, here are 10 ways to ensure that love wins. Advertisement 1. If hate is at your doorstep, invite it in with love, and offer it a seat on your couch — perhaps even your LOVEseat. Offer it a snack. Then lock the doors … [Read more...] about 10 Ways To Defeat Hate And Terror With Love

It seemed virtually inevitable that I would be thrown out of AutismOne, a yearly conference that has been accused of being a hive of anti-vaccine sentiments, bad science, scaremongering and worthless products. The conference has, after all, ejected several science bloggers who have previously attended, as well as a Chicago Tribune journalist, a filmmaker, and a representative from the California Department of Public Health. Also, I did not have a press pass. I will spare you the suspense: I was thrown out of AutismOne. Specifically, I was politely taken out of a lecture by an ex-police officer working security, stripped of my attendee badge, and accused, wrongly and at some length, of working with a journalist for NBC. They also gave me my money back. “We don’t want you to do a hacked-up job,” explained the ex-police officer, guiding me hastily towards the exit. In truth, and this has been the case for a long time, AutismOne doesn’t want journalists to do any … [Read more...] about Everything I Learned While Getting Kicked out of America’s Biggest Anti-Vaccine Conference

Each year, The A.V. Club encounters thousands of bands, 97 percent of which we won’t remember. What makes a band memorable? A good sound? Sure, that helps. A persistent publicist? Also helpful (or harmful, depending on the number of messages we get). A bizarre name? Definitely. In the many years that we’ve been doing our annual “year in band names” story, we can still rattle off some of our favorites. Who could forget Here Comes Old Vodka Tits? Or Happy Mothers Day, I Can’t Read? Gay Witch Abortion also belongs in the hall of fame. No matter how good the music is, these bands make the world a more interesting place. Here are some more fighting the good fight. Metal up your ass Vomitchapel Album: The House Of The Lord Despoiled, featuring songs “Lubrication Rites,” “Vaginal Sepulchre,” “Sacrificial Orifice,” “Gaping Perversion.” Says one guy on Rdio: “I’ve never played drums … [Read more...] about Georgia O’Queef, meet Slutvomit: The year in band names 2013

Punk vets Against Me! have a new album coming out this month. But while Shape Shift With Me won’t be out until September 16, the band has released a new music video for the album today, giving fans another glimpse of its latest stylistic shift. Directed by Say Anything star Ione Skye, “333” is a plum little piece of sexual psychodrama, starring Skye’s old friend, Orange Is The New Black’s Natasha Lyonne, as a ’60s-style housewife trying to keep herself some semblance of sane. Co-starringBates Motel’s Andrew Howard, it’s a stylish backdrop for Laura Jane Grace’s screaming vocals and the band’s driving percussion. Meanwhile, Grace’s memoir, Tranny: Confessions Of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout, is out on November 15, and the band is about to head on tour, both for headlining dates, and with Bad Religion, starting today. You can see the tour dates—and the track listing for Shape Shift With … [Read more...] about Natasha Lyonne and

In what’s either a sign of fresh music soon to come—or just an advertisement for her brand new tarantula farm—indie rocker Neko Case posted a cryptic new video to her Twitter account today, promising that something is “coming soon.” The video in question is as straightforward as any naked tarantula frolic you might see on any given day, showing Case with a couple of big fuzzy spiders on her, and ending with her name, her record label, and a half-second of piercing eye contact. Advertisement It’s been five years since Case released her last solo studio album, 2013's The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You. Since then, she’s been performing in her supergroup with k.d. lang and Laura Veirs, case/lang/veirs, and releasing box sets and live albums of her earlier work. Yesterday, though, she announced that she was heading back out on tour in 2018, posting a 30-stop schedule (starting with Sasquatch! in … [Read more...] about Neko Case announces new tour, possible album, spiders