Category: Business
Company dazzles Zelienople with holiday lights display
By Phillip Poupore, Point Park News Service: Back in the 1930s, the employees at Universal Manufacturing in Zelienople started a holiday tradition by adorning one of their custom scaffolds with Christmas lights. The magical production then went away for many years until 1997 when an employee of the long-standing company found old photos of the […]
Brew Gentlemen look to expand beyond Braddock
By Drew Frichtel, Point Park News Service: Two young entrepreneurs developed an adventurous mission to create craft beer while still attending Carnegie Mellon University. They acted on their dream, developed a Kickstarter campaign that yielded more than $32,000 and found unlikely support from Braddock’s mayor. Now, they are one catalyst for the re-birth of a former steel […]
John the Craftist puts Pittsburghese on paper
By Sara Payne, Point Park News Service: When routine oral surgery turned into never-ending pain and a diagnosis of atypical trigeminal neuralgia in May of 2010, Alethea Okonak had never felt more isolated. But she found hope just outside in her mailbox. “It really meant something when I would go to get the mail, and […]
Lower gas prices fuel holiday travel
By Alex Grubbs, Amanda King and Aigne Mack, Point Park News Service: The price of gas in the Pittsburgh region is making its way to the $3 line, something that has not been seen in almost three years — just in time for the holiday season. A native from San Diego and resident of Oakland, […]
Great Allegheny Passage gives businesses new life
By Emily Balser, Point Park News Service: Mary Aukerman stumbled into the business of renting out her old family property to visitors passing through the area in Confluence — but 14 years later she is seeing a big payoff from travelers on the Great Allegheny Passage. Aukerman decided to open The Parker House, a guest […]
Technology-free concerts gain popularity, debate
By Jessica Federkeil, Point Park News Service: Sheena Ekas loves going to concerts, but she has started to find the other fans in attendance irritating. It seems like every time she goes to a show lately, everyone around her spends more time on their phones rather than watching the performance. “There are times you can’t […]
Owners grapple with larger iPhones
By Madeline VanHorn, Point Park News Service: Mark King thought he was one of the lucky ones when he was able to get his hands on the newly released iPhone 6 Plus. But when he started using it, he realized the phone felt too large for his hands. Now, he prefers the size of his […]
More women taking care of funeral business
By Julia Kramer, Point Park News Service: Sue Striffler realized at 16 that she wanted to follow her father into the funeral business. She eventually transformed their family company into a seven-home chain in the Mon Valley. She is one of many women transforming the funeral business, which is undergoing a gender change, experts say. […]
A crowdfunding website full of oddities, all here in Pittsburgh
By Jonathan Search, Point Park News Service: Don Moyer is a graphic designer who used Kickstarter to create a China plate featuring a city being attacked by flying monkeys. Maggie Lynn Negrete used Kickstarter to finance her own comic book about a pair of princesses and their adventures. “The nice thing about Kickstarter is you meet […]
Young professionals flock to Pittsburgh for film jobs
By Abby Mathieu, Point Park News Service: Emma Watson standing on the bed of a truck as she bursts through the Fort Pitt Tunnel, the Batmobile casually parked in a spot on Fifth Avenue and Matt Damon hanging out in a field in suburban Avonmore. All of these, notably uncommon, occurrences could be seen in […]
