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A questionable partnership between the PA DEP and a coal company

When entomologist Andrew Liebhold moved to Greene County in the 1970s, he soon fell in love with Dunkard Creek, regularly kayaking the 37-mile waterway with his wife and two daughters and never losing his appreciation for its stretches of scenic beauty.

Leibhold never dreamed that this placid tributary on the Monongahela River would become the center of a questionable partnership between a coal operator and the Pennsylvania DEP.

By Deborah Weisberg | PublicSource | May 18, 2012

Photo by Martha Rial

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Kids and pipelines

Farmer Jeanne Williams and her 116 goats are waiting for their Greene County hillside to be returned to green pasture.

After two months of upheaval as workmen from Precision Pipeline dug a seemingly endless trench, a layer of mud covered the freshly installed pipeline that will ultimately ferry natural gas being extracted from Marcellus Shale deposits.

Article by Emily DeMarco, Photo slideshow by Martha Rial | PublicSource | May 11, 2012

Photo by Martha Rial

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Will PA use vouchers and grants for higher education?

A battle is looming over the funding of higher education as Gov. Tom Corbett angles to limit direct appropriations for state and state-related institutions and move to student grants and vouchers, according to state legislators and higher-education officials.

By Adam Smeltz | PublicSource | May 11, 2012

Photo by chesbayprogram, flickr

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A language shared by combat journalists and veterans

We were an odd trio, sitting in a hipster lounge in Dupont Circle, last November, smoking flavored tobacco, sharing war stories, oblivious to the people around us.

By Jackie Spinner | PublicSource | April 22, 2012

(Photo courtesy Jackie Spinner)

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Student vets find themselves back in foreign territory

On his first day as a freshman at Shippensburg University in January 2009, Joshua Lang rose at 5:30 a.m., worked out, dressed in slacks and a button-up shirt and headed off to his psychology class.

By Michael Ringling | PublicSource | Apr. 19, 2012

Photo courtesy Joshua Lang

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Coming Home PA

Coming Home PA is a project about veterans’ return to civilian life spearheaded by PublicSource and reported in cooperation with its local media partners, who include Essential Public Radio (90.5), The Allegheny Front, The New Pittsburgh Courier, The Pittsburgh City Paper, Pop City and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Illustration by Alexandra Kanik, PublicSource

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Featured Content

A questionable partnership between the PA DEP and a coal company

By Deborah Weisberg | PublicSource | May 18, 2012

When entomologist Andrew Liebhold moved to Greene County in the 1970s, he soon fell in love with Dunkard Creek, regularly kayaking the 37-mile waterway with his wife and two daughters while developing an appreciation for its stretches of scenic beauty.

Leibhold never dreamed that this placid tributary on the Monongahela River would become the center of a questionable partnership between a coal operator and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the state agency entrusted to manage natural resources.
2011 military photographer of the year - Part 2
Kids and pipelines

Article by Emily DeMarco, Photo slideshow by Martha Rial | PublicSource | May 11, 2012

Farmer Jeanne Williams and her 116 goats are waiting for their Greene County hillside to be returned to green pasture.

After two months of upheaval as workmen from Precision Pipeline dug a seemingly endless trench, a layer of mud covered the freshly installed pipeline that will ultimately ferry natural gas being extracted from Marcellus Shale deposits.
Will PA use vouchers and grants for higher education?

By Adam Smeltz | PublicSource | May 11, 2012

A battle is looming over the funding of higher education as Gov. Tom Corbett angles to limit direct appropriations for state and state-related institutions and move to student grants and vouchers, according to state legislators and higher-education officials.
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Advisory commission members

By Adam Smeltz | PublicSource | May 11, 2012

Gov. Tom Corbett announced in February the formation of an Advisory Commission on Postsecondary Education. He charged the 31-member group with developing long-term recommendations for strengthening the accessibility and relevance of higher education in Pennsylvania.
Coming Home PA

Coming Home PA is a project about veterans’ return to civilian life spearheaded by PublicSource and reported in cooperation with its local media partners, who include Essential Public Radio (90.5), The Allegheny Front, The New Pittsburgh Courier, The Pittsburgh City Paper, Pop City and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Coming Home PA

A language shared by combat journalists and veterans

By Jackie Spinner | PublicSource | April 22, 2012

We were an odd trio, sitting in a hipster lounge in Dupont Circle, last November, smoking flavored tobacco, sharing war stories, oblivious to the people around us.

Investigations

'Stand your ground' law not yet used in W. PA

By Halle Stockton | PublicSource | April 19, 2012

The shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida and the ensuing controversy could happen in Pennsylvania because of the states' similarly broad stand-your-ground laws. But it hasn't – yet.
Coming Home PA

Allegheny County gets housing vouchers for homeless veterans

By Kevin Gavin | Essential Public Radio | Apr. 18, 2012

When many U.S. military personnel leave the service to return home, they might not have a home to return to or they wind up in the streets eventually.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) says there are more than 10,000 homeless veterans nationwide, including those in southwestern Pennsylvania, which has one of the highest veterans per capita rates in the country.
Coming Home PA

For veterans with PTSD, building relationships is no easy task

By Larkin Page-Jacobs | Essential Public Radio | Apr. 16, 2012

As men and women return from military tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, they go through a significant adjustment as they rejoin civilian life. Part of that adjustment is figuring how to communicate their experience at war. This can be especially challenging for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who are trying to build new, romantic relationships.
Coming Home PA

For veterans, coming home isn't always easy

By Erika Beras | Essential Public Radio | Apr. 16, 2012

It was recorded in ancient Greek and Roman literature. In the 1600’s a Swiss physician coined the term “nostalgia” to refer to soldier’s conditions. Soldiers returning home from the Civil War were said to be afflicted with “soldier’s heart” and “exhausted heart.” After World War I doctors started using the words “shell shock.”
Coming Home PA

Returning vets are fighting for jobs

By Mackenzie Carpenter and Molly Born | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | April 15, 2012

Military service is synonymous with sacrifice.

But for many troops coming home to Western Pennsylvania from Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere — what some officials have called “the coming tsunami” of veterans looking for work in a fragile job market — that sacrifice isn’t ending when they receive their discharge papers.
Coming Home PA

Sierra Club helps veterans overcome post-combat issues through activity

By Jennifer Szweda Jordan | The Allegheny Front | April 14, 2012

Stacy Bare leads the Sierra Club's program to get veterans and their families outdoors. The mission is "to ensure those who defended our country and their families get to enjoy the land they served." Bare is a veteran himself, having served in Iraq. While he admits his experience wasn't nearly as difficult as many people who served there, he witnessed atrocities and subsequently struggled with drugs and suicidal thoughts. This interview with Allegheny Front host Jennifer Szweda Jordan contains content that might be difficult for some listeners to hear.

Inside Our Newsroom

Coming Home PA

By Sharon Walsh | PublicSource | April 9, 2012

Starting Saturday, April 14, PublicSource and its partners will begin a series of stories about veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan coming back to their families, friends and jobs in Pennsylvania.

Read full blog post »