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Emails show Pittsburgh has failed to comply with regulations for needle exchanges

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Emails show Pittsburgh has failed to comply with regulations for needle exchanges


PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Discarded used syringes are a public health hazard, but a KDKA investigation has found that for the past two years, the city failed to comply with health department regulations.

It’s called a needle exchange, but since implementing its program 18 months ago, KDKA Investigates has learned the city failed to develop a program to collect and safely dispose of used needles and syringes.   

In nearly two dozen emails obtained through a right-to-know request, KDKA Investigates found that despite repeated pleas from the Allegheny County Health Department, the city failed to develop a policy or comply with regulations requiring the accounting and disposal of the needles, nor has it made available required sharps disposal containers to ensure the public’s health and safety. Without those safeguards, KDKA-TV has continually found needles strewn around trails and in open piles near encampments.

Sheehan: “You can see that the program went off without proper safeguards, right?” 

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Schmidt: “Yeah, probably didn’t use best practices around the proper safeguards.” 

In email after email obtained by KDKA, the city fails to deliver when county health officials requested a needle disposal policy. Then Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt began overseeing the city’s Office of Community Health and Safety, which administers the program and saw it wasn’t working.  

Sheehan: “Basically, since this needle exchange has been run, there’s been no exchange at all. I mean basically a lot of these needles have just been discarded. Is that correct?” 

Schmidt: “It’s not my current assessment.” 

Absent a developed plan, Schmidt says he eventually decided to pull the plug and stop distributing needles until the city can ensure the public’s safety.

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“There wasn’t really accountability around how many needles were given out in return for how man sharps containers — that sort of thing,” Schmidt said. “So that’s when we paused the program. I would rather we pause it, we slow roll it, whatever it takes to get it done the right way rather than just roll it out for the sake of saying we’re doing something,” Schmidt said.  

After suspending the distribution of needles for two months, Schmidt says the city has now begun a small pilot program with a limited number of homeless addicts, giving them needles only when they return the used ones and trying to get them into recovery programs.

In the meantime, the city has finally developed a draft disposal policy to ramp the program back up. It outlines the need for sharp box containers to be placed at encampment sites though the city has still yet to purchase those containers.

The city has done needle cleanups but just this last week, KDKA-TV found discarded needles throughout an encampment on the North Side and needles along an encampment on the Allegheny Riverfront Downtown, some even in the path of pedestrians.

Sheehan: “There are still syringes down by the Allegheny Riverfront for runners and joggers to step on.” 

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Schmidt: “There are, and I want to be clear, we’re not the only ones doing programs like this. There’s Prevention Point, there’s other outreach agencies, there’s also Good Samaritans that feel that’s their right to do that.” 

After operating without the proper safeguards, Schmidt says the needle exchange program will take baby steps until they get it right and try to convince everyone else giving out needles to do the same.



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Pittsburg, PA

Allegheny County Fire Marshal investigating deadly house fire in Homestead

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Allegheny County Fire Marshal investigating deadly house fire in Homestead



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HOMESTEAD, Pa. (KDKA) — One man has died after a house caught fire in Homestead on Saturday.

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Allegheny County 911 was notified of a fire in the 100 block of West 12th Avenue just before 11:30 a.m.

First responders found an elderly man trapped inside the second floor of the residence. Firefighters were able to get the man out of the home, and he was transported to an area hospital, where he later died, according to a news release from the Allegheny County Police Department.

The Allegheny County Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause and origin of the fire.

Anyone with information concerning this incident is asked to call the County Police Tip Line at 1-833-ALL-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.

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Analyst Blasts Steelers’ Mike Tomlin After Browns Loss

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Analyst Blasts Steelers’ Mike Tomlin After Browns Loss


The Pittsburgh Steelers let their guard down in Week 12, dropping a divisional trap game to the now 3-8 Cleveland Browns in the snow.

The Steelers had no business losing to Cleveland, at least on paper, and there’s plenty of finger-pointing to go around. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo chose to shift the blame onto head coach Mike Tomlin during an interview with 93.7 The Fan’s Donny Chedrick on Friday morning, stating that his decisions didn’t age well as the contest went on.

“I think hands down, it was the coaching,” Fittipaldo said. “And I’m sure we’re gonna get into some of the personnel decisions and some of those fourth down calls, but I thought overall Mike Tomlin showed the Browns a lack of disrespect early in the game.”

Cleveland’s final drive of the night alone encapsulated what was a subpar night for Tomlin. On 3rd-and-2 from the Steelers’ 25-yard line, he decided to accept an illegal touching penalty on offensive lineman Ethan Pocic that pushed the Browns back five yards for a redo instead of making it 4th-and-2.

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Despite the fact that Pittsburgh was in front 19-17 at the time, all indications pointed to Cleveland keeping its offense on the field instead of sending out the kicking unit given the weather. Had Tomlin declined the penalty, a stop on fourth down would have all but sealed a win.

Instead, Jameis Winston found Jerry Jeudy for a 15-yard completion and a first down. Tomlin also burned his second timeout with the clock stopped before the Browns moved the chains, which put Pittsburgh’s offense in a disadvantageous position on its ill-fated closing possession.

Nick Chubb went on to punch the ball into the end zone, putting Cleveland up for good with 57 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Tomlin is an irreplacable part of the Steelers’ organization and is the driving force behind their success year in and year out, but Thursday night was a definite low point for him.

Pittsburgh still sits atop the AFC North with an 8-3 record, however, and can wash away any bad feelings emanating from the loss with a bounce back performance against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 13.

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2 men charged in road rage incident in Pittsburgh’s South Side

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2 men charged in road rage incident in Pittsburgh’s South Side


Two men are facing charges after a road rage incident on Pittsburgh’s South Side.

Police say their actions could have led to “grave” consequences.

The incident started at a red light at the intersection of East Carson and S. 21st Streets just before noon, on Wednesday.

Pittsburgh Police say two vehicles, a GMC and an Acura, were stopped at the light when the GMC made a lane change in front of the other car. The GMC driver and passenger allegedly thought the other driver had given them the go-ahead.

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According to police, the driver of the Acura, Andrew Potter, then yelled and followed the GMC. Both vehicles stopped at the Coen gas station along S. 25 Street.

Police say surveillance video shows two men get out of the GMC. One of them, Joseph Brandt, is then seen grabbing a wrench, breaking a window on the Acura and hitting Potter in the face.

Both cars then traveled to a dead end on S. 25th Street. That’s where police say Potter’s Acura rammed the GMC.

Channel 11 spoke to customers at the Coen station who were glad no bystanders were hurt.

“If you can’t control your road rage, please don’t get on the road at all. It’s very dangerous,” one person said.

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“It could’ve been worse,” said another.

Police say all three men involved suffered various injuries including a concussion, chipped tooth and broken wrist.

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