Ever since the Port Authority of Allegheny County proposed using Port Authority Police officers to check if light-rail riders had paid their fares, criticism had come from many angles. Police accountability groups worried the policy would disproportionally affect minorities and lead to $300 fines and even jail time for avoiding to pay a $2.75 fare. Immigrant-rights groups were concerned that one or two failures to pay fares could lead to the deportation of undocumented immigrants.

On top of those local concerns, a municipal court in Cleveland ruled a similar proposal unconstitutional in November 2017.

Then on April 27, Port Authority CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman announced the authority would no longer be pursuing the fare-check proposal. Kelleman become CEO this year, before the fare-check proposal was introduced.

Pittsburgh's skyline and President Trump were popular subject matters for artwork displayed at this year's Art All Night. This year's event — now in its 21st year, but in South Side for the first time after being held in Lawrenceville since 1998 — took place over the weekend from 10 a.m. on Saturday to 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Each week we post a song from a local artist online for free, and this week it’s “Etch” by Pop Thief, a meandering psychedelic hip-hop track about a person’s first LSD trip. The rapid-fire verses dissolve into dreamy, flowing choruses before giving way to a dark prog-rock instrumental finale. Stream or download “Etch” for free below.

We are very excited to announce that you now have a chance to win $10,000 at Cinco De Derby. I know what you're thinking. But this was already an awesome party, with an open select bar, open food, live bluegrass and mariachi, and a best hat contest (being judged by Pittsburgh style and seen legend, Jean Horne no less), how can it get better?

We at City Paper love a good challenge, so we went out and gathered some amazing prizes and a $10,000 grand prize.

City Paper has partnered with Live Nation to celebrate National Concert Week with an entire DAY of concert ticket giveaways.
All you have to do is add us on Snapchat (pghcitypaper) and keep your eyes peeled. You can win tickets to:

Thirty Seconds to Mars
Weezer with Pixies
Vans Warped Tour
Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie
Jack White
G-Easy with Lil Uzi Vert
Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt

Tune in early and often for your chance to win!

April 26 is the second day of the annual p4 conference at the David L. Lawrence convention center in Downtown Pittsburgh. The conference brings together regional and national leaders to discuss strategies on how to achieve equitable development in cities like Pittsburgh. Attendees at this year’s conference include Julian Castro, a Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Barack Obama, and Nikki Fortunato Bas, the director of the nationwide economic-justice organization Partnership for Working Families.

But as leaders discussed and shared ideas on how best to build inclusive and equitable cities, about 30 housing and transit advocates gathered outside the conference earlier today to claim that some of the city's leaders, like Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto are acting hypocritically. Laura Wiens, head of transit advocacy group Pittsburghers for Public Transit, said Peduto’s failure to release Pittsburgh’s bid for Amazon second headquarters, also called HQ2, flies in the face of the values held up by p4. She also called on Peduto to make Pittsburgh's bid to Amazon public.

Early in the morning on April 26, the controversial Stephen Foster statue was removed from its post in Oakland. In October 2017, the Pittsburgh Arts Commission voted to remove the statue, which many Pittsburghers had deemed racist for its minstrel-like depiction of a black man sitting at Foster’s feet. Foster, a native Pittsburgher, is the famous composer of songs like “Oh! Susanna” and “Camptown Races.”

The statue came off of its post fairly easily. A crew of several Department of Public Works employees wrapped thick rope around the statue and it was pulled off the base with a backhoe. The ropes were removed after the statue was loaded onto a flatbed truck; the truck drove slowly away and nothing was damaged.

For fans of live music, summer is a particularly big season. In addition to the dozens of local acts performing around the city, it's also the best opportunity to catch your favorite national touring acts. The downside, however, is that things can get costly in a hurry.

On Monday, Live Nation announced that in celebration of next week's arrival of National Concert Week, fans will be able to buy $20 tickets for a limited time for more than 30 concerts, ranging from the Outlaw Music Festival with Willie Nelson at the KeyBank Pavilion in Burgettstown to comedian Kevin Hart at PPG Paints Arena in November.

The $20 tickets will go on sale at 8 a.m. on Mon. April 30 and will remain available until 11:59 p.m. on Tue., May 8. More information can be found online here. Tickets can also be purchased through the Live Nation app.

Other shows of interest include Marilyn Manson's return to the area following his show in Pittsburgh last November when he was injured after falling off the stage at Stage AE.

Plus Vans Warped Tour, Maroon 5, Counting Crows, Weezer, Chris Brown, Miranda Lambert, Five Finger Death Punch and more. The complete list of shows is available after the jump.

Since opening last year, Downtown restaurant or, The Whale has focused on instituting more sustainable practices and foods. They supply much of their menu from local farms like Who Cooks For You Farm and Clarion River Organics and also use sustainable fisheries. 

In the week leading up to Earth Day, they launched a new no-waste happy hour program that runs Monday through Friday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The menu features organic and biodynamic wines, beers, cocktails and small plates. Small plates utilize foods like broccoli root and trout skins to reduce waste from other dishes while presenting something unique.

Mikey "Tha Pants" Felice, a stalwart in the Pittsburgh punk community, passed away at age 36 on April 15. Felice founded and ran Rally Ally, a music venue in Latrobe, Pa., with his best friend Chris Goodman. Rally Ally hosted bands like Caustic Christ, Every Time I Die, Crucial Unit and more. After Rally Ally closed, he continued to book shows around Pittsburgh, particularly at Belvedere's in Lawrenceville. He booked bands like Toxic Holocaust, Resistant Culture and The Vibrators among countless others, and he was known for his distinct flyers. He was a welcoming figure and taught many of Pittsburgh's punks about the music and culture that became their life.

To celebrate his legacy, friends and family will host an event on Thu., April 26 at Belvedere's with punk bands Cultivator, Submachine and Bitrot, followed by a punk-rock dance party DJed by John Villegas of Cruel Noise Records. The show costs "5 filthy american dollars" and all proceeds go to the Felice family to cover his funeral expenses. Donations to the Felice family can also be made through GoFundMe.