New releases to get you through the weekend...

Pittsburgh City Paper and PA Beef Council are looking for the city’s best burgers. And this year, in lieu of our typical in-person, month-long burger contest, we’re launching a socially-distant version — a Burgher Battle — open to anyone with a grill and a spatula...

UPDATE — 12:35 p.m., Fri., July 10: Number of today's new confirmed positive cases in Allegheny County: 180 Total number of confirmed positive cases in Allegheny County: 4,547 Total number of hospitalized cases in Allegheny County: 450 Number of today's new confirmed positive cases in Pennsylvania: 1,009 Total number of confirmed positive cases in Pennsylvania: 93,876Total number of confirmed deaths from coronavirus in Allegheny County: 197 Total number of confirmed deaths from coronavirus in Pennsylvania: 6,880 Total number of Pennsylvania patients who have tested negative: 804,764 The above graphic was provided by our media partners PublicSource.org. Sign up for their email newsletter here...

Activist, musician, and Army veteran Brittney Chantele led a group of protesters through Downtown Pittsburgh on Thursday evening, marching in the name of Vanessa Guillen, a Fort Hood soldier who was allegedly killed by a fellow service member, following Guillen's reported accusations of sexual harassment during her time at Fort Hood. Since the 20-year-old soldier first disappeared in April (remains found in June were confirmed as Guillen's last week), her parents have been advocating for the military to change how it handles reports of sexual harassment and assault, according to The New York Times...

Last year, Gov. Tom Wolf (D-York) announced Pennsylvania would be joining 10 other northeastern states in an environmental program called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. This program, which was created in 2009, includes a rule that would place a price on each ton of carbon released into the atmosphere during electricity generation...

Pittsburgh-based queer pop and experimental electronic artist 2020k's "b" music video opens with a shot of what looks like litter against a tree. It's not a prop, however; it's 2020k, covered in layers of plastic...

Stuff can be complicated, especially when trying to get rid of it. The process can remind us that our things can have worth that's hard to put a dollar amount on; they can call to mind other people from our lives; they can bring up memories of what they were (or weren't) used for...

Since the beginning of the pandemic, designers, artists, and sewing hobbyists have taken to their sewing machines to fill the demand of masks for the public to wear. Pittsburgh City Paper is taking a look behind the scenes and highlighting local mask makers...

The day before his previous order was set to expire, Gov. Tom Wolf (D-York) signed an executive order protecting renters and homeowners from receiving eviction orders or foreclosures until Aug. 31. Wolf had previously ordered a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures that was set to expire on Fri., July 10...

UPDATE - 1:05 p.m., July 9: In a tweet thread released today, Delta Foundation interim president Jim Sheppard announced that four board positions would be opening up at the foundation, which is Pittsburgh's largest LGBTQ group. Sheppard wrote the foundation is specifically seeking candidates who are from the trans, non-binary, lesbian, and QTPOC communities (queer and trans people of color).

A huge congrats to the artists who have been selected to join the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's living music collection, STACKS. Twice a year, the digital music platform, which debuted in 2018, selects a batch of Pittsburgh bands and musicians to feature in its exclusive streaming service...

After Allegheny County experienced a spike in coronavirus cases over the last two weeks that were partially linked to people visiting bars and restaurants, county officials closed bars, prohibited on-site alcohol consumption, and eventually closed down all indoor dining for a week. Today, Allegheny County Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen has announced an extension of those orders, but with some changes that will allow Pittsburgh-area restaurants and some bars to operate on-site dining...

UPDATE - 12:15 p.m. July 9: Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian announced Thursday morning that CMU is filing an amicus brief in the lawsuit that Harvard and MIT brought against federal immigration officials on July 7...

At 12:16 a.m. on Wed., July 8, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto responded to a tweet asking him to post a photo of his feet in exchange for voting in November. Peduto replied saying he would show his "ten toes" in exchange for 10 voting receipts.  When you're in the middle of cooking a nice bolognese, and your roommate tells you Bill Peduto offered feet pics at 12:16 a.m...

Audio & Video Archive

Video Archive Lynn is discussing a couple of books to kick off the show today; Mary Trump's "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man" and the fiction book "Make Russia Great Again" by Christopher Buckley...

Jordan Montgomery got the idea for his latest album three years ago. He noticed how America’s Black culture — the music, the entertainment, the dance — is embraced by so many, but the same affection isn’t often applied directly to the people creating that culture...

On July 1, the Persad Center in Lawrenceville lost funding for its LGBTQ youth programs, spelling an uncertain future for the region’s LGBTQ young people. The program at Persad, which provides resources and services for LGBTQ people, gave a space for youth in the community to congregate in an open and accepting atmosphere...

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian author Mary McCarthy provides you with a challenge you'll be wise to relish during the rest of 2020. She writes, "Everyone continues to be interested in the quest for the self, but what you feel when you're older is that you really must make the self."

When dining rooms closed in March, Pittsburgh chefs had to rethink the restaurant experience. Half of the draw to dining out is the atmosphere that comes along with it, but without tables to fill, chefs were forced to figure out a way for diners to take the restaurant experience home...

In Zoje Stage’s debut novel, Baby Teeth, the Squirrel Hill resident wrote about a seven-year-old mute girl, Hanna, who tries to kill her mother. In her second book, Wonderland (Mulholland), a nine-year-old girl, Eleanor Queen, communicates with a voice from the past...