Pittsburgh just avoided losing a 239-year-old civic institution — but the future makeup of the Post-Gazette is still uncertain.

Why it matters: The region's largest and oldest paper announced earlier this year that it would shut down in May.

Driving the news: The Post-Gazette announced yesterday it's selling to the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, the nonprofit publisher of the Baltimore Banner.

• Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• The paper's newsroom and local leadership team will continue to operate in Pittsburgh, according to a story published on the Post-Gazette website.
• The sale is effective May 4, the day after the paper was set to shut down.

State of play: Venetoulis Institute plans to maintain the Post-Gazette's two print days, Thursday and Sunday.

• Venetoulis Institute founder Stewart Bainum said the paper's newsroom staff of 100 might shrink.

Catch up quick: In January, the paper's owner, Block Communications Inc., announced the closure and said the Post-Gazette has lost more than $350 million over the past 20 years.

• The announced closure followed a newsroom strike that lasted over three years, during which many journalists crossed the picket line.

What they're saying: "We aspire to build a culture that's transparent, collaborative and ambitious and has a sense of urgency and respects everybody," Bainum said in the Post-Gazette announcement. "The test is not whether you're for-profit or nonprofit, but whether you're providing high quality journalism to communities that need it most."

Friction point: The Baltimore Banner reported yesterday that the nonprofit is acquiring only the paper's assets and is not obligated to take on Block Communications' contracts.

• Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh attorney Joseph Pass said yesterday the union hadn't yet met with new owners and was assessing the deal.

Context: The Venetoulis Institute launched the Baltimore Banner after the Baltimore Sun moved its printing operations.

• Venetoulis follows in the footsteps of other nonprofit efforts to preserve local newspapers, like the Philadelphia Inquirer.
• The Baltimore Banner has 79,500 paid subscribers and 4.1 million average monthly page views, and won a Pulitzer in 2025 for local reporting, according to the Post-Gazette article.
• The Banner has not yet broken even, according to the Post-Gazette.

What's next

Suburbanites, rejoice: There will be some free bus rides to the NFL Draft.

Why it matters: Pittsburgh officials really don't want you to drive to the draft, and they recently announced another free public transit option.

Driving the news: Four Football Flyer bus routes will be free for the three days of the draft (April 23-25), Visit Pittsburgh announced last week.

• Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) will operate the routes and pick up riders in McCandless, Monroeville, Jefferson Hills and Moon for drop off near PNC Park and Point State Park.

Zoom in: From 10am-1am, they'll run every 15 minutes April 23-24 and every 30 minutes April 25.

• 99N (North Hills) picks up at the McCandless park-and-ride, stops at the Ross park-and-ride and then heads to the draft.
• 99E (East) starts at the Monroeville Mall park-and-ride and serves all the stations of the East Busway.
• 99S (South) starts at the Large park-and-ride in Jefferson Hills and serves all the stations of the South Busway.
• 99W (West) picks up at the University Boulevard park-and-ride in Moon, serves West Busway stations, and stops at the Duquesne and Mon inclines.

Context: Light rail rides and trips on the Mon Incline will also be free during the draft.

What they're saying: "With frequent service, direct routes, and now free rides on our Football Flyer routes, we're making it easy for people across the region to get Downtown," said PRT CEO Katharine Kelleman.

Follow the money

🔋 Construction has begun on the $10 billion natural-gas power plant in Homer City. The 4.5-gigawatt facility will power data centers, as well as bring about 700 to 800 megawatts onto the local electrical grid. (TribLive)

↩️ Bruno Guedes da Silva, a Sewickley resident and Brazilian immigrant, returned home after being detained by ICE since February. Guedes da Silva has a work permit and is seeking asylum, and his daughter is battling Hodgkin lymphoma. (WESA)

🎞️ The trailer for "Hershey," a movie about Pennsylvania's iconic chocolate company filmed partially in Pittsburgh, was released yesterday. (YouTube)

🐘 The Pennsylvania Republican Party chair said he would be open to backing Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman if he switched to the GOP. (🔐 Post-Gazette)

• Fetterman told Axios earlier this year he's not leaving the Dems.

💧 The water steps fountain was turned on yesterday on the city's North Shore. (X)

Allegheny County residents spend an estimated average of $151 per month on their home electric bills, per an Axios analysis of data collected and shared by climate newsroom Heatmap News.

Why it matters: Tensions over rising energy bills and power-hungry AI data centers are emerging as a key political issue nationwide and should be a potent force in this year's midterms.

• Other forms of energy are also adding pressure to Americans' expense lists, like auto gas price hikes amid the Iran war.
• Metro Pittsburgh's regular gas price average was $4.16 yesterday, up 41 cents from a month ago, per AAA.

By the numbers: In the Greater Pittsburgh region, Lawrence County had the highest average electric bill at $168 per month, followed by Beaver at $152, Allegheny at $151 and Butler at $150.

• Most of the region's bills are slightly lower than the U.S. average of $158, and dramatically lower than places like Nantucket County, Mass. ($296) and San Francisco County, Calif. ($282).

The bottom line: Electricity rates are rising across the country — 25% in Pittsburgh since last year — and those costs stack up.

Go deeper: Explore the interactive map and methodology