🫶 Friday at last!

🌦️ Today's weather: Partly sunny, chance of afternoon showers, high near 66.

🎧 Sounds like: "Hide Away," by Daya.

• The Mt. Lebanon native is headlining Light Up Night and will play at Arts Landing on Nov. 21.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Sallie Szczesny!

Today’s newsletter is 992 words — a 3.5-minute read.

Missed Pittsburgh's first cat walk? You're in luck: Lawrenceville is inviting visitors to stroll the sidewalks and meet the neighborhood's purr-sonalities perched on porches and peeking through windows.

Why it matters: Dogs have long been the neighborhood icebreakers, but cat tours have become a bona fide craze in cities across the country — drawing crowds and raising money for rescues.

Zoom in: The inaugural Lawrenceville Cat Crawl on Nov. 14 will feature felines with names like Colby Jack, Miso Soup, Buckeye and Sugar Cookie.

• Organized by nonprofit Lawrenceville Together, the event will include 18 stops at 14 homes and four local businesses.

How it works: Meet at Iron City Boulders, 143 51st St., between 11am and noon for coffee from Love Birds, chats with Conquer the Colony and Pittsburgh Paw Project. You'll probably meet some cats in strollers and backpacks, too.

• The group sets off at noon, stopping at homes to greet roughly 30 Lawrenceville cats.
• The roughly 2-mile route will wind from Upper to Lower Lawrenceville. A Google Map lists each stop's address and cat's name. Organizers will lead the roughly 90-minute tour by megaphone as residents introduce their cats.

Lawrenceville Pet Supply, Ivy's Ice Cream Pawlor and Kinship Gift will offer pet supplies, treats and cat-themed merch along the way.

• The crawl ends at Black Cat Tattoos, 3439 Butler St., where participants can get flash tattoos by appointment from 1pm-5pm.

What they're saying: Ross Greenberg, communications and membership manager at Lawrenceville Together, said the organization took a cue from the city's first cat tour in Brighton Heights.

• The event complements the nonprofit's programming aimed at supporting local businesses and improving neighborhood life, Greenberg said: "Sometimes building community can be fun and silly."

Flashback: Brighton Heights' cat tour drew hundreds of people in August and raised roughly $8,000 for local rescues.

Fun fact: An Instagram call for cats to join the Lawrenceville tour drew 56 applications in just 24 hours, but organizers had to narrow the field.

If you go: The Lawrenceville Cat Crawl runs from 11am-2pm.

• No registration required, and organizers encourage visitors to dress for the weather — cat ears and costumes welcome. A suggested $5 donation will benefit Conquer the Colony.

What's next: Organizers in Brighton Heights and Lawrenceville plan to make the tours annual events, and expect one in Greensburg next spring.

Go de-purr

"At least it is something that is actually good and something not embarrassing. I just like how I can honestly, just let myself go on it, and it will sound nice."

🎶 The intrigue: The southern Allegheny County student is a percussionist in the marching band, and she went viral last week when a video of her playing AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" on the xylophone racked up millions of views.

👀 Watch the video here.

🔎 Zoom in: Layla, 17, has been playing the xylophone for about five years.

• "Thunderstruck" is her second favorite song to play.
• "Viva Las Vegas" by Elvis Presley is her favorite, she says.

🥁 Zoom out: Layla says her bandmates really make the performance shine, and "it wouldn't be the same without them."

✨ Between the lines: The performance is from last year, and it started to go viral recently after Ronnie Evans on X shared the video.

• Evans said in his post that he has an AI agent tasked with sharing "something fun" with him each morning, and voilà.

🎸 She hopes the video spreads far enough that AC/DC sees it. She said she would love to go to, or maybe even play in, a concert with the legendary rockers.

🅾️ What's next: Layla says she wants to be an exotic animal veterinarian after school, and her dream college is Ohio State University. She wants to play in Ohio State's legendary marching band.

• Her principal, Pete Murphy, wants her to apply right now to "strike while the iron is hot" after her viral fame.

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👀 Critics of U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Braddock) say Democrats' wins in traditionally Republican states have eased concerns about his influence in the Senate. With at least 54 seats, Democrats likely won't have to rely on Fetterman to advance their agenda.

• Fetterman's high-profile breaks with Democrats have drawn criticism and fueled speculation he could switch parties after the midterms. Fetterman had yet to comment on Democrats' sweeping wins as of yesterday. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

💵 Allegheny County prosecutors charged Emmett Miles, director of former Homewood nonprofit Fishers of Men, with dozens of felony counts for allegedly misusing more than $350,000 in city, county and state grants meant for job training and food programs.

• Miles denies the allegations, arguing restrictive grant rules undermined his initiatives. It's the first arrest in an ongoing investigation into city finances. (TribLive / Post-Gazette)

🎥 Keep an eye out Downtown for "How to Rob a Bank" promos; the action-comedy was filmed throughout the Pittsburgh region and stars Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, John C. Reilly and Pete Davidson. It hits theaters Nov. 13. (Film Office)

While congressional and presidential elections may hog the spotlight, Pennsylvania's state government often has a much more profound and immediate influence on our lives.

• Think: Regulating data centers, taxation, thwarting utility rate hikes, setting K-12 curriculum, and allowing open primaries.

📣 Your vote: With Democrats set to take full control of Harrisburg in January, what should they focus on first?

• Share your thoughts here.

📻 Chrissy is shaking off a busy week at the Vintage Mixer.

🍫 Ryan ate too much Halloween candy and now his stomach hurts.

Thanks to Chloe Gonzales for editing this newsletter.