Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pennsylvania officials including U.S. Sen. John Fetterman are working with OpenAI to build data centers in the Commonwealth, company representatives said. The ChatGPT maker plans to build five to 10 data centers around the country as part of its $500 billion Stargate project, infrastructure strategist Keith Heyde told reporters Thursday. The exact number will depend on how much power they’re able to secure at each site.

West Virginia University students who meet certain income requirements will soon see zero balance on their tuition bills. That’s thanks to the Morgantown university’s new program, WVU Guarantee, that will provide funding to cover tuition costs for in-state students whose family income is $65,000 or less. After factoring eligible students’ financial aid offers and scholarships, WVU will fill the gaps of any remaining tuition balance through the program, which will roll out this fall.

Construction at Pittsburgh’s $1.5 billion new airport terminal is nearing the finish line after years of development, as officials on Thursday voiced confidence that they will reach their longstanding goal of opening before the end of the year. Airport spokesman Bob Kerlik said the new terminal has reached 80% completion, up from around 60% last February. There’s still a ways to go, he said, but progress is readily apparent behind the building’s remaining scaffolding. The two-tiered bridge leading up to the terminal from the snowy expanse of the parking lot is a grand affair — longer than the Fort Pitt Bridge, said Mr. Kerlik. The new building’s three-layer design, with departures on top, arrivals in the middle and maintenance on the bottom, was an intentional choice, he said, eliminating a longstanding congestion problem at the current airport.

A deal to reopen bankrupt Sharon Regional Medical Center in Mercer County unraveled Wednesday after a local nonprofit refused to waive a $25 million claim against the owners of the hospital buildings and other real estate. The Christian H. Buhl Foundation Trust board voted Wednesday to continue pursuing its claim against Medical Properties Trust Inc. over its failure to make millions of dollars in capital improvements to the hospital. The investments were a condition of the hospital sale to for-profit Steward Health Care System LLC, a Dallas-based chain that is undergoing reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

College review site Niche checked off one of its New Year’s resolutions in the first week of 2025. The Strip District-based company announced Tuesday it plans to acquire the Canadian startup Goodkind, adding a product suite that includes an AI chatbot, international outreach on WhatsApp, and direct-to-student videos. Niche leaders hope their college partners will be able to use these new features to connect with prospective students in a more personal way as schools across the Northeast try to overcome declines in college-aged people and diminished trust in higher education.

After a search that lasted longer than Joe Biden’s presidency, the K&L Gates law firm has decided to keep its Pittsburgh headquarters in the Downtown skyscraper that bears its name. The firm, one of the city’s largest, has signed a 15-year lease to stay in the 37-story K&L Gates Center at 210 Sixth Ave., its home since 2008. In announcing the decision, K&L Gates stated that it was “part of its commitment to growth in Downtown Pittsburgh.”

Whether it’s Downtown, Monroeville, the South Hills or the Strip District, few local real estate firms have left a bigger imprint on the region than Oxford Development Company. Over the course of six decades, the family-owned business built by the late, legendary Eddie Lewis, is responsible for Downtown’s third largest skyscraper in One Oxford Centre, the region’s first enclosed shopping mall in South Hills Village and a mini building boom in Monroeville whose centerpiece is the mall. In more recent years, it has been at the forefront of a wave of development in the Strip that has included new office buildings, apartments, and parking garages. As it prepares to enter its 63rd year under new leadership, Oxford is far from finished, with plans for more development in the Strip, the North Shore and points well beyond, including Midwest cities like Columbus, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. #realestate #companystory #pittsburgh

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States — a federal panel created to screen deals for national security risks and deliver a recommendation to the president — deadlocked over its review of the proposed $15 billion sale of U.S. Steel to Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel. The decision is now up to President Joe Biden, who has long-opposed the deal. The deadlock on Monday triggered a 15-day window for Mr. Biden to issue a decision. CFIUS said it is concerned that allowing the Japanese industrial giant to purchase the iconic Pittsburgh-based company could lead to a reduction in domestic steel output, which would represent “a national security risk.” Attempts by Nippon to mitigate that concern were unsuccessful. With the clock ticking on the deal and the president’s decision, here’s what we know about CFIUS and the fate of the merger.

Wilkinsburg, like districts across the region, has implemented new programs in recent years to help kids struggling with reading skills. The programs are largely in response to the pandemic, which heavily impacted reading comprehension as kids were forced to learn from home and masks worn by teachers made it difficult to learn how to sound out words and sentences. But reading illiteracy has been an ongoing problem since before the pandemic, leading to a swath of initiatives by districts and outside organizations aimed at ensuring kids can read at grade level while also working with adults who need additional help reading and writing.

A bankrupt Mercer County hospital is slated to close in less than three weeks, throwing 699 employees out of work, after efforts to acquire the facility collapsed. #healthcare #rural #layoff