EQT Children’s Theater Festival returns to in-person programming
For the first time in three years, the EQT Children’s Theater Festival will be held live and in-person.
The 36th annual event will take place May 14 and 15 in the Cultural District. This year’s featured arts groups and performers hail from the U.S., France, South Korea and Switzerland.
“We are so grateful that we can finally gather in the amazing Cultural District theaters and art spaces as we celebrate our region’s rich network of talented artists and welcome international performers to the festival,” says Ellen Rossi, president of the EQT Foundation, which provides underwriting support.
Want to visit the Big Apple?
This week, Spirit Airlines announced that it will start nonstop service between Pittsburgh and Newark Liberty International Airport on June 22.
The airline will use its 182-seat Airbus A320 on the route. The departing flight will leave Pittsburgh International Airport at 5:40 p.m. and arrive at Newark Liberty International Airport at 7:02 p.m. The return flight will depart from Newark at 8 p.m. and arrive in Pittsburgh at 9:18 p.m. Fares start as low as $65.
412 Food Rescue CEO honored by national publication
Leah Lizarondo, 412 Food Rescue’s CEO and co-founder, has been named to the Grist 50, an annual list of emerging leaders in the nation who are working on solutions to climate change and other environmental challenges. The honor coincides with the food rescue’s seventh anniversary this month.
Since 1999, Grist has been one of the most respected publications dedicated to climate solutions and climate justice.
Moe’s Southwest Grill Pittsburgh offers free employee tuition
Big Plan Group, owners of Pittsburgh-area Moe’s Southwest Grill franchised restaurants, now offers employees free education at the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC).
Co-owners John Iaquinta and Mike Geiger are offering a full scholarship to any CCAC campus or online program for new and existing employees who work at least 1,000 hours annually (about 19 hours a week) upon their acceptance into the college.
“I got my start with post-high school education at CCAC and I want to help other Pittsburgh kids start a path to success, just like I did,” Iaquinta says. “When I realized that many of our employees were attending CCAC and using our tuition reimbursement program to cover some costs, I wanted to create a way for them to develop their skills at CCAC for zero out-of-pocket cost.”
Other employee perks offered by Big Plan Group include receiving the latest iPhone for free on the employee’s hire anniversary and a “Never Work on Your Birthday” policy.
Participating Moe’s locations include Campbell’s Run Road, Cranberry, Bridgeville, Market Square, Washington, Murrysville, Bethel Park, Wexford and Oakland.
Pitt’s peregrine falcons welcome first egg of the season
Morela and Ecco, the peregrine falcon pair that has made their nest at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning in Oakland, are expecting a chick.
Morela laid her first egg of the season on March 18. The Pitt Nest Cam, which is managed by the National Aviary, provides free livestreaming video footage of the falcons.
Peregrine falcons usually lay three to five eggs and the female begins incubating the eggs fully after she has laid the second-to-last egg of the clutch. Morela and Ecco will share nesting duties for about 35 days, relieving each other every several hours to hunt. The chicks spend about six weeks in the nest. After that, the young falcons will spend the summer with their parents before moving on to stake out their own territories. Morela and Ecco successfully fledged four chicks in 2021.
Until 2019, Peregrine Falcons were an endangered species in Pennsylvania.
