America’s best weekly Brashear’s on the way up, but Obama’s still on the throne SEE PAGES A6-7
Pittsburgh Courier NEW
www.newpittsburghcourier.com Vol. 115 No. 5 Two Sections
JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2024
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Teaching art through welding
RA’NYA WATKINS
JADA MARTIN (PHOTOS BY DAYNA DELGADO)
All-female high school student cohort at Passport Academy takes welding classes by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
The New Pittsburgh Courier has learned that an all-female cohort at Passport Academy Charter School worked with the Industrial Arts
Workshop to create art through...welding. It has people like Passport Academy Principal/ CEO Joe Oliphant beaming from ear to ear. Passport Academy is a charter school for high school students, located
Downtown, comprised of about 140 students. Oliphant told the Courier that the students worked with members of the IAW during the fall semester 2023. "In addition to creating art through welding, the
team at IAW has been inspirational in showing our students how to be creative through technical teamwork, collaboration, and character building," Oliphant said. "This program has been a tremendous success as our
students have learned to maneuver using a community partner such as IAW for career-readiness skill acquisition which will have an impact on their post-secondary pathways as they are nearing obtaining their high school
diploma." Each member of the student cohort was presented with a certificate in December 2023 to serve as proof of the work they SEE WELDERS A4
Shocking Jim Rogers video released; Mayor Gainey responds Video shows stun gun used on Rogers multiple times by Pittsburgh Police, and then, no assistance given to Rogers by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey has responded to the 52-minute video collection that was released on Monday, Jan. 29, that shows in detail the interactions between Pittsburgh Police and Jim Rogers, the 54-year-old Black man who died one day after being arrested by Pittsburgh Police in 2021. While the public had seen small snippets of an interaction between police officers and Rogers, Jan. 29 was the first time that the public saw Officer Keith Edmonds, who is also Black, arrive at the scene where Rogers was alleged to have stolen a bike on Harriet Street in Bloomfield. At first, Rog-
ers speaks with Edmonds, but as the interaction continues, Edmonds threatens to use a Taser on Rogers. Eventually, Edmonds does use the Taser on Rogers, while he's on the ground and after Rogers gets back up. The public also witnessed that none of the other officers who arrived on scene seemed to provide Rogers with any sort of medical assistance, even while Rogers was saying that he "couldn't breathe" while in the back of a police cruiser. Rogers was later transported to UPMC Mercy hospital, miles away from Bloomfield, when he could have been transported to the nearest hospital, West Penn Hospital, a mere two SEE ROGERS A3
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JIM ROGERS, SHOWN IN THIS NEWLY-RELEASED POLICE BODY CAM VIDEO. IT WAS RELEASED ON JAN. 29.