On Dec. 31, after most members of city council had gone home to enjoy New Year’s Eve festivities, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl vetoed the prevailing wage bill approved on Dec. 21 by city council. The bill, which was approved unanimously, would have required employers to pay certain service industry workers a wage on par with others in the industry.

LUKE RAVENSTAHL

While the mayor’s veto would have been overturned if council had demonstrated the same support as when they first approved the bill, this was not the case. During a special meeting called by council president Doug Shields, only five votes were cast to overturn the bill, one short of what was required.

After losing his chief of staff, R. Daniel Lavelle, to city council, Rep. Jake Wheatley has restructured his staff to include three new legislative aides. Though the third aide, to represent the North Side, has not been selected, the two other aides will serve the areas of Wheatley’s district they call home.

KENNETH WOLFE

Uptown native Renee Aldrich will serve as the legislative aide for Uptown, the Hill District and Downtown. As the president of Uptown Partners, an organization made up of residents, business owners and representatives of Mercy Hospital and Duquesne University, Aldrich has been a long-time advocate for the neighborhood.

Bus driver suspended

The W.L. Roenigk bus company suspended Pat Kinnear last Monday while they investigate allegations that she left a sleeping first-grader on the bus after she dropped off students at Linden Elementary. The student was found at the bus garage by another driver and then taken back to school. This is the second time in the past three months, the company has faced an incident where a driver left a student on a school bus.