CHERYL HURT

About 60 concerned Clairton residents, business owners and city officials convened for a town hall meeting on May 16 in an effort to keep the city's only bank—a PNC located at 571 Miller Avenue—open.

“We are all here because we're devastated that PNC is closing. The only bank we have is leaving Clairton," said Cheryl Hurt, president of the Community Economic Development Corporation of Clairton and moderator of the meeting. The bank is set to close on Aug. 16.

MARSHA JONES, CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER AT PNC

At a press conference on May 23, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald joined community and corporate leaders to announce a new initiative to increase economic opportunities for minorities in Pittsburgh. The initiative will specifically target the African-American population, which exhibits the greatest disparities in employment and wealth in the Pittsburgh region.

RICH FITZGERALD

Saying he wants to have more open lines of communication, particularly on issues pertaining to the African-American community, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, his Chief of Staff Jennifer Liptak and County Manager William McKain joined the New Pittsburgh Courier editorial board for the first of what he said could be quarterly meetings.

ANGELINA JOLIE (AP Photo/File)

Angelina Jolie is used to creating a buzz in the entertainment world, but now she has crossed over into the health care field with her recent announcement in a New York Times op-ed article. On May 14, in the op-ed “My Medical Choice,” Jolie announced that she had underwent a preventative double mastectomy after undergoing genetic testing and finding that she had a mutation of the BRCA 1 gene, which significantly increases her risk of developing breast cancer.

In her op-ed, Jolie wrote, “My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman. Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 percent risk of getting it, on average. Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventative double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex.”

Jolie underwent the mastectomy, which is the partial or complete surgical removal of one or both breasts, in her case both, then had reconstructive surgery.

While many are praising her for her preventative measures, others disagree with her actions, calling them extreme.