Allegheny County’s so-called Crisis Response Stakeholder Group might be the most powerful local organization you’ve never heard of. We’d be tempted to call it a secret cabal, but it’s not, quite at least, a secret. The group first came to light in September 2020 in an investigative piece by Public Source’s Rich Lord, who revealed that its membership consisted of movers and shakers involved in law enforcement, philanthropy, and government in Allegheny County. None of the members would comment on its activities for the record, but Lord was able to piece together some basics using leaked documents and anonymous statements from sources close to the organization. CRSG hasn’t raised its profile much since. After its cover was blown, the county mounted a bare bones PR effort, but the group still largely remained under radar. It has never issued a press release under its own name, and has no social media presence. Subsequent press coverage of the organization has been notably sparse, with a followup article by Lord late last year being the only substantive mention.

Well, this is fun. Trib Live wants us all to know how to defeat home monitoring devices, or at least it sure seems that way. They dropped a story on Friday about a guy who did just that, including a wealth of practical tips. A few takeaways:

• The things malfunction often. “You get hundreds of false alerts,” according to a probation officer quoted in the piece. That of course makes it much harder to know when someone has disabled one.
• Those ankle bracelets can sometimes be removed and put back on without cutting them. YMMV depending on make, model, and foot size, but still…
• Even if you get caught, you can just blame it on faulty equipment.

Ankle bracelet wearers should be sure to read the whole article for full technical details.

In the summer of 2021, news dropped that the city had broken ground on a new homeless shelter downtown. Unlike pretty every much every other shelter in the county, this one was going to be a low barrier facility – open around the clock, welcoming to couples, with room to store belongings, and even open to those with cats or dogs. Nor was the facility to be just a roof above residents’ heads. Showers, laundry, a medical clinic, and a daytime hangout area open to all were also on offer. The opening date was not specified exactly, but was said to be sometime in the summer of 2022.