Tuesday: Ready to Rumble

Photo: Dave Nernberg delivers a short pass around the hard mark of 2006 Playoff MVP Andrew Boyer. (Rebecca Droke, P-G)

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A new front opens on city policing issues: the alleged harassment of immigrants. (Rich Lord, P-G)

Mr. Barquera, a 35-year-old Mexican paralegal who has lived in Pittsburgh for 10 years, said he was in a car with two women and three children, traveling from a meeting on the North Side, when police pulled them over.

The officer "wanted to see our documents," he said, and became angry even though the driver presented an international driver's license, a Mexican driver's license and the vehicle title. They were made to sit in the hot car for an hour, while six squad cars came to the scene and police called the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, he said.

However, the Trib's Jeremy Boren delivers the impact quote:

"(Ravenstahl) committed in front of about 1,000 people last year that he would meet with us in January 2007 to begin talking about an immigrant-friendly policy, but we haven't met with him directly (since then)," said Scott Fabean, the group's vice president.

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City council president Doug Shields, amply demonstrating his continued presence at the City-County Building, moves to limit the amount of time acting directors can act (P-G, Team Effort), and also to schedule a public hearing on the promotion of the three officers accused of domestic abuses (Trib, Jeremy Boren).

Jeanne Clark, president of the Squirrel Hill chapter of the National Organization for Women, said police brass haven't adequately explained why the three men were promoted.

"Women and a fair amount of men are, frankly, pretty outraged about this," said Clark, of Shadyside. "The best they can tell us is 'trust us,' but they don't say why we should trust them."

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Predictably, the state legislature is watering down the proposed state-wide smoking ban. (P-G, Tom Barnes)

The vote on an amendment laced with exceptions was 29 -21. Including so many loopholes angered Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, the prime sponsor of the smoking ban. He was so upset that he wasn't sure if he'll even vote for the amended bill when it comes up for a final vote today.

"I am torn because of all these exceptions, which will expose thousands of people to secondhand smoke," he said. "No one challenged the medical or scientific evidence that exposure to secondhand smoke is dangerous. There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke."

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The Pissed-Gazette wants us to be outraged about a proposed state tax on parking spaces, that could apply even to residential driveways. The Comet wants to stay on Char's good side.