Donnie Iris on stage in South Park, August 2011. Photo: Comic Book Runner, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Donnie Iris died Monday. He was 83, and he’d been fighting bladder cancer for three years.

If you grew up here, you know the songs without trying. He was born Dominic Ierace in New Castle in 1943. With the Jaggerz, “The Rapper” went to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970. He did a stretch in Wild Cherry, the “Play That Funky Music” band. Then came the Cruisers, the big glasses, the nickname “King Cool,” and “Ah! Leah!” in 1980.

The last show. On Sept. 28 he played the grand opening of Citizens Live at the Wylie, in the Hill District. He sang sitting down, hours after a cancer treatment. Eleven days later he retired from the stage: “It was a meaningful and fitting moment to share with all of you in my hometown.”

Mayor Corey O’Connor called him “part of the soundtrack of our city.” That’s exactly it. “Ah! Leah!” came out more than a decade before I was born, and I still know when to yell the “Ah!” Every Pittsburgher does. Play it loud this weekend.

• Trick-or-treat in the city is Saturday, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Boroughs set their own hours, so check yours.
• Weather: dry. About 56° when the doorbells start, 55° by 7. Costumes can skip the parka this year.
• Party this weekend and still no costume? Better get on that. Halloween is literally two days away.
• Clocks fall back Sunday at 2 a.m. You get an hour back. Sunday’s sunset is 5:17.
• Steelers host the Browns Sunday at 1 on CBS.

ALCOSAN broke ground last Thursday on a $1 billion tunnel that will run about five miles under the river edge, from East Allegheny to McKees Rocks. Its job: catch the rain-and-sewage mix that spills into the Ohio River every time it storms. Digging runs 2027 through 2032. It’s the first of three tunnels in a $3.7 billion plan.

The bill: rates go up 14% in 2027, 14% in 2028 and 13.5% in 2029. Stacked, that’s about 48%. For a typical household it starts at roughly $25 more a quarter next year, about $8.50 a month, with similar jumps after that.

Why: a 2007 federal consent decree makes ALCOSAN cut overflows by 7 billion gallons a year. Board chair Emily Kinkead: “We’ve received no federal funding to support the mandate.”

Why it matters: cleaner rivers are the point. We’re paying for them in installments.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Find your polling place here. If you’re in line by 8, you vote. Governor tops the ballot: Josh Shapiro vs. Stacy Garrity.

The Justice Department is sending election monitors to Allegheny County and three other Pennsylvania counties. Its letter says they only watch and take notes: “They do not intrude or interfere in any way with the voting process.” If you see anyone intimidating voters, call the county elections division at 412-350-4500.

Backyard apartments are in. Council gave the housing bill final approval Tuesday: garage and backyard apartments get easier citywide, new buildings no longer need minimum parking, and developers get a size bonus for including affordable units. Last week’s “look at the space over your garage” is real now.

No AGH strike. The 1,500 nurses at Allegheny General ratified a three-year contract: raises averaging nearly 16%, an end to forced day-and-night rotations in the same week, and the hospital’s first rules keeping AI from overriding a nurse’s judgment.

Wabash Tunnel: the PRT board made it official. It closes for good Dec. 1. Fenced at both ends, not filled in.

A new tax idea: Councilor Barb Warwick wants a 2% city tax on unearned income, meaning investments, rent and royalties. She says it could raise $50 million a year. Pensions would be exempt. It’s a proposal, not a vote.

 

It’s a 1910 rowhouse in Upper Lawrenceville, and the listing puts it right across the street from a cemetery. Around the corner: Solera Wine Bar, Gold Dust Flower Shop, and a brewery called Coven, which is a little too perfect for this week.

Inside, the first floor is one open room built for having people over. The kitchen runs straight out to a covered patio and a fenced yard. A yard in Lawrenceville is rare. Upstairs there’s a primary suite with a Jacuzzi tub, and the third floor works for guests or an office.

 

The real flex: two off-street parking spots. If you’ve ever circled Butler Street on a Saturday night looking for a space, you know that’s the scariest thing in this issue. Go see the whole house.

Listed by Kyle Crilley, River Point Realty.

 

Steelers (5–2): beat the Saints 16–10 in the first NFL game ever played in France, in front of 78,488. Aaron Rodgers threw a touchdown, Jaylen Warren ran for 101 yards and Chris Boswell kicked three field goals. Browns at home Sunday, 1 p.m., CBS. Bye week after that.

Pitt (5–3): lost 52–23 at No. 1 Miami. That’s three straight losses after a 5–0 start.

 

Past 7 days, residential. “Was” is last week’s issue.

What we’re seeing

Sales ticked up for the first time in three weeks, from 505 to 515. New listings fell for the third week in a row: 793, then 719, now 601. And once again more sellers cut their price (821) than put a new home on the market.

Why you’d care

 

A duck. Not Stu, but a fellow duck. Photo: Pat Hansen, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Stu showed up at J and J Farms Animal Sanctuary in Saxonburg in May with no feet. The rescue was told he was born missing one leg and got by fine until winter. Ducks stay warm by tucking up one foot at a time and switching. Stu had nothing to switch to. Frostbite took the other foot.

So he got around by scooting on his wings, which left him calluses. Then Infinitely Able Pets built him prosthetic feet, and the sanctuary posted the best four words of the week: “STU HAS FEET!!!”

Monday’s update: he can stand in them, takes a few steps, then pitches forward. His chest is so strong from all that wing-scooting that he has to relearn where his weight goes. Honestly, that’s all of us walking out of Primanti’s at noon after the Paris game. Go Stu.

 

 

Want your business in front of Pittsburgh? Advertise with the Pulse

— Tim