Commentary PITTSBURGH—Word travels fast in places like this city’s iconic small-business district filled with third- and fourth-generation family-owned businesses, the majority of which are centered on two things: relationships and food. Relationships and food, but not politics. At least not usually, thank goodness. The relationships come not just from the generational loyalty of people repeating…

Grab-and-go thievery has come to Main Street. Small businesses, struggling to survive over the two years of the pandemic, are facing a shoplifting epidemic, business groups representing owners say in recent studies. “Fifty four percent of small businesses experienced an increase in shoplifting in 2021,” according to a poll by Business.org, a small business advisory…

Commentary PITTSBURGH—It’s 4:30 in the morning, and Raymond Mikesell’s alarm has gone off. Within an hour, as the first rays of pink and orange morning light reflect off the skyscrapers in the city, Mikesell is at his restaurant, Cafe Raymond, in the Strip District, the city’s Main Street for small businesses. On his way to…

Santa Ana’s vision of a safer and more dynamic South Main Street could move forward Jan. 19 as council prepares to vote on about $13 million worth of infrastructure improvements for the thoroughfare. The investment is being proposed as part of the city’s South Main Street Corridor project, which encompasses about four blocks of South…