Monday heds: Police, bridge & debt woes

Good Monday morning.

A must-read look inside the realities of local government: there is only one black recruit in Pittsburgh's latest police recruit class, and Sadie Gurman looks into the difficulties, confusion and bureaucratic difficulties behind why. (Photo: Recruit Marvin Avant of Braddock/Garfield. By Rebecca Droke.)

Debt limit talks move on separate tracks. Still looking ugly out there. (WashPost)

Semi Pittsburgh-related: 101-year-old Bunny Mellon finally talks about John Edwards. (Newsweek)

If drivers north of Pittsburgh looked under the region's bridges -- as Jon Schmitz does -- they'd be really scared. A quarter of the bridges in PennDOT District 10 are structurally deficient and the money still isn't there to fix them. In fact, funding is going down.