The  candidates for mayor will gather at Pitt  Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. for a debate with a little more room on stage than first anticipated.  Here's the news release, with one recently departed candidate  edited out:

92.1 WPTS FM, the University of Pittsburgh’s student-run radio station, and the Pitt Political Review will be hosting a mayoral debate for the Democratic candidates of the city of Pittsburgh.

The event will take place in the O’Hara Student Center Ballroom, located on the University’s campus at 4024 O'Hara St. (at University Place), Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Doors open at 7 PM. The University’s Graduate and Professional Student Government will provide catering for the event. WPTS Radio will provide a live broadcast of the debate on 92.1FM, as well as online at wptsradio.org.

Invitations have been extended to ..., city Councilman Bill Peduto, former state Auditor General Jack Wagner, state Rep. Jake Wheatley and A.J. Richardson.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette Politics Editor James O’Toole with moderate the debate.

WPTS Radio is the student-run, non-commercial radio station at the University of Pittsburgh. WPTS offers music, news, and sports programming throughout the year. Recently voted one of America’s Top 5 college radio stations, WPTS can be heard at 92.1 FM in the East End of Pittsburgh, online at WPTSRadio.org, and on mobile apps including iHeartRadio and TuneIn Radio.

1. Another One Bites the Dust: Mayoral hopeful Michael Lamb is not so hopeful anymore, dropping out of the race yesterday and endorsing opponent Jack Wagner. His reason? In short, the going was just too tough. As political writer Jim O'Toole put it, he's "out like a Lamb."

2. Mayor Luke had so many credit cards, he didn't know which one to use on business trips, say P-Gers Moriah Balingit and Rich Lord, who looked into the mayor's travel expenses. Too bad one of the cards was linked to an account that already — gulp — got Nate Harper indicted.

3. County council members say the Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review tried to pull a fast one on residents, passing a rule barring anyone but a lawyer from accepting pay to help out homeowners at appeal hearings. Council is likely to strike down the rule tonight.

4. Lots of comments on this one: A Carnegie Mellon English professor explains why she isn't letting her son take the PSSA. Worth a read.

5. PoliticsPA got a little slap-happy on April Fools Day, publishing nearly 30 satirical articles on Pennsylvania politics. Have to admit, they fooled us for a second with "Toomey Considering Guv Primary."

City Controller Michael Lamb's decision to exit the mayor's race and instead  back Jack Wagner lent a formidable boost to the former auditor general's bid for the Democratic nomination for mayor.

"I am doing this because I love Pittsburgh and a race with many candidates is blurry and difficult and the fact of the matter is, there is a real choice for Mayor,'' Mr. Lamb said in a brief statement in his Greenfield campaign office. "I believe the best candidate is Jack Wagner,'' he continued.  "Jack Wagner is both a friend of organized labor and of Pittsburgh's business community.  And as someone who grew up in the same community as me, he understands that we need to focus on our communities as growth in all our neighborhood helps us all.''

Mr. Lamb's reference to their shared political roots hinted at how his candidacy and that of Mr. Wagner had seemed destined to cannibalize one another's support in the city's southern neighborhoods.  For now, at least, the former state official is positioned as the strongest rival to city Councilman Bill Peduto, who had declared himself the front-runner on the strength of robust early fund-raising and field organizing.

The Michael Lamb campaign scheduled what he described as a "major announcement'' on his mayoral campaign this afternoon. Anne Batchelder, his campaign manager, said she could not confirm nor deny the suggestion that the city controller would announce that he was abandoning his bid for the Democratic nomination for mayor, but a source with direct knowledge of the campaign's plans said he would end the campaign that officially began in early January..  There's been a dearth of public polling in the race but in one independent survey, Mr. Lamb was running third behind city Councilman Bill Peduto and former state Auditor General Jack Wagner in the five way contest.