Pittsburgher William E. Strickland Jr., a community leader who helps teens through the arts, was honored in Washington today for his contributions to social entrepreneurship.

Mr. Strickland is known for promoting the arts as a reward for keeping kids in school and then training students for jobs at Manchester Bidwell Corp.

“We express our gratitude for Bill Strickland’s commitment to provide those Americans most in need with an environment they can thrive in and a future they can take pride in,” Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said in a floor speech today to commemorate Black History Month.

In 1969 Mr. Strickland founded the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild which later merged with Bidwell Training Center to form Manchester Bidwell, which gets funding from local employers to train people for specific job openings.

“The use of art to change students’ attitudes is at the heart of my vision of education,” Mr. Strickland wrote on his website. “I see a connection between the creativity instilled by a love of the arts and the skills needed for business success.”

Mr. Strickland, 65, has lectured at Harvard University, served on the National Endowment of the Arts board and founded the MCG Jazz subscription service. He also was named a Macarthur fellow. 

The White House released its fact sheet on how the sequestration will impact Pennsylvania. It's in full here, and Tracie Mauriello has a breakdown:

The choice, according to an administration analysis, would mean Pennsylvania would have $26.4 million fewer federal education dollars to spend, putting 360 teacher and aide jobs at risk. It would mean 2,300 fewer Pennsylvania children will have access to Head Start, the state would lose $1.5 million in grants for fish and wildlife protection, that 36,860 fewer unemployed Pennsylvanians would get help finding jobs, and that 5,280 fewer vaccines would be administered for diseases such as measles, whooping cough and tetanus.

The analysis details more than $220 million in direct losses of federal funding to the state. That includes cuts of about $150 million in pay to civilian military personnel.

Geez, Seth MacFarlane was annoying last night. The P-G Magazine gave the Oscars an overall C+ grade, which seems about right. Back to the work-week:

1. Having trouble keeping the FBI probe of the Pittsburgh Police Bureau straight? The Mod Squad -- Lord, Navratil, Silver -- has an explainer. Rich is on WDVE talking about the investigation this morning at 9. (PS, Mayor Ravenstahl missed two public events he was scheduled for over the weekend.)

2. Now Monroeville's mayor is in trouble. Annie Siebert explains the wackiness in the major municipality east of town.

3. Pa arguably has more say in budget decisions now with both senators on the Finance Committee and others on good committees, Tracie Mauriello writes.

4. DC is barrelling towards huge domestic and military spending cuts later this week. Bob Casey is doing a conference call with reporters today to detail the impacts on Pa.

5. US Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, was on "Face The Nation" yesterday talking mental health.

Alright, folks, we at the Post-Gazette are keenly aware that we've been beating you over the head with story after story after story about public corruption, alleged public corruption, lax accounting creating opportunites for public corruption, and, oh, what else, federal authorities investigating public corruption.

But there was a bright spot of municipal news this week when we reported that Pittsburgh was invited to submit a bid to host the 2024 Olympics. WOOO!!

To be clear, we weren't the only city invited, but getting the letter put us in the fine company of cities like Milwaukee, Wisc., Rochester, N.Y. and the hated City of Brotherly Love. (Frankly, if they submit a bid, we should, too, just out of spite. Isn't that how this whole cross-state rivalry works?) My hometown, Sacramento, which is hanging on to its NBA team by a thread, was also on the list.

Admittedly, city officials expressed skepticism that the Steel City would put in a bid, a process that is expensive in and of itself, before you go even go about developing a creepy mascot. NPR reports that the Windy City's unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Olympics cost $100 million.

"Certainly there would be logistical challenges to meet even to put a bid together," said Joanna Doven, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ravenstahl. "We will look into what it would take and talk to the corporate and nonprofit community to see if they would be interested."