Solicitor, chief legal officer to take new job

Lourdes Sanchez Ridge, Pittsburgh’s solicitor and chief legal officer, will step down next month and return to private legal practice.

Ms. Sanchez Ridge, who was appointed by Mayor Bill Peduto after his first inauguration in 2014, submitted her resignation letter Tuesday. Her final day in the city’s law department will be April 6.

Ms. Sanchez Ridge said she had intended to serve only one term.

“I served a little more than the first term, and it was just time to go,” she said Thursday.

She has accepted a job with the city law firm of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP.

Inmate charged with starting fire in cell

An inmate in the Allegheny County Jail has been charged with starting a fire in his cell that forced a partial evacuation Wednesday and sent two corrections officers to the hospital for smoke inhalation.

Andrew Powell, 29, is charged with risking a catastrophe, reckless endangerment, institutional vandalism and felony criminal mischief, according to Allegheny County officials.

Twopeople with knowledgeof the situation said Powellwas heating a mixtureof baby oil and ink to create a jailhouse tattoo about3:25 p.m. Wednesday, whenthe mixture spilled and ignited in his cell.

Thefire, located in Pod 6D,was extinguished by a correctionsofficer before firefightersarrived, Warden OrlandoHarper said.

About 80 inmates were evacuated to the jail’s gym and the entire jail was put on lockdown until Thursday morning.