IT'S MOTHER'S DAY, and Pittsburgh with its family values -- not the self-conscious, self-congratulatory political kind, but the old-fashioned, taken-for-granted kind -- is a great place to be a mother. This morning, many mothers and the daughters of mothers, some of them survivors of breast cancer, will be in Schenley Park and Oakland walking or running the 5-kilometer course of the 16th annual Susan G. Komen Pittsburgh Race for the Cure. For them, it will be a healthy way to start the day before family visits and meals. Those mothers whose children live out of town -- a perennial Pittsburgh lament -- can take comfort that no kid can forget the old hometown this Sunday because, well, the Penguins will hold a playoff game tonight at Mellon Arena. Good kids will honor their mothers and call before the game. Go, moms. Go, Pens.

ROLL OUT the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun -- so say the lyrics of an old song. But Pittsburgh drivers won't be having much fun when the barrels roll out on Interstate 279 this month. As usual, that's when misery arrives. On May 27, construction will begin on an eight-mile section of I-279, from East Ohio Street on the North Side to the Camp Horne Road interchange. The state Department of Transportation warned ominously that "Motorists should expect significant impacts to traffic." Of course, the work is important -- a PennDOT official said the $11.3 million project will be the first rehabilitation of the Parkway North since it was built in the 1980s. But, added to all the other road construction in the region, summer is likely to seem the mother of all inconvenience.

EVERY MOTHER'S son admires Franco Harris, the Steelers running back who in 1972 plucked a football out of the air for the Immaculate Reception, which set the stage for the glory years to come. Last week, it was announced that he will run with another ball that could help youngsters in the city achieve their own glory. He will be the chairman of The Pittsburgh Promise, the innovative scholarship program for graduates of the Pittsburgh Public Schools. More than 1,000 students may be eligible for help with their college or trade school expenses in the first year of the Promise. The maximum grant will be $5,000 this year but is scheduled to rise to $10,000 in 2012. To get the program off and running, the board made an inspired choice in making Franco Harris its chairman. Nothing cheers mothers (and fathers) more than the hope that their children will succeed.