On the “Watch List”: Mellon Financial Corp. Six former employees of the Pittsburgh banking giant await trial on conspiracy charges for their alleged role in destroying tens of thousands of federal tax returns five years ago. Another already pleaded guilty and is helping prosecutors. Mellon has paid a paltry $30,000 fine, ostensibly to “settle” the case. But U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan says she’s convinced some high Mellon muckety-muck played a role in the case and is vowing to continue her investigation. Good for her. And happy hunting. Lance: To local radio gabsters. Despite the “best” efforts of some to talk up gasoline prices in the aftermath of the BP pipeline incident — some almost sounded gleeful in stentoriously predicting $3-a-gallon-plus prices — a funny thing happened on the way to local gas stations: The market spoke loud and clear and said there was sufficient supply to prevent such a spike. Not only have gas prices dropped — the pipeline disruption is not as bad as first feared (even with this week’s compressor setback) — they’ll continue to drop as the summer driving season comes to a close. Local talkers, learn some basic economics. Lance: To Mt. Lebanon officials. They continue to toy with a wacky idea to give a developer millions in taxpayer dollars — through a tax-increment-financing package — to help him build some very tony condominiums on a tract of land that government control has kept off the tax rolls for three decades. The developer says that without the $4.5 million subsidy for condos that will have an average sale price of nearly half-a-million dollars, he’ll lose money. Hello! That’s the marketplace saying it can’t support the project. So why should taxpayers? There’s a highly technical term for this — Daffy Duck economics. Mt. Lebanon can do better. A good place to start would be to have the parking authority that controls the property sell it. Two observations:

We’re pleased as punch that PNC Bank intends to cover the cost of its customers using competitors’ ATM machines. It’s indicative of a bank that has the common sense to know that nickel-and-diming its customers is the surest way to lose customers. That said, however, we’d much more prefer that PNC Financial Services Group, the bank’s parent firm, return the nearly $50 million it’s picking from the public pocket to build its fancy new Downtown skyscraper. In what we’re sure is a noble effort, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, which has done so much to revitalize a big swath of Downtown, is trying to figure out a way to encourage “impulse” visits in the 14-block area. That is, the group wants folks in the district not just for big Broadway and symphony and holiday shows and concerts but 24/7. And to think so much effort was expended so long ago to expel all those girlie bars … .

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