Speculation running rampant that Mayor Ravenstahl will drop out of race

It started with this story at Early Returns at 10:30 PM last night which noted that Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl had been missing more meetings than usual in the last few days and quoted a close ally:

"It is with a heavy heart that I tell you here tonight that the mayor couldn't make it. Within the next couple of days he'll be having a press conference to discuss some issues,'' Mr. Quigley said adding that "... there's some personal things going on right now that I'm not at liberty to discuss.''  

"Everyone in this room supported the mayor at one time or another,'' he continued. "Us as Northsiders it's always been an old adage that we stick together. I'm asking everyone on this room to send their prayers out to the Ravenstahl family and to stick together as Northsiders.''  

Later, Mr. Quigley alluded to the federal investigations swirling around the city Police Bureau as he said, "I'm going to tell you that the mayor is implicated in nothing that's going on with the city. He's having some personal issues. And I am here to tell you that in the next couple of days there's going to be some kind of press conference. I would just ask everyone in this room, reserve your thoughts and say a prayer for the mayor and his family.''

That was followed up with a similar story in the Post-Gazette two hours later.

This morning, all hell broke loose:

KDKA: Sources: Mayor’s Mother Facing ‘Serious Health Crisis’
KDKA: Mayor Ravenstahl To Make Major Announcement About Future
WPXI: Sources: Ravenstahl questioning re-election run
Post-Gazette: Announcement expected from mayor, but no press conference set

And, that doesn't even count the tweets and Facebook updates.

Guess we'll all be tuning in to the noon news today...