This week's biggest Winners & Losers

The State System of Higher Education, known as PASSHE, voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a redesign of the system that will integrate six universities into two regional institutions. Chancellor Dan Greenstein, who spearheaded the consolidation plan, has been leading the state system through a financial transformation as it looks toward a more sustainable future. Despite concerns shared by students and faculty that it will diminish schools’ staff and education quality, Greenstein says the redesign will create “two regional powerhouses.”

Patrick McDonnell, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, will be happy to see a cap-and-trade program put in place in Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth is set to become the first major fossil fuel-producing state to put a price on carbon emissions after the Environmental Quality Board voted to allow the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The Republican-led General Assembly will continue to argue Gov. Tom Wolf and DEP don’t have the authority to proceed without legislative approval, but as of this week, the state is ready to flip the switch toward green energy.

State Rep. Wendi Thomas has been seeking improvements to the state’s redistricting process for multiple legislative sessions now, and it appears that some of her proposed changes will be factored into this decade’s drawing of congressional maps. Inspired by legislation from Thomas, House Republicans announced this week that multiple public hearings will be held throughout the map-drawing process and that Pennsylvanians will be able to submit their own maps and provide feedback on redistricting. Cheers to public input!

Where do we even start with this one? State Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Trump ally who is leading an effort to investigate Pennsylvania’s already-audited 2020 election results, was the subject of a Media Matters report this week that found he posted more than 50 tweets using a “QAnon” hashtag before taking office. What’s more, Tioga County – one of three counties targeted by Mastriano’s investigation – said they would not be granting Mastriano’s request for access to ballots, software and voting machines for his investigation into the 2020 general election and 2021 primary election. Maybe it’s time to ditch the conspiracy theories.

Cletus Lee, the Democratic candidate for mayor in North Braddock, was arrested this week and charged with assault following a domestic incident. While his family supports him and claims he was acting in self-defense, the police report alleges he punched two women and hit them with a baseball bat, sending both victims to the hospital. It’s safe to say that’s not mayoral material.

The Department of Labor and Industry, led by Secretary Jennifer Berrier, announced it will be issuing refunds to about 250,000 people it accidentally overcharged in interest over the last decade. A Spotlight PA report found that the agency had not been using the correct interest rates from 2006 to 2016, and knew about it for the last five years. Between dealing with unemployment compensation fraud, a backlog of pandemic claims, and now this, Berrier can’t catch a break.