Winners & Losers

This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Who’s up and who’s down this week?

City & State

This week, smoke from Canada wildfires got in our eyes, on our cars and into our homes as Pennsylvania and surrounding states were blanketed with hazardous air, prompting a bevy of health warnings and cancellations of major events. State officials even declared a “Code Red” air quality alert, urging people to limit their outdoor activities if possible. We know Pennsylvanians are fond of Billy Joel’s “Allentown,” but “We Didn’t Start the Fire” may be cued up in heavy rotation for everyone hoping the smoke clears in time for his Philly concert next week. 

Keep reading for more of this week’s Winners & Losers!

WINNERS:

Mike Schlossberg -

Allentown state Rep. Mike Schloosberg scored a big win this week when the House approved his legislation that would allocate $100 million for mental health initiatives, including money for suicide prevention efforts and workforce development and retention initiatives in the behavioral health sector, among other uses. The proposal, which would use federal American Rescue Plan funds, now awaits action from the state Senate.

Cindy Dunn and Reggie McNeil -

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s cabinet is growing by the day, with two department heads confirmed by Senate lawmakers this week. Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Dunn will return to her post after being re-confirmed by the Senate 49-1, while Reggie McNeil, Shapiro’s nominee to lead the Department of General Services, received a unanimous vote.

Kristen Welker -

If you want to “Meet the Press” on the national stage soon, you’ll have to go through this Philly native. Kristen Welker, NBC’s chief White House correspondent and former NBC10 news anchor, will be taking over for Chuck Todd on the network’s flagship political program. The Philly native grew up in Fairmount and knew from a young age she wanted to be a reporter. Here’s to hoping Welker begins her tenure by saying, “Good luck, Chuck.”

LOSERS:

DuBois -

The City of Dubois has found itself in a bit of a bind. After city manager Herm Suplizio was charged with stealing more than $600,000 from DuBois’ public accounts back in March, neighboring municipality Sandy Township now wants to pause an already-approved consolidation with the beleguered municipality, according to Spotlight PA. In a court filing, township officials say the locality could suffer “substantial financial losses and harm” if the consolidation goes through. Some more DuPressing news for DuBois.

Sheriff scammers -

In a peculiar catfish extortion scheme, two men were changed in Pittsburgh for impersonating Allegheny County sheriff’s office employees and demanding payment for missing purported court dates. In a case unsealed this month, Raquan Hardy from South Carolina and Richard Long from Georgia were charged with stealing $43,000 from three victims while posing as Pittsburgh officers. The two will likely have plenty of time to think Long and Hardy about what they’ve done.

Jorden Robert Mink and Sandra Weyer -

The January 6 justice pool in Pennsylvania got a double dip this week, as two individuals were convicted and sentenced for their role in the Capitol riot. Jorden Robert Mink of South Fayette was sentenced to more then four years in prison for his involvement, which included assault, resisting or impeding officers and using a baseball bat to break a window. Another Pennsylvanian, by the name of Sandra Weyer, was found guilty of felony obstruction and four misdemeanor charges for helping remove barriers to the Capitol and yelling “Tear it down.”

NEXT STORY: A Q&A with Chad Dion Lassiter

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.