Winners & Losers
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Who’s up and who’s down this week?
City & State
Summer is here, and with it the simple pleasures of communing with nature – sun, sand and the gentle buzz of bees. Not butterflies, though: At Fort Indiantown Gap, lovers of lepidoptera will have to obtain a ticket – along with an online account, a mandatory safety video, and registration for a permit, limited to one per year – to ogle the rare regal fritillary butterflies. The orange-and-black Monarch lookalikes are on the verge of endangerment – and the 250-acre military base is the frittilaries' lone Eastern U.S. habitat.
Keep reading for more winners and losers!
Quinta Brunson -
Mr. Johnson may have the keys to Abbott’s doors and classrooms, but now Janine has the key to the city. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker presented actor and producer Quinta Brunson with a key to the city this week in a ceremony dedicating a mural at Brunson’s alma mater, which served as inspiration for her show “Abbott Elementary.” Brunson’s response: “Wow! I want to ask the question on everybody’s mind: What does it open?”
Dr. Michael E. Kupferman -
Dr. Michael E. Kupferman won’t just be leading Penn State Health when he takes over as CEO on June 23 – he’ll also continue caring for head and neck cancer patients, while also pitching in as an educator. Kupferman, whom the university announced this week will serve as the next CEO of Penn State Health, will also hold a faculty appointment at the College of Medicine as a professor of otolaryngology.
Civic Engagement Awardees -
It’s award season, at least for the high school crowd. The Shapiro administration feted 33 high schoolers with Governor's Civic Engagement Awards for their student-led efforts to register eligible peers to vote during the 2024-25 school year. Al Schmidt, secretary of the Commonwealth, who presented the awards, was joined by Jennitza Claudio and students from Building 21 High School in Allentown City School District, which won a Gold Level Award for the seventh year in a row.
Bethany Hallam -
It might seem obvious that local politicians should model civility toward all their constituents, but it’s a concept apparently lost on Allegheny County Councilmember Bethany Hallam, who recently reposted an Instagram message sarcastically questioning the need “to be civil to Zionists” in light of Israel’s war in Gaza. The post was met with outrage from Pittsburgh-area Jews, who called out Hallam for using language that creates what state Rep. Dan Frankel called “a dangerous environment for Jews” in a region that, in 2018, saw America's deadliest-ever attack on a Jewish community, the Tree of Life synagogue shooting. Hallam’s history of less-than-civil sentiments toward her Jewish neighbors include a 2023 post celebrating Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis.
International food markets -
Across the commonwealth, immigrants looking for a taste of home are finding prices harder to digest. Price fluctuations resulting from President Donald Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies have hit Pennsylvania’s international markets especially hard, making it difficult for shoppers to know how much to budget for everything from Peruvian aji amarillo paste to Vietnamese fish sauce. And sellers report that trade war-induced price hikes and sudden order cancellations are taking a toll on the imported-food business.
School District of Philadelphia -
The Philadelphia School District might fail its asbestos test after being placed under federal investigation for its asbestos management practices in its school buildings. The action comes a little over two years after the district admitted it was working on asbestos management, but was three years away from meeting federal inspection requirements. Officials estimate about 300 of the district’s schools, garages, pools, farms and other structures contain asbestos.