This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Two Pittsburgh homeowners whose home was damaged by a landslide will receive $730,000 from the city after Pittsburgh took the home via eminent domain. The city wanted to pay a maximum of $350,000 to Brian and Donna Albert, but an Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas judge recently ordered the city to pay more than double that figure – and to do so within 30 days.

Upper Merion has been chosen for the site of a next-gen biologics factory by the British pharmaceutical multinational GSK, further cementing Southeast Pennsylvania's status as a preeminent life sciences hub. The new facility comes as part of GSK's extensive investments in the region – which include several Philadelphia-area offices, a Marietta factory and, most recently, forthcoming AI upgrades at five commonwealth manufacturing sites as part of the company’s $1.2 billion American expansion.

Widener University’s nursing school is the beneficiary of a $10 million gift– the largest in its history – from banking executive Jack Dwyer, a 1978 graduate who received an accounting degree from the university. Widener announced it will name the school after Dwyer and his wife Nancy, and will hold a ceremony in October in front of Founders Hall.

A Penn State Board of Trustees committee recently had the opportunity to save WPSU, the university’s PBS and NPR member station, by transferring ownership to Philadelphia public media station WHYY. But faced with a chance to keep the outlet up and running, Penn State leaders decided to kill off the station instead in a move that will likely result in layoffs. The move comes amid federal funding cuts for public media, and signals the university is more concerned with its bottom line (and 47% raises for university leaders) than keeping the station alive.

The snowbirding geese from our neighbor to the North are migrating on schedule, but the same can’t be said for their human counterparts. Philadelphia officials say the number of visiting Canadians is down nearly 20% from a year ago, part of an overall 10% drop in foreign visitors – and a reversal of the hard-won post-pandemic rebound for the region’s tourism industry. Tariffs, antipathetic rhetoric and the perception that America is no longer welcoming are among the reasons cited for the decline.

It looks like Valley Forge Military Academy won’t be around to celebrate its 100th birthday in three years. VFMA, which was established in 1928, is set to close for good in May following years of declining enrollment, numerous abuse scandals and allegations of financial mismanagement. Once considered an elite military boarding school, VFMA has recently stumbled its way through hazing and sexual abuse allegations and plummeting enrollment, recording a class of just 150 students in 2023.