This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

The “Iron Chef” of bricklaying resides in Philadelphia. John Deslippe, a 26-year-old Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1 member, took home first place in the restoration category at the International Apprentice Contest in Detroit. In what’s considered the masonry Super Bowl, Deslippe came out on top for pointer, caulker and cleaner work.

If you’re not counting the football team and its new coaching vacancy, Penn State’s looking up this week. A month after voting down an earlier proposal to fund the region’s public radio station, Penn State University’s board of trustees approved a plan to transfer WPSU-TV and public radio to WHYY in Philadelphia. The transfer and additional subsidy means State College’s public radio station can still broadcast, for now.

Crops aren’t the only thing growing in Pennsylvania. Gov. Josh Shapiro and Lebanon County farmers celebrated a major milestone this week: The commonwealth has now protected 6,621 farms through its Farmland Preservation Program – more farms than any other state in the country. The growing amount of protected farmland ensures that farms won’t be replaced with developments, and could even help cultivate the next generation of Pennsylvania farmers.

It was a week of indignation for several Pennsylvania residents. One was Subramanyam Vedam, 64, who was recently exonerated after serving more than 40 years in prison for the murder of his former college roommate – and promptly taken into federal immigration custody, despite holding a green card and awaiting naturalization at the time of his arrest (Vedam came to the U.S. legally at nine months old). Meanwhile, in York City, an unidentified man lodged a complaint against local police for detaining him after observing him remove a package from what turned out to be his own porch. York City Commissioner Michael Muldrow has apologized for that incident – but Vedam has so far received less sympathy from his detainers, who have kept him in custody despite his lawyers’ arguments that remaining in the U.S. would be a fitting start toward redressing the wrongs he’s suffered.

Hundreds of Pennsylvanians won’t be going to the office for a while – or ever. Jefferson Health announced it would lay off roughly 700 employees, or 1% of its workforce, throughout its 32-hospital network – which includes the recently acquired Lehigh Valley Health System – in light of fiscal year 2025's $195 million revenue loss. Meanwhile, 125 Westmoreland County employees – about 7% of the 1,750-strong workforce –  will be furloughed for at least a month, the latest victims of Harrisburg’s ongoing budget impasse. The furloughs are among a series of cost-saving measures the county says are critical to keep essential services going, despite missing $35.5 million in state funding since the last budget expired in June.

Fulton County is once again in the headlines for allowing a third party to access its voting machines – this time because the county is facing more than $1 million in fines, according to Votebeat. The fines come after the county allowed a third-party company to inspect and download data from its voting machines following the 2020 presidential election. According to the outlet, the fines amount to approximately one-eighth of the county’s annual budget.