This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

With the state budget passed, Pennsylvania’s public school districts are finally getting the state money they’ve waited for – and then some. Harrisburg lawmakers have allocated an additional $665 million for schools this year, most of which comes from formulas stemming from the 2023 court decision that mandated more equitable funding across commonwealth districts. Meanwhile, the budget also contained a provision altering the state’s funding formula for cyber charter schools, a move that returns at least $175 million to public-school districts.

The Western Pennsylvania burg was lauded by the Washington Post for its affordably priced housing market, where the median home price, $229,000, is roughly half that of the nation overall ($411,000) and a quarter of what a similar domicile costs in Los Angeles (nearly $1 million). This week, a federal judge helped ensure that that kind of livability continues, throwing out a lawsuit challenging the inclusionary zoning policy that has bolstered Pittsburgh’s affordable housing stock.

The horses and buggies are westward bound. Pennsylvania’s growing Amish population, now the largest it’s ever been, is prompting some Amish families to move farther west of the Lancaster area. Lancaster County is home to approximately 44,000 Amish adults and children – and the commonwealth’s Amish population, just under 100,000, accounts for nearly one-quarter of the United States’ Amish population.

Pennsylvania’s planned entrance into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate carbon trading program that seeks to lower greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector, is dead after the effort was abandoned as part of a $50.1 billion budget deal struck between Gov. Josh Shapiro and state lawmakers. The effort, spearheaded by then-Gov. Tom Wolf in 2019 via executive order, drew legal challenges and opposition from Republicans and some labor unions, and strikes a blow to Wolf’s legacy to combat climate change.

You can’t spell Pennsylvania without Penny, and this week, the commonwealth was home to the historic ending of the 1-cent coin. The U.S. officially ceased production of the penny on Wednesday after the coin circulated the country for more than 230 years. The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia performed the final act, with the last batch of bronze Lincoln busts being pressed with one hit of a button. Pour one out for the classic currency.

Man’s best friend or man’s worst enemy? The headlines this week didn’t read “Man Bites Dog,” but rather “Dog Shoots Man” after a bizarre incident in Berks County, where a dog reportedly jumped on its owner’s shotgun, causing it to fire and strike him in his lower back. The owner of the gun (and dog) was hospitalized and underwent surgery. Talk about a ruff go of it.