This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Lisbon, Iceland, Japan – they’re all so over. Philadelphia is the star of this year’s travel lineup, snaring the No. 1 ranking as the top destination for 2026 from both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Both publications cite the myriad celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary as the chief reason for visiting the Cradle of Liberty.

Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s path to the GOP nomination for governor got a bit clearer this week when state Sen. Doug Mastriano – the party’s 2022 gubernatorial nominee – announced that he will not be seeking the nomination in this year’s race. Mastriano announced his decision to forgo another gubernatorial run on a Facebook Live stream with his wife, Rebbie, saying, “We believe with full peace in our hearts that God has not called us to run for governor this year.” However, Mastriano didn’t rule out another run for governor in the future.

A historic name with a new leader, the Borough of Carnegie welcomes its youngest mayor ever this week. Sam Bigham, a 23-year-old newly elected official, took the oath of office on January 5, becoming the youngest mayor in the commonwealth. So much for the big cheese – this town’s got the big ham.

So far, the new year has brought plenty of bad news for local journalism in Pennsylvania. Within the past week, Block Communications, the owner of both the Pittsburgh City Paper and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, announced that both papers would be shut down: City Paper would cease operations immediately, and the Post-Gazette would shutter in May. If that wasn’t enough, Lancaster-based LNP Media Group announced this week it is laying off 11 employees ahead of an ownership transfer, which comes after a separate spate of layoffs in 2024.

For the second straight year, an increasingly fraught political climate has prompted the cancellation of Philadelphia’s El Carnaval de Puebla, a marquee annual celebration of Mexican culture. The 20-year-old tradition was paused last year out of fear of attracting unwanted attention from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose raids have spread fear in Latino neighborhoods. Similar concerns surfaced this year, and organizers cited difficulties securing sponsorship amid the uncertainty.

Yet another Pennsylvania community is losing its labor and delivery department. Warren General Hospital announced it will stop delivering babies, citing workforce shortages and recruitment challenges – issues that have long plagued the commonwealth’s healthcare sector. The state Office of Rural Health reported that the state’s rural hospitals lost 27 L&D units last year, up from 21 in 2024.