This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

President Donald Trump nominated two Pennsylvanians to high-ranking positions this week, tapping state Sen. Doug Mastriano to serve as his next U.S. ambassador to the Slovak Republic, and nominating Antonio M. Pozos, a former federal prosecutor and current partner at Faegre Drinker, to be the next United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Trump said in a Truth Social post that Pozos “brings great experience to his new role.” Mastriano, who Trump endorsed in the 2022 gubernatorial race, said he is “deeply honored and humbled” by Trump’s nomination.

Yielding to popular local sentiment, the developer Inch & Company withdrew plans to build a $1.7 billion data center in Lebanon County. The proposal, which involved five data centers totaling 640,000 square feet on 100 acres, had drawn opposition from both local residents – a petition had 500-plus signatures – and the South Annville Township Planning Commission, which voted against the required rezoning.

Learning loss and school closures aside, several Philadelphia-area schools are bucking national trends in student test scores. A national Education Scorecard found that despite slow academic recovery since the pandemic, Pennsylvania schools are seeing meaningful improvements in math test scores, with multiple Southeast school districts – including Rose Tree Media, Central Bucks, Chichester, Coatesville and Kennett Consolidated – outperforming their peers.

Allegheny County Council President Pat Catena is facing opprobrium from his fellow members of County Council after a mailer for his state representative campaign said his Democratic primary opponent Brittany Bloam is “supported by an extreme left group that advocates for transgender athletes in our sports.” As a result of the mailer, seven members of County Council said they would vote to remove Catena as president and pick a new chair at the next County Council meeting on May 26.

When Spirit Airlines shut down in early May, large airports shrugged – but rural Latrobe (pop. 8,000) in Southwestern Pennsylvania lost its only commercial carrier. Today, the runways sit empty at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, where security screening is a breeze and parking is free. As the nation's only airport that relied exclusively on Spirit, Palmer is now operating without commercial service for the first time since the low-cost carrier launched flights in 2011.

The soccer fever pitch hasn’t hit Philadelphia yet. Recent reports indicate that roughly 75% of Philly-area hotels and lodging businesses say bookings are lower than expected for typical summer months – even as the city is set to host the World Cup in a couple of weeks. Visa uncertainty, higher airfares and the unpopularity of President Trump abroad are likely contributing factors to the tourism slump, which comes after FIFA recently canceled about 2,000 hotel bookings in the city.