Winners & Losers
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Who’s up and who’s down this week?
City & State
Thanks to a ruling this week by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the odds of a skill games payout to the commonwealth’s coffers just got a lot higher.
In a majority ruling, the state’s highest court stated that skill games are slot machines according to state law – a decision that will leave the roughly 70,000 machines currently operating in Pennsylvania businesses and their owners in the wrong kind of jackpot.
Proponents of keeping skill games categorized separately from slots still have an ace to play: The high court gave state legislators 120 days to come up with their own plan to regulate the machines, stating, “Naturally, because all that follows is a consequence of statutory law, our General Assembly also remains free at any time to take whatever legislative action it may deem appropriate.”
Keep reading for more winners and losers!
Philadelphia restaurants -
Not that we needed a reminder of just how great the city’s dining scene is, but this week’s James Beard Awards – referred to as the culinary world’s Oscars – crowned Kalaya, the southern Thai restaurant from Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon, as the nation's Outstanding Restaurant, and finally crowned Royal Sushi & Izakaya’s Jesse Ito as Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic. Like it wasn’t impossible to get reservations there already.
Safe driving -
Just days after a landmark law banning the use of cellphones and other hand-held devices while driving took effect, state police issued hundreds of tickets to drivers doing just that. In a three-day span, “Operation Hands-Off” handed out 694 citations and 308 warnings for drivers violating Paul Miller’s Law.
Pittsburgh universities -
For anyone questioning whether Pennsylvania universities can compete on the global stage, look no further than U.S. News & World Report’s latest rankings of 2,250 schools from 105 countries around the world. The publication ranked the University of Pittsburgh No. 57, Carnegie Mellon No. 112, and Duquesne No. 2,056.
FIFA Fan Fest drivers -
When something is a win for the Philadelphia Parking Authority, that usually means it’s a loss for drivers – in this case, 2,497 of them, to be precise. That’s how many people walked back from the World Cup hot spot to discover that they had been ticketed for parking in what PPA is calling the Fan Fest Enforcement Zone. It could be time to change this year’s slogan to “One City, Many Citations.”
Larry Krasner -
Judges inveighing against shady behavior and shoddy work by prosecutors is nothing new in 2026 as news of yet another federal jurist calling out Justice Department lawyers for their latest violations of the “presumption of regularity” – the belief that government prosecutors can be taken at their word – comes out on pretty much any day that ends in Y. What is new: the state Supreme Court putting Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Kranser and his office on blast for what the court called Krasner’s “breach of its duty of candor” in a number of cases where it is seeking to overturn murder convictions. Krasner and his team’s conduct has been so egregious in the court’s eyes that it has ordered that, going forward, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday’s office must review such cases coming from Krasner’s office before the court will hear them.
John Festino -
The Old Forge resident and now-former employee of telecommunications company Cogent Communications was charged this week with pilfering more than $2 million worth of equipment from the company – including 135 transponders that retail for over $40,000 each – and reselling it to third parties. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years; no need to check on how many bars he’s getting.