This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

The Steel City’s scientific standing is stepping up. The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University are collaborating to build a first-of-its-kind hybrid quantum computer. The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center will combine a quantum processing unit with graphics processing units in a single integrated system, providing new insights into how quantum and classical computing work together.

Safety measures are paying off for Philly’s transit system. SEPTA released a report showing a continued drop in serious crimes compared to last year. The agency’s results show a 21% reduction in serious crimes, including a 40% drop in aggravated assaults through the second quarter of 2026. Now that Philadelphia’s role as FIFA World Cup and America 250 host is over, maybe SEPTA’s beefed-up police force can take a break.

Much like in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh community members are banding together to plant more trees in an effort to combat the effects of heat islands – a phenomenon where cities and more developed communities become hotter than rural areas due to buildings, roads and other infrastructure absorbing and re-emitting the sun’s heat. A recent report from The Allegheny Front showcased how groups like the South Side Community Council, Tree Pittsburgh and Friends of South Side Park are leading the push to cool down neighborhoods – one tree at a time.

A Montgomery County native is facing federal charges for pretending to be an FBI agent in a Philadelphia grocery store. Seok Joon Lee, of Jenkintown, now faces up to three years in prison for allegedly wearing a bulletproof vest, with a holstered gun, into a grocery store while claiming he was an undercover FBI agent. His “security check” turned into a run-in with Philly police, who were not fans of the cosplay cop.

The owner and operator of Modern Landfill in York County is facing a $9.2 million civil penalty for more than 400 Clean Water Act violations from July 2019 to April 2023. Judge Jennifer P. Wilson of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced the penalty this week against Republic Services of Pennsylvania, following a lawsuit by the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association alleging the company discharged PFAS chemicals into a creek without a proper permit.

Two Pennsylvania men made headlines this week for making violent threats against Pennsylvania officials. Corey Alan Bennett, an inmate at SCI Camp Hill, is facing two misdemeanor terroristic threat charges after threatening to assassinate Secretary of Corrections Laurel Harry; he is also expected to be charged for threatening to kill Gov. Josh Shapiro and his wife. Separately, Havertown man Sean Kennan was arrested this week after leaving Islamophobic, threatening voicemails for Delaware County Sheriff Siddiq Kamara.