This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

So technically he’s the “rat abatement manager,” but Philadelphians fed up with rodents rather relish the moniker Adrian Jordan has assumed: inaugural rat czar. The 20-year veteran of rodent reduction helms a Philadelphia Department of Public Health effort to rid roads of rats, who not only raid rubbish but also gnaw car wires and generally degrade urban life. The City of Philadelphia will also roll out a public rat dashboard to track sightings and identify locations for treatment.

The commonwealth’s new ban on the carcinogenic chemicals known as PFAS in firefighting foam is not just a win for emergency responders; it’s also a safety boost for all Pennsylvanians, given that the so-called “forever chemicals” linger in groundwater, with high levels found in watersheds near firefighting training centers. Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the law, which restricts PFAS’ manufacture, sale and distribution in firefighting foam beginning next July, phasing out their use in 2028.

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that Pennsylvania will receive a $39.9 million grant to transform the Penn State DuBois campus into the DuBois Center for Innovation Regional Manufacturing Hub, a project that will be led by Penn State and seeks to support the region’s pressed materials industry. The advanced manufacturing and workforce hub is slated to train hundreds of workers and will serve Cameron, Clearfield, Elk, Jefferson, McKean and Potter counties.

Reporting from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reveals that Pennsylvania has some of the highest turnover among election officials in the nation, with the Keystone State having the sixth-highest turnover rate in the country as of 2024. The same report showed that 23 of the commonwealth's 67 counties have hired new election directors since 2024. The trend has observers and election administrators concerned, not least because losing experienced election officials means a major loss of institutional knowledge.

A criminal justice advocate – and current chair of Philadelphia’s Citizens Police Oversight Commission – was arrested this week after prosecutors accused him of obtaining and selling confidential information about a witness in an attempted murder case. Hassan Bennett faces witness intimidation, bribery and conspiracy charges for allegedly sharing unredacted police reports with a man who had threatened to hunt down and kill the witness.

The group known as No Going Back hasn’t backtracked on their unsubstantiated public nudity allegation against Democratic congressional candidate Janelle Stelson – but a Harrisburg-area TV station has decided to pull the plug on the group’s attack ad. No Going Back, which is affiliated with the MAGA Inc. super PAC, has spent nearly $300,000 on the ad, securing airtime for it on multiple local stations since Oct. 25. Lawyers for Stelson’s campaign and House Democrats’ campaign arm called the ad “false and defamatory,” while the pro-Scott Perry super PAC calls for the ad to remain in rotation.