This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

While Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has gotten flack from advocates who thought a new contract for Philadelphia’s police union should have included tougher police accountability provisions, John McNesby, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, is riding high. The union secured raises for more than 6,000 officers and will increase police spending by $133 million over three years. The new contract is clearly a victory for McNesby and his members.

Phony Pfizers? U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Pittsburgh made news this week for seizing two shipments of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards of “low-quality appearance.” Port Director William Fitting said that “unscrupulous vendors who peddle” counterfeit cards are a health and safety threat. The cards, which were shipped from China, were set to go to an individual in Beaver County. So yes, people are actually spending money in an attempt to pose as someone who has received the free vaccine.

This week, Pennsylvania Auditor General Timothy DeFoor picked up where his predecessor left off. DeFoor unveiled findings from a performance audit into a controversial business waiver program rolled out by Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration at the beginning of the pandemic. DeFoor said his review found that the process was flawed and provided “inconsistent answers” to businesses and “caused confusion” – findings that line up with those of Eugene DePasquale, the state’s last auditor general. The Department of Community & Economic Development, which administered the program, found DeFoor’s recommendations “very constructive.” Three cheers for accountability!

School board meetings have become a hotbed for tense debates on masks, curriculum and more. The latest case is the Central York School District, which made national news this week for voting to ban books and educational materials about anti-racism and diversity, including racial literacy resources from Georgetown and Stanford and even CNN’s Sesame Street town hall on racism. All the banned materials are by or about people of color, but school board president Jane Johnson said that’s just a coincidence. It looks like no more Big Bird thanks to this board’s Big Brother tactics.

The turnpike’s got a big hole in its pocket after the pandemic. An internal Turnpike Commission report found that more than $104 million in tolls went uncollected last year as the agency was shifting to all-electronic tolling. The report found that nearly 11 million of the 170 million rides generated no revenue last fiscal year, which chief executive Mark Compton said is “a big number.” For once, it actually paid off to not have an E-ZPass.

Defrauding the state is pretty bad. But how about defrauding the state while screwing over hungry children in the process? Tanisha Jackson, alongside her daughter Paige and associate Charles Simpson, were indicted in Pittsburgh on charges of ripping off the commonwealth for millions in reimbursements for federal low-income meals programs. The three reportedly never delivered thousands of meals they were contracted to provide and instead used the money to buy cars, vacations and other luxuries. To them, FTK clearly didn’t mean “for the kids.”