This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Dr. Ala Stanford, who has played a crucial role in Philadelphia’s response to COVID-19, was appointed as a regional director of the Department of Health and Human Services by President Joe Biden this week. Stanford is a Montgomery County physician who founded the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium. She will be one of three regional directors overseeing services in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

PublicSource, a nonprofit news outlet devoted to covering Pittsburgh and the surrounding area, announced that Eric Zack will become the outlet’s new CEO beginning May 2. Zack previously consulted with universities for the Chronicle of Higher Education and most recently served as the director of university relations for The Conversation, a network of nonprofit media outlets.

Two Philadelphia schools got some good news this week. The Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School was named the top public school in the state – and 10th overall in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. Masterman, led by Principal Jeannine Hendricks Payne, held off more well-funded schools to retain its spot. Elsewhere in the city, Katharine Davis has been named the 15th president of Central High School. Davis, the current principal of Henry Elementary in Mount Airy, will be the first woman and person of color to lead the nation’s second-oldest high school.

GOP lieutenant governor candidate Teddy Daniels has a knack for making headlines, often for controversial reasons. According to Rolling Stone, the conservative firebrand was barred from his home this week after his wife asked a Wayne County court for protection, alleging that Daniels stalked and verbally abused her. Daniels told The Associated Press that he is the target of “political terrorism” and accused Rolling Stone of basing the story on “false police reports.” Despite the court order, Daniels plans to remain in the race, which will culminate on May 17.

Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Conor Lamb caused a bit of confusion this week when he announced a new endorsement from Philadelphia’s 5th Ward Democratic Committee – only to see the committee and some of its members clarify that it had not, in fact, endorsed any Democratic candidate in the race. The committee’s ward leader told the Philadelphia Inquirer that while Lamb won the most support, the committee was unable to reach a clear consensus. Lamb’s campaign told the Inquirer that since Lamb won a majority of divisions in the ward, they assumed that equaled an endorsement. It didn’t, however, which likely prompted an awkward silence for this Lamb.

Have you ever sent a text you regret? You and Scott Perry may have that in common. Perry’s involvement in 2020 presidential election conspiracies has been in the spotlight this week as text messages were revealed showing conversations between Perry and then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Perry reportedly urged Meadows to seize voting machines and embraced a conspiracy theory that “the Brits” were manipulating the election.