This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Lucky number seven doubled down on the state’s mail-in ballot law. The Commonwealth Court once again rejected a GOP-led legal challenge to Act 77, which established the state’s mail-in voting standards. Fourteen current and former Republican state lawmakers filed the suit in 2022, arguing that previous court rulings refused to enforce the requirement that a voter write a date on the outer envelope of their mail-in ballot if the ballot is to be counted. The plaintiffs are expected to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.

Many of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s cabinet secretaries are breathing a sigh of relief this week. In addition to Al Schmidt, Pat Browne and Dr. Val Arkoosh – who took office on Thursday as secretary of state, secretary of revenue and secretary of human services, respectively, a large majority of Shapiro’s cabinet nominees have been confirmed and now get to shed their “acting” titles.

This bipartisan trio of state representatives sponsored House Bill 106 – dubbed the Patient Safety Act – which passed the state House by a 119-84 vote this week. The legislation would limit the number of patients a hospital can assign to a nurse, which proponents say will help the state retain nurses. The bill, which advanced with bipartisan support, now awaits action from the state Senate.

An ongoing investigation into the Lackawanna County OYFS led to the arrest of five individuals – Randy Ramik, Erik Krauser, Bryan Walker, Amy Helcoski and Sadie O’Day – on felony charges for endangering the welfare of a child and failing to report suspicion of child abuse. Scranton police and the county District Attorney’s office announced the arrests Tuesday, stating that caseworkers neglected children who were in an apartment found to have garbage, feces and cat litter, and failed to intervene even when the children were not in school and lacked medical care and food.

Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub’s office announced Tuesday that they had broken up one of the largest catalytic converter theft rings in the region – which was bad news for Michael Williams, the owner of TDI Towing in Philadelphia. Williams and 10 other people have been charged for their involvement in the ring. Williams had allegedly been buying stolen catalytic converters since at least 2020, according to PhillyBurbs.com.

In this case, PPP stands for “pay the pied piper.” Virginia Humphries of Pittsburgh was indicted this week on fraud conspiracy and bank fraud charges for falsifying Paycheck Protection Program loan applications. Humphries and a colleague reportedly defrauded the Small Business Administration of $14.5 million in PPP loans by recruiting hundreds of small businesses and falsifying their loan applications. The two now face up to 50 years in prison.