This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

A pair of hydrogen hub projects in the commonwealth is set to receive part of a $7 billion federal grant program announced last week. President Joe Biden is expected to visit Philadelphia Friday to announce the recipients, with the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub that involves parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey receiving a $750 million grant. The funds seek to put the country on a path to produce 50 million metric tons of clean hydrogen fuel by 2050.

The freshman U.S. senator’s national spotlight continues to glow – and grow. Fetterman appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” Wednesday night, discussing his battle with depression and his time in Congress – and even gifting Colbert one of his signature oversized Carhartt hoodies. That’s not all, however. Fetterman’s team also announced this week the senator will be headlining the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual dinner in November. Much like Shapiro’s recent trip to New Hampshire, a trip to Iowa doesn’t come without thoughts of a potential presidential bid.

It was a highly successful week for members of 32BJ SEIU, as the union, which represents cleaners in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, announced a major contract win for its Steel City members this week. The union announced a new agreement between 1,200 workers and the Managers Owners and Contractors Association – a deal that includes wage increases, a $1,650 bonus for members and enhanced benefits and job protections.

Much like the emissions it hopes to regulate, Pennsylvania’s participation in a regional carbon pricing consortium is still … up in the air. A working group put together by Gov. Josh Shapiro failed to reach a clear consensus on whether to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – also known as RGGI – a process that was set in motion with an executive order signed by then-Gov. Tom Wolf in 2019, and emails reported by Spotlight PA show that top aides to Shapiro were looking for alternatives to the plan earlier this year.

Recent reporting has found Washington County accounts for about a quarter of the state’s active death penalty cases, thanks to the efforts of District Attorney Jason Walsh. Walsh, who’s now running for a full term, reportedly failed to respond to a reporter’s questions about the cases. Instead, Walsh is using the reporter’s questions to call for a gag order and sanctions against local defense attorneys who now claim Walsh is seeking the death penalty in cases for political reasons.

It’s not always sunny in Sunbury, where police chief Bradley Hare recently retired amid theft charges. Hare, who temporarily left the position in September without sharing information as to why he stepped away, retired Wednesday and was arraigned on a felony theft charge. The charges – one felony and three misdemeanor counts of theft by unlawful taking of movable property – reportedly stem from a February incident when he allegedly stole nearly $7,000 of video gaming money from a social hall office of a volunteer fire company.