This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Two Democrats got an early boost in the races for auditor general and state treasurer. The commonwealth’s Democratic Party endorsed state Reps. Malcolm Kenyatta and Ryan Bizzarro in the statewide races for auditor general and state treasurer, respectively. If they win their primaries, both would be up against a Republican incumbent in November. Bizzarro would go up against State Treasurer Stacy Garrity while Kenyatta, the first openly gay Black man to be endorsed by the party in a statewide race, would face incumbent Auditor General Tim DeFoor.

As the Pennsylvania State Police is slated to introduce its 168th cadet class this month, the future looks bright for the next ones up. PSP broke ground on a new police academy in Hershey Tuesday – a construction project deemed the most comprehensive update to PSP training since its opening in 1960. The new academy, according to PSP, will include new cadet dorms, an auditorium, gymnasiums, a training tank and more.

With a new opening in the state House, a Levittown attorney and Pennsbury School Board member has been tapped as a potential replacement. Jim Prokopiak has secured the Democratic nomination for the 140th legislative district, a seat vacated by Democratic Rep. John Galloway earlier this month. With Galloway resigning to become Magisterial District Judge in Falls Township, Prokopiak has a good chance of holding onto the blue seat and bringing the evenly divided House back into Democratic control. 

We may be building it, but people aren’t coming. Pennsylvania's population woes are continuing, according to U.S. Census data from this year. The commonwealth lost about 10,400 people in 2023, with neighboring states outpacing the Keystone State’s growth. After losing one congressional seat during the latest reapportionment, Pennsylvania is on track to lose yet another in 2030, which would bring its total from 17 to 16.

Just when you thought parking enforcement couldn’t get more unpopular, it got in the way of gift-giving. Three supervisors from the Allentown Parking Authority – a unit already under scrutiny for overzealous ticketing – are facing disciplinary action after a UPS delivery truck was booted while doing rounds in the city. Although the truck was booted for just 30 minutes before being let go, Allentown Parking Authority chair Ted Zeller called the move “inexcusable.” 

Saxonburg’s borough secretary has been charged with fatally shooting his neighbor’s dog and tossing the animal’s body into a dumpster outside the municipal building where he works. Steven Thomas May of Buffalo Township in Butler County was charged this week with a felony count of aggravated cruelty to animals along with counts of criminal mischief, tampering with evidence and causing damage to property. The criminal complaint states that May admitted to Saxonburg’s police chief that he shot the family’s dog after mistaking it for a coyote.