This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

The York County District Attorney scored a major endorsement in the race for state attorney general, with the state Republican Party endorsing David Sunday over two other GOP candidates. Sunday, who has touted his experience as a litigator and prosecutor, now has the backing of his party, several conservative lawmakers and advocacy groups as he seeks to become the first GOP AG elected since 2008.

The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that young adults in Pennsylvania cannot be arrested for openly carrying firearms in public during a state of emergency. The ruling came after three residents and several gun rights groups filed a lawsuit claiming three state statutes effectively prohibit young Pennsylvanians from carrying guns. The term “the people” in the Second Amendment “presumptively encompass all adult Americans, including 18-to-20-year-olds,” the court found.

The new year is bringing new energy to the commonwealth – literally. The Great Cove Solar Project by AES Corporation, the state’s largest solar project, began producing power at the end of last year and is now providing energy to the University of Pennsylvania campus and its health system. The two-site project in Franklin and Fulton counties spans more than 1,755 acres of former farmland and is helping Penn reach carbon neutrality by 2042.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick may be in need of a “Yangling” after his most recent political slip-up. The progressive outlet Heartland Signal recently posted an audio clip of McCormick reportedly speaking at a New Hampshire event, where he said, “I’m everywhere across the country, mostly with really wealthy people.” Later in the clip, McCormick adds that he spends “half my time in Pennsylvania.” Not a great look for a guy still trying to convince voters that he lives here – and not in Connecticut. 

The recent news that human error in the Office of Administration caused thousands of records to be deleted from state servers during “routine maintenance” is cause for concern. Reports from Spotlight PA and PennLive found that data was lost from at least two state agencies, including the Pennsylvania State Police. An OA spokesperson told the outlets that most of the records have been restored, though there’s still data that needs to be recovered. 

An Upper Darby woman has been charged with four counts of aggravated cruelty to animals after she filmed YouTube videos of herself mutilating animals. Anigar Monsee, who recorded herself killing a live chicken, pigeons, rabbit and frogs and had her case described as “disturbing and barbaric” by police, was arrested in January. She said the videos are about cooking the animals, but police say the way she abused the animals went well beyond recipe preparation.