This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Congressional candidate Janelle Stelson picked up two endorsements this week in her bid for the Democratic nomination in the state’s 10th Congressional District, earning the support of EMILY’s List and the New Democrat Coalition Action Fund. In a primary race that’s packed with Democratic hopefuls, the endorsements could help separate Stelson from others seeking the Democratic nod.

The famous weekend-long dance fundraiser in State College broke another record this year as Penn State THON raised nearly $17 million for Four Diamonds at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital - snapping 2023’s record-breaking total of $15 million. THON, which took place Feb. 16 through Feb. 18, maintains itself as the world’s largest student-run philanthropy. 

One Monroe County township earned a legal victory in a debate over a local ordinance and the Second Amendment. The state Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 21 that Stroud Township’s ordinance that limits firing guns to indoor and outdoor shooting ranges does not violate the Second Amendment. The case, which was brought up by a resident who installed a shooting range on his property, further backs the “discharge ordinance” restricting the time and place of firing. 

A new report from the National Transportation Safety Board states that Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge – which collapsed in January 2022 – had “extensive corrosion damage and deterioration.” The report added that “maintenance actions were identified in the yearly inspection reports for the Fern Hollow Bridge but were not performed during the 11 years leading up to the bridge collapse.” Two years after the collapse, the report raises new questions about the state of the city’s infrastructure.

Republicans in Lower Paxton Township are coming after one of their own. The township’s Republican Committee passed a resolution calling for Dauphin County Treasurer Nick DiFrancesco to drop out of the 15th state Senate district race or resign from his current positions. The resolution, citing the committee’s efforts to elect DiFrancesco in 2023, said “he is now betraying that faith and confidence by running for another office just weeks into his term.”

James Christopher Buckley, a deputy with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, was arrested on child pornography charges this week and subsequently suspended by the department. Buckley allegedly possessed and distributed child pornography through his iCloud account in 2020, according to 6abc. Buckley is facing two counts of endangering the welfare of a child by possession and distribution of child pornography.