This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Amongst the crowded field of Democratic candidates for attorney general, state Rep. and Philadelphia Democrat Jared Solomon has reported the highest fundraising numbers. Solomon reported about $1.06 million in cash on hand at the end of the first reporting period, with $647,000 coming in after he announced his AG run. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, with a balance of $518,836, reported the second-highest fundraising numbers.

After spending more than a decade in prison, C.J. Rice is a free man. Rice won’t be retried in court for a 2011 shooting after charges against him were dropped by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office. Now 30 years old, Rice was 17 when he was sentenced to 30 to 60 years behind bars. His case was dismissed after a federal judge said his defense attorney was “deficient” and proclaimed the evidence presented against him in the trial “slender.”

Democrats have once again held onto their self-described “humble” majority in the Pennsylvania House now that Jim Prokopiak has been sworn in as the chamber’s newest member. Prokopiak won a special election in the state’s 140th House District in February. With his swearing-in this week, Prokopiak begins his first term as a state representative and gives Democrats a little breathing room in the closely divided chamber.  

“Meaningful changes” are coming to the Allegheny County Jail after a lawsuit filed by the county and mentally ill prisoners against the county jail over treatment of the prisoners was settled. The parties bringing the class-action suit, which included allegations of excessive use of force, unconstitutional use of solitary confinement and due process violations, filed a 38-page agreement that seeks to improve mental health treatment, staffing levels, and use-of-force and solitary confinement practices at the jail.

The Commonwealth Court recently decided that Marcel Ingram, a former staffer in GOP state Rep. Eric Davanzo’s office, can move ahead with a whistleblower lawsuit against the state House Republican Caucus after raising concerns about mold in Davanzo’s district office, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. The report says that Ingram was fired about a week after conducting mold tests in the office, which came at the suggestion of GOP counsel.

There’s new political pressure brewing over the proposed sale of U.S. Steel after President Joe Biden came out against the idea. Biden said it’s vital for U.S. Steel “to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated” after the company announced a planned sale to the Japan-based Nippon Steel. Biden joins U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, John Fetterman and other elected officials who have expressed worries about the deal.