This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

As former Philadelphia Eagle Herm Edwards once eloquently said, “You play to win the game.” The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is most certainly playing to win, reporting an all-time monthly high in total revenue for the month of March. The PGCB reported gaming revenue, including fantasy contests, at a record $554.6 million in March, breaking the previous record of $534.2 milloin set in December 2023 and showing an increase of nearly 29% from the previous year. 

A formerly “unadoptable” shelter dog from Erie County is making national headlines for his agility work and touching story at the Westminster Dog Show. The pup, named Miles, was adopted around six years ago and competed in this year’s agility competition, quickly becoming an internet favorite. And while he didn’t win it all, he’s received plenty of attention from The New York Times, the Daily Mail and hometown outlets. 

Pennsylvania’s voter registration figures show some good news for the GOP, according to a recent analysis from Politics PA. The Republican Party has gained more than 10,000 new registrants since the end of March, according to the outlet, helping the Grand Old Party cut into Democrats’ voter registration lead in the commonwealth. Plenty can happen between now and November, but that’s certainly a positive development for Republicans heading into a presidential election.

A new amendment made to the Shapiro administration’s code of conduct has some free speech advocates concerned, according to Spotlight PA. The policy change prohibits state employees from engaging in “scandalous or disgraceful” behavior, which some critics have labeled as “overbroad,” and comes at a time when pro-Palestinian protests are taking place across the U.S. amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. A spokesperson for Shapiro has said state employees are “able to exercise their First Amendment rights under the law,” according to Spotlight PA.

An ousted head of a Philadelphia health care workers’ union isn’t out of the woods yet. Prosecutors said this week that Chris Woods, the former head of District 1199C of the National Union of Hospital and Healthcare Employees from 2019 to 2021, stole more than $150,000 from his members by disguising missing money as payments to renovate the bar in the union’s Philadelphia headquarters. Grand jurors found the funds instead went toward a political consultant in the city who helped get-out-the-vote efforts for several candidates that Woods and his union endorsed. If convicted, Woods and Tracy Hardy – the former chief of staff to state Sen. Sharif Street – could be sentenced up to 20 years for felony charges related to skirting campaign finance and union reporting laws. 

In what has been a bad week for Chrises, a reporter finds himself in a pickle after he said he sees no conflict of interest covering the treasurer’s race while he identifies himself as communications director for Erin McClelland – the Democratic nominee in the race. Benson reported on differences between McClelland and State Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s views on investing public funds in foreign holdings amid campus protests over Israel’s war in Gaza. A freelance journalist with United Press International, Benson says his dual role is justified because he is open about it and he is a contract employee – not a direct employee – of UPI.