This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

After years of attempts, both chambers of the General Assembly have now approved legislation from GOP state Sen. Elder Vogel that establishes a framework for the use of telemedicine in Pennsylvania, and would require health insurance policies to cover health services provided through telemedicine. The bill, Senate Bill 739, now awaits a signature from Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Their story added up from the start – the American Regions Mathematics League team from Lehigh Valley, led by a coach set to retire, took home the national championship in a competition with 113 top high school teams from cities across the country. Lehigh University Professor Don Davis formed the Lehigh Valley team in 1993 and will retire after 50 years in teaching.

Politico reported this week that a major GOP political action committee is going to be dumping money into Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race in an effort to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. The Senate Leadership Fund, which is linked to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is spending $24 million on an ad buy aimed at boosting McCormick in his second bid for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.

Franklin County man Richard Little is now potentially facing a little time in prison after being arrested for making threats against Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Little made threats against Mastriano in June, resulting in his arrest. He was also charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm while being a user of a controlled substance, as law enforcement found 17 guns, marijuana, illegal mushrooms and drug paraphernalia in his home. He faces 20 years’ imprisonment for the charges.

You would think the Department of Transportation would know about crossing all its Ts. A sign from sending drivers in Philadelphia’s Holmesburg neighborhood along Cottman Avenue toward southbound I-95 had an embarrassing typo: "Cenrtal Phila.” Not long after the mistake went viral, PennDOT apologized and quickly got the sign fixed to the proper spelling of Central. Hopefully the signmaker won’t be entering a spellign bee anytime soon. 

The leopard’s officially out of the bag. Lafayette College in Easton will no longer be hosting the vice presidential debate in September. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced the event’s cancellation this week, along with three presidential debates that were scheduled for September and October. Instead, the vice presidential debate will be hosted by CBS in July or August between Kamala Harris and Trump’s running mate – with no audience.