This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Democratic state Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler’s “Solar for Schools” bill, which would provide grant funding for solar energy projects at Pennsylvania schools, was approved by the state Senate this week, bringing the bill – House Bill 1032 – one step closer to becoming law. The bill now awaits a concurrence vote by the state House; once that happens, it will be on its way to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk for a signature. 

The good news keeps coming for Lancaster County resident Donna Osborne. Osborne, a 75-year-old great-grandmother from Pennsylvania, recently finished radiation treatments for breast cancer. And if that news wasn’t good enough, Osborne proceeded to win a $5 million lottery prize after buying a $50 “Monopoly Own It All” scratch-off ticket, according to The Associated Press. Osborne plans to invest some of the money and use some of it to visit Alaska. 

It ain’t easy bein’ cheesy – but don’t tell that to Perrystead Dairy cheesemaker Jake Heller, who beat out 44 competitors from across the country to win this year’s Cheesemonger Invitational. Heller scored higher than anyone else in speed-cutting and speed-wrapping, cheese trivia, blind taste testing and more. A Main Line native who got his start at Narberth Cheese Company while he was at Lower Merion High School, Heller proved at the Brooklyn event that when it comes to being the big cheese, there’s no one grater. 

Here’s a PSA about TSA: Make sure to get to Philadelphia early. According to a MarketWatch study, Philadelphia International Airport ranks among the worst in the nation for stress-free travel. The study found that PHL ranks second-worst in average security wait time, just behind Chicago Midway, which came in last with an average wait time of 20 minutes. 

No gaslighting here: A federal appeals court sided with environmental groups in a ruling this week over a proposed mid-Atlantic natural gas expansion project. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court pushed back against Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line’s claims that the federal Natural Gas Act blocked the commonwealth’s environmental hearing board from reviewing permits for the company’s Regional Energy Access Expansion project. The quasi-judicial state agency can now review the developer’s bid to expand an existing pipeline network in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

An Upper Merion gravestone salesman has been arrested for allegedly scamming nearly 500 customers – grieving customers at that – out of more than $1.5 million over a five-year span. According to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, ​​Gregory J. Stefan Jr. has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud for reportedly demanding large up-front payments from his customers and routinely failing to fulfill orders by the projected delivery date. If convicted, Stefan faces a maximum sentence of 140 years in prison.