This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

An Ann Arbor city administrator with ties to western Pennsylvania will be returning to the region in a new role. John Fournier, who most recently served as a deputy city administrator in Ann Arbor, Michigan and previously was deputy chief of staff to Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, has been selected as the next county manager for Allegheny County by Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, according to WESA. Innamorato, in a statement, said she is “delighted” to welcome Fournier into her administration.

In another update to the police’s profile, data collected on traffic stops found that Pennsylvania drivers were pulled over and cited by state police last year at roughly comparable rates for various races and ethnicities. The analysis, which looked at about 450,000 vehicle stops, showed no substantive racial and ethnic differences in the initial reason for the stop by the state police. 

The chatter around a Pennsylvanian being selected as a Democratic vice presidential nominee may have died down, but rumors about a potential presidential debate being held in the commonwealth are only starting to heat up. Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump has said via Truth Social that Pennsylvania will be the home of two presidential debates, though the truth of that statement has yet to be confirmed. Still, the focus on the Keystone State only further highlights Pennsylvania’s importance in this November’s presidential contest.

Pennsylvania’s budget surplus is receiving renewed scrutiny from fiscal watchdogs now that the state budget for this fiscal year has been completed. In July, the state’s Independent Fiscal Office projected that the state’s General Fund surplus would run dry by the end of the 2025-26 fiscal year, and according to a new report from Spotlight PA, both the governor’s office and the IFO agree the state is facing a “substantial deficit.” You know what they say: Less money, more problems. 

As a matter of fact, there was voter fraud in Pennsylvania in 2020. Philip C. Pulley of Huntingdon Valley faces federal charges that he voted in both Florida and the commonwealth for the 2020 presidential election, and twice in the commonwealth during the 2022 general election. Pulley couldn’t pull off the heist – as charges accuse him of using a false Philadelphia address and Social Security number when in 2020 he registered in Philadelphia while already being registered to vote in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and Broward County, Florida. 

The National Park Service announced this week that a number of artifacts have gone missing from Gettysburg National Military Park. Authorities are seeking the public’s help in finding the artifacts – and finding out who vandalized the Brenner barn, one of the historic sites on the battlefield – by offering a reward for the artifacts’ return. An active investigation is underway, but NPS said the items went missing between December 2023 and January 2024.