This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

State officials and the State Council of Farm Organizations awarded three agriculture workers the “Farmworker of the Year” award for their exemplary work in the agriculture industry. Jose Mateos of Hollabaugh Brothers, Stephen “Cowboy” Kulp of Clemens Food Group in Hatfield, and Charles “Cam” Bishop of Pennsylvania Packinghouse in Washington County were named the first honorees of the effort to bring more awareness to frontline workers and their integral role in the food supply chain.

Here’s some transportation tea (with a touch of lemonade). The Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, located in Unity in Westmoreland County, is set to have the first phase of its $22 million terminal expansion project start this fall. The project – funded through a combination of federal, state and local monies – will expand the airport terminal by 32,000 square feet, improve the passenger experience and meet new TSA requirements.

A struggling hospital system in Delaware County appears to have a potential buyer. The parent company for Crozer Health, which oversees four hospitals in the county, signed a letter of intent to sell the system to the New Jersey-based CHA Partners, a move that would transition the system back into a nonprofit status, according to a report from WHYY. Crozer officials called the decision a “positive step” that will help stabilize the struggling hospital system.

A drug kingpin operating in Pittsburgh – who initially turned down a plea deal that would have had him serve 15 years for cocaine trafficking – was sentenced Tuesday to a life sentence. Racoco Williams, who was found guilty on six counts, including money laundering and serving as the leader of a large-scale drug trafficking organization, reportedly sold more than 330 pounds of cocaine between 2012 and 2018. Bouncing off of O.T. Genasis’s line, we think the ring may have been in love with ‘racoco’ a little too much. 

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s consideration as the Democratic vice presidential nominee was a gold mine for Pennsylvania’s political pundits, but now that Shapiro lost out to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in the veepstakes, Pennsylvania’s political class will lose out on a major spotlight in this year’s election cycle, as Shapiro will return to the governor’s mansion to focus on state affairs. That’s not to say there won’t be opportunities to prognosticate and pontificate – Shapiro is still expected to speak at the Democratic National Convention, and the U.S. Senate race between incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and GOP challenger David McCormick will also draw plenty of attention.

A Los Angeles jury has found 42-year-old Freddie Trone guilty of one count of murder for the killing of rapper PnB Rock, a Philadelphia-based rapper who was killed on Sept. 22, 2022 at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles during a robbery in southern LA. Trone, according to reports from The Associated Press, sent his 17-year-old son to kill the Philly rapper, who was also robbed of his jewelry. Trone was also convicted of two counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery.