This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Posing in Trump family photos and swanning about Mar-a-Lago, Elon Musk was already having a good week before a Pennsylvania judge affirmed Tuesday that the billionaire’s controversial $1 million voter sweepstakes passed the smell test. Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta explained that the giveaways were permitted through Election Day because Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, in his bid to shut them down, failed to demonstrate that the scheme amounted to an illegal lottery.

Several state lawmakers from across Pennsylvania will hold new leadership roles during the 2025-26 legislative session after all four caucuses in the General Assembly held internal leadership elections this week. In the Pennsylvania House, GOP state Rep. Jesse Topper will take over as House minority leader, while on the Democratic side, state Reps. Mike Schlossberg and Rob Matzie will hold new positions of House majority whip and caucus chair, respectively. In the Senate, the Republican leadership team will remain the same, while Senate Democrats elected state Sen. Nick Miller as chair of the policy committee and state Sen. Steve Santarsiero as caucus secretary.

The two state representatives looking to flip the script on license plate flippers had their bill reach the finish line this week. House Bill 2426, introduced by state Reps. Pat Gallagher and Greg Scott, was approved by the state Senate this week and is headed to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk to be signed. The legislation will ban all devices that enable a license plate on a vehicle to be changed to a different license plate, manually or electronically.

With fare hikes of nearly 30% and sweeping service cuts on the table, SEPTA, Greater Philadelphia’s public transit system, warns it is facing a death spiral of dwindling ridership and revenues if the commonwealth doesn’t increase its funding. Service reductions would help stem SEPTA’s financial losses and partly compensate for the loss of $161 million in previously proposed state monies. But the plan would likely result in pain for transit workers and the region overall.

Former Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste was stripped of positions on the county’s Board of Assessment and Appeals, Redevelopment Authority and Land Bank Authority this week as he faces allegations of accepting money in exchange for contracts, according to abc27. Midstate news outlet PennLive reported this week that Haste was paid $325,000 in 2017 by Carl Hoffman, the founder of PrimeCare – the county jail’s health care provider – while Haste held office as a county commissioner and served on the Dauphin County Prison Board.

A prominent York County business owner has resigned from his role on the Penn State York Advisory Board after a video of a racist rant began circulating online earlier this week. Jonathan Spanos, the owner of The Paddock on Market in York, received major backlash following a video going viral showing him spouting racist remarks during a road rage incident. The video shows Spanos repeatedly yelling the N-word and saying, “I am a racist” during a roadway confrontation.