Winners & Losers

This week's biggest Winners & Losers

This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

By City & State

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This week in Pennsylvania, we saw a man charged for dumping gasoline and a lawmaker try to douse the growing calls for a “forensic investigation” of the 2020 election. George Smith, a truck driver from New Jersey, was charged for allegedly dumping more than 4,000 gallons of gas into a stream in Brookhaven, Delaware County, killing wildlife and causing water contamination that led to an elementary school evacuation. On the other side of the state, state Sen. Dan Laughlin published an op-ed in hopes of keeping his Republican-colleagues from sparking an election audit, saying the spectacle will “only further the paranoid atmospherics.” 


Scroll down for more of this week’s winners and losers!

WINNERS:

Leslie Davis -

Jeffrey Romoff’s impending retirement as head of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has drawn an array of responses, both good and bad. But the news is undoubtedly positive for Leslie Davis, president of UPMC’s Health Services Division. Her ascension to the role of UPMC’s next president will likely be a breath of fresh air for those who have had strained relationships with Romoff and UPMC, so here’s to new bonds and new relationships.

John Childe -

Environmental activists got a victory from a Supreme Court decision this week that affirmed drilling revenue must be used for state forest conservation. John Childe, attorney for the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation, earned the win and ensured the hundreds of millions of dollars generated by oil and gas leases in state forests will go toward conservation instead of the state’s general fund. Treehuggers rejoice!

Janet Samuels -

Janet Samuels, the court-appointed receiver for Harrisburg School District, received recognition this week for her job bringing the district’s finances back from the brink of disaster. Auditor General Timothy DeFoor released findings from his department’s final audit of the school district, stating that the district’s “leadership team has implemented lasting changes and continual process improvements that will benefit students and taxpayers.” The turnaround is welcomed by local residents and officials alike.

LOSERS:

Kevin Haggerty -

There must be something in the air, because this week marked the second straight week with news about a former state lawmaker’s arrest. This week it was not Margo Davidson, however, but former state Rep. Kevin Haggerty, who was arrested earlier this year for theft of his mother’s caregiver’s credit card, which he used to buy more than $900 worth of alcohol, food and gas. Haggerty was sentenced to three years’ probation this week. The lesson? Maybe don’t use credit cards that aren’t yours.

Clifford Horn -

A corporal for the Central Bucks Regional Police Department was caught up in a sting operation this week conducted by a group that attempts to catch child predators. Clifford Horn, who was caught on video in Atlantic City, was arrested after trying to meet up with who he thought was a 14-year-old boy. He’s one of four men charged with luring and enticing a child by various means, thanks to the work of the group Colorado Ped Patrol. Why don’t you take a seat over there, Clifford?

Samuel Lazar -

Another week, another Pennsylvania insurrectionist put behind bars. This week’s alleged culprit is Samuel Lazar, a Lancaster County man who ventured down to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 and was arrested for assaulting law enforcement officers – and then bragging about it on Facebook. Lazar is known in internet circles as the “Face Paint Blowhard” due to the paint he wore while attending the Capitol riot. We don’t know much about face paint, but we can confirm Lazar is indeed a blowhard.

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