This week's biggest Winners & Losers

Jake Corman made a promise upon taking the gavel as the state Senate’s president pro tempore to usher forth a new era of transparency in Harrisburg, and Corman delivered on that promise this week. Starting in September, the state Senate will post all legislative expenses on a new publicly available website and update it once a month. It’s one of many steps needed to make Harrisburg more transparent to Pennsylvanians, but it’s a positive step, nonetheless, and Corman deserves credit.

COVID-19 vaccines are just what the congressman ordered. Wait, that should be “doctor.” Er … well, both apply to U.S. Rep. John Joyce, a physician who represents the state’s 13th Congressional District. Joyce has been making trips to pharmacies throughout his district to encourage constituents to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which is quite the commendable endeavor as the delta variant spreads throughout the country. Joyce recently stressed that the shot is the “pathway” for society to get back to normal, so if Pennsylvanians won’t listen to their congressman, maybe they’ll listen to their doctor.

Education Secretary Noe Ortega’s had a lot on his plate since being confirmed to lead the Pennsylvania Department of Education in June. He got a boost this week as the U.S. Department of Education approved the state’s spending plan for its share of American Rescue Plan dollars for elementary and secondary schools. As schools and the state are grappling with a growing number of COVID cases, Ortega has continued to focus on keeping schools safe. Hopefully, this $1.6 billion will go a long way toward that mission.

With all the talk around schools returning centered on mask mandates, Pittsburgh has another issue: buses. Pittsburgh Public Schools, led by Superintendent Anthony Hamlet, announced this week that the district is about 6,000 bus seats short for students and contingency plans are in place to push back the school year by two weeks. Bus driver shortages have become a larger issue following the pandemic, with many drivers leaving the job over health concerns. The district may consider other changes to address the shortage, as if students, parents and educators didn’t have enough to deal with already.

More than 70 Pennsylvania land owners breathed a sigh of relief this week after PennEast announced it would be halting the acquisition of property needed to build its planned natural gas pipeline through the state into New Jersey. Anthony Cox, chair of the PennEast board of managers, was likely happier last week when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled states cannot use sovereign immunity as a defense to prevent approved pipeline projects from using eminent domain. Flash forward to today, and PennEast is pausing the project due to legal and regulatory hurdles. It looks like red tape helped these people keep their properties, for now.

State Sen. Doug Mastriano is having a bit of a rough time getting even Republican-led counties to participate in his “forensic investigation” of the state’s 2020 election results. This week, Tioga County’s board of commissioners read a blistering public statement about Mastriano’s request, accusing him of creating “unnecessary chaos” with his election probe. The commissioners also asked Mastriano to revoke his request for access to voting machines, ballots and software. Maybe he should listen.